Chapter 1009: Remember: No matter the place, I will always be with you, my daughter. 3

Outside.

Victor, observing Nero's situation, shook his head while sighing; his hand trembled slightly. No matter how much time passed, he couldn't completely calm down.

He wished there was an easier way to reach divinity, but such a thing didn't exist. There is no shortcut, and even the shortcut he thought of isn't as efficient as the traditional method of the journey.

Because of this, Victor created this method: by placing his target in a dream with the concept of the dream while accessing the Akashic Records registry, he could create a false alternate reality and stimulate the 'mental' state and soul to prepare the individual for the 'journey' that awaits.

The first requirement for divinity is the maturation of the soul.

Next comes the second requirement, self-care, which consists of three steps that must be completed.

The first step is acceptance.

The second step is self-understanding.

And the third and final step is overcoming.

What the individual experiences in the meantime is the 'journey' to enlightenment.

Although it may seem simple, it is far from the truth. It is extremely difficult to achieve these requirements, especially the requirement of the soul. Few mortals have opportunities to enhance their own souls as offered in the Nightmare Tower.

Not to mention the requirements of self-awareness that vary from person to person. For example, in Scathach's case, she did not need to go through the third step, which is overcoming.

Scathach had already accepted who she is; she had no traumas or regrets, so she didn't need to overcome or accept. The only thing lacking in Scathach was self-care.

For someone who accepted their own existence, she knew very little about herself. Due to the passage of time, she ignored many things about herself, even things related to her own past.

When Scathach overcame these trials, she achieved divinity relatively easily; after all, her soul and existence were already ready, she had also had her 'journey'; she just needed the final 'push' that Victor gave.

In Nero's case, the situation is more complicated because she clearly has traumas from the past, even though the presence of Victor, Ophis, and Ruby helped her improve... She has not completely overcome her past.

She has merely buried the memories deeply; this trauma is part of her acceptance and overcoming test. She cannot completely ignore her past; that's not how it works.

The past defines who we are in the future; ignoring your traumas, ignoring your mistakes, ignoring who you once were is a sacrilege to the soul. It's as if you were trying to erase half of your existence.

'I trust you, my daughter, I know you will overcome this,' Victor thought as he assumed a neutral expression, like a father. It hurt to make his daughter go through this, but even though he was so concerned about Nero, after all, she was the one who would suffer the most in this process, he understands that it is necessary to make his daughter stronger.

Victor looks at the timer in the house, which is marking 9481 and continues to decrease.

years have already passed; their souls were already showing traces of maturation, becoming even more robust than before.

Victor looks at Ophis. 'As expected... Ophis will finish before Nero.'

Unlike Nero, Ophis doesn't have a significant trauma. She had a small trauma, a slight trauma related to the incident in Japan, a trauma that was completely erased when she started training and growing stronger. Instead of dwelling on that incident and fearing those memories, she understood that she suffered because she was too weak. Her maturity helped her overcome those memories.

Ophis didn't have traumas, but she had a small regret, a regret that Victor was well aware of."You seem worried, Victor."

Victor looks at Kali and raises an eyebrow. "You noticed, huh."

"You hesitated for a few seconds in your composure, which is unexpected coming from someone as composed as you."

'As expected, your daughters and family are your most sensitive points.' Kali already knew this; it was quite obvious from the way he placed so much importance on them. But seeing him briefly lose his composure only reinforced this thought in her.

"They are my daughters, of course I will be worried. The day you have a daughter, you will understand."

"Maybe..." Kali briefly looked at the two girls, narrowing her eyes when she saw a white energy mingling with them. As a goddess who was on the verge of being a primordial, her vision for the truth of the world was quite sharp; she could clearly see the influence of the Akashic Records on the girls.

'I completely underestimated Victor.' Kali sighed internally. Now she could be sure that her pantheon couldn't do what Victor was doing now, not even she had such proficiency in manipulating the Akashic Records.

'... Manipulating is a very arrogant word, he's not doing that, he's using the influence of the Akashic Records with his divinities to achieve a certain effect on the girls.' She didn't exactly know what this 'effect' was, but she could try to imagine what effects it might be, although she didn't know if she was correct or not.

With the recent lesson, she learned that she should overestimate everything Victor does.

She turned her gaze back to Victor. "What's happening with the girls that has you so worried?" She couldn't contain her curiosity.

"A false alternate reality created with my powers and the influence of the Akashic Records using past records, a place where everything is real from the user's perspective."

Kali was completely speechless again; she imagined some things, but not even in her wildest thoughts did she consider this possibility... He exceeded her expectations once again.

"Just..." She sighed. "Just how did you do this?"

"I have divine domains related to creation, dream, and madness, Kali." Victor stopped looking at his daughters and turned to Kali with a neutral gaze.

A gaze that, from Kali's perspective, seemed quite intense; unconsciously, the goddess of destruction swallowed hard.

"For me, reality is as foldable and fragile as a sheet of paper."lightsnovel

Victor looked back at his two daughters, reminding Kali to breathe again.

lightsΝοvεl ƈοm "With the right conditions, creating an entire alternate reality is something very easy to do."

'... Unbelievable, he's willing to go so far just to ensure the future of his daughters.' Kali's breathing starts to return to normal; the more she interacted with Victor, the more she was surprised by his dedication.

A dedication she could fully respect.

...

With Ophis.

Ophis found herself at a much lower height, all the power she felt, and control over her power was completely gone as if it never existed; she was back in Nightingale's castle.

"Hurry, prepare for war, our king is calling!"

"Yes!"

'Oh, yes... I remember now... This happened when I was just a little girl, didn't it? A younger girl since the time I met My Father.' Ophis thought.Walking through the long corridors of the castle, she could see several soldiers preparing to go to war against the Elder Gods.

'Wrong, calling it a war is an exaggeration.' Ophis thought, after all, she knew that the Elder Gods weren't using their full potential from the beginning; it's more accurate to call this 'conflicts' on a small scale.

Trying to use her powers to move around, she felt quite limited; her powers weren't acting as she wanted, all her control vanished from existence, she was just a little girl with great potential but no control at all.

Ophis sighed. 'At least, I wish I could control my powers, but this body here isn't used to it.'

'Why am I here anyway? Wasn't I supposed to go somewhere to awaken divinity? Thinking about it, my father didn't leave any instructions on what I should do...' Thinking of her father, she remembered his words before she fell asleep.

"Remember, my beloved daughters... No matter the place, I will always be with you."

And when she recalled those words, a small smile appeared on her face; she no longer felt worried about being in her weakest form now, after all, she knows that her father is always with her, no matter the place.

Walking through the corridors with this confidence in her heart, Ophis spotted her father's first, second, and third wives; they seemed to be forming a circle talking about something very quietly.

Ophis narrowed her eyes slightly; even though she didn't have control of her powers, she still had knowledge of her basic training in learning to manipulate her senses, something that can be done even as a child.

Just as she was about to do this to listen to the women's conversation, she heard.

"Ophis?"

A gentle voice, a maternal voice, a voice she had completely forgotten until now, with a tight heart, she turned towards the voice, and soon she saw a woman coming out of a room.

Long black hair, wearing an outfit that seemed like a mix of a short black Yukata and a dress, with her nine black tails swaying gently behind her, an appearance that greatly resembled her aunt Haruna, but at the same time very different from her; while her aunt Haruna had a more severe face, this woman, her mother Otsuki Hana, had a gentler face, and with that same gentle face, she was there looking at her with a slight curiosity shining in her eyes.

"Mother..." Ophis felt her little heart pounding, with various feelings trapped, she felt quite suffocated, she didn't know what to do or what words to say.

Hana's face frowned slightly when she saw her daughter's state; she approached Ophis and squatted down, at the same time, she took the Katana from her waist and placed it on the ground.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

Listening to this gentle tone and feeling her mother's touch on her small body, Ophis couldn't hold back anymore, and tears began to fall from her face.

Seeing her daughter react so intensely, something that was very unnatural, Hana did what any mother would do in her place; she hugged her daughter, and this hug only made Ophis cry even more.

Listening to whispers directed towards her, Hana looked to the side and saw Vlad's first, second, and third wives; Hana's eyes narrowed slightly, putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and seeing her daughter's state, it didn't take a genius to understand that her daughter's current state was because of these three women.

Hana's gentle face disappeared completely, and only a murderous expression was seen on her face.

A terrible Youki emanated from her body, a Youki that smelled of death and decay.

Even if the target of her intentions were older vampires, she didn't care; she had never been afraid of a fight, especially if it was to protect her daughter.

Gripping her Katana, the moonlight from Nightingale shone behind her, her Youki became even more potent and aggressive, and her 9 tails bristled completely.

"Leave... Leave before the little self-control I have in favor of Vlad wears off, and I erase your miserable existence for what you've done to my daughter."

The first wife was about to speak up to say they hadn't done anything, but you don't argue with an angry woman, especially a super protective mother.

When the sound of the sheath being opened was heard, the three women felt a chill run down their bodies; for a moment, they saw their bodies being torn into pieces, a damage their vampire bodies wouldn't be able to handle.

"L-Let's go..." The third wife spoke up.

"Y-Yes." The second one agreed.

Though displeased, the first wife simply nodded and backed away.

Meanwhile, Ophis didn't care about anything; she just hugged her mother even tighter