Chapter 371: Emerging Queen

26th April 2015, Remnant

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

The cosmic entity nodded, "You still think you can win. It's understandable. But you cannot stop Entropy. You can dread it, run from it. But it comes all the same. I come all the same. And now, here we are. For our duel commences now."

I nodded, "And may only the victor return alive."

With the proclamation, the dimensional doors surrounding Remnant closed permanently. This was a divine pact of sorts. Our battlefield was chosen, and none would leave it but the victor. We couldn't leave Remnant if Entropy was still alive, just as Entropy could not do the same without killing us first.

The fight for the fate of the multiverse had officially begun and there was no way to take that back. My future, my past, my very existence was dedicated to this exact moment, to this exact battle. I could say that I was excited, that I was afraid. But I wasn't. I was just tired.

(Selene Gallio POV)

If she was completely honest, Selene didn't really know what to expect in this fight. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't fought besides her beloved for centuries. It wasn't out of cowardliness or anything, it was just that she thought that it was inefficient; in the time it took Morrigan to defeat her opponents in a straight fight, Selene would take the subtle route and take away their resources for herself, without lifting a finger. It was just how she liked to fight.

But nothing prepared her for this. This time, Selene's opponent wasn't anything she could trick, or bargain with. It was a force of nature personified that seemed hell bent on destroying the multiverse.

Immediately after the duel was officially proclaimed, Entropy sent a giant wave of darkness at them. It was different than Morrigan's similar attacks, as it didn't destroy, more like force Entropy into whatever it touched. The atoms inside molecules would scatter, the bonds between them dissolving.

The attack was halted with a wall of flames of pure creation from Jean Grey, which Morrigan forced into a ball and turned into a beam of flames towards the former cosmic entity.

Entropy casually cut the entire attack with the Necrosword. That weapon was a direct danger to everyone near it, capable of literally destroying anything, and killing anyone. It was very difficult to counter.

The team was divided into two main groups. Loki and Quill were supposed to run interference, creating traps and trying to sneak in an attack somewhere, while Jean and Morrigan alternated between offense and defense to create some kind of opening. As for Selene, she was there for a single purpose, her ability to absorb life force. She had known that it was a potent ability before her banishment, and they had planned to use it on the cosmic entity somehow. However, for all her experience, this was the only reason her wife asked her for help in the fight.

It was slightly patronizing, but now that she witnessed Entropy's power, she understood. No wonder Morrigan was so obsessed with defeating this foe. No wonder she was scared, and felt so helpless readying herself for this battle that would shape the entire multiverse.

The former cosmic entity grinned, "That was a nice warm up. Now, let's get a bit more serious."

Of course, that was when the moonlight seemed to darken, and Entropy ran at them with blinding speed with his sword primed, only to be intercepted by Morrigan with her Uru staff. This staff was enchanted using her primordial runes which kept absorbing the energy of the two infinity stones that were in her possession. In terms of durability, it could easily withstand the destructive capabilities of the Necrosword.

Seemingly surprised by the counter, Entropy's eyes widened as Morrigan retaliated with a ball of pure destruction on his chest, sending him flying back into the distance. The former cosmic entity teleported mid-flight, trying to use his momentum to attack Jean, this time, only for the redhead to disappear into a cloud of formless sand and the real one to reappear a few feet next to her, and send a beam of phoenix fire at her opponent.

Again, the cosmic entity tried to counter with a wave of pure destruction that met the fire in a blinding blast of power, that practically turned their battlefield into a giant crater.

Loki's powers as an avatar of Dream were very powerful. It enhanced his already terrifying skillset, allowing him to reach into the fabric of reality, weaving a complex tapestry of dreams and illusions that could fool anyone, and affect anything, even Entropy. The only issue is that it took time for Loki to visualize the changes to reality without losing himself in the dreaming.

By the time the dust cleared, they heard a faint clapping. The cosmic entity still looked unharmed in the middle of the crater, even after such a potent attack, "Bravo! Bravo! I have to say that your teamwork impressed me. My dear Morrigan, even when I fought the Celestials, they didn't land a hit as clean as this one. Although, to be fair, I sort of snuck up on them, so they weren't as prepared as you are. Still, very impressive nonetheless."

The Morrigan gave him a grin, "No, what's impressive is that you aren't paying attention to your surroundings."

Before he could reply, the giant crater that held entropy started glowing and the debris inside started to rise, revealing a very special pattern, which glowed green. It was runes, courtesy of Morrigan, which happened to be her speciality. The cosmic entity started to snarl, only for him to freeze in place. The moment that happened, a giant wave of energy sent everyone tumbling back, signalling the strength of the attack.

For a fraction of a second, it looked like they had won, only for the runes in the air to start breaking. The snarling cosmic entity went straight for Morrigan and telekinetically sent her flying back, "I spent years in that last time prison of yours, learning how to counter that magic. Do you think I wouldn't learn from my mistakes? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Entropy dashed with his sword primed as if he was going for the kill. Deciding to make herself useful for once, Selene used a teleportation spell that replaced her wife with a dream clone that Loki created quickly.

As the clone dissipated into sand, the former cosmic entity turned, only for it to be attacked by a white beam of pure cosmic energy from Quill. The cosmic entity waved his sword, creating a wave of darkness, only for Quill and Loki to dissipate into sand once more.

Yeah, Selene was working in overdrive. It was a potent ability, that teleportation technique. The previous night, they had created hundreds of dream clones for every single one of them, for Selene to replace using her teleportation spell whenever they were in danger.

The Morrigan decided to use that distraction and sent a beam of crimson light at the cosmic entity, one that her opponent decided not to splice or tank. He dodged the attack, which hit a mountain behind him and turned it into rubble, "A dimensional attack, now that's something I've never seen before. It's destructive energy folded through multiple dimensions to slip through any kind of energy shielding. You would essentially be attacking my personal energy. It wouldn't have done much damage since I am a concept more than a being of energy, but I have to admit that you're creative, if anything, Morrigan."

Selene's wife didn't even deign to give him a reply, but the Black Queen had to admit that from the sound of it, it was a very sophisticated attack. Unfortunately, according to Entropy, it wouldn't have hurt. The cosmic entity leapt at Morrigan with his infamous weapon, turning the conflict into a physical one, negating their number advantage.

In terms of physical conflict, it seemed to be a stalemate of sorts, that was until Entropy sneakily cast an energy attack while sparring, forcing Morrigan to jump into the air and conjure a platform of runes to evade the attack. Jean decided to help by telekinetically floating all of the boulders from the explosion in the air. The martial conflict continued, where they jumped from one platform to another, Entropy aggressively attacking, and Morrigan defending in a very impressive show of flexibility and martial prowess with her staff. As Entropy and Morrigan clashed, their weapons met in a dazzling display of sparks, causing shockwaves to ripple through the battlefield, shattering nearby structures, and creating a miniature tempest around them.

Suddenly, Entropy landed a hit, kicking his opponent back. However, the Morrigan wasn't one to not retaliate to something like this, she waved her staff, and giant golden ethereal chains appeared around the boulders and around Entropy's hands as well. With another wave, the chains tightened, and the boulders leapt towards the surprised cosmic entity. She then turned the entire thing into a runic trap of some sort.

The chains were the same she used on Ego, which restrained him rather easily. Alas, Entropy was a cosmic entity, not a Celestial, and the trap was easily destroyed in a large explosion, "You think that this little trap could hold me? It seems to me that you're getting more and more desperate."

The Morrigan still remained impassive, and it was Peter Quill of all people that answered back, "Yeah asshole. Survive this."

Suddenly, a giant burning comet appeared a few hundred feet above Entropy, the giant illusion being removed by Loki, who was gasping in exertion. Similarly, Star-Lord himself was glowing with white energy, pulling what looked like a section of the broken moon towards them.

As the cosmic entity started to escape, he found that the crater he was in was a space rune that the Morrigan had secretly carved into the ground as they were fighting in the air. He kept punching it again and again, with fists filled with his destructive energy, alas, it was too late.

The defenders of humanity teleported away as what looked like the surface of the planet was cracked by the impact. The crater turned into a giant volcano, causing Lava to flow everywhere. Jean was the only thing keeping this planet together with her frankly immense telekinetic ability.

This was the mother of all attacks, a destructive ending to the fight. Quill whooped and jumped in joy, "Oh, yeah!"

Loki had a small smile on his face, "Did we win?"

They had to, right? Nothing could survive this.

Alas, they all jumped when they heard a sinister voice behind them, "No, you didn't."

Before they could react, Loki was stabbed in the back with the familiar Necrosword, followed immediately by Star-Lord. They were dead before they reached the ground. When they turned to attack back, they froze at the sight of their enemy.

While she had known that he wasn't mortal, he looked now like some sort of demonic shadow, that was taking the shape of a body. For some reason, it looked more, unending, infinity, "These two were irritating, especially the avatar of Dream, and his clones. I was hoping to see something interesting in this fight, and I did. At least, die with the knowledge that you at least entertained me. But it's amusing that you deluded yourselves that you stood a chance in the slightest."

The Morrigan moved the attack him, only to find herself frozen. Similarly, both Jean and Selene were the same. With a wave of his hand, Morrigan's staff turned into dust. He slowly grabbed her by the neck, "It takes a very special someone to stand up to a being like me and make me go all out enough to use my cosmic form. But we had a good run, it's time for me to enact my plan and get my rightful place. After I kill you and leave this dead realm, I will go to Earth and massacre your precious defenders of humanity and my plan will proceed. Goodbye Morrigan, it's been fun if anything."

He readied his sword to stab at her and Selene just couldn't take it. She could teleport her away, but she needed someone to replace her. She didn't have any clones since they all dissipated when Loki died. Fuck, Loki was so useful. Why did he have to get overconfident?

She could use Jean Grey but something in her hesitated slightly. The girl had so much ahead of her. It wasn't fair to do it. The decision didn't take long. After all, she deserved it, didn't she?

As the man started to stab her beloved, Selene did the only thing she could and replaced herself with her wife. She felt the blinding pain where her attack happened and felt the destructive energy spread throughout her body. But she wasn't afraid. For the first time, she wasn't afraid of Death. Instead, she looked at the love of her life, the woman she caused more pain than any enemy of hers and she remembered the beautiful moments they shared, the love they experienced, and she realized that her sacrifice was worth it.

The last thing she ever saw before she turned into dust was the anguished look her wife gave her, and all she could offer in return was a soft smile.

By the way, I decided to change up the upload schedule a bit. From now on, I will post two or three chapters a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

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Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.