Chapter 19

Downfall

Despite the gravity of his victory, Dominion took no time to rest and bask in his own glory. After defeating the octopus, the first thing he did was clear the sky of all the dust thrown up when he collided with the monster. So much particulate had been made airborne that it threatened to create a nuclear winter, ironically, without any actual radiation or fallout. Then he rereleased the spawn, sending them back to their positions and duties. Luckily, the government had been too afraid to enter his domain while he was busy. Next, he redistributed the wraiths to his collaborators and woke them and the prisoners up. Everything was back up and running in no time. However, just as Dominion was about to begin studying his new acquisition, Ishtar sent him a message.

‘Lord Dominion, we have a dire emergency at the mansion!’

He sighed in annoyance and teleported there. Appearing in the main hallway, he found Nayara and Mary bowing before him as usual, but Cho was face down on the floor, with Ishtar beating her with her tail.

“What’s going on?”

Ishtar got down on one knee. “My Lord, Hijiri has escaped! Someone broke in and stole her!”

“Misato ... so he survived. I thought I had sensed something during the fight, but to think it actually happened,” Dominion muttered.

“Even if I was assimilated into you to face the monster, this failure is still mine! Please, punish me as you see fit!”

“Your self-deprecation serves no beneficial purpose. There is no point in punishing you other than to indulge your masochism.”

“Please, allow me to go after her! Let me reclaim your lost slave!”

A wicked grin crossed Dominion’s face. “No need. We’ll find her eventually. The safe places she can hide will shrink day by day as my empire expands. I want her to realize that there is nowhere left of her to run, then I will take her back. Right now, what’s truly important is how she escaped. Misato was here, I can smell his blood, but the only thing more unlikely than surviving his injury and having the strength to save Hijiri is doing so after breaking free of his hex. Someone else helped him, I can smell her.” Dominion walked over to the beaten Cho and crouched down. “Care to tell me about the robed woman with the golden hand?”

“Never in a million years,” she hissed.

“And I suppose you said that expecting me to torture you for the information. After all, that’s what Ishtar was trying to do. You think that just become you’ve learned to enjoy getting violated means that you’re immune to all my tricks. How naïve. I haven’t even begun to teach you the meaning of pain. There are so many nerve endings for me to exploit. So many ways to make you shriek in agony. “I’m so sorry Hijiri.” You’ll say those words and then proceed to tell me everything you know, and foolishly hope that that’ll make the pain stop. But it won’t. After the interrogation will come the punishment, obviously, to teach you never to keep secrets from me.”

Cho just stared at him with wide eyes. It was true. If he really wanted the information, there was no question he could extract it from her. Her strength was nothing compared to his evil.

Surprising her, he stood back up and chuckled. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You mistake me for some kind of savage. I’m much more civil than you think. You’ll willingly tell me, after the baptism, of course.”

“Baptism?” Cho murmured.

Dominion snapped his fingers, and behind Cho, the floor was destroyed by the rising of three coffins. They were made of Dead Matter and had an organic, fleshy appearance, despite being as black as coal.

“You see, I realized something after I broke Mary. Once I’ve fully bent you to my will and you learn to enjoy being brutalized, the only difference between you and Ishtar is that Ishtar is actually useful for other things. I could just throw you in the trash, replace you with clones of her, and come out on top. Lucky for you, my collector spirit won’t let me do that. So, instead, I’ll turn you into my new unholy servants. Blight was originally a human just like you, he was Mary’s husband. I’m going to do to you what I did to him. Besides, now that Hijiri has gone, you’ve lost your ‘twin’ appeal.”

Cho’s body became ice cold, flooded by the terror she first felt when she met Dominion. Unlike Hijiri, who only feared him for the physical pain he could inflict, Cho had been subjected to his bloodlust and knew that it was her soul that was really in danger. Dominion was Hell itself, all those that he killed were trapped within him for an eternity, a horror worse than any pain of the flesh. What he was about to do was just as bad, perhaps even worse.

The three coffins opened and black tendrils reached out to the women. Mary and Nayara didn’t resist in any way. The tendrils simply picked them up and pulled them in, but Cho fought against it, kicking and screaming and trying to pull away. The tendrils grabbed her and began dragging her into the darkness.

“No! You can’t do this to me! I did everything you told me do! You said you’d leave my soul alone! Please, anything but this! I’ll tell you everything! Just let me die in peace!” She was pulled into the coffin, with the tendrils binding her like a straightjacket. She looked down at her feet, as out of the darkness, a swarm of insects began to crawl up her bare legs. She didn’t know where they were coming from, but they were filling up the coffin. “I don’t want this!” she shrieked.

Ishtar approached her with a peaceful smile. “Don’t worry. In time, you shall be able to truly appreciate the glory of belonging to Lord Dominion. Now, goodnight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Ishtar then closed the lid, with Cho giving one final scream before the swarm of insects covered her face.

“Only under the most extreme circumstances am I to be interrupted.”

Those were the orders Dominion gave before secluding himself in his lab. Now that everything had been handed over to his minions, he could begin dissecting his newest acquisition. He had been passively digesting it since its defeat, but now with focused effort, he could start harvesting it for information and experimenting.

The first thing he uncovered was its origins. It was similar to a spawn, ironically. Just as Dominion gave form to his creations with his blood, the octopus was born from a single drop of blood belonging to one of the Old Gods. The difference was that it was more like a clone of the Old God, unlike Dominion’s spawn, which were human and demonic spirits mashed together and brainwashed to obey him.

It had been born just before the arrival of mankind and buried deep below the planet’s surface. It had only one purpose: destroy any entities that threatened the Old Gods. It was a countermeasure against people like Dominion. The Old Gods must have realized the possibility of someone like him appearing, a human that grew stronger by stealing the souls of others. It must have woken up because he reached a certain level of power. However, the Old Gods severely underestimated Dominion. They must have assumed that their pet would just have to fight some monster that had gone insane with power and was simply rampaging. They had no idea their enemy was someone with an intact will, who was able to overcome a 1:10 strength ratio with skill and intellect. Their foolishness would cost them dearly.

The octopus, it had the power of the one of the Old Gods, and now, so did Dominion. It wasn’t just a meal, it was a vaccination. Now when he faced the true Old God, he’d be able to easily absorb its power. The octopus was unaware of any other of its kind being born, Guardians created by the other Old Gods, but Dominion had a feeling that they were out there somewhere. If he absorbed them all, not only would he be able to take on the Old Gods, but he’d probably be able to break their barrier and enter Purgatory. So now the question became which would happen first: would he track down the other three Guardians, or would he acquire enough souls? It was probably a good idea to pursue both avenues.

Next, he examined the powers and abilities the octopus possessed. Just by absorbing it, he had widened his knowledge and proficiency in using the Dead Runes, but it was the power that amazed him. It was a rather overwhelming sensation, how strong he had become. He now walked on a planet that he could destroy with his own two hands. He had the ability to exterminate all life on Earth and blow it up. The world had never felt so small to him.

Finally, the most important acquisition. While he still couldn’t create full-functioning souls, he had come close. “Proto-souls”, perhaps a rough draft the Old Gods once used. They were souls that were incapable of producing abstract thought, disintegrated immediately upon exposure to the environment outside of a proper container, and couldn’t function within organic hosts, meaning that they couldn’t be used in spawn.

However, they worked just fine in S2 Engines, and Dominion could create them without limit, but he couldn’t incorporate them into his body. Not only would they dissolve into nothingness if he just consumed them like regular souls, but for some reason, even when put in S2 Engines, they were repelled from him as if by magnetism. Perhaps it was some kind of defense mechanism created by the Old Gods, just like the octopus itself, something to prevent him from gaining truly limitless power.

It was the middle of the night when Dominion returned to the mansion. He had finished his experiments for the day, but even after defeating the octopus, he was still wired. He’d use Ishtar to relieve the leftover strain of battle. Yet when he appeared in the main hallway of the mansion, he gave a sigh of annoyance. Ishtar, bowing before him, shivered. Was he angry with her?

“Is there anything wrong, Master?” she asked without lifting her head from the floor.

“This mansion doesn’t suit me.”

Then, without another word, he teleported, reappearing high above the planet, just shy of the vacuum of space. He looked down upon his kingdom and snapped his fingers. Across his domain, all of the towns that had already been searched and stripped were dismantled and lifted into the air. Metal, brick, glass, concrete, and pristine wood were collected, and everything else left behind. Nails were gathered together and reformed like they were melted in a foundry. Stone architecture and decorations were likewise collected, with different minerals being harvested and reshaped. When he couldn’t find the necessary minerals and alloys in towns, he ripped them straight out of the earth’s crust. The site of his fight with the octopus had resulted in an overabundance of glass and the exposure of several valuable materials.

Then, in the upper atmosphere, he brought them all together. Those looking up at the sky with telescopes would see his growing creation. Buildings, bridges, dungeons, and walls were formed in midair and assembled like puzzle pieces. It was a massive structure, the size of an entire city. It floated on an island of stone and metal, with terraced buildings leading up to a gothic fortress, decorated with statues of demons and unholy monsters. Two spires, dwarfing any tower or skyscraper in mankind’s history, flanked the central palace. They curved and leaned towards each other, resembling the pincers of a fierce beetle. The entire structure was powered by ten massive S2 Engines, each made with several thousand proto-souls. However, it only needed three to be fully operational.

His creation floated before him, bathed in the light of the moon. At the top of the fortress, in the absolute center of the structure, was an oculus to let light into the throne room. Dominion entered to examine his handiwork. The throne room was cavernous, like a cathedral, and had similar architecture, featuring arches and pillars seen throughout ancient Europe.

It also resembled Aztec architecture, displaying both sharp edges and geometric patterns, the walls decorated with reliefs of monsters, animals, and humans. So too did it incorporate organic curves and shapes, reminiscent of parts of human anatomy. It was almost like being in a giant ribcage, with the decorative architecture resembling organs, tendons, and the like. It was all made of black stone and volcanic glass from his fight, so that even if the sunlight poured in through the oculus, it would have a cold, dark aura.

Dominion took a seat on the throne and sighed in joy. “Finally, a castle fit for the king of the world.”

It was supposed to be a beautiful summer day, but those that looked up saw the declaration of the apocalypse. The sky over the country was red as blood with clouds looking like smoke from an oil fire. It started at dawn, Dominion’s armies moving south towards DC.

Never before had he commanded so many forces. Just with the power of the octopus, he was powerful enough to destroy the planet and overcome any threat, so now, every soul and demon he had could be used for generating spawn. True, Dominion couldn’t add the S2 Engines to his own body, but he could implant them into his minions. Now each spawn, regardless of type, consisted of one demon or wraith for thought and intellect, and an S2 Engine filled with proto-souls to power both the body and psychic powers. That meant millions of monstrous soldiers were now on the move, with thousands more still guarding his prisons.

The wings of the vultures and the hulks blocked out the sun, but the fleet of airborne sphinxes gleamed like polished mirrors, and in the rear was Dominion’s fortress, its massive spires resembling the devil’s horns. They were crossing Maryland and had almost reached DC. Dominion saw it all from his throne room, through the eyes of all of his spawn.

“Scourge.” Upon being called, the specter appeared at Dominion’s feet. “You deal with Collins. Put him on display.”

Sirens were going off throughout Washington DC. Dominion was coming, they could see his forces on the horizon. The last vestiges of the US military gathered together, forming a desperate last-ditch defense to buy time for the citizens to evacuate. Tanks and mortars were lined up in the northern outskirts, firing everything they had at the oncoming horde. The shells and bombs exploded in midair without hitting anything, or were caught by telekinesis and discarded like trash. The last few jets and helicopters were swatted out of the sky like flies.

The soldiers wept as they fired everything they had, only to see it accomplish nothing. This couldn’t be happening, this all had to be a bad dream. Nothing like this could possibly be allowed to exist. As the terrified men were enveloped by the shadow of Dominion’s army, they finally gave in and abandoned their posts. Running and hiding was all that they could do left. Fighting back was impossible.

As per routine, Dominion’s forces split up to surround the city. Every road leading out of DC was stuck in gridlock, with the people unable to move. He had sent some troops ahead of schedule to take out bridges and highways, keeping the citizens trapped. Just like with the three previous cities, the sphinxes put up a forcefield around the city, to make sure that one would be able to escape, even on foot. Then, his armies swarmed in to do what they did best.

Collins was in the Oval Office, hurriedly packing essential files and items. Outside was a chopper waiting to take him to Air Force One. He was left with a skeleton crew, most white house employees running off days ago. Now he felt like the mob boss from an action movie with his last three henchmen and a duffle bag full of money, being chased by the hero. He still had some semblance of hope, not for the country, but for some of its people. All he had to do was get out of the city and get to the doomsday bunker where the rest of his cabinet and Chiefs of Staff were waiting. Then he could hopefully help organize a nation-wide evacuation. After that, it was in God’s hands.

“Mr. President, we have to go!” one of his last Secret Service agents hollered from down the hall.

Collins took one last look around the Oval Office. He’d never see it again. No one would ever hold this office, sit at this desk, or lead this country again. Dominion had taken it all.

“I’m coming.”

He entered the hall with his bags, but as he turned the corner, he stopped dead in his tracks. What should have been the exit to the back gardens had been blocked off, a great mass of sludgy-darkness clogging the hallway like a giant ball of crude oil. The Secret Service agent was stuck to it like a fly caught in a web, and it was slowly enveloping him. Collins could see his flesh graying with death.

“Mr. President ... run...” the man gagged. Then his face melted off his skull and his skeleton turned to ash, before being fully absorbed by the sludge.

Collins wanted to run, he knew he was supposed to, but he was paralyzed by a fear, a fear he had only felt once before. It was when that woman came and offered that deal from Dominion, then revealed the entity that had been spying on him. The darkness was spreading, roots growing from the mass and latching onto the walls, causing the wood to rot. Long centipedes were crawling out of muck and slithering towards him.

Then, he appeared, stepping out of the sludge like it was a cloud of mist. It was the black figure, the demon. His face was hidden by his hood, but Collins could feel his unholy gaze. He heard his wheezing hiss, an announcement of his presence. Just like the first time he saw him, Collins soiled himself without even realizing it. It was a very understandable response.

Scourge approached, raising his arms and extending his tentacles. Collins couldn’t even breath, his heart was threatening to give out. The sounds of gunshots shook him from his stupor, not to mention one of the bullets grazing his ear. They had done no damage to Scourge, simply absorbed into his body. Collins looked back, seeing Jake Boal at the other end of the hall with a pistol from one of the Secret Service agents.

“Come on! Back to the Oval Office!” he shouted.

Collins dumped everything he was carrying and ran over as fast as he could. Jake emptied the mag into Scourge, still not accomplishing anything. The two men retreated into the Oval Office and tried to barricade the doors.

“Here, it’s loaded with the last few silver bullets,” said Jake, handing Collins a gun.

“We have to get out of here. We’ll smash through the windows.”

As the words were spoken, the room began to darken. Black tentacles were moving across the window on the outside like a swarm of Lovecraftian monsters trying to bury the White House under their bodies. “Oh fuck...” Jake muttered. Those words were followed by a scream, Jake being grabbed and hoisted into the air. Collins fell to the floor and saw the demon, clinging to the ceiling with Jake in his grip. Jake was howling in terror as Scourge brought him up to his face. The hood of his cloak enveloped him, his body being drawn inside like it was a sleeping bag. The crunching of bone, the tearing of flesh, the slurping of blood, it was heard as Jake was pulled deeper and deeper into Scourge’s body. No face or jaws were visible, but he was clearly eating him, and the way his limbs were flailing told Collins was still alive, still alive to experience every moment of agony.

Collins screamed and opened fire, putting three rounds into Scourge’s chest. The gun jammed before he could fire a fourth. The bullets burned holes through Scourge’s cloak and into his chest, obviously doing some damage, but the beast just hissed in annoyance and choked down the rest of he meal, then turned his attention back to Collins.

Collins scrambled to his feet and ran out of the office. He was sobbing in each step, desperate to find a way out. All of the windows were being covered by black tentacles, and behind him, he could see Scourge approaching. Every light around the demon would go out, making it look like darkness itself was following him. He ran upstairs, finding the windows of the Lincoln Bedroom untouched. All he had to do was survive the fall without breaking anything. He could do that!

As he lunged for the window, one of Scourge’s tentacles wrapped around his ankle and dragged him over. He clawed at the floor, kicking and screaming. “I don’t want to die!” he sobbed.

He was then flipped onto his back, staring up at the nonexistence face of Scourge. From his sleeves, amidst the tentacles, two hands were revealed. They looked like they belonged to a long-dead corpse, just a thin layer of rotting flesh clinging to the bones. His fingers were unnaturally long and misshapen, with no nails to speak up. Scourge leaned down, slowly wrapped those ice-cold hands around Collins’ throat, and squeezed. Collins died, staring into the depths of horror.

The president had been slain, his body impaled on the flagpole on the roof of the White House for all the world to see. As his blood poured freely, Dominion walked up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Behind him, the city was burning, the fires started in the chaos. The flames looked beautiful under the crimson sky. People were screaming endlessly, either being brutally slaughtered or captured and put in transport vehicles. Just as loud was the sound of gunfire, though it wasn’t even remotely helpful, unless someone managed a lucky shot at one of the collaborators.

He arrived at the statue, painstakingly rebuilt after its destruction during the chaos years. He held out his hand, and above his head, a giant sword of black steel materialized in thin air. He gave a flick of his wrist and the sword was plunged into the statue’s chest, ripping it in half. Dominion then looked back out over the city and began to laugh. “The sun will never again shine on the United States of America! And soon, the sun will never set on the kingdom of Dominion!”

With Washington DC being reconstructed and his forces moving into Virginia to continue hunting, Dominion retired to his bedroom in his palace. True, it was still the early morning, but upon sensing the completion of his slaves’ transformation, his lust had been triggered. He had been implanting wraiths into their bodies and twisting their souls, turning them into the perfect servants. Nothing remained but what he deemed valuable. Ishtar was with him, eager to see the transformation an assist in trying them out. Neither of them knew how the slaves’ transformations would manifest. Dominion leaned against one of the posts of his massive canopy bed and snapped his fingers. The three black coffins rose up from the floor and opened, and out stepped his reborn concubines.

The first was Mary, having undergone the most extreme transformation. An ironic appearance, for someone who based so many of her beliefs on skin color, she herself had lost her skin. It had all been peeled away, exposing the muscles and veins underneath. Only the flesh on her scalp remained, preserving her long golden hair. It was similar to her husband, how he lost the complete front of his skull.

One might think she was about to collapse and bleed to death, but her body was now a hundred times more durable than before. Her muscles shined with blood and moisture, each step leaving a wet footprint on the floor. However, the puddles would instantly evaporate, leaving no residue behind, similar to Dead Matter. Since she had lost her skin, she had also lost all the fat beneath it, but her gluteal and pectoral muscles had inflated and changed shape to maintain her buxom milf figure so that she could please her Master.

Next was Nayara. The first thing that Dominion noticed was that her face was completely gone, turned into a blank canvas of skin that had been ironed smooth. Even the bridge of her nose was gone, and looking down, her vagina had disappeared, leaving her like a Barbie doll. Had all of the openings and orifices of her body been removed? This was certainly curious. As she stepped out, he saw two lines appear on her face, lashes growing from them and then opening to reveal her eyes. Very interesting.

Last was Cho, and her transformation was perhaps the strangest. Her body was covered with piercings, with wires running through them like pullies and leading into holes in her flesh. With every movement she made, the wires hissed and reeled, retracting and slackening as if her body was simply a puppet on strings. Even her eyelids and cheeks had been pierced, every small movement made by the wires. Dominion’s eyes moved down, seeing that her labia had rivets in them, with the wires keeping the lips spread.

She looked around with new, hollow eyes. “And to think ... I hesitated.”

“Where do your allegiances lie?” Dominion asked.

The three women all bowed down. “With you, Master,” they declared.

“Exquisite,” Ishtar purred.

Dominion undressed and moved onto the bed. “Then it’s time to perform your duties.”

Normally Ishtar would be the first on the bed, but she hung back, eager to see what her new underlings were capable of. His slaves all climbed up and approached him with lustful eyes, staring in awe at his towering manhood. Every place that Mary touched would be stained with blood, then the stain would cease to exist as soon as she pulled away. She was first, running her tongue up the shaft, with her tongue the same color as the exposed muscles in her cheeks. She ran her lips along its length like she was playing a harmonica, while Cho snuck past her and began working the head. The two of them were much more enthusiastic than before, more dedicated in their efforts. An opening appeared on Nayara’s face, becoming a toothless mouth with multiple swirling tongues. She went down below, greedily sucking on his balls like a leech.

The women took turns on different areas, drinking each other’s saliva and making out between shifts. At the foot of the bed was Ishtar, playing with herself as she watched. When Nayara came up onto his lap, Mary and Cho were pushed aside as she deepthroated Dominion’s entire cock. Her new abilities certainly surprised him. Normally, Ishtar was the best in all areas, including blowjobs, especially when one considered the aphrodisiac in her saliva. However, her mouth was still designed like a human’s. Nayara, however, was able to take a more amorphous form with her mouth. Most sex toys were designed to be as human-like as possible, but she was a human designed to be as toy-like as possible.

Dominion decided he wanted to try something. He grabbed Nayara by the shoulders, forced her onto her back, and got on top of her. He pushed her chin up, exposing her throat, and just as expected, it opened up into another mouth with her greedy tongues reaching out to him. He forced himself inside, fucking her throat but now from the opposite direction. Her first mouth was opened by his cock forcing its way out, like a snake slithering out of his den. It was certainly a peculiar sight to behold, to see his cock coming OUT of a woman’s mouth. While he throat-fucked Nayara, Cho and Mary were all wrapped up together, sucking on each other’s tongues.

Dominion eventually ejaculated, sending his semen squirting out onto Nayara’s face. Ishtar knelt down and licked Nayara’s face clean. “Master, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but I am capable of this trick as well. I hope this won’t make you become bored with me.”

“Well, then later, I’ll see how well you two compare. I’m not done with her yet.”

Dominion rolled Nayara onto her stomach and parted the hair on the back of her head. On cue, another orifice appeared, with her skull itself opening up. He didn’t hesitate, he thrust himself in as far as he could, drilling straight through her brain and not stopping until he hit the inside of her forehead.

“Oh God, Master, that feels so good! Fuck my brains, fuck them to shreds!” Nayara moaned.

She didn’t need to ask, he gripped her skull like he was trying to crush her and began violently thrusting. His cock was pulverizing her gray matter, liquifying the spongey tissue. Naturally, she healed just as fast as she received damage, but there was still a mess pouring out of the back of her skull. It felt good in its own fucked up way, a whole new level of perversion, and the softness of her brains made it an incredible physical experience as well. He could feel the tissue moving, sliding against his cock. It was the same way Ishtar’s pussy and asshole would massage him while he fucked her. Like Ishtar, her pussy rubbed and pampered his cock as he fucked her.

“I’m cumming! I’m cumming so hard! Master, please empty yourself into me.” After several minutes, he had another orgasm to counter hers, flushing Nayara’s skull full of semen. “Mistress Ishtar, I have been blessed!” she cried.

Dominion pulled out of Nayara and turned to Cho and Mary. He grabbed Cho, rolled her onto her back, and spread her legs. He paused for a moment, relishing the sight of her lips already spread wide by the wires.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Please fuck my pussy, Master! My flesh craves your wrath!”

He rammed into her greedy cunt, giving her the full mass and sending her jubilant voice bouncing off the walls of the bedroom. His speed, his strength, they were utterly inhuman. He hit all the walls, taking advantage of her durability to punish her insides with enough force to kill a normal woman. His cock was all the way inside of her womb, causing her stomach to swell each time he penetrated her.