Chapter 871: War...? Huh?
War...
No one expected to hear those words. After all, they had just come out of a war only a year ago! The Supernatural World was completely shocked.
"As expected... The Demon King is just like his predecessor!"
"Demons can't be trusted!"
"I was foolish to fall for his words!"
These words began to be spoken throughout The Supernatural World, but these reactions came only from those traumatized by the previous war.
The Leaders understood well that this situation was different from before because, this time, it was not a war of genocide like what happened in the past. This time, it was a war of reaction.
The Demon King attacked only those who attacked him, and such an act was justified in The Supernatural World.
"The Shinto Pantheon will support The Progenitor of Dragons," Amaterasu suddenly said, causing silence all around.
But the surprises didn't end there.
"The Youkai will support The Progenitor of Dragons," Haruna said.
"The Werewolves will support The Progenitor of Dragons," Tasha said with a predatory smile. Attacking The Egyptian Gods! Of course, she couldn't stay away from this event; she held a lot of resentment towards her old Pantheon.
"The Noble Vampires will support The Progenitor of Dragons," Vlad said with a smile on his face. Attacking The Elder Gods!? Count him in! He'd even be on the front lines if necessary.
The Vampire King's eyes gleamed with a desire for revenge.
The silence that followed was broken by Odin.
"You have—"
Before The Norse Pantheon's God-King could say something,
Sucellus, The God-King of The Aztec Pantheon, spoke: "The Aztec Pantheon will support The Progenitor of Blood Dragons."
"... What?" The surprise was unanimous; even Victor himself was slightly surprised.
To be honest, Sucellus was a wild card for him. Due to previous interactions, the actions of The Shinto Pantheon and Vlad were understandable; he knew they would support him. But the rest? Victor thought they would stand against him, except for The Hindu and Biblical Pantheons, which would remain neutral.
But he didn't expect this sudden support. Victor looked at The God-King curiously. Reading his intentions, he realized something. The God-King was simply choosing the winning side.
'By taking a stand with me now, he will ensure a future for his own Pantheon.' It seems the God-King was not as foolish as he thought.
"This... This... Is ridiculous! Are you all just going to stand by while this monstrosity attacks two more Pantheons!?" Ra roared with anger and indignation.
"What are you talking about?" Amaterasu spoke, confused.
"Don't play dumb! You're clearly conspiring behind the scenes! You want to eliminate The Egyptian Pantheon!"
Amaterasu opened her fan and smiled slightly, her golden eyes shining: "That's a bold claim. Do you have evidence to prove it?"
The two Sun Primordials, who effectively occupied the same position in The Concept of The Sun, stared at each other.
"Evidence!? The evidence is this ridiculous situation itself!"
"You are a fool," Amaterasu spoke disdainfully.
"What!?"
"Let me explain it to you in a few words." She closed her fan and pointed to Victor.
"Victor Alucard is merely defending himself from an attack directed at his own people. He has presented proof and evidence to confirm this action." She pointed to the wanted posters and the Orb still on the table.
"This is not an invasion but a defensive war. You conspired to attack his people, and he is only retaliating,"
"An action anyone would take if they were in his position, correct?" She smiled sweetly.
These words caused silence throughout The Supernatural World.
It's as she said. There are people so stupid, so dumb that they needed to have it spelled out to them for them to understand a situation.
Of course, there were stupid people who would ignore these 'facts' and think what they wanted, but... When these facts were presented by a beautiful, noble, and respected woman, they would swallow everything more easily.
This was a reality of the world; Beings were more susceptible to those with great beauty.
Victor looked at Amaterasu with a slightly surprised and calculating look. 'She understood my plan even without hearing it...' he chuckled inwardly.
Victor did not fear the reaction of the Supernatural Beings to his declaration of war because after he declared his intentions, Haruna would have spoken similar words to Amaterasu.
Aphrodite even Blessed Haruna to make her words more 'persuasive'. But it seemed such action was not necessary. The God-King of The Shinto Pantheon spoke for them, causing even more impact than if Haruna had spoken. After all, everyone would consider Haruna's words as his own.
But for a Goddess who had apparently only met Victor today, her words were seen from a more neutral perspective, not to mention she had more prestige being an Ancient Goddess.
Haruna narrowed her eyes at this brazen Goddess. She stole her lines! Haruna's tails twitched threateningly; she was very irritated now.
"... Although your action is justified... War is still an exaggeration. The Supernatural World has just gone through a large-scale war! Another war is not necessary," Odin spoke gently with a wise and neutral tone. "I propose that The Progenitor of Dragons reconsider his actions."
"Odin, answer me honestly," Victor spoke the next moment without giving anyone else a chance to speak.
"... What?"
"If I were to say, here and now, that I will put a bounty on your wife Frigga to be captured alive for use as my personal breeding-cow, what would you do?"
Odin's response didn't need to be vocalized. His expression and his increasing Power were more than enough answers for EVERYONE to understand what he would do. The man in front of them now was not an old sage but an experienced warrior who had massacred dozens of Beings.
"See? That's your answer. If you were in my place, you would say it's a justified war, but since you're not, you're asking me to reconsider my actions? Stop being a hypocrite, you worm," Victor spoke disdainfully.
Odin had to take deep breaths several times; this man really had a talent for irritating him! And he had a damn God of Tricksters and Lies by his side, taunting him whenever possible!
Victor looked at The Egyptian Pantheon: "You attacked me, my Family. So it's obvious that retaliation is necessary."
They shrank back under Victor's gaze.
"Did you really think I'd be intimidated because two Pantheons were attacking me?" Victor spoke disdainfully as he saw Seth shrink with these words.
Victor getting intimidated? Please, he was the man who dared to fight an Elder Vampire as someone who had just entered The Supernatural World! He was the one who dared to challenge The King of All Vampires just to test his limits! He was the one who alone jumped into a civil war of Gods for his Wives.
Getting intimidated? That was not Victor's profile. If you attacked him, he'd retaliate 1000-fold. Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. Blood for blood.
Ra gritted his teeth with anger and hatred, mainly directed at himself and Seth. He went to listen to this bastard, and this is what happened! He should have assessed the situation better.
Ra didn't fear the war; he was an Ancient Being and was confident in his strength. But the problem was that his opponent was not a normal Being. He was The Progenitor of Blood Dragons, a completely new Race of Dragons whose abilities he had no idea about.
Another fact was that he was a PROGENITOR! Regardless of his unknown special abilities, it was a common fact that all Progenitors had the basic ability to transform Beings of another Race into members of their own Species.
The only confirmed Progenitor who couldn't do this was Adam, The Progenitor of Humans, but without exception, all others had this ability.
And Victor was no different.
How many True Dragons did he have under his banner? What was his strength? What were his Elites? HE KNEW NOTHING!
This damn man had a Futuristic City in Hell! And NO ONE knew about it! And to make matters worse, two Pantheons had immediately allied with him.
Effectively speaking, The Egyptian Pantheon was fighting against a freak of Nature and two more Pantheons!
Not to mention that dangerous Wolf lying there asleep, which was basically a Wolf of The Apocalypse!
No matter how he looked at it, it was impossible to win!
The thought of allying with The Elder Gods didn't even cross his mind; those arrogant Beings would rather die than form a deep alliance.
Business partners? They could be. But true allies? Impossible.
"Victor Alucard..." Shiva began to speak, catching everyone's attention. "I have a question."
"Go on," Victor said naturally.
"What is your attitude toward this war?"
"Will you pillage and kill them?"
"Interesting... Will you break the neutrality of The Hindu Pantheon, God of Destruction?" Victor didn't respond immediately; instead, he asked a curious question.
However, Shiva didn't understand it that way.
"Please answer my question." Despite the polite words, there was an invisible pressure around Shiva.
But unfortunately for Shiva, this only incited Victor's Fighting Spirit. Dragons were naturally arrogant Beings, and Victor was a Being who would not bow to anyone.
So, this 'pressure' that Shiva released only made Victor's aura heavier and more oppressive.
Shiva narrowed his eyes.
"Don't play this game with me, God of Destruction. I guarantee you, you will regret it."
"... You are very arrogant."
"It's not arrogance. It's confidence," Victor clarified.
"I don't even have a Divine Concept to call myself a God, and I can't even access my True Dragon Form, but I always Evolve the more pressured I am..." Victor's smile grew excited and wicked.
These words took everyone by surprise, including Shiva. It wasn't the fact that he lacked Divinity that surprised him, but the fact that he didn't have his Dragon Form.
It was a well-known fact that Dragons in their True Form were an Abomination of Nature. The fact that The Progenitor of Dragons couldn't access this Form, even though he was The Progenitor of his Race, simply meant that... his potential was so great that his Existence hadn't Balanced enough for him to access his True Form.
"Threaten me, press me, and I guarantee it won't end well for you."
Shiva broke into a cold sweat, and the reason for that? Because there was truth in Victor's words. Although he didn't closely follow this troublesome man, he had heard the news. Every time this man Evolved, it was in a life-or-
death situation where he put his Existence in danger.
This was the case in The Demon Invasion when he suddenly appeared with absurd Power, and this was the case in The Greek Civil War.
The first time could be a coincidence, the second as well. But if it happened a third time, a pattern had formed.
Shiva retracted his aura. "You are a troublesome Being," he grumbled, slightly irritated but with a hint of respect in his tone.
This action and his words surprised everyone in The Supernatural World, including those from The Hindu Pantheon. You don't threaten Shiva; no one threatens Shiva and walks away alive. It was a well-known fact. This was the respect everyone had for his strength.
Seeing this 'formidable' Being backing down with these words proved that even Shiva had to think two or three times before considering fighting Victor.
If before Seth was nervous and sweating buckets, now, he could only cry.
In The Supernatural World, only those with the strongest fist could speak; it was an absolute rule. It might seem medieval and outdated, but even in modern society, doesn't the same principle apply? A country with more nuclear weapons and more economic power would be heard by everyone.
To have a fair dialogue with someone, the big guns needed to be shown first, and the same principle applied in The Supernatural World, the only difference being that this principle was simpler to understand. There was no 'very' complex politics behind it.
At this moment, the one with the most 'public' firepower was The Hindu Pantheon, which had two extraordinary Beings, Kali and Shiva.
A fact that would change when everyone understood more about Victor's Faction and when his Wives developed.
The Hindu Pantheon was the strongest only because of Shiva and Kali. If you removed these two Beings, they fell almost to the same level as The Norse Pantheon.
Not to mention that Kali was only the strongest Goddess AT THIS VERY MOMENT. The same couldn't be said for the future.
In Victor's Faction, Jeanne alone was more than enough to deal with Kali in the future when she fully developed. The woman was the younger sister of a Primordial Being that gave Life to Existence. She has the oldest Soul in The Universe! She was basically a Highest-Order Universal Spirit that could use Primordial Energy, something only available to Primordial Beings.
With such a background, it was only a matter of time for her to become even stronger.
Seeing that Shiva backed down, Victor displayed a faint smile. "Seeing that you decided to be cordial,"
"I will ask again, will you end the neutrality of The Hindu Pantheon?"
"...No, I just want to know your actions for this war. Will you kill everyone? Will you plunder everything? Depending on your answer, my response may change."
'See? Wasn't it easier to answer like this from the beginning?' Victor complained internally to these Gods. If Shiva had answered like this from the beginning, they wouldn't have wasted time with that useless Power game. 'Gods and their ego the size of a planet. It seems that the Title of The Strongest Male God has gone to Shiva's head, huh?' Victor thought with one side of his brain while the other thought about the possible responses he could give to Shiva.
But after considering everything, he replied, "This is a war, Shiva. Casualties will occur."
"I know, but there's a difference between casualties and genocide."
Ra bit his lip; the tone in which Shiva spoke made it seem like his Pantheon was already going to lose!
Well, it wasn't like he hadn't been thinking about it, too, but it was still annoying to see this scene with his own eyes.
"Our current state doesn't allow casualties on our side," Shiva commented as he looked at The Owner of Limbo's assistant and then back at Victor.
'Oh...? It seems he knows about the future threat, huh.' Victor thought curiously.
[Roxanne, don't make the girls attack yet.]
[Are you sure?]
[Yes, keep them on standby... But continue with the complete capture of New Dawn.]
[Okay... Oh, just to inform you, James was captured. He's in the dungeons.]
[Good, keep him tied up and retrieve all his research.]
[The ninjas from Clan Blank are already doing that.]
[Good. I'll be waiting for the reports.]
[Yes, Darling~.]
The reason Victor stopped his orders now? Victor smelled opportunity in Shiva's words. Victor was very good at reading people. Even if he couldn't feel Shiva's emotions due to The Aura of Destruction around him and the fact that Shiva was an Ancient God, meaning he was quite proficient in hiding his emotional state, Victor's senses had become much stronger.
He couldn't hide everything from Victor.
People were starting to get tense with Victor's silence. Even though he had been in this silence for only 2 minutes, it was enough to unsettle everyone who was present.
Seeing these two 'staring' at each other so intensely with tension in the air was not good for the hearts of the people gathered here.
"As I stated before, it's war. Anyone who had the intention to harm my Wives will be killed mercilessly... But those who surrender and the innocent who have nothing to do with this, I will spare them."
"So, you'll only go after those who harmed you and spare those who know nothing? You realize that this will destabilize the Pantheon, correct?"
"I do."
"Hmm..." Shiva naturally assessed Victor for a long minute, and seeing that he didn't find any falsehood in his words, he made a declaration that shocked the entire Supernatural World.
"Very well... The Hindu Pantheon will support The Dragon's Nest."
"What!?" Seth shouted in shock.
Ra just sat in his chair, looking at the ceiling with a lifeless gaze. His Pantheon was finished. As if Victor wasn't enough, he would have to fight Shiva too!?
"... Although I do not like wars... Some are inevitable." The Heavenly Father began to speak, drawing everyone's attention.
"The Angels will support The Demon King."
"... Huh?"
