Chapter 375: Unraveling Realities

26th April 2015, Remnant

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

It was then that I realized that there was literally nothing I could do against him. This was a consciousness that was powered with energy, a living form of a concept. You can't kill an idea, that's the truth.

Suddenly, my Death Perception gave me a path to follow. It was so simple. Why didn't I think of it? With renewed purpose, I grabbed a small disk and ran towards my enemy. He stabbed Jean with his infamous weapon, only for both our eyes to widen as she turned into sand. Wasn't Loki supposed to have died? It didn't matter. What did matter was that my enemy was taken aback. I tackled him into the ground and the disk I was holding started to glow.

Suddenly, we were both enveloped in a Kaleidoscope of colors.

It was hard to explain with words what happened. English was just so limited in terms of adjectives to describe the sudden change in my surroundings. Colors blurred, and the world seemed to stretch and twist around me. Gravity lost its grip as I felt myself being pulled apart, yet staying whole at the same time. It was overwhelming.

The fabric of reality itself seemed to unravel, revealing a kaleidoscope of vibrant hues that defied description. I was surrounded by a pulsating symphony of energy, where particles danced in intricate patterns that I could scarcely comprehend. I floated in this ethereal realm, no longer confined by the limitations of the tangible world I once knew.

The very concept of time became malleable. Moments stretched and condensed in ways that eluded rationality. I realized then how small I was compared to this. Entropy stopped mattering, Selene's death didn't matter, nothing mattered, in front of the representation of infinity before me. I had no idea how long I had been adrift in this mesmerizing expanse, nor did I have any frame of reference to understand it.

Honestly, for all my ascension and talk of surpassing humanity, it was humbling to see something that I just couldn't comprehend. All my life, I lived in a material universe with concrete laws that were tightly governed by cosmic entities. There was a distinct balance of order and chaos, blending in perfectly to create the requirements for reality to exist. But what I was seeing was paradoxical and my mind just couldn't cope with that. The mighty Morrigan brought so low with incomprehension.

Suddenly, I found myself pulled downwards and I was slowly getting more and more overwhelmed by the sheer impossibility of what I was witnessing. It didn't take long for me to black out. Well, not really. It was more like my consciousness was blocked to somehow shift my view of reality.

Gradually, my consciousness settled into the chaos around me. I found myself in an environment that was simultaneously familiar and alien. I was lying down upon a crystalline landscape that stretched beyond sight, its facets reflecting a spectrum of colors that shifted with every step. The air itself shimmered with microscopic motes, like specks of stardust suspended in infinity.

I gazed up at the sky—or what I assumed was the sky. It was a breathtaking display of colors that I could never have imagined. Hues I had no names for blended seamlessly together, creating an awe-inspiring panorama that stretched to infinity. There were no stars or constellations; instead, the entire expanse seemed to be alive with a luminescent energy that pulsed and twinkled in harmony with the colors below.

I decided to look around me and saw that my trusty staff was just a few yards away. I still didn't trust myself to stand up since I felt dizzy by the change of environment, so I pulled myself towards it.

By the time I grabbed it, I used it to pull myself up and noticed that my body just felt sore. I took a few steps forwards and the ground beneath my feet seemed to respond to my presence, creating ripples of light that echoed outward. Bizarre flora sprouted from the crystalline terrain, their translucent petals emitting an otherworldly glow. Strange creatures flitted about, their forms resembling delicate fractals that twisted and turned in intricate spirals.

I knew deep in my mind that what I was seeing was an illusion of an incomprehensive reality. My mind was adjusting my senses in a way that it could interpret it without going insane.

It seemed like I wasn't the only one that was frazzled by what I have done, since on my right, the familiar form of Entropy was groaning while limping up and gasped, "What is this place?"

I grinned at him, "Something that Hank Pym inadvertently discovered. This is the Quantum realm, a universe underneath all other universes. A realm where the very fabric of reality is woven from the threads of possibility and uncertainty. Time, space, reality, these are all illusions here, stripped away to reveal the raw essence of existence."

Entropy's eyes widened as he absorbed my words, his expression a mix of disbelief and fascination. "Illusions? So, what we perceive here is just in our heads?"

"Everything is in our heads, Entropy. We try to interpret the universe around us in a way that makes sense. And if lying to ourselves is a way to do so, then we create an illusion of reality that fits our worldview. What we're witnessing right now is a translation of something far more intricate and unfathomable. We're seeing a mere fraction of what the quantum realm truly is, for its true nature is incomprehensible. So, of course all of this is in our heads. But that doesn't make it any less real."

Entropy's gaze flickered between me and the bizarre landscape surrounding us, his expression a mixture of surprise and frustration, "You sacrificed yourself to imprison me here. I'm afraid that it won't hold me for long, and if this place is really beyond time, an eternity here could be nothing more than a fraction of a second in the outside world. After all, to something like me, it is but a blink of my eyes."

I snorted, "No, I did not bring you here to imprison you. You'll escape and then you'll probably try to do the exact same thing again. And even if you fail, you'll find a way to do it all over again. If imprisoning you was my goal, there would be dozens of better places to do so. Aren't you curious why I chose this place specifically?"

"It doesn't matter, you'll be dead anyway…"

The cosmic entity moved its hand, and nothing happened. He tried once more and frowned. The frustrated look on his face was too funny and I couldn't hold it as I burst into laughter, "Performance problems? I hear they're more common the older you get…"

"What have you done?" Entropy yelled at me.

I grinned, "I told you. This is a place where the laws of reality, where concepts are nothing more than illusions. Your powers are conceptual in nature. As are mine, for that matter. In this place, such things don't mean anything. You are Entropy personified, but the concept has no weight here, no authority over this reality. You have your powers, but you cannot use them to alter the reality you perceive. We're both powerless in this place."

The cosmic entity's eyes widened in panic as he tried to use his power once more and I grinned, "It's just you and me now, Entropy. No shortcuts, no tricks, no hidden aces."

"So, you brought us here to level the playing field," my opponent muttered, his tone laced with a begrudging admiration, which was eclipsed by his anger.

I nodded, twirling the metallic staff in my hand, a glint of determination in my eyes. However, my opponent burst into laughter, "You always have one last card up your sleeve, don't you? Well, alright then. If you want to make it a contest of arms, I am more than happy to oblige. Your chances are not much better there."

Yeah, he had a point; Quantum Realm or not, he was still a conceptual being and he knew it. He literally can't die without the very concept of Entropy disappearing from the multiverse, while I could very well die. In a battle of attrition, his victory is inevitable. I couldn't accept that. My cycle must be broken. I don't want to redo this again.

But if victory was impossible, my death perception wouldn't have urged me to do this. Even if it didn't work anymore, now that I was in the quantum realm, there had to be a chance of victory, I just needed to find it.

"I've beaten worse odds," I simply replied.

With that said, I took a defensive stance, the staff held firmly before me. The ground beneath us continued to shimmer with the ripples of light, responding to our presence in ways that were both mesmerizing and disorienting. The surreal surroundings served as a reminder of the unique battleground we now stood upon—a realm where reality itself was malleable and uncertain.

With a sudden surge of energy, Entropy lunged forward, his sword arcing through the air with a deadly grace. I deflected the strike with my staff, the clash of metal against metal ringing out in the strange, vibrant silence. Our movements were fluid yet strained, each of us adjusting to the unfamiliar physics of this realm as we sparred amidst the dancing lights.

Both our weapons were useless. The Necrosword was tied to the concept of Darkness that originated from Knull. Now, it was just a durable sword. My staff contained the powers of two Infinity Stones within it that it absorbed when I held them, but that energy was meaningless in this place. It was barely more than a stick of metal that I could use to hit people.

It was hard to believe that this was a duel for the multiverse. There were no reality destroying attacks, no unbeatable defenses, just two people who physically tried to kill each other. It was oddly fitting in a way, to see both man and God brought down to the same level, fighting like savages.

Entropy gained the advantage by sending a vicious swing of his sword at me, which I blocked, but he was able to counter it with a kick that sent me flying. Yeah, and physically, he was still stronger than me, so that was a big disadvantage on my side, that and his durability.

Entropy leapt at me, trying to finish me off, but I rolled to evade his strike. I jumped up, while retrieving my staff and used the hook to grab onto my opponent's outreached hand and bent it. If Entropy was a normal human being, the wrist would have been broken, but all it did was make him drop his weapon. I pushed him away and used all my strength to slam my staff towards the infamous Necrosword.

Two artifacts that should be indestructible met in a paradoxical existence. They should have remained unscathed, but for some reason, something in my gut told me to do this.

All I heard was Entropy's yell, "NO!" before the impact created some kind of explosion of white light that sent me flying back, my eyes burning from the blinding light.

I grimaced when I was able to blink my eyes open and looked around to see dozens of shards of metal around the place of impact. Both my staff and the Necrosword had shattered. Entropy limped up and I followed, "You think I cared about that toothpick of a sword? It was a weapon, nothing more. You think that you somehow won something?"

He walked towards me and took a shard of the Necrosword. I was at the epicenter of the explosion, so I was very hurt, and I was too disoriented to stop him from stabbing me in the gut with the piece of metal.

The pain was a lot more intense than I thought. It was like someone had pierced through my very soul. Wait a minute, I scrambled through my awareness and noticed that it was in fact wounded my soul. Was this a property of the Necrosword that was so powerful that it still existed in the Quantum Realm? I didn't know, but I was quickly losing the fight.

I could feel my life force leaking from the stab. It was painful. It was agonizing. Did Selene always feel this way?

Wait a minute, wasn't this exactly Selene's condition? Was I now as cursed as she used to be?

Entropy didn't let me ponder too much and just punched me in the face. The moment he touched me, I felt a small thrill of energy enter my soul.

The enraged cosmic entity continued its violence, "You pathetic little worm think that you can stop me?"

With every hit, I felt stronger. My body was getting weaker, of course, but my soul was growing far beyond what it used to be.

The man got up, gasping in breath, "Just stay down. You know, I think I might not even kill you. I'll just keep you alive as a trophy until I find a way to leave this place, and I'll just leave you here alone when I go back. If this place doesn't die when I wipe out the entire multiverse, you could just stay here, undying, knowing that you failed to save anyone. You would be trapped in this infinite realm of chaos, in eternal torment. How does that sound?"

I didn't care what he was saying and just stood up, limping, with blood running down my nose, and a stab wound in my gut, "I could do this all day."

The cosmic entity just huffed, "This is just sad," he hit me again, "just stay down."

I got up again and he punched me again, "Give up! This is meaningless. You lost."

But I got up again and again. I wouldn't stand down. Every time I felt like giving up, I remembered Selene, the love that betrayed me, but stood by my side, in the end. I remembered Wanda, the daughter who deserved a better mother than I. I remembered Rose, the sister that I cursed with ignorance in my anger. I remembered Hogwarts, my pride, the daughter that I didn't contact as much as I wanted. I remembered Jean, Wanda's girlfriend, that I started to view as a daughter myself. I remembered Mordred, the daughter that I failed. I remembered Hestia, the love that I lost. I remember Atlan, the father who taught me everything he knew, who gave me the responsibility to help our people, that I failed either way.

I wasn't fighting for me, not anymore. My existence was a cursed one and I waited its end for so long. I lived as a spectator to my own life for most of my existence, bound by time and fate, and when I broke these chains, I found myself bound in another.

A part of me just wanted to give up, so that the pain would end but every time I came close to doing it, I remembered who I was fighting for.

What a joke, that I start feeling human again in a place where being human didn't mean anything.

But with every punch, with every kick, with every insult, I kept getting back up, grinning and laughing.

Entropy was incensed, "Why are you smiling?"

I coughed up some blood and smiled at him again, "Because I know something you don't."

"And what is that?"

"You lose."

He tried to hit me again, I dodged and grabbed his head with both my hands and started to absorb his life force. Well, life force would be an exaggeration. Entropy didn't have a soul; he was a cosmic being. His life force was his power. It kept going inside me, and my soul was getting denser and denser, it was expanding.

He blocked my hands in panic and tried to punch me again, only this time, I grabbed his hand. The cosmic entity gave me a disbelieving look, "How?"

I pinned his hand and went back to absorbing his power. I was almost done now, but frantically, he tried to get away. I let him. He was almost dry now. My soul felt like it was going to burst, and Entropy looked like he was half faded, "This is impossible."

I shrugged, "We're in a realm that is paradoxical in nature. The word impossible is just that, a word."

He looked at me with pleading eyes and yelled "It's not fair. IT'S NOT FAIR! I did everything right. I should have won."

I stayed silent and the cosmic being looked in tears now, "I'm sorry. I know I crossed a line. I did. I shouldn't have done what I did. I just wanted my existence to have meaning. I wanted to matter. I wanted to do my duty…"

"I know," I replied, and I did. I could understand him better now. His nature, his desperation, his existence, it made him into the being he became, forged him into a bitter cosmic being that held very little influence.

"You don't have to do this," he said, while kneeling.

"You know I do," I answered simply.

He nodded and looked down and asked, "Does it hurt?"

"Not at all," I said. "Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

"Good," he breathed, "that's good. Farewell, Morrigan."

"Farewell, Entropy."

I grabbed his head once more and felt the remnant of his power enter my soul. By the time I was done, Entropy had faded into nothing. The moment that happened, I could feel my soul pop, and everything turned white.

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