Three months into the war, I had 312 Subjects and 17,847 Points.
I'd purchased most of my priority wishes. I could perceive higher dimensions now, could see the threads of cosmic
influence that connected reality. I had offensive reality-warping capabilities that let me reshape matter and energy on a
small scale. I owned a pocket dimension where time moved differently, giving me additional space to plan and train.
And I'd granted enough wishes to my most loyal Subjects that they were becoming superhuman themselves.
Marcus had his superhuman strength, plus enhanced durability and a healing factor. Jessica had purchased telepathic
abilities and precognitive danger sense. My top five Subjects were each powerful enough to take on small military units.
We were becoming a genuine threat.
The Concordance's response was to escalate further. They stopped trying to kill me directly—they'd realized it was
impossible—and instead focused on collateral damage. Attacking my Subjects when they were away from me. Trying to
destroy the infrastructure I'd built.
I responded by making it personal.
I used the Contract's reality-warping capabilities to research the Concordance itself. To map its structure. To identify its
leaders.
And I learned something crucial: the Concordance wasn't monolithic. It was a bureaucracy, which meant it had factions.
Internal politics. Entities who disagreed with each other about how to handle threats.
Some of them were hardliners who wanted me erased at any cost. But others were pragmatists who recognized that I
was too dangerous to attack and too costly to eliminate. They wanted negotiation. Compromise.
I could work with that.
Through a series of carefully crafted wishes and Task assignments, I made contact with one of the pragmatic factions—a
group called the Reformist Bloc, led by an entity named Archon Selene. They were lower in the hierarchy, frustrated by
the Concordance's rigid conservatism, and hungry for allies who could help them push for change.
Selene agreed to a meeting.
We met in my pocket dimension—neutral ground where neither of us had advantage. She appeared as a woman made
of silver light, beautiful and terrible in equal measure.
"You've been quite disruptive, Sovereign," she said without preamble.
"Your friends started it," I replied. "I was perfectly happy building my power base quietly. They're the ones who demanded
I cease existing."
"The Hardliners are... inflexible," Selene admitted. "They see any deviation from the natural order as threat to be
eliminated. But there are those of us who recognize that change is inevitable. That clinging to old systems breeds
stagnation."
"And you want me to be the catalyst for change?"
"I want you to be a demonstration. Proof that mortals can wield power responsibly. That the ascension pathways don't
need to be so tightly controlled." She leaned forward. "Help me, and I'll protect you from the Hardliners. I have influence. I
can ensure they redirect their attention to other threats."
"In exchange for what?"
"Alliance. When the time comes—and it will come—I'll need support in reforming the Concordance. Having a powerful
mortal who owes me a favor would be valuable."
Chapter 5: Ascension
I considered it. On one hand, making deals with cosmic entities was probably stupid. On the other hand, having an ally in
the enemy's power structure was too valuable to pass up.
"I'll agree on one condition," I said. "You help me get stronger. Share knowledge. Give me access to resources that will
accelerate my development."
Selene smiled. "Done."
Over the next six months, Selene proved invaluable.
She provided intelligence on Concordance operations, allowing me to target their infrastructure more effectively. She
shared theoretical knowledge about reality manipulation that let me purchase more efficient wishes. She even arranged
for several other cosmic entities—ones outside the Concordance's influence—to offer me deals and trades.
My power grew exponentially.
I purchased immortality. True immortality, not just eternal youth—complete immunity to death from any source except my
own will.
I purchased enhanced cognition, raising my intelligence and processing speed to superhuman levels.
I purchased spatial manipulation, allowing me to teleport across planetary distances.
I purchased limited precognition, letting me see probable futures and choose the best path forward.
Each purchase cost thousands of Points, but with over 300 Subjects earning for me constantly, the expense was
manageable.
And with each wish granted, I became less human and more... something else.
I could feel it happening—the slow erosion of the limitations that had defined me. Fear fading. Doubt disappearing.
Emotional attachment becoming optional rather than involuntary.
I was becoming the person I'd always wanted to be: powerful, confident, untouchable.
The person people would never look past again.
The Concordance's Hardliners made one final attempt to kill me on day 274.
They assembled what they called a "Divine Extermination Squadron"—twelve of their most powerful warriors, each
capable of destroying planets. They bypassed diplomatic channels, ignored the Reformists' protests, and attacked me
directly.
It was a massacre.
Not because I killed them—my Aegis prevented them from touching me, and the Regulator neutralized their realitywarping attacks before they manifested. No, it was a massacre because I'd grown strong enough to fight back.
I'd purchased offensive wishes specifically designed to harm higher-dimensional entities. Reality blades that could cut
through cosmic defenses. Entropic fields that accelerated time for everything inside them. Gravitational singularities that
collapsed beings down to quantum foam.
The battle lasted seven minutes.
When it ended, eleven of the twelve entities were dead or so damaged they'd need centuries to regenerate. The last one,
a lesser Archon, fled screaming back to whatever dimension they'd come from.
I stood in the crater that had been a city park, breathing heavily, covered in the metaphysical residue of destroyed gods.
Around me, my Subjects watched in awe.
I'd just killed divine beings. Entities that were supposed to be unkillable, eternal, beyond mortal reach.
And I'd done it almost casually.
The message reached the Concordance's leadership within hours: The Sovereign is not a threat to be eliminated. He's a
peer to be respected.
Three days later, Archon Meridax himself appeared before me—not in attack form, but in supplication.
"The Concordance offers terms," he said stiffly. "Ceasefire. Recognition of your sovereignty over Earth. Noninterference in your operations in exchange for non-interference in ours elsewhere."
"Counter-offer," I said. "Complete withdrawal from Earth. You don't get to keep any monitoring stations, any agents, any
infrastructure here. This world is mine now. And you provide me with full access to your knowledge repositories—I want
everything you know about reality manipulation and cosmic architecture."
"That is unacceptable—"
"Then I keep killing your people," I interrupted. "I've proven I can. And I'll start targeting your leadership next. Starting with
you."
Long silence.
"I will... convey your terms to the High Council."
"You do that."
The Concordance accepted my terms two weeks later. They agreed to full withdrawal from Earth and provided access to
their repositories—though heavily redacted, as I'd expected.
It didn't matter. I'd won.
I'd gone from a powerless, invisible loser to someone who'd defeated gods and claimed an entire world as my territory.
But I wasn't satisfied.
Because Earth was small. The Concordance controlled hundreds of worlds, thousands of systems. And there were other
cosmic organizations, other divine hierarchies, other structures of power that spanned reality.
I wanted it all.