Taerou:Taerou had very much taken to her newfound powers well. No longer was she simply another Magus. She was as strong as Therona had been. Unlike Therona however, with Lydia she had managed to completely place Q'sal under her heel. She gripped the nest of snakes in her fist and squeezed it until only the worms were left. Those that would have posed a threat to her were dead or worse. As such Taerou had the opportunity to look beyond. Not just beyond Q'sal but beyond the Vortex. The Vortex was massive but it lacked the sheer amount of resources the Dominion had. One planet in particular had come up on her radar. Heldra III, a rather large planet in Dominion space. It was a bustling metropolis and one of the more advanced worlds out there in the Dominion. The currents of the Immaterium had also shifted to allow travel to the planet rather easily. The dark haired woman lifted her hand up and a black vortex opened up in front of her. In the busy streets of the planet a jet black portal opened up. She stepped out, the same scale as the humans that walked here. Her golden sandals set foot upon the concrete and her rather exotic robes fluttered around her. Upon the back of the robes was a symbol of three eyes. She looked around and frowned. It was wildly different from the floating spires and islands of Q'sal. The hustle and bustle of the city was something she'd liken to a colony of ants as she looked at it. Mindless drones going about their mindless drone days. Even the thoughts she managed to pick up were numb and boring. Of course as soon as anyone spied her coming out of a portal in the middle of the city they turned around and started running, screaming. "Skittish things in the Dominion." Taerou remarked aloud.
Asterisk (GM):The Vortex this city was most certainly not. When compared to the Immaterium energies running rampant in any aspect of the Vortex, Heldra III felt positively banal. Like Tharja had stepped from her advanced world back to one where they still thought the world was flat. These people had no comprehension of any true power. Indeed, Taerou saw the humans around her scurrying about from their jobs like scurrying insects. No desire for want or any way to become anything more.
Of course, once Taerou arrived they had began to very quickly flee from the woman. Oh, their thoughts were clear. "Psyker. She must be a terrorist or some kind of criminal." Technically not wrong statements at least, but nothing of note. Taerou was free to wander about the city for about fifteen more minutes before the noise of a siren sounded off.
From up above her a police cruiser flew past a pair of skyscrapers and hovered near Taerou. A side hatch door opened and a pair of Dominion law enforcement officers were leveling weapons at Taerou. "Don't move! Put your hands where we can see them or we will shoot! You're under arrest!" Seemed someone had reported Taerou to the police. Or maybe a security camera caught wind of her.
Taerou:Taerou smirked as the weapons were leveled at her. "Is that any way to greet your new ruler?" Taerou asked. She held up her hands. "You can see them, correct?" She asked. Of course the officer that was about to shout at her never got the chance as a lance of pure black energy pierced his throat. He gurgled and twitched violently before falling from the cruiser to the ground below. She flicked a finger out and a black sphere shot forth, exploding into the cruiser and sending it falling to the ground in a fiery ball of metal and screaming men and women. It smashed into the street with a loud boom, shrapnel flying in every direction and injuring fleeing civilians. She chuckled. "So fragile as well, those were spells I learned when I was a snot nosed apprentice." Taerou said as she walked over to the crash. She reached into the flames and pulled out a screaming woman, injured and on fire. The dark haired woman placed her thumb against her forehead. The woman felt no more pain as she was instantly killed, her skull exploding from the sheer psychic energy and sending blood and brain matter in every direction. Taerou actually looked shocked. "Looks like I'll have to lower the Telepathy I use on these things." She sighed. Just attempting to read the woman's mind had caused her head to pop.
Asterisk (GM):Compared to Q'sal, this world may as well have been made of glass. The scene of Taerou standing in the burning wreckage of a police cruiser with viscera scattered around her was something a number of officials balked at from the other side of the cameras. "Dispatch all nearby police cruisers on that woman!" Came an order; and within minutes Taerou found half a dozen more cruisers flying in towards her. This time they didn't seem keen on warnings either as a series of shots railed the ground a few feet away. The one who fired them was already shifting her aim so she wouldn't miss a second time.
And top even all of that, Taerou heard the familiar booms of Caelestis footsteps. A big girl was coming just in case the human police force couldn't handle their "little" problem. Just one for now it sounded.
Taerou:Taerou lifted a brow as the boom of gunshots sounded out. The dark haired woman watched the rain of bullets come in and pinged against a shimmering glassy barrier that surrounded her. The bullets didn't so much as scratch or strain the magic that surrounded the woman. "Is this all your toy soldiers can manage then?" Taerou asked aloud. She clapped her hands together, the sound echoing out as the law enforcement officials reloaded their weapons. Sparks surrounded her fingers and the air buzzed and crackled around her. As she spread her hands apart one could see electricity crackling between them as well, striking the ground and scaring the concrete. "Lets see how you all manage against something a little more middling." Taerou said as the electric energy in her hands continued to grow. It just continued to grow more and more intense, not so much a blast she threw out but instead the sparks let off from the electricity in her hands shot out all around her, doing more and more damage. Surrounding buildings had windows shatter, the concrete had holes blasted in it. Eventually a stray spark smashed into one of the cruisers and the officers inside were fried along with their vehicle, the thing sent crashing into a nearby building. More sparks shot out above her as the electricity seemed to gravitate until it was wreathing her whole body. One spark was all it took to fry a whole cruiser. "Do you like it? I believe Lydia called it her Bug Zapper when she designed the spell." The woman chuckled as she zapped more and more of the police cruisers out of the air. She could feel the tremors of a Caelestis. However the dark haired sorceress didn't seem concerned. The cruisers seemed to be trying to pull back. "I haven't even cast the spell properly yet." She said with a laugh. The energy growing inside of her reached its peak and was discharged in a massive Electromagnetic Pulse, a wave of the energy washing over the area. It caught those cruisers trying to flee and smashed into buildings, frying plenty of people inside of them. She sighed as she watched the remaining cruisers fall out of the sky. "A few less flies buzzing around."
Asterisk (GM):Taerou had become the singularity of a personal thunderstorm. Bolts of lightning sparked off of her spell and lashed out indifferently. Bolts of electricity formed craters in the concrete and the buildings all lost their glass in an instant. As Taerou charged it the cruisers began to wisely pull back, but one brave unit continued to fire on Taerou. Their human bullets naturally veered off course thanks to the magnetic field the spell was causing. What few didn't were harmless against the barrier. Then came the pulse.
The area immediately surrounding Taerou crumbled against the explosion of power. The closest buildings collapsed onto their foundations and the ground surrounding Taerou became uneven and cracked. In the distance she could see her spell reach out for a full three city blocks, wiping out all power. The cruisers were helpless without power and sputtered out. Two fell into buildings and began to smoke, another crashed in the streets a mile out. Taerou could just barely make out injured survivors trying to evacuate the burning wreckage.
Luna:BOOM!
However, a massive military boot snuffed out them and the flames. The form had come from behind a looming tower, and from the other side stepped out an 80 meter Caelestis. She wore the dark blue uniform of a law enforcement official, armed only with a single large laser rifle. At her size you rarely needed much else for a job in human territory.
"You worthless shits can't even handle one human psyker? Why do we even let you exist?" The woman sighed before turned her eyes onto Taerou. "Well, someone has to squish the insects around here." She mused with a faint smile and began to fearlessly stomp her way to Taerou. The barrel of a rifle several dozen times her size was lazily pointed at her.
Taerou:Taerou looked around and chuckled. "By Ilia, its amazing a light breeze doesn't level this whole city." The dark haired woman said aloud. She watched as the boot came down, crushing those survivors that had tried to escape. The woman that appeared next easily towered over the human sized sorceress. "A Caelestis, color me impressed. A bit smaller than I expected." Taerou remarked as the woman stomped her way over to her. She could just grow and kill her with laughable ease but she was had a far more humiliating idea in mind. "Its always interesting to hear the weak rave and babble as you are now." Taerou said as she looked down the barrel of the rifle. She lazily lifted a finger and another barrier popped into existence... on the opening of the rifle. "I am Taerou, Archmagus of Q'sal. I have come to claim this world as mine. If you fall you your knees now I may see fit to grant you the mercy of being a toy I violate after I subjugate the rest." Taerou said.
Luna:CLICK Luna wasn't paying any attention and just pulled the trigger. Why would she? In the Dominion you were either a Caelestis or you were inferior. Humans could never amount to anything. It was why they warred with the UFRG; and it was why she was unprepared for when the laser exploded against the new barrier and her gun blew up in her hands.
"Fucking-!" Luna cursed as large shreds of metal as big as those cruisers scattered out, one big piece slicing her cheek while others flew everywhere. A nearby building was skewered by the shaft of the rifle barrel and other metal pieces crashed all around Taerou like meteors. Luna's eyes were indignant and angry now as she clutches a burned hand. As far as energy weapon malfunctions went she got off lucky.
"So you think you're cute huh? Well, I have yet to see a human I can't crush!" Luna grinned and swung her foot back. "I'm gonna enjoy cleaning your remains off of my boot!" The Caelestis laughed and her foot kicked forward with everything she had. The steel-toed tip met with Taerou - And the boot folded in on itself. All of that power failed against the barrier, and in turn it was Luna's foot that took all the damage. The steel visibly dented and there was the very loud cracking sounds of bones breaking. Three toes if Taerou's ears were correct. For a second Luna was too stunned to realize she'd been hurt; then she pulled back clinging to her foot in agony. "Agh! My foot!"
Taerou:Taerou meanwhile just inspected her nails as Luna kicked at her. "Hmm? Oh I'm sorry, were you attacking me?" She asked with a smirk. "You'll have to try a little harder. I'm afraid I can only notice the difference in strength in meters and inches. Its hard to notice a few millimeters difference from those humans I fried." The dark haired magus said. She lifted a hand up and above it there was an inky blackness that formed. Below Luna a massive amount of black energy also formed, her boots sinking into the substance like it was a marsh. Taerou rose her hand up and below Luna a massive pale hand rose up, digits wrapping around her form in an ironclad grip. Taerou pulled her hand back down, Luna sinking into the blackness below more and more, dragged by a hand that had strength and size far greater than she did. The blackness vanished from the street and Luna was no more... to anyone looking for a giant at least. She emerged from the inky blackness and found herself a very small doll in the hand of the sorceress. "What were you complaining about again?" She mused, gripping the injured foot with her free hand. "Oh right, your foot I believe." Taerou mused as she slowly started twisting Luna's leg. No matter how she tried to resist it was impossible. She could feel every pop and crack as Taerou slowly twisted her leg. The woman all the while still had that amused smirk on her face and a look of glee in her eyes.
Luna:By the time Luna had realized what was happening it was already too late. The Caelestis looked down and saw her feet sinking into darkness with an audible gasp. Her feet yanked up against the dark tendrils of this black void but the hand came next and swept her off balance. Fingers all twice as tall as she was encircled Luna. In a highly-practiced move she drew a knife to stab at Taerou's thumb only for the blade to shatter on impact. That damned barrier again.
Luna was slowly pulled down into the darkness. Her eyes lit with horror as she turned and saw Taerou right there - And her own legs now in the human-sized woman's grip. "No...I..." The Caelestis tapped at her ear while she still could. "This is Police Captain Luna Freyes! Requesting immediate backup! Repeat, requesting imme-" And she did go on, but at that point Luna's giant head had gone into the darkness.
"-diate." And out she came in Taerou's grasp. "N-No...This isn't real!" She couldn't escape the mage's grip no matter how hard she pushed. She was but a doll after all. Perhaps if she was a proper Psyker she could reverse this. Or if she was an Alathite it never would've happened to begin with. But no. She was a Dominion Caelestis, and now she was screaming because Taerou was twisting her leg. It barely took any effort before it did a full 360 degrees and Luna rolled back blinded with pain. The more Taerou twisted the more the limb curled in on itself, soon barely resembling a leg at all.
Taerou:Taerou twisted her leg around and then pulled. Flesh tore and bones popped as Luna felt her leg come off completely at the hip. Taerou lifted the limp and mangled limb up and chuckled. "Well, I suppose you don't need to worry about your foot hurting anymore." The Magus mused. She tossed the limb away like it was trash and Luna could feel something snaking its way into her mind. "Now then. Normally I'm a little more careful about extracting information. But in your case its unnecessary. I don't need your mind intact after all. I have plenty of slaves." Taerou remarked. The invasive feeling only got worse as Taerou began plundering Luna's mind for all it was worth. She tore out important segments, the planet;s geography, population, names of cities and important people. They were gaping, gushing wounds in Luna's mind, lacerations that tore holes in her very being. Taerou continued to ravage Luna's mind until it was literally scraped clean of anything useful. All throughout Luna was aware. She was very aware of her mind being torn apart. In the end Taerou left Luna a drooling vegetable, unable to use the mental capacity to move at all. Taerou dropped her onto the cracked earth one she was done, her use for the former Caelestis spent. She lifted her foot up, not to stomp Luna as she was already far from her mind but instead to just take a step forward. The looming golden sole of her sandal was above the now mentally impaired woman, coming down hard upon her and reducing her to a rather mangled red smear on the ground as Taerou stepped on her and continued into the city.
Asterisk (GM):Through Luna Taerou learned virtually everything she could want about Helda III. All the topography, important locales and people, hell, as an added bonus she got a backdoor into all the military procedures the Dominion instilled in their peace keepers. Including a full knowledge of the planet's defense plans. Police would continue to assail her for a bit more, but it wouldn't be much longer before the military proper started to get involved.
All through this Luna clawed at her skull, shrieking in both mental and physical pain. The subconsciousness that couldn't even form words screamed and begged Taerou to stop, but the woman did as she pleased. As a result...Luna soon grew quiet. Complacent. She fell without a word but she did have a vacant stare. When her body landed most of her bones shattered on impact but she lacked the brain resources to process pain. Or to understand her world was growing dark because Taerou's foot was coming towards her. Looking up into her death, Luna could on give Taerou a dopey smile.
"Pretty."
Asterisk (GM):With that last word, spoken like it had come from a truly dim invalid, Luna was crushed and Taerou free to continue her rampage. She had at least half an hour before any heavy duty stuff could get rolled out.
Taerou:Taerou looked around. This was what most humans saw in the galaxy. It was rather banal if she was being totally honest. Hard to believe these people didn't just throw themselves off of buildings to end all of their worthless dull existences. The woman looked at a particularly tall building. It was huge, easily probably the biggest building in the whole city. She smirked and lifted a finger up. Upon the very end of the black painted nail was a little black dot. A speck in the air really. She sent it forth toward the massive building that stood tall above it all, no doubt housing thousands of people inside of it. They could see the carnage through the glass but not the black speck. It entered into the building through the vents before positioning itself in the center eventually. It was then that Taerou snapped her fingers. "Compression." All at once everything around the speck was sucked towards it was great force. Humans, desks, walls, glass, it was all the same as it was pulled inward towards the speck. People screamed as they were crushed together and compressed, bones breaking and shattering as the building crushed atop them as well. From the outside there was a groan of warning before the building slowly started to get sucked in upon itself. There were screams that could be heard for blocks around as the building slowly was sucked in on itself, more and more. Beams bent and twisted and yet more people were crushed smaller and smaller by the sheer force of gravity the little black speck had created. Eventually, the building vanished completely. Well, not completely. What was left of it hovered over to Taerou. A little marble that fit between her fingers. The massive towering structure was now but a marble of twisted metal and glass and bodies that the dark haired woman rolled around between her fingers with a smirk. She flicked it away into a portal, transporting it to her desk upon Q'sal. Maybe she'd have it encased in amber or something. It could make for an amusing piece of jewelry.
Sharon:The humans within the building never stood a chance. It seemed as though a black hole had formed within their building and it only grew the more it absorbed into it. Within a matter of minutes there were dozens upon dozens of people all clinging to walls lest this void swallow and compress them too - Only for the very wall they clung to fell into the spell's clutches. They died of course, but for a nanosecond they experienced the hell that was compression. Of being forcefully made into an unnaturally small and dense object. Within no time at all the building had become a new piece of jewelry and life went on.
Police cruisers seemed to have savvied up and given Taerou a wide berth. No doubt the humans were setting up a sort of evacuation perimeter so the big girls could come in and save the day. Well not like it mattered. Taerou had over twenty minutes to enjoy herself before the real planet-rumbling roars of a Dominion military cruiser closed in. The vessel resembled the police cruisers albeit with a different coloration. Most notable different was this one was about a hundred times larger than the cruisers thus far. There weren't any humans aboard that thing; and sure enough when it came to hover a mile in the air near Taerou the door opened to reveal a blonde with a mounted Melta Gun aimed square at Taerou.
"You messed with the wrong planet lady! Long live the Dominion!!" The 200 meter tall Caelestis laughed as she began to unload a volley of shots, each one thousands of degree hots. More cruisers were on their way too, but this Caelestis seemed keen on ending this now.
Taerou:Taerou watched as the cruiser came closer and a blonde fired off a massive Melta Gun, the spray of the superheated substance enough to melt the concrete into molten liquid. Any human caught in the burst was instantly incinerated and Taerou was engulfed in it. It was a devastating burst of weaponry that brought whole buildings down. In the end Taerou stood in the center of it once she was done. "Well, looks like I can actually stop actively holding back." Taerou remarked. Immediately her form shot upwards until she reached her natural size of 70 meters. A dwarf compared to this Caelestis flying in the cruiser but no doubt still surprising. She held her arms out for the woman. "There we go. Now I suppose I should retort." She reached inside of herself, sapping away at whatever powers she was allowing Lydia to have wherever she was at the moment and taking all of her telekinesis for herself. Naturally Lydia ended up shrinking in the middle of a hallway in their home, ripe for unaware size from the servants and functionaries. With actual important people however, Taerou reached out with her telekinetic power. The ground rumbled and shook as buildings all around were torn from their foundations and lifted up into the air. People fell out the bottoms of them as no less that ten buildings now floated, suspended by the psychic might of this dark haired woman. "Lets see how you handle this." She then proceeded to throw the buildings at the cruiser and the blonde woman inside. Even a Caelestis would take some damage from that.
Sharon:Sharon blinked when she saw Taerou grow. Any who were capable of that had to be either blessed by the One Goddess or - "This just in! Bogie is a Heretic from the Vortex! Repeat, Enemy is from the Vortex!" All her shots melted the terrain around Taerou while the cruiser circled around, Sharon now allowing a moment despite Taerou's little trick. Taerou was standing in a sea of superheated, molten ground spared only by her barrier. Eventually however, the Melta whirred to a halt and Sharon began to reload it. When the ground began to tremble.
"By the One Goddess..." She was awed by what she was seeing. The chaotic energies of the Immaterium crackled visibly in the air as the ground screamed in pain. Large chunks of earth and a series of 400-meter tall buildings began to float in the airspace.
"G-Get moving!" Sharon suddenly turned to yell at someone, presumably the pilot. The cruiser began to very quickly make some distance as a pair of buildings threw themselves at it. Both were narrowly dodged but even more were on the way. The vehicle struggled and did a few impressive maneuvers, but it was ultimately caught in Taerou's web. It first came with a smaller building clipping it; and while the vessel spun out and tried to stabilize itself two more buildings came in for the kill.
Sharon, seemingly realizing her plight, grit her teeth and yanked the Melta right off of its mount and leaped from the cruiser. Just in time for two skyscrapers to slam into one another and destroy it. The blonde fell until she landed with a BOOM. Her power armor saved her, and she stood towering over Taerou not even a hundred meters away. "The One Goddess will see you burn you bitch!" She shrieked like a true zealot and began to unload the Melta yet again, hitting Taerou time and again with enough heat to melt steel.
Taerou:"The One Goddess... tell me where is she right now?" She cocked her head as Sharon came for her, unloading everything she had on her. "I don't see a finger of judgement descending on me to reduce me to a smear." Taerou said as she looked at the sky. The sheer heat should have incinerated her however it did little against the Archmagus. "It took you this long to figure out who I was even after I spelled it out for one of your kind. Your reptile brains here are quite small. Underdeveloped one might say. Would it even really be accurate to call us the same species?" Taerou wondered aloud as she allowed Sharon to give it her all. She lifted her foot up and allowed the molten liquid to slide off her barrier. "Not bad a getting my toes warm though I have to say." She laughed before she started to hover ever so slightly above the ground. "Honestly, you think that is heat?" She asked. Suddenly flames burst into life around her body. The heat around her rose to unbearable levels. The earth below melted almost immediately into superheated liquid that flowed as easily as water. Buildings started being reduced to a gooey melting liquid, almost like they were snow that had been left out in the sun for too long. The people within screamed as their flesh started melting from their bones. Sharon's eyes burned and struggled to even look at Taerou's burning form as she was so bright. It was as though she had become the Sun. Her eyeballs slowly melted from her skull as the last thing those eyes could see in this world and now the imagine burned into her brain was of Taerou, her form brilliant and golden like a Sun. Like the One Goddess herself. The flames died down after a while, leaving Sharon very much alive, though she was blind and her skin was raw from the sheer heat. All around Taerou was a melted and molten wasteland.
Sharon:Sharon felt as though she had glimpsed into Hell itself. This dark mage glowed with her chaotic flames and cast forth a light that blinded all within well over a mile. Sharon lowered her eyes only to see the very ground around her disintegrating. Stone, steel, and rock all liquefied the second Taerou took a step closer. She was a star that had adorned this world and the world simply could not handle it. Sharon shrieked as she felt a sudden burn and gasped to see her Melta Gun melting over her. Molten steel fell onto her power armor and bore right through it. "B-But it's supposed to maintain integrity at 2,000 degrees!" It didn't matter because of what came next.
It began as a sizzling sound. Almost like popcorn being cooked. Then an intense, unyielding pain assailed Sharon. The blonde fell over and put all thoughts aside while she clutched at her eyeballs. "AhhhAHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A split second where her hands weren't on her eyes revealed that they were boiling. Bright red, boiling eyeballs looked at Taerou in all her glory. That physical perfection shining so bright it burned everything just for daring to look at her.
The One Goddess...
Sharon felt like she'd had a revelation before her body lost all sense of touch, numbed by the degree of pain as her eyes finally exploded into pale white liquid. The woman fell over in near catatonic shock not far from Taerou at all. Still alive, and slowly being cooked by the molten ground around her, but barely able to comprehend her surroundings anymore.
"G....Goddess...." She rasped out with a dry voice.
Taerou:Taerou watched the ground cooling around her as she walked over to the catatonic and muttering woman. "Poor dear, couldn't take the heat." The woman remarked aloud as she looked at the goop that her eyes had become on the solidifying ground. She smirked as she heard the woman. "That's right, I'm the One Goddess. Taerou. The real Goddess you should worship. Accept me into your heart and surely your soul will be given salvation. Also... apologize for getting soot on my sandals, you worthless invalid." Taerou said. Indeed there was an ever so slight splotch of soot upon her glorious golden footwear. She placed her foot overtop of the woman's ruined mouth. "Lick, maybe if you do I'll see fit to allow your immortal soul into my embrace when you expire like the worthless ant you really are." Taerou said scornfully. Gods these Dominion Caelestis were so pathetic. So insignificant. At least humans had the excuse of being worthless by default. This girl simply wasted whatever potential she had. "I'm not hearing those prayers loud enough by the way, scream so loud your blackened lungs bleed." Taerou demanded, having no issues with Sharon literally causing her lungs to fill with her own blood and drowning on it to praise her.
Sharon:Sharon audibly gagged and coughed trying to speak. The woman was completely out of it, broken by the burns she'd endured. Enough so that Taerou was actually making sense. Of course she was the One Goddess! No heretic could be so beautiful and wield some immense power! It all made perfect sense. After hearing the command and feeling the pressure on her lips Sharon nodded, raking her dry tongue along Taerou's sandal. Just two problems - For one she was blind so she had no idea where this soot was. She just licked blindly and prayed. The other issue was she had no moisture on her tongue whatsoever, so that too began to burn.
"M-Mercy One Goddess! Mercy! I apologize for ever doubting your radiance! The Dominion rises and sets based on your whims!" Sharon declared. More vessels were closing in now, taking in the horrific sight of what Taerou did to one of their own. The 200 meter Caelestis was on the brink of death and in her deep madness was licking the sandal of one far smaller. Rather than engage, the cruisers all began to spread out at a safe distance and surround Taerou. Who knew how many high-end weapons were being aimed at her now? Turrets, Meltas, ship cannons. They really were rolling out the welcome wagon here.
Taerou:Taerou laughed as Sharon licked away. She was close to her deal, Taerou could feel it. Her cracked lungs started to bleed and fill her lungs with her own blood and she started to drown. Taerou stepped back and licked her lips. "Well, who am I to deny my devoted little follower her eternal reward." Taerou said. As Sharon expired her soul departed her body. When Sharon became aware of her surroundings again she could feel a great weight atop her. She could feel a slight drumming every now and then, it was eternal and constant. As her awareness expanded she understood what she had become. Her soul had been trapped inside the very sandal she had just been licking at. Taerou's toes curled around the strap, welcoming the woman to her new body. "I do hope you enjoy your stay." Taerou laughed before looking around. They were gathered here it seemed. Good. That meant she could offer them an example. Taerou lifted her hand upward towards the sky. "Watch and despair, followers of the One Goddess. Watch and see what the true Gods give those they favor. Watch the power of a future goddess." Taerou boomed. Black energy pulsed around her fingers before massive bolts of pure black energy shot forth from them. They shot into the sky and parted the clouds. They broke through the atmosphere and there, a ship hovered above the planet. The massive black bolts smashed into the unsuspecting warship, tearing holes in the hull and sucking men and women out into space. One of the bolt struck the engine and blew it to pieces, an explosion rocking the internals of the vessel. Another struck the bridge, sending whomever was in command out into the vacuum to freeze and die. Taerou lowered her hand as below people could see it with the clouds parted. They could see the miles long warship groaning and breaking apart in space. The dark haired woman threw back her head and laughed. "Wow, look at that! I didn't expect those kind of fireworks! That was great! Send in another one why don't you!" She thought it was hilarious. This woman looked at one of their mighty warships and considered it a joke.
Asterisk (GM): There was a silence that hung in the air as all onlookers were audience to Taerou's power. They watched the dark energy break through the clouds and destroy a vessel thousands of miles away; and in the distance the warship fell apart. It broke off into pieces with the biggest exploding, but other notable chunks were plummeting down into the atmosphere. In an hour or so the planet was going to have some very big craters. So where did that leave the Dominion's finest?
Their thoughts were obvious to Taerou. They were in awe. They gave her all manner of titles ranging from Demon Witch to some beginning to believe her the One Goddess as well. Whatever order they had was disrupted; several of the cruisers broke formation to flee, leaving a few others to fill in the gaps. They did not flee. Instead, they turned all their weapons onto Taerou with everything they had. The final desperate thrashings of a doomed civilization.
And among it all Taerou felt something. Something so weak she almost didn't at all, but it was without a doubt the invasive probing of a Psyker. Someone trying to shut her down from the inside, unaware that they were an ant trying to invade the domain of a God.
Taerou:Taerou barely had the to expend much effort to protect against the hail of fire coming her way. She simply increased the energy she was pumping into her barrier and it held firm. For the moment she barely noticed the little niggling at the back of her mind. The dark haired woman turned her attention inward rather than outward as there was no need to worry about the flies buzzing around. Her mind was something that existed in two places at once, here and the immaterium. As such it was rather a vast thing. A complex. Trying to find one microbe exploring it was rather difficult but it was a testament to her power that she could. The intruder found themselves eventually on a vast white plain. "Who are you?" Taerou's voice boomed in the mind of this woman. It was maddening in how loud it was. It was simply Taerou however speaking telepathically at what would be considered a conversational volume. The sheer force it held was beyond even the most trained telepaths of the Dominion or beyond.
Tia:Tia was no fool. She saw Taerou's display of power and understood there was no beating this woman in a head on battle. Even in a battle of Psykers Tia was hopelessly out matched. But, what she could do was play it sneaky. Slyly invade Taerou's mind and undo the woman from the inside. Ironically it was a plan that almost worked. Just...Not for the reasons Tia expected.
Once inside it was like being lose in a maze. Tia was surrounded by large neural pathways that led to equally large, chaotic places. Just as she seemed to her bearings things seemed to change around her. Then she blinked and was standing on white with the voice of a God trembling her.
"Ah!" Tia fell over clutching her head from the incredible power. She found me! I-I need to leave now...! The Atlus worked her magic to try and break free...Only to find her connection to the outside world momentarily severed.
Tia:"Damn..." She clicked her tongue. "I am the Dominion Pskyer Tia Neliel! Dutybound to serve and protect Helda III! Show yourself!"
Taerou:Taerou snorted. "I am showing myself, bacteria." The dark haired woman said. Her booming words filled the mind of the Altus once again. "I suppose you might find it hard to believe that. So allow me to... enlighten your mind." Tia felt her mind being expanded. It was a painful thing as a foreign power forced her understanding of the world around her to grow. For the longest time there was just a pale white plain. Then she could see a sudden drop off. Almost like a place that reality itself ended. It continued to expand and she could see that on either side of the drop offs there was another plain. It continued on and on as her mind was expanded painfully, her psychic might unable to really properly keep up and only managed to avoid literally being torn apart by Taerou's power holding it together. Outwards and onward it expanded until she could see so many of these rows filled with canyons. At the very end was a sheer black wall that rose up seemingly forever. After a moment it came into view. A fingertip. She was upon the smallest fingertip of the dark haired woman. The sheer black wall was her nail and the plain... that was a section of skin rising above the ridges of her fingerprint. After receiving this revelation the woman had her awareness returned to normal. "An Altus, how very odd to see one of your kind here among the Dominion's ilk." Taerou boomed. "Tell me, Tia Neliel. Why would you serve people that consider you alien trash?"
Tia:Tia could not believe it. She. Could Not. Believe It. She knew there was a gap between her and Taerou, but to see it contextualized...The woman winced as her view of the world began to shift and expand. It was with increasing horror that she saw the world go on and on and on and on and on. Thousands...No...millions of miles. This being was seemingly infinite and almighty. Bacteria was no idle insult. It was truly what she was to Taerou. An infant nipping at the heels of a master. Tia's existence was only allowed because of Taerou, and she knew it.
"Nnn...Agh! Haaa...Haaa..." The forceful insight left her tired and drained while Taerou's question boomed demanding an answer. "They...Ugh...They taught me how to control these abilities!" Tia yelled. "You're all a bunch of filthy monkeys, but at least the Dominion has the sense to let actual women run the show. You expect me to go to the U.F.R.G. and coddle the feet of some ant smaller than my toes?" An answer given with no small amount of honor and pride. As expected of an Altus. She continued to clutch her head, trembling with the fact she would almost certainly die here. The battle outside was a better chance than the one inside.
Taerou:Taerou let out a booming laugh that threatened to erase Tia's mind from existence. "A good point." The dark haired woman said. "I could not imagine a society based off of serving the small. How utterly backward." She said before humming. "Still, you could pick far better places than the Dominion to learn such things. I had surpassed whatever they taught you by the time I was 8 years old. Not even a full fledged Caelestis yet." Taerou said at length. "You picked a poor place to learn, however just because you are bacteria now... doesn't mean you have to remain bacteria. Perhaps you could work your way up to insect." She mused as she considered Tia. "I offer you a choice, Tia. Serve me, kneel to me, and I will make you my slave. Whatever scraps you manage to learn will be yours to keep. The alternative of course is I simply leave your mind here to wander mine aimlessly forever. You'll be a stray thought. Less than that really." Taerou inspected her nails on her other hand. "The choice if ultimately yours, Altus. It matters little to me. I simply think Altus are pretty things. As a follower of Ilia, I seek to own beautiful things."
Tia:It took an active effort to not simply vanish from existence with Taerou's every syllable. The sheer volume of it pulsed with such a power that Tia's spiritual body frayed at the edges. An extended time here and she would be absorbed into the consciousness. Then Taerou went on, her voice laced with that maddening charm of Ilia. It wormed its way right into Tia's core and began to tug at her. What had the Dominion truly done for her? No, this was true power. This was a woman worth following.
The choice was made before Tia ever even realized it. The Altlus looked up to where, somewhere infinitely far away, she knew Taerou to be looking back. She was so small she couldn't even begin to fathom anything up there. "A slave huh..." That nipped at the pride quite a bit, but if this was the alternative then...Tia kneeled. "Very well. Teach me...Master."
Taerou:Taerou let out another laugh. "I like the sound of that, slave. Very well. I'll give you your first lesson." Just like that Tia was ejected from Taerou's mind and Taerou looked around. Not even a few second had passed. "This place is a little too bright for my liking." She said aloud. The woman opened another vortex near her hand. There was no inky blackness on her hand though. Or in the sky for that matter. At least not at first. There was a shadow that started to fall over the planet as Taerou licked her thumb and forefinger and slipped them through the portal. The sky became dark and looking out in the distance it looked like the sun was blocked. Those in space could see what was happening in horrifying detail. A pair of massive fingers descended from the vortex, the star that lit their system was a mere spark of light between them, flickering in the darkness. "Can your One Goddess do this I wonder?" Taerou used as she simply pressed her fingers together, her saliva covered digits causing the sun to hiss out of existence. The world was bathed in eternal night as Taerou drew her hand back from the portal. When next she opened a portal the sky was filled above the city with another black vortex, one opened before her eye. They could all see it, looking down at the city and their pitiful world. The eye of a god. "This planet and all upon it belongs to me. You are my property now. Abandon your One Goddess for she has forsaken you. I am your God now."
Azul:Against such overwhelming power what could any of these people hope to say? They all saw what had happened to the sun; and in its place they gained a new sun of sorts. Taerou's eyes looked over them all, the pupil as alluring as it was horrifying. The woman's voice boomed out from her portal and echoed loud enough she herself could hear it. Their loyalty in the One Goddess was faltering and in its place a new loyalty was born. One of fear, but hey influence was influence. The world was growing closer and closer to the Screaming Vortex as the dark powers began to take root in the hearts of all who lived here. They just needed one last push to really seal the deal.
It was then, a new vessel swooped in from the stars. A massive battleship had joined the fray in the atmosphere with the sigil of the Sovereign visible even from space. A small projectile shot from it and began to glow in the atmosphere, falling until it landed near Taerou. Up close it was shown to be an orbital drop pod; and the doors hissed open to reveal a blue-haired woman in the garb of a Dominion Warpriest.
She was certainly a step above all the rifraff Taerou had encountered so far. She could actually feel this one. The blue-haired woman calmly stepped out. A number of holy tattoos lined her upper arms. She turned and pulled out a large, custom-made plasma rifle and a power sword, wielding both bulky weapons like they weren't heavy in the slightest. Her eyes then finally turned to Taerou and narrowed with intent to kill.
"You will not steal this holy land from the Sovereign." Azul declared flatly. "Give up. You cannot hope to beat me Witch. No matter what tricks you have up your sleeve."
Azul took a step forward, her 500 meter tall body absolutely towering over Taerou. Then...She began to grow. It was a sight that would've blown away any Dominion Caelestis, but as she stopped at a couple miles tall it was almost cute. This was as big as she seemed able to get. "You've lost." Azul boomed and took a thunderous step forward. Her boot crashed into the ground before Taerou as she prepared to end this heretic.
Taerou:Taerou looked up at the woman blankly. "You know it amazes me really." Rather than fear her voice was fairly flat and... bored in a way? "You just watched me literally extinguish a sun and you thought to yourself, yeah, I've got that no problem. I can totally take that woman on." The dark haired woman placed her hand to her forehead. "No cure for stupidity I suppose." She also started to swell in size. Her sandal clad feet filled the streets and shot up to join Azul... before passing her. And still growing much bigger after that. She doubled her height, tripled it. The city below had people fleeing as fast as possible from her expanding feet, ground to dust under her. Eventually she stopped... at well over a hundred miles tall. She towered over the planet. The city was but a patch of grey to her. She had already teleported her new slave out of there so the city itself bore little value. There were other cities on the planet after all and everyone could always do with an example. She lifted her foot over the city, debris raining down from the bottom of her sandal sole and pelting Azul as well. "You seem to imply this was something I could 'lose'. There is no one in your dominion, save perhaps that cursed Magister, that can match my power. Die in despair, knowing that all you ever amounted to in this life was a stain on my sandals that my slaves will lick clean." The dark haired woman sneered before bringing her foot down upon Azul and the city with enough force to shake the entire planet.
Azul:The powerful devotee to the One Goddess was a Champion among Caelestis...In the Dominion. She was one of the sacred few blessed by God. She fought and killed countless heretics and never doubted her ability to do so. But Taerou...She had never met a woman like Taerou before. "No....One Goddess give me strength..." Azul gulped and took a step back into the city while Taerou just kept growing and growing. The larger she got the more the Screaming Vortex's influence could be felt. It all seemed to encircle this one woman as her voice boomed across the planet and dozens of different cities gazed upon Taerou's splendor.
"No...Stop....STOP!" Azul's voice, once so mighty, now trembled as Taerou's sandal came down. The woman fled, all 2 miles of her tearing apart countless lives under her boots just to get one more inch away from this witch. All Taerou needed to do was lower her foot - and everyone in the world knew it. The One Goddess's claim to this planet was now through.
CRACK
With the crunch of Azul's corpse echoing for miles, there was only one god of Heldra III now: Taerou.