Consensus, Day 19348-4: Tower (Patreon)

Christina waltzed into the entrance of the grand tower, completely unphased by its oppressive atmosphere which doubled as a warning sign for anyone brave enough to even step near the place. The businesswoman cared not for what stood in her way, other than it was an obstacle to be overcome.

Before her was a seemingly endless spiral of stairs, not that it was even worth a mention. Stairs or not, Christina wasn’t about to use such pedestrian means of traversal.

Channeling both strength and reality manipulation, she became light as a feather, literally floating upwards at an exponential ascension. The world around her blurred as she skimmed through stories in seconds, rising up to what would have been an insurmountable height for anyone else. Yet as she ascended, the tower seemed to undergo a physical form of vertigo, as if the cinematic dolly zoom was being performed on reality itself.

Christina knew exactly what this meant. Someone knew she was here, and this someone knew how to bend reality to their will much like she could. Not only that, but Christina’s supreme intelligence immediately sussed out the difference between these two forms of manipulation. Whoever this was had potential far exceeding Christina’s own, judging by how expansive their reality manipulation was. Christina’s most extensive bend was an entire airport terminal, but this… this was something else entirely.

However, Christina noticed a flaw within her new adversary’s manipulation of existence. All this power, yet their execution was sloppy. It lacked discipline, they weren’t utilizing their superior abilities to the highest extent. The businesswoman could compare this encounter to a mosquito versus a sloth, while one’s potential far exceeded the other’s, a swarm of the persistent bug would easily whittle down the larger animal with futile resistance offered.

She languidly swerved around her adversary’s shoddy rewrites of reality, erotically gyrating her hips as she effortlessly slithered past crushing walls and optical illusions made real. The path upwards was made impossibly thin, so Christina made herself impossibly thin as well, utilizing an inversion of Tessa’s muscle manipulation to flatten herself down to an atom’s width. Nothing was going to stop her from what she now believed was her rightful destiny.

And then, as if her adversary seemed to share the sentiment, the onslaught of attacks ceased. The air was thin as Christina reached the top, pausing to catch her breath for but a moment as she took in her surroundings. From the staircase which she had ascended, she found herself within what appeared to be a tiny receptionist office, one not too dissimilar from the one she recalled her old job had. Why would this place deliberately invoke a past job she had?

This couldn’t have been the work of her adversary. The lack of nuance within their prior attack patterns didn’t suggest they relied on deep-seeded knowledge of Christina’s past traumas in order to weaken her resolve.

No, the answer was far simpler, this was the exact same office building she had once worked at, only because her unknown adversary was an old colleague of hers.

“So, you’ve risen again,” came an imposing voice that was still decidedly feminine as Christina opened the double doors before her when led into an impossibly large room given how high up they were. The voice itself seemed to be everywhere, even inside Christina’s own head, permeating every corner of the world, more ubiquitous than air itself. The businesswoman found her teeth vibrating with every word spoken. “Fitting, you were the one I defeated first. Now, I bless you with my presence once more, using you as the last puzzle piece I need to become truly unopposable in my beauty.”

At first, Christina nearly didn’t recognize the woman before her. How could she—Christina was left flabbergasted at the sheer size of her tyrannical opponent. She easily outsized a tree, an apt comparison given how her sinuous legs were thicker than trunks. Even when in a casual sitting position with one leg crossed over the other, her muscles convulsed with levels of power never before seen. The businesswoman couldn’t help but find herself blushing at the sight. Such a raw display of power.

The adversarial tyrant's hair was more vibrant and blonde than ever, though it possessed a myriad of multicolored streaks, each representing unique victims she had added to her entourage of a body.

Surrounding her were an entourage of cute men and a woman who looked like an older, scrawnier, elderly duplicate of the massive woman, her gaze distant and unfocused from decades of abuse and neglect. On her chest, etched in blood, was a three-word title that read “Terri the inferior.”

And if that was Terri, then the fourteen foot tall amazonian woman beside her was Carrie.

Beneath her massive body was an equally massive throne. Even with its bejewelments and reinforced metal, it seemed to be straining to contain the massive multicolor blonde’s weight. Her mere presence was at odds with her own power.

“I believe you’re mistaken,” Christina replied, steeling herself. Usually, she had a fifteen-step plan for these sorts of encounters. But this—all she could do was wing it. “You’ll be the one surrendering your powers to me.”

She drew her pneumatic draining device, hoping that her commanding voice would work on Carrie and this battle would be over before it began.

“No, it is you who is mistaken. You will present yourself in front of me and I will be taking what is rightfully mine.”

Carrie had spoken it so casually, breaking eye contact from Christina mid-sentence to inspect her flawlessly manicured nails. It didn’t even sound like she was trying to demand anything, and yet Christina found her traitorous legs disobeying her, inching closer and closer towards the commanding Carrie. Her brain adopted a dissenting voice that seemed acquainted with her

adversary’s point of view. Well, she is very beautiful, maybe even more beautiful than you. Maybe she does deserve what you have. After all, it’s survival of the fittest, correct?

Christina grunted in anger, gripping her head. Carrie’s words were turning Christina against herself. Resisting the call, she spoke equally commanding words to herself, tricking her own brain into denying its own inserted mentality. With a mighty amount of effort, Christina retraced her steps, now back to where she started with a defiant smile upon her face.

“You dare disobey my commands? Pity,” Carrie spoke, still an air of disinterest in her tone. She then turned her eyes to the aging woman beside her. “Terri, this is clearly your fault. Your horrible, hideous face distracted her right as she was about to fulfill my final ascension. Ugh, you can just never stop being such a spiteful bitch, can you?” The poor, lesser twin might’ve cried if she had any tears left to shed.

With her mighty adversary temporarily distracted, Christina seized the moment. She put all her powers into one devastating punch, combining Tessa’s muscle manipulation, Mae’s strength manipulation, using the mind manipulation of the already-defeated version of Carrie to further push Mabel’s reality manipulation to its bounds and close the gap between her and her opponent ever so slightly faster. She didn’t use Violet’s power—not yet at least. That was a last resort should whatever she was trying fail to manifest. She hadn’t had proper time to test its limits or its potential paradoxes. Time was finicky, unreliable. At least reality would never let her down.

And then Carrie looked her way with an unfamiliar glint in her eye.

Christina fell to the ground, suddenly feeling as if a ton of invisible bricks fell atop her and she was buried within the rubble. Reality had once again let her down. She would punish it later.

“There we go, that killer look really gets them,” Carrie spoke, her ethereal voice drilling migraines into Christina’s head with every word spoken. “Now obey me already and make your beauty rightfully mine.”

Christina couldn’t tell what the hell had just hit her, though she knew what she needed to do. Using Tessa and Mae’s strength to fortify her telekinetic mind and powerful ears from whatever Carrie would say next, she then put all her focus back to wringing reality’s neck within an inch of its continued existence just so that she could get her answer faster. It caved to its rightful master, revealing that Carrie could manipulate dark matter to her whims.

Such a revelation shook Christina to her core. An invisible force she could barely detect which made up 26% of the universe and could be manipulated by her adversary to an extent not yet understood by modern science. What other horrifying powers did Carrie possess?

“Now give me that little thingy,” the overpowered tyrant spoke, using a version of Christina’s telekinesis to fly the pneumatic extraction device right into her hand. “Last time you tried to stick me with it, I turned the tides because of how pretty and worthy I am of worship. I’ve been the superior twin forever, and I always will be. I think it’s only fitting that I use this device again.

Christina was prepared to give up right then and there. She could barely land a hit on Carrie, much less prepare herself to deal with the thought of this overpowered tyrant becoming more blatantly overpowered meanwhile everything she had worked for crumbled to ash. But then, a thought struck her, one that she had in the back of her mind ever since her first encounter with Carrie’s powers.

Was Carrie even aware she had powers?

Sure, there were narcissistic people out there who took every victory as a personal reinforcement that their body was simply built different, built better. Carrie’s case seemed even more extreme. She seemed to genuinely believe that whatever was happening to her was some sort of reward for being the ‘superior twin’ to her sister.

Christina used her powerful telekinetic mind and a bit of time manipulation to comb over every word Carrie had exchanged with her up to that point. She mostly just talked about beauty and… well… that was it. She never referred to any of the powers she had by name, only ever referring to the dark matter manipulation as a “killer look” she would give people.

No, Carrie wasn’t some brilliant goddess amongst men. She was exactly as vapid and self-centered as she had been over fifty years ago. She didn’t care about true power, just being the best. Unfortunately for her, popularity couldn’t beat out scientific prowess. Closing her eyes, Christina freed herself from the hold the dark matter had on her. If she couldn’t see Carrie’s killer look, then—as far as Carrie knew—it had no effect on her.

Christina began to laugh, drawing the ire of Carrie, which caused her to put down the pneumatic extraction device on the armrest next to her. “What’s so funny?”

“All this power and influence, but it doesn’t matter. You may have control over the weather, the planets, dark matter and antimatter, you may even possess a greater control over reality than I do… but you missed the only aspect that allows all of those factors to function in the first place. Something only a beauty like me has access to.” She could craft whatever narrative she wanted, just as long as it fell within the purview of Carrie’s beliefs.

“And what would that be?” Carrie replied, growing more and more annoyed at the lone, dissenting voice that refused to be silenced. She actually stood up from her massive throne. Now, Christina had her full, undivided attention.

“Time,” was all the businesswoman replied with.

And that was all that needed to be said as Christina tapped into the well of endless possibilities that was once Violet’s power. She froze everything in place for the briefest amount of time that she could accrue, the sheer presence of Carrie pushing through such a mere stoppage. But that was all the time Christina needed for her telekinesis to fly the extraction device directly into Carrie’s stomach and activate itself. As Carrie withered away into ashes within the wind she screamed a heaven-piercing screech that caused her entourage of supporters’ heads to explode all simultaneously. This included Terri, who was probably more happy to be dead than anything.

Then there was silence. No more action, no more surreal powers, no more barrage of constant Carrie thoughts blasting every which way. All that remained was Christina and a filled-to-the-brim device full of ultimate power. Christina no longer needed to become anxious over Carrie getting her powers and ascending to godhood, because now the rightful goddess of this forsaken earth was her, just as logic had always dictated.

Wasting no more time, she inserted the device within her, failing to contain an orgasmic moan as she did so. An electric surge of absolute euphoria erupted from somewhere deep within her, though she was sure to direct it towards her brain for immediate assimilation. The jagged sensation was quickly followed by a searing heat that raced through her long limbs. Powers beyond her wildest dreams flooded into her, becoming acquainted with powers beyond her wildest dreams.

She held out her arm, the passage of time, the will of reality and the convergence of dark matter were all slithering down her sinuous muscles like obedient snakes.

“God” was one word they could call her. “Empress” was another she quite liked. Regardless, the facts were immutable. The science could not lie. Even so, she could simply utilize a cocktail of random powers to bully reality into making it so. She could do anything, go anywhere, rename every element on the periodic table, rewrite history so that she was always a goddess. If she grew tired of this post-apocalyptic setting, she could just leave! Time paradoxes? If she could make reality her bitch, then time wouldn’t be hard to follow.

“So… Much… Fucking… Power!” Christina brought herself to say through feisty moans, her body experiencing a fifteenth puberty as her form grew and grew. But growth for the sake of growth was nothing special. Controlled growth… the ability to turn one’s body into anything they desire… that was a noteworthy skill to have. Then again, an imposing figure was nothing to scoff at. Either way, she’d still be the fiercest, most dominant creature on the food chain and any other status pyramid she felt obliged to measure up to.

So, what form would she take?

(To be concluded… Just one chapter remains!)