Chapter 961 Hidden Conflicts

Before they finished their lunch, Akeno's security was able to sort out all those who were holding recording devices, so when it was finally time to leave, there were no more people around to bother her.

After a small peck on the cheek, Akeno went inside her new car, but before she started it, she remembered something, "By the way, Rias asked me to remind you about Ex's first birthday party."

"That's next week, isn't it?"

Akeno nodded, "The Ouroboros Academy's faculty also has a day off around that time, so everyone from there should be able to attend."

"What about Irina and Aika?"

"Irina said that she'll do something about her schedule while there's been no word from Aika. Her doors are still locked and we aren't sure when she's coming out this time..." Akeno then gave him a meaningful look and added, "And she probably won't unless someone can drag her out."

"Fine. I'll bring her out and get some gifts. Be careful on your way and contact me if there's something urgent."

Akeno sighed, "Although we're quite busy, we're all alright. In fact, we're more worried about you. You've been sneaking 'outside', aren't you? We know you're capable, but it's still too dangerous. This isn't just your problem but the whole world's. Don't try to carry all of it on your own."

Kisuke patted her head and ruffled her hair a little, "I'm being careful, so don't worry about it."

"...If you say so..." Although reluctant, Akeno couldn't really say anything else as she already knew the man known as Kisuke.

Akeno started the car and it began floating off the ground. As she left, she thought back to the conversation they had and felt helpless, 'As expected, only Yoruichi can really force him to back down. Too bad she's still on the other side. According to Aika, it should only take her less than a month to punch a hole in the barrier.'

For these past seven years, Kisuke had been laying low and it was Yoruichi's idea to delegate most of the tasks he had to the other girls. Although he could have finished opening up the path to the world where Yoruichi, Serafall, Hestia, and Artemis were a lot earlier, Yoruichi thought that it was about time for the others to get some real work done and everyone unanimously agreed to her.

With that in mind, Sona established the Ouroboros Academy which was independent of the prominent powers to kick start the strengthening of the combat and logistic abilities of the whole world. As she won't be able to run it on her own and she didn't really want to hire for any position close to her since they'd just be infested by spies, Medusa took on the role of Vice-Principal.

Meanwhile, Koneko, Kuroka, and Riveria served as Martial Arts Instructor, Youjutsu Instructor, and Magic Instructor respectively.

And to assist in the integration of the Human World to the Supernatural World, Akeno and Irina both took a role in the Human World with the former becoming the Minister of the newly built ministry while the latter became a General for the Alliance's Peacekeeping Order.

Meanwhile, Aika did most of Kisuke's work by becoming a Magic and Soul Engineer. After four years of studying under Kisuke, she began to focus on her own studies while also taking care of the opening in the barrier.

Naturally, no matter how much she studied, she could only take a fraction of Kisuke's work and she was only able to work on the barrier thanks to Yoruichi's suggestion. While Aika could now craft tools that could affect souls, something like Gigai research is still too much for her, much less the Soul Gears.

Even then, the only real work left for Kisuke, thanks to the girl's intervention, was the preparation for Chaos, taking further control of the Sacred Gear System, analyzing the Evies and Etouldes, and finally, the World-Tying Rite.

This also helped him lay low and avoid getting involved with the current world events as there were just too many people allergic to his presence, so any movement from him would elicit some kind of reaction for better or worse.

And what was worrying Akeno and the girls the most was the third one. Since he had access to his Mars base, it was also very easy for him to get behind enemy lines to observe them. Although he was not telling them how much he was observing them, they were afraid that he was actually stepping into their spacecraft.

In fact, they were correct to worry since Kisuke didn't just step into their spacecraft but also began to reverse engineer their hardware and software, which was proving to be very difficult because it used an entirely different system and way of thinking.

Akeno's phone began to ring and she immediately answered it after seeing the caller, "Bennia, how was it?"

[It's just as you'd guessed, Akeno-neesan. The people you'd marked have been assisting the smugglers to export Soul Gears.]

Akeno gritted her teeth while asking, "What about your team?"

[As instructed, I've been feeding them false information so it's just me who knows about this.]

"Good. Retreat for now and make sure to carefully erase your tracks."

[Retreat? But shouldn't we stop them?]

Akeno shook her head, "I would love to, but it's only going to get harder once we reveal that we're on their tail."

[...Understood. I'll be contacting you directly if I find something else.]

"Good work and take care."

Akeno ended the call and couldn't help but sigh once again, 'Indra is still thinking of raising his army even in this kind of situation. And we can't actually directly stop him since that's just the type of provocation he would want.'

Akeno didn't know what kind of motivation Indra had to go against Shiva despite the enemies camping outside, 'And he even managed to get Takamahagara's help... Ugh... My head is aching...'

Akeno parked to the side and picked her phone up again and dialed a number. After a few seconds, someone answered, [What can I do for you, ma'am?]

"Cancel everything I have from this afternoon and the next two days."

[What reason should I give them?]

"Just tell them that I'm personally doing a high-profile investigation."

[Understood. I'll arrange it. Will that be everything?]

"I'll call you again if I need something else."

Akeno ended the call and dialed another number, "Hello? Sona? I'm coming over."

Akeno then changed the GPS guide on her car's console while thinking, 'We have to think of a way to deter him... If we can't, we have to take him down in an instant and stop many tragedies that could occur.'