Unsettlingly humanlike fingers rhythmically tapped on the armrest of the divine throne, deep inside of a palace located within the ever-changing realm known as the Heart of Darkness. The almost human-looking creature who sat on the throne was quiet and surprisingly focused at the moment. Atop the divine throne he looked every bit the part he pretended to be: a shrewd ruler who had the backing and love of his subjects.

Agustino had a smile on his face. The cruel demon-princeling was quite satisfied with the horde he had assembled over the course of the last two months, having done everything in his power to rally demonkind against the terrifying might of the god who had already built one settlement in the Heart of Darkness.

He could sense the fruits of his labor nearby, sensing the presence of a massive demonic horde just outside of his eerie palace. Thousands of demons, physical manifestations of destructive hatred and of xenocidal hatred, had answered his call to come and aid in his efforts to capture a god.

The soluto demon, an embodiment of hateful pride, had no doubt in his heart that this horde would be the one to squash the settlement the god had created in his little incursion into The Heart of Darkness. After all this horde was outfitted with all manner of magical enhancements and mystical armaments.

In front of the powerful demon stood a pair of his generals. One of these demons was a statuesque demon with a beautiful and feminine face and a simian body, though most of her fur was located on her arms and her legs, not her face or her chest. In her hands was a potent and mystical quarterstaff and on her head she wore a surprisingly delicate crown.

The other general who stood in front of the demon who was playing at being a monarch was a powerfully built centipede demon. His highly segmented body was divided into well over two hundred different sections and he extended all the way out of the throne room since each portion of his body was as large and thick as a young human.

Each segment of his body was several meters thick and was incredibly reinforced by both magic and his. The carapace of the centipede demon was the demon's pride and joy and he was so confident with it that he had once taken a direct blow from Agustino and only suffered slight damage.

Both demons were highly prized warriors who loyally served the strongest demon they had ever encountered: Agustino. And both generals were component commanders who sought to expand their lord's dominion throughout the horrifying dimension that birthed and housed the vast majority of demons throughout the cosmos.

Agustino gazed into the eyes of one of his generals, the centipede warrior. The demonic general had a set of human-like eyes and a set of compound eyes above them. The pseudo-monarch gazed into both pairs before speaking.

"Solomon... It is time that we make our move. It is time that we invade the home of our invader." The demonic overlord told his follower. The demonic centipede locked eyes with the monarch and was silent for a moment. When it spoke, its voice was surprisingly soft, yet unmistakably ancient.

"And so... Demons march to wage war on the gods once more?" The unbelievably old being asked, rhetorically. The demons who heard its utterances heard the amazement in its voice. Truthfully, the two of them were also quietly amazed by this turn of events.

Neither of the two had expected the god who had invaded their dimension to be so skilled at rebuffing their attacks. Nor had they expected him to be what they needed to unify hundreds of thousands of demons and expand the size of their holdings, even as a foe. The god's presence had allowed the faction of demons led by Agustino to speed up their acquisition of demonic allies and of territory, and the demons were quite excited at the prospect of leading a horde unlike any seen since the mythic age against their potent enemy.

However, the demons had made a critical mistake. Agustino had just declared war and that mistake would haunt him for the rest of his life. Distantly, on another plane of existence, Althos silently read a new notification. And this notification caused the god to chuckle.

The moment after I arrived on the grounds of the prestigious and public Lavern University, or L.U. as it was affectionately known by its students and staff, was when I read the notification alerting me to the machinations of my enemy, the ambitious demon known as Agustino. The notification brought a sly grin to my face and caused me to quietly chuckle.

I found myself standing just outside of a large building on the university I had visited's campus. I stared at it and shook my head regretfully. I had wanted to continue making progress towards acquiring the second tier of influence over the domain of magic, but I knew that this decision by Agustino meant that it was at last time for me to deal with him.

I admired the peaceful scene before me. Htrae was a world that was by and large at peace. It was a place that still had its fair share of struggles and inequalities but it was one of many worlds I had seen where the people who dominated it had largely grown tired and wary of wars and moved beyond the barbarism of warfare and conquest. I took a second to study the scenery around me.

The sky above me was a beautiful mixture of colors as the sun began to conquer the fading remnants of the night. No clouds dared show their faces and besmirch this moment of solar conquest. The building in front of me wasn't yet open to the public, or even to students, and at the moment only a skeleton crew consisting of the people who kept the building running occupied it. I could sense them easily, due to the assortment of powers I possessed that allowed me to make sense of the world around me.

The actual building was a surprisingly pretty multistory, multipurpose building that stood at the heart of the university's campus. Distantly, students were gradually beginning to awaken and once fully awake they would slowly begin to make their way over here over the course of the next few minutes. Sadly, by that time I would be long gone.

I spent another moment staring at the building. I was both sad and annoyed that I had literally just arrived and was now needed elsewhere but even my chaotic nature and the inclinations that came with it weren't able to make me deny the obvious truth: if Agustino was truly making his move to destroy or capture me I needed to meet his forces with my own.

I stopped looking at the building and teleported myself back to the eerie realm known as the Heart of Darkness. Doing so was an instantaneous process, one which I had done a few times now and was intimately familiar with.

I went from standing in the middle of the campus to standing just outside of the Blackened Boscage, the forested area I had claimed as my own deep within the Heart of Darkness. I was facing a vast and bleak plain and behind me I sensed the presence of the light-absorbing trees I had long grown accustomed to within this odd dimension.

I was outside of the area I was used too, but I also knew that this was where my enemies would come from. I knew this because of the demons I had captured during my time colonizing the Heart of Darkness. I had greedily devoured their memories and edited what the demons themselves remembered to suit my fel agenda and in devouring the memories of my former foes I learned about the identities and goals of my demonic rivals. Unfortunately for my enemies I also learned where they had come from and also where the enemies who were on their way to capture me would arrive from.

I wasn't the sort to start wars of my own volition so I had been content to sit on this knowledge but now... Now I had reason to become a god of conquest and to embrace those who worshiped me as a god of war. And with that came a reason to act on the knowledge I had acquired in the wake of defeating several small bands of demons over the course of the last few months.

The plains before me stretched farther than even I could see. And I knew that in time, perhaps in hours, perhaps in minutes, the plains would before me would host a gigantic horde larger than any single demonic force had mustered in countless years. I readied myself for their arrival by raising my hand.

The truth was that what I was about to do was unnecessary but it was fun. And more than that it would sate the bloodthirsty nature of many of my more monstrous servants. I was about to marshall an army that would dwarf that of my enemy. And the army I was about to marshall would exceed my enemy's army in everything, even bloodthirst. I couldn't help but be a bit happy as I did something I had never done: I prepared for a real war.

Deep within me, multiple domains roared their approval of my actions. Not all of them ever evil or destructive domains either. The domain of goodness was one of the domains delighted by what I was about to do. I could sense that it enjoyed me turning my attention on evil forces rather than affecting neutral or even good people with my actions.

Even deeper within me, a small part of me enjoyed what I was about to do. This small part of me was a violent force, a chaotic force, one that wanted to conquer and take. It had only recently begun to rear its ugly head, but I knew that it was going to positively love the efforts of the next few days.

I silently opened a number of portals behind me. The portals led to a number of locations throughout the universe. Some of them were portals to vast hives of gigantic and intelligent insects. Some of them were portals to eerie cities of undeath and ruined settlements. Others were portals to planets ravaged by an ancient and unending war between mortals and abominations. Others led to distant worlds where all manner of monsters worshiped and served me. Some even led to worlds where humanoids had decided to throw their lots in with my worshipers.

The one constant brought on by the portals was that they opened into places where I was worshiped and served unquestioningly. I studied the portals without turning, utilizing my enhanced senses fully for a moment. And then I began to speak.

"Althonians... Come forth and serve your god. Come forth and conquer." I said, my voice echoing across the vast expanse before me.

"There is a pathetic demon by the name of Agustino who in his reckless arrogance has deluded himself into thinking he and I are equals. That we are enemies. He has stirred his forces into a frenzy and is sending them to squash a settlement I made in the forest behind us. He believes he is strong enough to declare war on us, on me. He is wrong. We shall show him the might of the Althonite Empire and we shall take and destroy all that is his." I declared, speaking divinely and authoritatively.

"The time for battle is now. The time for slaughter is now. The time to spread knowledge of my power is now. If you worship me, join my forces here and now and let us wage war on the fools who believe they can oppose me." I said, my voice washing over my monstrous subjects.

The creatures began to flood out of the portals that I had created. Massive ants, horrifying abominations, teeming hordes of the undead, some dragons, organized groups of militaristic devils, and all manner of other creatures marshaled onto the plain and began to march, crawl, fly, dash, gallop, and ooze across the vast fields before me. I watched, a delighted smile on my face as the first of my forces began to make their way towards my enemies.

The skies were filled with swarms of pests, and other deadlier things. Dragons, a few hundred of them, flew in disorganized groups above my own horde. Elementals also danced through the skies, effortlessly dashing towards my enemies. Mi-Gos, both in vehicles and with their own power, flew across the skies as well.

The tremendous volume of my minions and worshipers was unbelievable. I heard ecstatic exclamations, uttered profanities, cries of wonder, and delighted roars in hundreds of languages. They filled the plains and resounded mightily throughout the area.

I fell silent in response to the tremendous scene before me, but my silence was short-lived. As the very fastest of my followers managed to reach a distance so far from me it was about half the distance my godly eyes could see I saw my foes for the first time. The demonic horde that Agustino had managed to marshall against me appeared off in the vast distance. They were so far from me that they resembled only a distant speck on the horizon, but their numbers were nothing to laugh at so I studied them for a mere moment before acting of my own accord. I had made the bold choice to be the one who struck first.

I closed my eyes and activated a power I had only rarely used: "Disintegrating radiance". It was one of my ultimate offensive powers, a strike that sundered all defenses and obliterated even entire armies. The moment I activated it, I immediately felt its effects take hold.

My vision was abruptly altered. Instead of being able to see darkened, colorless outlines like I normally could when I closed my eyes I could see the world around me from a bird's eye point of view. I could see everything that I could see normally, even out to the point from which my enemies were appearing. I targeted that place and began to laugh.

The sound that escaped my lips was a cruel sound, the sound of someone who was delighted at unleashing a devastating weapon of mass destruction. It was the sound of a marauding warlord. The sound of a genocidal general who was prepared to slaughter his enemies. I continued laughing even when my power began to activate in full.

The teeming horde of demons was a ravenous and cruel horde. They were loosely organized, only scarcely controlled, and filled with evil thoughts. The fastest of them had dashed far ahead of the centipede demon who was leading this attack. Solomon was the head of the offensive armies of Agustino after all, and so it made sense that he had led this attack, even if he wasn't quite physically leading it from the front.

Solomon was far behind the fastest demons. He crawled over the plains, his hundreds of legs working tirelessly to carry his gigantic length a truly vast distance. Solomon was lucky though. He was far enough away that the first strike the god he and his master were opposing wouldn't destroy him. Instead he had the perfect view to watch the skies above his scouts and skirmishers begin to light up abruptly.

The demon's head tilted upwards and studied this odd phenomenon with great curiosity. He studied it for a few moments, before he felt something he was unfamiliar with begin to eat at his mind. It was an odd sensation that he had only felt from one thing before: Agustino. It took him a split second to recognize it as fear, and the precise moment the demon realized he was afraid, was when the light's true nature was revealed.

The light suddenly came down to the surface of the plains. It began to touch the fastest members of Solomon's horde, and the demon's human eyes widened in terror as he realized what was about to happen. And then he saw the beginning of the unraveling of Agustino's plans.

The light increased in intensity until it became blinding. The light increased in intensity at a speed comparable to the speed of light, but Solomon's supernatural senses allowed him to see the exact moment the lights transformed into an inescapable attack and disintegrated the fastest members of the demonic horde he had loose control over.

He watched, helpless, as his first wave of attack-dogs were effortlessly dealt with. Demons his master had entrusted him with were turned to dust by a creature who was so far away from him that he couldn't even see him. The mere thought of that hurt his pride. The reality of it filled him with an unending rage.

The demons, oftentimes canine or ursine demons, were effortlessly obliterated by the attack that Solomon knew could only come from Althos himself. The demon-general roared in fury and cursed the god he had been tasked with defeating and dragging before Agustino.

"Althos! I'm coming for you!" The demon roared, his voice exploding out of him and echoing across the vast plains for kilometers. His eyes were narrowed, fury-filled slits as he pushed his insectoid body ever harder and ever closer to his foe. A few moments later he heard a humorless chuckle, the sound incredibly loud and filling his ears and his mind.

"Come Solomon. I will meet you head-on." Roared a voice back at the demonic centipede a second later. This voice was a voice filled with supreme arrogance and authority, the voice of the god Solomon had come here to hunt. This was the first time he had ever heard the voice, but Solomon, a powerful berserker, was so filled with rage that at the moment hearing Althos goad him was enough to cause him to speed even faster than he had been before.

His multitude of legs worked harder than they ever had to carry him towards the light that had obliterated his lesser minions. His eyes were nowhere near as developed as the eyes of his enemy, so he didn't get to glimpse the new form his foe had taken on, off in the distance. He wasn't able to see it just yet. None of Agustino's forces could. That said, shortly after unleashing his attack, Althos had taken on a new form. One that was incredibly vast and inspired his forces.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Althonians dashed towards their foes, inspired by the light shining on them from the new sun that shone radiant light on them. For the second time in his life Althos was preparing to engage in a battle seriously. And to do so he had taken on a new form: a star that hovered over his forces and bathed him in resplendent light befitting holy crusaders on a mission in the depths of one of the evilest dimensions in the universe.

The god of conquest began to bless his forces in full as he wondered whether he should launch another attack, or let his forces actually battle the remaining warriors. As his blessings seeped into his forces, he received a new quest. The quest to earn the second-tier of influence over the domain of war. It was a demanding quest, but one that he sought to complete anyway.

Quest Alert: To earn the second tier of influence over the domain of war, defeat Agustino's forces, conquer his cities, and defeat him in one-on-one battle both in magic and in swordplay.

Lucianowrites

Arise Althos, god of war. This marks the beginning of a new "novel"/story arc over on Web Novel and also throws us head first into the Heart of Darkness. AKA: Demon land baby! Let's fucking go!