Chapter 877: Let there be war.
At the moment Victor disappeared with the other gods, the sweet smile on Aphrodite's face vanished.
She looked at the pantheon and the controlled gods; her eyes shimmered in neon pink, her dragon wings spread wide, and a pink power even stronger than before was unleashed throughout the pantheon.
"Let's make this place more suitable for my family."
She raised her hand, and with a simple gesture, the wave of power engulfed all the gods present in the pantheon.
"Come to me, all of you."
With the order given, the gods began to appear in the throne room.
"Lady Aphrodite..."
"Lady Aphrodite..."
"Lady Aphrodite..."
"Lady Aphrodite..."
They all started murmuring with eyes full of desire; they were no longer themselves.
Aphrodite sat on the throne, and the moment she did, the throne began to change to shades of white and light pink.
Aphrodite's wings grew wide, casting shade over all the gods. She crossed her legs and smiled faintly. This sensation was very intoxicating.
"No wonder Victor is so dominant; this is incredible." Having all the gods of a pantheon in her hand to do as she pleased was a euphoric feeling.
"Lady Aphrodite, your order!" They all said simultaneously.
And this sight couldn't help but make Aphrodite display a satisfied smile.
A characteristic portal of the Alioth Clan appeared behind Aphrodite, and soon Helena and Aline emerged from the portal.
Seeing the scene in front of them, the demon women raised their eyebrows at Aphrodite.
"You've arrived."
"Yes," Aline and Helena replied.
"What's going on here?"
"They are all under my control. This will make our work easier."
Helena and Aline blinked twice for a few seconds, and both women were processing this astonishing information.
'As expected of the king's wife, she's amazing.' They thought. A common trait among Victor's strongest wives was that they always marveled others with how 'broken' their strongest characteristics were.
Instead of being jealous of their king's wives' excellence, his subordinates thought, "I can't fall behind."
Helena snapped her fingers, and the next moment, ten red portals opened nearby, and from these portals, several female demons who worked directly for Helena emerged.
"General," the women knelt.
"To work, place the items in the designated locations. Let's make this place a good base of operations for our king's followers."
"Yes!"
A magical circle appeared in the hands of the women, and towers, houses, mansions, and miniature castles were seen in their hands.
The next moment, demonic wings sprouted from behind the women, and they spread in all directions. Helena watched everything with a red screen that appeared in front of her, following the point of view of the demon women connected to her.
Thirty seconds later, Helena heard, "General, the items are in position."
"Good. Now, step back."
"Yes!"
As the demon women flew into the air and positioned themselves at a considerable distance, Helena clapped lightly, and a red pulse began with Helena in the center, spreading everywhere.
"Grow."
The next instant, various futuristic-looking demonic structures appeared on the horizon.
Aphrodite raised her eyebrow, impressed. She had to admit that Helena's ability was incredibly convenient. The reason why all the important structures in Hell were made of Hell Metal, a very scarce material, was precisely because of Helena. With just a small amount of material, she could create multiple gigantic structures with her power.
'Although they wouldn't run out of materials with Victor around, after all, he can create these materials.' Victor's ability to manipulate creation was very similar to alchemy. He could take a simple stone and turn it into a divine material that only grew in pantheons.
"Aline, it's your turn."
"Yes," Aline nodded. She made a hand gesture, and several infernal portals appeared inside some of the structures. Unlike before, these infernal portals didn't release demons but pure and dense miasma.
"... What are you doing?" Aphrodite raised an eyebrow.
"Places for our people to stay while the other structures will be used by our king's allies. The castle on the horizon, of course, is our king's castle."
"But there's already a castle here? Well, it's not a castle; it's a pyramid, but you get my point."
"We can't let our king stay in this decrepit child's playpen! He deserves more!" Helena and Aline spoke with a fervor that made Aphrodite lean back in surprise.
"Oh... Okay, I suppose."
Aphrodite looked around the room, which was pure gold and luxury, then looked at the structure that was the Demon King's castle.
Unlike the pyramid, which was made entirely of gold, the Demon King's castle was constructed from the rarest materials found in the pantheons. Divine material, infernal material, each structure was made to withstand attacks from higher-level gods; the castle was a luxurious fortress.
"They went overboard... This castle would make any god die of envy," Aphrodite muttered.
"Mm." Helena and Aline nodded in satisfaction. It was good that Aphrodite understood their thoughts.
"To be honest, I'm dissatisfied that our king's mansion in his personal world is so insignificantly small. As a dragon, he should have at least a 10-kilometer structure to fit his majestic body."
"Indeed, indeed," Aline nodded several times, agreeing with Helena.
Aphrodite broke into a cold sweat at the dedication of these women to want only the 'best' for Victor.
"Darling doesn't care that much about these things. As long as he's close to his wives, he'll be happy... Although he also won't stop them from doing these things unless it's absolutely necessary." Aphrodite replied while thinking, 'After all, he knows that by letting them 'serve', he will make these demon women very happy, so he doesn't mind this pampering.'
"I think he didn't allow us to do that yet because he didn't want them to get too busy," Aphrodite deduced.
"Yes, unfortunately, he hasn't allowed us to do it yet..." Helena sighed.
"Yet... is the keyword here. He will allow us to do it in the future. After all, the Dragon's Nest headquarters should be a place that reflects his new position as a Dragon Progenitor and, in the future, a God Emperor," Aline spoke.
"... God Emperor?" Aphrodite raised an eyebrow when she heard what Aline said.
"Of course, he is a god who is above many gods from different pantheons, so calling him an Emperor is not wrong," Aline said.
"... That's true," Aphrodite spoke after thinking for a moment. Now that she stopped to assess her situation, she realized that her husband had truly become a very important figure.
It's no exaggeration to say that he is one of the major players who can influence the world with every gesture, word, and action.
This realization filled Aphrodite's heart with pride, and a gentle smile appeared on her face. "Darling is amazing, isn't he?"
"You're just realizing that now?" Aline and Helena said simultaneously.
"There is no better man than him, so we must protect him at all costs," Helena said.
"The best materials are needed, the best minds, the best ideas. Everything must be done in the name of our Emperor," Aline spoke dreamily as if she could already imagine a future where Victor was the Emperor.
Aphrodite's smile faltered when she heard what these two were saying. The level of fanaticism, devotion, love, and madness in these women was off the charts.
Although... She wasn't any different. Aphrodite's eyes turned into twin neon-
pink abysses, and she smiled at the women.
"We must make our Nest the strongest of all so that our children can grow up safely."
"Indeed, indeed," Aline nodded.
"Umu," Helena agreed as well.
...
Nightingale, Adrasteia Clan.
Victor, Vlad, Rose, Eleonor, Haruna, Scathach, Morgana, and Jeanne were looking at the horizon.
The moment Victor arrived with the gods and angels in the Adrasteia Clan, the sight that met their eyes was what they encountered.
"So, these are the Elder Gods..." Victor said when he saw the gigantic creatures easily passing through the clouds. He had no idea how many meters tall these creatures were, but they were undoubtedly well over 1000 meters in height.
"Their souls... They're gigantic... It's as if they're a conglomerate of gods," Shiva, who was sitting in the air at a distance, commented to himself, but since everyone here had superior senses, they all heard him.
As promised, he had come to assist in the fight against the Elder Gods.
"The beings my ancestors always fought, huh..." Eleonor commented as they looked at those colossal beings. Despite still being in the middle of her training, she stopped to come and observe the battle. This was a fight she couldn't afford to miss.
Currently, there were only 5 of these Elder Gods, and each of them was different from the others. Some had eyes and mouths, while others had only mouths; some didn't even have a face.
Each of their bodies was different as well. Some seemed to have a body of pure white with spiky protrusions, while others were made of pure earth.
But one in particular caught everyone's attention. It was the Elder God with blue eyes, black scleras, white skin with black stripes, horn-shaped like a crown, and a face without a mouth.
"This is the first time I've seen something so... Alien." Ariel, who was floating in the sky with the Angel of Death, commented as they looked at those five individuals.
"Which Elder God was responsible, Vlad?" Haruna asked.
"It was that white bastard... He's the one who killed her," Vlad's eyes gleamed with bloodlust.
Haruna looked at the Elder God, who looked like a blank canvas with nothing visible. Her eyes narrowed, and her tails behind her swayed hypnotically.
"The murderer of my sister, huh."
"... The beloved of chaos," the blue-eyed giant with horns spoke, his voice powerful and ancient echoing throughout the land.
"Why do you desire war?"
Victor crouched slightly, and with a leap, he soared into the sky. Several sonic booms were heard, and soon, he was at eye level with the Elder Gods.
"War is inevitable. We are invaders, and you are defenders. Only when one side loses can there be peace."
"But the main reason for my declaration is... You attacked me first."
The blue eyes of the giant met Victor's violet eyes.
Victor narrowed his eyes as he tried to read this creature in front of him, but all he felt was... nothing. It was as if he were looking at a ball of flesh.
"What is this? What is this feeling?" Victor thought as he focused on its eyes to try to understand what he was looking at, but even with his eyes, he couldn't see anything. Only a gigantic thread that extended from the top of the heads of these gods, threads that led to a location beyond their current planet.
"Ikor-Kar-VI... Like you invaders, I have a name too."
Ikor's hand began to rise, and with just that gesture, all the clouds around him were dispersed.
"Finally, we can cleanse this cancer that invaded our planet millennia ago."
"Your desire for war has been granted, Victor Alucard."
Earthquakes were heard, and the next moment, hundreds of thousands of creatures began to emerge from the ground. Some even came from the sea, and others emerged from the flesh of the other Elder Gods.
Behemoths, Hunters, winged and terrestrial minions, Alphas mounted on their dragons, and hundreds of thousands of enemies appeared with just one command from the Elder God.
"Let there be war."
