"It’s probably been hard to adjust to your rapidly growing physical strength and amount of mana. This sword will help you adjust everything."

It was a beautiful sword.

Almost too picturesque, like an ornate royal sword.

The grip was jet black, with beautiful swirls of blood-red wrapping around the handle, its size perfect for Lith’s hands as he held the sword with a single hand. The blade was around fifty centimetres, but its magical colour, the shade matched Valena’s eyes and scales perfectly, the edge so sharp it sparkled.

"I made this sword from something special that only exists in one place."

"D-Dad... this is too much..."

"Hahaha, don’t worry, Lith. You and your siblings deserve the entire world. I exist to form the bridge to help you take it."

"W-What made that sword?!" Valena blushed, her eyes darting between Asmodeus and the blade as she bit down and dragged her lower lip.

Lith’s enthusiastic dragon’s eyes also peeked at him, curious and eager to know.

"Well, the black, it isn’t metal but..."

He raised his arm, and the black exoskeletal armour of his Demon Sovereign form appeared.

"DAD!?" Lith’s grew wide, gripping the sword tighter. "Did it hurt...?" He seemed to have guessed what his father added to make it so special.

"Haha, don’t worry." He ruffled Lith’s hair. "This sword can help you manage your mana, aura and other powers, but also... the blade is the most important part. I had your Maman help with that, this beautiful shade of crimson red, there’s only one woman with such fine, unbreakable scales, right?"

Lith peeked at his father, then the pair of them glanced at Valena.

The dragon’s face looked bright red as she gazed at the blade, her eyes brimming with tears as she finally looked Asmodeus in the eyes.

"Y-You... why didn’t you say this is what you took them for..."

Asmodeus placed a finger to his lips, hiding the growing smile. After deciding to get a gift for Lith, he’d used a rather risky technique to create the sword. Normally, it could take months, even years, for a good sword.

However, thanks to his divine aura, abyssal energy and dense, almost infinite demonic mana, he helped the blacksmith to complete the process in just over a month.

As for the scales...

He took them from her ass, for which she tried to beat him senseless.

The dragon rubbed her rump, scowling at him, and yet there wasn’t any serious threat; instead, he could see the faint pink on her cheeks.

’Is she remembering when I took them?’

Of course, when he took them, he also enjoyed copping a feel. Valena’s scales were completely different from Velvet’s, which only covered her waist, hips, chest, and cheeks.

Valena’s body could produce scales on any part of her, and they were stronger near her reproductive organs.

Though he kept those scales for himself.

"Dad!" Lith shouted with a wide grin.

Then he uncharacteristically lunged at Asmodeus, hugging his waist tight.

Asmodeus gently ruffled his fingers through the boy’s hair with a broad grin. He peeked at Valena, who watched them with a strange expression.

"Do you like it that much?"

"Mhm!!!"

The normally docile Lith clung tighter, his face buried in Asmodeus’s stomach.

He remained quiet, watching the girls stand in a circle, all flashing watches. Not only did it help them manage and circulate their mana, but it also allowed all the parents to track their children should anything go wrong.

Asmodeus planned to give all his children the same watches and made use of his wives and his unique energies.

"Phew, I’ve also prepared some extra snacks for you kids."

He clapped his hands, and though the girls spent the morning baking, some of them clearly carried a deadly aura. Asmodeus would eat all of those failures himself, letting the girls enjoy the freshly baked cakes, tarts and tea made by Gretel and the other maids in secret.

"Ah!? Dad, but we baked so many cakes..."

"What about my tart, it’s even got your face on it....Papa..."

"M-My tea.... Daddy..."

The girls seemed to think he would discard their treats, but he waved his hand and flashed his teeth. "No, Dad will enjoy the things you made for him. These are things Dad arranged for you girls and Lith, okay?"

Their eyes flicked between each other, then to the table with fancy custard cakes, raspberry tarts, soft castella and even jelly.

’To make these, I needed Sariel to enter my mind and search for memories...’

He’d remembered their ability was akin to mind control, thus asked if the pair could bring back distant or faded memories.

The final result restored thousands of small recipes he had seen at a glance or peeked at in his earlier human life. No matter how vague or faint, they all became vivid, from mayonnaise to chicken chow mein and even demi-glace sauce.

"Come on, girls, you can play later. Let’s enjoy this meal before Dad goes to Baltimore."

"Ahhhhh~"

"Don’t go, Daddy, stay with us."

"Papa....."

The three pairs of eyes, along with Lith’s, who remained in his arms, all glistened with wetness while staring at him like abandoned puppies.

"Forgive me, I really don’t want to leave you, but this time I have to go. The only promise I can give you is that afterwards. I will have a long time where we can play almost every day, I’ll even take part in your lessons... okay?"

The first one to switch was Seris Rae, "Heh, Dad, that’s a promise you can’t break!"

Her tearful expression vanished, not just hers, but the other girls’ and even Lith’s seemed to have recovered with his promise.

’These kids!? Are they taining my Lith too!!!?"

At first, Asmodeus found himself drawn to his cute daughters because they all resembled smaller versions of his wives.

The boys were mini versions of him, and it made him feel a little strange, until he spoke to them, played with them, and learned how much they all aspired to surpass or become like him.

Lith, Ryusei, Kaelen, Varian and Leon.

Each of them carried a different part of his nature; some luckily gained multiple, but Lith and Ryusei inherited his blood the thickest. Despite carrying his mother’s hair and eye colour, Lith’s facial features matched Asmodeus at least 70%.

They might change slightly as they grow—their start in life was a good one, with looks surpassing those of almost all humans on the planet.

’These kids could become super popular megastars in my old world.’

However, he couldn’t bear the image of them all being addicted to short videos on TokTik.

...

After managing to con Asmodeus out of promising them something, the girls and Lith sat neatly at the table.

"So why didn’t you invite your other sisters?" He asked, chewing on the burnt black cookie made by his lovely Nyxielle. The taste was unique, a mixture of burnt sugar and charcoal, but he still relished their first attempts.

Once his question spread across the table, the girls all awkwardly glanced at each other, then back to him.

"Uhm, Dad, other girls just don’t get along with us..."

"Oh?"

"She’s right, Papa! Sylwen, Elira and Thalys always start fights, saying Dad loves their mom better and will leave us!"

Sylwen... was Ciela, Elira... Sariel and Thalys... Riel?

"Wait, but those girls are always so gentle and well behaved!" He couldn’t picture a single time the twins born to Sari and Riel were naughty.

It was cute how the two children were the opposite of their mothers.

With Thalys resembling Sari and Elira resembling Riel.

"They are the worst! Because they are a little stronger... they use their strange powers to make fun of anyone they fight."

’Hmmm... do the kids have their mother’s power?’

"But girls, I want you to know I love your mothers a lot, enough to want another child with them all. So you shouldn’t worry about what your siblings say..."

"Papa... is Nyxielle not enough?"

"Ah!?" Asmodeus swallowed a chunk of burnt cookie, almost choking. "Kuha... Kuh.... N-No, I just thought you might want to become a big sister... to a new little brother or sister."

The girls stopped complaining then, looking at Lith, before looking back at Asmodeus.

He also tapped his cheek.

"What about your lovely sisters who live in the white tower?"

Because Arachne needed different things at different times, sadly, the four girls born from his union with Lumina slept in a special tower, made pure white like their chitin.

"Ah... Aranya and Seraphae are nice." Seris mumbled, a half-eaten cupcake crumbling in her mouth, covering her plump little cheeks in cream.

"Luthiel is really cute!" Nyxielle joined in.

"Miris likes to read..." The quiet Selphira added.

"I see, but why not invite them to the tea party?"

He didn’t know because he and Lumina had spent too little time together since he came back; she was always busy with the Valkyrie or helping teach Levia how to manage their growing Royal Guard.

"Ahhh... Mama Lumina said they needed to uhm..... what was it again...." Nyxielle tapped her lips, smearing them with jam from her cake.

Seris Rae rocked her head from side to side as if thinking.

That was when Lith suddenly spoke out after swallowing the small cookie he had taken, a bright glow in the depths of his eyes.

"Dad! It’s because the girls are shedding!"

"What!?"

Asmodeus suddenly shouted, hitting the table.

"Kya!?"

"Papa, are you mad!?"

"Don’t be angry, Daddy."

"What the hell are you getting serious for... Mmmmn.... this is so good..... Nnnnn."

Valena sat beside Lith, with several cakes in her hand, pushing the best-looking ones to him, while she devoured the others with crumbs caught in the red scales along her chin and cheeks.

"Ah, ah... I’m sorry, girls. I just forgot a promise. I—Dad has to visit the white tower after the tea party! That’s all, okay?"

Beads of sweat dripped down his cheeks as he glanced towards the beautiful white tower, shimmering in the distance.

’No wonder Lumina kept herself wrapped in an exoskeleton!’

He’d heard from her in bed once and seen her once. Both adults and young Arachne shed every four years. When he thought further, the children were just about to turn four, which made it an important moment.

Their first shedding!

’I hope I am not too late...’

Her anger in the throne room now made more sense.

With his heart set on the tower, he continued the Tea Party with an uncomfortable heart.