"You have a lot to learn and improve if you are going to match him, baby girl," said Adelia. Gaya breathed heavily several meters before Adelia. The training ground behind the castle had several cracks in the ground. The mother and daughter duo barely held back in a mock battle between the two. Although Gaya used almost all her power, she couldn't defeat her mother.

"No one can match him. He is a god," Gaya growled.

"That's not an excuse. He wasn't always the god. He trained and fought hard to get to this point," said Adelia.

Nightmare and Vedora gawked at Adelia and Gaya. They missed having a bowl of popcorn and snacks to watch them bicker and fight. Nightmare laughed, seeing Gaya getting her ass kicked by her mother. In the dark army, only Adelia could defeat Gaya in a battle. Even when Adelia suppressed her cultivation to match Gaya, she still defeated Gaya without breaking a sweat.

"I trained him. Well, mostly," Gaya rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you challenge him to a duel when he returns?" asked Gaya.

"It'd be a great motivation for me to see you get defeated for once,"

"You want your mother to fight the Dark Lord? I never thought you had a grudge against me," Adelia sighed.

Gaya sighed and threw the sword in her hand,

"It's not like that mother," Gaya gently smiled. Gaya was about to go to her mother and embrace her when a bolt of lightning hit the training ground. Gaya and Adelia were startled by the sudden lightning bolt strike. To their surprise, they saw Michael where the lightning had just struck.

"How are my two favorite ladies in the world?" asked Michael as they all dashed at Michael. Nightmare shrunk himself and leaped onto him with Vedora. Nightmare and Vedora showered Michael with wet kisses. It had been a year since they saw Michael.

Michael rubbed their chin as he turned his gaze toward Gaya. He opened his arms, waiting for her to embrace him tightly. Gaya hugged him as her face lit up with joy. She buried her head in his chest like a little girl. For a few moments, Michael stayed in this group hug.

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"I missed you, bastard," Gaya purred.

"What do you mean, miss me? We just met a week ago," Gaya smiled. Even though Michael pretended to be Elmer in the Genric family, he occasionally met Gaya by teleporting to the floating mountain in the dark ocean. He was grateful that the runic teleportation worked while the system was offline.

"Shut up for a moment," Gaya punched him in the chest and dragged this lovely moment as long as she could. Finally, after a minute or two, Adelia cleared her throat to disband the hug.

She knelt down to pay her respect when she saw the Dark Lord's gaze fall on her,

"You don't have to do this. We are family," said Michael. Vedora jumped onto Michael's shoulder. After a year, Vedora and Nightmare both grew in size and power. They were just a few months of cultivation away from reaching the Fusion stage.

'I swore to serve you as your servant long before you met Gaya, my lord. So it's my duty to bow my head and kneel down," said Adelia.

"Oh, come on, mother. Don't make him pull ranks on you and order you not to do this," Gaya rolled her eyes.

"You can do this until we get married. After that, you'll officially become my mother-in-law, and then, you have to stop all this,"

"Are you ordering me, my lord?" Adelia asked with a playful look.

"Not yet," Michael smiled.

Finally, Adelia rose to her feet as Michael let go of Gaya. Nightmare jumped onto Michael's other shoulder and swapped his tail around Michael's neck. Michael looked around the floating mountain and saw the castle construction work in the distance. The waterfall behind the construction site proudly flowed from atop the sword-shaped mountain peak. He noticed the vampires patrolling the floating mountain as Saber instructed them.

Thanks to Mugashuku, the dark ocean became a perfect safe haven for Michael. Looking at the dark storm clouds above him and the continuous lightning storm, Michael wondered if he had lived in the place before he reset the universe. This place was simply perfect. The only drawback was transporting construction materials to the island by ships. At the moment, they had portals to let people go in and out of the mountain. However, these portals failed to transport goods and materials. He needed the system's help to find a solution to this problem.

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He slowly walked toward the construction site with Adelia and Gaya by his side.

"Did you get the elven rune?" asked Gaya.

"Yes," said Michael. Gaya felt a strange concern in his voice.

"Something happened?"

Michael nodded.

"I found the elven rune, but I also found a Primordial flame," everyone was surprised by Michael's words.

"Did you absorb it?" asked Ayag, only to see Michael shake his head.

"It escaped," said Michael.

"Wait, you have the Dark flames. Rowena has the Cold flames. I saw Noah use Heavenly flames. That makes three primordial flames. It's safe to assume there is a Light flame since you have the Dark Flames. This means the primordial flame that escaped your grasp must be the Hell flames," said Gaya.

Michael shared the same thoughts too. But one question kept nagging Michael's brain regarding the Primordial flames.

"If Noah has the Heavenly flames, who has the Light Flame? Has it found a host yet? If Noah is the God of Light, the Light flames will choose Noah,"

"That's not always the case, my lord," Adelia interjected.

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"What do you mean?" Ayag turned her gaze toward Adelia.

"Let's just say someone has found the Light Flames before Noah and you were born, then the Light flames have to choose a host. One of three things must have happened. One, no one has found the Light flames yet, and they are still trapped somewhere. Second, Noah possesses both Heavenly flames and the Light Flames. Third, someone else has absorbed the Light Flames,"

Michael listened to Adelia in silence. After spending time with Adelia, Michael learned where Gaya got her intelligence from. Adelia had both the brains and power. A deadly combination. He hadn't seen her fight with his own eyes, but he knew everyone in his army feared Adelia as much as they feared Gaya.

"How's your search for the arrows going?" asked Michael. When Adelia first came to the mountain, she already had one god-killing arrow. Ever since then, Michael ordered her to find more of these arrows. Apparently, the system level was too low to find more of these arrows. Hence, Michael had to rely on old methods.

Michael didn't know there were a total of seven arrows in total. Noah had already found one, and thanks to Adelia, Michael had one. Which meant there were five more arrows yet to be found. Michael knew whoever held these arrows would have the ultimate power. Michael wanted them to be with him if these arrows could kill a god.

But finding these arrows proved to be extremely difficult. Michael assigned the task to his best and most powerful subordinate, Adelia Ashton. Michael didn't trust anyone with the arrow he had in the space ring, not even Elidyr. Instead, he waited for the system to come online so he could learn more about these arrows. Not a single day passed without Michael cursing the system for being offline for such a long time. In fact, he actually missed the system's snarky comments more than he missed its power.

"I might have found a clue about the next arrow. But I need some time," said Adelia. Saber contributed the most to Adelia's search for these arrows. The elder vampire was extremely resourceful and had contacts almost everywhere. Thanks to him, Adelia received a tip about an ancient artifact in a place called the devil's pit. Unfortunately, the place was crawling with Guardians. Hence, Adelia was still planning to explore the place without alerting the guardians. Now that the Dark Lord was here, she could ask for his help.

"Whatever you need, I am here," said Michael.

"I have a surprise for you," Gaya wanted to take Michael's mind off things like the god-killing arrows and wanted to lighten up his mood. She had the perfect gift for him to make him smile.

"Lead the way," Michael let Gaya lead the way to the castle. Eventually, they all reached the construction site where several dwarves and orcs worked. When they saw Michael, they quickly bowed. Their eyes glimmered with fear and respect.

According to Gaya, the castle would take at least two more years to finish. Fortunately, they prioritized a few rooms, such as Elidyr's workshop, store room, Michael's room, and Nightmare's room, where Vedroa stayed. Of course, these rooms were temporary until the dwarves could finish the castle. Michael bought the castle plan for three million badass points. This was one of his most expensive purchases to date. However, it was not a complete plan. The system offered him plans and blueprints for various defense systems he could build upon the castle. By the time Michael completely finishes the castle, it will be the strongest stronghold in the world. To be honest, Michael couldn't wait to see his castle in its complete form. He spared no expense to get the best materials and runes in the construction. He kidnapped the best dwarven engineers and builders to build his castle. At first, these dwarves refused to work for the Dark Lord, but after some persuasion and a handsome wage, they finally agreed. It was the carrot. The stick was their families. If they refused to work for Michael, Gaya would have kidnapped their families and used them to force the dwarves. Fortunately, the dwarves picked the easy way.

They entered the castle through a hole in the ground since these rooms were built underground. The pathways were dimly lit with torches. Michael noticed holes in the ceiling for the chandeliers.

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"Oh I forgot to mention, I called everyone in the order to have a meeting," said Gaya.

"They'd be here in a few hours,"

"Good," Michael appreciated Gaya's initiative with a nod.