Even as the strange shimmering aura around Stella continued to study me, I casually deflected one attacking tentacle after another. I was able to deflect over a dozen blows before the text boxes in my mind's eye updated themselves, and my mind's eye naturally went to them. I also noticed the emergence of a fourth text box even as I learned my origins.
[Alert: The eldritch being named "Mhabia" has begun to read your soul. This is a harmless process, but one that will reveal something important: that you possess an eldritch soul. Your eldritch soul is responsible for you being able to accumulate such vast quantities of power in the comparatively little time you've been an awakened grand adonis.]
[Possessors of eldritch souls follow their own rules and are able to defy reality in various ways, hence why such creatures are known as 'Reality-Reshapers'. Your eldritch soul was why you could become a trifold ascendant being so easily, becoming a cosmic god, an archdemon, and a sanguinarch without undergoing the usual rites and trials that other ascendants have had to undergo. Your eldritch soul is due to the events of your past life, and your eldritch soul is also why you underwent a reincarnation at all.]
[In your past life you were an outer god, the highest kind of eldritch being. You were an outer god of joy, pride, power, biology, divinity, peace, physics, minds, love, life, healing, stars and space, order, technology, light, and the very rare domains of creation and souls. You were a rare outer god: one of benevolence and goodness, which was unusual due to the fact that as a species outer gods are far more prone to destruction and chaos than creation and order.]
[You were a noble deity who saved people and inspired them to be kind to themselves and others. You also had the distinction of being the first vampire in this multiverse, the so-called 'Eldest', who spread immortality to your followers by blessing them with vampirism. Upon your death this blessing was corrupted into the so-called 'Curse of vampirism'.]
As I effortlessly deflected Stella's eldritch empowered strikes I read the text boxes in my mind's eye. My eyes widened in shock as I read them, and when I finished all three they shifted again.
[You had many strongholds throughout the universe, particularly within the galaxy you were originally from; the Milky Way galaxy. You adventured within the sole solar system in the universe with more than three worlds wherein each world had a veil, the solar system that houses Earth. You were particularly influential on Mars and Saturn, as a primordial deity of love, life, lust, and joy. To this day the exotic populations on both worlds still worship you, in your outer god form, particularly the women of Saturn and the Elurii of Mars.]
[Your worshipers created hedonistic and benevolent kingdoms in the hopes of obtaining your blessing. Such kingdoms, particularly that of the Elurii on Mars, still exist and a few even believe that one day either you as an outer god or in some reincarnated form will return to take your place as their true king and god.]
[In addition to that, there is the reality that you in your past life had meaningful relationships with a number of eldritch gods, some of whom still exist. It is up to you to find them though. However, now you must answer an important question... Do you wish for your past powers to come back to you? If so, they will be restored and you will be able to begin to make use of the potent reality-bending abilities belonging to those who possess eldritch souls and you will begin to recall the memories of your past life. If not, you will of course be able to wait and say yes at a later point in time.]
As I finished reading the text boxes I noticed that the strikes were slowly speeding up. They were nowhere near fast enough to actually challenge me, or even really test my reaction speed, but it was a curious thing to notice. That said, she hardly deserved any real attention. Her eldritch patron on the other hand...
Nevertheless, I went ahead and responded to the system. When I did, time didn't freeze but Stella did. Even her tentacles stopped attacking me, as my body began to radiate light every bit as intense as any light that actual stars radiated. I felt power beginning to build up within me, supercharging every cell inside of me and every nanometer of my skin.
[Alert: Your decision to reawaken your power is resulting in your body becoming supercharged, and your old powers returning to you. At the moment you will remain in your 'lesser' form, but you have also regained the power to make a true body befitting an outer god, which can be the size of a planet or even a star. At some point in the future, you will surely create your true form, which can do anything stars can do, including power Dyson spheres.]
[You can surely feel your powers beginning to return to you. Your powers and your mind are being expanded to accommodate the vast wealth of new powers you are acquiring. Congratulations on finally returning to the omniverse in your truest, original form Raul.]
As light exploded out of me, illuminating every corner of the starmazon armada I gazed at the shocked, frozen form of Stella. She was covering her face to keep from being blinded by the impossibly bright light coming out of me. As I gazed at her, I felt my awareness of her tremendously increasing, down to the very makeup of her soul. I smiled as my mind raced and was filled with knowledge of her. I began to speak, my voice filled with supernatural, reality-defying power.
"I respect your admiration but I'd say that it is time you give up." I told her, causing her to begin to frown at me. As I spoke, I began to exert pressure on her mind, filling her with a desire to surrender. She turned to "face" me, at least as much as someone could "face" someone while covering their face.
"I... can't. If I do, then I'll never be forgiven! I'll be exiled! No one could forgive me for what I've done..." She told me, her voice surprisingly soft even as she began to accept that my powers were superior to hers.
"Is that why you're still determined? Well, in that case, you should know my plans." I told her, my remarks filling her with curiosity.
"I came here not just for the starmazons in general, but you specifically. Stella, I want you to join my harem and to be one of my brides. For you to become my grand general, the commander of my militaries. In a sense, you'll be leading the starmazons to new heights." I explained, honestly. This revelation struck the empress in the heart, causing her resolve to waiver. I noticed this and opted to keep talking.
"You don't need to die here. All you need to do is surrender. Surrender and embrace my power, come to it and cling to me so that you may grow stronger still and so that your people will become stronger and happier." I told her, my voice sapping her will to resist my words as I made use of my new powers over minds, owing to the synchronicity between my nature as the "Eldest" vampire, creatures who possessed immense willpower and potent abilities to dominate others, combining with the domains I had just gained influence over.
"If you surrender I will make sure that you are forgiven. I am a god of joy. All you need to do is give in and let a new ruler, me, take power..." I offered, a smile on my face. As I did that, I noticed the shimmering mist that surrounded the empress began to suddenly vibrate and radiate a strange red color. A split second later that strange otherworldly voice I had noticed earlier began to emanate from it again.
"Oh... Oh! I see now. An outer god... What to do..." The voice, which I knew now belonged to Stella's eldritch ally, uttered. I turned my full attention to the new voice, and focused on my newly acquired powers over pride, eldritch beings, and minds, before speaking again.
"Surrender. Cease aiding Stella, and submit. My intentions are positive, I desire to see no more harm done. Cease your hostilities towards me, and accept me." I uttered, my eyes aglow with immense psionic, sinful, and otherworldly power.
At the same time, I turned inward and began to attempt to fuse new and old powers alike into something more powerful, even as I felt tendrils of darkness tear their way free from my back, which caused me to hiss in pain. Stella was still covering her face, but I noticed her shuffling uncomfortably when my tendrils began to sway back and forth. I turned inward and focused on the tendrils. I didn't want them to inflict physical damage, but rather to inflict damage to someone's will and pride, which I was able to make them do with but a thought.
"I see that you aren't surrendering. In that case... Well, I am ready to accept your surrender at any time." I remarked, my voice filling with pride as I spoke. The instant I finished speaking one of the tendrils shot forward, instantly reaching the empress and slamming into her stomach with enough force to leave a dent in a small spaceship's hull. She was sent rocketing back, but despite the incredible force of the blow, the actual damage was not physical, but rather mental and emotional. I sensed the blow fill her with despair, and another tendril shot out from my back and rocketed out into the open space the empress was chaotically rocketing through.
The tendril also instantly caught her, wrapping around her foot and forcefully pulling her back towards me. As it did, I smirked at her well aware that my victory was drawing ever closer. Other tendrils shot out of my back and towards her, reaching her and immediately beginning to wrap around her.
"Stella... I have won!" I declared, proudly. Almost instantly my tentacles began to glow, light seeping out of the minuscule spaces where Stella wasn't covered by my eldritch appendages. The empress was also glowing now, intense green light radiating off of her, and her eyes were aglow with her intense power, aided and bolstered by her eldritch patron who had, to my annoyance, also refused to submit.
"Not... Yet!" The empress stubbornly responded, before my tentacles were suddenly but painlessly knocked back and sent flying away from her.
"Raul... I will use what remains of my authority to launch one final blow!" The empress declared, clinging to what was left of her authority and pride.
"In the name of the starmazons, for the sake of our strength... I will take you down!" She roared, her voice exploding out of her, even as the mallet she had clung to, her crown of might, began to transform into a mighty long sword.
"I will throw everything I have at you. I will not submit!" She told me, her eyes narrow slits as she readied her final blow, her sword beginning to radiate strange purple energy.
She pointed her blade at me, and began to roar inarticulately even as I wondered what to do. After a few nanoseconds of thinking I silently resolved to take her blow and show her that even all of her power was useless in front of me. I knew that that would almost certainly ensure that she was unable to fathom the idea of turning against me, and solidify my victory by showing that even at her strongest Stella was no match for me.
I chuckled and watched as Stella began to swing her mighty sword, the collected purple energy solidifying around the sword and then rocketing towards me when Stella's sword was pointed at me. A nanosecond later the empress rushed forward as well, following the wave of destructive purple energy even as I casually watched her "speed", insofar as she could, towards me. I smiled at her right before her sword reached me.
