Azaroth fell to his knees, not from choice but because reality within her domain refused to support his rebellion any longer. For the first time in his ancient existence, he felt the weight of true powerlessness.
"I... I am eternal," he whispered, clinging to the last shreds of his identity. "The Mother's knights cannot be truly destroyed. We are beyond death, beyond..."
"Beyond mortal death," the Sun Empress interrupted, raising her hand as power gathered around her like liquid starlight. "But I am no longer bound by mortal limitations."
She began to channel something deeper and more fundamental than solar fire. This was the [ur-force] from which all heat and light descended, the primordial authority that had banished darkness at the dawn of creation. It was power that existed before the first star ignited, before the first world spun in its orbit, before the first life drew breath.
"[Gods' Wrath]," she intoned, and reality listened with absolute attention.
