Sometimes, the lesser beings around me get very annoying. Take now for example. Just because the Sun is out and it’s somewhat warmer than usual, they seem to think it’s acceptable to devolve themselves even further into savagery.

Raising my newly acquired sunglasses for a moment, I glare into the eyes of the cretin who dared to throw sand onto my perfect body with his careless motion. A surfboard is being dragged along behind him, the likely culprit of the sand shower I just received. A cleanshaven male in his early 20s - by far old enough to know better. Evidently a surfer, a theory that is reinforced by his toned stomach and light muscling of the arms and legs. At least physically, he appears to be an above average example of his species.

“Woah, sorry babe.” The imbecile drawls. “Spring break, ya know?”

I don’t bother to respond, instead taking the time to do more productive things. Like pondering why I haven’t just claimed this world as my own yet. It would be easy.

“Hey, I just had, like, a great idea.” He continues as his face begins to contort in an effort to keep speaking. “Come join me and my buddies, we can, uh, protect you from the sand and show you how to rock spring break.”

His mind is breaking already. Looking at me directly for too long tends to do that. I replace my shades and as his eyes manage to break contact with mine, his gaze travels down my body to fixate on my bikini top. Honestly, I can’t blame the pest for that, he will most certainly have never seen anything as spectacular as my body in his entire existence.

“I shall consider it.” I say, turning away and laying down on top of my astounding chest, removing it from view. My voice has set his whole body vibrating. Such a pathetic creature. I can hear the change in the human’s breathing pattern, becoming unsteady and laboured as his mind tries to comprehend the outstanding prominence of my rear.

I’ll give him a minute to get over my appearance and back to his friends, then I think I might just go play with the insects.

———

“Dude, you w-w-won’t believe how s-s-smoking hot this babe was. Like, s-s-so hot we could use her as a-a-a barbecue hot. Like, if she were a hot sauce, they’d n-n-need to make a new level above ‘extra hot’ just f-f-for her.”

I listen to the inane babbling of the devoted little bug. He is currently facing away from me, but I can tell from both his broken speech and the disturbed look on his companion's face that he is deteriorating quickly. Either I’ve broken him far more than I intended, or this specimen was much dumber than all the others. Maybe I’ve even been overestimating them if that’s possible. I’ll have to reconsider my evaluation of the species after this.

He is accompanied by another male and a female. The other male has darker skin than the careless cretin, with longer hair in braids. Similar build though and both are I believe somewhat taller than the average. Of course, that just means that I’m still about a head taller than either of them. The female is of a similar complexion to the second male and may also be tall for her species, but would not reach chest height on my body. I suppose some of the lesser creatures may view her as attractive, especially with her vibrant, fiery red hair moving in the breeze like that. But her form has no chance of holding a candle to mine. Though, she does have some admirable curves to her body and presumably to court the affections of the second male, she is currently pressing them into the side of his arm.

The braided male is the first to notice me and I catch his gaze, lowering my sunglasses once again. The look of concern that previously marred his face is replaced with a much more pleasing look of encroaching vacancy. Maybe I do need to re-evaluate my assessment of these humans. Either that or spring break has delivered a whole new lowest rung of the ladder to this beach. In any case, his newfound devotion to me is becoming apparent and the female notices this as well. Yes, she was intending on mating with that one - her disgusted expression because of his body's reaction to my perfection tells me that much.

I raise my sunglasses before the female can meet my eyes, wouldn't want to make this too quick. While the braided male now shows a face of spaced-out contentment, her face quickly switches to lustful envy, an expression with which I have become incredibly familiar, before she begins to speak.

“Hey Josh, I think the hottest babe in the world just accepted your invite”.

I can see the sincerity behind that statement in her face as she eagerly takes in my beauty. What she wouldn't give to achieve even a single percent of my own perfection. After all, she can't simply refuse the evidence of her own eyes, I am the hottest babe on this planet. I find myself disliking her less than all the other worms on this beach.

The cretin turns around and he is not looking good. The edges of his form are heavily blurred - he was significantly weaker than I expected. As he takes in my glorious being for a final time, my will finishes asserting itself over the atoms that make up his body and he simply becomes sand. The braided male's eyes briefly dart away from me and go wide with shock, his mouth hanging agape. Idiot. The cretin has just disintegrated in front of him and he chooses to open his mouth.

Not a second later, the seaside breeze blows past and grains of sand that were once a human called Josh are gusted into the air. The idiot's gormless face is fully exposed and he chokes on the fine grains, while the female has the sense to cover hers with her hands. I regret that I may have turned at least parts of the cretin's brain to sand first, because his eyes were entirely emotionless in his final moments. A miscalculation on my part and a shame, I would have liked to see his expression as he broke apart.

It isn't long after when his entire body simply crumbles, collapsing down onto the beach, unable to be distinguished from the grains of sand that he so carelessly tossed towards the most brilliant being on this insipid planet.

———

My attention is now drawn back to the pair in front of me. The idiot is attempting to scrub his face with a towel, while the redhaired female is glancing between me and the pile of sand. Ah, I know that look. This will be interesting. The cretin barely survived four words from me. The idiot already looks like he might be on the verge of collapse with a mere glance. If she can survive four sentences and ask me to give her what I know she wants, I'll grant her heart's desire.

"You wanted him, did you not?" I say to the female, gesturing at the idiot behind the towel. "But you know that you could never fulfil him now, not when that he has seen me, a supremely perfect specimen."

The look she gives me would have literally killed her had I returned it, but I refrain from lowering my sunglasses yet. Yes, I was right of course, I definitely see a kindred spirit here.

"You want to be better than these pathetic humans, do you not?" I continue, aware of the effect that my voice is having on the world around me. The idiot will likely not be able to remove the fibres of the towel from his skin, while the female's body is beginning to vibrate. She may make it at this point, but I wouldn't want to go easy on her. Those who deserve to ascend must prove their worth.

"Tell me what it is that you want." The final words that will either make her a greater being or destroy her entirely, leaving me with nothing but dust and disappointment.

"I want to be the hottest babe in the world", she finally manages to assert, only slightly undermined by her trembling. I smile. I think I was rooting for her at the end there. I consider for a moment, then decide on the perfect solution. I am no trickster, but even I can see that her words can be interpreted with two very different meanings. I shall give her both.

I lower my sunglasses and the redhead gazes unflinching into my eyes, witnessing the fundamental forces of the Universe within. I tear the towel from the face of the idiot and am once again proven correct in my assumption - the fibres were beginning to fuse with his skin. Following my will, he transmutes into a dark metallic dust, which I direct into the redhead. Her vibrating form accepts the expertly balanced blend of uranium isotopes, incorporating it into her cells and reconstructing her body into the most powerful nuclear fission reactor in the Universe.

Her transformation is majestic. Her skin becomes incandescent as the clothing she wore is vapourised. The air around her begins to ignite and the remains of the idiot's body are fully integrated into the newly appointed hottest woman on Earth. I replace my shades and look at my most recent creation. Her hair is now ablaze, her skin outputting temperatures that no other being on this planet could survive. Her height has increased to match mine, although she looks down at me as she floats above the Earth. The pile of sand, as well as all that around us, has been transformed into glass. She smiles at me with a grin brighter than the Sun and I allow her a small smile in return.

She looks away from me to survey the beach, but the energy being casually output by her eyes is enough to destroy everything upon which her sight lands. Lesser, utterly insignificant creatures are erased from existence without any conscious input. Her grin broadens and the ocean starts evaporating from simple proximity to her delighted expression. She takes to the sky and begins to speak. This shall be interesting.

"Nova. I'll go by Nova now". She tells me, as a scorching wave of superheated air is blasted across the beachfront from her lips. The ocean recedes several hundred feet and the several hundred partying humans nearest to us join those who have been obliterated by her eyes. She gently blows a kiss at the ocean and it starts boiling. Already a show-off. I predict that her body count will be significantly higher than mine.

Without a further word, she launches herself across the beach, leaving a trail of molten glass and incinerated corpses behind her. Now not only are there fewer pathetic parasites on this planet, there is one more superior being.

———

I take one last look around at the beach before leaving, lowering my sunglasses for a moment. I'm quite impressed with them actually. They've managed to be far more use than the simpleton from which I made them. She had the sheer stupidity to select a spot close enough to mine that her parasol had blocked out my light. I didn't give her a choice in the matter, simply deconstructing her form and transmuting it into glass, cradled stylishly in a carbon fibre frame. She was proving far more useful now than I imagine she ever would have in life.

I’ve remembered why I don’t just claim Earth as my own at this point. It’s so that I can play with each speck individually, just like this lot. Eventually I’ll have converted them all in one way or another, why rush it?