Chapter 19: Victory

Kyo pursed her lips to the side, then relaxed and shrugged.

“But hey, a victory is a victory!”

She studied her body, which was glowing with a divine sort of glow. She noticed her voice still till had a divine sort of thoom: a bit brassy and echoey.

“I can probably still have some fun in here. I just need to be creative. I can make donuts at least. Hmm, let me think a moment.”

As she thought about ideas on what to do, Kyo idly stretched out her leg. With a wiggle of her toe, she carelessly snuffed out the last super-cluster the universe contained: the last bit of anything it had that wasn’t her. All its quintillions of souls and oodles of energy flooded into her.

She grew.

“Whoa!”

The boundaries of the universe stretched around her.

“Getting kind of cramped here.”, she mused.

The universe tried to resist, by Kyo was growing too much. The tips of her pointed horns hit the very border of the universe, pressing hard against it, far harder than she did before.

And just like that, the bubble that was the universe popped.

Kyo found herself in an undulating, warbling realm of chaos. Darkness and purple lights abounded. Strange shapes too.

Most eye-catching of all, though, was that it was filled with eldritch beings. Entities of all sorts of shapes and sizes and limbs slithered and flew and otherwise locomoted themselves in the chaos.

There were ones far bigger than P’lot, but they seemed more stupid to Kyo. Others seemed smarter than P’lot, but looked a bit smarter. Kyo figured P’lot was the perfect mix of powerful and intelligent to rule them or, at the least, actually succeed in breaching the universe.

The eldritch beings all set their eyes, if they had them, on Kyo.

She kept growing.

“Oh?”, she bellowed, expanding. “More of you?”

She kept growing, and growing. They were covered in the shadow of light she cast in the chaotic area of existence. She was so big even the biggest one seemed to her the size of a lowly bug. There were billions of them. She could see and sense them all throughout the realm.

Kyo grinned wide.

“Nope, enough of this. I guess I saved room for more.”

Kyo’s aura flared. She focused and the eldritch beings found themselves feeling a tugging force.

“It’s snack time~”, boomed Kyo.

Every weird shape or entity in the realm tugged towards Kyo’s immense growing form. Her very glow got a head-start on dissolving them, but their physical forms still passed into her flesh, moving from there seamlessly into her body to be digested with ease. Their souls, too, were not spared and disintegrated within Kyo’s superior being.

Billions and billions of them flooded into her, as she grew and grew all the while. The more she grew, the more expansive and advanced her formidable powers became, and the more she slurped up at a time.

In mere seconds, she had absorbed and digested every eldritch being and their souls. The very chaotic realm itself flew into her: it looked much like Kyo’s body drunk it from all around her.

The only other ‘thing’ left after was a white void: true nothingness. Kyo could feel the spatial-embodiment of chaos itself within her. She could feel it warbling in protest, but she had no care for mercy towards such an abstract conceptual space, and digested it with glee.

She cocked her head back again for a curt groan of delight. Her body grew up and up and up. She grew to several billions of times the size of the universe. She was truly, undeniably massive.

Alas, she had nothing to compare herself too, as the white nothingness had nothing else in it. It was almost as if she didn’t grow at all.

But she knew she did, cause it felt really good and tingly and a bit like a nice stretch too.

Kyo sighed.

“That was fun. But... now I’m back where I was before, metaphorically at least. All this power, but literally nothing to toy with. What to do...”

Kyo tapped her foot against a telekinetic floor she had made for herself. It wasn’t long before she heard a voice.

“Kyo”, came the voice from within.

“What, who said that?”, said Kyo.

“Kyo it is I, the Goddess.”

“The Goddess?”

“Yes, of the universe. The one you saved, and then absorbed.”

“I absorbed it?”

“Yes, when you grew after that last supercluster a little while earlier.”

“Oh, well don’t blame me for that! Where were you when I was fighting P’lot and needed help and stuff, huh? Some goddess you are?!?”

“Forgive me, but I had to use almost all my power and focus for eons to keep up the boundary between this universe and chaos.”

“Oh, so you were busy I guess? Alright it’s ok I suppose.”

“Yes. Everything will be ok.”, said the Goddess.

“So, how are you inside me?”, said Kyo.

“Well, you absorbed the universe, and I was sort of spread out among it, ethereally and such.”

“Ah ok. Do you need help or anything?”

“No.”, said the Goddess. “No, I just wanted to congratulate you for what you have done. You have accomplished what I could not. While I managed to keep the neigh-inscrutable P’lot away from the universe, it was you who finally managed to defeat her. You saved the universe from the shackles of P’lot, and removed the hold it had once and for all.”

“Yeah I guess I did, didn’t I? Shame I destroyed the universe in the process.”

“That is ok.”, said the Goddess. “Like I said, it is all ok. I will be digested soon.”

“Wait what?!?”, said Kyo.

“With the last of my power flowing into you, you will take over as the new mistress of creation, of everything. Your powers will be even further beyond even mine ever were. You’ll be able to do anything. True unlimited power will be yours.”

“That sounds nice but, digested? I mean, I can probably let you out if you want.”

“No it’s ok. I harbor no ill will.”

“Yeah but, I don’t actually need to, you know. Like, the previous thing I had going was nice, with the galaxy-construct-things and foot massages.”

“The new stuff will be even better, cause you’ll be omnipotent. You’ll be able to do anything, create anything. You’ll be able to make a new universe, bring everyone back if you wish.”

“Uh that seems like a lot of responsibility. Can’t I just not digest you instead? I’m pretty powerful as it is right? Or, couldn’t I digest you then bring you back later if I want? I mean if I can do anything after digesting you then-”

“Look, just let this happen ok?”, said the Goddess.

“Alright fine.”, said Kyo. “I guess. So, uh, why weren’t you digested already?”

“Because I am very powerful, and I’ve been resisting the process thus far so as to continue monitoring your journey. But I resist no longer.”

“Ok when’s the process start?”

“Soon.”

Kyo waited around a bit. She focused and realized she could indeed kind of feel the Goddess within her self: the place she stored and digested souls. She felt the form of the Goddess as, well, lacking form. The so-called Goddess felt like a ball of light inside Kyo, mostly.

“Oof, ouch.”, said the Goddess in her heavenly tone.

“Oh sorry does it hurt? I think I can help maybe.”

“No no it’s fine”, said the Goddess.

“No really, I can feel you in there I can probably slow it down.”

“No that will just make it worse. Just relax, enjoy our moment together.”

Kyo’s stomach gurgled in tune with a muted yelp from the Goddess. The Goddess was very much trying to play it cool, and failing a tiny bit.

“So, do you have any questions or anything? I mean, once you digest me all my knowledge will be accessible to you, if you care to look through it.”

“Eh that seems like a lot of work.”, said Kyo.

“I mean, you could do it instantaneously but--oof burns a little--well, do you have any questions in any case?”

Kyo tapped her foot again.

“Hmmmm. Oh yeah, what was that meteor about? The one that landed? Did you know anything about it? I mean, it helped me to absorb souls and stuff, so could it really have just been radioactive goop?”

“Oh uh. Yeah that...”, said the Goddess.

“What?”

“Well try not to be mad.”

“What? What was it?”

“Well, for the first time in my existence recently I had to sneeze. I manged to contain the ramifications of it for the most part, but that meteor was actually the barest, most minuscule flake of-”

“It was a booger? I absorbed a divine booger to grow?!? Urgh gross!!!”

“It’s not that gross! It’s kind of like a pearl you know. A pearl is like a rock a mollusk slurps on all day, yet mortals across the universe wear them on their necks.”

“Eww, I mean it’s still kind of gross.”, said Kyo.

“Yeah well your body self-cleans itself so I wouldn't worry about it too--argh, stingy--too much.”, said the Goddess.

“I can’t believe a goddess’s booger jump started my growth. Are you saying that’s all I have to thank for my powers? A booger?”

“No no. It’s true the radioactive nature of it made you grow, and the ability to absorb souls was something of an unexpected blessing from it, perhaps, but it wasn’t like I did all the work. That was all you, Kyo, your ability to take advantage of chaotic situations and your willingness to never give up on your self-centered goals lead to saving the universe from a worse fate than-”

“Ok whatever, thanks I get it. Look while you’re around I’m gonna keep thinking about the fact that I stepped on a goddess booger whatever so let’s get this over with.”

Kyo focused and ramped up her digestive-processes.

“As you wish Kyo-argh, aaaah! It burns!!! argh!!!”

With a pronounced gurgle, Kyo’s body digested the Goddess and the Goddess’s very soul. Kyo’s entire body began to vibrate. The glow around her hummed.

Kyo’s cheeks puffed for a belch.

“Urp”

She giggled.

“Excuse me~”

Then, Kyo felt bliss wrack her body. A potent, overwhelming ecstasy came with the latest power increase. Her head cocked back, yet again, for a loud moan that rattled across the void of nothingness she stood in. Kyo would grow to several duodecillion times her old height.

But she didn’t, cause she didn’t want to. She was in full control of her body, her power: she had full control over everything. At once, she could feel it. Everything was hers, absorbed and digested into her. Everything that ever existed was in her awareness, even if long gone: or if she digested it. There was nothing out of her reach now.

Kyo felt sublime, divine. Her hair had changed to golden shimmering sheen that flowed about her horns. Her eyes were alight with pure light, and her body-glow flashed with her booming words.

“THE TRUE POWER OF GODDESS-NESS IS-ack, ahem.”

She cleared her throat, then continued.

“Yes. This power. It’s absolute. Truly infinite! Finally, I am an all-powerful...”