“Yeah, this is it, YoAnna,” Jay said.
“Can I go all out now, my love?” she asked.
“You can. Kill whatever is in your way.” Jay whirled his staff around. “Even if they’re on my list. At this point, I can’t get too greedy. Joyce and Bondye come first. Taco, too, if she’s still alive.”
YoAnna tilted her head. “I wish to say I’ll reserve them for you. But if the opportunity comes, I will kill them myself.”
Jay grinned. “I know. So it’ll be a race.”
YoAnna’s eyes lit up. “A challenge? It wouldn’t be fair. You are both trying to save and destroy when I only have to destroy.”
She wasn’t being fair to herself. It was her body she used to save the souls of their Champions last time. Jay supposed he could handle the challenge.
“You can use the head start,” he teased. “I’ll get two saves and two kills before you can get a third big kill.”
“Then so be it,” YoAnna said with full determination. “I will win this challenge.”
Jay felt the gravity of the contest locked in place. He had no idea what would be the consequence of winning or losing, but that was beside the point.
YoAnna’s massive body was now gaining more power before they even got started. The nature of the challenge was a divine one, so YoAnna got the appropriate power-up. It was up to Jay to help transfer her while she remained at her current size. The distance was too great for her to challenge on top of piercing the [System Master’s] defenses.
It would take a lot of Mana for Jay, but the effort would be worth it. Popping in on the enemy’s greatest defensive hold while bypassing their barriers and walls with his massive wife gave Jay a bunch of stunned faces to burn to memory.
At least the core world was plenty large enough for YoAnna’s cosmic size. They even had cosmic titans for her to wrestle with as Jay flew and teleported around defensive encampments and pantheon armies.
YoAnna’s entrance served as the opening salvo that kicked everything into a frenzy, distracting most of the enemy and concentrating their attacks on her. It was a risky gambit. She grew stronger as she was attacked, but if she wasn’t strong enough, something hard hitting could blast her down. Jay found one of those hard-hitting primordial weapons as a cannon being operated by Goldteeth himself.
“You!” snarled the dragon behind the cannon. It was an almost comical sight, but Jay’s objectives required him to be serious.
“Where’s Joyce?” Jay asked.
The dragon sneered and turned the cannon at Jay. With a flick of his hand, Jay threw the bo staff and bonked Goldteeth between the eyes and sent him careening backwards. The bo staff returned to his hand, followed by something that was larger than he could grasp fully at this size. When the dragon shook off the hard strike, he was now staring down the barrel of his own cannon.
“You can’t use it! It’s bound to me!” shouted the dragon.
“No. It’s bound to me,” Jay said, as his race as Eldritch Monkey Ruler employed an interesting power. Absolute Ownership broke the spell that was binding it to the dragon and forced it to bind to Jay. The cannon was way too large for someone like Jay, but it shone with inherent power ready to go off anyway.
The dragon’s eyes widened. He looked over to see YoAnna rip a cosmic titan in half and toss the two pieces down at field armies and dungeon monsters working together to attack her ankles. Somewhere out there, Ukkara was roaring with rage as he threw himself at YoAnna’s massive form.
He had grown to his largest size, but was still a tiny mite in comparison. But unlike the many attackers at YoAnna’s feet, the Uk-Guk-Gara [God] didn’t go unnoticed by YoAnna.
Her hand smacked him down. She proceeded to stomp on him, fully abusing her size and might to shake the entire realm and rattle all of its warriors.
“If you want to escape this hopeless battle, you better tell me,” Jay said.
“The prince! He has her!” Goldteeth admitted. “Now let me go! Please!”
They both knew Jay wouldn’t let him go. The wealthiest dragon was only saying that to bide his time to implement an escape plan. He could probably slip away fine from the cannon’s emission. But Jay wasn’t planning on using it.
“Prison of Gravity,” Jay chanted, trapping the dragon in a heavy gravity cage. All spatial attempts would be warped and broken, keeping Goldteeth from absconding.
Jay left him howling and begging for release. To be fair, Jay didn’t have as deep an animosity toward Goldteeth as he did for the others. If he could trade the dragon for Ukkara, that would be worth it. But YoAnna was finishing that match. Leaving the dragon as bait should distract her long enough for Jay to get to the real prizes.
Jay used the cannon to help break down the doors to the [System Master’s] palace. The primordial blast erased the nearest defenders and left nothing but melted stone, burning wood, and lots of smoke.
Jay kicked his way through and walked over the smoldering remains of the door. Inside, he found a sturdy domain and the heavily armored mansion guardians. They were Rankers in the Level 700s. It was clear to Jay that specific people got the benefit of breaking past the 550 leveling cap as long as they worked with the [System Master].
Jay held nothing back and deleted each one from reality. The last one had their system corrupted before having their body imploded. The domain collapsed, with the last guardian dying.
It was quiet inside. All the noise from the battle was kept outside. The foyer led to a long hallway filled with elemental art.
He’d crossed this same hallway back when he first met the bosses a while ago. It wasn’t surprising when his journey led him to the garden. This time, instead of a pagoda at the end, there was a marble arena. In the middle was the master of this mess. He was dressed in a tunic and leggings while wielding a rapier. Primordial Quality.
“I’ve looked ahead, searching for answers,” the master said. “All I found was death and suffering.”
Jay hopped up onto the stage and moved to stand beside the man. “I don’t really have much to say.”
“No gloats? Witty comebacks? Nothing?” The master sounded disappointed.
Jay opened and closed his mouth and thought about it. “Honestly, I just want to head home. Strange, isn’t it? I’m right here where I’ve wanted to be for a long time. Finally, achieving vengeance. And now that I’m here, it’s kind of empty.”
“How so?”
“I’m too overpowered.” Jay turned to leave the arena. “Goodbye.”
By the time he got down, the former System Master’s head rolled off his shoulders, already slain by Jay’s hand before he realized it. For all his power as king of the multiverse, he was an unimpressive combatant. Which left a bitter taste in Jay’s mouth. There could only be one reason for a weak king to hold the throne like that. He was a puppet for someone stronger.
Jay focused on the one area that he was blind to and couldn’t pierce. The noise outside with YoAnna’s rampage was reaching him now that the old system master was dead. The mansion looked more lifeless, too.
Without their master, the magic supporting the place was fading rapidly. In fact, Jay could feel the system was suffering without its master. The throne was up for grabs, which Jay spotted as a simple-looking garden chair. He left it alone and headed toward the dark void in his Perception.
He opened a door leading into the hallways, passing through the threshold of the domain. Immediately, he was set upon by an entropic curse. Jay grimaced at the curse’s power.
It was… stronger than Jay expected.
Still, it was not enough to stop him. He walked through it, leaning on his heroic tropes to raise his Chance. There was only a strip of floor remaining in this domain. Everything else led to an empty husk of a void. Stranger yet was Jay’s Perception. It was throttled heavily, blinding him to what was evidently in front of him.
He wasn’t fully prepared for a person to appear on his path, but he responded appropriately to the attacks. He used his staff to deflect the incoming punches and kicks before smacking the back of the attacker’s leg and sending them down to the floor. He pressed the end of his staff against the attacker’s chest, stopping her.
“Taco, it’s me, Jay,” he called.
Taco continued to struggle, unable to recognize him. Her eyes were gone. Her voice was gone. Her hearing was gone, too. Jay grimaced at her horrible condition as she pushed up to her feet and attacked him again.
This time, he grabbed her arm with his tail and wrestled with her until she recognized the feeling of an eldritch monkey’s tail. She rubbed her hand over it with a face stricken with grief and hope.
“I can’t send you back like this,” Jay said. She could destroy Earth in her confusion.
Carefully, he grabbed Taco’s hand and guided her to keep a hold of his tail as he moved past her. She learned quickly to trust him and follow. He could only imagine how long she spent being like this and left to wander aimlessly with nobody around.
Jay found a black door and pushed it open with his staff. Inside was a living room and dining/kitchen setup reminiscent of his old home. On the sofa was Joyce, her knees up with her taloned toes hanging off the edge.
She was Rank 8 now, and clearly strong enough to gobble most beings of the Multiverse. She was far from Jay or YoAnna’s equal, though. He was both glad and troubled to see her. All of her attention was on the TV while clutching a dungeon monster core.
Bondye’s core.
Jay’s attention lingered on his family for too long. He didn’t react in time to the punch hitting the side of his head and knocking him into the door's edge.
His head rattled in a way that reminded him of mortality. Before he could react, two hands grabbed him by the front of his top and yanked him off his feet. Taco staggered inside with him before Jay released her from his tail. Then he was tossed across the room and smashing against the wall.
“Look who it is! Look who it is! It’s the copycat!” sang the Prince of Entropy. He walked around Taco’s frantically searching form and slammed the door behind him with a kick of his heel. “Oh my, my, you’ve gotten strong.”
Jay shook his head. “Clearly, you’ve been hiding your true power for a while, prince.”
“Never let them know what you’re really capable of.” The prince laughed. “Shame you killed Charles, though. He was a good pawn.”
Jay glanced from the prince to his daughter. “Joyce, you okay?”
She didn’t respond. She kept watching the TV, which was on, but showed nothing but a black screen. A void of digital. She was absorbed by it.
“She has a lot of YoAnna in her,” the prince said with a sigh. “But she’s not the real thing. Far from it, really. Still, it’ll be good to have her as a starter daughter for when YoAnna and I finally tie the knot.”
Jay swung his staff and clashed with the prince’s black and crooked knife, a constant edge slicing against reality that appeared from nowhere. The bo staff held up as Jay swung and lashed out, choosing to use melee attacks to avoid hurting the hostages.
There was no need to choose. With every clash, Jay could feel his System getting corrupted. In return, he corrupted the prince’s System. They were two Freak of Freaks at odds with each other, bending fate and breaking rules and disrupting magic.
Their fight would have to be settled the old fashion way. With face-to-face brutality.
The place itself was of top tier Primordial Quality, so it didn’t fall apart as the two godly combatants swung and clanged against each other.
The prince’s knife hand held strong even when Jay put a lot of force into his swings. Jay had no choice but to give some ground when the prince flicked out his knife and aimed at Jay’s fingers, dodging the counter strokes. They broke apart in the tight space with Jay’s back to the hostages, reexamining everything he knew about the prince.
Apparently, he didn’t know enough. The Prince of Entropy was standing casually after taking hits that would put down most, if not all, of the warriors this multiverse offered. The smile on the mask the prince wore was there for a reason, both mocking at others for their weakness and smiling at his own might.
“Maybe you should sit back and wait for your wife,” the prince said. “You’re clearly not strong enough by yourself.”
Jay narrowed his eyes, feeling his anger cloud over his thoughts. His grip became tense on his staff, and when it seemed like he was going to swing, he took a deep breath instead. He remembered the last time he lost his cool in front of the Prince of Entropy. He lost his legs.
“I still have your legs,” the prince said, reaching behind him. He tossed the pair onto the floor in front of Jay. They looked like the legs of a boy. They weren’t fitting for Jay anymore. He stepped over them and approached the prince carefully.
“Wow, that’s ice cold. I like your style!” The prince flipped his knife from hand to hand, squaring up against Jay.
After a tense few seconds, they erupted into violence. This time, Jay struck with explosive force while also covering the hostages with a fusion of his gravity and [Unstoppable Heroism]. There were spots when his powers glitched and failed, so he had to work twice as hard to protect his people.
He burned through more Mana this way, but he was giving the prince a harder fight that placed him on the back foot. Jay struck again and again, each of his hits growing with more weight and destructiveness that rattled down the prince’s knife arm. The entropic power bled away some of Jay’s magic, thwarting a portion of his efforts, but not all. Not when Jay was calm, focused, and giving it all that he’d got.
The prince’s back slammed into the kitchen counter. He missed a deflective swing with his knife and took a resounding smack to the face. The mocking mask ripped off. Before Jay could capitalize, he saw something that turned his blood cold. He saw his own face.
The Prince of Entropy was him.
He was brought back to horrible reality when a devastating pain pierced through his side. The prince’s knife.
Jay shouted with rage and pain, his concentration nearly slipping until he refocused on his multiple objectives. He kept up the gravity shields protecting the hostages while bashing the prince’s nose in with his forehead. The two separated, dripping blood, Jay leaking out more.
Jay gasped in pain as the entropic curse dug its hooks deep inside of him. He was on wobbly legs, which were already unstable since they were prosthetics below his thighs. He was almost angry at the prince for being so strong, but that paled compared to his true identity.
“Why do you have my face?” Jay spat.
“What do you mean?” the prince laughed. “You have my face. You all do. Each and every damn Freak of Freaks.”
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“What?”
“Come now. Don’t you know anything about the multiverse theory?” the prince asked. “There’s more than just the revival part. There are versions of you and me out there. Some are slightly different. Some are slightly the same. And when it comes to us Jays, we all tend to have a weird reaction to the [Freak] Class.”
Jay thought about it. “Did you have a near death experience?”
“Yup! Right before the apocalypse came for my universe.” The prince shook his head. “Good times, that. My climb was epic. I was knifing all sorts of [Godlings], [Gods] and [Goddesses]. I was on a roll to destroy the multiverse. And go beyond to the–”
“Ultraverse,” Jay added.
“Bingo bango–”
“You get a mango.”
“Hahaha! See! It’s almost as if the designer of all this kept copying over the same code. The same Jay Killjoy.”
“Luckrun,” Jay said. “I’m Jay Luckrun.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re all Jays.”
“It does matter.” Jay nodded. “Because there aren’t many Luckruns. And it takes something special to be a Luckrun.”
Killjoy’s mirthful face transitioned into a dark scowl. “Count me as a critic. You took my love. The only girl who fits me. We’re supposed to break out of this place. Hit up the Ultraverse and break that, too. Then keep going and going and going until… there’s nothing but the two of us.”
Jay stared at his multiverse copy and saw the caricature of what he could’ve been. He had no idea what turned this version of him into an insane and creepy villain, but seeing it in the flesh was horrifying. He was almost happy that Joyce, Taco, and Bondye were unaware.
Nobody should see this. It had to end here.
“There it is. That look of desperate self-hate.” Killjoy smiled. “Don’t you get it. If I win, we all win.”
“Then why won’t you accept YoAnna being with me.”
“Because she’s mine!” Killjoy roared, throwing himself at Jay.
The bo staff had stopped being a good weapon in this confined space. Jay used it as a distraction before grappling Killjoy’s knife arm and smashing it against the countertops.
He kept striking the arm down until Killjoy released his knife.
Killjoy readapted by hooking his fingers inside Jay’s cheek and yanking his head around to slam into the fridge.
Everything here was Primordial Quality and refused to break. In this little house setting, the amount of power both were using could’ve ended countless lives across the cosmos.
It didn’t seem like it as the two fought like rabid animals, slipping in Jay’s blood as it puddled on the floor. Bursts of their affinities came out, mostly canceling each other. Even with Jay combining gravity and the abyss, the 1st Freak of Freaks was more than prepared for it. Their abilities to cause glitches for each other’s Systems clashed repeatedly. Jay strained more than Killjoy since he was protecting his people, but he fought on determinedly.
They crashed back and forth across the kitchen before collapsing in the living room. Jay took a second to recollect himself. Killjoy tackled him and slammed him into the wall, his fingers digging into Jay’s knife wound.
Jay held in the scream that wanted to come out and wrapped his tail around Killjoy’s neck. The muscular appendage pulled the crazed man backward until his face was raised up high enough for Jay to swing his fists and pummel him.
Jay ignored the burning knife wound and his life seeping out of him. He ignored the horrible implications that all the prisoners in the Hell Circles were versions of him that failed to become Freak of Freaks. He ignored he was a copy of the insane and monstrous Killjoy in front of him, that there wasn’t anything original to his soul, that he was meant to die or become something designed by a greater power outside of his reach.
He just kept punching and punching, cutting his knuckles on Killjoy’s fractured teeth, pummeling the life out of him even as Killjoy stopped fighting, Jay punching and punching. Then Jay stopped right before he landed the finishing blow.
“Why aren’t you fighting back?” Jay asked.
Killjoy gargled on blood and saliva. He shifted his face aside and spat globs out. Then he smiled. “That knife to your liver. That had all of my killing power and some.”
Jay blinked down in surprise. He was certainly weak and losing his Health fast, but he was not exactly dead.
“I want YoAnna,” Killjoy said. “Ever since I’ve had a glimpse of her in a vision. She was everything. But if this me isn’t strong enough…”
He reached up and patted a bloody hand on Jay’s face. “At least there’s a me out there who is.”
Jay finished the job and slain the Prince of Entropy. As Joyce snapped awake from her trance, Jay yanked the prince’s mask into his hand with gravity. He was about to put the thing on, but stopped himself. He wasn’t certain if he should lie about something like this. Especially to YoAnna. He had the Conviction to hide it if necessary. But he also had the Conviction to tell the truth.
With a painful sigh, he tossed the mask aside and lifted the prince’s body with a grunt. The knife wound in his side would not heal soon.
“Dad,” Joyce called. Amanda’s pale form flitted out from Joyce’s body and entered Taco’s. Thankfully, Amanda could communicate with the poor eldritch monkey directly without needing extra magic. Jay could conjure a spell to better communicate, but he was occupied. With the prince dead, his domain was falling apart.
Jay pulled everyone close with gravity and helped them transition back into a more stable reality. Of course, the breaking of Killjoy’s domain would’ve led to an entropic death. It was as if the bastard couldn’t help but try to get one last laugh over his enemies.
Jay didn’t look back at the legs he left behind and kept walking toward the garden entrance.
“Dad, uh, I don’t know what’s going on?” Joyce asked. “I was leaving the 6th Hell Circle while getting attacked by a bunch of weirdos. Then I ran into a scary guy. The guy on your shoulder. Is he dead? Oh, he’s dead.”
“A lot happened. Just keep your great grandma’s core safe for me, okay, Joyce?”
“Will do!”
Joyce hugged Bondye’s core tightly as she followed in Jay’s shadow. Any urges to hunt him died down as she stole peaks at his beat up and bleeding form. Taco followed behind them, guided by Amanda’s urges. They made it outside to a dying garden and found YoAnna.
She was covered in dried blood and soot. Her robes were in tatters. Jay could sense the many lives, small and significant, she’d taken. Two of those lives happened to be Ukkara and Goldteeth. She was standing with her back to them, looking down at the empty wrought iron throne of the former system master.
Jay dropped Killjoy’s body beside her. The corpse landed face up, revealing his face. Joyce sucked in air sharply as Jay looked away in shame.
“This is the man who cursed us?” YoAnna asked. “The one who caused the destruction of the Protectorates?”
“Yes,” Jay said.
“This man… has your face.”
“You can say that he’s me from another universe.” It took immense Conviction to keep talking. Jay’s Chance was plummeting hard. “All the Freak of Freaks are a similar or different version of me. We’re all copies. Duplicated with a purpose by the Precursor System. And it doesn’t start unless we have a–”
“Near death experience?” YoAnna tilted her head. “Is that why I was drawn to you? It wasn’t that you were without fate. But you were a part of something so large, it was impossible to see.”
YoAnna sighed. “Your fate is larger than mine, it seems. You aren’t who I thought.”
Jay felt sickened. He was still bleeding and losing Health. He couldn’t even look at YoAnna now. This entire journey had revealed an ugly truth that was almost too much to bear. He wanted to say something to make everything better. But he couldn’t muster up a word. Even worse, YoAnna wasn’t giving him a clear clue about her thoughts. She was innate. Almost like an unreadable statue.
Jay crumpled to the ground as the blood loss became less bearable. He felt cold. Maybe Killjoy would get the last laugh after all.
He didn’t stay down on the ground for long. Joyce knelt beside him and placed one hand gently on Jay’s side, the other cradling Bondye’s core. She couldn’t heal him. But she stopped his descent into death.
“You’re not that man,” Joyce said. “He was wrong, twisted, and evil. And you’re good and amazing and loving.”
Jay chuckled. “That doesn’t sound like the talk of someone who’s supposed to hunt me.”
Joyce furrowed her brow. “What’s the point if it’s not a challenge? For you or me. I still have growing to do. And… you’re supposed to help me grow!”
Jay felt a little better hearing that. Maybe if the only salvageable thing was the relationship with his adopted daughter, he might live with that.
Then YoAnna bent down next to him and pressed her hand over Joyce’s hand. With a pop of power, YoAnna fought against the knife wound and the entropic curse.
Entropy’s killing intent couldn’t outlast YoAnna’s divinity with its master dead. YoAnna won out and healed Jay, leaving a scar where the knife had landed.
Wound healed, Jay supposed YoAnna would refocus on the throne. Instead of that, her hand pressed to the side of his face. She turned his head and met his lips with her supple own and kissed him fully.
Jay lost himself in that kiss, riding high and feeling at ease even after the kiss ended. Blinking away his daze, he found his wife’s face inches away from him.
“You’re the one and only Jay Luckrun,” she said, leaning her forehead against his. “My beloved, and the ender of my lifetime foe and curse. You’re a constant surprise and an unpredictable weirdo. WIth fate, without fate, you are still someone I wish to love with my all.”
Jay sighed in relief and leaned into his wife. He could’ve left Killjoy’s body in his collapsing domain. He could’ve hidden this secret and never faced the consequences. But it wouldn’t be right. This was too big to just hide. YoAnna had the right to know, and for this occasion, honesty turned out to be the best policy. YoAnna was accepting.
For a good while, Jay and YoAnna sat on the gravel floor, leaning against each other. She did most of the comforting, combing her fingers through his dreadlocks. When Jay felt more put together, he stood up with YoAnna in hand. Killjoy was an afterthought now. All that mattered was the throne.
“You’ve rescued the hostages and killed the most important two before I could get three,” YoAnna announced. “And I can barely count my second when he was prepared for me to step on. It is clear you are the winner of our challenge.”
“I feel like I missed out on a lot,” Joyce piped up while standing next to Taco and Amanda. “Dad’s tall now!”
“Maybe if you don’t run away from home, you would be kept informed,” YoAnna said.
“Ouch. But fair.” Joyce lowered her head, falling to the background with the others.
YoAnna chuckled as she refocused on Jay. “As for your reward: a decision for you to make. Do I sit on the throne? Or do we leave?”
“Sit on the throne,” Jay said automatically.
YoAnna’s eyes widened, stunned. “But I will not be angry with you if you decide for us to leave now. You know what I will do if I take the throne.”
Jay shook his head. “I know. But I want you to decide not to genocide an entire multiverse.”
“But that’s what I’ll do. You will not favor the decision. You are a hero.”
“[The Hero of Apocalypse Comedy]. Sure, yeah, that’s me. I do what I can, take my licks, and keep moving forward. If I’m going to be married to a villainess, then I’ll have to learn to live with those atrocities of hers.” Jay sighed. “But that won’t mean I’ll stay silent. I’ll want her to know that we can have our vengeance and let the innocent live.”
“Dearest husband, to accomplish a task as great as wholesale destruction does not leave room for half measures. If I stop halfway, what I leave is chaos that will be worse than clean death. And from the chaos can arise greater monsters.”
“Or capable heroes that’ll transition the fall of command toward a better tomorrow,” Jay said. “It’s in the muck and chaos that the best of men and women can be born.”
“It’s in that mess that the worst of monsters can be born, dear.”
“Yeah, well. That’s where I stand. And I will not take your right to sit on the throne from you.”
Jay reached down and tossed Killjoy’s body out of the area. It was becoming a real eyesore. Smacking his hands, he took a few steps back and left YoAnna with the throne.
She stared at it for a long time, her fingers strumming the air. Her toes clenched the gravel underneath.
All she had to do was sit down and take over the Multiverse System for Multiverse Y. Then spread her influence and utterly destroy everyone and everything here. Or destroy the [Gods] and [Goddesses] and their pantheons and leave the peons be. Or she could walk away from the throne altogether.
YoAnna turned to look at Jay, their eyes meeting. Jay nodded his head in approval of whatever decision she made. They were going to be together for a long time. No matter what she decided.
YoAnna took the seat of the throne. It transformed into something more fitting. Black, gold, white, and lavish.
YoAnna leaned back against the backrest, closing her eyes, savoring the power she held over an entire multiverse. For a moment, Jay figured she was going to choose the wholesale slaughter route and leave nothing left.
He prepared to harden his heart and wait and see what remained. He might have to crawl each Hell Circle to ensure all the Freak of Freaks were put out of their misery.
“This is YoAnna Sainte-Luckrun, the remaining Matriarch of the Protectorates,” she said, her voice reaching all across the multiverse. “I am the doom you’ve all feared, fated to destroy this multiverse. And because of your fear, you’ve turned upon the Protectorates and massacred my people. Now here I am. I have been fully realized thanks to the support of my newly revived Protectorates and my husband, Jay Luckrun, the former Demon Lord.”
YoAnna paused, letting her words sink in. She rested her elbow on the armrest, propping her chin on her hand. It was a striking image made even bolder as she shifted from her golden radiance to a man-eating black.
Her hair became dark. Her eyes as black as the void. The scar on the left side of her face became more prominent. For a split-second, Jay could hear Killjoy laughing, as if he was enjoying himself from the beyond. This was the version of YoAnna who Killjoy wanted. The most powerful villainess around. What would’ve been the perfect match for entropy when fused with the concepts of challenge and change.
Maybe Killjoy was supposed to have YoAnna after all. But Jay’s gravity got in the way. Still, the former prince of entropy might have influenced too much for YoAnna to resit her evil side.
“I remember my mother briefly. In the moments I was born, I remember her touch. Then I was ripped away from her. Forever. I was sent far away. Forced to learn all I know about the Protectorates through journals and tutors. All for what? To control me? To use my great power? If I was given a Chance, supported instead of feared, we could’ve built your multiverse to be a greater place. But now all I want to do is wipe it all away. And leave nothing left.”
YoAnna sighed so heavily it could be felt in every corner of the multiverse. “And yet. I won’t. I’ll leave you with this warning. Do not cross me again.”
She stood up from the throne and moved over to Jay, grabbing his hand and marching him out. He was practically dragged after her until he matched her lengthy stride. He was feeling a little stunned at the moment. Flabbergasted, really.
Joyce helped Taco to follow quickly behind them. They stopped outside the smashed front of the mansion. Here, Jay could fully appreciate the damage YoAnna wrought.
“Ah,” Jay nodded. “You’ve killed them all.”
Jay had an estimated headcount of all the enemies gathered to defend the central stronghold. None of them escaped. Mostly everyone was crushed to paste either directly or from YoAnna’s growing aura.
Joyce gaped at all the bloody and flaming damage. Then she blurted, “Mother, Dad, which one of you is stronger?”
“Your mother,” Jay said.
“You dad,” YoAnna said.
Joyce looked between them in confusion, but the two didn’t bother explaining. Jay was finishing up his observation of YoAnna’s work before coming to an interesting realization. “You’ve killed the heads of all the most important pantheons beholden to the old system master.”
“Without them, the smaller pantheons will fight over the vacuum that remained,” YoAnna said. “While I was sitting on the throne, I sought all revival mechanisms in this multiverse and destroyed them all. I’ve also destroyed the system master’s lineage and all of his experiments and notes. I made it as blank slate as I could.”
Jay looked up at his wife thoughtfully. “There’s more you have to say.”
YoAnna sighed. “There are… Protectorates. From the older generation. They are in hiding. I know where they are. Some of them are family.”
“How come the system master didn’t find them?” Joyce asked.
“He was a weak system master,” Jay said. “In truth, YoAnna was probably meant to rule the throne and be the system master here. The old one got in the way of that. But the old one lost his head as promised.”
“Ah.” Joyce nodded slowly. “Well, he got what he deserved.”
Carefully, Jay pried his hand out of YoAnna’s grip. She relented after a while. Jay turned to Joyce and the others. “Hey, kiddo, your dad and mother got some business to take care of still. House cleaning, in fact. I’m going to send you to our new multiverse with Bondye and Taco.”
Joyce blinked at him. “I’m never leaving again. I missed out on a lot.”
Jay chuckled and patted the young girl on the head. “Well, if you do want to go out and explore, we’ll plan for that, too. You’re your own hero, okay?”
She nodded before tilting her head to the side. “Dad, you’re different.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not just tall… you’re more mature. And wiser. And old. Way, way old.” The cheeky girl smiled before throwing herself into a hug. “I like it.”
Once she peeled off. She shuffled slowly up to YoAnna, who she regarded as more of a [Goddess] than a Mother. “I’m sorry, I, uh–”
YoAnna reached over and gently hugged the girl. “I forgive you, my first of many.”
“Huh?” Jay and Joyce said at the same time.
Without explanation, YoAnna sent Joyce, Bondye, Taco, and Amanda back home, the latter waving goodbye before disappearing. With their exit, Jay felt like the immense weight on his shoulders was lifted. YoAnna was back at his side, entwining her fingers through his.
“There is a place,” YoAnna said. “It is reserved for my bloodline. And those we hold special. I found it while sitting on the throne.”
“What’s so special about this place?” Jay asked, curious.
YoAnna challenged the space between her and a mysterious location Jay’s Perception hadn’t noticed. They landed on an island in the middle of a bluish and starry corner of the cosmos. Salmon pink sand. Purple ocean waves. Large tropical trees covering the entire mountainside. It was all Primordial Quality, allowing YoAnna to exist without holding back.
YoAnna waved her hand and changed them both into comfortable beach-going clothing. Jay got some decent trunks. YoAnna’s bikini choice was eye-catching.
Was it him or had YoAnna gotten prettier lately? Their curse was gone. All of it. Nothing could hurt them anymore. It was more obvious with YoAnna. She was practically glowing with vigor and eagerness.
Jay’s head felt fuzzy and his heart was racing. Without a word, she stepped onto a trail winding through the tropical jungle, Jay following. There were high-quality fruits everywhere. All for the taking. They passed by crystal-clear water that contained soothing magic. This place was paradise. Pure, simple, primordial. No doubt, they were going to cut this entire place out of Multiverse Y and take it back to Z with them.
Their journey stopped beneath a comfy-looking treehouse cabin. Large enough to be a three story home. Jay could see it was filled with furniture and provisions. And a cooler already stocked with drinks that were waiting to be drunk for many years.
“It’s all preserved,” YoAnna explained. “And restocked after every visit.” YoAnna turned to him and grabbed his hand again. “Jay Luckrun, will you spend an evening with me getting more physically acquainted? At long last.”
Jay gawked at YoAnna’s forwardness. He shouldn’t be so surprised. YoAnna came from a long line of amazonian battle queens. She had acted aloof and above it all when this all started. But even she admitted to being at heart a simple barbaric woman with primal needs.
They had just finished fighting the ultimate war here. For YoAnna, it was time to cinch it all with a more intimate conquest.
“Don’t we have old Protectorates to find, Hell Circles to kill off, and Ultraverse lessons with Kleo?” Jay asked. “There’s a lot on our plate.”
“There is,” YoAnna said. “Yet, I can’t wait any longer. I’ve been wanting this… for a long time.”
YoAnna released him and went up into the tree house alone. Jay remained down below, staring up.
He’d gone through so much to be here. From being a bullied guy called Rooftop Weirdo to becoming the most powerful man in two multiverses. Now right above him was the woman who he’d sacrificed his sanity for. And in return, she sacrificed her complete vengeance for him. He could see her preparing the drinks for them. They were of high quality stuff. Primordial, in fact.
Jay looked down at the scar at his side, a gift reminding him of Killjoy. It could’ve been him here on the eve of a great celebration with YoAnna. Or it could’ve been any of the Jays. It made Jay Luckrun wonder why Jays existed to become Freak of Freaks and go ballistic against the System. Were they predisposed to become Demon Lords when one was needed to unite the multiverse against a common foe? Was Jay meant to be that great evil?
Did that all change because of YoAnna’s presence?
It wasn’t just Jay changing YoAnna’s fate. YoAnna changed his fate as well. They were supposed to be villains on their own separate journeys. United together, they both fought their way out of that trap to become a duo of heroes. The [Apocalypse Champion King] and the [Apocalypse Goddess Queen].
“And heroes deserve a happy ending for their hard work and perseverance,” Jay murmured.
Jay took the mundane ladder up into the tree house. Once he was through the hatch on the floor, he closed it behind him. When he looked up, YoAnna was already naked with drinks for her and him. There wasn’t much else that needed to be said. They finally had a much needed break in this chapter of their long and historic story.