With the spear of destruction in one hand and the star of murder in the other, Arad smiled. It felt a bit weird, but right as well. Kali had turned into a bright golden spear of pure destruction and ruin, eradicating anything it touches into smithereens. Eris had also become a burning star in his hand, one that brings ruin and death upon anyone she touches.

He held the power of two goddesses in his hands, and with them, he was able to do so much that even he was scared of himself. The fact that with one stab, this spear could crack the universe’s crust, and the fact that the sun in his left hand weighed more than the mortal world, was appalling.

He let go of the weapons, and they shifted back to their humanoid forms. "Well, let’s leave the fight for later." He smiled. "We can’t just pull something like this now; it is better to keep it as a surprise attack for when the abominations expect it the least."

Kali leaned on his shoulder, "Well, I’ll make sure to call you when a dispatch mission is available." She then looked at Eris, "So, he was just training to fight you. What were you doing?"

"Cremating the dead, setting funerals, and making sure everyone who died in Cain’s attack are resting in peace." She threw a glance at Arad, "He is the only one who has more than one body to work with."

Arad scratched the back of his head. "Well, sorry about that." He was the only one who had the time to work at the castle, deal with the nobles, explore the abyss, hunt abominations, and even take a walk across the capital and spend time with his wives’ at home all at the same time. Even right now, he was learning how to counter divine magic in Kali’s training ground while he was also here in the abyss, talking with them.

"You can always delegate some work to your angels and vampires. I do the same with my angels and demons; they are all around the universe working in my place where I couldn’t be." She smiled, "For example, there is a demon ripping a bandit gang apart because they tried to attack an orphanage, and there is an archon dealing with demon prayers directed to me."

She lifted a finger, "For example." With one snap, she teleported them both away, and soon the three were standing in a large field at midnight, and in the middle of that field stood a little girl with a sword in hand, swinging at full force under the watch of an alluring, dark elf vampire.

The girl was Therisa, and she was now training to grow stronger. Her father had died long ago, and her mother had just met her end against Poppy. Her stepfather was still alive, but the relationship between them was a bit strained, so Kali still kept an eye on her.

The moment they appeared, both Therisa and the dark elf vampire stopped moving, and they all stared back at them with pale faces. "My LORD!" the dark elf vampire hit the ground, and Therisa froze in place, unable to utter a single word.

"Delia, no need to stress things out. We just came here to take a look." She waved her hand at the vampire woman, then threw a glance at Therisa. "How are you doing?"

"I’m... doing great." Her eyes quickly shifted toward the tall, purple-eyed woman beside Eris. "Blood Lord." She did recognize Arad since he had visited her home before looking like that. She didn’t know how he did it, but his shapeshifting was so impeccable that all of her senses told her that the one before her was a woman, even though she knew who he was.

Arad approached her. "Not talking about that part."

She froze, then looked down. "About mother? Well, I still don’t know how to feel about it myself. If she were still devoted to your lordship, her blood would’ve returned to you, and she would’ve stayed alive. But... it was herself who rejected that link that cost her everything." She threw a glance at Arad.

"We vampires are part of something greater. A huge chunk of our power comes from you, our lord. A vampire spawns in nothing without their lord, and the lords are nothing without the blood lord." She smiled. "That’s why I’m not sad. She died living the life she wanted to live, and I’ll live how I want as well."

Kali pointed at Therisa’s shadow. "Well, how rude. You won’t come kneel in front of your goddess?"

Therisa blinked, and in the next second, felt a dreadful chill run down her spine as a massive shadow engulfed her. As she looked behind her back, she saw a massive, nine-meter-tall beast of sharp bones, fangs, and a form that looked more like a pitbull.

The demon dog walked past Theresa and knelt toward Kali, "Your Demonic Lordship, I apologize. The archon’s orders were to hide my presence unless directly called."

Kali giggled, "I was just joking, hiding was the right choice. I don’t want demons showing themselves when I just walk by." She then threw a glance at the terrified Therisa and the horrified Delia, "Ah, don’t worry. Banken here is a type of guardian demon dog, and I set her to protect Therisa."

Arad blinked several times, "This demon dog is half as strong as a demon lord and has a strange air around it."

The dog stared at Arad and smiled. "I can summon a whole pack of demons as strong as myself. Since Therisa was targeted by Cain and Poppy once, we can afford her this much."

Kali waved a hand, "Don’t worry, even a random child would get a demon strong enough to wipe out a city. I take protecting orphans seriously." She then pointed at the demon dog. "Take a human form. It’s hard to talk with you like this."

The demon dog looked a bit sad. "But... I sadly don’t have one."

She thought about it for a second, and then just flicked her fingers, sending a dark cloud to engulf the demon dog. "Here you go, I rarely give demons power directly, but this should help you change form."

The demon dog quickly shifted and turned into a copy of Therisa. But something was off about her, her entire body was engulfed in a dark haze, and demonic magic spilled out of her like a tide. She wasn’t used to this power, and thus her Shapshifting was far too flawed.

"Works for now." Kali smiled and then threw a glance at Therisa, who was half terrified and half mortified that a demon was hiding behind her back all this time. "Don’t worry, she’ll protect you. Since I’m the goddess of orphans and demons, I do use my demons as guards for orphans all the time, and they proved to be quite the skilled folk. Nothing beats setting off a horde of hungry demons on those who harm children."

"So, Kali..." Eris looked at her, "You’re saying that I should get used to using my angels and vampires like this?"

"Yes, spread them around the many worlds, and make them your eyes and ears." Kali leaned on Arad’s shoulder and threw a glance at Therisa. "But you’d better get strong quickly. Your guard here would only protect you from an unreasonable situation, not your own stupidity. As a vampire, you should be getting strong enough to survive on your own soon."

Therisa remained silent, looked at Arad, and then back at her trainer Delia. "I’m good enough, aren’t I?"

"You can fight, survive, but you’re still nowhere near the other vampires." She crossed her arms. "Lady Zia entrusted me with training you, and you’re showing great potential, learning speed, and power, but you lack time and experience."

"Experience..." Arad pondered on it for a moment, and then got an idea. "Why not send her to Agnar? He is constantly going on adventures with Yuwaku and Ignis, Therisa here would learn a lot hunting monsters with them."

Far away, Agnar got a bad feeling and felt a chill run down his spine.