(Back to MC POV)

"HOH," I thrust my katana at Satan. Though it's sheathed, being hit by it would still hurt like hell. Moving quickly to the side, Satan dodges it while also unleashing her own attack with her spear-ax hybrid weapon. Despite it being taller than her, she easily waves it around with lightning-speed.

As we continue parrying each other, I decide to show her one of my personalized sword styles.

'Falling Strike'

Of course, I say the name of my technique! Albeit in my head... What self-respecting swordsman wouldn't?

Satan stares wide-eyed as my sword reaches for her head before suddenly dropping mid-strike to aim at her chest. It happens too fast and too suddenly for her to counter it and she groans in pain as it smacks against her armor.

"Angggh. As expected of master, another easy victory for you"

"You just need to work on controlling your emotions. I can easily read your attacks because of the fluctuations in your mood. Remember, to master the arts is to master your mind..." (A.N. bs i picked up from a plethora of cultivation/martial arts manhuas ...)

Lucifer watches us with a smile. She's sitting down with a towel around her neck and her armor on the floor. Having done her daily spar with me, she's resting while watching her "sisters" fight me. Leaning back on her arms, she looks very out of character in her black training bra and yoga pants. (A.N. don't ask me why a demon lord has yoga pants. lets just attribute it to plot armor) Pouting, Satan picks up her weapon and moves out of the way for the next contender, Beelzebub. While I wait for Beelzebub to get into her stance, I look around the room with pride.

The other girls are also in the middle of heavy training. Ever since I announced the authority of the seven demon lords to the rest of the Underworld, I've been training them, along with Kampe as an assistant instructor, on how to use magic and weapons. Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub all are melee-type fighters, using physical weapons over mana. While looting the treasury in the castle, each of them found their own weapons. Satan has her huge red spear-axe, Lucifer uses a lance with a draconic skull-headed design, and Beelzebub uses a katana like me. The rest, Asmodeus, Leviathan, Mammon, and Belphegor, are magic-centric demons so they didn't need to get a weapon.

Even though I can use magic, I've decided to have Kampe teach those four. Being one of the original monsters of this world, her mana pools are incredibly large and her millenniums of experience add to her knowledge of spells and magic. Currently, she's teaching them how to manifest and control their mana. Asmodeus is sweating buckets while trying to maintain her "perfect" form while occasionally stealing glances at me. I can't help but laugh in my head as she yells from the mana shock that results from her break in concentration. Kampe gives her a stinkeye and shooes me away, mouthing the words 'stop distracting my students!'

Leviathan and Mammon are practicing their larger magic spells outside of the window, cheering and giggling each time they see an explosion. No matter how I put it, Belphegor is snoozing in a "meditative" pose. Sensing my gaze, she twitches and her eyes lazily open. Tch. I'll have to teach her later about slacking off during training...

Anyways, back to my own students. For Satan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub, there's not much to do but spar and solo training. When I'm not focusing on my own sword skills, I give pointers and do mock fights with them. Before, we used to just fight in a three vs. one but they requested I do individual lessons after a few one-sided beatings.

After hearing Beelzebub clear her throat, I tear my eyes from the others and back on to Beelzebub. She's in her swords stance and the second she sees she's gotten my attention, she moves in for an attack. I hate to admit it but lately, she's become ridiculously strong. As a demon of Gluttony, she seems to be rather driven in her hunger for power. After getting beaten a few times, she started to analyze my fighting patterns and attempted to copy my moves with near-flawless results. Now she can basically fight on my level for a short while. It's almost like she's devouring my swordsmanship...

CLANG

Our katanas cross and I see the upper corners of her lip curling in a grin. Outside of these spars, she's usually reserved but it's like a whole different demon is in her now. She reeks of bloodlust and she licks her lips in the midst of our fight. She has a crazily excited expression as she quietly cackles, unleashing a flurry of impossibly fast attacks. Any semblance of elegance has long since disappeared... With her movement, I have to surprisingly give it my all to block her attack. She's so fast, it brings me flashbacks of my training with Sun Wukong. Since when did she get so strong?

I can tell Lucifer and Satan are watching closely. They're also shocked to see how strong Beelzebub has gotten. I grit my teeth and redouble my efforts. What kind of lord would get bested by his servant! Now I will no longer hold bac- Never mind... As I take a deep breath to clear my mind before using my form, I realize something. While establishing my authority and strength is important to keep loyalty, there's no reason to worry about such things with my own creations. After all, the system did say they would have eternal loyalty for me. Anyways, I have a feeling that this will be a good experience for the rest of the girls. All of them have a healthy competitive drive with each other, spurring each other on to get strong. Knowing that one of their own has clearly surpassed them will be a good motivation for them to get even stronger.

I look towards Beelzebub and give her a rare smile. She's clearly been practicing herself to the bone. Given our distance, I can even see the rough calluses from constant use already forming on her hands, despite it only being days since her birth (A.N. they came out fully matured. this is not FBI moment trust me). I humor her and only fight defensively as she begins to inevitably tire out.

With one last shout, she thrusts the katana at me with a much weaker attack than her previous. She's finally run out of steam, though I have to say that her stamina is certainly to be praised. Kampe's students have already finished their lesson and now the six demon lords and Kampe have been watching us spar for hours.

I lightly tap my katana on her head and she falls to the ground exhausted. Now that the battle is over, she's gone back to her reserved self and tries to stand up and bow to me.

"Hey, hey there's no need for that. You're obviously too tired to even get up. Here I'll take you to the baths..."

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If you're curious why the Lord of the Underworld needs a bath, it's quite simple really. The demon lords all petitioned for one, even though they certainly shouldn't have any knowledge about such practices. Me and Kampe never saw the need for it as our bodies maintained its pristine state with cleaning magic. They did mention something about 'grime' 'dreary atmosphere' 'bad for the skin.' I guess even demon lords need to take care of themselves...

After giving them permission to build a bath, they commissioned a third of the demons to locate something called a 'hot spring.' Though I wasn't too sure what that meant, they explained that it was essentially a "natural bath." Eventually, one of the miners struck into a spring leaking hot water and immediate construction of the bathhouse began. The spring source was right next to the castle which made the build a lot easier and more convenient to use. By the end of its construction, a large building made of some strange black brick and marble floors stood proudly. At the sight of their new bathhouse, the demon lords cheered and immediately asked for permission to bathe. I did notice that they were a lot happier and even sparkling after their bath.

I have to admit that it was quite nice and relaxing to be in a bath. It's warmth was gentle and inviting unlike the heat of Tartarus...

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Beelzebub is too tired to reply and just weakly nods. I pick her up in a princess-carry and immediately the atmosphere tenses up. I look behind me with a frown and see several reactions from the girls around me. Some of the demon lords, like Belphegor and Lucifer, either don't seem to care or look happy? for Beelzebub. Others, like Asmodeus and Satan bite their lips in jealousy and glare at her.

It was the day of the bath's opening that I realized that several of the demon lords had feelings for me beyond that of a master and servant. Though they were respectful, my casual demeanor around them had caused ripples and led some of them to become bolder with their actions. Immediately after taking a bath, Asmodeus had entered my room with only a towel on. Her pink hair was still wet and she was tilting her towel in a way to show off her cleavage. I was sitting on my bed while doing my best to ignore her obviously seductive advances to the point she began to turn red in frustration. I explained to her that I had several goals and that making love to my creations was not one of them. To discourage her, I even said that I saw her more as a daughter or a servant. At this point, she interrupted me and whined.

"I'm a woman too! Master you idiot!"

She pouted and stormed off, oblivious to the fact she had just called me an idiot. I sighed. This troublesome girl...Had she stayed around longer I would have finished explaining myself. Starting a relationship would hinder their training and as of now, they all desperately needed it. In this world, power is everything. I want to at least make them almost as strong as I am currently so I won't have to worry about them while I leave the Underworld. Thanks to their extremely high retention rates and growth, that goal isn't looking too far ahead now. Unfortunately, she left before I could tell her this...

I put the incident to the back of my mind...until this happened again with Satan. Once again she rushed off in a fit before I could fully explain the situation...

Anyways, thankfully not all of them are as infatuated with me as they are. Mammon treats me with a motherly vibe while Leviathan, Lucifer, and Beelzebub see me as an older brother. It would be a problem if I had to deal with seven thirsty demons.

Observing the antics of Asmodeus and Satan, Kampe laughs loudly while completely disregarding the mood.

"Seems like Beelzebub has fallen for you as well! Oh you naughty master! Toying with a maiden's heart like that ~!"

At her words, Satan and Asmodeus gnash their teeth and begin shaking. Though they believed they were rejected, they seem to have misunderstood that I didn't want them because our statuses were too far apart. While this wasn't my intention, it certainly helped in motivating their growth. They trained even more fervently and longer than normal, which I was honestly pleased with.

Turning to Kampe, I sigh. I don't bother pointing out that these "maidens" she mentioned are the seven strongest demons in the Underworld. Ignoring their stares, I take Beelzebub to the bath where I begin taking off her clothes. Snapping out of her daze, Beelzebub begins to get flustered. She coughs cutely as she inhales steam from her sudden breaths.

"M-master! Though I was expecting my first time to be in a more romantic setting, I wouldn't mind doing it here with you..."

It might be the heat of the bath, but there's a red blush on her face as she tries to wiggle out of my arms. Alas, she seems to forget that her body has shut down from exhaustion and just flops rigidly to the floor. With a loud smack, she makes contact with the hard floor of the bath and looks up with teary eyes.

"You silly girl. There will be no 'first time,' I just came here to bring you to the bath. You seemed too tired to undress so I was going to help you."

Frustrated, Beelzebub shuts her mouth and begins to mutter.

"I-I'm perfectly fine on my own, master. Please be aware of yourself and don't lower yourself to the level of this servant of yours..."

I turn around and begin to walk away. Beelzebub makes a sound but when I turn around, she's already submerged herself to her mouth. She's just blowing bubbles and glares at me from the bath. Her discontent face is obvious and I can't help but shake my head.

"I'll be calling one of the others to come pick you up in a bit. Don't stay too long it's bad for your health."

As I close the doors to the bath, I can't help but overhear her faint words.

"Master you idiot..."

Déjà Vu? Don't tell me I'll have to go through this with each of the demon lords...I rub my head. I'm a god, so why am I getting such a migraine?

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A.N. it won't take a while for his inhibitions to end... thanks for reading