Chapter 643: A different perspective.
Chapter 643: A different perspective.
"Funny. You're calling me a genius and ignoring everything else like it's a simple thing."
"... What do you mean?" Adam narrowed his eyes.
"What I mean is that no matter how talented you are, if you don't strive to improve, you'll never amount to anything."
"… Huh?" Adam didn't understand.
Victor restrained the urge to sigh and decided to set an example, "Take you two as an example."
"You are children of Vlad, a Progenitor. Just by being born from the direct Lineage of a Progenitor, you are already superior to common Vampire Nobles."
The three flinched visibly.
Victor continued looking at Adam, "Not to mention that your mother is the Saint of Orleans, someone personally recognized by The Heavenly Father, a God of Creation on the same level or even greater than a God-King."
He then looked at Lilith, who swallowed hard at Victor's stern gaze:
"As for you, your mother was once the Strongest Demon General that the very Mother of Demons, Lilith, recognized."
"You have the best Bloodlines available and a background that allows you to get strong easily. With just a request to Vlad, I'm sure he'd help with anything to make his children stronger."
"… But even with all this in the palm of your hand, you are still weak… You are a great disappointment."
"....."
"Violet, Sasha, and Ruby, who are of the same generation as Elizabeth, are stronger than the two of you by a massive margin. Even though they are considered Baby Vampires, they are as strong as an Elder Vampire."
Victor was perhaps being unfair to Lilith and Adam. After all, Violet, Sasha, and Ruby had the support of his blood, so their training gave more results. Victor knew this. But the facts still remained unchanged.
Violet, Sasha, and Ruby tried harder; Victor gave them the opportunity, and they took it, trained harder to Master their Powers, and consequently became stronger.
If Victor didn't exist, such an outcome would probably be impossible for the three girls in such a short time. Maybe only Ruby would be stronger than Adam and Lilith. After all, she had Scathach to direct her path, but such a thing was difficult to say, considering that the girl preferred to be more of a scientist and an intellectual than a warrior like her mother.
But it was no use talking about a 'what if' situation; the current reality would not change with these thoughts.
Just like Ruby, Violet, and Sasha have had Victor to lean on and aid them in gaining strength,
Adam and Lilith have always had Vlad, and they never took advantage of that boon.
Maybe out of fear of Vlad himself.
Maybe because of their incompetence…
Perhaps due to other factors that Victor was unaware of.
"Talent, you have. Genius, you may be... But everything else is a disaster."
"You lack discipline; you lack commitment; you lack suffering."
"Ever since I became a Vampire, I have spent more time training than doing anything else. Whenever I can, I train and look for ways to make myself stronger."
"Yes, I'm a genius, and yes, I'm a Progenitor too, but summing up all my strength in just these two criteria is an insult to all the effort I've put into myself since the beginning."
"Efforts that you didn't put into yourself."
"Tsk, talk is easy. Lecturing us on how superior you are is easy when you have the talent of a Progenitor and the luck of a devil. We all know that as a Progenitor, everything comes easy to you, and we all know why. And because of your luck, you found several extra factors that added to your strength; even Scathach's training helped you immensely."
"You trained with Scathach too," Victor spoke in disdain and added with a blood-red gaze that seemed to pierce both of their Souls:
"And what did you do? What did you do, Adam?"
"....."
"Let me guess; you ran away when training was 'over' because it was too 'hard'."
Adam and Lilith shuddered as flashbacks of Scathach's training came to their minds.
"Let me clear up your misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?" Lilith asked, confused.
"The training you had with Scathach was not real training. It was just a test for her to know whether you were worthy of being taught by her or not. If you passed, she would've taught you to the best of her ability, but if you failed, she would just say that her training is over."
"... Huh? Does that mean…" Adam shuddered.
"Correct. The suffering you had was just the tip of the iceberg. Scathach's true training is 1000x worse than what you, or any disciple she deemed unfit, endured."
The two swallowed hard.
'... He's kidding, right? There's no way that training could be any worse.'
"I was tortured to get my Vampire Regeneration to where it is today. I had my body utterly eviscerated several times so that the 'Basics' of the Martial Arts that Scathach created would come naturally to me. She attacked me with a Vampire's weaknesses so that I would gain resistance to them."
"I once asked for a count of how many of my internal organs were removed from my body, a training she called 'learning' from pain."
"A training that makes you endure pain like a warrior."
"It's no exaggeration to say that during every training session I had with Scathach, I've died multiple times because if it weren't for Vampire Regeneration, that's what would have happened to me."
"....." Adam, Tatsuya, Lilith, Elizabeth, and Yuki looked at Victor in horror.
'That is much worse... much worse than I've experienced.' Lilith and Adam thought.
'He went through all that... No wonder he's strong... Perhaps, I should ask for Scathach's teachings too? With that, maybe I can get even closer to his strength.' Tatsuya thought with realization.
Had Victor heard Tatsuya's thoughts, he would have given the man a proud look; few beings would seek Scathach's training after hearing what they had heard just now.
'Master went through all that... No wonder he's so strong.' Yuki thought with a twinkle in her eyes, as admiration bordering on devotion was seen in Maid's eyes.
"..." Victor's Maids, who saw Yuki's gaze, looked at each other and nodded. With that gesture, a rapid conversation took place between them.
A conversation that only the Maids understood because they were very close to each other.
"No pain, no gain. You have to suffer if you want to get stronger, and through physical suffering, I did. And I overcame it. It is why I voluntarily chase after Scathach to train with her."
Everyone shuddered when they heard this.
"… You are insane and crazy," Adam muttered in disbelief.
"Wrong, I am strong." Victor countered.
"I stood up like a man and faced difficulties I had never experienced before in order to become stronger. I voluntarily jumped into the abyss, even though I knew that this act could break my spirit. I did it by force because I knew that in this world, only those with the strongest fist are right; this act is called determination! It's attitude and determination that makes you stronger."
"It is this desire that separates exceptional men and women from the ordinary and mediocre."
"Talent and potential are important, but if you have a weak mind, if you shy away from challenges, no matter how much potential you have, in the end, it will be useless."
"...." A hush fell over Vlad's children as everyone thought deeply about Victor's words.
A few seconds passed, and when he realized that his words had actually reached them, Victor's eyes softened a little:
"Unlike you, when I started training, I had only recently been an ordinary Human. I was thrown into this world suddenly, and I had little time to adapt, but even so, I didn't run away from my reality. Instead, I walked with my head held high and took Scathach's training head-on, training that even 'proud' Noble Vampires shy away from in fear."
"…Now, that same woman who trained me will be my Wife in the future."
"… What…?" Everyone was taken aback by this abrupt change in the topic of conversation.
Victor smiled broadly, "I earned her trust with my persistence, her admiration with my desire to get stronger, and her desire when she saw me getting stronger. She's mine. And when I defeat her, she will be completely mine, body and Soul, forever and ever."
"....." Adam, Lilith, Elizabeth, Yuki, and Tatsuya flinched at Victor's expression.
Although he was smiling widely, his eyes were empty, like a black hole that sucked in everything and left nothing behind.
That sight was…disconcerting.
"Father..." Ophis called out to him as she tugged at his shirt.
"... Oh...? I'm sorry, Daughter." Victor smiled gently. His expression changed as if what he'd displayed was nothing more than a passing mirage.
"Mm." Ophis just hugged his neck tighter.
Nero hugged Victor tighter. She had been watching Victor's whole 'speech' with admiration, and her eyes lit up even more when they saw his blank look.
With her face hidden in Victor's belly, Nero's smile grew much like Victor's, and her eyes flickered between lifeless voids and the sparkle of life.
There was a saying: Be careful what you show your child. After all, one day, they will follow your example.
Without even knowing it or being aware of it, Victor's little speech, which was supposed to be a lesson for Vlad's children, greatly influenced Nero and Ophis.
Victor smiled gently and stroked the head of Ophis and Nero, who was hugging his belly.
"Anyway, what is your Power, Adam?"
"..." Adam awoke from his stupor and looked at Victor with a bit of admiration on his face.
'Now, I understand why my mother is so fond of him...' The man who could smile while walking on a thorny path was a man who could be admired.
"I inherited the same Power as my mother… At least partially."
Adam raised his hand, and a sphere of air began to form above it.
"I can control the wind, whereas my mother can create and control it."
"... Wind, huh... That's a lot like her." Victor laughed as he thought about the characteristics that the Wind had.
"What do you mean?"
"Your mother is a free Spirit; that's what I meant." Victor smiled.
It was a Power very similar to her personality. Although she didn't need to, Jeanne took on a responsibility that wasn't hers just because she wanted to; even if she didn't need to, she traveled to many places and helped those in need.
Many might mistake her for a responsible woman, but she just did what she wanted in a very Victor-like way.
'I guess she didn't need to use that Power too much because the Power she has is already much stronger than that, huh...' Victor thought.
Assuming the tone of a teacher, Victor spoke, "The Power of a Bloodline can be trained." He lifted his finger up, and a Fireball appeared:
"The Ancient Houses of Vampire Nobles proved that fact long ago."
"Take the Snow Clan Bloodline, for example. In the past, it was just a weak Bloodline of Immunity to Sunlight and minor Control of Fire. Although Sunlight Immunity is something significant for a Noble Vampire, without Power, that Bloodline wasn't worth much... However, Violet's great-great-grandfather, the First Leader and Creator of the Snow Clan, took that Power to a new level."
"A new level that was passed down through the next generations of the Snow Clan, and through that repetition, the Bloodline reached the Power we all know today..." The heat in Victor's fireball began to rise, maintaining the same heat everyone who had faced Agnes knew very well.
"But that is not all."
"Daughters, please."
"Mm." Ophis just nodded and jumped to the ground.
"Yes, Father." Nero backed away from Victor.
"..." The group closely watched Victor's actions; he was obviously trying to teach them something, and no one here would miss that. Victor was known as the greatest monster that ever existed in the Vampire Noble Race, and this exaggerated Title was not without foundation.
"Power is important. Without it, creating this fireball would be impossible, but... When a Bloodline develops to the known limit, power will no longer be the key factor."
"What truly makes a difference is…" Then, the fireball began to rotate horizontally slowly, and little by little, the color of the fireball started to change.
It went from a red-orange to a bluish-orange, then to full blue, and finally, a white flame.
"..." Everyone started to sweat from the unbearable heat in that white fireball.
"Control."
.....