Chapter 1019: Atmosphere that causes diabetes.
Nero opens her eyes.
"FATHER!"
"Shh, I'm here," Victor embraced her.
Feeling his embrace, feeling the familiar warmth, hearing his voice, Nero instinctively hugged him as silent tears fell from her face.
"Father... Father..." She sounded like a broken record repeating the same word multiple times, in different ways.
Victor sighed, his heart aching at the sight, he knew it was necessary, the outcome speaks for itself, but it was still difficult. "It's okay, my daughter. You're home again."
Hearing the word 'home', Nero couldn't hold back anymore and cried even harder as she hugged him.
Ruby, seeing this scene, simply approached slowly behind Nero, and gently touched her shoulder. "You're home, Nero... You're home."
This understanding made a cold sweat break out on Kali's face; the reason being that even if she tried to somehow prevent Nero from 'destroying' her influence around, the damage would still occur in the same way. You can't prevent the Apocalypse from happening; you can only lessen its influence. Unless, of course, you were Victor with his abnormal powers.
Kali, who was floating, looked at this scene with loving eyes, but at the same time, she watched with caution the 'chaos' that surrounded Nero.
Her divinity was completely out of control; if it weren't for Victor suppressing the entire area with his influence, ensuring that Nero's powers didn't influence anything, the apocalypse might have already happened around her.
This understanding made a cold sweat break out on Kali's face; the reason being that even if she tried to somehow prevent Nero from 'destroying' her influence around, the damage would still occur in the same way. You can't prevent the Apocalypse from happening; you can only lessen its influence. Unless, of course, you were Victor with his abnormal powers.
Kali sighed. 'The more time I spend here, the more I regret making that contract.' Did she become stronger? Yes, she did; she progressed more in the time she spent with Victor than in the 2000 years she spent merely meditating, but at the same time, her sanity began to deteriorate slightly. She saw things... Things she couldn't share with her pantheon.
She sighed a second time in resignation. Despite not interacting much in her pantheon, she still loves her pantheon; after all, it's her home. She would very much like to warn her pantheon not to provoke the Emperor in any way, and if he does something to her pantheon, they should immediately surrender to the Emperor's will.
Even though the pride of the gods hurts with this action, it's better to do this than to be served as food for the Emperor. There's a fine line between arrogance and pride. And usually, the gods don't see that line.
'Fortunately, there is Shiva, although he is very proud, he can still see reality.' Kali was not naive; she did not believe in Victor's passivity at all.
Victor is a man of action; he won't be limited by a 'deal' made at the meeting of supernatural beings; the incident in Asgard is a good example of this.
And to be honest, he is completely correct; the other gods wouldn't remain passive if they were in his position. If Shiva, Odin, the late Zeus, or another God King were in Victor's position of power, they would do everything to control the supernatural world.
One could say that Victor is being quite 'kind' for not having done anything so far. But Kali didn't believe in this passivity; if he doesn't act now, he will act in the future.
Her bet is that he will act before the sector shifts to a higher level. From everything she has observed so far from Victor's family, this was the most natural conclusion she could reach.
"I can't just stay passive, I have to somehow engage with him..." Her face turned slightly red as she entertained these thoughts, but she didn't dismiss them immediately. "To ensure the future of my pantheon, I need to do something."
Kali didn't know what this 'something' would be; the most obvious answer was to become one of his 'wives' and try to persuade him in some way not to harm her pantheon too much during his conquest. But that was a risky idea; the reason being that Victor is very sensitive to emotions, he will know when someone is trying to manipulate him, and she can't fake her love for him.
She has to genuinely love him for him to move. Although she 'likes' Victor, she doesn't 'love' him yet; she finds him intriguing, she respects him for his power, and for helping her with something no one else could, but that's it.
"Ugh." Kali felt a headache coming on as she thought of several things at once; she sighed again. "It would all be easier if I could just destroy everything that opposes me."
Perhaps, if she were to transform into a primordial, she would stand a chance in the fight against Victor, but even with Victor's help, the process of fully transforming into a primordial is very lengthy; you are literally becoming the very concept of the universe. In her predictions, it would take at least another 5 or 7 millennia to reach this stage, a much shorter time compared to before when it was expected to take over millions of years.
Therefore, this idea was discarded; in 7 millennia, Victor himself might become a monster even greater than a primordial. She didn't doubt his potential; he has proven time and again that he can always exceed beings' expectations.
Not to mention, she doesn't have all that time; the sector's shift will happen in 100 years, this was a prediction that could increase or decrease depending on various external factors, no one knew the 'exact' time, but it would definitely happen sooner than everyone expected; she could feel it, her connection with the universe told her that.
Kali must work with the present; what strategies should she use? What plans should she employ? What can she do to change his mind?
Artifacts? Victor doesn't need those; he can literally create whatever he wants as a god of creation, and with Hephaestus and Velnorah around. In fact, it's she who wants his artifacts; the convenience of this mansion is something not found anywhere else.
"Honestly, I don't even know how I'll live again in my home without these comforts." It seemed like this entire mansion was living 40 millennia ahead of the current present; the technology was just that superior.
The Nightmare Tower, which is a highly deadly challenge zone capable of greatly enhancing one's being. 120K technologies in maximum definition. Virtual reality capable of simulating any possible scenario. Highly technological bathrooms, access to any information with just a thought.
The technology Velnorah provided was just... out of this world.
'Not to mention that these technologies improve every passing day; if I sleep and wake up the next day, the whole mansion could have been remodeled again.' Kali thought.
While Kali was lost in thought having a small existential crisis [again], Victor continued to comfort his daughter along with his wife.
After some time, she stopped crying and just continued hugging him until she slowly fell into the realm of unconsciousness; unlike Ophis, her process of awakening divinity was more turbulent and mentally exhausting.
'She probably won't wake up for a few weeks.' Victor thought as he assessed her soul; her soul was strong and robust, much more than before, but at the same time, the soul needed time to readjust to its new existence, he could clearly see traces of 'something' being awakened inside her core.
'She has a nightmare form as well.' Focusing his gaze on her core of existence, he saw that as an 'Eldritch' goddess, her nightmare form was not massive like his, but rather more humanoid, much like when he uses his influence to maintain his humanoid form.
But unlike him, who does this only out of convenience, this is Nero's true soul form.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Victor's true soul form now is just a formless 'something' that could transform into a massive entity capable of swallowing entire solar systems as snacks; he can, of course, control this form by blending his dragon form with the nightmare form.
An Eldritch Chaos like him is not limited to any form; he simply remains like this because he identifies with this form; the same principle applies to Azathoth, and later his Daughter Yog, who can be called an Eldritch primordial goddess.
Briefly pondering this, Victor realized that the Eldritch pantheon has the same concept as other pantheons. 'Azathoth and I are both Chaos, the beginning of everything, then come the primordial gods created by us like Yog, after Yog come the normal goddesses who draw power from me like in the case of Nero and Ophis.' He felt amused to think that he was essentially creating a whole new creation from scratch.
'But of course, this comparison is just me comparing. Eldritch gods are different fundamentals; we really have no limits, as long as Nero, or Ophis, strive hard enough, they can reach the same stage as Yog.' The only difference between Ophis, Nero, and Yog were their starting points.
Eventually, even Nero and Ophis, who started from a lower point, will become conceptual beings whose mere sight can drive any mortal insane, as in the case of Yog.
"...Darling..." Ruby spoke as she stroked Nero's white hair, which stood on end. 'Her hair looks like a lion's mane.' She chuckled silently with that thought as she looked lovingly at Nero.
"Yes?"
"Will you resurrect Nero's father and mother?" She asked.
"If she wishes, Yes." Victor said. "Let her make her own decisions; I will assist her in whatever she needs."
"I see..." Ruby said.
"Let's take her to her room." Victor said.
"Mm." Ruby nodded. "I'll stay by her side."
"Are you sure? She'll probably take days to wake up."
"It doesn't matter. Except for the rare exceptions when I need to visit the laboratory personally, I can do my work from anywhere." Ruby gets up. "Besides, she'll like waking up and the first thing she sees will be either me or you."
"That's true." Victor smiled gently.
"This way, I can also take your place while you focus on other things... After all, knowing you, Darling. You would stay with her the whole time, delaying several projects that require your presence, right?" She displayed a small smile.
Victor just smiled ironically. "Family always comes first; I don't mind delaying the development of everything for that."
"I know." Ruby chuckled lightly.
"Leave her with me; just make sure to appear when she's close to waking up, you with all your broken powers can do that for your daughter, right?" Ruby smiled coldly. "You're not like a certain blond ninja, are you?"
"Please don't compare me to him." Victor rolled his eyes, making Ruby laugh a little more. "I was already planning to do that before you even suggested anything; within my domain, I can be anywhere I want at any time." He gets up while carrying Nero like a princess.
"... Oh, don't let my daughters know about this." Victor wouldn't hear the end of it if his daughters knew this information.
"Fufufufu, you underestimate your daughters, Darling. They already know."
"...Pepper, huh." Victor quickly understood.
"Yeah, she's got a soft spot for kids, and some of them take advantage of that to get information out of her."
Victor narrowed his eyes slightly. "I thought they had stopped that." It might seem strange for Victor not to know this, but he's not monitoring everyone 24/7 as if it were a reality show; he only does so when necessary.
After all, privacy is important... He only does it every 8 hours, but that's just to check on how his family is doing; some small details like this can be missed, not to mention...
"Don't give me that look; they'll be upset, you know?" She smiled gently. "They're not doing it on purpose, and when it happens, whether intentional or not, us mothers always make sure to teach and punish those involved."
Ruby spoke seriously. "Family should take care of each other, not exploit each other."
Mothers were very competent at educating their daughters.
"Haah... I'm so lucky to have you all in my life." Victor sighed and displayed a smile that made Ruby's heart melt.
"Wrong, Darling. We're the lucky ones to have you in our lives." Ruby smiled with the same smile.
"....." Kali looked at this pink scene, full of blooming flowers with a lifeless face, the 'flowers' that flew from this sweet atmosphere hit her, and for some reason, caused more damage than Victor's fists when they trained.
Her heart bled inside, and her eyes burned; for some reason, she felt her palate too sweet as if she had eaten pure sugar.
Kali physically recoiled at this scene; it was so sweet, so loving, that she felt physical disgust! She felt so disgusted that she wanted it for herself! She was so envious right now!
'Now I understand the expressions when Susanoo said he ate dog food...' Kali thought.
.....