Chapter 554: The Arrogance of the Gods.
Walking through the streets of the city he was born in, Victor felt strange.
The reason? The clear lack of people. Even though it was still morning, there should have been more people on the street, but the street was practically deserted.
"Everyone is scared, huh." He looked at the few humans who were still outside, but despite this country being at 'peace', the news worried everyone.
The government tried its best to cover the news, but it was impossible to hide it completely when two or more countries disappeared from the world.
"The supernatural has become visible to everyone, and the barrier that has never been crossed before has been crossed." Aphrodite, who was in the form of her alter ego named Renata, spoke.
"Will the gods do something about it?"
"They will probably use some divine art to make mortals forget about the supernatural."
"… But the lives lost won't come back."
"Yes, that's too big an incident to resolve with just a memory change." Aphrodite nodded.
Half of the globe has been destroyed by demons, and some countries are already considered hell on Earth.
"Economic crisis going on, people afraid of death and the unknown, anarchy has set in around the world, governments not knowing what to do, and humanity's only ally is locked in a defensive war." Victor spoke.
The power fluctuations were so pronounced that Victor and Aphrodite could feel them even from afar.
The Vatican was in a siege war, which was obvious to anyone with any energy awareness.
"Most of the world's governments know about the supernatural, but the common people have been kept in the dark about it."
"And when they saw hordes of demonic beings walking through the city, everyone was afraid, and feelings were running high." Aphrodite spoke.
Even Victor's area wasn't left out. Some demons appeared and caused a little chaos that was soon resolved. After all, this was still Violet's territory, and Victor still had his forces stationed here.
"..." Victor nodded, looked up, and saw the crack of an opening in a window. With his vision, he could see someone's eye watching cautiously.
Fear and caution could be seen in that gaze.
[So much negativity...] Roxanne took a deep breath in Kaguya's shadow world.
[I love it~...]
"....." Victor raised his eyebrow and saw a red energy with dark shades of black coming towards him and entering his body.
?? He looked confused at this situation, he looked at Aphrodite, but the woman felt nothing.
"...." Aphrodite looked at Victor.
"What's it? I feel your confusion now."
"Hmm, I don't know yet, but some kind of energy is entering my body right now."
"..." Aphrodite narrowed her eyes, causing them to glow faintly in neon pink, as she used her divine sense.
Then she opened her eyes in shock.
"You are feeding on the negativity of humans."
"... What? I am? Am I a demon or something?" Victor spoke with humor.
"Of course not. Only certain beings can absorb negativity, evil spirits being one of them, and..."
"Qliphoth, right?"
"Yes."
[Roxanne, is that you?] Victor asked.
[Hmm? Ahh, yes, it's me! I'm sorry, master. I forgot to warn you.]
[I don't mind, but is everything okay?]
[Yeah, this is like drinking blood for me, I'm feeding right now, and my main body in your soul is growing as we speak.]
[My main body is growing at a fast pace, if possible, stick around, this is a good place for me to grow.]
[Hmm, what happens if you grow up?]
[I don't know? But since my main body is linked to you, will you likely gain something, and will you become more resistant to using your progenitor power? I think you will be able to lower the restrictions to level 1 permanently if my body grows even more.]
[At least that's the feeling I get...] Roxanne murmured.
Victor's eyes sparkled a little,
[Keep me updated on your main body growth process.]
[Yes, Master~.]
"Interesting… Usually, when someone absorbs this much negativity, they feel all the feelings the original owner is feeling, but you seem to be fine."
"I have a good wife." He laughed lightly.
"…Only you can say you married a world tree."
"This has never happened before, okay?"
"Just how did you get this feat?"
"…I was just myself?" Victor answered honestly. From the beginning, he had always been himself, and most of the time, when faced with an unfamiliar situation, he always followed his instinct.
"...Hmm, I guess that's why I liked you."
"Huh?"
"You are very honest, Darling."
"My mother's influence, I guess..."
"Indeed." Aphrodite laughed softly.
Victor just smiled slightly and continued walking along with Aphrodite while the two enjoyed each other's presence. Even though an air of depression surrounded them, the two didn't seem affected, like they lived in their own little world.
"I noticed something strange… Humans aren't reacting to me?"
"Oh, it's because I masked your beauty."
"... Why?"
"Your beauty level has become a deadly danger for mortals."
"Oh?"
"But I didn't have this problem before?"
"Before, you didn't have all my blessings."
"Like I said before, Darling. You're like a male version of me now."
"And there's a reason why the goddess of beauty doesn't casually appear in front of weak-minded mortals in her real appearance."
"Their mind is not prepared for that shock."
"Hmm... I don't see a problem with that?"
"Really?" Aphrodite stopped walking and looked at Victor.
"Darling, do you want to leave men and women eunuchs?"
"Huh?"
Finding his confused face quite attractive, the goddess laughed lightly and began to speak:
"Think with me."
"Your wives are all beauties on their own level, and after seeing this beauty, can you feel attraction for a normal human?"
"..." Victor opened his eyes slightly, as he understood now what Aphrodite was talking about.
Victor was surrounded by preternaturally beautiful women, and in his mind right now, he couldn't even think of or find the beauty of an 'ordinary' woman attractive.
"You seem to understand now."
"Hmm." He nodded.
"Now take that thought, and put it on us."
"I am the goddess of beauty. The moment humans, whether male or female, see me, their standard of 'beauty' will automatically rise, and they won't find other humans attractive."
"They won't be attracted to their own kind, so they become eunuchs."
"The man who lives with an angel created by God to be perfect can't settle for an ordinary woman anymore, huh." Victor spoke.
"Mm." Aphrodite nodded, "That same concept applies to women."
"Our real appearances have a lot of impact on an ordinary mortal mind that has never come into contact with the supernatural."
"Because of this, I am masking our true appearances."
"You and I look like two beautiful humans now, not two supernaturally beautiful creatures."
"… Hmm, this is complicated."
"Fufufu, who said having the concept of beauty was an easy thing?"
"'Beauty' is subjective, everyone has their own thoughts about beauty, and when a mortal looks at me, they see the 'apex' of what their subconscious considers beauty."
"Putting that together with my other divinities… Wherever I go, everyone will remember me."
"So narcissistic."
"It's not narcissism if it's true." She shrugged in amusement.
"I suggest that in the future if you appear in front of humans, you do what I'm doing now. You don't want to harm the innocent, right?"
"Mm… How do I do that?"
"Just use your beauty blessing. Imagine a little 'layer' around your body like a shell that will show everyone what you want to 'show'."
"That little layer will contain your blessings."
"Mm…" Victor nodded as his eyes twitched a little and thought of something 'covering' his body.
"... Something like that?"
"As expected of my Darling, it was easy for you, huh?" She smiled proudly.
"I already had experience doing something similar when I use lightning."
"Oh, now that you mention it, that's true."
"Breaking news."
"...." Victor and Aphrodite stopped walking and looked to the side, and on top of a building, they saw a gigantic billboard.
"The 'creatures' have already taken over 40% of South Africa..."
The image changed, and the appearance of creatures that came out of the depths of hell appeared.
"What is the government doing? Why don't they-." The transmission cut off.
"… They are censoring it, huh." Victor muttered.
"This news will only generate widespread panic."
"I wonder what the government's next move is?" Victor started walking again, and Aphrodite fell into step beside him.
"Will they fight?" he asked aloud.
"Modern weapons can only hurt low-ranking demons."
"Heavier caliber weapons can hurt some medium-sized demons, but when it comes to more experienced demons, weapons are completely useless. What about Duke class demons? They won't even feel anything."
"What about the Nukes?"
"That's just a barbaric way of trying to solve the problem... And, yes, it wouldn't work either."
"…I suppose the factions won't let the planet be destroyed by these weapons."
"Indeed, and to be honest, I don't think the Devil is trying to destroy Earth either."
??
"His moves are very calculated. If he wanted to destroy everything, he would have already used all of his strongest subordinates, the demon dukes."
"Hmm."
The two continued talking and exchanging ideas, and soon time passed.
??
Luxury building in New York.
An hour later, they were in an elevator going up to the presidential suite.
The sound of 'tink' was heard, and soon the elevator door opened to reveal a modern apartment.
"You took your time." Hearing the male voice, Victor turned his face and saw a man.
He was 180 CM, shorter than Victor, with messy black hair, green eyes, and a thin but defined build.
He was wearing a black suit.
The man narrowed his eyes slightly, and a smile appeared on his face:
"... You are indeed a progenitor. Illusions and mind control don't seem to work on you."
Victor narrowed his eyes, he didn't feel the man doing anything, but apparently, he did something.
'I'm not immune to illusions and mind control. I remember being affected by it in the past... Oh, in the past, I hadn't progressed with my progenitor blood.'
Seeing that the man wanted to possibly mess with his head, Victor didn't like that one bit, as his eyes started glowing a violet hue.
But he lost his reaction time. Someone got pissed off for him.
"Loki!" Aphrodite's eyes glowed neon pink, and soon she reverted to her god form.
"What are you doing?"
"Whoaa, whoaa, I was just trying to make a joke."
"Don't you dare play games with my husband. Your games never end well for the parties involved."
"..." The man just looked at Aphrodite with wide eyes, as the goddess' words didn't even seem to have registered in his brain.
"... I'm sorry, but... What did you say just now?"
"Loki, are you deaf?"
"Just answer the question, please."
Aphrodite narrowed her eyes in annoyance and spoke again:
"Don't you dare play with my husband-." Before she could continue, she was interrupted.
"... Yes, it wasn't a hallucination." Loki looked at Victor again, and his eyes gleamed slightly.
Victor felt something 'verifying' his existence.
He snorted and concentrated on returning that sentiment.
But that little time he took to defend himself was enough for Loki to understand something.
"Yeah… I need a drink." He ignored the two and walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out two rather mediocre bottles, opened them, and poured the contents down his throat.
"... Ignore this man. He's usually harmless, but he just likes to joke too much."
Hearing a woman's voice, Victor looked forward and saw a woman with long, light brown hair and golden eyes. She was 189CM tall with a curvy body, but unlike the goddess beside him, who seemed to have a softer body,
The woman he was looking at went more on the 'athletic' side and was completely ripped.
She was wearing a shirt top that showed off her six-pack abs, her breasts weren't as big as Aphrodite's J-Cup, looking like she had around a D-Cup, and she had thick thighs that could be seen through the black pants she was wearing and defined arms.
Overall, she gave off more of a 'warrior' feel.
'She and the women of Clan Adrastea would get along very well, I think.' Victor thought to himself.
Just as Victor was sizing up the woman, the woman was also sizing him up, and she couldn't help blushing slightly when she saw his true 'appearance'.
And the fact that he was looking at her appreciatively but not in a lusty way like most of the gods in her pantheon made her opinion grow a little higher.
She looked at the goddess of beauty with accusing eyes.
"What?"
"You overdid it... Giving all your blessings to a mortal? What happened to the others?"
"Hmph, who cares? My priority is my husband."
"..." The brown-haired goddess just made a wry smile.
'She easily discarded the other beings she blessed just for this man.' The woman does not know whether to feel sorry for other beings or not.
"Freya."
"What?" The woman looked at the man.
"You don't look shocked."
"… Huh?"
"I'm talking about Aphrodite's wedding."
"Oh… wasn't that obvious? In the end, her marrying a mortal is nothing to note."
"… You airhead, use your divine senses. You are a goddess of death, right?"
"...." A vein popped in Freya's head, but she still followed her friend's recommendation. She knew that, despite being playful, he didn't say things without a concrete basis.
Looking at Victor, the golden eyes of the goddess began to glow.
"Oh?" She was surprised that he managed to hold her gaze.
"You two are very nosy, huh." Victor growled, and his eyes gleamed with a violet tone.
The world in his perspective changed, and he saw two beings of immense golden power. He ignored this and looked at the red 'thread' floating above their heads.
Victor's hand was covered in a dark red hue, and using his progenitor power, he made a hand gesture, causing the red thread to receive a stimulus.
"Ahhhhhh!" Freya and Loki screamed in pain as they covered their eyes.
...
