Divine Domain
“Kukulkan, my Lord, you are the Creator of Order, the Overlord of all Devils. You are the Wielder of Massacre, the Lord of Dis!”
Prayers resounded as the two planes experienced a perfect fusion. Leylin had prepared for this, remodelling Debanks Island to be similar to Dis so they could draw closer.
A golden glow spread across the former Second Hell. A large region around the middle of the Iron Tower in the middle of Dis had been evacuated, and Debanks Island fit into the place like a tile of a puzzle. The laws of the two began to blend together, eventually forming a divine kingdom that belonged to Leylin alone.
With the accumulated area of Dis, Leylin instantly overtook all lesser gods in the aspect of his divine kingdom. Golden light shrouded the heavens and the earth, and all of Leylin’s believers regardless of race obtained an enormous boost to their power.
On the other hand, the rebel armies were dumbfounded. Entire batches of their elites started to melt under the divine light, nourishing the growth of the divine kingdom.
“Haha… Dir, Modiklo and Hessas… Dis is now the Lord’s divine kingdom. Can you even run away now?” Azlok roared. With the power of the divine kingdom he was close to rank 7, and the other pit fiends couldn’t even unleash the strength of intermediate devils. They were easily tortured to death.
With his divine kingdom in tow, Leylin could suppress the rebellion with ease. In fact, just his subordinates were enough to settle this problem.
……
“So he was also a Lord of Baator… We’ve failed completely this time…” Mystra laughed bitterly.
“The entirety of Dis as his divine kingdom, and an endless army of devils… He really is hard to handle…” That evil forces were thriving caused Tyr to furrow his brows. No matter how much thought he put into it, he never would have been able to guess Leylin’s plans. Even after Leylin’s success, his insane approach was still unbelievable.
“Such a large divine kingdom… Once it’s completely built up he’ll definitely be even harder to kill…” Mystra sighed. “With such resources, even as a lesser god I’m afraid his power is—”
“He's started to raise his divine essence,” Tyr interrupted at that instant, causing Mystra to calm down and begin sensing the movements in Dis.
Divine essence was the proof of a god’s strength. To an extent, it was even more important than their position in their domain, giving them their divine rank. Some ordinary true gods, if they accumulated divine essence the moment they advanced, would just be jokes at divine rank 0.
To be at divine rank 1 just as one advanced to become a lesser god could be considered very good, while rank 2s and 3s were rare geniuses. Of course, this didn’t count those like Cyric, who had the fortune to inherit the divinity of powerful gods. Those were special cases, and could not be compared to the rest.
“He’s begun… Did he break through to rank 3 directly? He really is a genius!” Just as Mystra was speaking, the two gods’ eyes suddenly bulged.
They sensed Leylin’s divine rank rising rapidly, not slowing in the slightest after he reached rank 3. He broke through rank 4 and 5, slowing down only when he reached rank 6. He’d become rank 7 in a flash.
“Divine rank 7, near the peak of the lesser gods… His talent is really—” Tyr laughed bitterly.
“No, it’s still rising!” However, Mystra’s face changed. She sensed Leylin still growing after rank 7, breaking through to rank 8 before he stopped. He was now at the pinnacle of lesser gods!
“Divine rank 8, the pinnacle of the lesser gods… Just one level away from being an intermediate god… He’s a monster! A monster!”
Tyr and Mystra discovered that they had nothing else to say. One’s divine rank represented their power, and was the most direct way of determining a god’s battle capability. Those upto rank 8 were lesser gods, 9-17 were intermediate gods, and those at 18 and above were categorised as greater gods.
The higher one’s rank, the greater their power. As well, the abilities their divine spark granted them also grew more terrifying. Leylin was currently at the pinnacle of lesser gods, only one breakthrough away from being an intermediate god!
……
Leylin was currently focused on his own transformation, the A.I. Chip frantically updating his status as many prompts surfaced.
[Beep! Host has ascended to godhood, divine rank 8.]
[Beep! Host is affected by divinity, all primary stats +8.]
[Beep! Arcanist rank has been supplemented by divine rank, level +8. Host is currently a rank 35 arcanist.]
[Beep! Host has obtained the divine abilities— Warp Reality, Epic Massacre.]
Leylin instantly felt his own power evolve greatly. Unlike the rest of the astral plane, even one stat point in the World of Gods caused a drastic change. Even those with powerful divine force only had their stats floating around the fifties.
“No wonder demigods can’t contend with true gods… So advancing causes such terrifying changes…” Leylin muttered.
[Host attributes have changed, refreshing status.]
The A.I. Chip soon projected the new statistics to Leylin. His status had experienced a heaven-rending change, and the new additions due to his godhood attracted his attention.
[Leylin Faulen:
Race: Human(Lesser God).
Divine Name: Kukulkan, the God of Massacre.
Alignment: Lawful Evil.
Divine Domain: Massacre.
Divine Kingdom: Dis.
Divine Rank: 8.
Worshippers: Natives, Devils, Adventurers, Clerics.
Worshipper Alignments: True Neutral, Neutral Evil, Lawful Evil.
Arcanist Rank: 35. Strength: 29. Agility: 29. Vitality: 29. Spirit: 29. Arcane Energy: 350. Divine Force: 800. Status: Healthy.
Feats: Herculean Strength, Master of Knowledge, Dreamscape Vision, Epic Adaptability.
Divine Feats: Origin Force Detection, Arcane Art Amplification, Illusions.
Divine Abilities: Warp Reality, Epic Massacre]
“There’s a separate divine name?” Leylin’s eyes stopped at his divine name for a moment. He’d chosen that instead of his original name because of some plans for the future.
Skimming through his new status, Leylin’s attention fell to the abilities granted by his divine spark. The A.I. Chip showed him the explanations of the two:
[Warp Reality: Anything can be changed in the presence of a god. Host can consume divine force to change the laws in the material planes, Hell, Heaven, the Abyss, and even hostile divine kingdoms. Range is limited by divine rank.]
[Epic Massacre: Host can obtain divine force by conducting massacres. Any gods killed by the host’s true body will have their divine spirits thoroughly exterminated.]
Although the explanations were simple, they caused Leylin to suck in a cold breath, ‘Such formidable powers of massacre, this is what true gods rely on!’
Even though he’d skipped right to the peak of lesser godhood, Leylin didn’t have the slightest amount of doubt. After all, a god’s strength was directly connected to their divine kingdom.
Take Avernus for example, the First Hell. There were two gods within it, the God of Kobolds Kurtulmak and the God of the Sahuagin Sekolah. Still, a vast region of it remained unoccupied. Leylin, on the other hand, had swallowed the entirety of the Second Hell, the lands he possessed far surpassing the two combined.
Moreover, he had built a perfect divine kingdom without having to waste the slightest amount of divine force, and this in spite of only being a lesser god. Even compared to the gods, the word genius wasn’t enough to describe him. Instead, he befit the title of monster!
With the sheer size of Dis, Leylin didn’t have to spend much effort perfecting his divine kingdom. He’d even acquired a great number of devil hunters. Besides, he himself had advanced to the peak of lesser gods, with abundant divine force.
More importantly, the cards he had prepared for his ascension had been hidden away, and not all of them had been revealed.
‘This is much better than what I anticipated. The worst case scenario didn’t come into play.’ Leylin had been prepared to reveal his identity as a Magus if worse came to worst, falling out with the gods and killing Mystra directly as he restarted the Final War. Right now, however, time stood on his side. He could spend his time accumulating power, to great effect once the war did come back.
‘It’s not good to leave my cards hidden… I should at least reveal my power and determination!’ Resolution flashed across Leylin’s eyes, and Thultanthar glowed with a chilly radiance inside his semi-plane. It was like a ferocious ancient beast, ready to devour its prey.
All of Dis was now under Leylin’s control, having become his divine kingdom. Just a thought caused space to flicker as a few silhouettes appeared in front of him.
“My Lord!” Two devil hunters saluted obediently the moment they saw him.
“Tiff!” Leylin instead called out to his pope, “You shall spread my glory around the world.”
Leylin waved his hands, and a surge of divine power gushed out of them. A golden radiance fell upon Tiff’s body, and the original papal symbol that was a demigod weapon cheered as it entered the ranks of true divine weapons.
“Your will shall spread through the entire world, my Lord!” Tiff piously got on his knees to pay his respects.