Chapter 699: Zaladrac, the Dragon that only the King can handle.
Walking through the corridors of the Demon King's immense Castle, Victor strolled with a small satisfied smile on his face.
He had just come out of a meeting with Aline and Vepar. Both women had had only good news for him.
'Now that future development has been secured, I can focus on the most current issues.' He couldn't help but smile even more. He'd achieved the feat of lessening the excessive Miasma levels in Hell, decreasing it enough so that it didn't harm Hell itself but also didn't create time-related problems.
Applying the thought that 'Balance' was the answer to everything, Victor, along with Vepar and Aline, managed to lessen the Miasma's influence throughout Hell.
"One year on Earth, five years in Hell." Victor thought aloud.
Though he wished that Time in Hell was like that of Earth, diminishing the Miasma's influence even further for that to happen could be dangerous for all of Hell. After all, the Miasma wasn't just a harmful Energy; it was the source of everything that existed in Hell.
Though it was a somewhat unorthodox way of describing it, Miasma was the 'Natural Energy' of Hell.
Victor couldn't foresee the consequences it would have if he diminished the Miasma in Hell even further.
Speaking of Hells.
'The Seven Hells that assign punishment to Souls will have to remain unchanged...' This was a topic of the meeting just before.
Lily, who was currently the general in charge of these Hells, pointed out that having the Miasma come out of the sinners' Hells would be counterproductive; after all, that's where the Demons came to exist.
Take the Hell of Flames, for example, the place where War was born.
In that place, sinners who committed crimes involving the Sin of "Wrath" were punished. The Demons seen to be born in that Hell were commonly called Demons of Flames, as they were very proficient in Hellfire.
Though few, if any, acquired the ability to wield Hellfire as proficiently as War.
The Hell of Despair, a space wholly made of pure Darkness, was where the Ancient Horseman of Death came to exist. Consequently, the Demons that came into existence in that place were highly proficient in a dark and unique 'Miasma' that was in that area of Hell.
These Demons were commonly called the Demons of Despair, though like with the Demons of Flames, none truly managed to reach the level of proficiency of The Horseman of Death.
The time it took for a Demon to come into existence in one of these Hells is inconsistent, but one thing was sure: the levels of Miasma had a lot of influence on it.
But this was where the problem of everything was born. As Victor was preventing the Miasma from spreading through Hell like usual, The Seven Hells of Sinners were not producing as many Demons as before.
Fortunately, he was able to resolve this issue at hand with the help of Lily and Aline.
In general terms, the Seven Hells of Sinners were seven individual sub-dimensions in Hell itself. As shown in the past by Diablo himself, the 'Ruler' could control those places because it was there that Souls would pass through before moving on.
Using that experience, it wasn't difficult for Aline to create seven Orbs representing the seven sub-dimensions of Hell, allowing Victor to place these Orbs in the room where he channeled the Miasma like a dam.
The result of this crazy experiment? Hell began to produce even more Demons than before.
As the Miasma was being focused in one room, its concentration was far greater than when it had been scattered across all of Hell. Since the seven Orbs acted as a conduit to the seven Hells, the Miasma fueled the dimensions even more efficiently than before.
With these thoughts in his head, Victor couldn't help but think of the chocolate-skinned Ice Demon, Aline Valefar. In some ways, she reminded Victor a lot of Ruby and Sasha.
The woman shared the same loyalty and love of science as his dear redhead Wife. Also, while she may look cold on the outside, she was also very sweet on the inside, much like Sasha, something scarcely found for a Demon.
Ruby's brain and Sasha's big heart.
For Victor, who spent 700 years training non-stop and without contact with his Wives, Aline was a very... complex experience.
She resembled his Wives, but at the same time, she was different in little ways, which reminded Victor that Aline wasn't Ruby or Sasha.
And it was in those moments that he realized his mistake. He was comparing someone to someone else and wasn't truly looking at that person.
Victor understood very well what it was like to be compared to someone. In the beginning, when he'd absorbed Adonis, this kind of thing tended to happen.
And he didn't like that, and because of that, he completely stopped the comparisons and just looked at Aline.
And when he did, he found someone he could truly trust. Aline's loyalty was to him, but it wasn't enough for Victor. He wanted her obsession too.
Because of that, he did something that no one would have expected.
Aline Valefar was many things, a Commander, Abaddon's Head of Technological Development, a loyal woman, and at the same time, she was... The Ruler of the Hell he ruled.
Victor's appointment of a Ruler and who that individual was, was confidential information that only The Four Generals knew.
Officially, she was one of Vepar's four subordinate Commanders.
Unofficially, she was the Ruler, a Being who was an integral part of Hell and the 'System' created by the Primordial Entities.
"If you wanted to hide something, just hide it in plain sight. No one will ever notice." Victor smiled.
Victor looked at the walls of the Castles.
In the past, the Demon King's Castle was the ruling center of Hell, where various Demons came and went. But that was no longer the case these days. Currently, the Demon King's Castle was as the name suggested: The Demon King's residence.
A highly restricted location where only a select few could visit.
Victor Alucard, the Demon King, lived here with the new society's most influential figures, namely the Four Generals and the 12 subordinate Commanders of Helena, Vine, and Vepar.
These women were the top authorities of Hell, and Victor wanted them close to him. That way, he would be able to maintain the women's influence and prevent corruption in the upper echelons.
And by having society's most important figures move in with him, he'd have the excuse to keep Aline close and protect her.
If he so wished, the Demon Castle would be an impenetrable fortress.
The Castle itself seemed to have a bit of sentience due to being constantly bathed in Miasma.
If the Demon King's Castle was no longer the center of Hell's rule, where was it?
The answer to that was quite peculiar. In the middle of the Seven Skyscrapers, better known as the Seven Pillars, there was a government building connected to the seven structures, a connection that allowed employees who worked there and lived in the skyscrapers to travel back and forth to meet their work schedules easily.
The government building was also the headquarters where Vepar, Helena, and both women's subordinates worked. The only difference from the others was that when those specific women finished their work, they didn't return to one of the Pillars. Instead, they returned to the Demon King's Castle through a similar pathway to those between the skyscrapers and the government building. However, that particular pathway could only be used by those that Victor allowed.
It was worth mentioning that the girls' position was very 'enviable'.
Living directly with the King, the man who could give power to a Demon with a wave of his hand, was very coveted.
Just what kind of opportunities were offered to those who achieved those feats?
Did the King train them personally? And it was because of that they were so strong?
What was in the Castle?
Through rumors like this, Victor influenced the Demons to 'work' harder in pursuit of conquest.
Other factors that helped this were lust and desire, which further amplified a certain demographic of Demons even more in pursuit of becoming a resident of the Castle.
Stopping before a large door, Victor put his hand in front of it and pushed it open easily. What greeted Victor beyond the door was a gigantic Black Dragon with violet details on its scales.
"Hey, Girl. How are you?"
The Dragon's eyes opened, revealing striking eyes of a color similar to Victor's deep violet eyes.
When Victor's and the Dragon's eyes met, Victor's own eyes lost the change he'd been maintaining, reverting to their 'original' form.
As the connection between the Dragon and its Rider deepened, the two began to take on each other's physical characteristics.
An example of this was the color of the Dragon's eyes and the change in Victor's eyes, whose pupils became 'thinner' like the Dragon's eyes.
Not to mention the other minor changes, such as the coloring of the Dragon's scales, which changed to dark violet. Victor could also 'activate' a second skin that would look like a Dragon's scales, a second skin with more 'tough' properties similar to a Dragon's scales.
Victor fully believed that when he wore this second skin, his enemies would need an extraordinary weapon to penetrate his skin. After all, joining the second skin he'd acquired with the connection to the Dragon, with the resistance he'd already had due to Roxanne, he highly doubted that an ordinary weapon could harm him.
"Victor..." Warm air emerged from the two openings in the Dragon's snout: "How many times have I told you not to call me Girl? I have a name." The voice reverberated throughout the room.
"If it weren't for you being my Rider, I would have burned you for such disrespect."
"Your name sounds like a tongue twister...." Victor snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if you burned people for merely saying your name incorrectly."
"That is a possibility."
"Just keep from burning the Demons to death, Zaladrac. After all, your actions reflect me." Victor approached the Dragon's snout and stroked between the two large openings.
"Hmm..." A satisfied voice escaped her throat like a low rumble. She was clearly enjoying the feeling he was conveying, "I won't do that; they are too scared just to approach me anyway."
"Good."
"... Huh? How is that good?" she asked, confused.
One thing about young Dragons was that they were very honest and didn't understand social niceties.
"Because then I can have you all to myself."
The Dragon's violet eyes seemed to glow for a few seconds.
Through their connection, which was much stronger than before, she could feel genuine and somewhat overwhelming happiness coming from Victor now.
'... He's so happy to have me all to himself? ...Weird... But it's good."
Despite not understanding subtleties as other Beings usually did, Dragons were instinctively good judges of character.
Victor then jumped on the dragon's head. He lay on his back and looked up at the blue lighting coming from the flames on the ceiling.
"What are you doing...?" Zaladrac asked curiously.
"Thinking..."
"About what?"
"Things."
"Grr..."
"Hahaha, no need to be so sullen." Victor sat up and started stroking her scales.
"Is that dark violet coloring because of our bond?"
"Hmm." Zaladrac affirmed.
Victor smiled, somewhat confused at the feeling of appreciation coming from the Dragon, "Are you really enjoying this? I don't even feel like I'm making a difference at all."
"You are correct; I don't feel anything."
"Right? After all, you are huge; this should hardly be able to make you feel anything at all, let alone feel pleasant." Victor nodded.
"Do not underestimate yourself; our connection makes it very easy to transmit feelings."
"...Oh, you're saying it's not the caress itself but my warm feelings for you that make you comfortable."
"...Hmm... Correct ."
A moment of silence fell in place, and Victor returned to lie down with his back to the scales. Then, knowing that it was because of their connection that she was feeling good, he focused on sending her the maximum amount of affection and care he could.
"... That is good..."
"I'm glad you like it."
"Mm."
A comfortable silence fell over the place once more, both just enjoying each other's presence.
Victor's words broke this silence:
"I wonder if you can downsize or change into a more Humanoid Form."
Zaladrac, who had her eyes closed, opened her eyes and asked:
"Why do you want to know that?"
"I'm planning on visiting the Mortal World more often; I don't want to leave you alone here."
"The Demons will be out there."
"Hardly any would they enter this place; just like you said, they are terrified of you."
The only person who would likely not care about Zaladrac's overwhelming presence would be Lilith, but the woman was too busy enjoying the City to care about that.
Feeling the concern he had for her through their connection, Zaladrac narrowed her eyes. Soon she fell into a deep meditation. She was searching for something in the memories she'd inherited from her parents.
It was an unconscious action. She didn't even think about why she did it; she just did it.
Victor had this weird effect on her. Usually, she would think about the pros and cons or grumble and go to sleep, but when she felt Victor's sincere emotions, she tended to subconsciously act in a way to please him and consequently please herself.
"Hmm... There is one thing I can do."
"Oh?"
"Get off my head."
"Okay." Victor jumped off Zaladrac's head and landed on his feet.
Then he looked at the dragon that had raised its head.
Only when she got to her feet did Victor truly realize how big she really was.
The Dragon's body suddenly began to glow violet. Soon her form began to shrink and take on a more Humanoid Form.
When the light disappeared, Victor saw a 184CM tall woman standing before him. She had long black hair with shades of violet, two Dragon wings with the same color scheme as her Dragon Form, pointed ears like an Elf's, and violet eyes with slit-like pupils.
Her body was toned and perfectly balanced, not too big or too small, and her skin had a healthy, fair tone. Overall, she looked like a woman with an ethereal and distant beauty, an otherworldly allure that could not be seen in Mortals.
"Hmm... It worked." A soft, beautiful, and emotionless voice was heard.
Her emotionless face never seemed to change, even when she looked at her body.
"This is...unexpected..."
"Unexpected? Why?" Zaladrac questioned, confused.
"I didn't expect you to be able to do that."
"Understandable. I personally never tried to assume a Humanoid Form. I never had an interest."
"... Wait, you could do this from the beginning?"
"Probably. As I said, I was never interested in knowing."
"I assume this ease in doing new things is due to the knowledge inherited from your parents."
"Mm." She nodded as she pinched her skin. She narrowed her eyes a little when she saw how malleable her skin was compared to her usual scales.
'Weak.' She snorted inwardly at this 'fragile' body. Although it wasn't as tough as her Dragon Form, her body definitely wasn't fragile.
"My parents left a lot of things to me, thousands of years of knowledge. When I'm sleeping, which is most of the time, I absorb this knowledge for myself to use as if it were natural."
"I will most likely be able to absorb everything when I reach adulthood ... But that is thousands of years from now."
'Dragons are such broken Beings.' Victor rolled his eyes. No wonder they were called the pinnacle of existence, different from the 'Ryujin' that Victor fought in the Youkai war.
True Dragons were broken Beings who were naturally born strong.
With the knowledge of the past generation in their heads, their only flaw was that they needed thousands of years to develop fully.
Victor approached Zaladrac. While doing so, he took hold of his Spacial Bag and removed a dark violet dress.
"Hmm? What is that?"
"Special clothes made with Demon Beast material."
She huffed, "I know what clothes are. I'm asking why you're giving this to me."
"I can't let you walk around naked. I don't want to have to kill all my citizens."
Zaladrac looked into Victor's eyes, which were an exact reflection of hers, and hummed in approval:
"Hmm-~" She liked the 'possessive' feeling she was feeling from Victor right now.
"Will you help me get dressed? I've never had to do that."
"Sure."
