"Etherscape was a vast empire once. It was the size of... many, perhaps a thousand galactic superclusters at its height." Rayne began, everyone seated around the holographic-display table subconsciously nearing as if that'd urge her to reveal some secret or another.
"But once, in the ancient past, it was nothing more than a series of loosely interconnected dimensions that shared little more than a mysterious energy-field: ether. Ether weakens and disrupts mana and various other forms of energy, but can also be used in place of those things. In Etherscape ether pervades everything and can allow 'ethermancers' or those who possess an innate ability to manipulate ether, to perform immensely powerful spells and power truly incredible technology." She continued, as we all listened intently.
"In the distant past, the various dimensions where ether could be found were only interconnected and not actually tied together by anything other than relative proximity and their reliance on ether. Each of these dimensions was ruled by a family of ethermancers, who championed various methods of improving their own strength. These families became the very first of the so-called 'Hundred Hegemonies', the one hundred most influential families in Etherscape." Rayne explained, informing us of the history of her apparent birthplace with a confident smile on her face. She was relaxing as she revealed this history to us.
"A million or so common years ago an ancient ethermancer, one of the greatest in the history of my people, rose up and managed a previously never accomplished feat; he united the hegemonies under a single flag. He was the first emperor of Etherscape! He was also the first of us to achieve immortality and he ruled for many more years than humans could, well over one thousand years in total. When he eventually perished, he was succeeded by his firstborn daughter." She told us, speaking with the gentle assuredness of a teacher educating a student.
"In the years that followed, various emperors and empresses reigned. One of them, an empress, was the first to attempt a concentrated military campaign to expand the empire beyond the lands known to have ether. She ran into an obstacle that stopped her hard in her tracks: in places that lack ether, ethermantic magic and ethermantic technology lose a not-insignificant amount of their potency. So her response was to fund research into the intersection of genetics and ether." Rayne told us, a soft smile appearing on her face as she reminisced about the past of the empire of Etherscape.
"It took a few years, which to an immortal being felt like a matter of minutes, but eventually she and her researchers succeeded. Geneticists who worked for her created the first manamutants. Manamutants could generate ether internally, even outside of places where ether was naturally occurring! They quickly proved instrumental as the empire resumed a number of conquests to expand its size. In recognition of their importance, the empress made the most prominent families of manamutants into noble families and expanded the number of hegemonies. It was at this point that the hegemonies hit their current number of one hundred." She informed us. Right before she was interrupted.
"What does this have to do with the empire falling?" Riezel asked, the demoness evidently not caring for the history lesson that I was actually enjoying.
"Well all of that was a nice precursor to my birth." Rayne replied, looking at Riezel with an annoyed expression visible in her gaze.
"You see the empress was assassinated a few years later. And her successor was my grandfather, the third emperor of Etherscape, and the youngest of her own children. He was a political and scientific genius who manipulated the hegemonies, subtly encouraging them to try and create and a fusion of manamutant and ethermancer. He himself was a manamutant, but my grandmother was an ethermancer." Rayne told us, pride slowly seeping into her voice.
"And I... am not only a princess but also the very first 'Nova'. Someone who can internally generate ether and manipulate it as finely as any living ethermancer. I left home centuries ago, having become a grand venus while focusing on strengthening my powers and opting to explore the grander omniverse instead of learning about court politics and etiquette. During that time other novas, many of whom were my half-siblings, appeared and influenced the direction of the empire. When my grandfather perished, my father took the throne. He was the last emperor. That was... perhaps a common year ago." She explained, as her face began to subtly twist in disdain.
"About a month ago, around the same time that Raul stunned the universe and revealed his existence to... Well, many people, a group of ascendants stormed into the capital of the empire and began to destroy it. Ether can only disrupt non-ascendant level abilities, magic, and tech so the ascendants were unbothered by it. They destroyed the city's major population centers and even the imperial palace. Among those slain were the principal throne-maidens, many of my father's wives, and my father. They then proceeded to invade other hegemonies and pillage everything they could." She explained, and I watched her face twitch and distort for a moment, suggesting she felt this loss more deeply than she wanted to reveal. I kept my mouth shut, as it wasn't my place to ask her to publicly address her pain.
"Even if I wanted too I couldn't rebuild the empire on my own. The alliance that shattered the empire is made up of many, perhaps hundreds, of ascendants. I do not have the attitude, power, fame or infamy, or resources to reunify the hegemonies. Raul... also doesn't have the resources, right now. But that will change in time. And Raul actually wants an empire, plus with the right people at his side he may actually be able to do what I can't." Rayne explained as she gazed into my eyes.
We all fell silent as we took in the weight of Rayne's words. What she had revealed to us was humbling and was a keen reminder of the lesson I had learned while facing Gorgomuth: nothing happens in a vacuum. While I was stopping Gorgomuth's one-demon omnicide, another group of ascendants shattered an entire civilization.
"So... to reunify the hundred hegemonies and to restore order to the territory once known as the Empire of Etherscape we're gonna have to take on a group of ascendants? And the ascendants who are currently in control of that territory are terrorizing its inhabitants? So that means it's necessary for us to act." I said, breaking the silence as I vocalized my thoughts.
"Are you actually gonna make an empire based on doing the right thing? I... that's almost admirable." Riezel confessed, as she turned and looked at me curiously. I chuckled at her remarks and then continued to speak.
"We are going to act. What is the point of all of our talk if we don't actually act on it? Our big words may inspire some, but even the impact of that is lessened if we don't act on our promises and try to help people." I replied, speaking nobly and big-mindedly.
"Plus we have Rayne, the princess. And we have a second secret weapon. Me. And my 'Absorption' ability." I added, before tapping my head. This caused everyone to look at me curiously which made me laugh.
"I can absorb or copy the abilities, skills, knowledge, and memories of those who provide me with essence. And I can get essence by sleeping with someone. So if I sleep with Rayne I can also gain the ability to both manipulate and generate ether! And I can share that with people by utilizing my 'Bless' power. We can create an army of organic nova-soldiers. Or even nova-robots!" I informed the women who had gathered around me, smirking as I spoke. This caused everyone to pause and consider the ramifications of the ability I had just revealed I possessed.
"So... It might actually be possible for us to quickly acquire the resources we need to build a working military? And between your abilities related to life we could actually resurrect the old leaders, provided their souls weren't destroyed..." Rayne uttered, as her quick mind rapidly processed everything I had just revealed.
"And with those powers, imagine if we went to the Starmazon Armada... How easily you'd be able to take it over..." Fara whispered as she realized the incredible synergies my powers all had with each other.
"If we went to the Split and you joined either side, all you'd need to do is turn the druids or the robotic soldiers of the cybernetic faction into your spawn and you'd be able to overwhelm either side just by capturing even one head soldier. A truly terrifying ability." Alpha whispered as she realized how easy it'd be for me to win the war the people of her galaxy have been fighting for centuries.
She also realized, even without me saying anything, that I could turn robots into my spawn. That was a frightening analytic ability, even if she hadn't seen me do that just yet. Very, very few robots were vampiric spawn and those that were were under orders to keep that a secret from everyone.
"If I can turn even one person in the hegemonies into a vampiric spawn, we'd be able to do a lot of damage. Unless we have to fight another sanguinarch. If we turn our attention to Etherscape right now we need to figure out which bits of territory aren't controlled by sanguinarchs." I said softly, aware of how pesky it was to deal with dominion-based powers, one of several things unique to sanguinarchs. Fara looked at me and I could see a question in her gaze.
"Sanguinarchs can control territory itself if our vampiric spawn have the time to sit down and gather a bunch of essence. If there are any sanguinarchs in the alliance that shattered the empire their first priorities would have been to turn any of the places they rampaged in into parts of their dominion. Archdemons have an ability that is not dissimilar to that, but it is less powerful unless the archdemon in question is on my level of power. I'd much rather face an archdemon than a sanguinarch." I explained, revealing a little bit of my own nature to my allies.
"I have wrath-based powers now, and I have the body of a sanguinarch of savagery. If I get the chance I can fight an ascendant one on one and through a combination of my powers wear them down, especially 'Absorption'. That power will be the key to taking down an ascendant or ascendants when the time comes and it's unique to sanguinarchs." I added, having spent time these last few weeks coming up with strategies I could use to beat down ascendants now that I had had time to process Gorgomuth's memories. The others in the room nodded at me as they took in the weighty revelations I was revealing.
"That said... We can do something unique even without beginning to rebuild the empire." I said as I stood up, and walked over to Rayne. Everyone looked at me curiously, right before I put my hand in front of Rayne's face and a gentle blue light began to emanate from it. I shivered as I peeked into Rayne's mind and made a quick copy of the princess's memories of ethertech, and added every scrap of her knowledge related to the unique technology Etherscape used to my own knowledge.
"Rayne and I can power technology, and that almost certainly includes ethertech, ourselves. And that means that even before we create an army of nova-soldiers, we can create ethermechs and etherbots." I pointed out, as I devoted a portion of my mind to processing the small amount of Rayne's knowledge and memories I had just put into my mind. Even as I did that I could feel my enhanced mind making sense of the technology that Rayne had seen, and almost without thinking I created a gauntlet made of ethersteel using my 'Creation' power.
It floated in the air before me, a thin, skin-colored gauntlet that loosely radiated ether. Everyone gazed at it with smiles on their faces. The thing then began to spin until it was open towards Rayne. When it was she gasped and I watched as the thing flew towards her and wrapped around her hand, wrapping her in a protective layer of metal. She gazed at it and studied the thing.
"So... This is the power of the grandest adonis? Such mastery over the mind that even a few seconds with some of my memories is enough to create an experimental piece of technology and power it with your own radiant power? It's hard not to be in awe of that." She quipped, gently, as she messed with the gauntlet, a joyous look on her face.
"This is comparatively simple tech but it's impressive to be able to make it out of nothing. 'Creation', when wielded by someone with enough power, is no joke. Neither is 'Erotech'. Powering ethertech ourselves... Bold." She remarked, awestruck. As she said that, I quietly put together that she had thought of a similar strategy once but had in all likelihood been too afraid to try it out herself. Perhaps she was simply biased since she had lived in the now fallen empire and had felt the power of ether, but since I hadn't I lacked her fear.
"And now we just have to ready ourselves for an invasion... I guess the time has come to really busy ourselves. Okay, Alpha, Rayne, go and begin to create armaments and ships for us to use as part of our invasion. You can also have the aid of Nixie." I replied, as I began to delegate.
"Riezel, go and get Lilith and go and oversee our demons. I'll also do this..." I said before Riezel hissed and felt something hot touching her skin, marking her as a high-ranking official among my demonic forces.
"Zaria and Fara, before we go and take on the group of ascendants we're gonna face down in Etherscape we're gonna go and take the Starmazon Armada. I need you to go and prepare for that. If you two and Aster could go and review what you know about the Starmazons it'd be easier for us to prepare for that." I told them, before turning and facing Savannah.
"I need you to go and get Khloe and Magnus. The three of you are, aside from the prime angels, the heads of, and the strongest angels in my collective host. Your host especially, since it's a host of warrior angels, will be needed in the days to come, but everyone is gonna have to work hard. Can you whip your host into shape in the next few weeks?" I asked her. She considered my question for a few moments before smiling and nodding at me.
"Good. When we head into Etherscape it's gonna take everyone working together for us to truly succeed." I told her before she wordlessly created a portal and walked through it. Everyone else proceeded to do the same thing except for Sofia. When it was just the two of us, I gazed at her silently and smiled.
"And then there were two..." She remarked, just to kill the silence that filled the air between us. We both laughed a second after she said that.
"So... You wanted to talk about 'us'?" I asked, as I continued to smile softly at her. She nodded at me, and I opted to give her the floor so that she could speak without interruption.
