Our luxurious sedan drove leisurely around Redsville, and over the course of about two and a half hours we ran a number of errands such as purchasing new clothes, jewelry, and technology for me, which I stored safely away in my "Inventory". As we explored the city, my ambient psychic abilities allowed me to effortlessly detect the thoughts of those who saw the car, and I grinned as I sensed their envy, aimed squarely at myself, and my admiration of the thing.
With every passing minute Cecilia spoke to me of the different people in the cult that Alphor had led for countless eons. As she spoke it became increasingly clear that she was in psychic communication with the other members of the cult, and also that she, in her own way, was every bit as devoted to me as Manuel, but that she had a less naturally intense personality and so her eyes would flare up with fanaticism. There was also another look in her eyes, as she admired my new outfit, and my more refined, handsome form, courtesy of "Absolute Condition" and the shapeshifting powers it granted me.
The cult Alphor led was filled with interesting people. I had only met Manuel, Ortholox, and Cecilia, but there were numerous other people in the cult who I had not yet summoned, with their own personality quirks and ambitions.
"'The High Priestess' is devoted to the idea of spreading faith in you far and wide, and if you summoned her she'd surely perform miracles in your name. She's really fond of healing and is, according to Ortholox anyway, actually somewhat of a 'Faith-healer', though unlike your people's perception of faith healers, she's far from a charlatan." Cecilia informed me, as my mind filled with images of a woman with shadow-colored skin whose purely white eyes were filled with reverential fanaticism.
"If you told her too, I bet she'd even declare war on other religions and gods. Though… You don't strike me as the sort to try that." Cecilia told me, casually. I chuckled and nodded at her.
"I don't know what other gods are actually like. I'd like to find out some day, organically, but at the moment..." I told her, revealing my ignorance of most religions. If I wanted to learn what gods were like I could do so with but a thought, thanks to "Worldmind", or I could learn organically. I… preferred to learn organically, but when the time came for me to deal with gods I'd surely use "Worldmind" a little bit.
And speaking of "Worldmind"...
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In the back of my mind existed several newly activated abilities, besides "Worldmind". Those abilities were, according to the voice of my unconscious self, all of my current powers, but put together they represented a truly overwhelming amount of power.
Some of the powers were seemingly esoteric ones like "True Annointed" that bestowed upon me a bottomless well of wisdom that I could grant to my followers, and also "Alchemical Arbiter" which gave me the ability to redefine the very essence of all sorts of things. Other powers were decidedly less esoteric, such as "Heaven's King" which gave me the power to resurrect or kill with a thought, even other deities, as well as create and control afterlives, and "Omnikinesis" which allowed me to manipulate all forms of matter, energy, time, and space.
I had also been informed of the truly epic "Master Spark" powers, powers which dwarfed even my own current abilities, and would require me to master "Modes of Transcendence" before I could gain even more "Master Spark" abilities than the singular one I currently possessed. I knew that there were eight "Master Spark" powers, and that I currently possessed one.
The only "Master Spark" power I possessed at the moment was "Ex Nihilo", which allowed me to manipulate nothingness and destroy absolutely anything I wished to destroy, including other divinities, up to the level of another "Living God" and, as far as I knew, there were no other "Living Gods" left in existence.
I also learned that there were things called "Modes of Transcendence", which were reflections of my soul. At the moment I had access to a few different "Modes of Transcendence", namely those of "The Outsider", or the eldritch one, the "Inheritor", or the birthright one, and "The Architect", or the creative one. There were a total of twelve such "Modes of Transcendence", and even "Worldmind" was unable to inform me of much about them. I would need to work to master my current modes, and in doing so hopefully inch towards understanding the remaining nine.
All in all, I had a grand total of twenty-eight grand powers, and the ability to grant myself an infinite number of other, lesser, limited powers that were akin to the superpowers possessed by comic book superheroes and supervillains.
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Shortly after I had spent a few moments contemplating my powers, the luxurious car was parked at a small parking lot just outside of a local park, and I found myself accompanied by my companions near the heart of a beautifully maintained and expertly planned park. Off in the distance we could hear the sounds of walkers slowly exploring the park, and of families having picnics on the warm summer day.
We were all located underneath a solitary gazebo in a less-traveled corner of the park, and I openly admired the new outfit I wore and the clothing worn by my companions, all of which I had just purchased for us.
I was wearing a suit and tie, and in my new form such clothing looked well-suited to my physique. My current body had a well-built but lean musculature that hinted that I was strong but didn't reveal or even truly suggest I had superhuman strength, despite the fact that to call my strength "superhuman" would have been an understatement. I was also now around 6'4" or around 194 centimeters tall.
My companions both wore professional looking clothes as well, and they proudly wore their clothing, due to the fact that I had picked out their outfits and paid for them myself, using my potent black artifact to do so.
I studied the gazebo and allowed my mind to learn about it through visual psychometry, while occasionally glancing at the sleek new black watch on my wrist. It was still morning, though quite late in the morning, and it was hard to think about how radically my life had changed over the course of just a few hours. And of how it was about to change, further still when I did what I was about to do.
After a few moments, I took a deep breath and began to speak.
"Well my friends…" I began, causing my two companions to smile at me, proudly and eagerly.
"The time has come for us to go ahead and call everyone else to us. It is time for us to reach out across the cosmos and call forth the leaders of this cult of mine to this place." I proclaimed, my infinite mind already beginning to snake out across the cosmos as I spoke, exploring every hidden corner of reality to touch and call upon every figure in Alphor's strange cult.
"And in doing so… Begin a new era in the history of the omniverse." I uttered, right as I allowed my reality-shakingly powerful and infinite mind to ensnare those who, in their hearts of hearts, already worshiped me.
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The first time in his life that the living god known as Antonio truly flexed his deific might was in searching for those who already worshiped him. As he did so, his divine, unstoppable mind explored the cosmos, roaming the totality of existence, and gently wrapped around the various figures who worshiped him.
His mind powerfully but subtly ensnared even the mightiest of his worshipers, such as Alphor himself, the mysterious and mighty angel known as "The Seraph", and the epic-galaxy-destroying machine known only as "The Automaton". They felt its subtle presence, and for some reason all of them relaxed when they learned of the strange psychokinetic tendrils observing them.
When Antonio actually pulled them to himself, none of the various figures actually attempted to resist the tendrils. Instead, they all gently embraced the tendrils before them, and were willingly teleported across vast, in some cases multi-universal distances, and yet only an instant passed before they found themselves standing in the middle of a warm gazebo in the midst of a pleasantly warm summer day.
Some of the quicker, sharper members of the cult instinctively noticed Cecilia and Ortholox, and relaxed in their presence. Others, the more innately relaxed members of the cult noticed Antonio first, and fell to their knees while their companions first noticed their peers and friends. Antonio himself smiled at them all, and waited for everyone to notice him. It only took the others a few moments to do so, and the instant that they did they all fell to their knees in humble worship and began to mutter apologies.
"There there, relax little ones." Antonio uttered, sensing their reverence for and love of him. Antonio, in his present state, was exuding a potent aura of power, one becoming of a deity, which was a first for him. He was feeling exhilarated in the wake of having truly utilized his powers for the first time.
Antonio stared at the figures, admiring them with an open and respectful eye, even when his gaze descended upon the ethereally beautiful woman known as "The Consort" to her companions and peers. She was a figure more beautiful than any human could ever hope to become, and had a soul that burned with the power of the ancient and primordial titans.
The titan who gave birth to her was actually one of the titans who in the distant past gave birth to and then waged war on the beings who claimed Earth's own Mount Olympus as their home, a conflict later known to humans as the Titanomachy, due, in no small part, to the fact that their children claimed to be gods when in fact they were merely beings who had minorly deific traits.
"A titan-born… incredible." Antonio muttered, as his mind raced with knowledge about the being in front of him. According to his visual psychometry "The Consort" was the child of the titan named Phoebe, and possessed her mother's beauty and brilliance.
"Lord Inheritor… Am I pleasing to you?" The incredibly beautiful woman asked, her voice dripping with excitement as she spoke. The others in the gazebo watched, curiously, waiting to see what their lord thought of her.
Titania, the titan-born woman who shared her name with the faerie queen in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, was one of the most fantastically beautiful beings I had ever seen. She was a titan-born being, possessing their keen powers, physique, beauty, and the innate power of their kind.
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As I gazed at her, I learned a tremendous amount of Earth's own history and about her people, the descendants of titans, the so-called titan-born. The fairy-like beauty in front of me was one of the apex members of her kind, one who possessed potent qualities that put her closer in power to the titans themselves than to the rank and file members of her species.
"Titania… Child of the titaness Phoebe, and of the majestic emperor Nicholas Van Kounter, rise." I proclaimed, so that I may look her in the face. The seemingly young woman rose up and looked at me, her soft eyes, largely grey with a small number of brown flakes near her pupils, filling with adoration as she gazed at me. She smiled at me, and the longer I stared at her soft, ruby lips, the harder it was to resist the urge to kiss the immortal woman.
"You are a… stunningly beautiful woman." I confessed, to the delight of the titan-born immortal. I heard her heart begin to hammer in her chest, sending the divine blood inside of her heart coursing through the rest of her body.
"Thank you, Lord Inheritor…" She replied, as she felt my eyes examine her body. I sensed her excitement, in a number of senses, as she gazed at me, and I had to work to contain and restrain myself. I turned away from her, after gazing at her for a bit longer, and steeling myself against the desire I had to spend time with her and her exclusively.
Afterwards my gaze fell upon Alphor and his daughters. Alphor was a figure who looked human, but he had striking, fiery scarlet hair and pointed ears, revealing his true nature as a member of an elf-like species.
Besides him were his two daughters, women who had equally striking hair and pointed ears. The two of them were also members of the cult, known as "The Emissary" and "The Advisor". They were both wearing professional clothing, dresses made of a sort of synthetic, alien material that Earth's humans had not yet learned how to create. They both kept their heads low to the ground, bowing and prostrating themselves before me. They were not quite as courageous as Titania was, which was unsurprising since Titania could trace her heritage back to "Living gods", unlike well over the majority of life forms.
"Alphor…" I uttered, kindly, as I turned my gaze towards the aforementioned cult leader. I sensed him shivering as he heard my voice, and I felt his reverence for me skyrocket. As I gazed at the figure, I opted to activate the potent and eerie nature of my "Emanation" ability.
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As Antonio activated his "Emanation" ability, a small menu appeared in his mind's eye. It was a simple thing that questioned the young god as to the aspect or aspects of himself he sought to emanate.
The "Emanation" ability was a potent power possessed by both all living gods, as well as by virtually all lesser gods. "Emanation" was a perfect power for displaying the majesty of a divine being possessed, as it allowed divine entities to showcase their true power without harming anyone, solely by touching the souls and senses of lesser beings.
Antonio sought to emanate two specific aspects of his unique and potent majesty: the beauty and radiance of his divine soul, and the sheer, omniversal scope of his potent abilities and might. As Antonio informed the menu that he sought to emanate those aspects of himself, it changed to ask him a new question: how was he going to show his followers that?
Antonio effortlessly informed the menu that he sought to create a series of incredibly bright lights that radiated out of him and seared the minds and souls of those who saw him with unforgettable memories of his holy majesty.
As soon as he had informed the menu of that, the menu vanished and Antonio knew that all he had to do to truly activate his ability was internally declare that it was time for him to do so.
Antonio smiled at the crowd of followers he had gathered, including the potent, multi-winged angel who was prostrating before him, and began to speak.
"Allow me to reward you all for your loyalty." He began, smiling serenely as he spoke.
"I will show you, a heart-changingly, life-changingly, soul-alteringly beautiful vision of power and serenity." He uttered, a confident, alluring smile on his face.
"Prepare yourselves… For radiance!" He commanded, powerfully, a mere nanosecond before he unleashed the incredibly potent power he had prepared.
The instant that he unleashed the power he had prepared he radiated an impossible amount of blinding white light. It exploded out of him and enveloped the entire gazebo, covering and momentarily blinding every single worshipper of his. A split second later they began to recover their vision, and as they did they began to see a variety of beautiful, surreal shapes from within the radiant light they were surrounded by.
The shapes were truly gorgeous and represented aspects of the internal beauty of their deity. They could see shapes representing Antonio's radiant joy, shapes representing the light of his soul, shapes representing the yearning he felt to learn more and understand all things.
And then came the shapes and silhouettes representing the incredible power of their deity. The shapes and silhouettes of his mighty powers destroying his enemies, and creating new allies. The shapes and silhouettes of him creating new worlds, new dimensions, new planets, and even leading existing forces to greatness. And as they watched, enraptured by the light show, their hearts and souls filled with a desire to serve not only "The Inheritor" generally, representing any possible scion of the living gods, but rather Antonio specifically.
The cult created and led by Alphor, in the midst of Antonio's strange and divine light show went from being worshipers of the living gods in the abstract to worshiping Antonio specifically, as they were exposed to the full radiance of his inner beauty and his potent might. And Antonio felt their hearts switching and changing, losing their fascination with the living gods as the leaders of the past, and instead replacing that fascination with a fanaticism for him and his goals. That made the young man begin to smile, and caused him to want to make more regular use of his mighty abilities, abilities that could alter the totality of reality if he felt like using them as boldly and widely as he could.
"How incredible…" He whispered, as he felt the emotions his worshipers were feeling in the midst of the incredible, mind-bending light show he had put them in as a reward for serving and worshiping the living gods of old so that they may serve and worship him.