Telmus’ words hung in the air for a while and it was broken by the Empress’s loud laughter, "I admire you Telmus, I truly do. You choose to bind yourself to the laws you hate and you still wonder why it does not follow your will. You are weak despite all your powers, and it is your madness that will come to an end, not those of the gods. The last time I checked, they were gods, and you are mortal. Your words are empty and your hand is weak."
Telmus sneered and pointed at the Empress, "You are giving me reasons to change my mind about keeping you alive with every word that comes from your mouth. I have not obstructed your war, and instead given more than it would ever need to succeed. This is my final offer and warning Scarlet, don’t test me!"
The Empress tapped the side of her throne in amusement, "So you are finally going to shed your cloak of civility and rebel?"
Telmus growled, an air of menace erupting from his body that shook the stars and he closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, releasing the tension that had been building and making all the Earth gods nearly fall to the ground in relief.
They all saw the difference between them and Telmus, and it was as wide as the gulf between the stars. In their eyes were a mixture of fear and adoration. Telmus was an Earth god like them all, but he had reached such high levels of power by the effort of his sheer talent.
Was it possible that a single person could be so blessed? Surely even the gods would not be able to challenge him at the same level. Was there any single Earth god in all of creation that could stand before him?
The Empress could easily read the hearts of these Ancestors, and her smile grew brighter even as her rage burned hotter, she spoke sweetly and the Ancestors shuddered,
"Wise choice Telmus, we require at least forty million Earth gods from the Minerva bloodline, which should leave twenty percent of your population free of this purge. It is the most favorable condition you can ever have, no one here had this sort of grace given to their families. Including me, so you have no more excuses."
Telmus growled and began to walk away, his body began to slowly fade into the darkness leaving his long white hair floating like a mirage, the Empress chuckled but her eyes were filled with anger, "Oh, I think you might know that I took your daughter for my personal handmaiden until the war is over. She would be by my side and completely safe."
Surprisingly there was not a large blast because the Empress had caught the star and held it easily with her hands. She smiled at Telmus, "Nice trick, but you forget who you challenge. I am the daughter of fire, the..."
Telmus simply brought his left hand forward, and a second star materialized beneath her feet, and unexpectedly the star she was holding multiplied a million times in weight, she could barely scream before the two stars collided.
A bright light shone for an instant and winked out, leaving behind a black stone hovering in the air.
Telmus opened his right palm and the stone flew down and settled on it. The angered screams from the Empress could be heard emerging from it.
"Killing you too quickly is a mercy. This should hold you for all time unless your mother frees you... if she can"
"Telmus! Do you dare hold me here? You would set back our mission and the gods would no longer be amused by their favorite pet." The screams from the Empress were shrill, imprisoning her was a far more difficult feat than killing her, and Telmus had effortlessly done that, and even worse, using the tools of his captivity.
He looks at the skies ignoring her rants, and then he winds back his arm and throws the black stone, the stone rapidly flies out of Trion, heading deep into the universe, "If she is quick to find you."
His eyes traced the path of the stone through the universe and Telmus suddenly swung his arm backward, it was unknown when he had grabbed another ten stars, and using the ephemeral chains as a whip, he swung it behind him and turned around to a figure that had silently appeared behind him.
The figure was covered in haze and smoke from the devastation that had just occurred here and from their size they were taller than Telmus who was almost seven feet tall. It should have been possible to see their features, but the smoke and dust seemed to hug the figure, shaking any attempt to penetrate the obstructions.
Telmus looked at the silent figure and then looked at his right hand to see that the chains he was holding had been neatly sliced off. The chain emitted shrieks of pain before collapsing into a bloody fog.
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