It’s time.

They’d done all they could, prepared as much as possible for the task before them all, and now they finally needed to begin. Naloth could feel his heart pounding in him at the thought, even as he used his own dark magic to help still it.

It was the culmination of his life's work about to be put to the test. Decades of study and research, reading untold books and history and legends, even going so far as to steal classified information to make his vision a reality. How could feelings not try to overcome him in such a pivotal moment?

Even as he clutched at his chest, feeling his mana seeping back into it and calming him down, it didn’t change his buzz of thoughts. It needed to be perfect and all of that work had gone to ensuring it would be just so, with the brave looks of those he was leading focusing his thoughts.

Every one of his people was there because they were willing to place trust in him beyond anything they’d give to the gods, it was his job to validate that trust, and it was with that new frame of mind that he spoke up, giving them all a confident smile.

“I won’t ask if you’re all ready, I’ve seen your efforts and know you are. This is what we’ve worked and struggled for, what we threw everything away for. In a world that isn’t willing to make the tough choices it has to in order to survive, we’ll be the ones to bear the burden of it and claim a power even gods won’t touch for ourselves. Now get to your positions, it’s time we start this.”

Not the most elegant of speeches but it was enough. The people felt the confidence and determination in his words and all of them moved to their places in the warehouse they were practicing in, joining hands to begin as Naloth did the first of his many roles, using his dark magic to partially control the lot of them, not overwriting their will but to instead aid them in the casting of their outrageous spell as they began.

Mana was mixed and aspected by one before moving to another who repeated the process, passing it on again and building it up each time, growing the monstrous power as the effect began to leak out, making the world at the center of them all shift and crack before shattering entirely, a hole in space opening to infinity below.

Yes!

None of them dared look for fear of the effect that would bring to their minds, nor did they let themselves dwell on their success. They still needed to focus on keeping it open so that pleasure was reserved for Naloth alone, who had only played a more minor role in the first part of that spell’s formation and now had to devote himself fully to the next as a flood of souls spilled out, enraged ghosts all trying to get their freedom after untold millennia, only to instead feel themselves be guided to him, sinking into his flesh and binding to his will.

With each soul he felt being warped into his own he felt himself grow, becoming more than he’d ever been before and changing from a proud, awakened mage to something more. He felt like a weapon. He felt like a god.

Every attribute he had was exploding to a greater height and notifications were ringing out in his head, telling him of sudden skills gained and levels acquired in a result that he’d never expected but was happy to take. While the gods would be sure to scorn him for what he’d done, their system was impartial, only aiding in growth as it was designed to and what was he in the middle of if not a massive burst of it? He was even hearing it sing of the acquisitions of magics he had no affinities for, telling him that among all else, even those unchanging things were growing within him too.

It wasn’t all peaceful though. The souls he was consuming were powerful things in each of their own rights, none of them content to be dominated and overwritten by another and each of them fought against the whole process, making him turn each bit of new strength he was taking for himself and turn it back against them all, reinvesting it into the spell.

And each second he held out, it got easier. Every bit of power he gained was more to put each unruly soul in its place as they became stepping stones for his own growth, with the sounds of dozens of awakenings ringing in his ears and only growing more with time.

The levels to awakened skills would slow eventually though, but not enough to matter. Another hour with the gate open and he’d be a contender for every branch of magic, longer than that and he’d be a god, the strongest one that could or would ever exist, holding more tier two skills than any mortal before him and more sources of divinity than any god. All that was left was to keep it up.

He felt no worries though. This was what they’d all trained for. The chance to grow beyond the limits of a mortal. Even if they were still in their warehouse in the city, there was nothing to give them away to the people or the gods, they’d have all the time they’d need and only once they were sure they could grow nor more would they let space heal, trapping any remaining souls down where they belonged.

Or so that was the plan, but amongst it all, something impossible to expect happened. Something started to reach out.

He didn’t know what it was, but even just the tip that had come out was enough to shake the world beneath them and destabilize all of their minds to a major extent, weakening the ritual and creating the leeway for everything to go wrong.

A few souls broke free of the spell’s grasp and moved under a different will, not seeking to escape but instead diving into the bodies of his people, forcing them upright to carry on the spell as something else came for him, a soul greater than any other he’d taken into himself and unlike the rest it had what it took to dominate him as he’d dominated everything before.

With the mad cackling in his head being the last he’d heard while the sight of something unnatural breaking free of the hells making up the final thing he’d see, Naloth’s mind faded into the background and something else took center stage.

Free at last!

Yotu had known this chance would come ever since the day his idiot brother had seen fit to trap him. The universe was a big place and there were always going to be those who would meddle with things better left alone, but that didn’t make the taste of release any less sweet.

Untold eons trapped within the hells of the universe, fractured beyond function and only able to process his environment in the vaguest sense of the word. The outsider that fell into his lap was an unexpected bonus in the form of a creature he hadn’t even been sure was anything more than the mad legends of the void gods but was perfect for what he needed, time.

While he hadn’t been able to grab any power for himself during his fracturing, he still hung onto some of what he’d held before and put it to practice, both forcing the ghosts he was controlling to keep those in their thrall casting their spell while at the same time using his power to widen the whole they were creating, letting the monster within flow out to smash through the roof above into the wider world.

That in turn gave him what he needed most, a chance to escape. He had no clue where in the universe he was nor anything of the people who resided there, he needed to process the memories of his new host in an uninterrupted manner and determine what moves to make from there, so with no care for the world he landed on he let the chaos of the portal rain down as he made his way off into the night.