Chapter 905: The Heavenly Father Visits Hell
As he walked towards the exit of the seventh heaven, Victor thought about the women in his life. As he thought about them, he smiled happily, but when he remembered the proposal of the Heavenly Father, he shook his head internally.
'I don't want it anymore,' he thought. Upon recalling the words of the Heavenly Father, he realized he no longer wanted it. He already had many loves in his life.
Amaterasu and Velnorah would be the last additions, and he was unlikely to form any more relationships now. After all, there was no point in making political alliances through marriage when his power was already too strong.
'What I need now is stability and consolidation,' Victor thought. Due to his sudden increase in power and influence, he needed to stabilize everything to have a comfortable foundation.
Even though it wasn't his intention, he was making a big mistake that his master had pointed out from the beginning... Not having a stable foundation.
"If the main structure is strong enough, you can handle any kind of work." These words applied to everything, not just training. That's why Victor accepted the political alliance with the Heavenly Father but did not explicitly accept the matrimonial alliance.
"Where should we go first?" Victor asked the Heavenly Father.
"Let's take a tour, but our destination is the deepest part of hell," the Heavenly Father revealed his intentions, his appearance wholly made of light again.
"Fair enough," Victor nodded.
Ariel seemed to have a lot to say about her father's sudden decision to go to hell. She found it very dangerous for him to go alone with only her as a guard. However, if it was her father's decision, she couldn't say much, but it was clear that she was not very happy.
"Nero and Ophis, come here."
"Yes, Father," Nero nodded.
"Mm," Ophis too.
Soon, the two girls were in front of Victor. He raised his hand slightly, and a red power covered them.
"What is this...?"
"A protection against miasma," Victor explained. "Despite having my blessings and being quite resistant to miasma, this energy is still corrosive to the living and mortals, so caution is necessary."
"That's a good idea. After all, the miasma in hell has become stronger with the merging of the other hells," the Heavenly Father supported Victor's decision.
Victor nodded in agreement with the Heavenly Father's words.
"Ariel, come here."
"Yes, Father..." Ariel approached her father, and the scene repeated itself, with pure white power covering Ariel's body.
Although she was not exactly mortal, she was still a pure being and direct contact with miasma as strong as that in the current hell could harm her and corrupt her mind. Even though such a chance was unlikely with the Heavenly Father around, it was better to ensure that nothing went wrong.
Metis pouted when she saw this scene. 'Why didn't I receive the same treatment?' She knew why she didn't; unlike Nero and Ophis, she was a dragon, a dragon goddess, to be more specific. She could naturally defend herself from miasma because dragons were natural beings capable of adapting to most hostile environments. But even though she understood that it didn't mean she liked or accepted it.
Upon reaching the door that led to the seventh heaven, Victor noticed a fluctuation in space and realized he could open the door to hell here.
"Let's go; I will show you my first city..."
"How did you..." The Heavenly Father was about to ask something but fell silent when a red portal appeared behind Victor.
Ariel opened her eyes wide at what she had just seen. Victor had casually ignored the defenses of an entire pantheon by creating a portal to hell in the most protected part of heaven. This simple gesture made her fully understand what kind of being they were dealing with.
On the other hand, the Heavenly Father's reaction was calmer as he merely raised an inquisitive eyebrow. 'I see... A spatial fluctuation, he opened a rift with such a small flaw that it's almost imperceptible unless you actively look for it.'
This was an impressive but also terrifying fact because these spatial fluctuations existed in all pantheons. Unless a god of space existed in the dimension, it was impossible not to have tiny, imperceptible rifts. If Victor could exploit this so easily, it meant he could theoretically send his army anywhere he wanted.
'Let's try not to think too much about it, or I'll go mad,' the Heavenly Father thought.
...
"Welcome to Alexandria, the city of beginnings."
Ariel, Ophis, Metis, Nero, and the Heavenly Father opened their eyes wide when they saw the city.
Specifically, its SIZE.
"How big is this city?" Metis asked, breaking the silence. The city in front of her was the perfect example of a tourist city.
"I don't know the exact number, but we've already surpassed the size of Tokyo, and we're approaching that of a small country."
"... Can this still be called a city?" Ariel asked an honest question.
"Yes?" Victor replied, somewhat confused. To be honest, he didn't know either, but he wasn't in the mood to change it now, so he left it as it was.
"Father..."
Victor looked at Ophis, who was holding his right arm. "Yes, my daughter?"
"Is all of this yours?"
"Yeah."
"...Whoa," Ophis exclaimed in shock. She knew her father had his own personal world, but she couldn't grasp the 'scale' of how big a world was. To her, this city was larger than her father's personal world since it had more living beings.
"It will take years for me to visit all these places," the Heavenly Father commented while looking at a specific area labeled the "Succubus District."
He saw several succubus walking around in very provocative clothing. He saw not only succubi but also many other female demons.
"Hmm, I don't recommend visiting those areas."
"Why?"
"Well, that's the +18 area of this city... All seven sins are gathered in that place, so to speak." Victor was quite evasive in his response due to the presence of children, but everyone here understood what he was talking about except for Ophis, who didn't care and didn't listen, instead just looking at the buildings around her.
"Oh..."
The look Ariel was giving her father could easily pierce the strongest metal in this world. Fortunately, the Heavenly Father's lack of shame was one of his strengths, and he easily disregarded his daughter's gaze.
"Shall we go to the next city?"
"Yes... In the future, I will come here to research this city more deeply."
"You can't," Ariel spoke. She had never been one to question her father, but she wouldn't let him fall into degeneration! She was his general.
"...Eh?" The Heavenly Father looked at Ariel incredulously, and for a moment, he had flashbacks of Vietnam when he saw the look on Ariel's face. She had the same look that Lucifer had when he betrayed him!
"Father, the leader of the angels should not walk in such a... obscene place! Show some respect!" Ariel blushed deeply when she glanced at the attire of the demon women.
"...You're right," the Heavenly Father agreed with Ariel's words.
"I'm glad you understand," Ariel sighed in relief.
Victor, who had been watching from the side, smiled ironically because he could clearly tell that the Heavenly Father would definitely come back. He was curious about that place.
"Father, what is that?" Nero asked, pointing to a location, specifically to a massive stadium in the distance.
"Hmm? Oh, that's where we conduct our wars."
"...Wars?" Everyone was confused when they heard what he said.
"Hmm, let's take a look before heading to the next city."
Victor began to fly towards the stadium.
When they arrived at the stadium, everyone's eyes widened as they saw its actual size and how many demons were present.
"...I've never seen so many demons together except during a war," Ariel murmured. Just the number of infernal beings here completely surpassed the number of angels.
"As you know, demons have destructive impulses that vary according to their capital sin, but most of these impulses are focused on destruction, pleasure, or gaining power."
"I used this mindset to create the Succubus District in each of the cities, as well as this stadium where we wage war."
"What you're seeing now is a physical representation of war in different scenarios. This practice serves as a sport but also as training to make the entire population experienced in combat."
Everyone focused on the metropolis that looked much like the urban environment of the city of Paris, even the Eiffel Tower was recreated.
A war was happening in this urban setting.
Ophis visibly shrank when a demonic woman decapitated another demonic woman.
"Is it okay to kill?"
"It's okay. As you know, demons don't really die permanently unless they are hit by one of their weaknesses. When they die normally, all that happens is that they go into hibernation for a while and then revive."
The Heavenly Father focused on a spot that seemed to be where the demon team that died was located. He soon noticed the demon's soul reforming in that place, and then she was revived.
"Darn, I died!" The woman roared in anger and sat down in her seat with an annoyed huff.
"From what I understand, you need other souls to allow demons to revive quickly."
"That's correct... But we found out that when a demon dies in Hell, their soul goes into the atmosphere, and in this process, the soul loses strength... Approximately 30% of their strength is lost in this process."
"For weaker demons, this loss isn't significant, and they can be revived quickly, but for stronger demons, this is a major setback, so they need time to recover."
"With this knowledge in mind, we sealed this stadium with demonic runes. If a demon dies here, their soul won't escape into the atmosphere; it remains near the place where they died. In this process, they only lose 1% of their strength, allowing them to be revived almost instantly."
Victor's explanation left Metis, the Heavenly Father, and Ariel so shocked that they fell completely silent for a long moment, just watching the war unfolding below.
"...By the way, I need to update the runes on the stadiums; I should put that on my list of future tasks," Victor said his thoughts out loud.
The Heavenly Father narrowed his eyes when he saw the situation below him. He wasn't a fool; he could clearly see what Victor was doing. He was preparing all his citizens for a possible war, which is why the wars taking place in this stadium were so 'elaborate,' like a high-level training with realism.
Ariel also realized this, and she had to say that as a King, this man knew how to wage war.
'Well, he was the God of War, wasn't he?' Ariel now understood why he received that divinity.
"This looks fun... Can I participate?" Nero asked her father.
"...Maybe," Victor replied as he considered various security measures for Nero. After all, she wasn't a demon, so if she died here, she would die forever. Well, not forever, as he could easily revive her now, but his concern still existed. He didn't want her to experience 'death' right now; it really changed people.
Nero pouted slightly because her father didn't give permission quickly as he usually did, but she saw that he said 'maybe,' which meant he was considering the matter.
Nero was a good girl, so she wouldn't throw a tantrum over this or anything. She was very obedient to her father.
"This place is amazing, Victor."
"I know, right?" Victor smiled lightly.
"Now I understand why the beings of hell don't want to leave here," the Heavenly Father said, thinking about that little imp who seemed very proud to live in hell.
"Well, don't be fooled by appearances; this is still hell, and the punishment fields still exist. I just don't make them visible to everyone because it's not good for marketing."
"...That's very capitalist of you, aren't you a monarch?"
"Yes, I am, but you can't escape capitalism, so why not just control everything? After all, I'm known as the Demon King of Tyranny." Victor chuckled in amusement.
"...A good thought."
Ariel felt a cold sweat when she saw her father's face. Even though he was made entirely of light now, she could perceive the nuances of his face as someone who had always watched him. It's worth mentioning that she's not happy with Victor having influenced her father in a bad way!
"Mm," Victor nodded.
"Let's go to the next town."
"Yes."
