Or an opportunity?

Setting up a system where I have a slow trickle of mana going to the Dungeon, creating Emanations of equal level to the Ferric Thralls is easy enough, and damn is it a good distraction from the fact that I am in TROUBLE.

As I walk downstairs to meet the adventurers that I hope my hundreds of low-level thralls will be able to handle, I ruminate over the fact that all the Champions of Darkness are going to be hunting me down, and I am on the same fucking continent as the most prolific and violent. Why did I need to be such an idiot…should have just served the Darkness, I mean shit my whole inspiration was the Hive and they served the-

Stop.

This isn’t a video game, as much as it feels like one and you modeled yourself after one. This is your life, your power, and these fuckers aren’t taking it from me. None of them.

When I see my new friends waiting by the doors, I wave and run over. “I’m sorry am I late?”

Galko shakes his head “Nah, Laddy don’t worry. We’re heading out a little early and with a few of the guards backing us up, traveling on horseback and carriage. Last night just after we went to bed a massive pulse of light came out of the Volcano, we need to handle it with pretty **** prejudice.”

Fuck, and I cannot stress this enough, my ass.

“Well let’s not keep the guard waiting then!” I say with a concerned look in my eyes, easily construed as being concerned about the Volcano, when I was actually concerned about how every decision I made appeared to, so far, be a misstep.

We all walk out of the Corp’s Hall, and make our way to the gate I came in through and saw the gathering of guards ready with horses and a few carriages. There was easily an extra forty people here, I guess they were really worried about it…but if the guards attack my dungeon without any actual provocation and I manage to come out on the other side, does that mean this city counts as aligned against me?

I wait for that lance of pain I got the last time I made a faulty jump of logic…and it doesn’t come. If I manage to get through this, this city is mine for the taking. A silver lining I suppose.

“How long will it take us to get there with the horses and carriages?” I ask as I glance around, using God’s Eye to see that most of the guards are just commoners without levels, a couple of captains are amongst us and they have a level or two in fighter.

“The weather is good, the paths and roads should be clear this time of year, and the horses are all well fed and watered, and given that this is urgent we aren’t going at a normal pace…we should be there at the end of the day. Delving in tomorrow morning.” Ademia explained, before saying “You didn’t get breakfast and the rest of us are high enough level that it isn’t a problem, go sit in one of the carriages, eat, and rest on the way. We’ll tell you tonight what you’re role will be when the fight starts.”

I nod a bit and smile, “Thanks Ademia. If you need me come and get me, ok guys?”

They all nod, though the only one who seems to actually care that I exist is Ademia, oddly. I thought Lena would be she seemed too focused to say anything to me even if she vouched for me yesterday.

But without much adieu I found a carriage with a couple of other people resting in it, hopped in the back, and laid back, making sure I was comfortable before after a few moments…I did it again. I unloaded all of my mana into the dungeon and created another sizeable army of Thralls. Seeing how prepared these people were, I needed the numbers more than I needed subtlety, again I fell asleep…again I seemed to find myself awake in another space but this time…it wasn’t the dark or the light.

It was a featureless, rocky landscape and before me floated what I can only assume was my hybridized angelic core, holding the essence of two monster families. It was…not a stable-looking thing. Brilliantly white like a marble sphere, but cracked across its surface, glowing with a steely light and a fiery red aura.

I stepped forward to it and heard another voice. One that sounded like the voice from last night…wait. No, it sounded like Ariel…or..wait.

It sounded like every voice I’d ever heard, all at once. It took my mind a second to grapple with that, but that’s what it was.

“A cosmic war. Light and Dark, Spirits to a lesser degree. And you have the hubris to make a fourth side? What makes you worthy?”

I take a moment before opening my mouth, only to be interrupted. “And do not seek to placate me with modesty or similar manipulations. Honesty, Caelum.”

I wait a moment, take a breath, and speak. “Because I have the strength to fight it on my own. I don’t need to call for help from other worlds, I’m not going to pass the buck onto heroes or champions. I am going to fight it myself, I am going to fight alongside my soldiers and eventually, any generals or allies I recruit. Unlike Ariel and the light gods, or like Carnachias or Mel. I want to win, so I am going to fight.”

“Hmm…so you think you are worthy because you are willing to do something the gods are not, as you see it?”

“I am worthy because I will not stop fighting until I prove to EVERYONE that I am worthy and that they aren’t,” I say with a grit of my teeth, I hated being questioned like this on Earth and even more here.

The voice laughed and said “We shall see. Touch your core.”

I raise an eyebrow and reach out to my core, seeing it instantly seal, with no more cracks or glow. The white marble instantly turns into shining black obsidian, the glass is solid black, and yet I can see within it another denser sphere, and wreathed around it, illuminating the inside of my obsidian core was my green fire.

“Your powers are all your own now, no oaths hold you, no rules bind you. Fight, and grow in power through the rules of your own faction in this cosmic war. Rise Caelum Ignis, the Osmium King, Taker of Wills, Subjugant to None.”

With that I awake suddenly in the cart, startling a few people around me. We were just nearly arriving and I felt…incredible power going through me. I still knew via God’s Eye that I had the same stats and powers but the oaths and their limitations were gone, they were replaced with three new blurbs of text.

Enmity of the Light: The champions of the Light know there is a new **** in the world that seeks their destruction, they will be hunting for it, it is only a matter of time before they find out who it is.

Enmity of Spirits: The spirits of the world know there is yet another **** trying to conquer the world they are part of, they will be hunting for it, and it is only a matter of time before they find out who it is.

Enmity of the Dark: The Champions of the Dark know who you are, and their goddesses have tasked them with your destruction, especially now that they know just how much of a threat your very existence is.

My oaths and their limits were gone, but sooner than later the entire world was going to be at war with me. But also my classes were gone, and I was free to grow without limitation or restriction, replacing them was simply the list of titles I have chosen to go by, along with the phrase “Nascent God”

I glanced out of the carriage as it stopped, seeing Ademia jogging over. “Caelum, you should see this. The plan is still to go in tomorrow but…well, it would be better for you to see.”

I step out and my eyes go wide, I had to do everything in my power to not crack a massive grin. The Volcano was now beating the glowing green power like a heart, I could feel the hundreds and hundreds of weak Thralls within.

That voice gave me the chance to be more than a servant. They had given me the chance to be a god, I just had to fight the entire world. Let them come, let them try.

In the end, I will take them all.