Over the course of the last few weeks the life of the technopathic young woman known to her friends and found family as "Alpha" had been permanently changed. She never imagined that she'd be stranded on some backwater world with little more than the protections of the starmazon clientele who had hired her to rely on. And when Raul and his allies found her and her unofficial little family, that only further transformed her life.
Throughout the last few weeks, she had met a god, watched a demigoddess undergo an apotheosis, and herself been transformed by the potent powers of the god who investigated them what feels like so long ago. Alpha felt Raul's power coursing through her, it was a part of her now and even if he decided to take it away someday she'd never be able to forget how it feels.
Every single god's power felt unique, but Raul as the anael and as a grand adonis had an especially strange feeling power. Within her soul Alpha believed in the power of Raul, and that somehow if he touched something or decided to do something, that it'd turn out alright. His power as the anael, the end-all-be-all god of light, life, joy, pleasure, and more had that sort of effect on someone's soul. It left them different, happier, calmer, more faithful. They'd begin to believe in Raul, even if they had never believed in anything else.
He had always been kind to her and had always believed in her. He had approached her of his own initiative and freely shared his power with her so that she could create all manner of marvelous technology. That mattered to her and caused her to begin to slowly admire him for more than his body.
Raul had a high opinion of Alpha, and that was why in the hours before he set out to fully clear and claim the Emerald Cavern he opened a portal to her home and stepped through it.
I had given Alpha a copy of my "Creation" power weeks ago. She had used it fanatically ever since, quickly surpassing my own skill with the ability, especially when it came to creating potent technology. No place in the omniverse was filled with more evidence of Alpha's incredible creative spirit than her room inside of my seraglio.
When I appeared in her room, with a smile on my face, I was greeted by a surprisingly human-looking android. The being was modeled after a muscular-looking human, one with bronze-colored skin and dark hair. The android gazed at me, a stoic expression on its face as it took in the fact that it and I looked a little bit alike. I could see its mind processing that, and chuckled in front of the thing.
Androids, robots that looked like humans, were not what Alpha most enjoyed creating. She was fond of creating mechs, and thick, battle bots that only had vaguely humanoid frames. She also liked making robots that were designed to do the sort of manual labor that the poorest people in Jasper frequently did. So as the android and I studied each other, I wondered why Alpha had created such a thing. That said, I didn't have to wait long to find out as Alpha quickly appeared behind me.
"Sorry, Raul! I was outside, exploring the area beyond Jasper. I only noticed you coming here because of my technopathic link to this fella," She quickly uttered, before stepping up to the android and pinching its cheek. "His name is 'Omega'. He's a prototype!" She proclaimed proudly.
"He... Looks a bit like me." I said, to the technopathic alien. This remark elicited a soft chuckle from the alien, who gazed at me with glowing eyes.
"Of course he does! You were the model for him. I also designed ones that look like me, Fara, and Zaria. He is the latest one I've created. Creating them is something I can do instantly, after all, so I figured why not ." She told me, dropping a rather amusing revelation into her remarks.
"I created them as experiments. I really want to test my limits with this power." She explained, smiling at me.
"Hmm... It is a bit eerie. If this is what you can create right now, I can't help but feel that in time you'll be able to create full replicas of people." I muttered, as I turned and studied the robot some more.
"That's one of my plans! If we fuse our powers, or if I work with Zaria... I imagine that I can give people robotic bodies." She exclaimed, excitedly. That caused my eyes to widen and upon seeing that Alpha opted to continue her explanation.
"If we give them robotic bodies then they won't ever have to suffer. That's why my family pursues transhumanism. We seek to end all suffering. And now with your powers inside of me... Well, I won't be able to really advance until I can get back home, but I can begin working towards transhumanism while I'm here." She remarked idly. I was still while I absorbed that revelation since I had thought that she had largely given up on her family's goals, before beginning to chuckle.
One of my bodies had spent the past week scrying and performing assorted divinations. A consequence of that was that my mind was filled with all manners of knowledge of the past, the present, and the future, as well as ongoing events throughout this specific universe. However, even I could only focus on so much. It seemed that my powers had reawoken some long-lost sense of altruism within Alpha.
"Well... It seems that you're enjoying my abilities. That makes me happy. You using my powers helps us all live better lives. I'd like to consider giving you more of my abilities. But first... I'd like for you to join me. We're just a few hours out from heading back into the Emerald Cavern." I informed her, with a smirk on my face. Her eyes, already perpetually glowing, began to glow even more intensely.
"So you'd like me to join you on one more adventure? Hmm..." She responded, giggling as she answered me. I could tell, even before she said the words, that she intended to say yes. And elsewhere, other agents of mine began to inch closer and closer to successfully completing missions I had assigned them.
As a sanguinarch, I was an ascendant vampiric entity and that gave me especially potent vampiric abilities. Some of those abilities were incredibly handy for expanding the amount of territory I controlled. Ever since I had turned the very first handful of creatures I had turned into vampires, they had been diligently working on expanding my territory, and even as I gained the company of Alpha they continued their work.
At the moment, a number of my agents in the capital city of Vanheim had succeeded in turning numerous generals loyal to the king into "thralls" of theirs. "Thralls" were servants of vampires who were granted immortality and boosts to their physiques and abilities, in exchange for their eternal, unshakable loyalty to vampires. This was an enormous victory that was only possible because of how enhanced someone was if they became a vampire of mine.
I had invested a not inconsiderable amount of power into creating my vampiric race. They were the primary recipients of my power as a sanguinarch since awakening all of the so-called "major" sanguinarch powers had only taken a fraction of the power flowing inside of me upon my ascension. That said, it was clear now that that was a wise choice on my part, since they had succeeded in effectively granting me a portion of control over the kingdom of my birth.
Vampires I created, and to a slightly lesser extent vampires that my vampires created, received tremendous boosts to their abilities upon becoming vampires. I had acknowledged the importance of vampiric spawn to any sanguinarch worth their essence and had opted to give them everything from supernatural beauty to physiques that went leaps and bounds beyond the peak physique for their species.
Their rapid success was enough for me to momentarily consider making other creatures into my vampires, especially since my vampires were totally and utterly loyal to me and I didn't need permission to turn someone into a vampire. The truth was that my morality was what prevented me from creating more vampires. Unlike even most sanguinarchs I could transform creatures into vampires even if I wasn't on the same planet as them, and my range appeared to be galactic if I was willing to use essence to empower myself.
The creatures I had turned into my vampiric kin were humans, dwarves, orcs, elves, and in some cases members of slightly more animalistic or monstrous species, but I wasn't limited to just them. I could transform anything short of an ascendant being, a creature like myself, into a vampire. I could turn dragons or even the other gods in this world into my vampiric spawn. It was tempting to do so, but my morality prevented me from using this dark power to rapidly take over the world at the expense of the free will of the people of Hasperburg.
All of the vampires I had turned were fully informed of the consequences of their choices. They were willing to be turned. I wasn't about to abandon my morality for the sake of power, even though the part of my heart that most keenly felt both the powers and attitudes of archdemons and sanguinarchs wanted me to.
Fortunately for me, as a multi-bodied and multi-powered entity, I didn't need to rely on existing creatures. I could create sapient life that was innately fanatically loyal to me and then turn those lifeforms into my vampiric servants. And as I spoke to Alpha and ensured that she'd accompany me on my journey to finish taking over the Emerald Cavern, I began to do just that.
One of my bodies, one of several that was currently inside of my divine realm, was hard at work expanding it. He had endlessly created new landmasses, new oceans, new settlements, and new life. And in the wake of my subtle victory in the capital of Vanheim, that particular body of mine willingly split into three bodies. One of them continued his original task, but the other two began to do something new. They began to create new life, using my "Giver of Life" power, and then convert those newly created lifeforms into vampiric servants of mine.
The pair of bodies would freely create everything from humans to dragons, from phoenixes to demons, and then convert them all into potent vampires. Once they began this process I would feel it in my soul, as every vampiric dragon was itself as powerful as a small army and as fanatical as even angels were to me. After all, I was their creator and the figure who converted them into vampires.
Terrifyingly, I could create hundreds of lifeforms per hour, and those lifeforms would immediately be turned into my immensely powerful vampiric spawn. A small part of me was excitedly to unleash the tremendously powerful legions I was creating on the omniverse, but a bigger part of me was merely excited to also have the ability to create both unlimited essence farms, and to use this combination of powers to milk the ability to be empowered by the sin of lust, and by worship.
My bodies inside of my divine realm would do just that for a few hours while the body of mine that had been in my seraglio and then left it finished my preparations for the moment I descended back into the Emerald Cavern. Just as the sun was beginning to set, my body in Hasperburg and my unusual party of allies, teleported from the home of the good baron and appeared in the fortified and sealed-off entrance to the dungeon's second floor, where monsters aplenty awaited us.
It was time that we went and claimed the Emerald Cavern. Once and for all.
who doesnt like op mc! only an M wont!