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For months I have been working on different ways to unlock the condition to promote to Kingdom and I feel like I will never get it. I am convinced there is a trigger that is a 'realization' style cultivation nonsense.

That leaves me with only a few options that are not just sitting around and thinking and so when I am not doing just that I am preparing for Zola to break through. Going to the dead sea and snatching the Dark and Light origin sources will be the last thing she needs to jump through.

I can trade the two origin sources for the remaining missing elements Zola needs to complete her kingdom. She has been ready to break through for hundreds of years, in reality, she is missing a spark for each element. The elemental fragments given by the kings are a cheat code to jump off the car so to speak.

That is why I made contact with the Naga race on the thunder snake archipelago who is the last stop before the first bodyguard of the Dragon treasury. I made contact and established I could kick their chest in if they screwed around and so they opened to trade. I also got a contract with the leader Naga who is the mother of Adeline a cute blind snake girl who has a unique soul body that is key to tricking the second bodyguard.

The contract involved me 'fostering' the Naga girl and in return, I gave them devil fruits which I have truckloads of by now. She was decisive in her decision as a leader but I could feel the sadness she hid well as she gave her daughter up. I know she would sacrifice her daughter when the first bodyguard comes annually to collect sacrifices for his power. Adeline will never have to worry about that future and instead live with me learning different ways to unlock the abilities of her soul body.

She is just as 'malleable' as she was in canon and it made me feel bad pushing her to further herself but I know it's what is best for both of us. Her growth and her trust in me will be what wins us the second trial on the way to the Dark dragon emperor treasury.

Speaking of dragons a headache starts to form as I remember Olypheus and how her father reacted to her story and situation. He was going to snatch her away without even so much as a thank you until he learned how Satan was almost in control of her. That and the rowdy black dragon girl refused to leave her 'boss' and the food and money he provides her.

Leading to him instead visiting frequently to loot my pantry and check on her.... in that order.

I check over the reports from the human world and nod seeing the gains have almost tripled and now I should be the richest in both worlds by a large margin. The temple of light blew up and still has not been repaired and the angels are taking a direct approach in questioning the 'mortals' for information. I have had my devils keep a low profile but some still ended up being questioned, they were never found out as of yet.

The wrecked alchemy city with the storm titans on Storm island in the human world has been looted and recycled with the permission of the titans. They were hesitant to let a 'stranger' have the remains as they feared I would try to take control of them.

When I teleported half the ruined city Infront of their eyes and they had no idea where it went they realized I didn't 'need' their permission. They agreed to my taking it when they learned I was doing it more out of respect than a need. They are pretty cool guys if not a bit 'slow' as it takes a good five minutes to have a conversation that could have been thirty seconds with a normal person.

But with gaining the maroon Lamp spirit lamp that is Overlord level and also the blueprints for the titans I have made a qualitative leap forward in troops. I am still missing the coral and deep sea stone and heavy water for the Giant crystal beasts but I made do with some 'makeshift titans'.

All of my Lamp spirits have reached the Gold level and it was done with little failure and no 'true deaths' for the Lamp spirits. It is a random Gacha roll if the lamps will succeed in upgrading after going through the process of applying the needed supplies. With my Starsend moment, I was able to up the chance of it working to almost ninety percent success. So after a week of grinding Gacha rolls over and over I now have five thousand exactly demon emperor lamp spirits.

I could roll the human and demon world up and smash it flat if the God-tier-ranking people stayed out of it. With the equipment being built by the gremlin servants and my own hand I think they might stand a chance against a kingdom rank.

At least that is what I hope.

The gear they wear wouldn't be out of place on kingdom experts, the percentage base buffs could turn heads from any rank person. I spent enough money acquiring the materials and hiring people to mine or make more I actually ran out. It was all back within a week but still, it was eye-opening to see my coffers emptied.

Nova banking was looking rough there for a while.

My plan with the Lamp spirits and the kingdom in general now that it is almost 'promoted' from the materials of the other city is to use them in a 'formation' to strike a kingdom rank. The way it works is native to this world and not from my own magic so I am doubtful of pulling it off.

The way an overlord is pulled down on a battlefield is a formation of weaker people that will activate their 'trap' that latches all their power together to pin the expert down. It is usually thirty or fifty demon emperors to take down an overlord.

So my bright idea is to throw five thousand demon emperors at a kingdom, will it work is the question.

I am not going into it with the full intention of using them, I will try to talk it out with him and offer him his freedom in return for letting me pass. If he wants to get funny I will drop my Alchemy kingdom on his forehead and have the formation crush him into the ground.

Worst case I summon Olypheus's dad who agreed to have an emergency summon slip so I can pull him in last resort. I just don't want him to come if I can do it alone, he will take all the loot as he did to Chen Rui.

My Zola has rubbed on me and rubbed me off enough for me to acquire a true dragon's greed to accompany my devils greed. I won't give up even a white crystal coin if I can help it, and I think I can help it.

With the upgrading of the kingdom almost done there is some last-minute boost to troop numbers and I think it will be two thousand five hundred more lamp spirits. I will upgrade them and press on to the dead sea with the new titans I have been making.

With Zola, I have made a titan for each element but it does not use a living elemental so they are not truly 'alive'. At least they are not alive yet, Zola is planning to upgrade them when her kingdom is built as she will be able to manipulate the elements to create elementals. At least in theory, she can in ancient stories that's how the kingdom of six elements works, I believe it because it was the kingdom required to rebirth the elemental goddess inside her body.

The titans are low overlord at this point but will improve with more power from Zola but she needs to break through first to take them to peak overlord or maybe even Kingdom level. Her own kingdom is a leapfrog kingdom as she will be as strong as a demigod when she is kingdom. That is how it worked in the Novel at least and I pray it is like that here as she will be the biggest hitter until I can promote after studying her kingdom.

The maroon lamp spirit is being studied but I believe I can replicate it with some research from the evil piece but it will convert the lamp spirits into semi-devils. It is a long-term project but a promising one, I can imagine an army of thousands of kingdom-rank or higher lamp spirits destroying the Abyss. The breaking of limits that is potentially possible with the devil piece research into the lamp is promising but a long way off for now.

I studied the deactivated body of the Maroon Lamp spirit, the very same body that Python stuffed her soul into. I put one of my last queen pieces in it and I debated trying to bait Python into it and seeing if she would be bonded to me after the process. It is risky and could force her hand into killing me if it does not work, so a pin was put in that plan as well.

Lips on my neck wake me from my erratic thoughts and I look down to see a lustful Izzy sitting across my lap in my 'throne room' of Olympus.

"You daydreaming?" She swings her feet off the edge of the throne and I see the breeze boots on her feet.

"I was, I am so close to making the big moves that I can almost taste it." She deadpans and her feet stop swinging.

"You do know you have two pregnant women getting moody back home and a bouncing daughter tearing the walls down. Might want to put those tasted dreams to the side to check back home for a few hours." I look over at the clock and my eyes widen seeing it has been ten hours since I sat down.

"I see, I really did doze off..." She snorts before opening a circle to take us back home.

----

Arriving home an orange missile collides with my head and almost snaps my neck as I fall back.

"DADDY!" A phoenix in the shape of a human three-year-old girl has her legs and arms around my head.

She had a 'sickness' come over her where she felt lethargic and slept for days, we all panicked and I almost died from heartache. She then bounced back and made it to peak demon Overlord with some physical strength maybe even touching close to my own cheat strength.

Demonic energy even without an evil piece poured out of her and we all saw how she changed into a 'human'. It seems the DxD Phenex blood did more to her than we thought it would, she has blond hair and blue eyes but the structure of her face is a copy of Catherine.

"Hey, baby." I pat her back and my voice comes out muffled, I hear giggles from the ones who were watching her moments ago.

She lets go and fire wings lower her to the ground before dissipating and she looks up with wide blue eyes. Her hands reached up to grab my own and a cute smile as she pulls me toward the couch.

Tests show she is one-third me and one-third Catherine the last third is native world Phoenix.

Kia and Freya were miffed about my firstborn being a little chicken until she got a cute face and pouty lips to pull their heartstrings. Now they coddle her until she is spoiled and I can't help but smile when she manipulates us into getting her way.

I have no clue what other Devil powers she will awaken but I doubt all of them, my growing kids in Kia and Freya have shown mainly five observable traits according to my studying. I could miss something but I think they will have five traits and they are not the same, could be Gacha once again...

"Dad! Let's watch the Rio again!" I put on a smile but my heart clenches since I just watched it before I left.

"Yea daddy let's watch Rio." Shea holds out an arm for me to sit with her after Ashley pounced on top of her.

I should have never tried to name her without more of the girls around, I still get made fun of for trying to name her Ember. I will name my boys I have regardless if they like it or not though, I got some names picked out already.

"Alright." I lay sideways on the couch and Shea throws a leg over me and hugs my side as Ashley nuzzles between us.

I will get back to thinking tomorrow, for now, let's rewatch Rio.