207 Declaration of War (2/2)
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.
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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 I 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.]