As I stepped through a portal and in doing from one dimension to another, a variety of emotions surged into my heart. The first emotion that I felt, perhaps the keenest, was excitement. I was excited to be moving into position to defeat Agustino, and in doing so become a greater god of war and inch tantalizingly close to becoming a demon lord.

The second emotion I felt the most keenly was impatience. Now that I was here, well and truly as a god, devoted to at last finishing this mission, I was in a hurry to do it quickly. That said I was capable of restraining myself just long enough to do it right. By doing this the correct way I would become immeasurely more powerful, and that was adequate reason for me to temper my impatience.

The third emotion I felt was anger. I felt a fury well up within me that made me want to go on the attack. I was angry at the audacity of Agustino for being insane enough to launch his forces at mine, as if his limited horde of demons could stand up to my effectively unlimited legions of creatures such as golems, robots, living worshipers, and other, stranger minions.

The final emotion I felt was pride. I was power incarnate and I had the means to annihilate my foe in a thousand different ways. I was a god, in addition to the other things I was. I would always be power given consciousness, might given a mind, an attitude, an ego. And that meant that a constant, powerful emotion I felt was pride. And Agustino, evidently having forgotten what the power of a god was like had felt confident enough to hurl his horde of followers at me. Now he was going to lose everything, including his life. That was, to me, the only appropriate punishment for his hubris.

As far as I could tell all gods felt pride. Morehammer certainly appeared to have felt pride. I felt pride. Soon I would learn if Technos felt pride too. I fully intended to track down the mysterious vestige as soon as I was done here, and when I found it I'd kill it and in doing so become greater than ever before. I wanted more power, and even though I had spent the last few days in relative peace, stepping into the Heart of Darkness, reminded me of how much I wanted power when I was actively pursuing it.

In stepping from one dimension to another I went from standing in a darkened alleyway to standing in a new and improved Dunkelheit.

Sombra, my praereptor pet demoness and the first noble I had created by hand, and I were standing in the holy city of Dunkelheit. Dunkelheit was the closest thing to a capital that I possessed in the abyssal nightmare dimension known as the Heart of Darkness. And at the moment it was busy.

Sombra and I stood at the edge of a vast town square, one that was teeming with unusual activity. All at once the senses of both myself and my pet were under attack. We could see, smell, hear, and even taste, a staggering amount of different things. Mentally I knew that the city of today was vastly different from even the city of a few weeks ago, but to actually see it was something else altogether.

A number of different races were milling about in the town square, which was perhaps more accurately considered a city plaza. At a glance, without using sensory powers, I could see orcs, vampires, dark elves, dark dwarves, and demons, but when I truly focused and began to utilize my powers to gain real knowledge of the city of Dunkelheit I learned much more about the city's demographics.

Even while my mind processed the actual information I had access too via the system and my powers, my other senses reeled from the city's assault. I smelled the stink of many different species gathering and sharing the same place. It was a musky, powerful smell that probably would have nauseated creatures who lacked a certain stubbornness needed to survive and thrive in this dimension.

My ears were assailed by the racket caused by thousands of creatures being in close proximity, living some sort of lives of their own. I heard thousands of conversations, the perpetual din of tens of thousands of feet slamming the ground, and the noises caused by sex, muttered prayer, and more. This was less loud than a mortal city, but a lot of it was directed at me, by pious worshipers, which made it feel louder and more attention grabbing.

The air tasted of the various kinds of creatures that lived in the city. Thanks to the war I was fighting with Agustino lots of the different kinds of creatures who served me had entered the Heart of Darkness. Many of them had chosen to stay, or had wanted to come back in the wake of the battle we fought against Solomon. I had allowed them to do so during the time I had given myself a break, and even created portals to places like my version of Aronms and other settlements in my divine realm, and now demons entered my realm, and inhabitants of my realm entered the Heart of Darkness.

Curiosity drove me to investigate the city's population thoroughly utilizing my powers, and I was delighted when my mind filled with a notification that gave me precisely the detailed information I sought. The notification revealed exactly how many members of each type of creature lurked within the city's now greatly expanded confines. And the numbers were impressive in two different ways: both the total population of the city, and just how diverse it was were amazing, especially when cosnidered together.

As I finished reading it, a hushed silence fell over the motley collection of creatures making up the population of the city plaza. They were looking at me, with stunned, awed, looks on their faces, their vision and other non-visual senses drawing their attention my way, as I was a god who demanded such attention, even unconsciously and without explicitly asking for it, unless I was actively not seeking for people to look at me.

The attention, awe, and cruel piety I innately provoked was something I was aware of. That said, in this instance I allowed it. I was a god on the cusp of becoming a demon lord, and I intended to act the part since now I was commanding creatures to fight and potentially die in my name. I intended to act the part of a god of dark glory.

Sombra touched my shoulder, believing the gesture would be necessary to draw my attention towards the stunned silence. It was not. I was a god. I was always aware of moments when I was being paid attention too. I silently smiled and began to visibly pay attention to my servants. I even deigned to speak to them.

"Servants of darkness! Turn your ears my way, and if you still have them, your eyes too." I proclaimed, speaking commandingly. My voice effortlessly resounded throughout the entire city, alerting even those not near me to my presence. I felt the city go silent, go still, as my words were heard. As I looked out at the crowd and saw the many creatures who were eating my every word I swiftly realized that this was a moment for dramatic flair, and so I decided to inject drama into my next few sentences.

"I have returned to my first city in the Heart of Darkness because it is from here that I shall plan and then commence our final assault on our enemy; the Soluto demon, Agustino. He languishes in some decrepit palace in another layer. I have come to take his head, his heart, and offer it to the Blackend Boscage itself! To show the Heart of Darkness what we do to those who oppose my might, my divine glory!" I said, arrogantly.

As soon as I finished speaking I was met with raucous applause, which was unsurprising given that my audience consisted of demons, the undead, and plenty of thoroughly insane mortal cultists. However what I wasn't expecting was to get a notification. Which I did.

Alert: Challenge Received

The Blackened Boscage, the layer of the Heart of Darkness on which you stand and in which Dunkelheit is based, has listened to your proclamation. It finds such an offering acceptable, and if you offer it the heart of Agustino as you say you shall, it will accept you as its lord, which would be the final step in the process of you becoming a demon lord. Claim the heart of your foe, and offer it as a sign of your might to the layer and become a demon lord.

When I finished reading through the notification there was a wide grin on my face. The news that I had just received was life-changing. When I succeeded in killing Agustino I'd pull his heart out of his body and offer it to the layer, and in doing so become a demon-lord. And that allowed me to infuse my words with pride and jubilation.

"In hours our conflict with our foe will have ended! And I shall have become the strongest demon in the Heart of Darkness. I shall have attained the first part of my destiny..." I said, boldly, truly powerful pride oozing off ot me. And when I was done speaking yet another round of excited applause broke out, one much louder and more sustained than before. Which made me chuckle. I turned to face my pet and spoke.

"Come. Let's go ahead to the lightless temple. There we can go ahead and begin to plan our next steps: the beginning of the final fight against Agustino." I said, still facing Sombra. The shadowy demoness meekly nodded at me, but there was a look of excitment on her face that belied just how excited she was internally. She was ready for this as I was.

We turned in the right direction and began to make our way towards the temple, one of the newest additions to the city in the past few days.