Chapter 638: Changes completed, and Yandere Goddess.
"Ruby and Jeanne, how are you feeling?"
"… Hmm?" Ruby awoke from her thoughts and looked at Victor. Then, when his question registered in her mind, she spoke:
"I don't know. I don't feel much different," Ruby said.
"Me neither." Jeanne spoke, "Unlike Morgana, my Spirit is too high a level for your Power as a Progenitor to affect it. The only thing that has changed is that my Mortal flesh has become stronger and more resistant... Oh?"
"What is it?" Victor asked.
"The influence of The Heavenly Father's Blessing has greatly diminished. In fact, the Power has been completely erased..." Jeanne raised her hand, and a green orb of Energy was created in her hand.
"It's become much easier to use my Energy now..." Jeanne smiled widely.
'I also feel some Energies inside of me that have gotten stronger than before…' Focusing on those feelings, she saw a warm and kind flame: 'Hestia's Blessing, huh… It seems that the more I see him as my Family, the stronger the Blessing becomes, hmm….'
"Well, isn't that bad?" Victor asked, not knowing what to comment.
"Not really, The Heavenly Father's Blessing only gave me a few things, and if I were going to use the Blessing as extensively as I did in the Demon invasion, I'd need his permission, which he usually only gives when it comes to Hellish creatures or sinners who have committed much evil.'"
"Oh."
"To be honest, I'm quite satisfied. After all, when I got my memories back, I always wanted to discard that God's Blessing."
'Although it didn't happen that way, I couldn't help but feel cheated when I realized that I was under the influence of someone other than my brother.' Jeanne could not fully trust anyone other than her brother when it came to her own existence.
'Perhaps Victor too. After all, I know that his own nature does not allow him to harm those he cares about.' Jeanne thought sweetly.
"And this isn't a loss for me either. Now that I can use my Energy more easily, which is of a higher level than even that God, I can produce the same effects as his Blessings only by using my Energy now."
"... Does that mean you can use all the judgments you've used in the past?" Scathach asked curiously.
"Yes, I remember the feeling of each one, so I can easily recreate it."
"But how are you going to do that?" Natashia asked, confused, "As far as I know, you can't control other Elements, right?"
The Heavenly Father's Judgments were Execution Techniques based on his historical deeds of 'Trials'.
The flood of Noah's story.
Israel's Judgment by Fire.
The 'banishment' of the traitorous Angels to Hell.
Every judgment The Heavenly Father ever made was reflected in an entire set of different Techniques that could only be used when Jeanne asked his permission.
Throughout Agnes, Natashia, and Scathach's existence, the three Countesses only saw some of these Trials.
"The Energy I use, derived from my brother's Power, is much like the Energy Victor uses now, thanks to Roxanne. Only my Energy is purer, more volatile, and denser, which means that as long as there is a source nearby, I can amplify it."
"For example." Jeanne picked up a stone on the ground and threw it in one direction. A few seconds later, that stone had grown to 10 meters in diameter.
"....."
"Hmm, something like that. My brother's Energy is related to Life and the entire World Tree Species, and since it's very powerful, I can weaponize my surrounding environment."
"… Does this mean you can use all of Nature to your advantage?" Agnes asked.
"Basically, yes," Jeanne spoke.
"...Yes, with that ridiculous Power, you could easily replicate the 'Judgments' of The Heavenly Father..." Agnes spoke.
'After all, these Judgments are based on incidents that 'restarted' an entire civilization.' Agnes thought.
"Yes." Jeanne nodded, "But I will use this Power more in the form of Energy. Although it is a neutral and peaceful Energy, as it is an Energy that comes from a Primordial Entity, it is more destructive to Beings below it, which basically means everyone who is not a Primordial Entity."
"Not to mention that using this Power to 'shape Nature' around would be counterproductive for me. After all, I don't have someone helping me in this process like Victor, and if I overdo it, I will probably cause more damage than help."
"… What kind of damage?" Scathach asked.
"I could forget about limiting my Energy use and end up moving the earth around. Or I could happen to accidentally affect tectonic plates, earthquakes, and tidal waves will be the least of our concerns."
"..." Everyone around her broke into a cold sweat upon hearing about it.
"This has a lot of potential for indiscriminate damage, and I don't want to kill innocent animals or people, especially children on the other side of the planet who have nothing to do with our fight. Not to mention that I'm already used to using that power in the form of Energy; I used it that way in the past too..."
"Although I will still recreate The Heavenly Judgments Techniques and other Techniques to increase my arsenal even more."
"In Victor's case, I suggest using this Energy as a support for his body and using the 'Nature' around him. After all, he has Roxanne to support him when he uses this Power."
Victor nodded; he was already planning to do that, "I'm working on it, but it's still complicated to move rocks and solid objects from the ground."
"This is due to the very nature of The World Trees. Can they shape them? Yes, but it takes longer than if you were affecting trees, plants, and anything 'green' in general."
"..." Victor nodded. Of course, he knew that, but it was still 'possible'. And if it was 'possible', it probably meant that if he trained, he could mold 'solid' nature more quickly.
Victor had a firm belief that with training, anything was possible.
"Something The Universal Tree has no problem doing, but the scope of Energy is too ridiculous to know. For example, I only used a water droplet's worth of Power on that rock, and it grew by 10 meters."
"That's bullshit." Victor, Natashia, and Agnes said at the same time.
Jeanne smiled gently. "Because of that, I better not recklessly use this Energy on the surrounding environment… At least until I have full control of my Energy."
'In the past, I never saw the use of training. I was already stronger than everyone else just by existing, and my brother would protect me as well if something happened, not to mention that I've been wandering aimlessly for thousands of years...'
Despite living for a long time without purpose, Jeanne's personality was kind in nature. Thus, perhaps out of boredom, pity, or even kindness, she would occasionally save people and beings on her travels. These gestures led her to take on the burdens of the original Jeanne D'Arc.
'I wonder if that girl lived a good life...' Jeanne thought wistfully.
"..." Everyone nodded in agreement with her.
"Anyway, back to the point. Ruby," Victor looked at the redhead.
"Try some of your Techniques."
"Okay." Ruby raised her hand and tried to create an Ice chair, but she was surprised when a Water chair was created.
"... Huh?"
"What's the problem?" Victor asked.
"I didn't try to use water, but Ice."
"Hmm… Can you turn the Water into Ice? Try." Victor spoke as he felt the approach of the girls who were far away.
Ruby tried to turn the Water into Ice, but nothing happened.
"... What is happening?" She narrowed her eyes, as confusion was seen in her expression; she didn't understand anything.
"Daughter, try creating another Ice structure," Scathach spoke somberly.
"... Okay." Realizing that her mom was in teacher mode, she readily accepted her guidance.
She dropped the Water chair she had just created out of thin air and tried to make an Ice weapon now, but just like before, Water was created, not Ice.
"... That's..." Scathach narrowed her eyes.
"Yes, and to think that could happen too…." Victor spoke with a sigh.
"You two seem to have a clue what's going on. Mind explaining?" Ruby asked.
"… Hmm, Ruby. Try to create a structure, but this time don't think about using your Powers separately. Just let it flow." Victor didn't answer her and just gave another instruction to his Wife.
"...." Ruby looked at her mom to see if she had anything to add.
"Just do what he says," Scathach said when she saw the look on her daughter's face.
"Okay."
Again, she let the Water spear fall to the ground and tried to create another structure, but this time, she did what Victor suggested. She didn't force the Ice to appear but instead let everything 'flow'.
In a matter of seconds, an Ice Spear was created.
"I did it!" Ruby sighed in relief. She thought she had lost the Power she was so used to. That would have been a disaster.
Scathach and Victor just approached Ruby and looked at the Spear with appraising eyes.
"… As expected, there is water inside the Spear," Scathach said.
"Indeed, and the Spear seems more robust than simple Ice structures." Victor continued.
"It must be because the water can deal with stress better? After all, the water is in constant motion." Scathach deduced.
"Probably… But that's amazing, and to think the same thing happened to her…." Victor spoke up.
"..." Ruby and the girls just watched Victor and Scathach talking in their own world, a conversation that seemed like no one could enter.
"Okay, that is enough. Explain what's going on!" Ruby spoke with a serious face.
Victor and Scathach stopped talking and looked at Ruby at the same time.
"What happened, Ruby is that your two Bloodlines have merged completely," Victor replied.
"... Huh?"
"Before, you used your two Bloodlines separately, and the two Powers never came together naturally. You had to work hard to use both at the same time intentionally. That was the training I had you focus on for over two years." Scathach completed.
"But now, you don't need that. You've become just like Victor."
"What do you mean 'like' Darling…?"
"Look." Victor raised his palm up.
Soon various Powers formed in front of him like a solar system; the Blood Sphere in the middle was the Sun, orbited by Fire, Ice, and Lightning Spheres, representing planets.
The Ice Sphere with Water inside represented the Power he'd gained from Ruby that fateful night. There was also a green sphere with the feeling of Nature and a golden sphere that was very small compared to the other spheres.
"This is the representation of all the Powers within me. The Elements are quite explanatory, the green orb is Roxanne's power, and the golden orb is the Blessings of the Goddesses that I have."
'The Power of Magic is also there, but it's so small that it can't even be called a Power,' Victor thought as he looked at a small light blue sphere.
"....."
"As expected, he is using cheats. What kind of bullshit is this?" Violet, who had stopped fighting, pointed to the solar system of Powers in Victor's hand, "Just with a brief count, he has more than five powers! Ugh, I already knew he had them, but it's still hard to accept, haaah." She just sighed at the end.
Sasha and Natashia patted Violet's back in understanding; they had the same thoughts as Violet.
Victor didn't comment on what Violet said and continued as if nothing had happened:
"…After my rebirth because of Roxanne, all my Powers, except for the Blessings of the Goddesses, completely merged with me. Before, when I entered the Form of a Vampire Count of the Scarlett Clan, for example, I could only use the Element of Ice and could not use the other Elements actively. I could only use them as support and at low output, much weaker than what I could manage in my Base Form."
"Even when I used my Fire, Ice, and Lightning Powers in fights, I had to 'control' the percentages of each Power output that I wanted to use in my attacks, or even balance the percentages of each that I should keep in my body."
"Usually, I kept the output to 50% of Lightning directed to my legs, 10% of Fire in my hands, and the remaining 40% was with the Ice to the rest of my body for reinforcement. But, of course, the percentage exchange happens quickly, all thanks to Scathach."
"What did she do?" Violet asked.
"What she does best, tort – Cough, training," Natashia answered.
The older redhead just looked at Natashia with a narrowed gaze.
Natashia turned her face away and started to whistle.
"Master trained me until I had excellent control over my own Powers so that the changes and possibly temporary fusion would happen naturally and quickly," Victor replied.
"The same happened to you, only in a simpler way than me. After all, not even I can completely unite all my Powers because some of them are of opposing nature."
"I could only do this with Water and Ice because they complement each other. I was working on adding Lightning in the sphere of Water and Ice to use these three Powers as one, possibly creating a new attack or even a new element. But, unfortunately, it's not as easy as it seems." Victor commented with a slight frustration in his tone.
'Although Lightning and Fire combine very well, too. It's a pity that I can't fuse them... yet.' Victor thought, but he wouldn't give up so easily.
'Maybe, I can use Magic too... I stopped training that when I acquired Roxanne's Energy...'
"..." The girls gulped, 'Does he plan on pooling these Powers to create a new Element? Is he crazy? This Power comes directly from his Lineage!' They thought.
What Victor said was unbelievable to Vampires because he was basically saying that he was trying to merge Bloodlines within to create new Bloodlines, which was ridiculous thinking.
"Huh, your thoughts are getting more and more insane. Merge Elements to create new ones? This isn't Naruto, you know? We don't have an Energy called 'Chakra' for-... Oh." Ruby stopped talking when she realized something.
Victor smiled a little, "I just started testing Element Fusion recently. I believe I could succeed thanks to the 'Nature' energy of a World Tree."
"If it were before, I wouldn't have even thought about it because I would hardly have something to stabilize the Energies, but now that I have it, I want to explore it to the fullest.." Victor concluded his reasoning.
'...Maybe he can create a new element in the future...' Ruby sighed as she realized that her husband was getting increasingly ridiculous in his insatiable pursuit of Power.
"Leaving that discussion aside, the point is; You weren't able to use your Ice before because you were thinking of using them separately like before, which was incorrect. They are not separate anymore; they are one now."
"... I understand," Ruby spoke.
"Umu, anyway, guys, the show is over. You need to get used to your new bodies and Power."
"Yes!"
"Scathach, I'm counting on you to teach them. I'm sure you've been looking forward to this moment."
"… Eh?" All who accepted the change didn't know what to do, as they just looked mechanically at Scathach.
Scathach's smile grew predatory, her hair began defying gravity, and a thick killing intent kicked in all around her.
"Hahaha, Victor, you know me very well."
"Of course."
"W-Wait, Master. I don't need to go through that, too, right? I'm already used to it!" Kaguya, who usually remained silent like an exemplary Maid, stammered upon realizing her impending fate...
"Eh?" The other Maids looked at Kaguya as if she were a traitor.
Victor displayed a small smile and said, "Only Eve, Maria, Bruna, and Roxanne are free to go. You and Roberta need to stay here to train."
"M-Master!" Roberta wanted to protest, but she felt a cold hand touch her shoulder; she looked back, startled, and saw Scathach's smile.
"Fufufufu~, I wonder how strong the Progenitor of the Gorgons is. I wouldn't have held back in your training if I had known from the beginning that you had this."
"How in the hell were you holding back!?" Robert screamed.
"Wasn't it obvious?"
"Impossible!" Roberta was in disbelief.
Victor looked at Agnes and Natashia and nodded. The two women nodded to him as well, indicating that they understood what he was talking about, then the two women looked at their respective daughters.
There were no better specialists in each Clan to train the Youngest Heirs than their mothers.
Violet, Sasha, and Ruby looked at Victor with resentful eyes.
A look that only made Victor's sadistic smile grow:
"Good luck~." Victor turned and started walking, accompanied by the Maids, who would not participate in the training.
'I'm going to visit my daughters. I need to see Nero's condition.' Victor thought.
Veins bulged on the heads of the three girls.
Violet snarled and screamed, "Darling… I swear to god when I get out of here, eu-... GAAAH!"
"Huh!? Mother, what are you doing!?"
"It's time to train, daughter."
"Bitch, this is hard feelings, isn't it!? You're angry, aren't you!? GAAAHH!"
Rumble, Rumble.
"M-Mother!?"
"Fufufu, my dear Sasha, don't lose concentration on the battlefield."
"We are not on a battlefield!! AAAH!"
Victor ignored the explosions and the noises of Lightning that occurred behind him. He didn't even want to know what was going on. After seeing so many 'diamonds' to polish in a secure place, Scathach looked like a child who had just received several birthday presents.
The moment Victor stepped outside the establishment, he saw the lifeless gaze of a pink-haired Goddess.
The Maids froze, and he swallowed hard when he saw Aphrodite's look.
"Darling~, I wonder what this new connection I'm feeling in your Soul is…?" She tilted her head with a hollow smile, "I thought you said I'm the only Goddess you could ever have."
Seeing the pink-haired Goddess act like that only put a satisfied smile on Victor's face.
'…She's perfect~'.
.....
