Several Weeks Later, The Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon, Mount Kailash
Several weeks have passed since Valiana reached the Level 4 Ultimate-Class and underwent the Draconification Process, and from then on, she was training like hell to adjust to her new power.
She was fairly powerful after the Draconification; she awoke the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light and the Sacred Gear Canceller. Aside from training in her new Draconic Abilities, she needed to train the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light and the Sacred Gear Canceller.
The Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light was shortly said, an overpowered Clan Trait of the Lucifer House. Even though it was apparently weaker than the original Let There Be Light of the Helel.
From there on, they were training together every single day, because Valiana insisted on sparring every single day so she could properly control her power. On top of that, she also had lessons with Yhwach's mother about light shaping.
His mother, Tashamal, the Seraphim of Doom and Damnation, was one of the best teachers of the art of shaping light. Ironically, though, Valiana was having a rather hard time in this aspect due to the dominant nature of the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light, the young Devil Dragoness was struggling a bit.
And that was nothing said about the Sacred Gear Canceller, which she didn't really have any opportunity to train at all, because there were no Sacred Gears in the Hindu Patheon. Not to mention, the Sacred Gear Cancller actually required a tremendous amount of Magic to use properly.
So, for the time being, Valiana was learning under Albion to handle her Draconic Abilities and under his mother to handle the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light. Even though it was fundamentally different compared to the start of the Light of the Pure Angels and the Fallen Angels, it was nevertheless the Light.
Not to mention, the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light was actually very similar in its nature to Tashamal's very own mutated Light. The title "Seraphim of Doom and Damnation" wasn't just due to her rather bloodthirsty nature, but also due to her mutated light that had these properties.
Contrary to the Light of the other Pure Angels, his mother's was far more overbearing, aggressive, and destructive in nature. Thus, his mother was far more powerful in terms of destructive prowess than anyone at the same Level.
It was really unknown if Lucifer was actually inspired by his sister's Light when he was creating the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light or not, but one thing was clear: the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light was very close to the Tashamal's Light in nature.
Still, even though Valiana was struggling a bit, she was making tremendous progress through the sheer determination and willpower that she was investing in the training. And technically speaking, the unlimited support of the Hindu Pantheon that was supplying her Elixirs, Potions, and Pills for the training.
That was something that increased the efficiency of Valiana's training by leaps and bounds while, at the same time allowing her to train far more than usual. This was rather a costly endeavor that not many could afford, and the actual number of factions in the Draconic Deus that could do something like this could be counted on one hand.
As he was training with the Holy Light Manipulation, he soon enough heard the voice of the Great Sage in his mind, who announced that he had reached the new rank of mastery in the Holy Light Manipulation.
Obviously, as his mother was teaching Valiana to properly shape and manipulate the Light so she could use the Demonic Brilliance of the Evil Light.
Due to this, he joined her classes on Light Manipulation, and he found out that he had a lot to learn...
This was most obvious because even though he was a genius in terms of innate talent and also had something like the Unique Skill Great Sage, there was still a huge, wide gap between him and his mother.
Tashamal, the Seraphim of Doom and Damnation, was a few thousand years old.
She had many millennia of experiences of the Holy Light Manipulation and so on, that was something that couldn't be made up for with just talent and hard work, but he understood that even with his disposition, it would take him centuries to reach his mother's level of skill when it came to the Holy Light Manipulation.
Not like he cared about that because he was rather patient. Yhwach knew that this was real life and not an anime or a fictional story. There were no stupid power-ups out of nowhere or situations when someone trained for a week and achieved mastery over a skill comparable to someone who trained for many centuries.
No...
Things like this couldn't be skipped, and he would need to work very hard to achieve that level, but he could bide his time on that one. Yhwach was a patient man, and he was content with waiting if there was no other choice; he understood that rushing some things may lead to catastrophic results.
"This would end today's lessons on the light shaping."
Hearing that, Yhwach really found it similar to being in school, though not like many of the Supernatural Factions had educational institutions. They were pretty rare, as everything that was being taught was done in a rather old-fashioned way.
Either personally or through apprenticeships and similar methods.
It was highly inefficient in Yhwach's point, but there was no reason to complain about it right now. In the future, he plans to propose an institutionalized education system that would be easy to implement for his father.
In this way, the Hindu Pantheon would be able to cultivate more powerhouses.
With the coalition being formed among the Hindu Pantheon, Nordic Pantheon, and Celestial Court, they could even create an academy where things from all three factions could be taught, which would increase its reach and also create even better experts in many fields.
The fact that the three strongest Pantheons were working side by side was spooking the other factions too much, one could say. Even on an individual basis, all three of them were a pain in the ass to deal with because every single one was extremely powerful, be it in the aspect of powerhouses or the numbers.
This was especially true for the Hindu Pantheon and Celestial Court, which had the highest number among all of the Pantheons, together with the Shinto Pantheon. Even though the Nordic Pantheon wasn't known for its very high numbers, it was known for its especially high-quality soldiers because of the war-like nature of the Aesir and Vanir, who were creating the basis of the Nordic Pantheon.
This put them in a very particular position of power, and now, three of these factions were working together side by side in some form of alliance.
"So what are you two going to do?"
When he saw his mother with that typical mischievous smile, Yhwach really dreaded her next words. Even though his mother was rather battle-maniac and did not have the best reputation around, and was regarded as one of the warmongers on the level of Kokabiel in the supernatural world, she was as mischievous as Yako.
She really liked to tease people about practically everything that came up.
And especially since she found out that he and Valiana were together-together, she was enjoying every single moment of annoying him about it. Mostly because, in this way, she would typically get some interesting reaction from them.
She liked how her son wasn't really immune to the emotional damage, and Valiana was actually pretty flustered every single time, despite the rough tomboy look that she was putting out for the people to see.
"Training as usual."
His answer was short as it was cold, not really going to give in to any of her manipulations.
Yhwach always prided himself as the paragon of logic and reason; he didn't really like it when he was controlled by his emotions, as he preferred to use his head. His mother often told him that this was his greatest weakness.
A flaw, to be exact.
He knew that he wasn't perfect because nobody and nothing was really perfect, as perfection was a sign of imperfection as well. Being perfect meant that there was no possibility of getting better, and that itself was a flaw.
Still, this was flaw that he learned to live with, he guessed that it was something that came with him from his old life. He was a private person who valued his own privacy, and his feelings and emotions that belonged behind closed doors were known only to himself.
He understood that his mother was also doing this for another reason: because she wanted to be sure that he was at least resistant to the emotional manipulation, which could be a very dangerous thing during the fight.
Tashamal knew that people like her son, who were governed by their own sets of rules and logic, were very hard to manipulate or provoke. That was a fact set in stone, and it was considered a huge advantage.
Yet, at the same time, they were also prone to great falls when they were successfully hit with such a strategy, and it worked. Then, the consequences were very severe. Many people like that, when they lost total control, went berserk, and it was extremely hard to stop them or to safely contain them without crippling injuries or death.
"If you are going to have sex, then you should take a fertility potion to guarantee your procreation of the progeny."
With that being said, his mother happily strode out of the room where they were having their lesson on the Light Manipulation as Valiana was looking down as she blushed deeply while Yhwach's eyebrows twitched a little, hearing what she said.
'Annoying woman... should the parents tell their children to cast a protection spell or something. But I guess that different culture has a lot to say.'
Yhwach thought as he went to Valiana, who was still looking down at her legs while she played a bit with her hair, clearly pretty flustered by what his mother said. Both of them knew that she did actually mean it.
Nobody could deny that both of them were perfect genetic material to create a progeny that would inherit their best traits, while, at the same time, definitively tying Valiana Lucifer to the Hindu Pantheon as one of the true core members because she married the heir of the Pantheon.
From the political and practical viewpoint, it would be best if the two of them had a child, and that was something that was acknowledged by many of the Pantheon's higher-ups as a fact.
Even though Valiana was a member of the Hindu Pantheon, several of the old-fashioned elders wanted her to marry Yhwach as that would signal the proper union between them.
Valiana's background wasn't really winning her the favors among the traditionalists because nobody liked anything that came from the Biblical Pantheon at all. Most of them despised Yahweh and all of his creations.
Especially the Devils.
"Come on, we need to talk about something."
Yhwach said as Valiana went slowly after him to find some secluded place to talk.
Their relationship was rather peculiar in the eyes of many because even though they were together, they never really showed any affection of his kind for each other in public.
Valiana was actually rather shy about this, which was really surprising to find out, and it was something that Albion greatly enjoyed teasing her about. Despite the rough exterior, she was really a sweetheart inside and felt shy more often than one would think.
Yhwach, meanwhile, didn't like doing these things in public for principle. He preferred doing these kinds of things without the public's eyes and attention; he was never a fan of showing affection in public, as he always found it uncomfortable with the idea.
Right now, because both of them have already reached Level 4, it would be possible for them to leave the safety of the Hindu Pantheon and venture into the outside world for some adventure.
He knew that it was more of Valiana's thing than his own, but on the other hand, he wanted to obtain some rather valuable resources and make money. Even though he was heir to one of the richest factions in the world already, his need for more money never went to anywhere.
In fact, over time, it grew stronger than one could imagine.
His parents told him that he was greedier than a goblin.
He took it as a compliment.
"So, can we finish this as soon as possible so we can proceed to the training? I have some new ideas for the usage of the Demonic Brilliance of Evil Light today."
Valiana was already getting impatient because she had some new things that she wanted to try, and Yhwach was the practice dummy. It was always like that, as they were spending most of their free time together when he was not doing his research.
"You are annoying as hell, you know that?"
Yhwach asked because sometimes he swore that the only thing that she was thinking about was training, fighting, and once again training and fighting. Valiana was a typical battle maniac who knew only fight and fight.
Not like she wanted to do anything else.
"You are still stuck with me. So what was so important that I needed to postpone training?"
She could be really annoying when she wanted to be, as his eyebrows twitched a little in annoyance, but he decided to be silent and not give in to her provocations because that was exactly what she wanted.
It seemed that the longer Valiana spent with his mother, the more bad habits she took from her, and this teasing one was probably the most annoying one. It was already annoying, but the more time she spent with Tashamal, the worse it became because Yhwach knew that his mother always wanted to have a daughter after him.
Unfortunately, fertility for beings like his parents was always a huge problem, and the stronger one was, the harder it became to procreate a new generation. This wasn't something exclusive just to his parents, but to everyone in the Draconic Deus who achieved a certain degree of power.
For that reason, for his mother, Valiana was like a daughter, not to mention that she was taking care of her for the last several years. During the past several years, they actually developed a very strong bond with one another, and Yhwach knew that Valiana considered Tashamal as her mother in some sense.
"Now that both of us have reached Level 4, we can leave the Hindu Pantheon's Divine Realm to wander around the Draconic Deus. There are many places across the Draconic Deus that would be very interesting to visit and that could become a profitable venture. And most obviously, at the same time, satisfy your fighting urge for the powerful enemies."
Draconic Deus was tremendously huge. Earth was just a small drop in the entire size of the Draconic Deus, and there were countless Dimensions, Divine Realm, and Pocket Worlds adjusted to the Earth, which was acting as the main anchor for the entire Draconic Deus Dimension.
Even the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon was ridiculously huge, and it was no smaller than the entire continent of Eurasia, and it was still growing. The size of the Divine Realm of any Pantheon depended on the strength of the Pantheon and the amount of Faith that the Divine Realm has absorbed and assimilated.
Even he himself didn't explore most of the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon and typically remained in Mount Kailash, which was the home of his parents or went to the Mountains that served as the homes of other Gods.
Or if he had time, he would bother Karna and Arjuna. Both of them were prominent younger Gods of the Hindu Pantheon, and they were something akin to friends. Together, they were called the Golden Trio of the Hindu Pantheon due to the sheer potential and power that they have achieved at a young age.
Though compared to Yhwach, Karna and Arjuna achieved the Level 4 Minor God a long time ago, many decades, and they were right now standing at the peak of Level 4 and were just shy step from ascending to the Lesser God at the Divine Rank 6.
"When are we starting?"
He observed Valiana's shift in temperament in real-time as she was now overly eager and full of energy, like a golden retriever when she heard that they were going to adventure around.
Valiana couldn't wait to venture out of the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon and fight some powerful foes. Though she could do the same thing in the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon, but that was very dangerous for many reasons.
The main one being was the fact that the conditions of the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon were so good for the Magical Beasts that the beasts living in the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon. Thus, they were extremely powerful, and the environment was highly hazardous.
"We need more members for that, actually. With just two of us, it would be stupid to do anything because although we are very powerful, considering that we are just at Level 4, we could still be easily brought down low by the shell numbers."
Yhwach stated that as he rubbed his forehead, it was becoming rather annoying. Sometimes, he needed to reign Valiana in because she was too hasty and too eager for the things that she was interested in, which could be easily exploited.
"Ts... who are you thinking about? Hopefully not that annoying monkey... he is driving me crazy with his constant pranks already."
Valiana grumbled a bit because every single time they were training with Bikou, the young Monkey Yokai would probably be pranking Valiana too much. Especially because she had the best reaction to his pranks, as she would always explode like a volcano.
"Actually, yes. Despite everything, he is a very talented and powerful warrior with unmatched talent in Senjutsu, Yoki, and Touki, and with his mutated Ki, he is at least several times more powerful than any other master of the same raw power. Aside from him, I am also considering inviting both Karna and Arjuna."
Karna, the Son of the Sun God Surya, is recorded as the invulnerable hero of the Indian epic Mahabharata, as a hero on the vanquished side. He was an extremely talented and powerful spearman and could manipulate the Sun Divinity like his father, which gave him very high offensive prowess.
And then there was Arnjuna, Karna's half-brother and son of Indra. Contrary to Karna, who was focusing more on close combat, Arjuna was a master of the bow and inherited his father's affinity for the Lightning and Storms, which were his primary Divinities.
Both of them were also bitter rivals.
"That seems like a good setup. With the four Level 4 individuals, we would already be one of the top-notch mercenary groups in the entire Draconic Deus, without even considering the fact that all of us are Gods, though there is that monkey..."
Valiana still bore a grudge after Bikou spiked her drinks with laxatives or when he changed her drinks for alcohol, and this was just the start of the pranks that he was doing. The aftermath was ultimately the same: Valiana would become enraged and chase Bikou all around the place, with the Monkey Yokai always escaping her.
Which only infuriated her even further.
He knew that especially the thing with the laxatives made her skin him alive for the humiliation that he caused her. For the members of the Clan Lucifer, their Devil Sin of the Seven Deadly Sins was the Sin of Pride. Dragons were inherently proud creatures, and Valiana was a combination of both of them.
So she wasn't taking very well the pranks of the mischievous Monkey Yokai.
But even he couldn't deny his talents and abilities that were indeed top-notch, and she knew that he would be very beneficial to their company.
"I shall then contact Arjuna and Karna about this. I am sure that the two of them would go with it, and Bikou is practically for anything that would result in chaos and destruction."
Yhwach said that he would need to get the things together, and everything rested on him for now, as Valiana wasn't a planner or commander, and organizing things like this wasn't anything for her.
She would most gladly leave this job for Yhwach.
Valiana even looked at Yhwach with high expectations, as she had already decided that it was a finished thing. She gave him a kiss on his lips as she giggled happily that they were finally going out.
"When will it be done?"
As they separated, she asked with a delighted voice, as she was finally getting what she had wanted for a long time.
"Give me a few days. I will need to discuss this with the father and mother. You know that this could be pretty problematic if we just venture out without any preparations. You know that the Old Satan Faction is still after you and that, due to the recent moves of the Alliance, there are many who are targeting us."
Yhwach knew that it would take some time to prepare the things, because it wasn't as easy as Valiana was thinking. Due to the possible dangers, he would need to discuss everything with his father and mother.
Then, there was also the need to prepare some backup plans if they were ambushed by some very powerful beings for whatever reason, which could easily happen.
It was naive to think that Rizevim Livan Lucifer or Euclid Lucifuge wouldn't appear before them. They needed to be prepared for all of these eventualities and also to counter them if needed.
And this was just a start.
There were many still many things that he would need to do, while Valiana would be happily training while he was doing the menial work. It was indeed going to be a lot of menial work, but somebody would need to do it in the end.
"You know it's not nice to drop so much work on me..."
Yhwach stated that it was rather typical of her to drop most of the work on him, though she just smiled at him as she proceeded to kiss him once more. Right now, as they were alone, it seemed like Valiana had undergone a complete transformation, and she had turned from a shy girl into a passionate woman.
And now, as they were alone, he didn't have many problems showing their mutual affection for each other. It was rather surprising that when Valiana wanted, she was rather passionate, and she was very clear about claiming what she considered hers.
This was something like her newfound dragon thing because she often had a rather strong need to mark her territory, so all other females within the Hindu Pantheon who were interested in her mate saw that.
Not to mention, Valiana wasn't shy from solving the problems with her fists as well, if it came to that. Dragons were especially territorial when they claimed something, and they could get pretty aggressive when someone wanted to take what they considered theirs.
And Valiana was no different from this behavior.
The young Devil Dragoness was no different in this aspect, and Yhwach wanted to say that she was going the extra mile because since they got together together, she got especially aggressive towards some females who wanted to catch his attention.
***
Next Day, Mount Kailash, Shiva's Abode
On the next day, Yhwach waited until his father was free and wasn't doing anything as he went to talk with him about the things that he had decided on with Valiana. Another reason why he went too easily with the establishment of this mercenary character was that they could use it to propel the agenda of the Alliance.
Alliance.
It was a name for the alliance between the Hindu Pantheon, Nordic Patheon, and Celestial Court.
With several prominent individuals from the younger generation of the Hindu Pantheon and Celestial Court, together with the current White Dragon Empress who was part of the Hindu Pantheon, acting as the mercenaries in the Draconic Dues, it would increase the prestige of the Alliance.
At the same time, they would be able to create new relationships, gather information, talents, and many other things. There were actually several rather strong benefits for the entire endeavor, and in the end, it garnered some degree of support from the elders of the Hindu Pantheon as well.
His father was actually a very diligent God-King, which was something that couldn't be said about the rest of the God-Kings in different Pantheons. Though the Hindu Pantheon was now ruled by the Divine Council that consisted of the Trimurti and Indra and they were managing the matters of the entire Pantheon together for the more efficient ruling and management.
This was contrary to the management of the Greek Pantheon by Zeus, and Amaterasu and her brothers also were not really the best rulers around as they tended to ignore most of their problems until they became very serious and required their immediate attention.
"Father, I have something that I wish to talk about with you."
Yhwach arrived at his office within the Abode, which had a beautiful view of the entire environment around Mount Kailash. Even though he was living here for the past fifteen years, he still marveled at the sight before his eyes.
Not to mention, it was a constant reminder of the high fantasy world in which he was living.
"Wait for a few moments. Today, there was rather a busy day."
Hearing what his father said as he was finishing some paperwork, Yhwach nodded and continued observing the panorama of the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon and waited until his father was done with the paperwork.
"Now, what do you want to talk about?"
Shiva finished the paperwork he was doing, he looked at his son who came to see him, which was rather unusual at this hour. Normally speaking, he knew that his son was cooped up in his laboratory and doing his research on the Magic or training with Valiana when the young Devil Dragoness brought him out to the training yard.
"Well, now that both I and Valiana have reached Level 4, we have decided that we want to venture into the wider Draconic Deus. For that purpose, we talked about establishing the Mercenary Company. It would allow us to travel, gather resources, recruit talented people, and also increase the prestige of the Alliance. We talked about inviting Bikou, Arjuna, and Karna to the group and travel together."
Yhwach explained his thoughts and the things that he talked about with Valiana as Shiva gave it serious thought for the time being. Indeed, there were many benefits to that, and he knew that Valiana was too impatient, as she was very adventurous.
He knew from his wife that Valiana was already bugging Tashamal to allow them to leave the Divine Realm of the Hindu Pantheon. And the fact that through this, they would be able to spread the influence of the Hindu Pantheon and The Alliance, as it was called, was another added bonus.
"Hmm... that could be doable... though we need to ensure your safety if you are ambushed by someone at Level 7 or Level 8. And there is also the requirement to constantly monitor your movements due to your importance to the Hindu Pantheon."
In the end, Shiva decided to give his son's proposal a green light because it seemed to have a lot of benefits, and they could make use of it. In fact, there were not many people who were acting as mercenaries across the Draconic Deus who were at Level 3 and above.
Most of the mercenaries were either at Level 1 or Level 2; seeing someone very powerful becoming a mercenary in the Draconic Deus was a very rare thing, truth to be told. And being able to recruit undiscovered talents for the Hindu Pantheon was another added benefit.
Since the establishment of the Alliance, the three factions that were creating the military pact were investing a lot of resources into the cultivation of the new generation of powerhouses and also recruiting talented people, especially from the ranks of humanity.
"I was already thinking about this, and I am taking Vritra with me. It doesn't really matter where that lazy dragon is sleeping, and we would be armed with the Runic Devices that would be transmitting real-time information about our location and life signs. With each transmitter would also be increased with the emergency rune that allowed one to do an instant teleportation that would transport the user to the Hindu Divine Realm."
This was something that Yhwach had created for this specific purpose, and with the Runes being powered up by the Divine Energy that was coming directly from the Divine Realm of the Hindu Realm, according to his predictions, intervening in the teleportation or attempting to contain it was mission impossible.
Only extremely powerful Magicians at the Level 8 and with very high proficiency in the Space Magic would be able to stop the emergency teleportation Runes that he had inscribed onto the devices with some of the Hindu Magicians and Gods.
So he wasn't really fearing the ambushes or anything, as he had his own trump cards, because this was something that he was working on for a few years.