The Outer Rim

Quasi-Stellar Star Civilizations wrote:

For the second time in his life, Radt Cretz felt fear. Here was an entity that could think a single thought and he would be wiped from existence. Here was an entity who matched the Gardener in strength and will, to the point that it made him sweat. Radt Cretz knew he was sorely outmatched.

He tried moving himself into a nearby wormhole to escape the Poet's metal grasp, but it was too late. He was locked in place.
Suddenly, the Poet appeared before Radt Cretz with a curious look on his face.
"Well well, what have we here? The Gardener's Avatar, I see. Just what are you doing here?"
"None of your concern, Poet," Radt Cretz spat. "I thought you didn't intervene with lowly civilizations as this one?" He immediately saw his mistake, revealing the truth about the Zok right before the enemy.
"Who said I was going to intervene, hm? Why would you - ah, I see."
A surge of terror flowed through Radt Cretz as he faced the Poet. He felt his bonds melt, freeing him from the Poet's grasp and allowing him to use the Ring. But the
Poet's features remained passive. He wanted a fight, and by the gods was Radt Cretz going to give it to him.

He flicked a tentacle, sending a nearby dropship toward Li Bai, who put up a hand, disintegrating it and its inhabitants.
He scoffed. "Come on, don't make me laugh. Did the Gardener not teach you anything?"
Radt Cretz responded by forming a black hole between two tentacles and sending it at the Poet, who whipped it around, sending it through a wormhole ahead of a departing Spline. Before he could react, the Li Bai turned around, forming a one-dimensional cosmic string in his hand and swung it toward Radt Cretz. He barely had time to jump away before the string slice through the space he'd been in moments earlier, splitting a Spline and several carts in two, resulting in massive explosions.

Now this finally alerted the nearby Zok warships to the fight going on amidst them. One of the Splines turned its planetbreaker cannons at the Poet and fired... only to be struck by its own weapon as the dimensional god deflected it with a hand. Several other Splines opened up on Li Bai, allowing Radt Cretz to slip away into a wormhole as the Poet dealt with the Zok...