Yasenia hummed as she received a report about the battle situation in the Astral Sky Abyss Sect. "Everything is going well, and they are holding up. How much longer can that formation hold?"
Alaia answered. "With the current rate of energy use, it can hold on for an indeterminate amount of time. They are not doing more damage than the Formation can repair."
The dragoness nodded. "Don't lower your guard. The Demons might have a trump card. They are quite good at summoning spirits of powerful creatures."
Alaia asked, "Young Miss, when do we break this shield? Cecile's presence on the battlefield should've been enough to hint that we are not really trapped, right?"
Yasenia nodded. "Usually, that would be the truth. After all, they saw Cecile arrive in the city with me. Sadly, thinking that we can escape a mid-ranked Transcendence Realm formation as we please is not an easy conclusion to accept or even ponder. It is easier to accept that the Cecile who arrived here was a decoy."
Alaia nodded. "What are the next steps?"
Yasenia commented. "We raze every inland power that opposes us to the ground. We've spent enough time with politics, trying to make allies as fast as possible. Those who have not bent until now probably never will." Yasenia looked at Alaia and ordered. "Tell Doriel to eliminate all sect masters of powers that have opposed us. If she can create a puppet Sect Master in the meantime, that would be best. She can mobilize the available maids as she wants except for personal maids who are defending Evelyn and the rest."
Alaia looked at Yasenia and asked. "What about you, Young Miss? Your personal maids are not here."
Yasenia hummed. "I won't go to the frontlines, and Tatyana is by my side. If you are still worried about us, leave one of the half-step maids with each of us."
Alaia nodded. "I will do that, Young Miss. Our cultivation has increased, so there are even more peak-level maids; sparing two of them for your safety is not detrimental."
The dragoness nodded and waved at them to go.
During the following months, Yasenia's messages to her allies to attack the powers harassing the Astral Sky Abyss Sect quickly flipped the war stalemate.
The Continental Shadow terrain continued to shrink, and Yasenia made sure to isolate parts of their power, swallowing them slowly and pushing them out.
Around three years after the start of the war, Yasenia was getting restless. Not because the war was going awry, everything was slowly going mostly as planned.
Yasenia's territory had grown in the west enough to be considered a large area even among first-rate powers. The number of cities she had assimilated was in the hundreds.
She naturally needed management to govern so many cities. However, this was not a problem since Tatyana had been training several thousand people under her leadership. By spreading them out and using them as heads of cities and governors, every city was easily assimilated.
Moreover, because the benefits of joining the Astral Sky Sect, which had been growing unstoppably during the last years, were so great, some cities readily accepted the new rule.
The new defensive formations, energy density, and many more enhancements in quality of life made the citizens not mind the change that much. There was always a percentage that was against it. But overall, there weren't enough that became problematic.
So, if everything was going so well, why was Yasenia so restless?
Well, one look at her dears, and it was clear.
After almost six years of pregnancy on Tatyana's part and four on the others, their stomachs were bloated enough that they looked about to burst.
Today, Kali and Cecile were having tremendous pain, and their energy had started diminishing. These were early signs of labor for female cultivators.
The body was becoming weaker so that, during birth, the child was not damaged by their mountain-flattening muscle strength.
Yasenia didn't expect Cecile and Kali to be the first. As pure beasts, their pregnancy should have been the longest of her dears. But there was an explanation.
Flora said. "As Young Miss has told us, we've analyzed them, and the reason for their labor to be induced so soon has been revealed."
Yasenia looked at Flora, her tail behind her tangling in knots out of nervousness. "Is there a problem? Do I need to do something? Perhaps I need to do a ritual?"
Flora laughed as Cecile and Kali sat at the sides with soft but tired smiles. The feeling of strength seeping away was mentally draining.
"No, Young Miss. They are laying an egg. The eggs will need a few more years of incubation, but they are fully formed. That's why they are giving birth this early."
Yasenia blinked repeatedly and asked. "So… There are no problems?"
Flora laughed. "No, Young Miss. There aren't any."
Yasenia tilted her head. "I don't need to annihilate any species for having tried to mess with my dears?"
Evelyn whispered to Andrea. "I told you she was thinking about it."
Andrea covered her mouth to hide her laughter.
Flora shook her head again. "Everything is going perfectly, Young Miss. Although laying eggs with human bodies will be incredibly painful, other than that, there are no problems. On the other hand, since Young Miss was insistent that all of them take a test, just in case, we discovered some unexpected news!"
Yasenia's tail, which had untangled when she heard the good news, almost crumpled into a ball when she heard that. "W-W-What happened!? In the end, some asshole did something, right!? Which race doesn't need to exist under these heavens!?"
Flora pushed Yasenia down onto the seat patiently. She was afraid that the dragon would go on an indiscriminate massacre without any reason at all to vent her feelings. "Good news, Young Miss. Well, it depends on how you take them, but they are objectively good news."
Yasenia forgot to blink as she listened, and Flora smiled. "Lady Tatyana is due in a month!"
The girls exclaimed and looked at the Death Empress, who had the most prominent belly of them all by far. However, when they didn't hear anything from the dragoness, they were compelled to look over.
Yasenia was blankly staring at Flora, not even blinking. Flora blinked and poked Yasenia's forehead. "Young Miss?"
Cecile muttered. "Even her thoughts have frozen."
The girls were speechless, not knowing what to do.
Yasenia stood up while hitting the table, and suddenly called Doriel. "Doriel!"
Doriel quickly appeared by her side. During the last three years, her presence had been known across the land as the Fairy of Death as countless high-level Epoch Cores had fallen to her sword.
Yasenia ordered, her voice cold and ruthless. "Kill all the moles we've kept alive. It's time to clean up the house. My baby is coming into this world, and I don't want a single soul with bad intentions within a 1000-kilometer radius."
Tatyana sighed with a smile and stopped her. "Doriel, wait."
Doriel paused and looked at Yasenia. While Tatyana was someone with authority, Doriel's loyalty lay on Yasenia above everyone.
The dragoness that was about to commit slaughter looked at Tatyana with a puzzled expression. "What's wrong, love?"
Tatyana felt her heart tickle when Yasenia called her "love," making her laugh. "Don't do that, Little Treasure. Doing that would be counterproductive, right?"
Yasenia frowned and instantly realized. "If I suddenly become aggressive, people will know that something is going on…"
Tatyana sat Yasenia on her chair again and planted her butt on her lap. The extra weight Tatyana had because of the baby made the dragoness feel like the woman between her arms was the most fragile creature in the world, which prompted her tail to coil protectively around Tatyana.
The girls had become accustomed to this action because Yasenia always acted protectively and caringly during this time. As their stomachs grew, Yasenia asked them to stay at home more, which they easily accepted.
Their dragoness never ordered them to stay, but she told them her worries, and they would naturally listen to their lover. One thing was giving them free range of movement, and another was utterly disregarding the precious life in their stomach because of vanity.
Above all, their current priority was the life inside of them.
Tatyana said. "Now, let's go to the rooms we've prepared for this day and accompany Cecile and Kali until they lay their eggs. Then, come to my side and accompany me, okay?"
Tatyana's red eyes lacked any of her innate murderous touch, looking like two pure and untainted rubies. They were so beautiful, soft, and loving that the girls would not have recognized her as Tatyana a few years ago.
Yasenia was enchanted by those eyes and nodded with a smile. "Okay."
Then, she helped Tatyana stand up. Even if she really didn't need to, the girls all appreciated such gestures. It was a sign of love and care.
When she reached Cecile's and Kali's side, she lifted them slowly and then wound her arms around their waists, supporting the belly from below with her tail as they walked.
Feeling the weight that was always there becoming slightly fainter, Cecile and Kali sighed in comfort and leaned on Yasenia. Their strengths were currently low enough that even mortal weights affected them.
The other girls followed them as well. They wanted to see what they would need to go through eventually.
After arriving at the building by their home prepared for this, Yasenia sat in between Kali's and Cecile's beds.
Kali laughed softly, her voice weak. "Finally, I am going to give birth to the little one."
Valeria was at the side, sitting with her legs crossed. Although she looked peaceful, her senses were spread all over the place to the limits. The layers of security surrounding this place would be enough to stop anyone even before Cecile or Kali noticed.
Evelyn asked while sitting slightly far away and munching on food. "In the end, what was the verdict of giving birth in beast or human form?"
Yasenia answered. "If they'd become pregnant in their beast form, it would be better to give birth in that form. However, it seems that the human form is better."
Angel asked. "Can they still transform?"
The dragoness chuckled. "Not now. They have no energy to transform. However, remember that our beast forms don't consume energy to keep up. It's our natural form. If we wanted to give birth in the beast form, they would've needed to stay in beast form after the fetus started forming."
Angel nodded while caressing her bloated belly. "I see~." She looked down and smiled cutely and softly. "Is my baby okay~? Hehe~."
Angel felt a slight kick and laughed. "Cute~."
Andrea smiled, leaning back, and commented. "So, the order of birth will be Tatyana, Evelyn, Me, Angel, and then, we will need to wait for a while for both your eggs to hatch."
Evelyn muttered. "I am quite nervous, to be honest. I feel like if I don't eat constantly, the glutton in me will starve or something. I am always hungry."
All the girls smiled wryly and looked at the innocent blinking dragoness. "U-Um, what's wrong?"
Evelyn snorted. "What kind of lovely little darling did you place in us, huh? Always asking for food, energy, and nutrients, and they even ask to be pampered! Like, if I don't sing a song before I go to sleep, the little darling would kick my stomach!"
Yasenia muttered. "But… that's adorable."
The eyes of the girls toward her sharpened, making her straighten her back. "That means they are growing healthy!"
Andrea laughed. "Too healthy!" Then, she asked with a frown. "By the way, are you still…"
Yasenia disappeared and appeared by Andrea's side, raining kisses on her. "It doesn't matter, love. Dragons take a while to get pregnant~. I will eventually become pregnant with your child, I promise."
Andrea, whose hormones have been going a little wild inside of her because of pregnancy, had become quite pessimistic in this regard.
Yasenia didn't blame her at all. She would always console and pamper her big girl, who tried almost daily to win the complicated battle.
"AH!"
Kali's scream of pain startled everyone, and Yasenia quickly left Andrea's side to grab Kali's hands.
Flora at the side commented. "Young Miss, it is starting."