Alright! Part III of  johnpm995's commission where his girl Crystalla ascends the heights of the Dominion by outflexing and outlifting everyone.

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Crystalla ©  johnpm995
Story & Palamani © Moi

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Crystalla was a warrior from birth; her string of victories in the Arena were proof enough. But the greatest mistake anyone could make about her was not underestimating her strength, though that was foolish in of itself, but underestimating her mind. Her apartment in the Imperator’s Citadel suddenly had an air of a general’s tent, as she leaned on a table that groaned under her weight across from her first, and so far, only recruit, Claudia.

“Are you quite sure you’re willing to plot against your Imperator?” Crystalla asked.

Claudia smiled as only a hyena could. “Well… if I’m going to be honest, I’m loyal to the Dominion. That means being loyal to the strongest. And if Ulysses is weak of mind enough to resort to tricks…” she shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe it’s time to find someone else.”

The huge golden retriever smirked. “And you think that could be me?”

Claudia blushed. “I… well. We should at least give you the same advantage he’s been enjoying for a while… see what happens.”

“I’m glad we agree,” Crystalla grinned. “But we need to get there, first. Now… I heard Ulysses’ slave say that he sorted the barrels… he’s a rat, not terribly big.”

The hyena scoffed. “No slave is. They’d be free if they were.”

Crystalla arched a brow, but decided not to comment. “Can you find him for me? He probably won’t be willing to talk to me, on Ulysses’ orders.”

“I think that’s manageable… you’re not the only one that’s gotten suitors lining up before.” Claudia raised her chin, presenting her rather prosperous chest. “A weak slave usually has a weak will.”

“All you’ll need to do is convince him to switch the barrels… and keep it quiet.” Crystalla stood to her full height. “I’d like to take Ulysses by surprise, as it were.”

Suddenly, Claudia frowned. “Just… one last question,” she was choosing her words carefully, “what will you do as Imperator? Or, rather, Imperatrix?”

“Are you concerned about how I’ll lead the Dominion?”

Claudia cleared her throat. “Well… we did conquer your country in just the past couple of years. Some might see this as revenge, don’t you think?”

Crystalla cut the space between her and Claudia. She placed her thick hand on the hyena’s shoulder, and loomed over her until her titanic chest pressed up against her chin, casually flexing her arm to complete the effect. “Do you think I’m any less Palamani than you at this point?”

Claudia shuddered. “That… that was the farthest thing from my mind…”

“And are you sure…” she wrapped an arm around Claudia’s head, her pumped bicep digging into the hyena’s cheek, “you can follow a weak, puny Garenthian?”

“Yes.” Claudia whispered breathlessly, eyes locked on Crystalla.

“Well! Great, then,” the huge dog clapped the hyena on the back, chuckling. “If you can go work on the rat, I’ll start warming up… I have a lot of exercise to catch up on.”

~

Torvus was tired. True, Imperator Ulysses wasn’t the worst master in the Dominion, but that still didn’t mean he didn’t yearn for his freedom. He was a brown rat, of the kind that hailed from Garenth. He was a fisherman by trade, but when the Palamani invaded, he joined every true son of Garenth in defending his home. He wasn’t a burly warrior, but he could fire a fair arrow.

And now he was a slave in some over-sized rich ponce’s palace. He didn’t have his actual name anymore. He was Aldric, damn it, not Torvus. Not that Ulysses cared. His burly muscles were awkward to him; he was built for dexterity, not brute strength. Fishermen weren’t meant to be warriors. Still, it had its benefits. He might even get used to it, if he could just get a little bigger…

“Hello, slave.” A huge arm wrapped around Torvus’ shoulders, and slammed him against an overly plush chest. The rat screwed his eyes shut and flinched, and when he finally opened them, he was taking in an extremely toothy smile from an extremely large hyena.

“Y-yes, domina?” he finally sputtered out.

“I have a job for you… and you’re going to do it, without question. And without breathing a word to anyone, do you understand?” Claudia squeezed harder, firmly wedging Torvus’ snout in between her breasts and pressed up against the steel plates of chest muscle backing them up.

The rat nodded quickly.

Claudia grinned, and patted the rat’s side. “Good. Now… your future owner, Crystalla Frodedottir, has a task for you.”

Torvus perked up. “Frodedottir? That’s a Garenthian name.”

“That’s right. What would you give to see a Garenthian wearing the Imperator’s laurel?” Claudia ran a clawed finger under Torvus’ chin, drawing him up to meet her eyes.

“I… I suppose it would be nice…”

“Good. Then here’s what you’re going to do, slave. You are going to switch the barrels of Jidou and Honey Water you’ve been passing off to my dear friend… she, and she alone, will get the best Jidou, and you are to give Ulysses nothing but Honey Water… am I clear?”

Torvus gulped. “I-I’ll get whipped if I get caught!”

“Then I suggest you don’t get caught. Or would you like to see what I do to slaves that don’t obey?” With her arm still firmly wrapped around Torvus, Claudia began squeezing the rat like a boa constrictor.

“A-alright! Alright!” Torvus gasped, and Claudia at last relented. “I’ll ensure that mistress Crystalla is the only one getting the Jidou, domina.”

Claudia at last let him free. “Good. And, slave?” she slipped off a gold bracelet, and crushed it in her hand, her arm tensing and bulging with the effort. “If Crystalla doesn’t start growing… I’ll know why.” She dropped the crumpled bit of gold at Torvus’ feet, who was shaking as she lumbered off.

~

Crystalla wasn’t a schemer, not really. But she had to admit, she felt devious; and she kind of liked it. When she got a hold of Ulysses’ private stash of Jidou, she could instantly taste and feel the difference. Energy she hadn’t felt since she came to the palace came rushing back, and she burst into a flurry of activity. She couldn’t risk Ulysses catching on by using his gymnasium, so she had to improvise.

Her bed would do.

It was hard, at first; even she had limits, and her bed was built for the largest Palamani imaginable. But the more Jidou she drank, sometimes barrels full of Ulysses’ private stock at a time, it came easier to work out with what she had lying around. The furniture lying around her quarters was all heavy, carved of stone, deep woods, and reinforced with metal, and the stone lintels running between columns were good for pull-ups. For everything else, her own massive weight provided enough of a challenge for push-ups, crunches, and any other exercise should could think of.

Naturally, she couldn’t spend all her time in her apartment. Besides, spending time with Ulysses was far from unpleasant. He was still charming, still funny, and he definitely had a soft side to him… that was only getting softer as time went on. That was the next part of her plan, and by far, in her opinion, the craftier part. She wasn’t entirely divorced from the Palamani ideal of what a woman was supposed to do; her mother had taught her how to cook, and she had a surprising talent for the craft. Specifically, for sweets. It didn’t take much to convince Ulysses to let her into the palace kitchens, and once she had control of the kitchen, she did what her mother did to get her father’s attention; a fudge cake sweet as honey and dense as any normal Palamani’s constitution. Ulysses didn’t really stand a chance.

It soon came to be that the Imeprator couldn’t get through a meal without one. One cake was enough for three, and Crystalla’s mother made them to feed her whole family. Sweets, however, weren’t quite enough to make the effect Crystalla was looking for. No, she needed to keep him away from his gymnasium for that. Thankfully, she had at least one weapon on hand, that she knew Ulysses had no defense against; feminine wiles.

Really, it was only too easy. One night, Crystalla forced her way into Ulysses’ quarters, sprawled across his massive, gilt bed, wrapping herself in little more than the flimsy robe wrapped over her massive shoulders and the Imperator’s ridiculously comfortable sheets. Ulysses lumbered in, removing his toga to get ready for his exercises, and frowning slightly and how much his belly bowed out. He didn’t look nearly as energetic as he used to be, with a few cakes lying heavy in his stomach. That all changed when the cat saw the huge golden retriever on his bed. His ears perked, and his eyes brightened.

“My… my lady Crystalla, what…” He almost chuckled. “How’d you get past my guards?”

With a sultry smile, Crystalla shrugged, and let the sheets slide off her. With a flex of her shoulder, the strap of her robe snapped, falling down and revealing half of her huge chest; her fully voluptuous breast, and the slab of beef underneath, keeping it firm and round. Placing one hand out, her horse-shoe shaped triceps flexing out wildly as she did, coaxed Ulysses over with a curling finger. “Does that really matter?”

“A little…” Ulysses’ jaw fell open, robbed of words as Crystalla reached over, wrapped the remaining strap in her fingers, and tore the cloth off like it was paper, the remains of her robe fluttering down and revealing her full, overly prosperous chest, and the powerful muscles undulating underneath. Rolling her hilly shoulders, Ulysses finally grew close enough for her to reach out, and yank him into the bed. The Imperator lost his composure, and immediately threw his arms around her flaring sides, black-furred biceps grinding into her rich, golden fur and against the hard muscle underneath. Their lips connected, and their two massive bodies fell on the bed with a thump. Ulysses would see no exercise in his gymnasium that night; Crystalla made sure he was good and exhausted by the time he was done with her.

From there on, every night, Ulysses and Crystalla would spend the evening together. The Garenthian warrior was not unfamiliar with romance, and she learned more than a few tricks. It helped that the Imperator was no novice, either. The cat had surprisingly dextrous hands, and seemed to know precisely when, where, and how to touch her; regardless of how calculating she was with her little scheme, she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t satisfied with how Ulysses handled her. Those nights where the slowly broadening cat overindulged on Crystalla’s cooking, and had to take an early night to sleep it off, she was slowly coming to miss sleeping with him.

Finally, there came one night where Ulysses managed to stay awake long enough to have a conversation with his new lover; his belly was now a wide, low dome of black fur, slowly rising and lowering as he caught his breath, and his powerful body did finally look bigger; he had just failed to realize it was a thin patena of fat over his muscles.

“So…” Crystalla drew a circle on the top of Ulysses’ head with a clawed finger, which always caused the cat to wriggle with delight. “I wasn’t there at the Siege of Kriegholm, when you defeated the King. How’d you do it?”

“Oh? Maybe things would’ve gone differently if you were… but it was simple. Your King’s capital isn’t a city, like Virtus. It’s just a very large fortress. Now, conventional wisdom in the Western lands says that’s an asset. No civilians to worry about. No town to defend. Kriegholm, just a fortress perched on top of a mountain. Completely impenetrable. I have soldiers that could tear the walls apart with their bare hands; I know I can.” Ulysses flexed, and his bicep tensed up several inches. Crystalla chuckled and patted the swell of muscle. “But first, they’d need to scale a mountain, and we Palamani are big targets for archers,” the Imperator shrugged. “That’s no good. So, we just had to coax them out. And here’s where being just a fortress becomes Kriegholm’s weakness. Isolation. We didn’t starve them out, like most sieges are conducted… with only one path into the fortress, we cut the King and his forces off from the rest of Garenth.” Ulysses smirked. He was getting to the clever part. “I ordered my men to burn our fires bright for a month, but only half of the camp. After a month, I had them go dark. This coaxed a few scouts out, and that’s where we sprung. We captured the scouts, surged through the open gates, and showed our full strength. Had Kriegholm been connected to the rest of Garenth, they would’ve known the Imperator’s legion was right on top of them,” he grinned wide, and ran his fingers against Crystalla’s bulging arm. “But clearly, that’s all behind us.”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Crystalla rolled over on top of Ulysses, her ripe breasts squishing against Ulysses’ chin. “Be careful. Garenth might just conquer you yet.” She leaned in for a kiss, and stood up, walking away with a sway of her hips.

Ulysses frowned slightly; she was an amazing sight. Her back was a maze of bulging muscle, shimmering encased in her gold fur, still slick with sweat from that night’s exertion in the Imperator’s bed. But this time, there seemed… more of it. The swells of muscle were more cut, more defined, and just… more. She looked bigger. She had to be.

“Oh, and, Ulysses?” She slipped on a tunic that only just kept her decent. “Roll over to your left,” she said with a wink.

Over on his bedstand was another fudge cake. Ulysses hardly remembered his concerns as he tucked into the sweet treat.

~

Torvus could be sneaky when he wanted to be. It was probably the one advantage to being a slave; many people looked at him as if he were part of the furniture. No one asked why he was carrying heavy barrels to Crystalla’s apartment, he was just a slave. What could such a weak creature possibly be up to?

“Domina?” Torvus stuck his head in.

“Oh, Torvus? Come on in, I’m alone.”
The rat darted into the room, a barrel of Jidou under each arm. As he set them down and looked up, his eyes went wide.

Crystalla was almost naked; only a robust length of leather was wrapped around her chest, and a matching leather thong riding her vast, thick hips. She was doing one-armed push-ups, with her huge bosom pressing down against the stone floor, and putting her whole, rolling back wider than most tables and roped all around with thick, tensed muscle on display. Her arm was bulging, her tricep and bicep swelling and receding like the tides.

“Are you enjoying the view?” Crystalla asked with a smirk after a moment of stunned silence from the rat.

“I- I-- forgive me, domina,” he sputtered. “No one would believe this back home. You have to be bigger than Grigor the Vast!” he said, invoking the name of one of Garenth’s most celebrated Warrior-Kings.

She chuckled as she stood, her chest pumped and heaving, and her thighs rolling off one another. “Well, I don’t know about that…” She rose up her arm and flexed, until she could dig her knuckles into the tensed mound of beef passing for her bicep. “Well. Maybe,” she winked.

Crystalla strode over and hefted up one of the barrels with one hand, drinking deeply. She saw Torvus’ eyes following her, but he wasn’t all that engrossed with her; rather, it was the barrel. After she had downed about half the contents, she looked down at the rat. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing. Just…” He threw up his arms. “...it’s nothing.”

“What? Is it the Jidou?”

Torvus twiddled with his fingers. “It’s… not that I haven’t had Jidou. I wasn’t a small man back home, but I feel like a field mouse here. The Jidou given to slaves is so weak and diluted. They must put a pinch in for every gallon, if that.”

“Oh!” Crystalla grinned, and tossed her fellow Garenthian the half-full barrel. “Drink up, then.”

Torvus’ eyes bulged. “You’re serious, domina?”

“Yes, and my name’s Crystalla.” She smirked. “You look like a hard worker. And you’ve certainly helped me out…” she bounced her chest, her voluptuous breast bouncing.

“Ah… thank you, dom- Crystalla.” Torvus grinned, and drunk deeply. After a moment he coughed and sputtered. “Ye Gods! It’s strong.”

“So will you be.” Crystalla smirked, elbowing Torvus and sending him a step back.

“Crystalla, my lady?”

That couldn’t be-- Ulysses?

Crystalla swore under her breath. “What’s he doing here? He’s never come to my room before!”

“I- I can’t be seen here! I’ll be punished, for sure!” Torvus hissed.

The Imeprator’s heavy fist came down on the door to her room, making it rattle. “Crystalla, are you in there?”

“Just a minute!” She turned to Torvus, grabbing his shoulder and whispering in his ear. “Quick!” She pushed the other barrel into his hands, and quickly hid the empty one. “Push yourself up against the doorframe.”

“What? Are you crazy? The man doesn’t have blinders on!” the rat hissed back.

“Just do it!” Crystalla all but threw Torvus in the corner, before hustling over to the stone lintel running between pillars, leaping up and grabbing on tight. “Come in!” she shouted.

What Ulysses saw when he opened the door made his jaw drop. Crystalla was hanging from the lintel, and the strong stone was audibly groaning under the strain she was putting on it by supporting her massive body. As her arms surged, forearms and biceps mashing against each other, her bulbous flanks spread out like wings.

“...18, 19, 20! Whew!” She landed on the ground with a thud. “Your Mightiness.” She bowed her head, giving Torvus, now behind the Imperator, a signal to bolt. “You’re looking… healthy today.”

The cakes had done their work. While Ulysses’ arms and pecs still had much of their shape, definition had been lost, and a large gut blossomed from his middle, now spilling out of his robes; a thick, black-furred globe of Crystalla’s own making. “It’s a Palamani technique… bulking. See?” The cat cleared his throat and flexed his arm; his bicep rose dramatically, swelling and jostling his shoulder.

“Oh! Very good, Your Mightiness.” Crystalla grinned, playing innocent. “I do hope, with you getting so big, you still have room for me.” She batted her eyelashes, and raised her arm over her head; her bicep propped up her forearm, pressing against her cheek as her tricep stretched.

Ulysses’ smile faltered. There was no way around it; for the first time, his eyes were open. Her arm was bigger than his, by a solid few inches to boot. And if he wasn’t mistaken, she was taller than him by an inch, as well.

“H-how did you…”

“Do what, Ulysses?” Crystalla smoothly wrapped her arm around his wide lovehandles, pulling the cat up against her chest. “Why’d you come to visit little old me, anyways?”

“I-I just wanted to see you…”

“Oh, well, how fortunate… right now you can see a lot of me.” She flexed her chest, pressing up against Ulysses, swelling and bulging until there was an audible snap. Tugging at her side, Crystalla removed the now ruined leather garment keeping her decent. “Now… why don’t you let me cool-down from exercising in bed… you can spot me.”

~

It was really quite amazing how many times Ulysses managed to find an excuse to be left alone with Crystalla. This was the third time that she had been treated to a tour of the Imperator’s private garden; a cordoned off section of the Citadel grounds that was well tended, and boasted a small collection of the Jidou plant that the entire Dominion coveted, smuggled out of the Da-Zhou Empire at great cost. Crystalla was surprised by it; besides the white tips frosting each leaf, it seemed like an utterly unremarkable plant with unpleasantly bitter fruit. The fact it made her so strong was amazing.

“...of course, smuggling the plants across the border was one of my more risky moves. The people I hired were not of the Dominion, small men, not like me. I…”
Oh, Gods. It was that story, again. Ulysses was utterly impressed with his own exploits.

“...and then you smuggled them in as slaves. I remember, Uly.” Crystalla elbowed him, smirking. She noticed he stumbled as her huge arm bumped into him.

“...Oh,” the Imperator murmured something under his breath, frowning.

Crystalla grinned. “At least it paid off, yes?”

Ulysses smirked. “You tell me.” He flexed his arm, and his bicep swelled, stretching his black fur.

Crystalla grinned and took a step forward. Ulysses’ smirk disappeared. They had spent months together, but because of the Imperator’s posturing, using every trick he learned to appear bigger, wider, and taller than anyone else in the room… he entirely forgot that Crystalla was, in fact, bigger than him, and no sleight of hand or trick of the light would change that. He could feel his heart racing as her overly buxom chest pressed up against him, dwarfing his own pecs, even squeezing against his over-sized belly that he just couldn’t seem to shake. Her hand came down, and squeezed his bicep, and the cat blanched as he realized her own bicep, only tensed by the lack of space from her overly developed forearm and shoulder jostling it. She wasn’t even flexing, and the thing was bigger than his. He grunted with effort, trying to flex harder, but it only resulted in his blush; Crystalla squeezed, and it gave like an overripe orange.

Crystalla grinned quietly, patting the arm, but said nothing. She looked back to the Jidou plant. “Could I try the fruit?”

“O-oh, I wouldn’t, they’re, ah, terribly bitter…”

Crystalla scoffed quietly. “I’m sure they’re not bad. I grew up on my mother’s cooking. I can handle anyth--”

The golden dog looked down at her wrist, and found Ulysses’ hand wrapped around it. “I said no. I’m Imperator.”

Crystalla chuckled, holding up her free hand. “I was just going to try it for myself. Just one berry.” She stood back up to her full height, subtly leaning into him, her globular breasts weighing down on him and nearly spilling out of the leather jerkin she had forced around her torso. “What harm could come of that?”

“Y-you are definitely bigger than when you got here, my lady…” Was all Ulysses could manage. “How did you…?”

“Well… you have been sharing your Jidou, haven’t you?” Crystalla grinned.

“...Yes.” Ulysses gulped. She seemed to overwhelm him. This woman couldn’t really be stronger than him, not him. No one had bested him for years. What chance did she have? Bigger wasn’t always better, was it? “You know…” He cleared his throat. He could do this. “We haven’t had a rematch.”

“A… what?”

He had to win if he threw in a surprise attack. Right? Right. He threw all his weight into his attack, tackling Crystalla.

...Why wasn’t she on the ground?

The huge canine stumbled and faltered, absolutely; one doesn’t take several hundred pounds fired at them without feeling it. But she didn’t tumble over. If anything, she braced the Imperator tackling her, and her back spread out, slowly out-pacing Ulysses’ width as his arms were spread further as he held on. He was struggling to find purchase on the ground, his toes scraping the ground as he tried to stay on an eye-to-eye level with Crystalla.

The dog, on her part, felt a rush of adrenaline. She chuckled heartily, ready to welcome a little romp. Her heaving arms struggled to reach over her own hilly shoulders, but as she tilted back, she smothered Ulysses, her fall to the ground cushioned by the cat’s deep belly. Crystalla’s months of siphoning away the Imperator’s Jidou, and keeping him away from exercise, had paid off. It was simply no contest, as she pinned his arms between her iron-forged biceps and swollen forearms and dragged him into a sitting position. She leaned in, her hulking torso pressing down on his belly, and her own chest enveloping his as she reached across, playfully nuzzling him with a wide grin on her face. “Gotcha!”

The Imperator looked stunned, staring up at Crystalla, mouth agape. Even as Crystalla slowly got off of him, he didn’t speak or move.

“Uhm…” Crystalla cleared her throat. She grinned sheepishly and patted Ulysses on the shoulder. “Well, that was fun.”

Ulysses was still staring.
“Well… I think I’ll go back inside for a drink. Maybe we should do this again some time?”

Ulysses flinched at that.

“Or not! It’s… your choice.” Crystalla lumbered off and rubbed the back of her head, her bicep rubbing against her ear. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the temporarily petrified Imperator, but it was something to keep in mind. Now that she was out of sight, she couldn’t hide her smile any more. Ulysses did look awfully cute pinned under her...

~

Renard had been preparing for this day. He had his political partner, a city Prefect named Nocturne, help him get a hold of the highest grade Jidou, bulking up in preparation for his audience with Ulysses. The lolf’s tawny fur was clean and shining with bathing oils, and his armor was tight, highlighting every bulge on his heavy frame. Everything was just so. When he was led in to see Ulysses, however, the lolf faltered. What had happened to him? The black cat was as round and dark as a new moon, a solid globe of a belly filling his lap. He was actively eating a heavy looking dessert, and only gave the lolf a half-hearted gesture to approach his throne as he focused on finishing off his treat.

Renard kneeled, a wary eye and an arched brow following the over-stuffed cat. “Your Mightiness. Our legions are being ground to a halt in Illias; strength accounts for nothing if we cannot get a hold of the enemy, and the famed knights of Illias are running circles around our men.”

Ulysses let out a long, protracted sigh. “Centurion--”

“Ah… no offence meant, Your Mightiness, but I’m a Tribune.”

The cat finally finished off his snack. “What?”

“General Scipio promoted me last week, Imperator.”

Ulysses scoffed. “Nothing is going to stop your meteoric rise, is it, Renard?”

Renard blinked, trying to piece his words carefully; he knew he was not Ulysses’ favorite. “I, ah, do try my best to serve the Dominion. Your Mightiness, the Palamani have never engaged one of the great Kingdoms of the West in open warfare. My father is a Candar Duke; I was trained in the arts of war, I know how the Illiasians think.”

Ulysses smirked. “Well, this may come as a surprise to you, Tribune, but you are not the only one who knows what Illias thinks. I have had several interrogated several captives, and I can assure you--”

“Imperator, forgive me, but we’ve only been able to capture footmen. Common soldiers, that are only directed by the knights and nobles. I have drawn up battle plans that will take the knights into consideration; all we have to do is flank the enemy instead of facing them head on, and utilize our archers.”

The cat’s smirk quickly shifted to a withering frown, even if the effect was somewhat dulled by his softened cheeks. “Don’t interrupt me again, Tribune. Perhaps it’s because you don’t have Palamani blood in you to understand this, but archers don’t show our strength; we can face them head on.”

“General Scipio believes my plans have some merit…”

“Yes, well, he’s not Imperator, is he? I led the Dominion to victory in Garenth, Tribune, I think I know what I’m about. I appreciate your concern, but I can assure you, Illias will be our new province; you can follow orders and show your strength, or sit this out.”

Renard look dumb-founded. “I…”

“If that’s all, Tribune, I think that we can conclude this audience.”

“Renard? Is that you?” Crystalla’s face brightened as she spotted her friend, and jogged up to lean against Ulysses’ throne. The lolf arched a brow; she was outpacing Ulysses by a wide margin. As she leaned against the throne, she crossed her arms and caused her prodigious chest to practically spill out of the luxurious robe she had forced herself into. “You look stronger.”

Renard whistled low. “If I may be so bold, I could say the same. You look stronger than…” he glanced quickly at the Imperator, who was now shifting uncomfortably in his throne as Crystalla’s titanic arm loomed to the side of him. “...than an ox.”

“You always had a way with words. What’re you doing here?”

“I was just petitioning the Imperator…”
“He was also leaving.” Ulysses said bluntly.

“Oh, ye Gods, Ulysses, didn’t we talk about this?” Crystalla said in a scolding tone. She knelt down, and laid her arm across Ulysses’ shoulders. The cat’s ears splayed, as his head was forced down as Crystalla’s boulder-like bicep pressed at the back of it. “I thought you were going to give Renard’s strategies a chance.”

“O-oh, I thought you meant the other… strategies, not for Illias.”

“Now, Ulysses…” Crystalla leaned in more, her plush chest pressing down on his shoulder. Her other hand reached around, bicep mashing into her breasts, drawing a circle on his belly with her finger. “You’re not going to go back on what you told me you’d do, are you?”

“Of… of course not.” Ulysses cleared his throat. “Tribune, y-you are to take my mark and take it to General Scipio and General Flavius. They are to adopt your strategies.”

Crystalla only slightly flexed her arm, and Ulysses face was pressed against her chest. “And?”

“Mmph!” Ulysses fought against Crystalla, but he couldn’t dislodge the huge dog’s arm. “A-and you are to be promoted to legate, effective immediately!” Crystalla’s other arm reached across Ulysses’ belly, and squeezed deeply into it, her heavy muscle cutting deep into the plush flesh. “Hrph,” Ulysses grunted. “I-I mean Magister Militum, Supreme Commander in the East!”

Renard watched this all in silence, glancing between Ulysses and Crystalla. The golden woman finally let go of the cat, who looked less shaken, and almost aroused, his eyes unable to tear away from her vast body. Crystalla gave Renard a subtle wink. “Yes… well.” Renard slowly rose. “I am overcome. I thank you, my Imperator.” While he spoke, his eyes were on Crystalla. “Glory to the Dominion.”

The hybrid collected the Imperator’s mark, saluted, and left, quite a lot on his mind as he digested everything he had just seen.

“Now…” Crystalla pulled Ulysses close again, kissing his cheek. “Doesn’t it feel good to keep your promise?”




~

“To Crystalla-

Our campaign continues to succeed. We have increased our holdings in Illias three times over in the months since I’ve been here. Per your previous suggestion in your last letter, I have also ensured that any captive Illiasians are treated well. I have taken it a step further and shared our Jidou rations, with a focus on lesser lords, knights, and commoners. They have come and swelled our ranks.

We are preparing an assault of Occam Castle, the gateway to the capital, Krieglin. King Markus II was killed in battle, and his son, King Calder, has refused our terms, and has called upon King Arnault III of Candaren to help. I know King Arnault personally, and I know that he will send in every knight in his kingdom against us. I can handle this assault, but I will need an additional legion. We have not suffered great losses, but the three legions under my command have been fighting non-stop for over a year. They need relief, and the Illiasians under our command are not up to the standards of the Palamani legions.

With that last legion secured, we can declare Illias for the Dominion before the winter snows. Please lean on Ulysses, literally, if necessary.

I remain your humble servant,
-Renard De Fleureaux, Magister Militum of the East”

Crystalla grinned as she looked over the letter. The last thing she wanted to do was mislead Ulysses, so she was more than happy to see that her faith in Renard had not been misplaced. It was much needed good news on a day that she should’ve known would be coming; she had plateaued. She may have hit her limit in size. It wasn’t that bad; she was easily the strongest person in Virtus, if not the Dominion. She towered over Ulysses and any other person in the city, and she had never felt so strong and powerful. Still, the thrill of breaking new records for herself, seeing herself grow, was probably in the past.

At least she was taking it better than Ulysses.

The Imperator had taken to her desserts and the leisurely habits she had subtly set up for him a little too well. There was still plenty of muscle on his frame, but it was all buried under a hefty dose of blubber. His round, cauldron-like belly wobbled and bounced under his robes, and his meaty thighs were forcing him into a waddle, winding him whenever he tried to move.

He also looked agitated, fidgeting on his throne.

“Something wrong, Ulysses?”

“I haven’t heard anything from the front. Why isn’t my Magister Militum sending back word? It must be going poorly, I knew it! I’ll recall him immediately!” Ulysses palmed his fist, causing his fat to wobble gently.

“What? Oh, Ulysses, no; Renard’s doing fine.” She gestured with the letter in her hand. “He’ll need another legion, but he’s increased the territory we hold three-fold.”

“Another whole legion?! No, absolutely not!” Ulysses blustered. “And why is he writing you? I’m the Imperator! I command you to hand that letter over, woman!”

Crystalla arched her brow. “Excuse me?”

Ulysses balked, but then tried to stand at his full height- still more than a head shorter than Crystalla. “I-I… I’m the Imperator! I command you to give me that letter!”

Crystalla said nothing, rolling the scroll up. Ulysses retreated back to his throne, sinking into the stone chair. The dog loomed over him, wrapping her arm around the stone back of the throne and tilting the chair back with a heavy groaning sound. The Imperator yelped, as her arms came down on either side of him, digging into the stone sides of the throne. With an aggressive growl, her arms tensed and looking bigger than Ulysses’ belly, grinding against her vast torso, Crystalla hefted the throne up over her head, her vast back splitting her gown open and showing the rich golden fur underneath

The Imperator’s fur stood on end, as he tried holding on to the armrests, but Crystalla tilted the throne forward, and, balancing the great stone seat with one hand, she caught the blubbery cat up in her free arm, her mountainous bicep pressing deep into his gut. She moved so smoothly, it was hardly an effort to lift him up in her arms. Letting the throne fall with a heavy thud, she squeezed Ulysses up against her side. The cat was smothered against her swollen breasts backed by oversized pecs, and pinned against the wall with the sheer mass of her torso alone, leaving his feet dangling.

“I’m sorry, Ulysses, did you say ‘command’?”

The cat struggled, tearing his face away from Crystalla’s chest. “...Yes.”

“Well, do you think that’s any way to speak to your…” Crystalla frowned. “What’s the feminine version of Imperator?”

Ulysses mumbled something.

“What was that? Come on, dear, speak up.” She squeezed him tighter, flexing her free arm. Her hand was able to palm the giant mound of muscle that was her bicep. “The Imperator’s supposed to be the strongest, isn’t she?”

The cat gulped. “...Yes.”

“So…?”

“It’s… Imperatrix.”

“Imperatrix.” Crystalla tasted the word on her tongue, and nodded, her chin pressing down on her tensed chest. “I like it.” She grinned, and leaned in to kiss Ulysses on the forehead. “Now, don’t look like that, Uly. I’m not sending you away or anything, I just think you had this coming… you didn’t think you could get away with passing off honey water as Jidou.” She bounced her chest, sheer muscle washing over the cat. “Did you?”

“You… you knew?” Ulysses blanched.

She shrugged, her mountainous shoulders eclipsing her cheeks for a moment. “I had some help. Now…” She let go, and the cat landed on the floor with a plop. “Don’t worry about this, I’ll take care of it.”

~

Crystalla had never seen a temple like the Temple of the Strong; the vast marble edifice, flanked by statues of past Imperators and carved into the mountainside, was empty inside. No idol, statue, or altar, just waiting for the coming of the God of the Strong. But for now, it was time for the next best thing; the Inauguration of an Imperator. Or rather, an Imperatrix. The Diviners, the Priests of the Temple, wore solemn robes and hoods of black, and surrounded Crystalla as she stood at the threshold, the former Imperators in stone casting long shadows on the golden-furred woman.

The new Imperatrix had fully embraced the Palamani; gold bands that were wider than most belts clung to her tremendous arms, rolling and rippling with muscle. Her chest was barely contained within a breastplate lined with gold, and the metal audibly groaned against her valley-sized back, rolling with brawn. Around her hips was a red and gold kilt, wrapped tight around her massive thighs. It was only when she knelt that the Diviners were able to look on their new Imperatrix eye-to-eye.

The lead Diviner, an overly developed bull, spoke with a deep, rumbling voice. “Crystalla Frodottir of Garenth, you have been named the strongest of the strong. Do any challenge this?”

The crowd behind her, looking on at their new leader, were silent.

“You will lead the Dominion with strength and dignity. Do you so swear?” the Lead Diviner intoned formally.

Crystalla nodded curtly. “I do.”

“You will strive to greater and greater strength, to prepare the worthy and the faithful for the coming of the God of the Strong. Do you so swear?”

“I do.”

“You will not judge the Palamani by race or by creed, only by strength and virtue. Do you so swear?”

“I do.”

The bull nodded, and with another Diviner handing him a laurel wreath of gold, placed it on Crystalla’s waiting head. “Then in the name of Divine Strength, we declare you Imperatrix of the Palamani, Supreme Commander of the Legions, Steward of the God of the Strong’s chosen people, and the Strongest of the Strong.”

Crystalla rose and turned to face the people of Virtus; everyone, from her former fans in the Arena to Senators convinced of her strength, by word or by personal demonstration, erupted in a roaring applause. The Dominion had an Imperatrix.

~

The Palamani Legions had surrounded Krieglin. The capital of Illias was a fortress city; growing out of the towering parapets of the King’s castle, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea. Renard’s strategems had paid off; Candaren had been routed, and a war with neighboring Al-Barrad saw its early withdrawal. Now, King Calder had lost control of everything beyond the walls of Krieglin, and even that was quickly eroding. It wasn’t enough that the Palamani had siege engines; the strongest and the more zealous amongst the legions could actually be caught punching holes in the walls. Needless to say, the Illiasians’ morale was low.

Then their leader came.

King Calder and his men had never seen a woman like Imperatrix Crystalla; the legends of the Palamani being giants had to come from her. She stood heads and shoulders above most of her soldiers, and nearly three times as wide as the average Illiasian. There was no way out; Illias surrendered.

Before they could open the gates to the Palamani, Crystalla and her general, Renard, pounded through the gates of the city. The legions marched into the city in triumph, as the King of Illias surrendered his crown. Illias was now a Dominion province, and Crystalla’s reign was off to a glorious start.