Chapter 989: Mothers, and More Mothers.
In their opinion, it was better for them not to dwell on it and just focus on the tasks at hand. Scathach agreed with this after some time. Dwelling on the Time she 'lost' was only unnecessarily irritating her, so she tried not to think about it.
Speaking of Tasha and Lilith, the only two women who were not True Dragons but were Goddesses and Progenitors of their respective Races, from the group of monsters, they were probably the ones who evolved the most as their respective Divinities reached the maximum state of Mastery, and they gained a deeper understanding of themselves and their roles as Progenitors.
These roles were worked on with Victor, resulting in two children... two monstrous girls.
What happened when Progenitors of two different Races crossed paths? No one knew the answer because it had never happened before.
Tasha's and Lilith's Daughters were the answer to this.
They were born as True Dragons with all the capabilities of their respective Mothers' Races.
A perfect blend, a True Hybrid, something that should have disrupted The Balance created by the Primordials, but it didn't due to the peculiar Adaptation Traits of The Blood Dragon Race.
The scientific and analytical side, composed of Aline, Velnorah, and Ruby, erupted into excitement after these two girls were born. Many theories were proposed, but the common consensus was that they were born Hybrids because of the Dragon Race and both parents being Progenitors.
As is known, the True Dragon Race was compatible with all Creation, and their blood was very potent. For example, if a True Dragon had children with a normal Human, and if by some miracle that normal Human survived the gestation period, which could take millennia without the help of the Dragon Father, that child definitely wouldn't be born as a Human-Dragon Hybrid but instead be born as a complete True Dragon.
The genes of the True Blood Dragon were very dominant and did not allow for subordination. And that was what happened in this case: the children were born as True Dragons at their Core, but all Aspects of their Mother's Race were also present, thanks to the peculiar ability of the Dragon being able to adapt to everything in Creation.
They were Dragons, yet they weren't at the same time. They were Dragon Hybrids, whose Dragon Blood was much stronger than their Mother's sides, but because their Mother's were Progenitors and also Goddesses, the Mother's parts also survived the predatory hunt of their Father's genes, giving their Mothers abilities to the child.
This was how the first Demonic Blood Dragon God was born, and the first Nature Blood Dragon God was born.
Victor and Lilith's Daughter had the ability to control and create Infernal Miasma to extremely toxic degrees. The Infernal Fire mixed with her own Draconic Fire was extremely dangerous, and her basic understanding of creating portals to any inferno, even those she didn't know, was something that could be exploited.
Victor and Tasha's Daughter had a complete instinctive understanding of Nature, how it functions, and its Aspects, albeit to a lesser degree due to her influence. She could even create Life. But this 'Creation' wasn't like her Father's. It was something more persuasive. She could influence thousands of years of a Race's Evolution in just a few years, thus creating entirely new Races.
In some aspects, she could also control Death. After all, Nature was also a part of Death—if there was Life, consequently, there would also be Death.
Of course, being True Dragons, they could control the other Elements as well, but their natural born Elements were much more abnormal from afar.
Violet sighed. "There's no use dwelling on it, so let's heed the advice of the Goddesses, those who are more experienced than us in this aspect."
When the women who were once more 'Mortal' than 'Immortal' began to feel the effects of the passage of Time, the Goddesses were there to assist them. For the Goddesses, the passage of Time meant nothing; they had no Time. But they knew the same was not true for those who were once Mortal.
Initially, Victor should have gone through this process as well, but his entire situation was abnormal. He simply had the firsthand experiences of Adonis on this matter and later acquired memories from Beings even more ancient than Adonis.
Therefore, his adaptation process was automatic.
"That's true. We just have to worry about what to do tomorrow."
These words were exactly why Victor didn't interfere in the administrative matters of his Empire. As an abnormal Being, he could very well, along with Velnorah, accelerate the entire process of automation and leave the women with plenty of free time.
But he didn't do that because, as was said once in the past, 'an idle mind is the devil's workshop.'
A phrase implying that if a Being wasn't occupied and had a lot of free time, they tended to have bad thoughts that could lead to quite unpleasant consequences.
Of course, not all Beings went through this, but mostly it applied.
That was why having the means to keep these women occupied was essential.
"Indeed," Violet nodded.
Scathach looked at Violet and raised an eyebrow when she saw her reading a book she was sure wasn't there before.
"What's that?"
"Ideas, thoughts, and resolutions that Victor had over these two thousand years. Everything here was personally written by him. This book recounts his discoveries in Divinity, the self-understanding he had, and also his other discoveries related to his Nightmare Form, although it's just a summary of the last topic. After all, only Yog can read the detailed content of the last topic."
"...Why didn't I receive a copy?"
"You were too busy getting irritated over something useless and didn't bother to check the Library."
Scathach grunted in annoyance and then stood up and teleported... or at least she tried; she was immediately stopped by a barrier.
"Remember, use your feet indoors," Violet warned.
"Your Powers to enforce Order and Restrictions in a Space is irritating," Scathach huffed.
"Well, I am the Empress," she smiled gently, implying that as Empress, she must have the means to subdue the other women if things got out of control.
An aspect that Anna and Scathach also possessed.
Anna, with her Powers over Reality, and Scathach, with her Divinity as the 'Teacher', which gave her a certain degree of Authority over those she 'taught' in the past. Of course, one cannot forget Jeanne and Aphrodite with their overwhelming Charm.
All the main figures in the harem, such as Violet, Aphrodite, Scathach, Sasha, Ruby, Jeanne, Anna, Kaguya, and Eleonor, had some form of Power to control the others in case a 'small' fight broke out.
After all, when two True Dragon Gods fought... even other Gods stepped aside.
These abilities became even more necessary now with several prodigious children roaming around.
By the way, Violet's Divinity of Order and Obsession gave her the ability to isolate a Space and add various rules to it that everyone inside must obey, unless there was a Divinity opposing Violet's or a Divinity superior to hers, like the Divinities of Positivity, Negativity, and End.
Scathach snorted and just walked towards the Library.
Violet just chuckled gently and returned to her reading.
As she walked through the corridors of the mansion, which later turned into a massive castle due to the need for space, Scathach came across a tall woman of 190 cm in height, long black hair reaching her buttocks, violet eyes, and a warrior's defined body, with her six-pack abs being completely defined, a body reminiscent of the Valkyries that both the Norse Goddesses of the group 'kindly invited' to be their subordinates and Eleonor's Valkyries.
Seeing this woman, Scathach narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Stella, what are you doing?"
"Geh, Mother Scathach..."
"I ask again, what are you doing?"
"...Training?"
"I, your Mother, and your Father have already told you not to use your Powers without a responsible adult present, right?"
"... But-."
"I see, I will talk to Victor then." Scathach hated doing this because it showed her inability to educate the children, but she had no choice. She couldn't 'threaten' the children with training yet, and if there was one thing all of Victor's Daughters had in common, it was their immense obsession with their Father.
Even the first words they uttered were 'Daddy,' to the immense discontent of all the Wives.
Unknowingly, Stella had ended up condemning the future of her own Sisters with her attitude, something that would come back to bite her in the future.
'I must be getting softer... In the past, my own three-year-old Daughter was already training while these girls only had obtained basic training with little effort... Yes, that's the only plausible explanation.' Scathach thought as she assessed the current situation.
After thinking about it, she really realized she had softened a bit. 'Hmm, let's change that. I will increase their training load.' Scathach nodded internally.
Unknowingly, Stella had ended up condemning the future of her own Sisters with her attitude, something that would come back to bite her in the future.
"W-W-Wait, you don't need to talk to Father!" The woman panicked as the reality around her distorted, and she reverted to being a child with the same characteristics as the adult woman, with the addition of Dragon Horns.
Scathach looked at the little girl, Princess Stella Elderblood, daughter of Anna and Victor, a child who was the blatant copy of Anna and Victor.
"Stella, your Father allowed you limited access to your Powers because he trusted you wouldn't abuse it."
"...But I'm not abusing it."
"Becoming an adult who is the perfect image your Father finds attractive... Do you take me for a fool, child? I can very well see your intentions."
Stella blushed deeply as she turned away.
Scathach sighed. If there was something she didn't like, it was how... 'adult-like' these children were. It's true that some of them were over 1000 years old, but until their Dragon Bodies entered the adolescent phase, she would still treat them all as children.
"...Speaking of Daddy—Cough, Father... Where is he?" Stella asked with a sparkle in her violet eyes, a sparkle that Scathach recognized very well.
"I haven't seen the troublesome trio either."
Scathach rolled her eyes. The troublesome trio consisted of Violet's Daughter, Ruby's Daughter, and Sasha's Daughter. Like their Mothers, the three Sisters were very close and always ready to cause trouble.
"I don't know where they are, and it doesn't matter right now."
Stella narrowed her eyes. "Mother Scathach is a liar."
"...Right, the ability to see through falsehoods," Scathach muttered.
"Where is MY Daddy?"
'The possessiveness coming from her words… truly worthy of being Victor's Daughter,' Scathach thought with an amused smile as she ignored Stella's 'pressure' on her body as if it were nothing, which it was. For a Mortal, it was extremely threatening, but for her, it was just fun.
"Don't look at me like that, young lady." Scathach's smile widened, and a subtle aura of bloodlust emanated from her body.
Stella visibly shivered and shrunk back. Even though she was powerful, she was nothing in front of Mother Scathach, who was described by all of her Mothers as only second in Power to her Father.
But...! She wouldn't cower here! She wanted to see her Father!
'Oh? I know I already knew this, but it's always good to personally see an uncut diamond.' For a moment, Scathach had a sense of déjà vu when she saw the posture of the little girl. It reminded her so much of the look Victor had in the past when she found him.
The intensity and madness were lesser than Victor's, that was a fact, but it was definitely there.
The only one who seemed to have completely inherited Victor's battle madness was Siren, his beloved Daughter, and that was obvious, considering Siren was also her Daughter.
But Stella's attitude was a misstep. After all, Scathach could be reasonable, but when provoked with a potential fight or someone talented, she kind of lost her head, and that hadn't changed since the beginning. It had just been more subdued thanks to the constant presence of her 'best' Disciple.
As Scathach's presence increased even more, Stella quickly lost her courage, and in the next moment, Reality distorted around them, and Anna appeared.
"Scathach, what's going on?"
"...Ask our beloved Daughter," Scathach's pressure disappeared, leaving only her smile.
Anna looked critically at her Daughter.
"Speak."
Knowing she couldn't lie to her Mother or she would feel it, reluctantly, Stella spoke. "I used my Powers to change into my Adult Form, and Mama Scathach caught me in the act..."
Anna's Draconian Eyes narrowed even further, but she didn't nag or raise her voice. "To your room, now."
"Am I grounded?"
"No, I assume Scathach already warned you about what you did wrong, but Victor will know of this."
"Ugh," Stella grumbled; she preferred being grounded!
"To your room. You have tasks to do."
"...Yes, Mommy." Stella sighed and walked defeatedly toward her quarters.
As she disappeared from their view, Anna sighed. "I don't know if I'm happy that our Daughters love their Father so much or irritated that they love him too much."
"Give it up. You know it's impossible to stop, considering that you couldn't stop yourself."
Anna narrowed her eyes slightly when reminded of this fact. "... That's true, but boundaries need to be set."
"I agree with you on that." Scathach nodded, then continued, "They are too young to think about that."
"...Is there any chance they'll go for another man?" Anna asked.
"Are you crazy?" That was all Scathach said to emphasize how bad of an idea that was.
"I know it's impossible, considering how doting of a Father Victor is and his possessive tendencies. Not to mention that the girls will never find someone as 'good' as Victor in both appearance and strength... Ugh."
"As I said, it's a lost cause. Don't even think about it. Besides, we are Dragons, not Humans. Even after all this time, do you still think about it?"
"It's not that I think about it..." Anna murmured.
"...Oh, you're jealous." Scathach laughed in amusement.
Anna blushed slightly but nodded.
"Okay, jealous Second Empress... What are you going to do about your problem?"
The Second Empress was a playful Title the Wives gave Anna. After all, besides Violet, she had the most 'importance' to the group since she was Victor's Mother... Technically, this fact might have changed over the years, considering she was reborn from Victor'sBblood, so one could say that Victor was her Father.
"Problem? What problem?"
"Leon."
"...Oh." Anna's beautiful face wrinkled slightly at that name; she had completely forgotten about it. After thinking about it for a while, she spoke. "I honestly don't know."
"Victor and I will just be honest as always," Anna said. It wasn't her style to shy away from problems. If she encountered one, she would deal with it.
This particular problem had been put off for a long time, but not intentionally. Things sort of took this course naturally, considering how busy they were.
"Well, I wouldn't expect anything less from you," Scathach nodded. "Are you worried about it?"
"I'm not. Honestly, things between Leon and I changed a lot when we turned into Noble Vampires."
"I found myself craving Victor, and Leon found himself desiring other women. That situation kind of created a rift, and it became even more visible when this world was created, and I started living with the other girls."
"Darling is quite possessive, and he doesn't want to see any man within a mile of his Wives. The only one he showed tolerance for was Tatsuya, and that's because the man seems to love his sword very much." Scathach chuckled lightly.
"Hmm." Anna nodded, clearly lost in thought, and the two Mothers began walking together.
"Do you wish you had remained Human?"
"...Honestly, I don't." Anna, as always, was honest. "Having so much Power at the tips of my fingers... It's addictive." She spoke as she looked at her hand, which formed a small sphere of pure violet Power.