My draconic form was quite different from the humanoid form that I had lived most of my life, even my supernatural life, in. At the moment I was in the form of a massive dragon with multihued scales. I knew that in my own way I was still impossibly, supernaturally beautiful but I was a different kind of beautiful than I was used to being, one that was far more powerful and primal than my human form's sort of beauty was. 

My scales were a mesmerizing mixture of colors that could hypnotize even the strongest-willed lesser beings, and no doubt the least willful ascendants. To look at me now was to face a sort of cosmic loveliness just as enthralling and potent as my human form's sort of otherworldly beauty was.

It felt strange to know and acknowledge how beautiful I was, but I knew that my views here were objective. I was not bragging when I acknowledged my beauty, I was objectively taking full stock of the breadth of the power that I possessed. My beauty was a weapon as potent as any sort of draconic breath or eldritch incantation. 

I gazed first at the fallen form of Renora. His crumpled body was on the floor beneath me, defeated and cowed quite fully, thanks to the devastating mixture of powers I had used on him to leave him hobbled and humbled. I studied him, coldly assessing his situation with my own eyes. I knew that my allies were here and that they had seen me utter the truly devastating word I had used to defeat my foe, my very words shattering what was left of his powers for a few hours unless I restored them.

The knowledge that I had used to defeat Renora was a technique known as "Soul-flaying", which involved the utterance of a word of cosmic power that could strip dragons of their might and when used by an ascendant could inflict crippling damage on even dragon lords. Had I been a lesser dragon lord, to utter it would have hurt even me to some extent but since I was a dragon monarch I could utter the word freely. The system had bestowed me with knowledge of the word and my power over knowledge allowed me to know what it did once I learned it.

I took a single step towards Renora, my enormous, draconic foot causing the ground beneath me to quake slightly. I was currently quadrupedal which was a distinctive change from my usual form, but there was something powerful about the bestial nature of my form at the moment that I quite liked. I also had just as much control over this form as I did over my other forms, and actually as a result of my apotheosis into becoming a dragon monarch my shapeshifting abilities have improved! 

Now I could become any size ranging from as small as a bacterium to as large as a hypergiant star, whenever I wanted. That allowed me to easily become larger than entire planets and smaller than even the most diminutive forms of life. That sort of incredible power would do me well in the future, whenever I sought to infiltrate a place or travel incognito. And that was far from the only boost to my physique that I had received!

As a dragon lord of air, I was able to move so fast that I could travel across multiple universes in so little as a yoctosecond. Remarkable enough that actually was a boost to my previous speed! As a dragon lord of fire, I had the raw, unending, unyielding physical strength to lift the combined weight of multiple entire universes. My body was genuinely and truly enhanced by my transformation into a dragon monarch, a true and worthy alpha of dragons so powerful that I had the raw might needed to destroy or manipulate multiple universes in a litany of ways. 

On a raw, elemental level my mind filled with a keen awareness of every instance of every one of my elements in the omniverse. I could manipulate every instance of earth, water, air, fire, light, darkness, and poison in my universe and every universe directly around my universe.

If I wanted too I could turn even a pitiful campfire into a roaring inferno, a light breeze into a deadly tornado, or even the light of a flashlight into a luminous, otherworldly glow that illuminated hidden, eldritch truths. And due to my multi-elemental nature, as well as my powers as a Grand Adonis I could do other things, such as alter the surface of entire planets, turning such things into water, magma, or any other sort of thing tangentially related to the elements I was attuned too. In many ways, reality was now my plaything, and in time I fully intended to play with it. 

As I gazed into the defeated eyes of Renora I smiled haughtily, allowing my mastery over pride to guide me as I began to speak.

"Renora... All that you have is now mine. And every one of your servants, friends, lovers, and children, are all elated to become part of my empire." I revealed, even as I activated my own innate ability to induce joy and bliss. When I finished speaking I heard the very planet I was on sigh in happiness and watched as Renora's own face relaxed a bit, due to the joy that the dragon lord was beginning to feel. That said the beast's prideful heart clung to its hate and the dragon refused to give in and accept the joy that it could feel, if only it'd surrender. 

My own ascendant allies and servants, and my other unique servants who were roughly on their level felt the unmistakable sense of bliss that radiated out of me. They embraced it and relaxed, humbled and delighted by my new appearance and my new powers, as well as by my rarely utilized ability to radiate an aura of joy that soothed hate in all manner of creatures, even ascendants. 

"In a moment I shall resurrect your fallen soldiers and turn them into my servants. They too shall know the bliss of being citizens of my empire. Rejoice Renora! Your life until now has been spent being a hateful, weak creature. And now you can become so much more! You can become a being of great power, and have all that you ever wanted. All it will take is you becoming a vampire, my vampire." I explained, right as Calantha teleported back to my side. She only heard the last sentence I uttered, but that was enough to cause her eyes to widen in shock and a reverential sense of awe. 

I reached out and placed a single one of my draconic claws on the head of the dragon lord, causing all of the creatures looking at me to fall deathly silent. I could feel the tension in the air, almost as if it were a physical thing, and I knew that even if I hadn't had a divine-level empathetic ability I'd have been able to sense it as fully and keenly as I could at the moment. Renora gazed up at me, fear in his eyes but I simply closed mine and began to focus, transmitting my ancient, primordial power into my multicolored claw. 

Renora began to glow and his eyes turned into solid, white spheres. And the dragon began to howl, the sound piercing and haunting as his soul was touched and altered by my own abilities.

Sanguinarchs were immensely powerful. They were so powerful, in fact, that the greatest of them could corrupt and overwhelm even other ascendants if the individual sanguinarch in question was strong enough. This unfathomable amount of power could only be possessed by primordial sanguinarchs, ones such as Il'Noth'Rey, and their reincarnations, such as Raul.

Raul's cosmic energies, including some of his essence, began to seep into the dragon lord he was in the process of transforming into a vampire. The other beings watching the scene watched as Renora abruptly ceased glowing and instead began to suddenly radiate darkness, his scales turning from the stark white color they had just been into a shade of black that was quite literally supernaturally dark. 

The soul of the creature was touched by Raul's cosmic light and darkness and it was warped by the power of the omniverse's one and only actual anael and grand adonis. It was helpless to resist the reality-warping power of Raul's eldritch soul and overwhelming, unfiltered power. And Raul also restored the creature's lost powers, not relinquishing them but actually giving a copy of them back to the dragon, since Raul knew the power of having powerful servants.

Over the course of the next few moments, the willfulness and hatred that had lingered in Renora's eyes faded away, even as the creature itself felt a number of changes to its soul and mind taking place. The being's hatred for Raul vanished, as did its pride in anything but Raul. The creature's heart itself was changed by the god's power, and when Raul himself opened his eyes everyone was staring at him and the dragon lord he had just tamed and empowered with awe. And Raul wasn't done. The dragon monarch silently went over to Noshtex, the powerful archdemoness of gluttony, and also placed a single clawed limb on her head. 

She began to glow just as brightly as Renora had, but in her case, she welcomed the changes to her heart and mind. She had already felt the impact of Raul's ability to alter emotions, and in the time since he turned away from her had come to accept the possibility that she might soon be on the full receiving end of that power. In a show of surprising emotional growth, inspired in part by the joy she felt being beautified by Raul, she accepted her new master, her "Sire" with ease, and Raul himself smiled as he felt her soul embrace his power and might. 

As Noshtex began to become an ascendant vampire, Renora's body finished accepting the changes that vampirism was bringing it and also accepting the copies of the powers he had been robbed of by Raul. And also accepting the wholly new power that came with being one of Raul's alpha vampires. The dragon stood up and walked to Raul's side, even as he spent his vast reserves of power, bolstered by his vampirism and Raul's power, to attune to more of the elements. 

Noshtex's strange ascension went by much faster thanks to the fact that she accepted Raul's power without attempting to resist it. Her soul burned and blazed with the power of the manifold ascendant who had just become her master, and so she was able to adjust much quicker than he had been, spending vast stores of her own personal power, power she had accumulated by feeding on many things throughout existence, to become a more capable archdemoness, all to serve her new master: the emperor of the Raulian empire, Raul himself.

Conquering the dragon lord and the archdemoness was surprisingly easy once the two of them had been defeated and as I turned them into my vampires I felt their power surge into me, enhancing the new powers I had only just acquired. I also immediately acquired all of the knowledge they had acquired, even things they had previously been able to keep hidden from me due to their status and powers as fellow ascendants. The knowledge that filled my mind made me even more powerful, and I knew, subconsciously, that my power now was far greater than my power yesterday, or even an hour ago had been. 

"So this is the might of ascendants isn't it? The true... unfiltered power we possess at the very pinnacle of our might? Incredible." I muttered, even as I reached out across the cosmos with my mind and activated one of my greater megapowers, the incredibly mighty ability known as "Giver of Life". As I did that I utilized my particular brand of cosmic awareness to pick out the souls that had fallen on both sides of the short-lived war I had waged against the combined forces of Noshtex and Renora. 

I felt the fallen begin to come back to life, and as they did I selected the most stellar members of my former enemies' forces to transform into vampires. I also made the rest feel even more loyal and devoted to me than they had to their former lords, utilizing a combination of my powers over love and my x-ranked "Glorious Presence" power. As I did that I began to glow a pure white light that stretched out to an area larger than a mountain around myself in every direction. 

I sensed myself become an object of worship for billions of beings, and I sensed the intensity with which I was worshipped grow even higher in trillions of my soldiers. And that was when I finally shrunk down to a human size and took on my human form again. 

I walked over to the door on the other side of the large room I had fought against Noshtex and Renora in and pushed the simple wooden thing open. The room just beyond the door was a small bedroom and on the other end of the room from the door was a simple bed on which Mirella, the princess of the tel'Nora hegemony, was trapped in a magically induced slumber, magically sustained and kept in stasis.

I solemnly walked over to her side and I was quickly joined by Calantha who simply dashed towards me, who had spent the last few minutes processing and accepting the reality that I was indeed Il'Noth'Rey's reincarnation. She knelt in front of me once she had reached me and began to speak. 

"Il'Noth'Rey... Master... At last, after searching for more eons than I care to count, I have finally been reunited with you. Please, may I return to your side? I know not if you have regained your memories, but even if not the knowledge that you are indeed the reincarnation of my master is enough to drive me to serve you. Please... Please allow me to come back to you and to serve you as I once did in the unspeakably distant past!" She proclaimed, her voice breaking as she emotionally remembered a past that I knew we shared but that I still couldn't remember. Nevertheless I smiled at her and bade that she stand. When she did as I commanded I gazed into her eyes and began to speak.

"Calantha... You have looked for me for eons. I am so truly happy that you have found me. I am happy that you have come home. Yes, you may serve me. I am glad that you and Rayne are by my side as I formally begin my efforts to rebuild Etherscape. Now, please allow me to awaken Mirella." I told her, causing her to begin to cry tears of joy as she stepped aside so that I may awaken Mirella. I smiled appreciatively at her and walked over to where Mirella's side. I placed a gentle hand on the woman's head and uttered a single, soft word. 

"Awaken." 

A second passed. 

And then another. 

And a third one after that. 

But then Mirella's eyes opened, slowly, serenely. And the woman began to look around, relaxedly, because deep in her soul she already knew that she was safe. When she saw me she smiled gently, even as my healing and restorative powers healed her and purified every single pore, every single cell of her body. 

"Hello Mirella. It is incredibly nice to meet you. I am Raul. I rescued you from the clutches of the ascendant alliance that months ago began to wage war on Etherscape." I informed her, kindly, happily. Her eyes lit up as she heard my words, and as she took in the weight of the fact that she was awake again.

"I... see." She uttered, awestruck by the fact that, if I were telling the truth, then that meant that someone intended to rebuild her home. I kept smiling at her and spoke just a bit longer.

"And now, there is someone else, or rather... Other people I must rescue. Please give me a moment. I think you'll be delighted to see what I am about to show you." I told her, my voice filled with elation as I spoke. I turned away from her and used knowledge once known solely to members of the dreaded alliance that ruined Etherscape to open a beautiful pink portal at one end of the room. 

The portal led to a beautiful beach that was inhabited solely by two truly gorgeous women. One of them was a blonde, almost fairy-like woman with hair that was styled to loosely resemble the tips of wings. The other was a brunette who had an hourglass-like figure and hair in an ornate ponytail. Mynassa, a cosmic demigoddess of life, love, and fertility, and one of the "Thronemaidens", a woman named Thevah whose position was that of the "Crownsguard", the personal bodyguard of the emperor's harem. They gazed at me, surprised and alarmed by the portal that had just opened to their prison, and by the fact that I was not one of the monsters who knew where they were imprisoned. 

Their alarm faded into curiosity, which gave them the courage to study what else they could see around me. When they noticed Calantha the woman nodded respectfully at them, but didn't beckon for them to approach me or the portal. It was only when Rayne teleported to my side that any of the three women I had just rescued had another reaction. The three of them gasped in delighted, overjoyed surprise as they immediately recognized the one person who still had a claim to the imperial throne of Etherscape appear in front of them. Rayne, having begun to cease her feigned apathy towards her people in the time since she met me began to smile joyously at the women and spoke.

"Mynassa, Thevah... Come through the portal. Meet the man who rescued you from the clutches of the alliance. Meet the man who may well become Etherscape's savior! Come meet my husband, himself both an ascendant being and a nova. Come introduce yourselves to Raul Medrano!" She proclaimed, causing their eyes to widen in shock and in joy. They immediately stepped forward and through the portal, gazing at Rayne and at me with joy and hope in their eyes.