Chapter 777: World Tree of Samar. 2
"Protection...?" Victor raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you want me to protect you from, Aurora?"
"The world is undergoing changes, Demon King," Aurora crossed her legs and adjusted her hair, tucking it behind her ear. "The invasion of your predecessor and his evolution into an existence that disrupts The Balance has proven this."
"The infliction placed upon Fenrir by a traitor also proved this."
"Things are happening on a large scale, and unfortunately, my planet does not have a very strong line of defense."
Victor narrowed his eyes as he heard her words and sensed her emotions. It was obvious that Aurora was hiding something. Were her reasons valid? Yes, they were. The last War of Genesis took place thousands of years ago, and history has shown that after that war, the entire Supernatural World entered a state of conflict for various reasons.
An example of this were the Greeks. Diablo's actions with the other Demon Kings completely destabilized the Greek Pantheon, and now they were in a civil war.
Victor didn't know the exact current state of the other Pantheons, but he knew that similar situations to the Greeks were occurring in the other Pantheons as well.
What Diablo achieved was a large-scale attack that disrupted the status quo of The Supernatural World. Mortals on planet Earth were the ones who felt these changes the most. More than half of the Beings across the globe were exterminated, not just Humans but also Supernatural Beings. Several countries disappeared from the map, along with many smaller Factions of Supernatural Beings.
The hatred that Beings had towards Demons was at its peak because of this. The reason why Victor was not 'completely' hated was that he was the man who stopped Diablo and maintained control over his Domain. Another reason was the work of his Wives with his Religion, along with his appearance, which also must be taken into account.
The last argument may seem completely stupid, but it was an absolute fact that people always judged someone based on their appearance and first impression.
Take this example: Would Humans be more afraid of Diablo, a giant demonic monster, or Victor, who had a human and beautiful appearance?
99% of people would be afraid of Diablo, even if Victor himself was more dangerous than him. They wouldn't think that way because he was 'beautiful.'
Because of this, the scariest monsters were not the obvious and frightening-looking ones but the beautiful monsters that hid behind a mask of normality.
"You're not telling me everything, Aurora." Victor's voice became stern. He was no longer in his 'casual' mode; he was now a King who would make a decision that would affect many Beings beneath him.
Roxanne got up from Victor's lap and stood beside him. She realized that it was not the time to be intimate with her Husband.
"The Werewolves are not weak. Existences like Maya, Tasha, Volk, and Hassan have proven that. They are Elites equivalent to The Ancient Vampire Counts. So why are you so concerned?"
No one present here missed the important choice of words Victor used, namely 'Ancient Vampire Counts.' It suggested that the current Vampire Counts were much stronger than the Ancient ones or even the previous versions of these same current Vampire Counts.
"Exactly, Demon King. The Werewolves are not weak compared to the Ancient 'Nightingale'."
"... Oh?"
"Although I like to live in seclusion, I still keep up with the most important news in the world through my sisters."
"Your sisters... The World Trees..." Victor narrowed his eyes even more, and a thought came to his mind. He vocalized these thoughts: "Did you make contact with The World Tree of Nightingale?"
"I didn't make contact with her; she made contact with me. My older sister loves to boast about having a Pantheon of Gods worshiping her. She spoke a lot about the overall state of Nightingale, and comparing the information she gave me with the information I've heard from the Werewolves, it is easy to see the visible increase in Power within the Faction of Noble Vampires."
If Victor was serious before, these words made him even more attentive to the conversation, and not just him, but Tasha, Volk, Maya, and Hassan as well.
The reason for this was that they had never heard Aurora talk about this. Although they didn't meet frequently, Aurora occasionally spoke with Tasha or Volk, and she never mentioned this information.
"You're not just The Leader of Biblical Hell, a Hell which has billions upon billions of Demons and Demonic Elites at your disposal. You are also one of the most important authority figures in The Vampire Faction and the 'God' of the second strongest Religion on Earth. Your influence is undeniable."
"And as if that weren't enough, you're even married to an adult World Tree and have a deep connection with a damn Dragon. Your eyes and distinct Draconic features, which only appear when a Knight and their Dragon have great mutual trust, confirm my words."
Victor truly underestimated how well-informed The World Tree in front of him was. He didn't expect her to have contact with other World Trees, especially Nightingale's World Tree, which, according to Aurora's words, was aligned with The Elder Gods.
"Yes, The Werewolf Faction is strong, but that's in comparison to the smaller Factions. When compared to the current Noble Vampires and the Pantheons of Gods, we are at the bottom, competing for last place with The Witch Faction, which is still isolated in Arcane."
"The status quo has been shattered, and due to Fenrir's situation, the Werewolves couldn't take advantage of it to gain more strength and influence. Therefore, we are at our weakest point. If a Pantheon of Gods were to attack us, even Fenrir alone wouldn't be able to defend us. He would kill many Gods, that much is a fact, but he can only do so much alone. In the time it takes for a group of strong Gods to deal with Fenrir, they can cause a lot of damage to the planet and the Werewolves."
Tasha and Volk were surprised by Aurora's perspective on the overall situation. It seemed they had greatly underestimated The World Tree. The problems she pointed out were some of the most urgent situations they currently faced and ones they would've addressed after solving Fenrir's debilitated state.
They simply couldn't divide their efforts. If Fenrir were to fall due to the Curse, they would be left extremely vulnerable. They needed Fenrir's existence because, without it, they were certain that other groups of Supernatural Beings would take advantage of the situation.
Especially the Celtic Gods, with whom they had a slight feud.
Although they were on another planet, quite literally with the support of The World Tree aiding the transition from one planet to another, they knew that unlike Nightingale, where there existed a Clan that could aid in transportation to immediately repel invaders, they did not have such a thing. Their response times were slower and relied heavily on Aurora and the scouts.
And in an invasion, the longer they took to react, the more damage would be caused. Yes, the Werewolves' situation was not great now. They had fallen far behind in the race for influence and power.
"You seem to have a good grasp of the current state of the world, Aurora."
"As I said, I may seclude myself, but that doesn't mean I'm blind or stupid. World Trees of Positivity frequently exchange conversations among themselves, and through them, I can have a broader understanding of what's happening."
"Which of your sisters are you in contact with now?" Victor asked curiously, not expecting an answer to that question, but to his surprise, she responded.
"Yggdrasil on Earth, my narcissistic sister in Nightingale, and four other World Trees from different planets that are distant from Earth's Supernatural Global Scene."
An instant understanding passed through Victor's mind as he heard Aurora's last sentence. It was an undeniable fact that there were other life-bearing planets throughout the Universe. It would be overly presumptuous of him to think that Earth was the center of everything. The examples of Nightingale and Samar, existing in entirely different solar systems from Earth, proved this.
Even the Ancestors of Werewolves and Noble Vampires came from other planets.
"I see... These four World Trees are a threat to you, huh?"
"... Not exactly... We sisters cannot engage in conflict with each other; our Father forbade such barbaric acts. But that doesn't mean the residents of our planets won't."
"Three of my sisters, with whom I am in contact, have civilizations of Supernatural Beings developed enough to invade another planet, and the state of those planets, to be more honest, is quite deplorable."
"A Dystopian Society, an Apocalyptic World, or lack of resources?" Victor quickly asked, his brain already capturing the most important details of the conversation and painting the picture of the future and possible solutions.
"A mixture of the first and third options. Unlike Earth, their planets are being ruled by a single individual who subjugated all Supernatural Beings, be they Gods or Mortals from their own planet."
"Emperors, huh."
"Yes."
"... Hmm~" Victor remained silent for several seconds. It was evident that he was pondering the matter, and due to his information processing capacity, he was already planning preventive measures for these Beings.
Victor closed his eyes and opened them shortly after, saying, "Now I understand the situation."
Aurora remained silent.
"You're afraid because you know that in the not-so-
distant future, these Beings may appear at your doorstep and destroy everything. You judged that the Werewolves were not strong enough to deal with them and sought an alliance with me. That's why you deliberately appeared before me."
"Yes, you summed it up very well; that's basically it."
"... Is it okay to be so honest with me?" Victor asked curiously. He noticed that throughout the conversation, she had always been honest with him.
"I'm not very good at negotiation, but I'm good at judging character. Us World Trees of Positivity can sense positive sensations in a Being, such as love, kindness, trust, and so on."
'Basically the opposite of Negative Trees,' Victor thought.
"I also observed your behavior since the day you arrived in Samar."
Victor narrowed his eyes. "How?"
"I am connected to this planet, Demon King. I can be anywhere and nowhere, like a semi-omnipresence that only applies within my sphere of influence. I am Nature, I am the water, I am the earth. That's how my sisters and I observe the entire planet to which we are connected."
Victor didn't know how to respond to that. How do you perceive someone observing you when that person is Nature itself? It was impossible. After all, it would be like trying to stay on guard against every leaf or blade of grass on the planet.
But Victor thought that as the holder of a World Tree, Roxanne would sense the presence of one of her sisters.
Reading Victor's thoughts, Roxanne spoke.
[Darling, I can only sense her as long as she's near us using her avatar.]
[Unlike her, I am connected to you, and although your senses are ridiculous by the standards of a Being with a physical body, they are still inferior to an entire planet. She can literally observe you from the stratosphere or the depths of the planet, and I wouldn't feel a thing.]
[And don't get me wrong, when I say 'observe,' it doesn't mean she's only using advanced visual observation. She uses all possible senses.]
[She can even see through the eyes of her contractors. Remember the tattoo that the Werewolves have when they activate the portal?]
[Yes, I remember.]
[At first, I didn't suspect anything, but after this conversation, I realized that through those tattoos, she can observe you through the eyes of those Werewolves, and I won't feel a thing because she's not 'present,' but in another place.]
[I understand. It's basically something very similar to what we used to do in the past, right?] Victor said.
[Yes.]
How do you deal with a perverted World Tree that can observe you from anywhere on the planet? You didn't. Even if you isolated an area, The World Tree could still see because you were still on her planet.
The only way to prevent that was to be close to a World Tree, like Roxanne and Victor.
"... I see... So you observed everything?" Victor asked, with a small smile on his face.
A healthy blush appeared on Aurora's cheeks, and she averted her gaze from Victor, speaking with a confident yet slightly timid voice:
"Can we go back to the main subject, please?"
"Of course."
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