[Alright, my fellow monsters. Looks like the Ringmaster has returned as anticipated, but the Knock-Off appears to have come back stronger as well. I don't think that's going to affect our plans to take him and his horde out by too much,] Springerdermain assured his fellow Kaijin. [We just have to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.]

[Yeah, yeah.]

[You act like we haven't done something like this before.]

[Well, we haven't done anything like this with mortals. Or...at least this many of them.]

...

The moment Dante and his hunting party were announced being close to the mines, a flurry of activity was set off like freshly lit gunpowder.

All over the mines, beneath the notice of the watching kaijin, through abandoned tunnels that had been painstakingly hidden away, rebellious slaves moved into pre-planned positions.

Some of these slaves were armed with pieces of mining gear, others had abilities that were designed to tear through rock and stone, while an even greater amount were simply carrying special barrels that were loaded with explosive materials and covered in exploding aether arrays.

None of this stuff would be useful in terms of attacking the kaijin overseers directly, but they were still absolutely crucial for the plan.

For the past three months, Zhen Liu's kaijin and cousins have been busy laying the groundwork for what was essentially a revolution.

Or rather, the culmination of Dante's karma.

Of course, none of them made mention that the true goal of this was to take out the aforementioned Dante, and that the betterment of the slaves was entirely collateral.

...

[Regardless, all of them are moving as planned and will act as instructed. Are the young masters ready to move?] Springerdermain asked.

[They are. Blazejudicator and Screamira even decided to possess them to give them a boost.]

[Really?]

[Well, until it's time for us to deal with those Demon Knight assholes,] Screamira answered for herself and Blazejudicator. [If his Kaijin are as strong as when we first clock them, then it won't be too much of an issue for us to assist the mortals for a bit.]

[Makes sense...wait, what about native warriors?]

[I'm with Lyona, right now,] Nepherage piped up. [We're just making sure that all of the bystanders and weaker slaves are out of the way so that they don't get caught up as collateral or hostages. Well, the ones that can be moved anyways.]

[I'm assisting as well,] Razorstella added. [I have to do something since Olstenna and Lythero already took over organizing the actual fighters.]

...

In those three months, the kaijin and the Zhen Clan scions needed to establish three things in order for this revolution/assassination to succeed.

First, they needed a figurehead.

Every revolution needed a leader, someone that people could look up to and serve as a unifying force.

It was much easier for people to believe the words and thoughts of a single person, attribute all manner of achievements to a single man than to a collective whole.

That, and if the worst case scenario ever occurred, it was much easier to blame a single man for being the root cause.

In the case for the [Mines of Malevolence], the kaijin and Zhen Clan scions decided that the leadership role would go to a young Bloodliner woman named Lyona.

Lyona was already a rough yet sturdy stone, being a rare double cultivator with a bloodline ability to boot, but the teachings from the kaijin had changed her into a polished diamond of a warrior.

[You ready to go out there and crack some skulls?] Nepherage asked her current host.

'To an extent,' Lyona admitted. 'I would've liked to meet this so-called real Kaijin Lord before this battle, though.'

[Meh, don't worry about it. He'll probably somehow charm you during the heat of battle, anyways.]

'That...why are you staying that like it's a fact and not you being smug?'

[History.]

...

Second, the support of the people.

A rebellion only truly succeeded if it was able to convince the general populace to support their cause, and if they could convince the movers and shakers of the world to do so in their favor.

Mortals had the nasty habit of not caring about grander issues as long as their domestic situation was comfortable enough, or if they happened to benefit from whatever nasty issue people were rebelling against.

That stated, the only issue Lyona and the kaijin had to deal with was the personal grudges that many of the lead warriors had with one another.

It wasn't a massive issue, once they introduced themselves as the big stick of peace.

Surprisingly, they also discovered that Lyona wasn't the only gem the kaijin had found down in these mines.

Dante's kaijin had an aura of [Chaos] to them that made others become more and more disgusted with the world around them to the point of catatonia. This influence was subtle, yet amplified by the power of [Malevolent Gold], and seemed to be entirely random in how much it affected a person.

However, that wasn't the case at all.

[Alright, guys, remember your training. Coat your weapons, then aim for their chests. It should stun them long enough for one of us to take them out,] Lythero reminded the warriors in front of him, using [Chaos] speak to help break the language barrier and get in some last minute application practice. [Any questions?]

[No, sir!!!]

Dante and his kaijin weren't able to detect this due to their incomplete understanding of [Chaos], but the reason why some of the slaves in the mines seemed more resistant to their [Disgust] aura than others was due to the fact that they were born with a higher compatibility with [Chaos] than other mortals.

This made them more resilient when dealing with the negative effects of [Chaos], while also being more effective in leveraging its effects.

All the kaijin had to do to make them able to fight their invincible betters, was to give them a little push.

[Alright. Remember that the fighting is going to be tight, so stick together.]

[Yes, sir!!!]

...

Third, a moment of separation.

When dealing with a superior force, especially one consisting of nearly invincible monsters,the wisest decision one can make is to try and separate them from each other as much as possible.

This was especially the case in an underground battlefield such as this.

The way the [Mines of Malevolence] was structured was very similar to how an ant colony was built.

There were multiple large chambers that were connected via long tunnels that seemed to wind and turn in weird ways.

Tunnels that were constructed in a rather...stupid way.

It took the kaijin quite some time to map the whole thing out and have the curators do all the calculations, but they eventually figured out that these tunnels could be easily collapsed with just a few strategically placed explosives.

By collapsing these tunnels at just the right time, Dante and his horde would be scattered into smaller, significantly more manageable groups that could be handled the handful of champion fighters in the rebel army.

Not only that, but it would also add a layer of protection to the hiding civilians, making it so that these bastards won't have the chance to suddenly take hostages and use them as human shields.

These bastards haven't had a fair fight in decades, so this might as well be a reminder of what one of those felt like.

...

[Okay, I suppose there's just one last thing for us to handle,] Nepeherage informed her fellow Kaijin. [How do we take out the False Lord?]

[Huh? I thought the plan was to leave it to the Director,] Razorstella pointed out. [King of the hill type shit, right?]

[See, that would normally be the case if the guy he was fighting was a regular aether warriors of the same level or stronger,] Blazejudicator began to explain, [because of what had occurred on their expedition, Dante has managed to reach a stage where's technically on the same wavelength as the Executor and stronger than him.]

[What...what are you implying?]

[To put it bluntly, unless the Executor manages to get into a position where we can intervene, he's going to have to deal with the power gap between Grandmaster and Lord all by himself, without his usual defenses.]

[Oh...oh shit.]

The kaijin went silent as they pulled over this situation in their heads.

It was a rather common story, hell, it was a fact of life that when the power gap between aether warriors was wide enough, the weaker party would always die in an instant.

This wasn't an issue in the past, even against someone like Smoking Mirror, because Zhen Liu could rely on his Kaijin for help.

But now, because of the nature of this plane, he was separated from them in all but communication.

[Okay...if that's the case,] Nepherage eventually piped up. [Then that just means we gotta make sure to defeat our respective opponents before our Lord's battle comes to a conclusion. No big deal.]