Chapter 599: Preparations.
Victor was wearing black pants with a new black kimono and standing in the middle of an arena, he didn't have any weapons on him, and he wasn't wearing any shoes either.
In front of the man, there was a woman with black hair, nine fluffy tails, and fox ears, with a black Katana on her waist, and the Fan she always carried with her was open, covering her face.
The two opponents were staring at and evaluating each other. The fight had already started for them, and they were just waiting for some kind of signal to start.
The event that was taking place, it wasn't a formal event. It didn't have a commentator, it was just a duel with the leader of the Youkai faction and the second vampire progenitor, Alucard.
But due to the figures involved, this simple duel turned into a small event, and this small event grew into a festival. Stalls could be seen outside the Arena, with various Youkai selling different wares.
This was all done in less than an hour. Youkai were very festive by nature, and because of this, they were quick to prepare.
The arena bleachers began to fill up with visitors, most of them Youkai, but without exception, when all the visitors set eyes on Victor, they froze and opened their mouths in shock. It took them a few seconds to compose themselves; some were faster, others were slower, and a selective group just looked at Victor, trying to burn his image into their heads.
Such was the charm of someone the goddess of beauty says is her male counterpart.
Victor's group just laughed in amusement when they saw a Youkai entering the arena and being paralyzed as if he had been caught by the medusa's eyes and turned to stone.
"Hahahah, it doesn't get boring. Look at that old man's gaze! He looks like he ate something bitter!" Maria laughed even harder as she looked at an old Youkai.
"… I had forgotten how overwhelming Master's beauty was from spending so much time with him," Bruna commented.
"Well, we spend most of our time in his shadow, so we got used to his beauty… Something I'm definitely not against." Roberta commented as she cupped her face and looked at her master, her eyes changing from reptilian to blood red several times.
"....." Kaguya just stared at the arena with a neutral gaze.
"Does master's look please you?"
"Yes." Kaguya's eyes opened wide, and she turned her face and saw Maria's smile.
"You-."
"Don't try to deny it. You wouldn't marry him if you didn't love him."
"...Ugh..." For the first time in a while, Kaguya had no way of refuting Maria's claims. Yes, she absolutely loved it when her master and now husband wore the clothes of her homeland. Even though she wasn't raised in Japan, she still had ties to that place. After all, her family originated there.
But that didn't mean she was going to admit publicly that she liked the way Victor was dressed now.
"Where's Roxanne? I still haven't seen her." Eve asked curiously.
"She must still be with my husband." Ruby, who was nearby, replied.
"Hmm, isn't it out of fear of Kaguya that she didn't show up?" Eve asked.
"I highly doubt it, Roxanne is playful and not easily intimidated, and she knows that when Kaguya said that it wasn't meant to harm her, she probably has things to do now that she's gone through a change," Ruby answered.
"Mm, I just felt Big Guy disappearing from my shadow when Roxanne reappeared."
"And as we know, the big guy was a protector of Roxanne, and he was also connected with the woman, meaning he must have changed as well." Kaguya spoke.
"Hmm… Why is nothing with that man normal? It hasn't even been a decade, and he's already this strong. I shudder to think when he's 500 years old." Siena grumbled.
"Don't be sore, Sister. Victor is just built different... Literally speaking." Lacus responded with a neutral tone, then her cheeks slowly reddened when she remembered a 'part' of Victor's body.
"I know, he's a progenitor, an anomaly, a handsome bastard that the goddess of beauty loves like a psychopath who's found her obsession. I know he's full of power at his disposal, but… The pace at which he evolves it's ridiculous! Nobody thinks this is weird? How did he get out of the power of a vampire newborn to be able to face my mother in her base form!?"
The three sisters looked at each other and just shrugged:
"I mean, it's Victor," Pepper responded as if that answered all of Siena's questions.
"Ugh…I hate how you make sense of that sentence." Siena grumbled once more.
"The answer to your question, my beloved daughter." The Scarlett Sisters, Mizuki, Luna, and Natalia, turned to look at Scathach.
"It's just that the potential was there from the start, and with discipline, an extraordinary teacher, and the right motivation, he was able to make the most of it."
"..." Almost all of the women rolled their eyes at Scathach's narcissistic tone. It's not like she was wrong; Scathach was the best teacher one could find in the mortal world, but the way she said it was somehow annoying! It was as if she was bragging like all of Victor's efforts were because of her! ... Which, if you think about it, was the truth. After all, Scathach was the one who shaped the basis for Victor to be who he was today.
But all this was not her effort! Victor trained too!
The Maids pouted, they had a few things to complain about Scathach, but they didn't want to anger their 'Master'.
"Tell me, Girls. Have you ever seen Victor take time off or never train?"
"...." The girls fell silent as they thought about it a bit and realized that there was never a time when Victor didn't train.
Yes, on some important occasions like fights or missions he did, he didn't have that luxury, but when there was nothing going on, he was constantly training.
Taking the girls' silence as an answer to her question, Scathach continued:
"Discipline, motivation, hard work, focus, and a goal to achieve. If you mix those ingredients with talent and the monstrous potential of a progenitor, it's no wonder he got so strong in such a short time." She spoke with pride visible in her voice; she truly loved the man she helped shape.
'Of course, luck and personality are also part of these ingredients. If he hadn't found Roxanne, if Victor hadn't been who he was to win the trust of the gorilla and Roxanne, this physical change would not have been possible.' Scathach thought to herself.
The Scarlett sisters were a little jealous of how their mother spoke of the man, but those feelings disappeared when they realized there was no reason to feel that way. The man deserved it. He never lost focus and always sought to get stronger... Something that Siena, Lacus, Pepper, and Ruby forgot and only came to acquire again after they found Victor and were influenced by him.
Even Scathach stopped training for some time, something she completely abolished when she found Victor, and thanks to him, she was able to increase her stagnant strength even more; it wasn't just him who progressed.
"For those reasons, Victor is so strong, and for those same reasons, he needs us," Scathach continued.
"… What do you mean, Mother?" Pepper asked.
"No matter how strong you are, you can't do everything alone, and that's normal. We need each other."
"When Victor is busy with a goal, someone must watch his back and support him. Because of that, the Maids he created exist; because of that, family is important, he can't do everything alone, but we can help him while focusing on our goals as well."
The maids flashed a big proud smile.
Ruby, Pepper, Luna, Lacus, and Siena also displayed a small, gentle smile upon being called 'family'.
'Mother, you've definitely gotten kinder and more expressive since Victor came along.' Siena thought.
"But Master Scathach, don't you say you're good enough in a fight?" Mizuki asked curiously.
"… That's because I don't have anyone reliable of my level by my side." Did the voice come out monotonously with a 'lonely' tone?
It was at that moment that the Scarlett sisters and Luna understood a feeling of Scathach's for the first time. She has been at the top for so long that she has become lonely.
'Maybe that's one of the reasons she wants so much to create someone capable of fighting her... It is for fun and also to take away this loneliness,' Ruby thought. She knew that there were beings stronger than her mother, but they were a select few, and most wouldn't fight her for the fun of it.
Vlad himself wouldn't do that, and Scathach didn't just want to fight for fun; she also wanted someone she could consider an equal.
"At my fighting level, having weak people by my side will just kill you unnecessarily."
They all nodded. What Scathach said wasn't a lie; they still remember the fight Scathach had with Inari... It was just monstrous.
A few minutes passed, and the seats in the arena were almost completely full; Kaguya took advantage of this wait to bring up an important matter.
Ignoring the small talk the girls were having with each other, she looked at Ruby and said:
"Hmm, Lady Ruby."
"Yes?" Ruby looked at Kaguya.
"Aren't you angry?"
"Angry at what?" Ruby looked at her, confused.
"I mean, I and... Master." She paused there, blushing a little at the end.
Ruby thought the Maid's reaction was pretty cute, it was quite different from how she behaved, but she didn't comment on it:
"I'm not angry. You might not realize it, but you're all Victor's already, and that's something that I, Violet, and Sasha have accepted from the moment Victor started recruiting personal Maids for himself."
"Yes, at first, I must admit that the girls and I were jealous... Mainly Violet and Sasha, but... As time went on, we started to get attached to you, and we had to accept that if we rejected you unnecessarily, it would just cause everyone pain."
'Violet treats Kaguya as if she were an older sister, the Maid may not realize that, but Violet has a lot of respect for Kaguya. After all, Violet was with Kaguya from the beginning; they were always together... The same can be said about Kaguya, Sasha, and me. When Violet would visit us, Kaguya was always there.'
"… Huh?" All the Maids were confused.
"Girls..." Ruby suppressed the urge to sigh. 'Do these women not know my husband? Don't they live in his shadow? Why are they asking the obvious?'
Deciding to be the messiah who would state the obvious, she said, "Think about it, what is my husband's personality like? Do you really think someone like him is going to let any other man get close to you?"
"It's easier for him to cruelly kill someone than to let someone touch you. He's just possessive like that."
"... Oh..." They all spoke at the same time, and a shade of red covered everyone's cheeks.
Natalia, Ruby, and Luna were amused when they saw the reactions of these women.
" I expected this to happen from the beginning. Which is why Victor doesn't go around recruiting just any woman to be a Maid because he knows he's going to get attached to this woman, and if this keeps happening, he's going to have a legion of female Maids who will all be his lovers... Something he wants to avoid since he understands that not everyone will like him for what he is, rather than what he stands for."
The Maids nodded; they understood what Ruby meant, they were together with Victor long before he became beauty incarnate, and they learned to like the 'real' Victor, but this situation cannot be repeated in the future due to his current position.
On the part of noble vampires, everyone will have an interest in what he has and what he stands for, the title of second progenitor is just so desirable, and because of it, they will never see the real Victor.
"Actually, I'm surprised it took so long. After all, you guys live in his shadow and help with everything..." Ruby decided not to comment on how jealous she was of this privilege. If she could, she would also want to stay 25 hours, 369 days of the year, in Victor's shadow.
... Yes, she exaggerated the number on purpose.
"Oh, that's because of Kaguya and her inhibitions. We were waiting for our 'Boss' Maid to take action." Maria spoke.
"Glad she took quick action; I was already getting frustrated with this status quo." Roberta groaned.
Kaguya just lowered her head and let her long black hair cover her face, which was completely red. It was clear she wasn't used to conversations like this.
Eve conveniently just turned her face away and looked around like she'd seen something interesting. She didn't want to get into this trouble.
"Oh? Finally, they will start." Scathach spoke.
The girls stopped what they were doing and looked at the arena, where they saw a woman with cat ears and two cat tails walking towards the middle of the arena.
"Nekomimi!"
The girls near Pepper flinched a little at Pepper's outburst.
"Pepper, you've seen her before, right?"
"Yes! But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate her again! Ugh! I want to touch those ears!"
The Scarlett sisters and the rest twitch a little when they saw Pepper's obsessive face.
"… Hmm, I wonder what Victor would look like with cat ears and a cat tail," Natalia asked aloud.
"..." A deafening silence fell on Victor's group.
Suddenly Pepper, Lake, Ruby, and Siena got nosebleeds.
Even the Maids, Mizuki, and Luna were not spared this idea; this sight was simply too exciting for the girls.
Scathach blushed a little. 'Perhaps, I should ask him to wear this to the next night's fight... I'll get a predator costume.'
Ruby, who had her hand on her nose, was thinking the same thing, but unlike her mother, she imagined in an opposite situation, she would be the prey and her husband the predator.
... Yes, they were definitely mother and daughter.
After arriving at the center of the Arena, Kuroka spoke:
"The rules are simple… No deaths, and please avoid severe damage that could incapacitate the opponent, like cutting off arms, legs, etc. Due to obvious issues, the last rule does not apply to Alucard."
The two opponents nodded. Victor didn't see any problem with that; after all, he knew that vampires were known for their insane regeneration.
"A bounded field will be set up when the fight starts, and you will fight in the 'reverse world' to avoid any damage to properties or visitors."
"Any questions?" Kuroka asked as she looked at the two opponents. Of course, her gaze lingered the longest on Victor.
Sniffing the air a little, Haruna narrowed her eyes when she smelled that wild cat's arousal. She looked at her subordinate with an obsidian glint in her eyes.
Kuroka flinched a little when she felt Haruna's glare but managed to keep her professional face.
"I have no doubt." Victor said.
"Me either." Haruna spoke.
"... Good! As soon as I leave the Arena, the fight will start." Kuroka jumps back, and as she falls out of the ring, dark energy covers the ring, and soon everyone sees that Haruna and Victor are in the 'inverse' world, a place created through massive amounts of Youki.
And as soon as the two opponents saw that they were somewhere else, they got ready.
The first to start the fight was...
.....
