"And the World Rating Game was initiated by Ajuka-sama and Shiva-san to stabilize the situation, huh..."
Ajuka nodded, "That's right. However, it wasn't our idea but Azazel's. All of us were just going to oversee the entire event. Because of that, we named the games the Azazel Cup in honor of his efforts and achievement."
"How about Hades?"
"Even though we have clues of his involvement, we couldn't gather enough evidence so he's still free to do whatever within his authority.", Cleria answered with a sigh, "But according to the intelligence that we've gathered, he's gathering various 'Evil' Gods to his side so every major faction is being wary of him. What's strange, however, was the fact that he's able to compose a team of unknown but powerful Devils to participate in the Azazel Cup."
"I've got some chance to get a glimpse of them. According to my initial estimation, some of them are potentially on Super Devil level." Ajuka suddenly revealed, stunning the three Devils.
"What!? How does that make sense!?" Diehauser retorted.
Kisuke, on the other hand, was able to piece some guesses using the story until now, "This is just a guess but they are probably Homunculi."
With those words, Sakura was able to surmise Kisuke's conclusion, "Are you referring to the Holy Grail's revival and cloning ability?"
"Yes. If it's true that he has Devils that are unreasonably strong but remained unknown until now, it's probably because he was able to make use of Qlippoth's experiment results and data. Hades' cooperation with Khaos Brigade becomes easier to understand despite his apparent inaction when the group disbanded." Kisuke then scratched his chin and added, "Even then, he would need a very strong base if he wanted to create a Devil of the highest level."
Kisuke took a peek at Ajuka's expression and saw no visible changes. Even then, Kisuke knew that he already has a clue to what that 'base' is thanks to his massive network of information.
"In any case, you shouldn't focus on these Devils too much.", Kisuke continued, "Although they may have raw power and energy density of a Super Devil, they may have little to no control over it. At most, they'll just have massive muscle strength or Magic firepower and all of you know that's not all when it comes to fighting. Besides, it could also mean that Hades revealed a force like this to attract eyes, covering his tracks on other things."
Ajuka closed his eyes and agreed, "That's true. However, even if I want to dedicate more men to move around him, it's still hard to follow the tracks of some Grim Reapers due to a certain replica of a Divine item."
"Replicas of 'Hades' Helm of Invisibility', isn't it?"
"I see that despite your short meeting with his forces you already knew what they were."
"Of course. I had my first contact with Grim Reapers wearing those."
"So despite not knowing anything about them you were still able to find them?" Ajuka took a few decades to find out the true nature of these items not just because it's almost impossible to detect the wearer, but also that Hades only uses them on very rare occasions. On top of that, he would always command these Grim Reapers to stay away from any powerhouses to avoid any chance of detection. Although he didn't really dedicate much of his resources to this, Ajuka was still surprised that he was able to find them with a single instance, "Ah. I get it. You're not just adept in the study of souls, but also usage and detection of them."
Kisuke thought for a moment before pulling out a pile of papers from his inventory and passing it to Ajuka, "This is the basic framework of Spiritual Pressure detection and a blueprint of a device that can make use of it. They shouldn't be able to hide from this, though I doubt it'll work on the real thing."
Ajuka received the paper with great interest and started skimming through it. The further he reads, the shinier his eyes became, "I see... So that's how it is. This is technically a soul's unique print."
Ajuka then turned his eyes back to Kisuke, "Are you sure you're giving this to me?"
With a big smile, Kisuke answered, "Hades has been a pain in my ass. If you could monitor his movements in greater detail, then that would be enough as compensation."
Ajuka shook his head, "That's what I intended to do from the start since I don't really have any resources to deal with him myself. If there's anything you need, just tell me and I'll do everything in my ability to provide it. That's just how valuable this information is."
"I'll think about it when the time comes." Kisuke accepted his offer.
At this time, it was Ajuka's turn to pull out something from his inventory. It was a smartphone and he gave it to Kisuke after navigating to a certain folder of documents, "This isn't the payment but my reason for meeting you."
Kisuke took some time and quietly browsed through the documents before saying, "Of course this can't be a payment. You're essentially asking me to work."
Within the documents was information about the Isolation Field Barrier and the Trihexa.
Ajuka didn't deny Kisuke's words and said, "I'm just hoping that you could do something with your expertise. Of course, I wouldn't just trust some random person with this critical data and any help you could provide would be compensated properly."
Kisuke scratched his head while thinking, 'Well, I did promise Serafall that I'll do something to help her friends and companions. And I can't really have these people trapped when there's an even greater threat looming in the future.'
"I'll do what I can, but I won't be making any promises."
"That's more than enough. Thank you."
Seeing that their conversation is done, Cleria asked Kisuke, "What's next in your plans?"
Initially, after dealing with all of his enemies, he planned to work on a 'World Gate' that would connect this world to Hestia's world so that the girls could finally go home if they wanted to. In addition to that, Kisuke also planned to explore his options that could forcibly pull them back to this world in case an emergency were to arise.
But now that he couldn't haphazardly confront Olympus, Kisuke was left with a lot of time since it takes quite some time to get the experiment results even if tries to automate it, "I guess I'll hang and poke around places of interest.", he replied. In any case, he already planted several bombs in Hades and Olympus so adding a few more wouldn't hurt, 'I'm also really interested in Hades' homunculi. Maybe that could help me in furthering Gigai development?'
"Then how about participating in the Azazel Cup?", suggested Sakura.
Editors:
28th00: Ah, chaos… Time to follow the letter of the rules, but sure as hell not the essence or spirit of them!