Even while my scrying spell was active my primary physical body remained in the office of the mayor. As it did my followers and the newest member of my burgeoning cult, the mayor himself, regained their composure more fully. The mayor opted to begin to speak first, shortly after seeing the initial interactions between my "wife" and my "fiancé".
"Antonio... Before I articulate my ambitions and give voice to something I may never be able to take back may I ask you something?" He asked, looking at me respectfully. I feigned consideration for a moment, as I had already made the choice to answer the supplications and questions of those who elected to follow me so I already knew that I would answer, within reason, questions my followers had for me.
I wanted to be a god who actually deserved to be worshiped. One who aided, protected, and empowered his followers, not merely one who grew "fat", metaphorically, on the reach and influence of my existing followers. I would earn the genuine and heartfelt piety of the people of the omniverse.
I nodded at the mayor and smiled curiously at him. In response, he visibly brightened and considered how to articulate his question. As he did I passively learned it through the mere act of simply gazing at him, as my mind filled with his question, and how to safely word it.
He had not seen me to be a violent sort, but the gods of this world tended to be known for being fickle and ill-tempered and the man knew of the surviving stories of many such gods. I did not begrudge him for his caution, and allowed him the time he needed to feel comfortable enough to ask his question of his own volition. When he was ready his smile turned more genuine and he spoke again.
"Antonio, my lord... May you share with me what you are capable of? I do not wish to be overly ambitious, especially if you are but the... deific equivalent of a child. I do believe you are a mighty god, but I, as a mere mortal do not fully understand what that entails." The man meekly exclaimed. As he spoke Imani's eyes flashed upon him and I felt her beginning to subtly use her potent psychic gifts upon the man. I placed one of my hands on her and infused her with the potent corruption that now suffused me and empowered me even further.
My subtle actions bestowed Imani with greater power and also allowed me to easily nullify her attempts to act. Imani was a temperamental sort, and so she needed to be handled with a bit of care. The mayor was not like her, he was not raised in the faith of the Living Gods by Alphor and his kin. He did not know of our powers over creation, over destruction, and even other concepts like fate and magic. All he knew of gods were of lesser, distant "relatives" of mine who were far weaker than I was. And in some ways, they were more human, more fallible than I was.
He knew of half-remembered myths, and of epic tales of gods and their scions defeating monsters and even engaging in acts of creation but nothing on the scale I was already capable of. He knew not how if I wanted I could erase all of existence and begin again, anew, in an omniverse of my own creation. He had no way to imagine that time and fate themselves were subservient to my will and my whims.
His mortal, ignorant mind could not conceive of the possibility that through him I could see the lives and fates of his ancestors all the way back to the first single-celled organisms to be born in the depths of the boiling primordial ooze from which the first lifeforms on Earth formed, lived, and died. And despite his ignorance, if I wanted to I could look at him and see the entire history of his species, or at least the history of his species and their ancestors, as it related to his own birth.
The sort of omniscience I possessed, if I ever felt like using it, was enough that all I needed was a glance and a desire to know virtually any knowledge I wanted. The vast, ever-changing tapestry of fate was mine to see, to change, and to control with ease. The sands of time were mine to command, and mine alone even though other gods and spirits would certainly pretend otherwise and behave as though the precept of time were somehow theirs to touch, to manipulate, and to alter.
I gazed at the mayor and smiled warmly. As I did I opted to tell him the truth, as he could understand it.
"Mayor Summers... I am capable of any action you could imagine. Anything from rewriting fate itself to erasing all that is, was, and should have been, is within my capabilities. Time, fate, even meaning itself, are all willing servants of mine." I explained, with ease and with a sort of mysteriousness that caused all three of the women with me to look at me a little bit differently.
While I was still not excited at the prospect of utilizing my powers on the highest possible scales I was beginning to get over that hesitancy. In time, as my influence expanded, I knew I'd come to lose this preference. In the depths of my heart, I also knew that I was capable of and if I needed to, more than willing to use my powers on larger scales than I had done yet.
Acts like creating a hell-dimension of mine and opening a portal that allowed the monsters within to pour forth freely into places I wished to see destroyed was an act I was willing to do if I felt the need. And, on the other side of that coin, I was equally willing to commit an act like creating a paradisiacal dimension and opening a one-way portal into it to save either servants of mine or those I sought to turn into servants. For now, I had no need to do such things, and I was in no desire to rush towards circumstances that necessitated either sort of action on my part.
In the wake of my explanation, I rose my hand and allowed the mayor to gaze upon it. His gaze was both respectful and filled with almost child-like awe. As he gazed at it, I activated a power I had used once before; "Heaven's King".
"Heaven's King" was one of my more spectacular powers. With it, I could instantly kill most entities, only beings such as Titans, and ascendants could actually resist it, but that was not the only way to actually use it. Indeed, killing with "Heaven's King" was the most destructive and least creative use of the power possible.
The potent ability had much more potential than just being a big stick that a Living God wielded to ensure the loyalty of their lesser servants and worshipers. With "Heaven's King" one could manipulate souls themselves and could do everything that entailed. That meant everything from creating souls to altering them was possible to someone who possessed this power in its true, unbridled form. One such as myself.
I looked at the mayor and smiled. As I did I reached within the man and touched his soul, my metaphysical limbs invisibly reaching into his heart and extracting the metaphysical core of his being, a solidification and corporealization of the man's truest self. This process was not painful to him because I did not wish for it to be, as I was solely doing it to prove a point. The man's eyes clouded over and he let out an odd sound, one that was half shock, and half bliss, as I began to pull his soul out of his body though his eyes never left the orb.
The room began to fill with an ethereal light as the human's soul was given a physical form by my actions. I was the one who dictated the form of the man's soul as a physical object and I did so with ease simply by desiring the object to take on the form of an orb of otherworldly light. The orb floated out of him and over to the air above the palm of my hand due to it being carried by my invisible metaphysical limbs, which themselves were more akin to eldritch tendrils than anything like what humans envisioned of as hands. Once the orb floated in the palm of my hand I studied it.
It was a perfectly circular object that radiated an aura of brilliant light. As the man stared at it his mind filled with an awareness of the object's true nature and its intimate connection to him. The orb was the mayor's truest self and essence and by giving it shape and material form I could not only manipulate it I could also explain to him how I was doing so.
"Watch me touch your soul Mr. Mayor." I said, almost impishly and with a huge grin on my face. Immediately upon finishing speaking I extended my other hand towards the glowing orb and touched it with an extended index finger. As I did the mayor let out a delighted and surprised gasp, as he felt the touch as readily as if I were massaging his back. And then I did something fun. I used my newfound powers over corruption to touch and warp the mayor's soul.
The brilliant orb didn't cease to glow as I corrupted it. Instead of dimming the color of the glow was all that changed, and so instead of shining a brilliant white light, the orb began to radiate a blue glow of equal intensity. As it did I watched the corruption begin to seep into and transform the mayor outright.
Rebeza, the newest member of my as of yet unnamed faction in omniversal politics, was an archdemoness of corruption. Due to this facet of herself she possessed potent corruptive energy that she could manipulate and infuse others with through sex, and now due to her being a member of my faction other, easier methods as well. I was a much stronger being than she was and I possessed a power known as "Omnikinesis" due to my nature as a Living God.
"Omnikinesis" was an immense, absolute power that allowed me to manipulate matter, time, energy, space, quantum particles, and other concrete and semi-concrete physical mediums such as those with unlimited freedom. My omnikinetic abilities were actually the reason why I could manipulate Rebeza's corruption so freely, even though she couldn't. Her corruption was a kind of energy, albeit a supernatural kind, she infused those she seduced with, and as a kind of energy, it was possible for me to manipulate it. Until now she had lacked such abilities since she was not a Living God and was just an archdemoness. Thankfully with me as her fiancé that could change.
Rebeza's corruption was potent, soul-altering energy that seeped into someone and affected both their physiologies and their mindsets. Those affected by her corruption became more lustful, more open-minded as it related to sex, and were bolstered by the energies infusing them. They became stronger, smarter, more charismatic, loyal to her (and now me) and to other corrupted beings, and sought to spread the corruption itself or at least the influence wielded by corrupted individuals within a society. In many ways, it was akin to becoming one of my vampires, but to a less intense extent though as I was gaining more influence over it that could change if I willed it.
The corruption now surging through our veins was also steadily becoming "our" and in some ways "my" corruption instead of just Rebeza's. It was filling me as steadily and as powerfully as other fonts of power such as ether, ascendant energy, sinful energy, lust energy, and essence were, which was quite impressive all things considered. I could use it as diversely as I could use any of the other energies that flowed through me, to do things like heal and restore people or to blast away enemies with a destructive, evil wave of kinetic energy that dealt wounds that would not heal with just the passage of time.
The mayor visibly transformed before the eyes of myself and my followers. The wrinkles on his face, wrinkles formed prematurely due to the stresses of his work, smoothed themselves out and I sensed his muscles shifting and growing more greater. He sat up straighter in his seat, becoming a bit taller as he did. I even sensed his memory and intellect sharpening due to my potent psychic abilities and my ability to ambiently sense the mental capacities of other people around me.
"That feels... incredible oh lord of lords!" He excitedly proclaimed as corruption seeped into him, filling every centimeter of his body. I could even hear certain parts of him growing longer and more capable. I turned and looked at Rebeza with a firm smirk on my face. She smirked right back at me, and her clones gently touched Titania and Imani, right before I activated one of my more fun abilities; "Master". With it I could share copies of my own abilities that I could absolutely control with anyone I wished including "Omnikinesis".
By sharing "Omnikinesis" with Rebeza I gave her the ability to manipulate the corruption that seeped into the two of us with the same intrinsical mastery and ease I could. Importantly, that gave her the power to touch someone and fill them with corruption as readily as I could.
I watched as her hands darkened and she bestowed our corruption upon Titania and Imani, causing them to be further beautified and enhanced once more, even though they had only just been transformed into my most potent kinds of vampires. The two of them tried to stifle sudden moans but were only somewhat successful in doing so, and as the corruption settled within them it gave them one surprise effect they were not able to resist releasing blissful moans about; the lust plague.
My vision, not able to be blocked by things as minor as clothes, allowed me to see the appearance of stylized uterus-like birthmarks appearing on their skin above roughly where their uteruses actually were. The marks radiated purple energy and drastically increased the libidos of both women. The disease also infected the mayor but I cared a bit less about him at the moment, though that changed when in the aftermath of my servants letting out lustful moans he cleared throat and articulated his ambitions.
"Umm... I have decided what I'd like, my lord. My ambition I mean. I would like to become the governor of North Carolina." He stated, causing me to turn to him and smile joyously. And my smile only widened when he continued to speak.
"I'd... also like to see Redsville become the state capital." He added, which was something that I truly liked. I began to laugh delightedly when he revealed the scope of his ambitions, and as I began to consider the myriad of ways that I could make those goals a reality, as well as what I'd ask of him in return.
Meanwhile, my scrying eye was gradually descending on an area that I had chosen to be the next place which I would bless. The place in question was a small nunnery run by an order of sisters named "The Sisters Of The Sun", a nunnery devoted to one of the larger faiths in the United States; the monastic religion known as Felmocism.
I steeled myself and readied my mind for what was to come of my interactions with an actual religious order devoted to another god, one that like myself actually existed and was capable of actually doing things if given a reason despite his relative inactivity.
Thanks for the chapter
Appreciate you Krairos!