Chapter 852 Preparing for the Inevitable

Nyx and Athena rushed towards the Belial Mansion's secret basement when they heard that someone entered it through Teleportation Magic from Cleria. They already knew who'd came through, but they were not expecting to see Kisuke twisting Erebus' full of holes body to the correct orientation as if he was fixing a broken doll.

"...Y-yo~!" Kisuke awkwardly greeted them while patting down Erebus' midsection that was stretched and mangled.

Athena's expression darkened while Nyx started tearing up, "...B-brother..."

"Hold on! It's not what you think! He's alive!... Barely, at least." Kisuke explained while pulling out dozens of bottles of potion from his inventory and pouring everything on him. Since he didn't have the equipment needed for a full recovery and he didn't want to bring him to any of the facilities he owned, this is the most he could do. Even then, he could be kept alive, though barely and painfully.

Hearing Kisuke's words, the life in Nyx's eyes returned, and ran over to check her brother, only to see him groaning in pain despite being unconscious. She didn't know that he's actually having a nightmare instead of actually hurting.

Athena also walked over and checked Erebus' situation and instead of a battle, it looks like he was tortured instead, "...Just what did you do to him? I also felt him activating his signature 'Night' yet here you are, virtually unharmed."

"His ability didn't have good compatibility with me. Not to brag but something like that is easily managed by a counter specialist like me. As long as he couldn't kill me in time, I'd find a way to render it useless."

"...Kill you in time?" Athena then recalled the instance where he survived Ares' all-out attack, "Remind me again how the heck someone could kill you?"

"Err... Slice me enough times that I won't be able to regenerate?"

"You're not sure?"

"Athena-san, acquiring death experience isn't an easy one. I'm sure you don't have one either."

Athena realized her mistake and said, "...My bad." While also thinking, 'You'd normally know how much you can take before you die isn't it?... What was normal again?'

After patching up Erebus to a degree that his condition wouldn't worsen anymore, Kisuke finished his treatment, "You two can continue my treatment. Just follow the instructions in this booklet and use the supplies that I'll be leaving behind."

After receiving the booklet and cabinet of various concoctions from Kisuke, Athena asked, "Where are you going?"

"You should know that after this attack, it'll be seen as a declaration of war from Hades' side. But before the Alliance can gather its army and attack, they'll be initiating it first."

"I know, but shouldn't I come with you to prepare? They probably have already finished the process of opening Tartarus. No matter how strong you are, you won't be able to take on a group of Titans."

Kisuke then looked at her with genuine confusion, "When did I say I'll be fighting them?"

"B-but you said you'll take care of them..."

"I did. But why would I do something as unreliable as fighting? If that's what you were expecting, I'm sorry, but I'm not villainous enough to think I can take on the whole world."

Athena blankly stared at him for a short while before holding her head in remorse, 'Since when did I start thinking that violence was the answer to everything!?'

While the Goddess of Wisdom and War was having an inner conflict, Kisuke left to kickstart the spell he'd prepared for the prisoners of Tartarus, 'If I'm successful, I won't need to win this whole tournament.' He thought while also thinking of the possibility of failing and revealing most of his cards to the world just to get 'a bit' of help.

While the two Goddesses thought that the possibility of breaking open the Tartarus was a grim challenge for the whole of Olympus and the world by extension, Kisuke saw it as a massive opportunity to get some free labor. If the two knew what he was thinking, they'd be pulling their hair out of frustration. The bad thing was, they wouldn't even be able to deny that possibility no matter how unlikely it looked.

.

.

.

A few days had already passed since Aika locked herself up in her room. As time passed, Honoka became increasingly paranoid while her husband, Haruto, tried his best to calm her down.

After placing Aika's dinner in front of her room's door, Honoka came down to the living room with a haggard look. In all the days she had raised her daughter, this was the first time she'd become unresponsive to almost everything. She knew that her daughter was afraid of something but she couldn't figure out what it was. If not for the fact that her food was still being eaten, she would have thought of the worst and asked Haruto to break down her door.

As she lethargically sat down on the sofa, she felt Haruto's hand holding hers and asked, "...Just where did we go wrong?"

"I don't think it's right to blame ourselves for this." Haruto replied with a calm and soft voice, "It was his fault. Nothing will change that."

Honoka turned her palm and grabbed Haruto's hand and replied, "But I can't help but think that we're also not entirely blameless. We were given a chance yet it turned out like this. I've been thinking that we should have been honest and said that we're hiding something from her. Maybe... If we were able to convince her that she shouldn't uncover this secret, it might not have reached this point where she doesn't even listen to anything."

Haruto gave out a wry smile and said, "I guess that's true too. We don't know enough of the situation to make a proper judgment."

He then suddenly stood up which confused Honoka, "Where are you going?"

Haruto started walking towards the main entrance while replying, "If we don't know something, we should ask someone who does."

Honoka followed Haruto to their garden and heard him say, "If someone's there, please come out. I'd like to talk."

"What are you..." But before Honoka could finish speaking, a woman in a suit and shades came out of the shadows and spooked her into silence.

The woman walked towards Haruto and introduced herself, "Nice to meet you. I'm Onoskelis of Grigori, the Fallen Angel Faction and the current leader of the security assigned to your family. How may I help you?"

"Sakura Urahara, we'd like to have a word with her."