Chapter 817: A Closure and Farewell.
"Father!"
Seeing the girl's gaze, seeing the soul of the girl that had the form of a dragon, and the essence of a goddess making her a dragon god, seeing her appearance that resembled his a little, Victor couldn't help but speak.
[Roxanne, what have you done?]
[... Oops?]
[Roxanne...]
[It's not my fault! I didn't know this would happen either! Who expected that her soul was so damaged that she started absorbing everything around her to recompose herself? Not to mention, this is your inner world, you know? And you just evolved, so this place is saturated with your energy.] Roxanne didn't hold back and spilled all the beans.
[Not to mention you suddenly threw her here. I didn't do anything! I just helped in her recovery!]
Victor just sighed internally, nothing was normal when it came to him, huh? He couldn't help but feel strange. He just wanted to heal the goddess to see if he would find a useful subordinate, and somehow, this ended up with him having a daughter.
[... By her absorbing my energy, does that make her my daughter now?]
[I mean, yes? She has your essence inside her, and her physical characteristics also resemble you. Also, as she absorbed your inner energy, she has a negative aspect of it that will probably develop in the future... You could say she's a daughter of both mine and yours!] Roxanne got excited when she thought about it.
'Who would've thought I'd be the first one to have a child, HAHAHAHAHA!' Roxanne laughed maniacally inside her mind, not daring to express this so Victor couldn't hear.
Victor sighed again as he thought about the storm this would cause. It's worth noting that his lovely wives wouldn't be very pleased with this development, and he could already see them eager to have children.
And he could already see them getting frustrated because they couldn't engage in nighttime activities since his body was simply too strong now.
Their nighttime activities would be like Superman engaging in nighttime activities with a regular human. In other words, it was a dangerous activity that would lead them to death.
'Hmm, interesting, she doesn't have my demonic attributes.' Despite not being a major part, Victor still has a bit of demonic attributes in him. After all, he couldn't use miasma if he didn't.
Although now, it wouldn't make a difference. After all, as a dragon and the host of the negative world tree, he can manipulate miasma better than before.
"Tell me, Girl." Victor began speaking while ignoring the eyes of the women in the room, especially Violet, Agnes, and Aphrodite.
"What's your name?"
"Metis!" She smiled widely. "I am Metis! The goddess of health, protection, cunning, prudence, and virtues. Also known as the goddess of wisdom... Hmm? Why am I known as the goddess of wisdom?" She turned her head in confusion.
"... Tell me, what do you remember?" Victor asked further.
"Hmm... I gave a cup to an evil god, I talked to some people, I advised many people." Slowly, her innocent tone began to mature, becoming calm, noble, and cold.
"I participated in a war, I loved someone... I was betrayed..."
"And I... I woke up in a dark place? And gave advice to someone, then I suddenly woke up here... Hmm..." The girl held her head in pain as if her head was about to split in half.
Victor easily noticed that her memories were fragmented. 'Her essence as Metis remained, as evidenced by her mature tone from before, but she has no memories of why she was acting like that. It's more like a natural instinct.'
'A fusion, huh?' What Metis went through would be surprising if her soul hadn't been damaged. After all, her soul was split in two, and even when they merged again, the fusion wasn't complete, so 'something' needed to be added to balance everything.
'The universe has strange ways of balancing everything.' Instead of gaining a mature and competent goddess who would help him a lot, he gained a dragon goddess with enormous potential.
Victor gently poked the girl's head.
"That's enough."
Metis looked up and felt a gentle sensation inside her when she saw the kind look in her father's eyes.
"You don't have to remember if you don't want to... Maybe it's better this way, so you can start anew."
"... What are you talking about, Father?"
"You'll understand eventually," Victor replied with the same gentle tone. He didn't intend to hide who Metis was in the past; everyone deserves to know their past, even if that past is tragic. After all, the past doesn't disappear just because you lose your memory.
"For now, get used to your environment and body."
"Mm, okay!" She nodded with an innocent and composed tone, showing a trace of maturity and wisdom, clearly a smarter child than she appeared to be.
The girl, or rather, the miniature woman, stood up and stretched her body. She looked at her body and realized she was naked. She narrowed her eyes, showing a bit of annoyance, and then she made a hand gesture, and with that hand gesture, very modern clothes appeared in front of her.
Victor's eyes gleamed with interest. He easily saw that what she did was very similar to what he did, just on a much SMALLER scale.
And unlike him, who used pure energy of creation, she used her own concepts along with this energy, and with that, the clothes were created, an action very similar to what Zaladrac did, something quite normal for a dragon, but quite surprising for a 'newly born' dragon.
"How do you know how to make those clothes?"
"I don't know, I just felt like I knew." Although her words didn't make sense to many, Victor clearly understood what she meant.
'Instincts, huh... Probably dormant habits, too. After all, habits are hard to change.'
"Tell me, Metis. What is your role in existence?" Victor asked. As a goddess, she instinctively knew her side of the balance and her own concept.
"Hmm... My other concepts disappeared. I only represent wisdom... Cunning wisdom?" She turned her head in confusion. "I represent negativity."
"Curious..." Victor said. The woman's words made his brain think about the meaning of her words.
'A 'dark' version of the goddess Metis, huh? Because of that, she is cunning wisdom?' Victor thought.
For starters, Metis wasn't initially the goddess of wisdom, she only became the goddess of wisdom after her role in the war, but she really didn't have a concept of 'wisdom'. In a certain way, she's similar to Victor and his exaggerated titles that humans give to Victor, like God of Blood, etc.
But now, that doesn't seem to be the case. She really acquired a completely new concept.
'And there's also this connection I feel with her...' Victor thought. Unlike anything he had ever experienced, this connection wasn't something like he had with his wives. It was more primitive, almost authoritative.
It was similar to the feeling he had when he commanded the Greek gods...
'A God King, huh.' Victor quickly understood what this connection was.
[Like I said, Darling. Many things changed in your evolution; the seed of divinity you had underwent great changes, and that's influencing those close to you, opening paths... Look at Aphrodite, for example.]
Victor looked at Aphrodite and used his eyes.
"... What?" Aphrodite asked.
At his current level, he could easily bypass Aphrodite's natural defenses and see her soul. Of course, their connection also helped a bit in this feat. If he used this on another primordial god, he would need to use more power, but nothing impossible. After all, he has a lot of power.
Inside Aphrodite's golden soul, he saw a red energy with the same attribute as the divine energies from before, but just on the opposite side of the scale.
'... A negative pantheon…' Victor displayed a smile and almost laughed widely now at this irony.
The goal that Diablo couldn't achieve was being passively achieved by him now.
"What? Stop smiling at me with that amused smile! What's happening, Vic!?" Aphrodite asked.
"I'll explain later," Victor said and turned his gaze back to Metis.
"Can you get around on your own?" He asked.
"Hmm..." Metis made a sound as if she were thinking about something. Suddenly, two small pairs of draconic wings with a color similar to Victor's appeared behind her, and she began to float around.
"I did it!" She laughed in amusement.
Suddenly, her wings faltered, and she started falling toward the ground.
"WHOAAA, I'm falling!!" Metis panicked.
Victor quickly caught Metis in his hand. "Okay, no flying until you recover your energy."
"... Okay..." Metis mumbled in acceptance. To be honest, she felt her heart almost leap out of her mouth. For some reason, it was scarier than she thought it would be.
"Darling... What in the seven hundred and seventy-seven hells is going on here!? Why do you suddenly have another daughter!? And this time, she doesn't seem to be adopted or a consideration!" Violet exclaimed.
"Technically, Nero is my biological daughter too, you know? After all, she has my blood." Victor didn't mention Ophis for obvious reasons; she wasn't part of his Clan, but she was still his lovely daughter, the first one.
"I know, in this specific case... Wait! That's not it! That's not it at all! Who is she!?" Violet pointed to Metis, who looked at Violet with curious eyes.
"Metis, the mother of Athena, who is now my daughter," Victor replied.
"... You know that explains nothing and makes no sense, right?" Violet said.
"Has my life ever made any sense?" Victor asked in amusement.
"... Fair point." Violet couldn't argue against those words, but! She could still ask:
"So? Who is she? I know she's Metis and all, but she doesn't seem to have memories."
"Hmm, you could say she's a Metis 2.0, an improved version, a draconic version," Victor replied.
Metis huffed as she tapped her chest, her pride was high for a little dragon.
A vein popped on the heads of Violet, Aphrodite, and Agnes when they saw the expression on the woman. They could clearly see a shrewd gleam in that girl's eyes!
She's not 'innocent and cute' like Pepper!
"Anyway, I'll explain this later. Let's settle this matter. I have millions of things I want to do, and even with my super speed, I seem to not have enough time." Victor sighed.
He not only has to handle all the logistics of the gods he captured, but he also has to see the reactions of the other pantheons and think about what to do with this dimension.
Not to mention, he has to gather the intelligent people into the little smart people's club that Ruby is forming with Aline Valefar. The two women have already started experimenting on Victor's enemies, much like in hell. Victor predicts that Ruby will soon start bringing in the 'big things' for their faction.
From the beginning, Ruby had been researching with her subordinates, but she never lifted a finger to do anything. After all, what she's intending to mess with is biology, something extremely complex and requiring a lot of knowledge.
Because of this, she's just doing experiments, and with these experiments, she's improving her technique. She wasn't confident in using anything she experimented with until recently.
Aline's entry into Ruby's inner circle greatly helped the girl. After all, Ruby is specializing in genetics, while Aline is more focused on technology.
Not to mention, the witches are also with Ruby, and magic will be quite valuable when making future products.
One could say that the two female scientists complement each other completely.
For some reason, Victor felt sorry for his faction's future enemies; after all, they would be fighting an immortal, lifeless army that only knew destruction.
'Whoaa, I really am becoming an evil god if this continues. I need to counterbalance this, or the pantheons might band together to kill me or something...' Victor thought, and as his mind started going in that direction, another thought arose within him.
'So what?' He inwardly scoffed. 'So what if they band together against me? I just need to become stronger than all the pantheons. In the end, there are no complex problems, just a lack of strength to solve them.' The dragon's pride was acting up again.
'I just have to show the consequences of challenging me; it's quite a common political tactic. I just have to show the big guns... And there's nothing bigger than a 500-meter-tall dragon body.'
Despite not being able to access it yet, Victor could clearly feel how his dragon form would be. It's like a natural instinct of the dragon, something akin to how he 'naturally' knows how to release a Breath with his power.
But despite 'knowing', he can't access it. It's as if his body is denying him that form for some reason.
Victor stops indulging in such thoughts and looks at Adonis. "You have only 5 minutes, Adonis."
"....." Those words made everyone shift their attention from Victor to Adonis.
"Do you need to say anything else?"
Adonis looked at Violet, Agnes, Aphrodite, and Persephone, then shrugged. "I've said everything I wanted, except for Aphrodite, but that would be counterproductive. After all, since that day, we're not related to each other anymore."
Unlike Persephone, who never managed to get over Adonis, Aphrodite did. She matured with it. The famous 'journey' of self-reflection, despite being cliché, really helps a lot.
Sometimes, all beings needed was to step out of their social bubble.
Victor nodded as he looked at Agness and Violet.
Understanding what Victor's gaze meant, Violet smiled gently. "It's alright, Darling. I've said everything I wanted to say. My regrets are gone."
A solemn look appeared in Victor's eyes, and he just nodded. Then he looked at Agnes.
"... To be honest, there are some things I wanted to say, but... When he explained his true feelings, I felt it would be pointless." Agnes began to speak.
"After all, the Agnes I am now is not the same as before... I was stuck in a feeling from the past, refusing to move on, but I never thought about seeing the 'other' side. In my head, I was right, but it seems I was just as guilty." She bit her lips hard and then sighed as if all her accumulated feelings went away with that sigh.
Then she continued in a melancholic tone.
"Adonis is no longer my 'Darling'... And though he's no longer my Darling... I apologize, and thank you."
"It may not have seemed like it, but you were an important part of my life, and I thank every day of my life for knowing you." Despite feeling like she's failing Adonis, Agnes couldn't blame anyone else but herself. Her mother always warned her to try to listen to others, and it turned out she was right.
'Wow... After more than a millennium, I'm actually considering my mother's teachings?' She surprised herself. After all, she never listened to her mother; she heard her, but she didn't take her words to heart.
It might have seemed like a senseless and unusual declaration for Thanatos, but to everyone else, it made a lot of sense considering Agnes's personality.
Adonis's eyes softened a bit. Bad start or not, it was a fact that Agnes had always been there with him, in life and in death. Even when he was severely weakened, she never abandoned him or treated him as worthless.
If there's one thing Adonis could recognize, it's that she's by no means a bad wife. She's devoted and stood by his side even before his final moments. Even after his death, she mourned him and suffered for him. Just a while ago, she was about to fight a very powerful goddess for him.
He might hold some hidden resentment towards her in his heart, but he wasn't ungrateful enough not to recognize this. Not to mention, it was with this woman that he created one of his most precious treasures.
Adonis tapped his cheek. "Sometimes, I just wish everything were different, but sometimes, I also think that if everything hadn't happened the way it did, I wouldn't have met you, Agnes."
Agnes widened her eyes.
"I regret many things in my life... But if there's one thing I'll never regret... It's having met you."
"Adonis..." Treacherous tears began to fall from Agnes's eyes.
"I just wished I had been born stronger... If I were stronger, half of my problems would have disappeared... Of course." Adonis looked at Persephone. "I wish I had never met you and Aphrodite." He said in disgust.
Persephone's face twitched; those words hurt the goddess a lot, though she didn't show it much. As someone who can read body language at a master level, Adonis noticed that, and he liked it.
"I should have listened to my mother. Getting involved with gods is never a good thing. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice from the beginning. But we can dream, can't we? At least I can say that I've put a green hat on one of the Big Three gods, hehehe."
"As expected of my beauty."
Victor rolled his eyes, glad he didn't inherit this narcissistic part.
"And Aphrodite... Despite hating you, time has almost healed all my hatred. After all, unlike a certain someone, you left me alone. Not to mention, you could have taken back your blessing whenever you wanted, but you didn't... And only now do I understand that it was your blessing that allowed me to fight against Persephone's curse."
As a goddess of the positive aspect of the scale, Aphrodite's blessing negated almost all the effects of Persephone's curse, a goddess of the negative aspect of the scale. One could say that if not for this blessing, he would have died long ago.
Vampire or not, a mortal can't survive a god's curse without some special means.
These words made Violet and Agnes's faces widen in shock. They looked at Aphrodite and didn't see her reaction, proving that the goddess knew this.
When they looked at Victor, they realized he knew too.
"Therefore, all I can say is thank you."
"That's the least I could do for you, Adonis. Bad start or not, you were the initial step that led me to the biggest change in my existence, and thanks to this change, I was able to 'mature' and truly become the 'Aphrodite' I'm proud to be today."
"I see... To influence a goddess beloved by all, not bad, huh?" He chuckled gently with a joke.
Aphrodite just displayed a small smile.
"Indeed."
A solemn moment followed, and then Adonis looked at Victor.
"Dude... I gotta say something brother to brother..."
"What?" Victor asked.
"You really are a broken character from a game. Your existence is ridiculous. I envy that, but at the same time, I don't envy your problems. Dealing with so many women like Agnes? You're crazy."
Victor just smiled a bit.
"I think I have good taste."
"Only the strong can handle a Yandere; people like me were destined to be locked in a basement."
"That's the beauty, isn't it? What's the point of love if there's no danger?"
"If your danger involves getting stabbed, sorry, but I refuse."
"Well, I have invincible skin."
A silence fell around them, and then they both laughed in unison.
Their laughter lasted for a few minutes while they completely ignored the strange looks from everyone.
Soon, as the laughter began to die down, Adonis spoke as he disappeared.
"Take care of everyone."
"Always."