After reading through the notification I gazed upon the victims of my devastating attack. They were still trapped in the light I had created and unleashed in their direction. The light wouldn't vanish unless I willed it too, and in this demonic forest it would absolutely trap anything short of a greater demon that was likely to come into or walk around here.
Dozens of demons were trapped in it, and their faces were contorted in terror and pain. Even the most aesethically pleasing demons, succubi and incubi, had positively monstrous looks on their faces as they attempted to grow used to the pain they were presently enduring, or at least cling to some sense of self in the wake of agonizing pain. It was an impossible challenge for them.
I allowed them all to endure the pain for a second longer, before I finally freed them from it. When I did all I did was banish the light I had created, something as simple as merely telling the light to vanish. Darkness swiftly crept back into the forest floor, eagerly reclaiming what space I had taken in using my powers as freely as I had. As it did I began to speak.
"What a pathetic little horde you all are..." I told the gathered, defeated, demons. I gazed out at the assorted and vastly diverse creatures before me. They all differed greatly from one type of demon to the next.
Gathered before me was the biggest group of demons I had seen in my entire life to date. I saw creatures of living filth and pollution oozing atop the forest floor. I could see flying demons that resembled flying shark-men. I could see murder-demons like the one I had attempted to use to create a cult of crazed murders. I saw gigantic, bull-like demons, and some more humanoid-looking demons who appeared to serve as footsoldiers amidst this rambling horde. And now they were all mine.
"Though you are all pathetic, you are also mine now." I told the horde, speaking confidently. I felt my voice wash over them, and I immediately detected the most simple-minded of them accept this.
They had felt the pain I could induce in them and knew better than to make an effort to resist me. But I also felt the pride of some of them flare up in resistance to my words. I turned to one of them and smiled. He was one of the more humanoid-looking creatures, and I lifted him into the air through telekenesis.
"Hello. I see you are determined to resist me." I told the creature, sensing its determination. I morphed into a humanoid form, becoming much smaller but also more distinctly myself. As I did so I pulled the creature towards me, a grin on my face as the creature was brought before me.
The demon had distinctly humanoid features. He had a grim face, brown eyes, scars all across his body, and even humanoid or at least humanoid-like gentalia. It amused me greatly to study him. Hatred blazed in his eyes, but there were also glimmers of other emotions, such as fear.
"You cannot break me godling!" The creature shouted, its voice hoarse and filled with anger. I listened to it but when it was done speaking I chuckled at the thing. I didn't speak, instead, I ultilized a power I hadn't utilized on any mortals yet. I pulled the demon's face to mine and I kissed him, bringing his scarred, dry lips to my own.
The god in the darkened forest was an unimaginably powerful entity and he possessed a number of cruel abilities. Among those abilities was one that could be mistakenly thought of as benign: "True Love's Kiss", a powerful and mind-shattering ability possessed by gods of love. It was perhaps the cruelest of all the powers he possessed.
This malicious power burned souls with ecstasy, shattering minds and crushing wills through the sheer, unimaginable power and pleasures of love. It caused anyone who fell victim to it to be filled with an obsessive, life-altering love for the deity who kissed them, and to long for and pin after the deity whose lips pressed against theirs.
Althos unleashed it on the demon, shattering the creature's mind and overwhelming the being's very soul. The god didn't like the thought of using such a power on a mortal, but on a demon, he didn't hesitate. Demons were the embodiment of merciless maliciousness, so he had no particular desires to treat them kindly.
The second the god's lips touched the demon's lips, the demon was forever altered. This power was so potent that even the briefest peck of the lips could cause it to take hold and ensnare a victim.
Pleasure flooded the brain of the demon, and Althos used his powers to manipulate relationships on the demon even as the creature's mind was being rewired to pine-after Althos.
At the same time, other demons were watching the two. Althos released the demon he had kissed, and turned to the demonic crowd just as the brightest were about to attempt to flee from his presence. He chuckled and used telekenesis to grab onto the crowd.
"No no no... No one shall escape." He said, his voice a low growl but a playful one.
"I'm going to take my time... Breaking you." He muttered, his voice cold but his eyes alight with cruel satisfaction. He reached out into the horde with his mind and unleashed a potent barrage of "Mental-blasts", one of his mental abilities that caused those who were subjected to it to experience intense, immaterial pain. He unleashed this barrage indiscriminately, firing at each of the demons who had dared to approach his home with cruel intentions.
He watched, a grim grin on his face, while the demons who had once set out to attack his worshipers fell to their knees in agony. Their brains were being assassiled by sensations comparable to if they were being stabbed over and over again by holy instruments.
As a god my mind was probably my strongest weapon. I had known that for a while now but I hadn't really seen direct evidence of it until here and now. Before me was a horde of demons, all but one of whom were on their knees, as I wracked their minds with pain to punish them for their mistakes.
I studied them, standing still until I decided to approach one of them. The one I approached was a succubus with blazing red hair. She had a lovely face, with full-lips, high-cheekbones, and green eyes. She wore a simple hunting outfit, and on the ground next to her was a loaded crossbow. I chuckled at her and her weaponry. No simple ranged attack could ever hurt me.
She was moaning, but not pleasurable moans. Ones caused by considerable pain. Ones that were music to a god like me's ears.
After a few moments I turned to study the other demons. I would spend time studying various demons. And in doing so the part of me that delighted in pain, that relished the opportunity to be cruel, was reawakened for the first time in a while. The part of that me that had been worshipped by "The Order of the Heated Blade". And that meant cruel, and painful things for the demonic horde who had set out to infuriate and then study me.
And then, eventually, I'd grow bored of studying the demons. When I did, I began to utilize my powers once more. I had an idea.
I began by further hollowing out the earth beneath the village I had created. This added yet another layer to the twisted labyrinth of tunnels beneath the first community I had ever made in another dimension. But this layer wouldn't be used for prayers. Or at least not demonic prayers. Instead it'd be used for the study of demonic bodies.
I created a considerable number of research areas beneath my tiny home-community. Creating them took around twenty-five minutes I planned to staff this research-area with some of the best and brightest researchers I knew, Mi-Gos. I was already worshiped by a healthy number of Mi-Gos, many of which were in my divine-realm.
When I was done creating the research areas, and strapping the demons into a number of custom-made tables using holy instruments once more, I turned my thoughts inward. Towards the system. But not before knocking the demons I had captured fully unconscious using my powers over sloth.
I found myself inside one of my little research areas, the ones I had just created. It was a laboratory and medical center of sorts. It was barebones at the moment, but I didn't need to give it a lot of mortal technology. I was interested in utilizing my abomination-worshipers, not my mortal ones. Mortal technology would only hold back my servants. I intended to allow the creatures I brought over to outfit these places as they saw fit.
"System... I would like to travel to my divine realm. I can do that right?" I asked the strange voice that was always just a question away and appeared to live not only in me but in all lifeforms. I was met with silence at first. It took the system a few moments to reply to me.
"Yes... Yes you can. Apologizes, we, the domains and I, were just checking things out to ensure your realm was ready for you to visit. We never anticipated that you'd be interested in visiting it until you ranked up. But you can, if you want." The system told me, speaking in a rather surprised tone. It wasn't a pleasantly surprised or unpleasantly surprised tone, just a neutrally surprised one.
Upon hearing this I didn't hesitate. I rose a hand and conjured a portal, conjuring one to a destination I identified as "My divine realm". On the other side of the portal that appeared in front of me was a beautiful island, with sandy beaches and a thick forest. I knew this place at a glance. It was a colony controlled by the dreaded fungal scientists I was about to confer with. One of the places where they studied and experimented on mortal lifeforms.
The place was frozen in time. No waves lapped the shore. No sounds could be heard coming from the other side of the portal. It was all a bit unsettling.
"They have been placed in stasis. They won't move... Until you enter the portal. When you do, they'll be able to go about their lives once more. Your divine realm is now filled with over 98% of the life that once inhabited Torus. The effect it has had on Torus is significant, but as of yet unnoticed by Morehammer and his dwarven loyalists, since they live underground." The system informed me.
"We, the domains and I, needed to freeze time on your divine realm to work to adjust it. When you enter through the portal the temporal stasis your worshipers are in fades away. And in your realm... You are even stronger than you are outside of it." The system informed me, saying things that quite excited me.
I took a deep breath, and then stepped through the portal and into my divine realm. I stepped from an underground laboratory, onto an island paradise inhabited by eldritch terrors who worshiped me and the mortals they experimented on.
As I stepped through the portal, time resumed on the island. Waves began to lap against the beach, wind began to rustle through the island, and I began to hear the distant noises of footfalls, technology, and alien wings beating deep underground, beneath where I stood. The sounds of Mi-gos. The sounds of my eldritch scientists, hard at work.
