The scene in front of the chapel was like a dark parody of a coronation. Rows of devils on bended knee in front of a creature that was like a perfected, chiseled, and handsome version of them. That creature was flanked by its allies, an orc, and a strange woman who looked like an unholy yet innocent fusion between a butterfly, a frog, and a young woman.

The creatures who had submissively bent their knees before the strange devil were far weaker, visibly so, than it was. The first two rows of them were warriors, militaristic creatures wielding a range of armaments. The third and fourth rows of devils were muscular creatures of both genders who carried no visible weapons on their persons.

The fifth row of creatures didn't seem to belong in the hellish scene. The women in that row wore expertly tailored habits, and the men were garbed in regal robes indicating that they were leaders of their odd faith. More than anyone else there, the creatures in that row seemed eager, their eyes filled with energy and they gave off auras of zealotry unmatched by their peers.

The sixth row was also not like the warriors and intimidating creatures of the first four rows. Each of the five women in it was a beautiful woman with an enviable chest but who had the tentacles of strange animals where their legs would have been if they were human, and they had slug-like stalks attached to the tops of their heads.

All of the creatures present were waiting quietly for the final row of circles to react, and as if finally rewarding their patience, the final row of circles began to glow and shoot out tiny sparks of arcane discharge. And with that, the creatures present knew they'd soon see what sort of odd nightmares, or infernal parodies of virtuous men and women the circles would vomit forth.

In seconds the last four circles began the odd, arcane process that had restored the other devils to life. But unlike last time, each of the creatures in this particular row was a distinct, totally unique being. It took about two minutes for the creatures within those circles to finish being reborn.

The first circle to complete its mystical task was the one furthest to the left. The creature that was reborn within its eldritch dimensions was something that Althos had never seen before: a knight.

The creature who was the first member of the last row to be resurrected was a true knight, a noble creature that gave off a radiant aura, but one of deep darkness and unrighteous anger. A knight, but one who sought to serve an archdevil with the same skills and deep-seated belief as another knight may serve a good-hearted king or a wise queen.

The thing was clad in armor that was as dark as night, armor that covered and protected most of its body, aside from its ghoulish, jaunt, and violent face. The expression on its face as it looked at Althos was one of joy, one of life, and one twisted by a dark sense of duty. Althos grinned right back at it, sensing the malice and violence the thing radiated. The thing knelt before its savior, the one who avenged its defeat eons ago.

The second circle produced another creature totally unlike any Althos had ever seen. Somehow the circle managed to resurrect the creature, despite the fact that it was far bigger than the circle, which was only one of the things that made it odd. It was probably only possible due to Althos' powerful magic.

The nightmare that was brought to life within the circle was a hulking monstrosity, at least 7 meters tall, with arms as thick as tree-trunks and legs that were even wider. Its chest was built like a carriage and it sprung to life with a massive trident in its hand, ready to fight anyone or command a force of any size to win a decisive victory in any battle.

The creature within the circle was a Krieg-Devil, an incredibly powerful and savvy devil-general who had earned the hard-won right to command Infernius' legions in battle. And it stared at Althos in awe. It stood up, openly admiring the odd figure responsible for its resurrection, for several seconds. And then eventually it to knelt before him.

The third and fourth circles in the final row finished the creatures they were resurrecting at the same time. Both creatures produced by their circles were beautiful women with a few infernal accentuations.

One of the women produced by one of the circles was a tall woman with ivory-colored skin. She had a pair of majestic wings stretching out from her back. She was taller than Althos, which was an impressive feat in and of itself. She was clad in a black dress that hid her feathery legs from view and stretched up to her chest.

Her lips were naturally ruby-red and she had soft pink eyes. Althos used his "Identify" power on her and found that she was the owl-devil sage and historian: Agowraith the Kingwhisperer. She was the one whose tomb Narcolept the Pretender invaded and took over. The person who wrote the prophecy Althos was trying to fulfill.

It's really her... He thought, truly amazed by the fact that she was alive. As far as I know she's the lone creature in all of existence to have predicted me... He thought, explaining his unusual interest in her.

The prophecy she wrote, that he was in the middle of fulfilling, explained that a second dark saint would arrive, after all of the gods, arch-devils, and more had vanished. And he was that second dark saint. And also a god. And possibly... other things.

"Agowraith..." He said breathlessly when he realized who she was, astounded to finally meet her. Even to Althos she was a mythic figure, a creature who had earned the respect and admiration of Tristan by virtue of her wisdom and her range of talents.

I have so many questions to ask her... He thought excitedly but also realizing that he couldn't ask them here. Not quite yet anyway. He momentarily debated establishing a mental link with her or even taking her memories, but then thought better about it. She was a hero to the other members of her order. Someone whose approval would mean a lot. Like Tristan, I should do this right. She deserves as much. He realized, which kept him from being underhanded.

Agowraith herself looked at Althos, at first with mild indifference. But the longer she gazed at him the more she started to learn who he was, her eyes widening with the realization of what he must have done and who he might have been. And finally, she smiled softly, nodded, and knelt before him, joining the other devils who had done so.

The last circle had resurrected and now contained the devil who spoke with Althos about an hour ago, the seductress devil named Heryensis. Althos knew that by process of elimination more than by anything else. The devil within the circle stared at Althos and his allies with cold blue eyes, and a neutral expression on her face.

She was a red-skinned woman with black-feathered wings that were several meters long coming out of her back. She was naked and she was the only devil in the group to be naked. She was also the last devil to kneel before Althos.

She was the one who made a deal with him, a deal to free the first set of devils, effectively resurrecting them. She lacked the intelligence of Agowraith or Nefarious and therefore couldn't tell at a glance what he had done, or his role in creating the conditions needed for them to be resurrectable in the first place.

She looked at Althos, unable to tell if the devils around her had a real reason for kneeling before him, but she could tell that they were doing the right thing because she too sensed his higher standing on the infernal hierarchy and so she decided to follow their lead. Althos grinned at her specifically and chuckled. And then he prepared himself for what he was about to do next. Make a big speech.

How should I do this? I need them to believe me so... I should use the faith domain, and I should show them that I can promote something. But how to do that second thing? He asked himself. Can any of my new powers help? He wondered, just for a single second. And then he remembered something.

I can shape souls! He realized, grinning internally. If I just make one that I purposefully engineer to be a skilled devil... then I can use it to make a soul orb, and then into an imp, that coupled with the faith domain's power might just be enough for them to join me... He thought, eager to see if this new plot worked as effectively as it had the potential too.

Althos quickly created another soul, one with a far more directed purpose in mind. He told the system that this soul was to be an obedient rule-follower, one who'd strictly obey Infernius' rules and who'd eagerly climb the devilish hierarchy. And he gifted the newly created thing with his mind-powers, with hand to hand combat expertise, and with omnilingualism.

Only a matter of seconds passed after he activated the power before he felt the soul clinging to him, floating around him like an eager puppy. He was faintly reminded of how he conducted his ritual on the two soul-orbs and he smiled as he began to shape the soul, making the thing smaller and more obedient to his will than it would have been as a free-willed soul. He mentally recalled the notification that alerted him to his power to shape souls. It was one of those hefty ones.

[New Divine Power Explanation: Divine Soul-Shaping

This power is the one power that accompanies Divine Soul-Creation at the same moment that a god reaches the second level of the soul domain. In the past, this power was used by the gods who could craft divine souls to speed the creation or birth of angels, extraplanars, fey, elementals, and other sorts of powerful creatures or servants, if such gods couldn't acquire mortal bodies in which to put souls.

At the moment the number of creatures you can create is small in comparison to what all you will be able to do one day, but you can use souls to create almost as many sorts of creatures as you have worshipers because the total number of worshipers you have is tiny, inching close to but not quite at 100. Please keep in mind that your alignment affects the sort of creatures you can create, but unlike all sorts of other godly powers, you can divinely shape souls into creatures you've never actually met. Which is highly advantageous for you.

Among many other things, you can create two types of angels, five types of demons, an honestly almost comical amount of faeries, five types of devil, two types of night-kin six types of fear-mongers, one type of pain-monger, over 17 types of elementals including genies, one type of sin-spawn one type of nephilim, one type of shadow-walker, one type of titan-spawn, one type of abyss-dweller and other sorts of creatures including fungal folk, mushroom men, and a handful of other powerful fungal creatures including mi-gos.

And unlike divine soul-creation, this power does craft a physical body for your souls.

All of the creatures you can forcibly shape using your new power belong to alignments. Aside from the fungal creatures you can now create, the rest of the creatures are either the most immature forms of entire families of extraplanar creatures, the youngest and most babyish creatures, or bestial sorts that can be found in other planes. Here are the grander families, matched with their alignments.

Chaotic evil: Demons, titan-spawn, abyss-dweller

Neutral evil: Fear-mongers, nephilim, sin-spawn, shadow-walkers, night-kin

Lawful evil: Devils, pain-mongers,

True neutral or varied: Elementals, faeries, angels, fungal-creatures]

Althos grinned as he reread it, doing his best to take in the staggering amount of new powers and varied lifeforms he could now create. The notification continued and listed what sort of creatures Althos could create, an extensive list of new things for Althos to meet, and experiment with.

The ability to create souls, shape them into various sorts of extraplanars, and the fact that Althos had been awarded by the nature domain and two of its most important subdomains, the animal and plant subdomain, due to his work with plants and animals in the desert were only parts of the rewards he'd gained in the aftermath of his escapades in the land of mortals.

The fact that a domain and two subdomains reached out to him and awarded him with their power so early was surprising, but the powers that the things had granted him truly impressed him.

[New Divine Power & Domain Explanation: Speak To The Weather & The Nature Domain

This power is a gift from the domain of nature. This power allows the deity with it to magically change the weather over a distance of a few kilometers at a time. With it, Althos can cause natural weather phenomena to occur. If he willed it to rain over a small town, it'd rain. If he willed a storm to stop and dissipate, Althos would soon feel the sun on his cheeks as the clouds parted. This is not as powerful as the initial powers of other domains though, its limited without the aid of relevant subdomains like the subdomain of water, or of lightning.

The weather Althos can cause can save a community in a time of need, or it can be the death blow to a community on the edge but it's not without limits. Unlike some other major powers, this power has a cooldown rate, at least when it first appears. This cooldown rate decreases in length the more the power is used. But the real limitation on this power is its dependence on connected subdomains.

Althos cannot cause a flood using this power as it is right now. Nor can he direct lightning without the aid of a relevant subdomain. No natural disasters can be caused by using this power at this moment. It's only for normal, naturally occurring weather.

Cooldown rate: Once this power has been used there is a necessary recharge rate of two and a half hours.

The nature domain made the unusual choice to grant Althos influence over itself after speaking with the soul domain and carefully considering positive input from both the plant subdomain and the animal subdomain, both of which have seen Althos' powers at work and respect him.

This greater domain has ties to the vast majority of other domains, to varying degrees. Its most important subdomains are the subdomains of fire, liquid, air, and earth, as well as the plant subdomain and the animal subdomain. Other critically important domains to it, are the star domain, the life domain, and the void domain.

This low level of influence and power are necessary parts of gaining familiarity with faeries, who are creatures of nature. The next level of influence the domain grants will require a lot of work, but the domain is interested in seeing Althos learn about it and get there one day.]

[New Divine Power & Sub-Domain Explanation: Plants Are People Too! And The Plant Sub-Domain

The Plants Are People Too! power is unlike most powers in that it functions like a feat in that it is perpetually active, rather than an activated power. This power allows for Althos to use awakening abilities and other divine abilities that are normally only usable on animals, humanoids, and in his case on fungi, on plants. Althos can talk to plants, infuse a divine soul in them, awaken them, and do all of the things he can do to more mobile creatures to them.

Cooldown rate: N/A, it is always active.

The plant sub-domain decided to grant you the lowest level of influence over it after watching you interact with fungi, tend them, and even turn a portion of the desert into a region more amenable to a greater diversity of plant life through the usage of ecomancy. It hopes you engage with it directly and learn from it going forward and it also hopes that you learn about desert plant life. It is interested in seeing how fungal servants compare to plant ones.]

[New Divine Power Explanation & Sub-Domain Explanation: Beast-Lord & The Animal Sub-Domain

The beast-lord power is one that is perpetually active, and it is dependent on an animal seeing Althos. The beast-lord power causes all animals to see Althos in the capacity of one of his titles. Whichever title the power chooses is the one that is most useful for Althos at the time, be it one that inspires awe and reverence in the animal, or one that makes it flee in fear, as context demands.

The beast-lord power can cause animals to begin to ambiently worship Althos depending on how strong or weak their wills are. This power also affects creatures that are not animals anymore but were animals at some point in their lives such as animals who evolved until they reached a point where they became humanoids or something else.

Cooldown rate: N/A, this power is always active.

Both Althos and Silander have been active forces in granting Althos this tier of influence. It was their repeated, positive interactions with animals of all sorts, and their numerous awakenings that caused the animal sub-domain to view Althos as worthy of this honor. The sub-domain is interested in Althos' friendly relationships with wild animals, as well as his positive interactions with his animal familiars. Keep it up!

By gaining this tier of influence, Althos' ability to influence and command animals has increased significantly. This is a great power to remember if Althos ever decides to try and conquer a rural village, just to see how it'd go.]

These powers transformed Althos' abilities to interact with nature, and even now he could hear the voices of the trees around him cheering him on, celebrating his accomplishments, and thanking their creator, him since he used ecomancy to bring this small wooded area into existence. That motivated Althos as much as the sight before him.

He looked out at the assembly of devils before him, waiting for him to speak. He greeted them after quietly activating his faith power, a power which made them more inclined to listen to him and praise him and physically manifested itself by covering the affected area in blue vapor, something which was easily missed by the residual blue glow of the mighty arcane circles that brought them back to life.

"Hello everyone. My name is Althos. I am a god. And I am the second dark saint." This statement was reacted to largely with gasps of shock, murmurs of disbelief, and a few peals of laughter, but there were a few other reactions too, undoubtedly spurred on in part by the powerful faith ability infusing the air and ground where the devils stood.

Some of the devils gathered before Althos excitedly muttered "Yes!" under their breaths, wanting to believe that they had been brought back for a reason. Others grinned but kept their heads down. A few dared to sneakily glance at one who was responsible for her resurrection, admiration visible in their eyes. Althos himself wasn't done speaking.

"And I ventured into Agowraith's tomb. I and my companions slew her murderer. We avenged not only her," Althos said, gesturing towards her and grinning, and then continuing his speech. "But all of you. And I, in my generosity grabbed hold of your souls and took them with me, to make you into my minions!" He declared, grinning. He had spoken confidently and had made eye contact with those of them who dared to glance up at him, winking playfully at them.

The devils gathered before him were impressed by his bravado, and didn't hate his arrogance. It's behavior befitting a god. And it fits an arch-devil even more. They told themselves, believing that an archdevil and confidence went together well.

"I understand and respect skepticism. Allow me to demonstrate my claims by promoting a devil in front of you all!" He said, his voice booming across the area where the devils had been resurrected.

Althos was actually unsure of whether or not the first part of what he said was true, but it felt like the right thing to say at the moment, and the devils in his company loved it, going wild when they heard the claim. All of the devils stood up to watch him prove what he had just told them.

The soul he had crafted for this very purpose was made plainly visible by Althos' magic, appearing as a thin, snake-like creature wrapped around Althos' arm.

Almost all of them looked at the creature in genuine curiosity, having never seen a serpent or a soul quite like it. Althos smiled lovingly at his newest creature, only the second time he had ever created something distinctly his own.

Althos reached out and began the difficult process of shaping the soul, activating his newest and truthfully his greatest power with but a wish, a whim.

And as he did this so he spoke again, grinning and watching the snake-like soul coil around his arm. "This is a soul. But it won't be just a soul for long." He told the crowd.

The soul Althos had just created was a young thing with literally only seconds of life-experience when it felt the divine, energized, and mystical touch of its creator. The creature shivered in delight as it felt its creator zap it with potent divine energy, and begin to adjust both its appearance and its attitude.

His magic touched its childlike mind, whispering to it about the necessity of law, and the importance of tyrants, and aligning the naive thing with the diabolic goals of Infernius, and then reinforcing that new alignment by stating truthfully, that that was aligned with Althos' alignment. His mind impressed on the mind of the soul the power of a pack of beasts unified by a single large alpha, or a party of hunting hounds directed by a stern hand.

Embrace the nature of a social beast. Althos told the thing, hoping to transform it into a hell-hound, a powerful sort of lesser devil that formed packs and accompanied superior devils as bloodhounds or sometimes, if big enough as beasts of burden.

You are a mighty soul, I crafted you by hand. Become a mighty monster in my service. He told the soul, feeding it with divine energy and with mystical power. He willed the soul in his hand to become the same sort of creature as his pet imps had been for a long time, a glowing soul orb. And before his eyes the thing began to change.

It started to glow brighter and brighter until the light it radiated kept any of the devils from seeing anything else.

When the light faded the strange serpent-soul that had wrapped itself around his arm was gone. And in its place was a simple soul-orb, floating freely in front of him, dancing through the air in delight and joy at its new existence. Althos looked out at the crowd and grinned. "But we're not done yet!" He told them, excitement infusing his voice.

He smiled softly at the soul-orb that floated in front of him and sent it a message apologizing for what it was about to go through. Sorry, little one. He told it, before activating his promotion power, causing the soul-orb to begin the process of becoming a flighty little imp.

Althos watched as it began the same process that his special imp familiars had endured days ago. And like last time, it took a few minutes before the soul-orb broke out of its soul-shell as an imp.

When the process was over, and the little imp Althos had created was flying freely, the devils Althos had gathered went absolutely wild. The noise they made from watching their odd overlord transform a raw soul into a soul-orb, and then speed that soul-orb into a new state was proof enough of Althos' claims, even without him taking the soul he had created a step further.

He grinned at the crowd of devils that he had gathered around himself, and wasn't surprised to get a new notification.

[Notification:

Your actions in demonstrating the simple truth that you are actually the second dark saint have converted over 29 devils to your worship. They aren't sure yet what that entails, but their faith in you is that strong, given that you made a claim and you backed it, coupled with the effect you have on their minds when they remember that you defeated the monster who slew them in the past, and you're using them the faith domain power on them. They are at least willing to pray to you, even if not all of them are ready to consider you the future ruler of Infernius.

The fact that these devils want to worship you makes a good, natural segway into what this notification wants to say: the time has come for you to determine the rules each of your cults must abide by. Please make that a priority of yours.

Consult with your clerics and cult-leaders, old and new alike and thoroughly update the religion menu. It needs to be heavily updated, and maintained, not just looked at for your convince. This is an important menu that influences how mortals and other creatures view you. Remember that.]

Althos grinned as he read through the notification, willing it away with a smirk. He wasn't surprised by that. That was when he got a lot of messages all at once, from a number of servants. All of whom had questions about his religion. And many of their questions left him with one, burning question: What does it mean to worship Althos?

What does it mean to be someone who worships me? What does it mean, to worship me? Who worships me? How do they worship me? Althos asked himself, needing to think about these questions clearly. Fortunately, he was about to have a lot of time to think about it pretty intensely and pretty clearly.