Chapter 873: The Hunter.
While The Supernatural World discussed what had happened at The Gathering of Supernatural Beings, a hunt began.
Yes, it was no longer a war but a hunt led by all of Victor's allies.
Somewhere in the Earth's sky.
Several powerful Beings were gathered, looking at each other, fully armed with their Divine Gear.
Everyone here had been ordered by their superiors to participate in this hunt.
The Heavenly Father sent Azrael, The Angel of Death, and Ariel, One of The Seven Virtues, The Virtue of Generosity, as well as the current Commander of The Angels, occupying Michael's old position.
The Celtic Pantheon sent Taranis, their God of Thunder, and Cernuno, their God of Animals.
The Shinto Pantheon sent Susanoo himself and Takemikazuchi, two of their most powerful warriors; Amaterasu's intentions were as clear as crystal.
The Hindu Pantheon didn't send anyone, but Shiva said he would personally go to fight The Elder Gods.
Such a 'union' between Pantheons had never occurred before in history, with so many powerful Beings coming together without any problems arising.
The intentions of the Pantheon Leaders were crystal clear, and because of that, in order not to be left behind and labeled negatively, Odin sent his strongest warrior, Thor, The God of Thunder.
"Well, I've never seen so many Thunder-related Gods gathered in one place." Thor smiled broadly.
Counting himself, there were four Thunder-related Gods, they were:
Susanoo, The Primordial God of Storms.
Takemikazuchi, The God of Thunder.
Taranis, The God of Thunder.
"Do you want to find out who's the strongest?" Thor's eyes gleamed.
"Don't be a hothead, Thor. Don't you understand the importance of this event?" Loki appeared stealthily behind Thor.
"Loki!? What are you doing here!?"
"What else? To keep you out of trouble, of course." Loki smiled as his invisibility was lifted.
"I can't believe we're here to hunt... From a God to a mere hunter, my feelings are complicated." Cernuno grumbled. He was The God of Animals, not a God of Hunters! Why was he here? It made no sense!
Susanoo sneakily glanced at the 190 cm tall blonde woman in a full set of silver armor with hints of gold and white.
"How do you feel about hunting some 'innocent' Gods, Seraph of Generosity?"
Ariel looked at Susanoo with no emotion on her face and replied, "Nothing. Father ordered, and we obey. That's how things are."
Azrael nodded in agreement.
'The perfect soldiers, huh... I envy them.' Susanoo sighed internally.
Just as Loki was about to speak, everyone present felt something approaching, and they immediately turned their heads in the same direction. In the next moment, a deafening roar was heard, Space shattered like glass, and in the next moment, Victor, Scathach, Jeanne, Morgana, Zaladrac, Rose, and Aphrodite appeared.
"You're here... Good," Victor spoke neutrally.
The Gods and Angels present swallowed hard when they saw this scene.
Seven True Dragons had suddenly appeared in front of them. Seven damn Dragons! One Dragon was already a Natural Disaster. And they had seven! It was like they were looking at the beginning of the apocalypse or something.
'They are likely not the only ones.' Everyone broke into a cold sweat with this thought.
The name 'Dragon's Nest' truly lived up to its name. Just how many True Dragons did they have? And a better question: where did they come from!?
"Hmm, now I understand why you said that, Darling," Aphrodite commented slyly as her wings unconsciously fluttered with curiosity. To represent how beautiful Aphrodite was, her Dragon Wings had changed after completing the adaptation, becoming much 'softer' and 'cozier.'
Instead of wings resembling Victor and Scathach's, she had wings composed of white feathers with hints of pink at the tips.
The moment everyone laid eyes on Aphrodite, they felt as if their entire existence was drawn towards the woman.
She was simply too beautiful, even more beautiful than they remembered. It was not an exaggeration to say that she was the most beautiful woman in existence currently.
Even though she was no longer wearing her Greek Divine Raiment but rather a battle dress, her beauty had not diminished. Instead, due to her more 'modest' attire, she became even more beautiful.
"Fufufufu," her neon pink Draconic Eyes sparkled slightly. Aphrodite lovingly embraced Victor's back while looking at the Gods.
Ariel shook her head and growled, "Aphrodite, what are you doing!?"
"Existing...?" Aphrodite tilted her head to the side in confusion, a gesture that made her even cuter.
"Lies! Stop using your Charm right now!" Ariel snapped.
"But I'm not using anything?"
"... Huh?"
"I said I'm not using anything. Since the moment I arrived, I haven't done anything."
Ariel swallowed hard when she heard what she said. 'She's not doing anything, and all the men here are practically in the palm of her hand... What happens if she actively uses her Charm?' The Angel shivered.
Forget Victor; Aphrodite could single-handedly destroy an entire Pantheon herself if the conditions were right. Ariel thought that if there were no Gods like Shiva who could nullify Aphrodite's Divinity, then that Pantheon was screwed.
Fortunately, there was someone to snap everyone back to reality. Victor's body was covered in a potent red aura, and in the next moment, this aura 'exploded' for everyone present.
Quickly, they woke up to reality when they felt the fear of death and bloodlust.
They jumped back and prepared their own weapons.
What's the best way to wake someone enchanted by Aphrodite? The fear of death.
Well, this only worked because Aphrodite was not actively using her Power. If she were using her Power... Everyone would gladly die with a silly smile on their faces.
"These are the Elites of the Pantheons? You can't even resist the mere presence of my Wife. Pathetic," he spoke disdainfully.
And these words were quite effective on the 'warriors' of the group, which included The Angel of Death, Thor, Susanoo, Taranis, and Takemikazuchi.
The others were still trying to recover from what they were feeling. 'Probably, I'll never be able to look at a normal Goddess the same way now.' Cernuno thought. He had never felt so envious of someone before in his life as he did today.
A feeling that applied to all the men present when they saw the Divine 'Bond' between Aphrodite and Victor; they were very envious of Victor now.
Victor wasn't a fool. He knew that these Beings present were his 'reinforcements,' but it was also a way to spy on him and gather information about him. Because of this, he was 'showing' precisely what he wanted.
One of those things was his relationship with Aphrodite, and the other was the number of True Dragons. Mix truths with lies, facts with fiction, and deceive everyone.
Even The God of Lies and Deceptions himself couldn't see through Victor with this gesture because, in a way, he wasn't deceiving anyone but rather omitting facts.
It was they who were imagining things.
Imagination was a powerful tool, a tool that Victor knew how to use to his advantage.
"Well, well, Darling. Even for us, Aphrodite still remains a challenge to look at. To those who have never seen this form before, she appears very dazzling," Jeanne commented with a gentle smile.
When these words were spoken, the group looked in Jeanne's direction. The Angels immediately recognized her, The Maiden of Orleans, who was directly favored by their Father.
'...Wasn't she a Vampire before...? What is this invisible pressure?' Azrael thought. This woman gave off a sense of oppression on the same level or even worse than Victor.
"It's pathetic, isn't it? If faced with an enemy with the Power of Charm, they can do nothing but die with a foolish smile on their faces," Victor said.
"Well, that's true," Jeanne replied with the same smile.
"I assure you this won't happen, Progenitor of Dragons... We were just a little distracted by the fact that your... Wife is a unique existence," Loki said.
"... Is that so?" Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," Loki nodded.
"Then try to resist this." A neon pink burst of Energy emanated from Victor.
Immediately, everyone present looked at Victor with pure desire in their eyes. Even Ariel was not spared.
"Aya... They fell for the same trick twice," Aphrodite laughed.
Victor withdrew Aphrodite's Blessing, which immediately made everyone snap out of it, and they all looked at Victor with embarrassment and irritation (especially Ariel).
"Anything to say?" Victor raised an eyebrow.
"... I will ask Freya to train me to resist this Charm," Loki said with a determined expression.
Thor nodded in agreement with Loki. He never thought he would feel desire for another man, and this made his body shudder slightly. 'If Sif finds out about this... I'm screwed.'
"I will ask the same of Epona..." Taranis spoke with a determined face.
"Sakuya-hime should be available to help me with that too..." Susanoo said as his fellow God nodded in agreement.
"Humpf, these Goddesses of Beauty can't compare to me. It's impossible to resist my Charm," Aphrodite huffed.
Ariel looked at Victor; her face was slightly red with anger and embarrassment. She wanted to say something, but she felt that if she said anything, she would lose the argument, so she remained silent.
"Victor, we're wasting time," Rose warned.
"Hmm, you're right," Victor agreed.
Due to how the meeting had progressed, completely surpassing Victor's plans, he had to revise several last-minute plans. Initially, he was going to bomb The Egyptian Pantheon with his nuke [Typhon] and use his Elites to attack The Elder Gods, but he couldn't do that anymore.
Not only that, he was going to use his Demons to deal with The Elder God Monsters, and in the worst case, he was going to use his Authority over Disease, which he inherited from The Horseman of Pestilence in Hell, to spread chaos.
He had many plans for this 'war,' but as mentioned before, he couldn't do that.
Victor didn't want to show all his cards to these Gods.
"Let's do a brief introduction. My Wives know who you are due to the reports sent by your Leaders, but you don't know most of them."
"You've already seen her at The Gathering of Supernatural Beings, but this is Scathach Scarlett Alucard, known as The God-Slayer, a Grandmaster-Level Martial Artist."
"Again, you already know her. This is Aphrodite, an Ancient Greek Goddess of Beauty, and now a Dragon Goddess of Beauty." Victor concealed the truth of Aphrodite's 'True' Divinity; after all, they didn't need too many details.
"Hello~" Aphrodite smiled naturally while embracing Victor's back.
'Dragon Goddess...' Ariel swallowed hard internally. In existence, it was not as if there were no Dragon Gods. Tiamat herself and The Apocalypse Dragon from The Norse Pantheon were Gods, but they were UNIQUE Beings!
Seeing these Beings in front of her, she realized that in the future, there would be a boom of Dragon Gods appearing, and they would all come from Victor's Faction.
Before the Gods were enchanted by Aphrodite again, Victor spoke: "Next, The Angels should know her well."
"The Former Maiden of Orleans, Jeanne d'Arc. Now known as Jeanne Alucard."
"Pleasure to meet you."
The Gods and Angels nodded in recognition.
"Some of you must know her, probably just the Angels again. Her name now is Morgana Alucard, The Former General of Lilith known as The Reaper."
Morgana nodded to the Gods and Angels, but she quickly lost interest in them. She was more concerned with looking at Aphrodite, who was unabashedly hugging Victor without caring about anything. She wanted an opportunity to kick this woman out and take her place. She wanted to hug him, too!
"Unlike before, she is unknown to you. After all, she's spent most of her time in Nightingale... Her name is Rose Adrastella Alucard, The Commander of The Adrastella Clan, and like Scathach, a Grandmaster-Level Martial Artist."
The last sentence made everyone choke slightly.
They looked at Scathach and then at Rose and then at Victor, repeating this gesture several times until they inevitably thought.
'Two Grandmasters!? Is it that easy to find Grandmasters!? Are they like cabbages or something!?' They simply couldn't conceive the idea that Victor had two Grandmasters as wives.
"And last but not least, Zaladrac Zeovnur Alucard, a True Dragon."
Victor's words conveyed everything they needed to know. Unlike the others, Zaladrac was a Dragon from the beginning; she wasn't transformed. Therefore, he introduced her as a True Dragon.
As a True Dragon, Zaladrac not only had access to the Dragon Race but also MILLIONS of years of knowledge from her Ancestors in her head.
Did this mean that Victor and the others present were not real Dragons? Of course not. They are genuine True Dragons. The only difference is that they did not have the stored knowledge of their Ancestors in their own heads like Zaladrac.
The Transmission of Dragon Knowledge was created because Dragons were naturally highly hunted Beings; their bodies are so abundant in treasure-like materials that nothing is wasted.
A fact that will change in the future. Dragons will no longer be hunted with Victor present; therefore, the practice of transmitting all knowledge to the next generation will not be necessary. After all, although this Technique was useful, it made Dragons very lazy because they needed to sleep to learn everything that was in their heads.
When Victor finished introducing his Wives, a common thought appeared in everyone's heads.
'What are these monsters?'
Not only were they True Dragons, but each individual was extremely dangerous.
"Now, with introductions made, let's begin the hunt..." Before Victor could continue, a blue portal appeared near him. Unlike the portal made by Natalia, which looked like a galaxy of stars, this one looks like a quantum tunnel.
Everyone immediately raised their guard and looked at the portal with wary eyes.
A three meter tall woman with long blue hair walked out of the portal, and she looked around until her eyes fell on Victor.
"...The Primordial's assistant?" Ariel raised her eyebrow. "What are you doing here?" She asked, but the tall woman didn't answer her.
The woman placed her left hand on her left breast in an upright position and lowered her head slightly in a form of greeting.
"Nice to meet you, Victor Alucard, Progenitor of The Blood Dragons, Leader of The Dragon Nest."
The Dragons present opened their eyes widely when they heard the familiar Language.
"...Do you know my Language?"
"I know all the Languages. I can't use your Language like you do, but I can communicate through it. Where I come from, speaking another Leader's Language is a form of respect."
"I see…" Victor nodded: "Why are you here, Lady?"
Instead of answering the question, she said: "Velnorah... That is my name. Although that name is worthless now, the Beings called me Velnorah Xyphora Thaloria II, The Second Empress Thaloria. The Ancient Overlord of Eldoria, a planet located in Upper Sector 8975."
"I came here because I wish to help you in this hunt, and, in return, I hope you will listen to my story."
