True Power

Akamal hurtled through the air towards my allies and myself. I stood in front of my clone and my allies and grinned, readying myself to receive the attack of the enraged vestige.

Behind me stood my shadow, now a fully formed and sapient spirit, my clone who was wearing a high-tech exosuit, and the greatest of all of Akamal's victims, the now fully living spirit queen named Ravanthan. Akamal held one axe, his only one now, aloft and roared like a wounded animal as the distance between him and I continued to rapidly decrease. As Akamal closed in, my allies, even my shadow spirit, and my very clone were shaken and stiffened in fear thanks to the powers of the vestige. That, annoyingly, was enough for the persistent vestige to nearly reach me.

When Akamal was as close to me as he could get before his axe could reach out to me, I reached out with my mind, while turning to face him and forcibly stopped him from advancing with my mind. He abruptly stopped, suspended in mid-air as I held him in a telekinetic vise-grip.

I was using an ultra-enhanced form of telekinesis that I had only gotten thanks to the upgrade to the mind domain I had just earned and since Akamal was going all out now I felt his struggle as he fought against the telekinetic vise I had him in. I felt his muscles strain against my mind, and like he was fond of doing I roared as I worked to keep him in check.

"Hey, what are you doing just standing there!? Do something!" I roared, as Akamal worked to free himself from my grip, the same grip which was suspending the vestige in mid-air. My words stirred the hearts of my allies, who began to shake themselves free from the fear they felt due to Akamal's power.

Unsurprisingly my clone was the first to fully regain control of himself, and from behind me, I heard the noises of him lifting up the metallic arm and taking proper aim at our foe. I grinned as I heard the voice of his exosuit give him instructions on how to properly take aim at Akamal, and a split second later I heard the noise of the laser cannon built into the exosuit beginning to charge up its payload.

Ravanthan also swiftly regained her senses, and she felt her mind race as she instantaneously regained all of her old powers. I could fully hear her thoughts and her mind raced as she sorted through her powers. Though I was mostly focused on holding back Akamal a not small part of me was in awe of the powers granted to me by the third tier of influence over the mind domain.

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The third tier of influence over the mind domain wasn't the last tier, but it was an unbelievably immense upgrade to the first and second tiers. Among other things I now had powers with names like "Psionic derivation", "Omni-Telepathy, "Psionic godhood" and "Absolute psionic power", which ultra-charged all of my psionic abilities, and made me incomparably more powerful when it came to psychic abilities than I had been hours ago.

My mind was incomparably faster than it had been before I freed and resurrected Ravanthan. Which was handy because I was also capable of moving trillions of times faster than I could before, thanks to a synergy between the third tier of influence over the domain of stars and the second tier of influence over the physics domain. I had entered into a class all my own in terms of having immense, unthinkable power.

Even in the moments since I had acquired my new powers, the avatar of mine that had been exploring the cosmos had already felt the truly mind-boggling increase to its powers. While I was contemplating the nature of my enhanced mind my avatar had already reached the center of the galaxy of my birth, thanks to its now truly incredible speed, and when it got there it activated, for the first time, my new "Galaxy perception" ability. My mind swelled as I gained a nigh-omniscient understanding of the galaxy where my life began.

In the instant that I gained my localized pseudo-omniscience over the galaxy of my birth I gained an immediate and true understanding of just how small my "world" had been. Even with my empire stretching across multiple solar systems and into various dimensions it was a pitifully small empire. There were actually empires in existence right now that encompassed the entirety of multiple galaxies.

I had known on paper just how incomprehensibly vast this universe was, but now that I could see everything in one average-sized galaxy I quickly and truly felt the difference between knowing something theoretically and knowing it in practice. Even my domain sense notifications weren't handy for truly capturing the scale of the universe, as they didn't allow me to visualize how vast it was, only how many people were in it, which wasn't helpful for considering the size of the universe given the existence of voids and supervoids.

I silently created another avatar, one which came into existence outside of the confines of the Temporal Temple, and telepathically commanded it to go to the center of every galaxy and to help me forcefully attain omniscience in this universe. The thing set out to obey my command without hesitation, and not even a second later I felt my awareness expand yet again, bringing a smile to my face.

That said, to truly enjoy the immense power I now possessed I'd need to go ahead and defeat Akamal. And to do that I'd need to go all out and unleash my true power.

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My clone unleashed the first of his blows against our enemy in the form of a concentrated stream of potent plasmic energy which exploded out of the hand on his suit. The burst of energy was powerful, but as it raced towards Akamal I decided to step in and help it increase in potency. I created a barrier around the beam which functioned as a barrel did for a cannon, and directed it so that the entirety of the beam slammed into the vestige.

Akamal hissed in pain as the plasma began to pummel him, and I felt him thrash even more against the vise I held him in. I chuckled as he thrashed against my efforts, and decided to "reward" his persistence.

I encased the monster in a thin, one-way barrier that would allow my attacks and the attacks of my allies to hit him but not allow him to hit us. It was also an absolute barrier, one so strong that only a vestige or higher being could break it, it would prove resilient and immune to any other sort of strike. Which was handy since I was about to unleash an incredibly potent strike.

I used a power I had just gained entitled "Omni-manipulation" to grab ahold of some of the particles within the barrier, and excite them. They swiftly began to exert heat and to heat up the interior of the barrier, while leaving everything else in it untouched. Akamal felt to cry out in pain as I also boosted the effects of the particles by manipulating the temperature inside of the barrier with my own powers as an archfey.

Ravanthan sensed my actions and she gazed at me, her emotions indicating a mixture of fear and awe, which I sensed quite easily. I chuckled, and elevated the temperature inside of the barrier to a temperature hotter than the sun. Akamal's body was set ablaze and he roared in agony.

My shadow, which was now a fully sapient and alive spirit of darkness, gazed up at our enemy. It then rose one of its hands and I watched as spikes made of shadow-stuff exploded out of its hand as if it were using a gatling gun and flew through the air until they pierced Akamal. The attacks were small, but I empowered them by blessing my creation with boosts from the domains of darkness and destruction. The instant after I did that its spikes increased in power, size, and speed, and I watched as they actually proceeded to inflict real damage on our enemy.

"He's weakening! Come on everyone! Let's finish this thing and bring an end to Akamal's terror!" I roared, triumphantly. Ravanthan was heartened by my words, and from behind me I sensed her begin to move. The spirit queen once known as the queen of stars focused the entirety of her attention on our shared enemy, right as he managed to focus and gather up all of his intent, willpower, and hatred into his fists.

"Althos! I'm coming... For you!" He roared, as hurled a single punch at the barrier I had encased him in, and shattered it from the inside. I roared in anger as he did that, and behind me Ravanthan spread her arms out wide and manifested her own soul weapons, two gigantic maces. One of them crackled with electricity, and the other was so cold it brought down the temperature in the room.

She stepped forward and began to swing her maces towards Akamal, even as he once more hurled himself at me. He was aiming for me specifically, and I wasn't sure if it was because he had the presence of mind to know that I could resurrect Ravanthan over and over or because of his now unending hatred of me.

Akamal landed on the ground not far from me and swung his axe at my face, which didn't phase me in the slightest. I instantaneously activated my new true speed, skyrocketing my speed tens of trillions of times over its normal amount, and watched as my enemy froze, his axe centimeters from my face and Ravanthan's maces centimeters from his chest.

I was a being that existed in another dimension compared to how I had previously existed. I stepped forward and hurled a single punch at Akamal, aiming for his evil, wicked face. My super-speed punch hit him so hard that I felt his entire body turn, even in my ultra-speed mode. After punching him I stared at him for a few moments, momentarily considering how best to proceed from here. It didn't take me long to realize that I had Akamal in my power, which meant that I could have fun with him.

I placed a single finger on his head and absorbed his memories, sighing as I felt millions of years of knowledge and wisdom suddenly power into me. This was another thing I could only do thanks to the enormous power boost I had received when I freed Ravanthan from Akamal's control.

"I wonder if that's... all I can take?" I asked myself still in my ultra-speed mode. I retracted my finger from Akamal's forehead, and then stared at him for a moment.

"I... don't think it is." I uttered, a wicked smile on my face as I realized that I was presented with a truly unique opportunity here. I could steal from a god, and perhaps attain greater rewards than I was promised. As I considered that possibility I heard a wicked sense of laughter from deep within my mind, and I intuitively recognized that the voice I heard belonged to the strange subdomain of vermin and parasites. I merely grinned and tore off Akamal's armor.

Akamal's bare chest was exposed to me, and I placed a single hand on his chest, right above where his heart was located. I shuddered as I realized that I was moving so fast that he couldn't do anything to me at the moment.

"Today... I take what is mine." I said, softly, as I began to drain his powers from him. At first nothing happened, but then I shivered in delight as I began to feel his significant powers seep out of him and into me.

The sensation of his powers flooding out of him and into me was a strange one. It felt as though I was a dehydrated person who had just reached a clean, purified river and was filling myself up with incredible, delicious water. I also felt Akamal subconsciously realize that he was weakening, and I felt the instant his axe became too heavy for him to carry.

Akamal's powers over time flooded into me, granting me not just one tier of influence over it, but multiple, granting me an immense rush of power that resulted in me acquiring the fourth tier of influence over time. The same thing happened for the subdomain of voodoo magic, which was a particularly strange feeling, since I hadn't possessed any power over voodoo until just now, but I only went up to the third tier of influence for that particular subdomain.

I was drinking in all of Akamal's power, not just the power he had now, but the power he had possessed in life. Akamal's skin began to lose its color, and then he began to visibly age, as I greedily drank in all of his power and lifeforce. Akamal was dying, thanks to my powers over parasites, and his death was feeding me.

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Akamal's death came swiftly. When he was too weak to stay alive, he began to fade into dust as if he had been disintegrated until nothing remained of him.

I reached out in the last moments and absorbed his soul. As I did there was a pleasant smile on my face.

I felt one final increase in power as I gained access to a third divine realm, the one once controlled by Akamal himself, as well as power over the Temporal Temple, and the third tiers of influence over the destruction, and faith domains as well as the vermin subdomain, and the subdomains of truth and lies, as bonus rewards for how I completed the quest. One not totally unexpected surprise I received was that I became a level 21 rogue, since I stole power from a vestige.

I felt a wave of proud satisfaction wash over me and for a moment I considered beginning to hunt down and devouring vestiges whenever I could find them. Now that my powers over parasites had increased to such a degree I had gained more than enough power to challenge vestiges and to absorb their powers. This made me relish knowing of the existences of other vestiges, especially ones as mind-bendingly powerful as Selena and Morehammer, who could leave their gravesites.

That said I quickly dismissed this idea, and for now opted to focus on completing the quests I had acquired and to work towards becoming omniscient in the ways that I knew were safe and didn't involve risking my life. However, if I did encounter any other vestiges... Well I could certainly consider devouring them. The part of me that felt the influence of the sin of gluttony loved that idea. After all, what meal could be more satisfying than eating what remains of a deceased deity?

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I consciously slowed myself down enough so that time began to flow again, which was strange since I had immense powers over time itself now. When I did, Ravanthan was able to see me annihilate Akamal and her eyes widened even as her swung maces missed their now destroyed target. Ravanthan stepped forward and caught herself in time to prevent herself from falling and took several steps away from me.

When she was a good distance away from me, she turned her maces towards me and stared at me. I snapped my fingers and my clone ceased to exist, and my shadow-spirit returned to me, eager to be reunited with its master. Ravanthan gazed at me, fear, awe, and more mixing into her gaze.

"I... sense his power in you. What did you do?" She asked, a cocktail of emotions audible in her voice. I smiled at her, and understood her fear. Akamal had killed her, and I now radiated the same fearful powers he had.

What's more is that I had absorbed his powers completely and in doing so become a stronger deity than he had ever been, even while he was alive. And that was before considering my nature as an omni-higher-being. I gazed at Ravanthan and began to speak.

"I began my life in a galaxy far away from here, a few years ago. I was a god of a few things back then, and two of those things were vermin... and parasites. I used my powers over parasites and parasitism to completely devour all of Akamal's power, and then to destroy him. He is dead and gone, truly dead and gone the kind where you just cease to exist." I told the queen of stars.

She took in my words for a second, before desummoning her weapons and sitting down. When she was on the floor, she titled her head down and sighed as she felt the weight of my words crash over her. Tears began to stream down her face, as she felt a wave of happiness and relief hit her.

"At last... Akamal is gone. He won't ever hurt anyone else. His victims can rest in peace for the first time..." Ravanthan uttered, amazed at the knowledge that her nemesis was actually gone. I studied her for a second, and then spoke up.

"So... What about you? You've been trapped here since before the mysterious apocalypse that wiped out higher beings. Very, very few beings from before the end of the mythic age actively remember you, but the universe knows you're alive again and it now knows that I exist. So what are you going to do?" I asked, as I recalled the first ever "Universal notification" I had ever seen, the one that declared that I existed and had resurrected Ravanthan.

The spirit queen contemplated my words for a few moments. She wasn't the only one who was busy considering the future. My mind was racing with notifications now that the battle against Akamal was over, and many of them were prayers devoted to me from beings across the universe who now knew that I existed. I suspected that Ravanthan was receiving a similar plethora of notifications. After a few moments she turned and faced me and began to speak.

"I... don't know. There's this big notification in my mind's eye that is blocking the other notifications I know are waiting. I can feel the power of worshipers, old and new, surging into me, but I won't know precisely how many worshipers I have until I do something about this first notification." She told me, gazing into my eyes. I knew she couldn't lie to me, my newly enhanced powers over truth and lies made it impossible for someone to lie to me unless I allowed them too, even other living higher beings.

I could have looked into her mind and learned what the notification said, but I didn't. Ravanthan was a fellow higher being, and so I was going to treat her with respect. I also sat down on the cold marble floor and sighed.

"Well, in a few minutes I plan to go and visit the people who made this area inescapable for lesser beings. They agreed to become my allies if I went here and ridded this place of the nightmares lurking within it." I told Ravanthan as I began to sort through the notifications that filled my mind's eye. There were many, including ones that alerted me that Spartina and her allies already knew of my victory here and were celebrating.

They learned of my success thanks to Spartina using powerful scrying magic, which made me chuckle. That said, it meant that I had successfully acquired immensely powerful new followers and in doing so gained not only a fascinating new artifact but also utterly transformative new powers. I glanced at Ravanthan again and spoke to her a bit more.

"You know... If you don't want to go out into the grand universe alone and start from scratch... You could join me. You'd be the first member of my pantheon. I was planning to go out and create spirits of planetary power to be in my pantheon, but here you are... an actual higher being, the first to be brought back to life by me. By joining my pantheon you'd have access to an unfathomable number of worshipers. And now I could even bestow some religion based powers onto you, if you want. I just hit the third tier of influence over the faith domain." I said to Ravanthan, smiling as I spoke.

She froze as she considered my words, feeling the immense weight of them. I was offering her a true place in the universe, to not be alone anymore and to have an easy way to gain worshipers and servants again. I watched as she internally debated what to do.

She and I sat in silence for a few minutes. As she mulled over my offer, I watched her eyes change color over and over and I watched her wrack her brain for any and all knowledge she possessed about gods and pantheons. I internally chuckled at the intense deliberation she was showing.

If I wanted too, with my newfound powers over souls, spirits, and vermin I could actually completely absorb her and recreate her in every way, with every single memory she currently has, aside from her hesitation and instead make her join my pantheon eagerly. The boosts to my powers were so intense that even she, a fully fledged higher being, was helpless if I wanted to hurt her. It felt strange to have that much power, especially since it was just days ago that I defeated Technos and took some of his powers into myself.

Equally strangely was the fact that my powers over emotions allowed me to do things other than hurt her if I had wanted too. The power boost I had received from defeating and absorbing Akamal's power was so immense that I could use my powers over emotions, the seven virtues, and the seven deadly sins, on gods weaker than me, or any higher being who wasn't a deity. This, coupled with my new powers over life and souls, gave me a fun way to create pantheons if I felt like using my ultra-resurrection power.

As a god of love and joy, as well as pride and obsession, I had incredible new ways to gain allies of unimaginable power. These powers made me a being of universal might, and one who had the power to create armies instantly.

Ravanthan eventually sighed and looked at me. I watched her try to speak, and then suddenly freeze up and audibly chuckled when I realized she was about to try and lie to me. Something she couldn't do, now that I had true power over lies and truth. She shook her head a moment after she froze up, and when she tried to speak she actually succeeded.

"I... can't make that sort of utterly life-changing decision quickly. Can I have some time to think about it? Maybe... You allow me to accompany you for a day or two before I decide whether or not I will join your pantheon?" She asked me, speaking rather reasonably. Her concerns made sense and showed an ultimately rational ability to make complex decisions.

I smiled at her and got up. When I did I opened a portal to my temple inside of the Terran colony, my current "home".

"Well, I think that's a reasonable attitude to take. I am perfectly fine with you keeping me company for a while. In that case, why don't we head to our new, shared, home?" I asked her, before helping her up with my mental powers. When she was on her feet she walked next to me and nodded.

"Yes... Let's leave this place." She said, eagerly, a bright smile on her face as we walked into the portal and emerged on the other side, inside of the temple I had built for myself. When we were through, I closed the portal behind me and sighed happily. It felt good to be back home, empowered almost beyond belief.