As he was about to speak, he heard Amara's voice.
[You two! You're skipping your lessons again?! Come back here now!]
[Geh, Mother is here, Rosalyn, run!]
[I'm already running, Amaya!]
[Wait, don't run away, you brats!]
[... Haah, honestly, why are these kids so mischievous?] Roxanne sighed.
[I wonder why, huh. It's not like their Mothers thought it was a good idea to play with Powers they didn't understand, right?] Victor said.
Roxanne visibly blushed at Victor's remark. [Darling, just forget about it already! That was millennia ago! And I learned my lesson!]
[Never.] Victor laughed.
Roxanne huffed, then clarified: [Just to clarify, what our Daughter said is wrong. Even for you, sustaining a galaxy is impossible. After all, you'd be expending more Energy than replenishing. Currently, you can sustain four mega planets and several small Dimensions without getting tired or impairing your combat readiness.]
[More than that, and you'd be expending more Energy than I can replenish, which would be detrimental.]
As Victor's internal manager, Roxanne was the one most aware of Victor's limits.
[Hmm, what if I used my Nightmare Form?] Victor asked out of curiosity. He had never thought about sustaining more planets than he already had or even sustaining a galaxy with his own Energy since there was no need for it. His personal worlds and Dimensions were already very vast, and most of his people and servants could stay in those worlds.
[I don't know.] Roxanne promptly admitted. Even to her, there were things she didn't fully understand about Victor.
Victor nodded in agreement. He had tried to learn more about the Nightmare Form from Azathoth, but not even Azathoth herself could teach him much. After all, despite being 'similar' to her as two Creators of the Eldritch Pantheon, Victor was still very different from Azathoth.
[That Energy is completely unknown to me, and even though it's linked to your Soul, I can't fully grasp it. I don't even know what effect it will have on others, but from recent observations of the times you've used this Energy, one thing I'm sure of is that widespread Chaos will occur. As my Sister Azathoth said, this Energy wasn't meant to sustain planets or life. It's too chaotic.]
Victor nodded in agreement. He had tried to learn more about the Nightmare Form from Azathoth, but not even Azathoth herself could teach him much. After all, despite being 'similar' to her as two Creators of the Eldritch Pantheon, Victor was still very different from Azathoth.
Azathoth was born outside of this Cosmology, while Victor was born within this Cosmology. This small difference was something that distinguished the two greatly.
Therefore, as always, he must learn through trial and error.
"Victor... Victor!"
"Hmm?"
"What happened? You've been out of it for a few minutes?" Kali asked.
"Oh, I was talking to Roxanne," Victor replied, looking at Kali's long hair on the ground.
As a Goddess of Destruction, her hair couldn't get dirty since any dirt would be destroyed by her hair, leaving it as soft and fluffy as before, but even having long hair was a disadvantage if she was going to fight. Fortunately, this was a weakness she could easily solve just by altering the size of her hair.
"When fighting, don't forget to shrink your hair," Victor warned.
"Hmm, I know... But I deliberately leave it like this. If the enemy is stupid enough to grab my hair, their hands will just be destroyed." She smiled coldly as her hair began to float again and become charged with the Power of Destruction, each strand of her hair becoming a deadly weapon.
Victor nodded. 'She reminds me of Roberta in this form.' He thought.
Kali could focus her Energy on any part of her body, so if she wished, her hair could become a deadly weapon, turning something that would be a weakness into a surprise attack.
'Hmm, I taught her well.' Victor nodded satisfactorily as a small tear appeared in his eyes. 'How quickly children grow up.'
Victor was the one who taught her to play dirty. After all, in any fight, any trick that defeated your enemy was allowed.
Turning his attention to his beloved Daughters, he said, "I'm sorry for ignoring you for so long even though I called you here."
"It's okay, Father. Watching your training was quite interesting. Even though we didn't understand most of it, just observing with our eyes is a great learning experience," Nero said for herself and Ophis.
Ophis nodded in agreement with Nero's words. Having been together for so long, the two knew each other very well. They were indeed like true Sisters despite not being born to the same Father and Mother.
"Umu, I certainly have extraordinary Daughters," Victor, being the doting Father he was, wasted no time in praising his beloved Daughters. "You are very kind."
Both blushed slightly but smiled gently, hearing their Father's appreciation. How could they stay angry about being ignored when their Father was like this with them?
"Come here, Girls. Let's start training."
"Okay, Father."
Kali floated a few inches off the ground again and sat in a meditative pose, but instead of meditating, she watched Victor doing his thing.
'I wonder how he will awaken the girls' Divinities.' This was the first time Kali saw Victor's process for Awakening his Wives' Divinities.
Kali wasn't a nosy woman, and even if she was curious about something, she wouldn't ask. Especially when that 'something' could be considered vital information.
After all, Victor was the only Being who, in less than two millennia, created a legion of New Gods.
'If he hasn't said anything so far, it's because he doesn't mind me observing... If I can understand the mechanism, maybe I can help my Faction?' Kali thought. 'Maybe I'll ask later if he allows me to do the same in my Faction.'
Being as paranoid as he was, Victor wouldn't teach anyone or let anyone observe his Technologies/Techniques without a strict Contract, such as the ones that bound Albedo, Dun Scaith, and Kali.
It was a Contract whose breach would guarantee the disappearance of the Soul, and as the Demon King, he was well-versed in Contracts and made sure to cover any loopholes.
Even after Albedo became his subordinate, he didn't ease her Contracts, considering that the woman was too chaotic and intelligent for her own good.
Victor didn't trust anyone but his Wives, and Albedo was not yet his Wife.
When Nero and Ophis stopped in front of Victor, he said, "Close your eyes, and relax your body..."
They both did as he said, trusting Victor completely, so the whole process was very smooth and calm.
When both of them relaxed completely, Victor's two hands glowed with violet light. "Remember, my beloved Daughters... No matter the place, I will always be with you."
The violet Energy in Victor's hands was tinted with shades of pure Darkness.
'Why is he putting his soul into the Energy?' Kali thought confusedly, and Victor's next act left her even more puzzled.
Victor touched the heads of his two Daughters, and the Energy in his hand entered their bodies, covering them completely. As the two doll-like women lost the threads controlling them, they fell into unconsciousness.
Victor quickly picked up his two Daughters and, with just a thought, created a cozy home. He entered the house while holding the girls and laying them on a living room bed.
He stroked their heads with a gentle look, and at that moment, a translucent barrier covered their bodies.
'This will keep them protected when they Awaken their Divinity.' Victor stood up and exited the house he created.
Closing the door, he looked up at the house, and a countdown was visible.
The number on the timer showed 10,000, decreasing with each passing minute.
As he did these things, Kali could only look at Victor in shock. '...I can't do this, ' she concluded.
Everything Victor did seemed very casual and appeared to be very easy, but Kali understood that while it might look easy, it wasn't!
Starting from the beginning, she didn't exactly understand why he gave Fragments of his Soul to the girls. Still, the construction of the house he casually made was extremely strong, capable of even withstanding his full Power.
With just a glance, she saw that the house was covered in Draconic Runes with effects even she didn't fully understand. Even if she didn't understand, she could clearly see the Concept of Time being widely used in that simple house, not to mention the immense amount of Energy being used.
Something that took Victor a few minutes to do would require the help of her entire Pantheon to sustain from just the Energy expenditure alone, as well as some Master Rune Gods and very strong Time Gods, something her Faction didn't have.
Runes, originally, were a craft of the Norse, and although there were Time Gods in her Pantheon, they were not as strong as Hela, for example, who would be the minimum requirement to do what Victor did.
Kali just sighed. 'This man's existence is so unfair.' She couldn't help but think.
"What's the Time dilation you set for it to require so much Energy?" Kali asked curiously.
"10,000 years."
"... What-..." Kali opened her eyes wide, looking at the visibly decreasing timer. 'I thought it would be hours or even minutes, but years!?'
Kali wondered if anyone in her Pantheon was capable of dilating Time in such a way. Since Time was the Domain of the Primordials, it demanded an absurd amount of Energy to use this Concept. Even if one of the Gods had the potential to do it, they wouldn't have the Energy to maintain the dilation as casually as Victor was doing.
"One minute for us is like 1 year for them... Although they won't feel the Passage of Time anyway."
"I see... That's why you gave your Energy to them along with your Soul... It's to sustain their Body and Soul."
Victor smiled as he neither confirmed nor denied it, but that smile was enough for Kali to confirm that she was correct.
Little did she know that she had misunderstood the situation greatly. Victor gave his Energy and Soul not to sustain his Daughters, as the house itself would ensure that happened. He gave his Soul to stimulate the 'Enlightenment' of his Daughters.
"Oh, Kali. You can't tell anyone about this," Victor said casually.
Kali felt the Contract acting and sighed. "I wouldn't tell them anyway. It's so absurd that not even the Gods would believe it."
Victor chuckled lightly. "Doing something absurd and outside of common sense is something I do daily."
Thinking about the things she saw while she was here, Kali nodded. "... That's true."
...
With Nero.
"Where am I?" She looked around but couldn't feel anything. She felt strangely weak... She didn't feel as powerful as a Dragon should, as Victor's Daughter should.
She felt debilitated and weak, just like in the past...
The room she was in lit up, and suddenly, she found herself in a white room, her body strapped to a medical bed with several needles drawing her blood on the deck.
'No... No...' Nero began to panic.
This familiar situation, this familiar room, the foul stench emanating from her own body, her boney and weak body. Everything reminded her of her nightmare, a terrible nightmare that she tried her best to forget, and in a way, she succeeded thanks to her Mother, Ruby, and her Father, Victor.
Two men in white coats entered the room, two men she knew well. Her 'caretakers' who were always around to draw more of her blood and conduct experiments.
'This isn't real, this isn't real.' Despite the initial panic, Nero knew this wasn't real, even though she had reverted to being a child.
Currently, her mental age was over 1000 years, and she had matured. Did she have traumas? Yes, everyone did, but she was not as weak anymore.
"Hmm, the subject is calmer than usual."
"She's very weak after being in a coma for so long; it's normal."
"That's true. Anyway, let's continue the work. Let's inject nutrients to help her body recover a bit more."
The brief conversation of the two men made Nero's eyes widen. 'I was in a coma...?'
These words deeply shook her as a treacherous possibility appeared in her mind... Could everything she experienced, her Father, Victor, her Mother, Ruby, her little Sister, Ophis... Could it all have been a convenient lie invented by herself?
'Impossible!' She quickly dismissed this possibility. There was no way all those memories she had of her time with her Family could be a lie!
"Who do you think will win the next games?"
"I think it will be the Boss's son, but we can't deny the possibility of the new disciple of that sadistic woman."
"Victor Snow/Scarlett/Fulger, huh?"
"I wonder what his connection is with those big shots."
"Who knows? Maybe a new weapon from the Vampire Count Clans? Anyway, that doesn't matter to us."
"That's true."
'The conversation is the same...' Even in her tumultuous state, memories of the past began to come back to her. She remembered that it was at this moment that she first heard about her Father, a new Noble Vampire being sponsored by the three Vampire Count Clans.
'If everything happens as I remember, after Father wins his fight, he will indirectly attack Niklaus, and that explosion will create an opening for me to escape... I just have to wait.'
'Yes... I just have to wait.' Nero thought resolutely, and due to her panic and fear of reliving a trauma, she completely forgot her goal, a mistake that would haunt her deeply.
