Chapter 1109: Empress Gains New Sisters for the Family |
"As intelligent women, I believe you should have an idea of why I called you here, correct?" The Empress smiled faintly at Albedo, Kali, Hela, and Dun Scaith.
Dun Scaith, Albedo, and Hela nodded their heads while Kali remained expressionless. Albedo and Dun Scaith visibly tried to speak, but nothing came out of their mouths.
"…??" Question marks appeared around the two women for a few seconds, but they soon understood that this was Violet's doing.
"…Oh, I'm sorry." The Crown on Violet's head began to grow in size a little and began to glow. The next moment, the women present here were allowed to speak.
"You may speak now." When the Goddess of Order spoke, the surroundings understood, and soon, the four women were allowed to speak.
The four women looked at The Empress with expressionless faces. They had been playing this game for too long to not understand why she'd done that. They weren't stupid, but it was worth noting that no matter how long they'd been playing this game, this intimidation tactic was still effective, especially when it came from a woman with The Empress's level of Power.
This intimidation game became even more effective due to the previous explosion of Power that surprised everyone present. Even Kali herself couldn't see the end of so much Energy. They didn't know exactly what had happened, but if their guesses were accurate, they bet that Victor had managed to 'advance' even further.
Which was a scary thought coming from a Being as powerful as him.
"For The Empress to get personally involved and call upon us for a conversation in her own Domain, I can only assume that you want to talk to us about the project we're participating in?" Albedo asked.
"There are many secrets of The Empire that you two still cannot access, secrets that no matter how many contracts you sign, it still wouldn't be enough... After all, these are secrets of The Imperial Family."
The Empress leaned back in her giant chair and looked at the four tiny women. She crossed her legs, and with a gesture of her hand, she showed a 10-second video of The Emperor unleashing all of his Power.
"That's one of the secrets."
"..." The four of them stared at the video with an intensity that grew stronger and stronger.
Kali, who had recently been in confrontation with The Emperor, swallowed hard. 'As expected, that wasn't The Emperor's entire strength, but The Empire's own. This man, just his existence alone, can carry the entire Empire on his back.'
"...Is that... Is the Emperor's Energy no longer visible? Has he gotten weaker...?" Hela hardly thought that was possible, so the only option left was the one they thought of before. "He's 'advanced', huh."
The Empress's smile confirmed Hela's words to the four women.
But they were wrong. The Empress's smile didn't grow because of that, her smile grew because Violet saw the report about Scathach and Victor's conversation in through the memory videos.
Instead of casually watching it like before, she prioritized efficiency and simply transferred the contents of the conversation to her brain, something that everyone could do with all reports but preferred not to, merely using their advanced brains to quickly see or read everything.
However, due to how busy Violet was right now, she just chose to transfer everything to her head, and that was a decision that made her smile widely.
'I can use this.' Violet thought as she saw the memories.
"There's an ancient story… A story from the beginning of The Universe, when the 'Painter' devised an art piece that would be his greatest masterpiece. He used a special type of 'paint', a 'paint' so special that only someone of his status could use it efficiently."
The violet Crown on The Empress's head began to spin slowly. Using Order as a conduit, she 'forced' the Energy without attributes to obey her.
Raising her finger, a colorless but still visible sphere appeared.
"..." Kali, Dun Scaith, Albedo, and Hela opened their eyes wide at this demonstration. Each for different reasons.
Kali, for simply understanding what it was instinctively. After all, she was just one step away from becoming a Primordial Being, a Being that administered The Universe.
Dun Scaith, for feeling the Runes on her dress acting strangely as if they suddenly gained more Power and at the same time stopped working.
Albedo felt the Divine Energy, and her Magic became much stronger than normal.
And Hela, for a reason similar to Kali's, but at the same time different. 'Is this The End? No... This is something above The End.'
Taking The Empress's analogy as a hint, Hela and Kali understood immediately. Who was the Painter of The Universe? What was the special Paint? This was what The Empress was showing them.
Suddenly, the two heard a voice in their heads. Just like Victor's Wives, who understood The Universe more than them, they had just risen in rank.
Then, the Power of Destruction and the Power of Death covered their respective hosts.
Violet smiled widely and undid her demonstration. 'The Energy conversion is simply terrible. Okay, I was using it the wrong way, but it's worse than I thought...'
That small sphere in Violet's hand was simply the most horrible way to form the Energy without attributes. She couldn't even increase the efficiency of her Powers that way. After all, you can't force an Energy of a Higher Order to submit, you can only direct it.
An explosion didn't occur because Violet understood this and just used the Power of Order to direct it toward the goal she wanted.
'It's okay, I wasn't aiming for efficiency. I just wanted to prove a point.' Violet thought to herself, feeling her Energy reserves being replenished with every breath she took.
Dun Scaith and Albedo looked at Kali and Hela with strange eyes. Why did they suddenly invoke their Powers? The two women weren't stupid, and reflecting on The Empress's words and the reaction of these two women who knew how things in The Universe worked better than them, they immediately understood.
In doing so, the Rune Master and the Magic Master looked at The Empress in shock.
'I love talking to intelligent people; you don't have to do much for them to come to their own conclusions.' Violet thought when she saw Albedo and Dun Scaith's gaze.
"I told you, right? There are many things you don't know. The Emperor, my Husband, Victor Elderblood, is a man beyond the ordinary, and even with all his immense Power, he still managed to progress even further." Honestly, even Violet herself was surprised by this, but not as much as these four women in front of her.
"..."
"He isn't the only one..." Violet thought of her many co-Wives. "My lovely Sisters, Masters of their respective crafts, each of them monsters in their own right,"
"Their most important discoveries will help The Empire progress, but... The most extraordinary discoveries will stay in the Family, and only in the Family."
Should Power be spread for greater efficiency? Yes! BUT in a controlled manner and only in the Family. This way, they avoided corruption and reaffirmed their Domains.
A strategy that only their Family could use. If it were any other Empire, such a strategy would not work because there would always be corruption, even in the Imperial Family.
But such a thing did not exist in this Empire. All high-ranking positions were occupied by The Emperor's Wives, and they all moved efficiently for The Empire's benefit.
"We have a saying in the Family that we have used since Victor created his Alucard Clan in the past: 'Family, above all else'."
"These words not only mean protecting each other, but in sharing our interests as well. The Family will help each other in any research and advancement our members undertake, so long as it does not harm our people and Family."
They had heard the word 'Family' so many times that they were almost brainwashed. At this point, they already understood what The Empress was proposing.
"Are you really proposing this to us... To me?" Kali spoke.
"We do not have eternal enemies, only possible future allies." Violet spat out nonsense with a convincing face. Anyone who had been with Victor for at least a year would understand that these words did not apply to Beings that pointed their weapons at his Family.
"...Not to mention that my Husband has some degree of respect for, and likes, everyone here." Violet decided to stroke the ego of these women for a few seconds, even though her words were not lies.
"Kali, he respects your strength and determination to become stronger. Even after being thrown into an environment outside of your normal bubble, you still managed to adapt and progressed even further."
"..." Kali opened her mouth in shock and then blushed slightly but did not look away from The Empress.
"Hela, he respects your intelligence, patience, and cunning, which led to the destruction of The Norse, a result created because an idiot [Odin] was responsible for the separation of your family and their suffering... Although he disapproved of your sacrifice since he had better means to end that war, he understands that desperate times call for desperate measures."
"..." Hela just nodded neutrally with her heart beating strongly... The last words impacted Hela a lot. With the mentality and knowledge she now had after living in Victor's Faction for a while, she understood the 'methods' he was talking about, and she could have waged that war much more efficiently if she'd been where she was now.
But that's how life was, you live, and you learn, so that, in the future, you won't make the same mistake again... At least, that only applies to smart people. Idiots insist on making the same mistakes over and over in a never ending cycle of insanity.
"Albedo and Dun Scaith, he respects you for your passion for your craft, even if he disapproves of the way one of you treats your family..." Violet's focus fell on the woman with a scary smile.
'Something that will need to be changed... Well, I'll leave that in Darling's hands.'
The Witch in question just smiled without regret.
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