Chapter 865: So it begins.
Uncertainty, confusion, fear, hatred, envy, disbelief, admiration, obsession.
The public's feelings towards Victor were mixed. Each individual was thinking something about him, and each had an opinion about him. But regardless of what they felt, regardless of what they thought, one specific feeling reigned supreme.
Fear.
The major powers were afraid of his unknown potential that exceeded the charts. In their minds, they simply couldn't comprehend how someone who was already as strong as a Demon King could become even stronger in such a short span of time.
Combat feats aside, in terms of pure Energy, Victor alone overshadowed all the Gods present. It was ridiculous to imagine that a 'MORTAL' Being could possess so much Power.
Yes, he was The Progenitor of Dragons and had access to The Heart of The Dragon, which was essentially a nuclear reactor, but even with that, he shouldn't have had such pure Power that completely eclipsed even Shiva himself.
Hearing from the Primordial that he had to alter the meeting location slightly to accommodate Victor's existence was more than enough proof that this man
—no, this monster, this Demon, this unknown Being!—was an existence that should not be provoked. This thought became even clearer in everyone's minds when a hurricane of flames erupted near Victor, and another pair of wings, this time with red scales, appeared, casting aside all the fire around.
Just like Victor, the woman was wearing a full suit of armor but with color themes that were more red than black. She had long, blood-red hair, fiery red Dragon-like eyes, and two red horns on her head with tips glowing like pure magma.
The woman's Power exploded around her, creating an atmosphere that was both icy and hot at the same time. While her Energy wasn't as overwhelming as Victor's, it was still absurd by Dragon standards, proving that Victor's Lineage was anything but normal.
But her appearance wasn't what caught everyone's attention the most; it was the gleam in her eyes. Gods of Martial Arts and experienced warlords like Odin and Thor immediately recognized it.
A Grandmaster!
Again, even this wasn't what shocked them so much. After all, they already knew that Scathach was one of the few Beings who held that Title... What shocked them was...
This woman was at The Pinnacle of Grandmasters.
She was just one step away from entering an unknown realm that no Martial Artist had ever reached, and that's what astounded these Masters present.
'What an absolute monster.' That thought ran through everyone's minds.
As if expecting this opportunity, the voice of The Owner of Limbo sounded again, identifying the woman:
"Accompanying him as his personal bodyguard, one of the few Beings to reach the level of Grandmaster in the world, The Godslayer, Scathach Scarlett Alucard."
The woman tossed her hair back with an elegant gesture, and her wings folded behind her. However, they didn't disappear. She was proudly displaying her Racial features.
...
"I must say, Scathach has certainly embraced her role," Rose commented.
"She's definitely enjoying all this attention," Ruby agreed with Rose. Although she wasn't someone who liked to attract attention so flamboyantly, she would do so if necessary. However, this time, it was obvious that she was relishing all the attention.
'It seems like her Dragon side has made her much more straightforward than I expected,' Ruby thought.
Violet observed Scathach's presence beside Victor in silence. She couldn't help but imagine herself in Scathach's place. But that was a distant reality. She wasn't strong enough for that yet. Her expression was neutral, but her feelings couldn't be hidden from Sasha, Ruby, and Aphrodite.
"Don't be envious, Violet," Aphrodite spoke gently. "Your time will come one day."
"...I'd be lying if I said I'm not envious." She wanted to be by his side as an 'Empress'; she could vividly imagine the scene in her head.
"But I know that instead of dwelling on something futile, I must strive harder to become stronger."
Aphrodite nodded with a small smile on her face; she liked that mentality.
If you were not someone abnormal like Victor, it was practically impossible to surpass the powerful Beings that had been around since the beginning of time. This same thought applied to Scathach, who had over 2,000 years of experience. She wasn't just talented but also worked hard. Thus, it was practically impossible to surpass the woman so quickly.
Violet understood this; it was common sense... But... Like her Husband, she wanted to break common sense and become a worthy Empress. Therefore, she did something that Victor had recommended not doing several times. She looked to the future.
Violet's violet eyes glowed faintly, and for a moment, she saw the image of herself looking older with two large white wings, wearing a violet dress with black accents floating in the air.
Despite having the same features and appearance, she looked completely different. She seemed more experienced, more mature, and incredibly stronger.
She appeared to be floating in the air as she looked at a futuristic city in the distance, which seemed to be under attack by several Dragons.
Suddenly, her future self looked towards her, her violet Draconic Eyes glowing faintly, just like hers. Suddenly, the view of the city was obstructed, preventing Violet from seeing more, and all that remained was the sight of her future self.
"My past self, you really never listen to Darling, do you?" She smiled faintly.
Violet opened her eyes wide in shock.
"Hehehe~, so that was the expression I had on that day."
Violet tried to open her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
"It's futile. Your current self doesn't fully comprehend the Powers we inherited from our father. Therefore, communicating with me is impossible," she said, smiling in a manner that Violet had never done before.
It was a compassionate, gentle, and almost maternal smile as if she were watching Anna smile.
"....."
"I have many things I'd like to say to you, but by speaking them, I'd likely compromise a series of things, and that would be problematic," she muttered softly, but then a mischievous gleam sparkled in her eyes. "But I can give you three pieces of advice." She raised three fingers to indicate her advice.
"Listen to our Husband's warning. Just as always, he was right when he said not to abuse this Power," she spoke with a melancholic tone as if she were thinking about something from her past, her own past.
Violet knew that expression very well; it was the same expression she had when she lost her father.
'What happened? What did I do?'
"For now, get used to your Power and only try to use it for combat. Use all the advantages Darling has prepared for us. Get stronger, become a Dragon, and not just any Dragon. Become The Dragon Empress who walks alongside the Emperor." The future Violet lowered the two fingers, leaving only one piece of advice.
"If Darling represents The Principle of Domination, we represent The Principle of Control. Domination cannot exist without Control, and Control cannot exist without Domination."
'What does that mean?' Violet was confused.
Seeing her apparent confusion, the future Violet spoke, "Don't think too much. You'll understand eventually." She laughed softly.
The future Violet looked to the side as if something had caught her attention. "It seems it's time... I must go."
The future Violet looked back at her past self.
"Remember, my past self. Behind every great man is a great woman to support him. The sooner you understand that, the faster you will develop and learn to lead our Sisters... Oh, and don't tell our Sisters what you heard here. They are too smart for their own good..." The future Violet's eyes began to shine brighter, and suddenly, the vision started to fade.
...
Violet snapped back to reality and fell to her knees. Her face was completely sweaty as if she had run a marathon. Her breathing was heavy, and she felt frail.
"Violet!" All the girls in the room quickly approached Violet.
"You foolish girl, did you do it again? You don't listen to Darling at all, do you!? How many times has he told you not to use that Power?" Agnes growled with irritation and worried eyes.
Seeing that her daughter wasn't reacting to her words, Agnes became even more irritated.
"Enough, Agnes. She understands now," Eleonor said as she checked Violet. Not only her, but Ruby and Aphrodite, who were closer, were also checking on Violet.
"She clearly doesn't understand if she keeps making the same mistake!" Agnes roared in frustration.
"Agnes, you know how Violet is. She always does what she wants," Kaguya scolded Agnes.
"I know, and that's why I'm so annoyed. She doesn't even listen to her own Husband!"
A Greek Goddess approached Violet and knelt beside her, holding her wrist. Her Divinity took over Violet's entire body.
"So, Panacea, what's wrong with her?" Sasha asked.
"Just extreme Energy exhaustion. It's as if she used all her Energy in a single second, and this sudden loss made her entire body collapse," Panacea, The Greek Goddess of Healing, gave her diagnosis.
"It's like pulling the plug on a computer, huh," Ruby clarified for the confused girls.
"That is a strange analogy, but you're right, Lady Ruby," Panacea nodded.
"She just needs to rest, and she'll be fine."
"Ruby, hold her arm," Sasha ordered.
Ruby nodded and helped Sasha put Violet on the couch.
As Violet's breathing began to stabilize, a voice asked,
"What did you see, Lady Violet?" Helena asked.
The girls looked at the Demon woman with narrowed eyes.
"I understand your feelings, but we need to understand what she saw," Helena was logical, and no one could refute her logic. After all, they were all curious too.
"Remember what Darling said: the future is not fixed. What she saw may not happen," Roberta spoke.
"It is still imperative that we know what she saw," Aline countered, supporting Helena.
"I agree with both of them," Ruby said. "Clearly, this time, it wasn't a normal situation."
"Girls, have you never heard the saying 'Don't fuck with Space and Time? Don't you guys watch movies? Do you know how complicated shit will get if you include Time?" Pepper spoke in an extremely serious tone.
These words made the curious girls choke a little.
Lacus nodded in agreement with Pepper and added, "Ruby, you, of all people, should understand this."
"Ugh."
"I agree with Pepper. Not even the Gods dare to mess with Time; that's the territory of The Primordials," Rhea said.
"Agreed, not even my useless father dared to mess with Time carelessly," Hera said.
While the girls debated this issue, Violet was lost in thought, processing everything she had just experienced.
She thought about what to do, and it took only a few seconds for her to make her decision.
"I will trust my future self... But I will tell Darling what happened." Victor was her greatest confidant, the person she trusted most in all of existence, and there were no secrets between them. If Violet wanted to know something and asked Victor, he would answer her with complete honesty. The same applied to Violet.
For now, she needed to dispel the girls' doubts. She knew they wouldn't give up on this matter if she didn't say anything.
"I saw a futuristic city being bombarded by several Dragons."
Violet's sudden words made the place completely silent. After the initial shock, the women present quickly began to deduce.
"War or an execution of our Husband's orders," Ruby said.
'I don't think it was Darling; it looked like... I mean, my future self seemed to be leading the attack,' Violet thought but didn't say aloud.
"Is it the Egyptian Pantheon?" Jeanne pointed out.
"She mentioned a futuristic city, and as far as I know, The Egyptian Pantheon is still stuck in The Middle Ages," Nyx said.
"If it's not that... Then another civilization, probably the case of The Witches?" Sasha commented.
"Or a completely different civilization," Natashia said.
"The Emperors, huh?" Jeanne and Morgana said at the same time.
The women fell into contemplation.
"We need more information. What else did you see in this future?"
"Nothing, just a city being destroyed by several Dragons," Violet spoke with a poker face that even surprised herself.
'When did I learn to lie so well?'
"I see..." Ruby accepted her reasoning without suspicion.
This reaction surprised Violet internally because she had lied, but neither Ruby nor Sasha suspected anything. She was very surprised but didn't let it show on her face. What surprised her even more was her emotional control; it was as if she had complete control over her facial expressions.
'Something happened... Did she do something to me?... Or did I gain something from her when we connected?' That was the only explanation she could think of; there was no other explanation.
Despite knowing how to lie, she was not so proficient at it that she could deceive the people she had spent her life with, not to mention that her nature was more honest, and she tended to follow her feelings.
'Control... Is that what she was talking about? Control? Or is it something else?' Violet didn't know. She didn't understand anything and was feeling bewildered now.
Aphrodite narrowed her eyes. As someone who could tell when someone was lying, she realized that Violet had lied, but it seemed that only she could tell. She had lied so proficiently that she didn't even seem like the Violet she knew for a moment.
A doubt arose in Aphrodite's mind, and she quickly checked Violet. As a Higher Deity, her Divine Senses were very strong, but no matter how much she observed, Violet seemed the same... The only visible difference she saw was that her Soul seemed more mature.
But this growth could be explained due to The Tower of Nightmares.
Aphrodite was suspicious, and she thought that more had happened in the vision, things that Violet wasn't saying.
"Progenitor of The Blood Dragons, I must say I didn't expect to have to reshape my Dimension to accommodate your existence. You are like a box of surprises, aren't you?"
The words of The Owner of Limbo were heard by everyone, attracting the attention of all present.
They looked at the screen and saw the image of Victor walking towards the table. With each step he took, the Power emanating from his body seemed to break the structures around him,
Structures that were quickly restored due to The Owner of Limbo's influence.
"Expect the unexpected. Those were the words I always had with me when I started interacting more with the Supernatural World."
"... It's quite appropriate, I must say. After all, when dealing with extraordinary Beings, strange things tend to happen."
Victor smiled slightly as if he appreciated the man's words and walked towards the chair.
"We'll set aside the matter of the vision for now; let's focus on our current issues," Violet spoke in a neutral tone that carried a slight weight of Authority in her words, which made Aphrodite raise an eyebrow.
"Victor will know about this, Violet," Agnes said.
"Of course, he will know. Darling always knows everything; after all, he is our Husband."
'Yes, something definitely happened in her vision of the future.' Aphrodite had NEVER heard Violet openly refer to him as "our" Husband to all of Victor's Wives present like this. She always said, "My Husband"; this was her possessiveness speaking, her most dominant characteristic.
It might seem like a small thing, but it was quite significant, and it spoke volumes about Violet's personality.
These unconscious words from Violet also caught the attention of Sasha, Ruby, Agnes, Kaguya, Natalia, and Natashia.
Before, they didn't suspect anything. But now? That was no longer the case.
Violet felt the girls' gazes and the emotions of Ruby, Sasha, Natashia, and her mother. These sensations made her reflect on what she had said, and she opened her eyes slightly in shock.
'Yes, something has definitely changed in me.'
The moment he sat down, all the Power emanating from his body disappeared completely as if everything people had seen until now was just an illusion.
Now, Victor looked like a normal man with special characteristics... That is if you ignored the oppressive crimson-red aura around his body that seemed to cover him with a barrier.
Victor's action made the eyes of the Gods present open widely once again. Why were they shocked?
It's simple. Victor had just demonstrated absolute control over his own Energy, Energy equivalent to six planets!
It was common knowledge that the more Power a Being had, the harder it was to control that Power. The strongest Beings in existence could easily control their Power and pass for a normal person if they wished.
Just look at The Owner of Limbo; he was a Primordial. However, if he walked through a Human city, no one would notice anything abnormal about him. Even the Gods couldn't sense anything coming from The Owner of Limbo. This was absolute proof of his control.
With just this simple gesture of controlling his abundant Energy in milliseconds, Victor proved to all the strong Beings in the Supernatural World that he was one of the strongest Beings present.
Not only him, but Scathach also proved this by limiting the aura coming from her body at the same instant Victor sat down, a fact that no one here let pass unnoticed.
Several seconds passed in silence, and no one moved. Victor raised an eyebrow and looked around at everyone.
"Aren't you going to sit down?"
"Ah."
.......
[A/N: I was going to delete this like I normally do, and I would lose 1200 words like I normally do, but I enjoyed this interaction with the future so much that I decided to post it. Just look at it as the continuation in the distant future after Violet from the future stops talking to the Violet of the past.]
Omake, a distant future.
When the vision stopped completely, a woman with long golden hair appeared. She had golden-colored Dragon Wings with shades of white and was wearing full plate armor.
"Sasha."
"What are you doing, Violet!? The Empress must not jump into the middle of the battlefield like that!"
"But I was bored…"
Sasha growled. "Come back now, or I will confiscate your Dragons."
"Ugh, you don't need to threaten me like that. I'll be right back." Violet grumbled. As Sasha was The Supreme General of the army, she had full Authority to withdraw Violet's personal Dragons.
Normally, it wouldn't be like this. Violet would usually have full Authority over everything as Empress. But as it was in times of war, the General had more Authority than The Empress, second only to The Emperor.
Suddenly, a giant red portal appeared in the sky in front of Violet and Sasha, and from there, a giant spaceship made entirely of bones and some kind of black goo was seen.
Grotesque creatures that looked like a mixture of ghosts and slimes began to leave the ship and fly towards Violet. The air around them became visibly more polluted and grotesque.
The bone ship suddenly began to grow flesh, and a large eye appeared on the ship.
"No matter how many times I see it, it is grotesque." Violet shook her head in disdain. With a wave of her hand, the Dragons that Violet released onto the city were covered by a Magic Circle, and soon they disappeared, returning to their home planet.
"Tsk, what's wrong with going to the battlefield without protection? You attracted this bastard!" Sasha growled in annoyance as her body glowed with The Power of Lightning.
"Everything is fine. You know our Husband; he never leaves us unattended." The moment when Violet said that,
Other portals began to appear, but this time, they were smaller portals and coming after Sasha and Violet. From these portals, hundreds of Wyverns of many different colors came out.
A larger portal appeared, and soon, a beautiful White Dragon with sapphire blue eyes appeared. Different from the Dragons that looked more like reptiles, this one was 'fluffier' and had feathers instead of leathery wings. On top of the Dragon, a woman with long snow-white hair was present with arms crossed. She was wearing a full set of armor with designs that looked like a mix of medieval and futuristic.
The horns on her head indicated that, just like Violet and Sasha, she was a Dragon. The woman's crimson violet eyes looked at the ship with a hostile expression, proving that she was extremely focused.
"We have to get out of here, now! This place will become a battlefield. The Empress must not stay here!
"Mm, let's go back." Violet nodded seriously.
"Natalia, open a portal," Sasha spoke into the communicator.
A portal similar to the one the woman came out of appeared near Violet and Sasha.
Violet took this moment to look at where she had been talking to her past self, and she smiled sweetly.
'Enjoy my present, my past self.' She smiled in a very sneaky way, the same smile Violet usually made when she was up to something. 'It's unfair that only my Husband has hacks and stolen Powers, right? I must spoil myself sometimes. I wonder if my Sisters will fight me because I gave my younger self the upper hand...'
'Well, they can complain all they want; it won't change anything. After all, I'm The Empress, HAHAHAHAHA~'
"Violet, what are you doing!? Come on, now!... Why do you have that shitty smile on your face? What have you done?" Sasha narrowed her eyes.
"It's nothing~. I was just thinking about the past."
Sasha narrowed her eyes even more. Unlike the Sasha of the past, this Sasha had more experience reading between the lines. "...I see, it's today, isn't it? The day of The Meeting of Supernatural Beings."
"Being too smart is sometimes not good, you know?" Violet pouted.
Sasha ignored Violet's joke and asked seriously. "You made sure to follow the script, didn't you?"
"Of course I did... I may have given myself some more advice, but-."
"Violet! By all three Hells, you never change, Woman!"
"Blegh." Violet stuck her tongue out at Sasha.
Veins bulged on Sasha's head. Even after several hundred years, this woman never changed!
Violet just smiled in amusement. Of course, she didn't give any more advice or anything. She just gave her past self the same advice she had received. She was old enough to understand that messing with Time was a big deal, especially someone whose Powers broke how The Rules of Time worked a little. Therefore, she would never joke about such a serious matter.
She just said that to joke with Sasha.
'Even though I said that, I know that my younger self won't listen to me. After all, I didn't listen. But it will help her mature, and in the end, that's all that matters.'
Seeing Sasha angry, she laughed again.
'Haah~, if I knew it would feel this good to tease people, I would have invested more time in it in the past.' She laughed internally as she picked up the angry Sasha and dragged her to the portal.
"I will tell everyone what you did."
Violet's face froze.
"Humpf, I'm The Empress. They can't stop me."
"I'm sure Anna will agree with you." Sasha gave a shit-eating grin.
Violet's face turned as white as a sheet of paper. She may be The Empress, but her Mother-in-Law's power was incomparable.
"W-Wait, can we talk about this?"
"You deserve punishment. You know very well that you shouldn't play with Time! I don't want to deal with Time-Travel nonsense, effects of causality, or shit like that! If you've seen a lot of films like this, you know how difficult it is to follow this type of script, right!?"
"Ugh, it was a joke, Sasha. I didn't do it! Believe me, your Empress!"
"I believe you, Violet," Sasha spoke with a convincing look.
"...Mm, good, then-."
"But she will know whether you want it or not."
"Sashaaa!"
