"You've done a good job, kukuku, you know, this little girl here is just like you, Ruval-kun," Orochimaru smiled brightly, gesturing toward Koneko with his palm as he gave Ruval a careful look.
The blond-haired man turned his gaze and looked at Koneko, his eyes briefly glowed with a faint fire before returning to normal.
"Koneko Toujo, the cat-girl of Rias Gremory, if I recall correctly…" Ruval made a strange expression, gave a slight smile, and made an elegant gesture toward Koneko, "It seems your President doesn't have enough power to satisfy you…"
Ruval's words quickly made Koneko narrow her eyes, she took a step forward, took a battle stance, and stared at Ruval, her face showing irritation.
"Kukuku, Ruval-kun, don't tease the little girl, she has something I need, and I'll help her evolve so she can kill her sister…" Orochimaru said, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, as if he had lived this before, then he burst out laughing, "Kukuku!!!"
Orochimaru's laughter sent chills down Ruval's spine, Koneko stepped back due to the powerful aura coming from the snake.
"It seems like I've lived this before… Either way, it doesn't matter, Koneko-chan, follow me…" Orochimaru said, laughing as he continued on.
There was a brief moment where Ruval just stood there looking at Koneko, who remained still, then, Ruval narrowed his eyes, made some gestures toward her, and performed several hand signs before walking away.
Koneko narrowed her eyes, looked at Ruval, and ran to catch up with the snake.
Soon they left the hallway and arrived at a large underground laboratory, here, many demons resurrected through Edo-Tensei were working on strange machines that Koneko had never seen before.
The underground lab was gigantic, with a ceiling that looked like the sky, and a massive interior that could easily be half a mile long and wide. Besides the resurrected demons, Koneko saw hundreds of strange demons diligently working on white machines.
These strange white machines were as big as small soccer fields, inside them was a strange green liquid, and living within that liquid, connected by odd tubes, were all sorts of people... elderly, children, women...
Koneko's skin bristled. She looked up at Orochimaru, her eyes dilated and her body began to feel heavy, "I think I made a mistake…" Koneko murmured under her breath.
She was about to escape when she saw someone familiar approaching, he was wearing a white lab coat, and a strange smile painted his handsome face, "Kiba!!" Koneko shouted as soon as she saw him.
The boy slightly turned his head and looked at Koneko, his cheerful face quickly turned serious, and his fast pace began to slow.
"Kiba-kun, it's good that you're here, a friend of yours is going to join us, Isn't that great?" Orochimaru said with a smile.
There was a brief moment of silence, Orochimaru watched Koneko and Kiba closely, they stared at each other, multiple intentions hidden in their eyes.
"Koneko, you came to join Lord Orochimaru…" Kiba finally broke the silence, he took several steps forward, bowed in front of Orochimaru, and spoke again, "Lord Orochimaru, we've collected enough genetic data, we can begin with the Senjutsu tomorrow…"
The snake smiled, his tongue slipped out and licked his lips, almost as if he licked his entire jaw, "Excellent!!" he exclaimed, grinning and revealing white teeth and sharp fangs, "This little one here is Koneko-chan, she can use a bit of Senjutsu, so we'll start the experiments with her help…"
Kiba's eyes widened as he heard Orochimaru's words. He stepped back, his body trembling, eyes quickly focusing on Koneko, hoping for her to object. However, the girl only nodded slowly.
"B-but, Lord Orochimaru…" Kiba stammered. His initial surprise quickly turned into concern, he looked at the snake, trying to find words to make him reconsider.
"Ah, of course, Kiba-kun, we'll use the friendliest method possible for Koneko-chan, I don't want anything bad to happen to her, after all…" Orochimaru smiled, suddenly appearing in front of Kiba and patting his head, "I don't want little Koneko-chan to die, she still needs to kill her sister."
Chills ran down Kiba's spine, he looked at Orochimaru with some fear before nodding, then turned his gaze back to Koneko, his look said more than a thousand words, he nodded a few times before stepping away.
Still, before leaving, Kiba couldn't help but say, "Please, think this through, Koneko."
"Wow, seems like the boy cares a lot about you, Did you two happen to be dating? Kukukuku!!!" Orochimaru burst out laughing, but Koneko shook her head.
Although the girl's expression was calm and serious, her heart was trembling with fear. This place, the people, the demons, Kiba coming back to life, everything felt too hard to believe.
The mental shock she experienced was comparable to that of a villager visiting the city for the first time, Koneko looked up at Orochimaru again.
"Lord Orochimaru, W-what should I do?" she asked, hesitantly.
But Orochimaru shook his head, placed a hand on her shoulder, and opened his mouth, "You only need to provide some of that Senjutsu so we can use it on humans, understand?"
The snake's simple words brought a moment of silence, several questions ran through Koneko's mind, from how this could be possible, to whether Orochimaru was truly insane.
"Not even I can fully control Senjutsu, and not only that…" Koneko quickly said, turning her head to look at Orochimaru, her expression filled with disbelief, "How exactly do you plan to inject Senjutsu into humans?"
Orochimaru didn't answer. Instead, he gestured for her to follow him, "Come, I'll take you to your room."
...
In an empty apartment, three demons were talking, they were Rias Gremory, Akeno Himejima, and Issei, respectively, they were in Koneko's apartment, looking for clues about her disappearance.
"No matter how much we search, we're not going to find anything…" Akeno said, the whole apartment was a mess; the three of them had been searching for over four hours without finding a single clue.
Bang
A strange sound caught everyone's attention. They quickly turned, their special attacks ready to launch at whoever dared interrupt.
However…
"Itachi…" Rias Gremory was the first to murmur. She looked at the young man not far from them with surprise and a bit of joy.
"Hello, looks like you were looking for my help, heheh," Itachi said with a slight smile.
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