a.n.a.lyzing the images he received from Velnorah, Victor deduced the following.
'Most of their G.o.ds are much stronger than ours.'
If we put it into perspective, it was as if Victor were evaluating Nyx fighting fully trained in her own Concept and in combat.
It was obvious that the High-Level Sector G.o.ds were G.o.ds who did not neglect their proficiency in combat, unlike most Earth G.o.ds who just lived without training or doing anything useful, like progressing in their own Divinity.
The G.o.ds of the Upper Worlds were not like that.
One question that arose in Victor's mind as he observed these images was, 'Did these G.o.ds learn to fight like this because of the pressure from their Overlord or because in the Higher Sectors, the 'normal' level of the G.o.ds is very high?'
One thing Victor realized was that the Being that attacked Velnorah's mother was someone who had the Divinity of Night and Darkness, like Nyx.
But when he asked Nyx about this G.o.d, she said she had never felt him fighting for dominance in her Concept.
These words led Victor to understand that the Concepts in each Sector were different.
For example, Aphrodite currently held the highest Authority over the Concept of Beauty, and she could easily suppress other G.o.ddesses and G.o.ds in her own Concept to prevent them from progressing.
Therefore, he theorized that if his Sector rose to the Upper Level, his Pantheon would enter a new territory full of G.o.ds who were already competing.
'... This can't continue like this... We need to get stronger.' Victor stopped floating and glanced at The Tower of Nightmares.
Currently, there was no one in The Tower of Nightmares; the girls had already left and were resting.
"FAAAAAAATHHHHHEEEEEEERRRRRR------!"
Victor turned his head and smiled gently when he saw Nero racing toward him with Ophis while Metis watched from behind as if she were their guard.
"Hey, girls, did you just wake up?" Victor held the two in his arms.
"Mm!" Nero nodded. "Father, are you going to train us?"
"Of course, but not right now. I want to take you out for some fun too."
These words made Ophis and Nero's eyes widen with excitement.
Before Ophis could say anything, Nero interrupted her by asking, "... Are you sure, Father? Aren't you busy?"
"Of course not. I won't be busy for a while." Victor smiled.
"... That's good." Ophis nodded in satisfaction.
Victor looked at Metis, who had already become a full-fledged adult. "How was their visit to Nightingale?"
Metis looked at Nero, who turned her head slightly to the side as if she saw something interesting in the gra.s.s. "Well..."
...
Nightingale.
Vlad looked expressionlessly at a ma.s.sive crater in the distance within his territory.
"How did this happen?" He pointed to the crater over 500 meters across with a depth that he couldn't even see the end of with his senses.
"Nero Alucard, irritated that a Vampire was being... 'Indelicate' with her, atomized them along with their entire family."
Listening to what happened from Alexios, Vlad's irritation completely disappeared. After all, he knew that if Victor found out about this, his reaction could be worse than his daughter's.
"... As expected of that man's daughter, she has the same temperament as him... And she's quite powerful too."
"... She's his adopted daughter, My King."
"Not exactly. Since he gave his blood to her to transform her into a n.o.ble Vampire, it can be said that she is his daughter. She just didn't come into the world in the usual way as one of his Wives' children will, but she is definitely his daughter."
"... That makes sense."
...
"It's okay, nothing too serious happened," Metis said.
"Mm," Victor nodded. He knew that Metis was telling a white lie. His shadows had already informed him of what happened, and he was very pleased with how Nero had handled everything.
'As expected of my daughter,' he smiled internally, satisfied.
Victor set the two girls down and knelt in front of them.
"I will give you two gifts."
Victor looked at Nero, opened his hand, and a red Power began to condense in his palm. Shortly after, two black Deagles with white details appeared in his hand.
"Father... Is this..." Nero's eyes were extremely focused.
"Two Divine Artifacts that work in tandem with each other. The ammunition is infinite, and it is controlled according to your Energy. You can intensify the output this way."
Victor took the Deagle and aimed it at the sky; pulling the trigger, a ma.s.sive red Energy beam shot out of the barrel towards the sky.
"Holy...!" Nero held onto Victor's hand to avoid being sent flying.
"Or you can do it this way." Victor concentrated less Energy in the weapon and pulled the trigger.
This time, it was not an Energy beam but condensed bullets.
"It's like a machine gun."
"Exactly," Victor nodded. "There are several other modes, but you will understand them with time. For now, keep the output capacity at 10% until you can control your Energy properly... And don't forget: Never rely too much on a weapon. You must continue to train your body."
"Yes, Father. I understand," Nero nodded excitedly.
Metis, seeing this, just shook her head from side to side. These two Artifacts were specifically made by Hephaestus and Victor. These two Artifacts could be considered Top-Grade Divine items. For Humans, they would be like two nuclear weapons, and Victor casually gave these weapons to his daughter.
Victor stroked Nero's head, and the teenager felt her body glowing and growing stronger.
"What is this...?" She asked, confused as various pieces of knowledge entered her mind.
"I have Blessed you with the Wisdom of War and the Peace of Nature... Over time, you will come to understand better how these Blessings work."
"... Can't you tell me?"
"I can't, because what I gave you was something quite special that will help you. You will understand it better as you grow stronger."
Nero pouted; she didn't like mysteries, but if her father said something, she wouldn't question these teachings. After all, he always did things for a reason.
Victor looked at Ophis, raised his left hand, and black Power began to condense, and soon, two black gloves appeared in his hand.
"... What is this?" Ophis pouted slightly. She thought she would get a cool weapon like Nero, but she didn't complain; she just asked what this item was.
"Put on the gloves, and you will understand."
"Mm..." Ophis took off the two gloves she was wearing and put on the ones Victor gave her. As soon as she finished putting them on, two red Magical Circles shone on the top of her hands, and Ophis's pupils narrowed slightly like a fox.
"Hmm... This feeling." Ophis tilted her head in confusion and tried to focus on this feeling. In the next moment, a fireball was created through her.
"As expected... It worked." Victor smiled. Unlike Nero's weapon, Victor made these gloves himself with the Power of Souls, Dragon Runes, and control over Creation.
These gloves directly accessed Ophis's minor Youkai Lineage and activated it. Essentially speaking, Ophis was more Vampire than Youkai since the Progenitor Blood in her veins was the dominant strain, but... That didn't mean her Fox Lineage had disappeared; that 1% was there, just dormant and very weak. These gloves "enhanced" that Power so she could use it.
A black mantle began to cover Ophis's body, and in the next moment, two fox ears and nine fox tails made of pure dark Energy appeared behind her.
"Ohhhh! You look beautiful, Ophis!" Nero smiled when she saw Ophis's appearance.
"Father... Is this... Mother?" She looked at Victor with melancholic eyes.
"Yes, indeed." Victor stroked Ophis' head while looking into her eyes. "This is the Power of your mother."
"These gloves will help you access your mother's Power... Of course, they do more than that, and over time, you will discover more of their functions... Take good care of them until you fully understand them in the future."
Victor smiled gently as he saw, from his perspective, the transparent Soul of a nine-tailed Fox woman behind Ophis. The woman looked in Victor's direction, placed both hands in front of her, and lowered her head in a gesture of grat.i.tude. n..---./(/-.)I(/n
"... Yes, I will... Thank you, Father," Ophis genuinely thanked him.
Although not very expressive, she did her best to show how valuable this gift was to her. After all, these gloves were a direct connection to her mother, someone she missed greatly, even though she had almost no memories of her.
"Umu." Victor nodded, and then he focused on his Divinity of Nature, War, and Blood.
Ophis' body glowed faintly, as it had with Nero.
"This feeling..."
"Just like Nero, you have received my Blessings of Nature, War, and Blood."
"Blood? Why Blood, Father?" Nero asked curiously.
"Because of your Progenitor Blood, this Blessing will help you better understand that side of yourself."
"I see… We must train hard then."
"Yes, but not just that." He got up and turned around. "Come, follow me."
Victor spread his two Dragon Wings and flew towards The Tower of Nightmares at a moderate speed that the group could easily catch up to him.
Nero covered her body with her Energy and jumped toward Victor; she took hold of her Deagles, adjusted the Power output, aimed behind her, and fired.
The recoil propelled herself even further into the sky, as she was effectively using the weapon as thrusters to fly, a rather radical means of locomotion, but it worked for Nero. After all, her body was much stronger than it seemed.
Unlike Nero's radical method, Ophis just used the Power of the Wind around her to throw herself upwards. Using these Powers seemed so... 'instinctive' to her. It was as if she were born to use these Powers.
Although she could use these Powers instinctively, the lack of practice was obvious, and Ophis needed to train more to use these Powers as if they were arms and legs like Haruna.
'I'll ask Mother Haruna to help me later...' Ophis thought. Calling Haruna mother had been a little strange at first; after all, she was her aunt. But if she was her father's Wife, she was therefore, her mother as well.
Metis spread her wings and flew after the group. Due to the... dormant state... Of Victor's other Wives, she was responsible for taking care of the children.
'Speaking of which, where is Lady Anna? Shouldn't she replace me next?' Metis thought. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't heard from Anna since yesterday.
....