"These powers are... incredible." I muttered to myself when I finished looking through them. I was truly awed by these powers, especially the element based ones. I could predict a number of ways that they could be tremendously useful.

  By the time I had finished looking through the powers I had acquired, I found myself exploring the dimension again. Dunkelheit wasn't the only settlement in the region I could detect, and I had wanted to explore more and also practice my powers so I had ventured, alone, into the darkened wilderness.

  As I stepped through the darkened woods I gazed at myself using my mind-form. My current form was still in the exact outfit I had worn shortly after I arrived at Htrae. It was a nice outfit for wandering through the world of humans and "modern technology", but it felt odd to wear such an outfit in a layer where the only constant was evil.

  As I stepped through a "clearing", where there were relatively few trees, I tapped my chest and transformed the clothes that I had on into an outfit that made sense in a place like this. My shirt disappeared altogether, exposing my muscular chest to the chilly forest air, and my pants vanished and were instantly replaced with chausses, armor for my legs. The main purpose of the leg armor wasn't to protect my legs, but rather to give me a more fitting appearance as I wandered through the sinister forest.

  As I made my way through the darkened forest I began to think about a specific class. Or rather specific classes. My mind turned to thoughts of the fact the untested classes I had lurking within me.

  Among my untested classes were the paladin and dark knight classes. Paladins and dark knights were the good and evil-aligned warriors of the gods. Each was a powerful champion of a god and possessed a number of potent powers. With each step I took into the woods, further and further away from my home, the more fun I had at the thought of using this exploratory trip as a means to test the powers I had lurking within me.

  "I suppose I might as well have some fun here..." I told myself, a confident smirk on my face as I materialized a powerful longsword in my hand made from angelic energy by using my new "Angelic physiology" ability. The blade was made of solidified light and I could sense the potent, holy energies pouring out of it.

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  The blade felt good in my hand, natural even. It appeared to weigh next to nothing and I took a few practice swings with it just to see how it felt in motion. Unsurprisingly it continued to feel weightless and I found it exhilarating to use. And soon enough I was close enough to the nearest demonic settlement that I could see a tiny watchtower and the low-ranking demons tasked with sitting in it and keeping an eye out for any visitors, or invaders. When I was close enough that I could see the demons, I closed my eyes and teleported to the tiny watchtower.

  Three human-sized filth demons, ugly bastards who did grunt-work for more important and powerful demons, were standing at the top of the handmade watchtower. Their ugly construction was a nightmarish bit of architecture that was little more than two layers of scaffolding haphazardly pieced on top of each other. That said it was wide and tall enough to easily accommodate all three demons and Althos, who rudely teleported himself into the watchtower.

  Only one of the demons had been looking in the direction that Althos abruptly appeared in, and the deity wasted no time experimenting with his powers. The second his mighty form appeared in the watchtower he swung his angelic blade at one demon and sprayed another with a potent burst of holy water. One of the three demons, the single individual who had been looking in Althos' direction, was immediately cut down by a single blow from Althos' angelic blade.

  The other demon who was struck immediately, this one feeling the sizzle of holy-water sear his flesh, let out an agonized groan and was thrown to the floor by the force of the tide of water that struck him. His flesh began to smoke, as he let out grotesque sounding groans and wails of pain. Althos noticed the dying demon and immediately reached out, snatched the thing's soul out of its barely living body, and proceeded to consume it.

  I found myself at the top of a rickety watchtower, my angelic blade dripping with demonic blood and two dying demons around me. The final grotesque, filth covered and eerily human-like demon turned around a second after I arrived and looked at me with wide eyes. The demon's putrid orbs were filled with fear and shock at the sudden murder and mutilation of its peers.

  The demon and its deceased ally and dying allies were humanlike demons. They had the roughest outline of a human, but one that was covered in filth and toxic elements. Trash and waste clung to their hair-covered skin.

  The air around the two of us who were still standing was filled with the keen wails of a burning demon, and the slick noise of demonic blood oozing into the wooden floorboards of the watchtower. I took my first step towards the remaining demon, silently, and tossed the sword I had created from my right hand to my left hand, which brought it closer to the remaining demon. As I did I mentally activated my "Divine element manipulation" and wrapped my blade in holy-fire. I was doing this for theatrical effect.

  The creature in front of me began to quake with fear. I made my face a neutral mask, hiding my emotions as I silently stalked forward. I quietly activated "Awe inducement" and I watched as the demon in front of me fell to its knees, in unholy fear of me.

  "Ple... Please! Pl-uh-ease, stop!" The demon begged as I took another step towards the creature. It struggled to speak, and I chuckled as I approached it. Filth demons were among the least of the demons, representing one aspect of the sin of sloth, specifically the physical consequences of sloth. The creature in front of me reeked and smelled of a mixture of foul scents such as excrement and noxious sweat.

  I approached the creature until I was standing right in front of it. I then dematerialized the sword in my hand and placed the now empty hand on the creature's head, shuddering as I felt its filth make contact with my skin. I immediately began to grin and channeled another usage of "Divine element manipulation". This time I used holy-fire.

  The filth demon's unclean eyes began to flare up, as holy-fire filled its head. I felt the creature's skin begin to heat up as fire from within the creature began to melt and consume it. Before my eyes, even the creature's eyes began to melt away and become a liquid sludge, as the creature's corpse fell to the side. I teleported out of the watchtower, and I began to perform a more dramatic display of my power.

  The god teleported away from the watchtower and into the air. He boldly made the choice to teleport into the air above the encampment, exposing himself to dozens of demons. Demons ranging from incubi, to filth demons, to murder demons, and even a few gluttony demons, watched as Althos dynamically conjured a gigantic fireball of holy fire.

  He was silent as he weaved together this fireball, using his own powers over both fire and holy energy to construct a gigantic orb of radiant fire. Demons shouted at him, and launched attacks but he ignored them, using his newfound angelic aura to ensure he could focus on the fireball he was making, their attacks fading away as they closed in on the god. The fireball was a quarter as big as the watchtower itself, and when Althos finally released it, it was radiating a glorious glow that made it impossible for demons to look at.

  The fireball sailed towards the watchtower, and when it reached it the thing exploded in a burst of holy and fiery light. Althos watched, and chuckled as the watchtower caught fire and as the holy, anti-demonic fire spread he turned to acknowledge the demons who had gathered to try and repel them. He began to descend to the ground beneath him, utterly unafraid of the demons. As he did, they began to move towards where he'd land, until he rose a single hand and wreathed himself in a pillar of sacred light, a blinding aura that burned demons as surely and painfully as holy-fire did.

  "Enough." He said, speaking dramatically. Even though he said that, there was a confident smirk on his face. He activated another of his more potent powers as he descended to the ground beneath him: "Holy voice".

  "Surrender." The god commanded, speaking authoritatively. Divine energy poured out of him and hammered into the skulls of the demons that had tried to surround him. Many of them fell to their knees as the pure and unmitigated energy seeped into them, wracking them with the worst sort of pain for a demon; pain caused by holy energy.

  The god's feet touched the floor of the settlement, as he opened his mouth to speak once more. As he did so his eyes became dynamic orbs of searing and holy fire.

  "Serve." He ordered, once more wracking the demons with pain. At this point, nearly all of the demons were on their knees, as even the simplest words he spoke could wrack the demons with agonizing pain.

  "Serve." He repeated, his words filled with arcane and divine might. Demons around him wailed in agony, their very souls struggling to react to his presence and unable to tolerate even the simplest words he uttered in their presence. He was leaving a horrifying impression on them, and making subversive usage of his holy abilities as he was conquering demons instead of murdering them.

  He would spend the first half of the next forty-five minutes conquering the demons, using simple words and his holy powers to force them to serve him. The second half of the next forty-five minutes would be filled with the god making use of his powers to connect this tiny encampment with the community of Dunkelheit.

  It was after that, that I would finally return to the newest mortal world I had set out to conquer: Htrae. I did this by stepping through the door I had created, taking no one with me but planning to build more connections throughout Glendale and beyond that tied the Heart of Darkness and Htrea together.

  I stepped through the door I had created, altering my portal for a single instant, and found myself back in the forest I had been in before I entered the Heart of Darkness. As I stepped through the portal I closed the door behind me, and then turned to face the tree I had placed the door in. I stood still in front of it for a moment, a smile on my face as I did so.

  I then rose my hand and began to alter the tree just a little bit. I quietly caused a fair amount of the bark the door had displaced to regrow so as to allow the tree to look normal enough to fool humans. It was when I was done with that that I chuckled and quietly activated a set of abilities I was growing increasingly familiar with related to trickery. A second later I teleported myself to a hospital in the city of Ireland, the capital of the region of New Sol I was in. Hospitals were fun for a creature like me, and I intended to have a great time.