Chapter 994: Time changes everything, even Gods.

Some scholars say that our future selves are formed by past experiences, and they're not wrong. Looking at the man in front of him, Victor couldn't help but think of his past.

A very distant time [for him], counting his existence living, Victor may be much older than 2700 years.

That's not even taking into account the countless memories of different Beings in his mind. Faced with this sea of memories, his days as a Human seemed like mere blurs, a mirage of the past.

However, as much as his time as a human was an old and distant memory, some of those memories would always remain with him. After all, his Draconic Brain didn't let him forget... Wrong, his Soul wouldn't let him forget.

For example, the day he became friends with Andrew, Edward, Leona, and Fred would never be forgotten. The day his father taught him to be a real man would never be forgotten, even though he taught him little compared to his mother, who was always there advising him on everything. The lessons he gave were precious.

With that in mind, Victor didn't want to leave a bad taste in their relationship. He respected Leon and would continue to respect him until the day he did something to break his respect.

It was these thoughts that led Victor to use all his communication skills to dictate the conversation.

"Leon, what happened has no excuses. There is no right or wrong in this, only actions and consequences. Yes, due to things like instinct, desires, feelings, and other factors, things have happened as they have."

"There are no excuses? Victor, you stole my-"

"Stop." Anna intervened for the first time. "Do not continue with those words."

Anna narrowed her eyes. "We will keep this conversation civilized. First, I am not your property, Leon."

Anna raised the second finger. "Secondly, you cannot demand anything from me when you fell into the same 'trap' as I did."

Leon squirmed.

"Do you remember the first thing you did when you turned into a Noble Vampire?"

"... I..."

"If you don't remember, I'll remind you. You began to desire other women and started seeking them in secret."

"The only reason you didn't look at Victor's Wives is because you were afraid of his reaction. After all, Victor was always watching."

Leon fell silent.

"Again, I'm not pointing fingers or trying to blame anyone; it just happened. There is no right or wrong in this, only the consequences of actions."

"As a male Vampire, your desire was for other women. As a female Vampire, my desire was for my 'creator'."

"That's just how things are... After training with our respective Masters, we managed to suppress that desire and act civilized, but since the day Victor called attention to us, our relationship was already over. You and I know that."

"We just didn't talk about it because of the other things happening around us."

"Haah... I wish I had rejected Victor's offer and remained Human."

Victor didn't react to Leon's words. He remained as he was because even if he didn't use his numerous abilities, he could see that Leon himself didn't mean what he said and wasn't being honest.Something that Anna also noticed, causing her to roll her eyes and say, "Don't lie to yourself. Because I won't. I don't regret giving up my Humanity."

"Having this..." An orange sphere of pure Power was created in Anna's hand. This sphere was the result of Anna using only her Draconic Powers to fuel the reality in which she was holding a hydrogen bomb in her hand, a bomb that she could increase even more in Power. "Power."

"It's something I would never regret."

NOBODY liked to be weak. If there were a Being, who claimed they would prefer to remain a mere weak Human and not become something more powerful like a Dragon, a Werewolf, or a Vampire, that Human would be lying.

Perhaps the reason for not accepting Power was that they didn't want to be bound to anyone or because they were too proud, but undoubtedly, the problem wasn't the 'Power' itself, but the Human's own personality.

No one would reject Power, and Anna would be lying to herself if she said she would prefer to remain as a weak Human and not the powerful Dragoness she was now.

And Anna couldn't be that; one of the Divinities she was awakening was <Truth> after all.

"And you are the same. You don't regret it. Don't lie in front of us because it won't work."

Leon remained silent as he stared at Anna for a long time until he sighed. "You are correct... I don't regret it. This Power is intoxicating."

"Time changes everything, even for us powerful Beings. I would be foolish not to recognize that... As I once was," Victor spoke, drawing the attention of the two.

"I had hoped that gaining this Power would mean that things wouldn't need to change for us, but I was naive. It was my selfish desire to offer this Power to you. After all, I didn't want you to leave me."

"Darling..." Anna murmured with gentle eyes.

A word that unconsciously caused critical damage to Leon.

Victor couldn't bear to let his parents die a normal death when he had the ability to prevent it. He was not a hero or a very altruistic person who would follow someone else's will.

If his mother had said she preferred to die a Human death, the moment she said that he would have turned her into a Noble Vampire.

The same would have happened with his father.

He would have preferred to have his mother and father hate him than see them die forever, and these thoughts haven't changed even in the present.

Victor's Essence was possessive, and the Draconic Race really suited him because he liked to have all his 'treasures' close to him so he could always take care of them and spoil them whenever possible.

While he was like this, he was also a warrior and a teacher who liked to see the development of others, something he may have inherited from Scathach, he supposed.

If it weren't for his other side, which was kind, a teacher, and a warrior, a long time ago, he would have locked his Wives in a cellar known as his Inner World and left them there so they wouldn't have to deal with anything.

But he didn't do that. He valued his Wives and Family too much to do that, so he gave them the freedom to develop. But, as a possessive man, he always kept an eye on them and protected them from everything.

It was this Essence of his, something that would never change, and his future self that was protecting the Records was proof of that.

"Haah..." Leon let out a long sigh again. "I would be lying if I said I didn't expect this since I know my ex-wife well enough."

"Just as I know you well enough." Anna turned her gaze to Leon. "And your 'wife'."

Leon shuddered. "You know."

"It surprises me that you think you can date one of our citizens, and I wouldn't know. Your position is quite important, you know?"'Who told... Oh, the women of the Blank Clan.' Leon felt like facepalming now.

All the female Shadows working for Victor were completely loyal to their Emperor. They were his eyes and ears, and the same went for the men, but Leon knew very well that the women of the organization were even more loyal to Victor.

This was due to the fact that his Wives, who were the Leaders of the Clans of these women, often gave these women rewards that came from the Emperor himself, such as his photos, some personal belongings that Victor didn't mind disappearing, and in more extreme cases where these women do a good job, the Wife herself would call upon the Emperor to give them a 'more intimate reward.'

Leon had personally witnessed several testimonies of this.

Kaguya, who led the Shadows in Victor's absence, often rewarded the girls of her own Clan in this way.

Helena, who led the Demon Realm in Victor's absence, practiced the same act with the female population of the Demons.

Tasha, who led the Werewolves, and Haruna, who led the Youkai, were all no different.

The same applied to Valeria Alekerth, the High Priestess of The Blood God's Religion, a woman who was the Emperor's most fanatical Disciple.

No matter which woman you looked at, if that woman was within the Emperor's sphere of influence, she would be utterly loyal to him and would be his eyes and ears.

In other words, they were all a bunch of fanatics who had dedicated their entire existence to their God. And this level of fanaticism was determined by how 'close' they were to the Emperor.

'Honestly, it was foolish on my part to even think they wouldn't know,' Leon thought of the Vampire mistress he found in Nightingale.

The Shadows who worked directly under him were definitely among the most fanatical. Any small act considered betrayal by these observers would be quickly reported to the proper authorities, and they would do it for anything to gain the slightest attention of the Emperor.

To be honest, Leon found all this madness, this level of fanaticism and loyalty, ridiculous. To make matters worse, this type of loyalty could also be found in men.

'Not only those women, I think my partners would also report me.' Honestly, you couldn't trust anyone if you intended to hide something important from Victor.

Yes, the fanaticism of the men wasn't as ridiculous as that of the women, but it was definitely there. Male Demons and male Vampires were the perfect example of this.

If Leon were to quantify the level of fanaticism in percentage, the women's level would be off the charts, while men's would be at 96%, with the remaining percentage focused on their own personal desires.

Though there were some men who were off the charts, these being those who were very ambitious and wanted more Power, something more common among Demons, Noble Vampires, and recently, the Gods who were enslaved, who were slowly coming out of slavery due to their contributions to society in general.

Honestly, it was incredible how so many Beings could move perfectly because of the desires of a single Being.

The fact that Leon didn't fully understand the actions of these Beings was because he didn't fully understand what kind of position Victor held in the Supernatural World.

The fact that he was a God of Negativity gave him Supreme Authority over ALL the Gods who used Concepts that fed on Negative Energy. With just this Divinity, he could already be considered one of the most respected Beings just for existing.

Him being a Conqueror, along with several more Divinities, and being the man who practically restored the Earth to its purest state... The level of influence and respect they had for him was off the charts.

Leon didn't understand this because he still saw him as 'his son,' and he didn't get involved much with the other Divine Factions.

The area he was dealing with was more focused on Nightingale and occasionally Samar. His influence was very restricted. Due to this and several other factors, he couldn't fully understand who Victor was to everyone else.

At this point of existence, Victor made his Faction untouchable just by existing and gained even greater Faith from Mortals due to his policy that hard work must be rewarded.

In Victor's society, as long as you strived, worked hard to nurture your talents, and helped society as a whole, you would be rewarded, no matter what kind of discovery it was. For Humans, this was easier to understand, and it worked better for them.

His society was terrible for the lazy, but as long as you did your part, you would live well. Not to mention that Velnorah's 'Technocracy' provided all the basic necessities. You didn't even need money to meet basic needs in the city of Velnorah. Of course, other things required money.

Another significant fact was that... They now knew where they would go when they died. In the minds of Mortals, if they died, they would go to the Emperor's Hell or to The Heavenly Father's Paradise. Life and Death were no longer 'unknowns'.

The reason for this was that on the entire planet Earth, except for India, the most predominant Religions were The Religion of The Blood God and that of The Heavenly Father's.

The reason The Religion of The Blood God was larger was because it encompassed several other Gods, such as Amaterasu from the Shinto Pantheon being his Wife. Because of this, the Title of God-Emperor is not an exaggeration.

The Religion of The Blood God had to reformulate several times to add more 'Gods' who were the 'subordinates' of the God-Emperor.

Most of these new Gods in The Religion of The Blood God were Victor's Wives who had ascended to Divinity. Eventually, Victor's own Daughters would be added as well, forming a full-fledged Pantheon where he was the Creator of everything.