The endless chatter, the clanging of hammers against steel and the playful cheers of children contrasted with the darkness of their purply surroundings. It was a peculiar sight. To the rest of the world, the inhabitants of this land were monsters, vile creatures that were to be eliminated at all costs due to the threat they presented.
Would this village that looked no different to the ones of the "civilised" races really be considered a threat in their eyes?
Some would cruelly move forward their way of thinking, that no matter what, the world had to be cleansed of this scourge.
Others may have a change of heart seeing such an atmosphere in a village of monsters.
However, monsters were monsters.
Kindness could not be shown to these creatures.
Even if they displayed civility, deep within their hearts, they desired nothing more than blood and destruction; they were like this by design. Many were able to suppress these desires, but they were plagued by them nonetheless. A monster could only go so far without indulging in their hereditary desires, they existed for this very purpose.
In the case of these goblins who were getting along with their day, their indulgence was quite well known in the world of Genesis, it would be strange to come across someone who wasn't unaware of the characteristics of these lustful creatures.
And now that these goblins had become demonic beings, they would be more inclined to act on their lascivious thoughts - demons were the epitome of desire after all. This was the normal outcome, however, due to accepting the corruption of their new Lord, the goblins had received an increase in intelligence that allowed them to exhibit some level of restraint over their libido.
Though the corruption did provide them with control, it also granted them a path to growth through the release of their lust.
After all, corruption had many facets to it.
This is what it means to have an entire concept as a divinity, there was no restriction as to which domain of a concept you have authority over.
An example would be the Vorthar, the God of Unbridled Wrath, his divinity exerts control over the "Unbridled" aspect of Wrath, meaning the abilities he can use would be restricted to that domain of Wrath as would the powers his followers were able to utilise. If Vorthar was the God of Wrath, his domain of control would expand over all aspects of Wrath, removing his restriction to just the "Unbridled" aspect.
With the goblins being followers of a being with an entire concept in its clutches, their paths to power were more varied, allowing them to display the many variations of Corruption in the future.
Although the followers of Corruption could rely on this to grow themselves into powerhouses, this didn't mean they were restricted to this path. Towards the centre of the village, resting on a throne composed of cracked skulls and bones was a being, that could only be described as a thorny rose, who was seeking power through another pathway exclusive to her.
Like a rose, her wild beauty left onlookers coveting her existence only for them to suffer from the thorns of her unrestrained thirst for blood that pricked into their minds, ingraining itself deep into their souls.
Only the strongest of wills would be able to stand firm under this evergrowing thirst, explaining why the space around the throne was empty, not a single being dared to step inside the range of her aura lest they wished to suffer mind-breaking fear.
The amethyst orbs that sat in her skull were hidden away by her eyelids as the young Asura focused within herself, her state could be said to be mediation, though rather than striving for inner peace, it seemed the opposite was happening.
That was what it looked like from an outsider's perspective.
However, within the demoness' mindscape, deep red energy was being pulled towards a tall construct, an illusory pillar of sorts. As more of this energy flowed into the pillar, its form began to solidify, shifting away from its illusory state and becoming more real as an aura of peace and tranquillity began to form around it.
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In a cross-legged pose with her palms outstretched facing the pillar that was forming, Faye exerted all the mental strength she had in order to see the current process to completion. In the real world, sweat trailed down her supple, scarlet skin from which snake-like veins popped out, a testament to the sheer strain the task was putting on her.
As time passed, the aura of bloodthirstiness in the real world strengthened as the pull of refined bloodlust towards the blood-red pillar began to decrease, signalling that the pillar was almost complete with the peaceful aura it released reaching a crescendo.
Despite how close she was to achieving to establishing the first pillar of the Mind's Temple, Faye felt worry creeping in as her control over her bloodlust was beginning to slip. Her mental strength was slowly exhausting as the effects of fatigue began to take hold, causing the almost complete pillar to shake in her mindscape.
Faye knew the risks of establishing the Mind's Temple, if an individual failed to move to the next stage, the explosion of bloodlust would destroy the mindscape rendering them brain-dead. But this was not the end, with the mindscape destroyed, there would be no way for bloodlust to be controlled so the Asura would transform into a crazed being with a disposition towards wanton destruction, a being that would constantly grow stronger due to nothing restricting the evergrowing bloodlust, that the Asuran body produced.
Although the establishment of the first stage of the Mind's Temple was quite an easy task for the Asuras, it was to be noted that the Asuras wouldn't begin constructing their Mind's Temple until they were around the age of adulthood, in comparison to this Faye was an Asura that only a few days old. She didn't have the years of experience and training that a normal Asura would have once they began the undertaking of the construction of the Mind's Temple, hence her decision could be thought to be a rash one.
And though, a rash decision it was, it was a decision made with the intention of being able to better serve her Lord, the dawn of a new age was on the horizon, an age in which higher powers would wage war through their followers to conquer the world of Genesis.
An age of war.
And with the influence of higher beings, powerful enemies would be created, enemies that would pose a great threat to the conquest that Faye had been ordered to undertake.
She needed strength.
Only with great strength could she spread the faith of Corruption to the faraway lands, only then could she gather more allies, and only then would then would her Lord's name resound throughout the world.
She knew her decision was rash, but she had no plans of failing the expectations of the being that meant everything to her.
With this thought, a surge of determination brought forth by her resolve, pulsed through her body, allowing Faye to regain her weakening control over her bloodlust. Knowing that she couldn't maintain this focused state for long, the demoness pushed as much bloodlust as she could towards the pillar, resulting in a huge wave of red rushing towards the red construct.
Time seemed to slow down as the wave of sanguine energy crashed into the pillar, which sucked in every trace of the wave leaving nothing behind. Just as this happened, Faye felt every ounce of her control slip away as fatigue seeped into her bones; the walls of her mindscape began to close in as darkness began to cloud her vision. The last thing the Asura saw before everything faded to black was a faint red glow radiating off the surface of the great pillar.
In the outside world, the Apostle of Corruption's body remained unchanged despite the occurrences in her mindscape, this all changed when the goblins in the surrounding area were attracted to the great throne in the centre of their village because of growing light.
The source of this light was the closed-eyed demoness seated upon the throne of skull and bones.
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Watching as the red light that radiated from his Apostle's body began to vanish, the devil ran his hand through his lustrous, white hair before nodding his head in approval. As his deep purple eyes hovered over the demoness' sleeping figure, he thought back to what he had discovered during his search through the Forest of Aeternitas.
About 20 kilometres from his Territory, there was a large village hidden deep within the forest, this village also happened to be another being's Territory with his observation showing that he was dealing with a god and not a devil.
This was because of the statue that stood in the middle of this village - gods establish Territories with statues whereas devils use totems. Furthermore, since the devil was actually able to see the statue, it meant that this enemy was an Idol, just like him.
With the statue depicting a shirtless, muscular figure with scales tracing its arms and chest along with a fish head that sat at the top of its body, it was clear he was dealing with a Merman God. It was highly likely that his opponent's divinity was related to water in some way but the devil didn't exclude the possibility of it having a different type of divinity.
His first enemy had appeared, and the merman was already aware of his presence as well, there was only one thing that mattered now: who would make the first move?
Suddenly, laughter resounded throughout the confines of the dark God Space, its source being the devil himself.
"It doesn't matter"
Purple light spread throughout the darkness, illuminating the God Space.
"The victor in the end shall be me"