(MC POV)
Honestly, I'm surprised.
I didn't really plan anything when I decided to arrange this little spar but Eris and Brendan had already surprised me with how they were handling it. All I thought was just to see what they could do after training for so long.
As for the others… The only one that had come close to hitting me so far was Lilith and that was more because of the fact that I didn't know her capabilities as well as I did for the others.
But right now, I'm quite excited to see what new things the others could come up with and I wasn't disappointed.
Brendan and Eris's success must have inspired them to try something new as well and it became even harder for me to fend off their attacks.
Lian Li came exceptionally close when she tried to summon up a lightning storm and snuck herself in as a lightning strike in an attempt to catch me off guard.
Unfortunately I had used a shield against her so all she did was ramming herself into the shield and bouncing off with a cute squeak of surprise.
Manami even made use of her telepathy to send me some distracting thoughts but that was countered when I blocked off any intrusive thoughts. Still a good strategy though.
But at the end, the last two winners were quite unexpected seeing that they actually worked together to achieve their victory.
Ok, working together is too strong of a word, more like they took advantage of the opportunity the other provided.
"Good job girls," I patted Tsuki and Elaria's heads, my two little sisters purring at my touch.
Elaria had managed to create a form of instantaneous teleportation device that she used to close the distance between us.
Though I was able to respond to that, I was most definitely not expecting her to start fighting me in close quarters while dual wielding a pair of pistols.
She must have been practising somewhere since she was quite proficient in it and it took quite a bit of my concentration to defend against her. Coupled with the fact that she was taking advantage of the Law I enacted of no one being able to get hurt, she didn't need to worry about defending herself much.
Because of that, I had my hands full defending myself against both her and the rest of my disciples that my back was left open, a fact that Tsuki took advantage of.
She had taken the chance to summon a vine made of shadows that temporarily held my wrists, giving her time to strike me in the back while Elaria shot me from the front.
And thus the spar concluded with the final two winners, prompting me to bring us back to the beach.
I looked up at the rest of the girls who were looking rather disappointed.
"All of you have displayed exceptional improvements ever since I've started teaching you. There's no need to feel disappointed over your progress because all of you have come far since you began learning. I am proud to be your Master and I am happy to call all of you my disciples."
My words prompted everyone to immediately converge upon me, wrapping me in another group hug.
Well, Lilith wasn't really my disciples but she's just there to take advantage of the hug.
I had to give each of them headpats until they were satisfied before they finally let go.
"Well, now that we've worked up quite a bit of sweat… Shall we go take a bath Daddy?" Lilith suggested, the lascivious smile on her face a clear indication of what she was expecting to happen.
Diao Chan immediately jumped on my arm and started pulling me in the direction of the resort, "Ah! That's right! Allow us to wash you, Master! This time with no distractions please!"
Pretty sure the last line was directed at everyone around us.
The rest of the girls let me be dragged away by the witch and the demoness, all of them receiving my instruction to take a break as well before we would have dinner later.
I soon found myself in the changing room where the two of them stripped both me and themselves unceremoniously, tossing our swim suits in a pile carelessly and leaving them there for the servants to take care of while they dealt with me.
Once again, I was submerged in the warm waters of the bath while Lilith and Diao Chan occupied my sides, the two girls cuddling themselves against me.
"This is nice," Lilith muttered, to which Diao Chan agreed with a soft moan.
I leaned back and the two girls shifted closer to me, allowing me to wrap my arms around their shoulders while we simply enjoyed the bath for the moment.
Lilith nuzzled my shoulder, "I forgot to ask this, Daddy… But what happened to Lilia?"
"Hmm? I helped her move her territory away so she wouldn't be affected by the fight. I believe she went back to take care of her planets."
Diao Chan tilted her head, "Mmm… I've been meaning to ask that, Master. Does someone else own our world as well?"
I chuckled, "I wouldn't say 'own' but more like it's being managed. And yes, Lilith is the one in charge of this sector which includes our World."
"And what about the Gods?"
"They're like her branch managers, but you have to know that not all of her siblings are in the same position as it's more of a voluntary position than anything else. Other Worlds have their own group of Gods overseeing them."
Lilith smiled at her, "You could say that I'm the boss of the gods of this world."
"Mmm… I see… Then what will happen to us after we achieve Godhood, Master?"
Oh? Well, it seems like Diao Chan is starting to consider further into the future, that's a good sign.
Lilith giggled and answered her question in my stead, "Well, usually gods would be in charge of taking care of their own domains within the World they are in, especially when said gods ascended from that World. But for you guys, it's different because you'll be ascending in Daddy's name so you'll be serving Daddy directly. Just to let you know… I am not exaggerating when I say that your position is a place that others would kill for, so I would recommend you to watch your back."
I frowned slightly at her words. That was something I didn't know… Omniscience?
…
I see… So some jealous gods might think they can take my disciples' place by proving themselves superior to them… They might not resort to immediate violence but they might just challenge them in some sort of competition for their place…
My disciples are free to reject their challenge but it might cause them to lose their standing within the divine circles and others might look down on them…
It seems like there are quite a lot of gods who would be really envious of their position, especially the few who felt my disciples got their places purely by luck, which is something I can't refute since I did kind of take them in on a whim at first.
Well, it's not like any other gods know about this yet aside from Sylphy and her friends. They don't really seem concerned about this either so I don't think I need to worry about that for now.
But I'll just strengthen the defensive inscriptions on them just in case…
And if there actually are gods who come to challenge my disciples in the future… I guess I'll just deal with it as it happens.
While I was thinking about that, the two girls seemed to have finished their own conversation and were already moving towards their main goal.
That meant that they were now caressing and looking at me in a very, very suggestive way.
Looks like they don't want to waste time anymore so I guess I should get right to it as well.
