Chapter 315: Rematch

13th May 2013, Svartalfheim

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

Slowly, Odin gathered himself and stood up on his own, "This is a momentous day for all of us. Asgard is free, we are all free, in this life and the next, we will remain free. And for that, Morrigan, you have the eternal gratitude and allegiance of Asgard for this lifetime and any future other. We will forever be in your debt."

I gave him a warm smile, "I was not the one who came up with the plan. Your son did, I just executed it."

"It doesn't matter who came up with it, what's important is the outcome. And you have fulfilled your side of the bargain. It's only right that I do the same."

Before he could do anything, he was stabbed in the heart from the back, with a black sword that seemed to swallow the night itself. Odin froze in disbelief at the attack and fell as the hidden attacker revealed himself.

I snarled the moment I recognized the man. How could I not; he was my worst enemy, after all, "Entropy!"

The cosmic entity gave me a malicious smile, "Well hello there, Morrigan. Did you miss me?"

He looked slightly different than he used to be. He still wore this black suit, he was still so pale that I would have mistaken him for a vampire, and he still had the obnoxious smug smile on his face that showed how superior he thinks he is compared to us. To be fair, he was, by definition, more than we could ever be. After all, he's a multiversal cosmic being that is the living embodiment of one of the most powerful concepts that have ever existed.

What was different though, was his nature. His body was far more natural, more stable for the lack of a better word. When we had fought, he was leaking power everywhere, obviously not used to the fact of having an avatar that exists and perceives only three dimensions with a linear perspective of time. He obviously looked more in control of his aura, probably from years of experience reining himself in.

Thor ran towards his father who I seriously didn't know if he was still alive. Technically, Asgardians, especially the All-father, could survive such wounds if they are treated correctly, but I wouldn't hold my breath. This was Entropy, a cosmic entity of all things, an endless being of power who is only constrained by his mortal form. If he wanted Odin dead, he would be dead.

Immediately, I created a convergence portal underneath the king to the healing chambers in Asgard. It was the best I could do considering who I will have to face. I telekinetically pulled Thor back to stop him from acting foolishly and attacking my opponent. No, he was currently Asgard's heir, and with how unknown Odin's situation is, he needed to stay alive to have any hopes of keeping the nine realms' stability.

What did make me freeze was the sword in his hand. It felt like death, like the end. It was powerful, absurdly so. And even worse was the glowing yellow gem in the pommel. It was a familiar sight, one that I hoped would never see again. This was the mind stone, the infinity gem that I have given Arishem the Judge, a fucking celestial. This did not bode well for any of us.

Seeing my eyes widen, the cosmic entity smirked, "I see that you admire my sword. The Necrosword, the first one at the very least. I dug it up from Klyntar myself. I have to say that I rarely even notice mortal inventions, but I will admit that Knull created a masterpiece while forging that sword. A shard of Death, of the End, forged into a weapon capable of slaying all that it touches."

I did my best not to stiffen. I have heard about the Necrosword, the weapon capable of killing practically anything alive. Rumors say that even Galactus himself could die at the hand of that sword, and now it was in my enemy's hands. Hela had used it as an inspiration for her attacks by using conjuration and adding an essence of her affinity over darkness into the objects to act as a curse. But this was the real deal, and it was far more powerful than anything Hela could create in a thousand Asgardian lifetimes.

But what unsettled me the most was the infinity stone that it contained. The sword could handle the stone without problem, but Arishem would not have let it go without a fight.

I needed to know what happened, because as everything was crumbling around, I probably lost another ally, "How did you get the mind stone?"

He burst into laughter, "Oh, celestials like to think they're the strongest beings on the planet, that they cannot die at the hands of any other beings. I proved them wrong. After all, I only needed to test out my new sword. And how kind of you to get them to gather in a single place to argue about what to do. It didn't take long for me to take the stone from their rotting corpses. I have to say, genocide was a lot more fun, and took a lot less effort than I expected."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I growled at him, and he smiled at me, "Oh, come on. You tried to cheat by getting their help. This is between you and me, honey, and I will watch as everything you build crumble, as your hopes and dreams burn, until you finally give up."

"The last time we fought, you ended up frozen in time, and that's when you had as many advantages you could have had; an environment of your choosing, and the element of surprise," I answered back at him, "Even then, it not the first time we have clashed from your perspective. You could not live with your failure, that you were defeated by a mere mortal. So, like a coward, you came back in time to redo it. If that doesn't speak of your competence, nothing will."

He frowned at me, probably not expecting the answer, "I am still a cosmic entity, and you are barely more than a washed-up avatar of one. You tricked me, and took me by surprise the last time, something that will not happen again anytime soon."

No, something wasn't right in this, "No, you're not here for me. You didn't expect me to be here anyway. You're here because of the beacon created by the space stone during Odin's attack. You're here for the stones, not for me. You probably didn't even care about the celestials; you tracked down the stone's signature and killed them after figuring out that I had asked for their assistance in dealing with you."

The cosmic entity frowned for a second before putting a fake smile on his face, "You're correct. I forgot how clever you could be, Morrigan. And what a fortunate idea to find not one but two infinity stones in a single trip."

"You will not have them?"

The man let out a sinister laugh, "How will you stop me exactly, especially when you'll be too busy fighting them."

Before I could voice my confusion, I felt Thor try to send a bolt of lightning at me, which I redirected back. Damn, he's used the mind stone to control whatever was left of Asgard's soldiers. I dodged a thunder punch by Thor and attempted to retaliate, only for me to dodge another one of Hela's banished swords. Shit, wasn't she supposed to be knocked out and bound? I stopped thinking about it and watched as the entirety of the army charged against me.

Sighing, I gathered a large amount of psionic energy into my hands and pressed it to the ground. Immediately, a giant telekinetic and telepathic attack coursed through the entire battlefield, and all of the soldiers and knocked them unconscious. The only two who seemed to have somewhat stayed away was Thor who was resistant to telepathic attacks thanks to the original Mjolnir, although it seems that it wasn't enough to circumvent the mind stone. I teleported next to Hela and knocked her out as well.

I looked around for my enemy, only for my face to pale as he was grabbing the artifact containing the Aether and destroying it with his sword, which started absorbing the reality stone. It didn't take long for a red stone to appear on the sword's hilt. That was one down, and another one to go. The reality stone might be lost, but I still could deal with the space stone.

I telekinetically grabbed the shards of the Odinsword and summoned them to me. Entropy's eyes widened as he realized that it took me very little time to dispose of his mind-controlled army.

I grabbed the Odinsword and started shaping the very properties of the Uru metal. It was a skill of genuine molecular manipulation that I gained when I performed the ritual for a cosmic core. It was just natural to shape matter like clay, and I barely fought before doing the same. The Odinsword had broken, but it was not lost. Its identity as the strongest weapon in Asgard's history, as a channel of the immense power of the space stone, remained. I could still feel the remnants of the phoenix flames of destruction and rebirth in the metal, and it welcomed me as its master. In what felt like hours but was probably seconds, the sword shards in my hands had turned into a staff with the space stone at the top of it.

It wasn't the best I could have done, and I would probably need to make a few adjustments afterwards, but it will do for now. I tapped my staff on the ground and the space stone glowed. Thousands of portals opened underneath every single living soldier to Asgard. Even the bound Hela was sent to the dungeons.

I have to say, I can see why people would seek the stones so. The power they granted felt infinite. The stones' name was justified in that.

I smirked at the slack jawed expression on Entropy's face, "You're different…"

I frowned at his answer not understanding what he was getting at, "Yes, I am."

"No, you don't understand. You're not supposed to be like this, to have this control or power. Shaping Uru like that is not something that you could do. Even the stone, the way you use it is too precise, too controlled. What have you done, Morrigan?"

For the first time, Entropy looked slightly wary of me. Did I not perform the ritual for a cosmic core in the former timeline? Again, I didn't see how that was relevant to the current situation and grinned at my opponent, "You're not leaving with that stone, Entropy."

Seeing my challenge, he nodded resolutely, "Then come take it from me. Our last confrontation ended in a stalemate, and I believe I am due a rematch."

I channelled my Death Sight and saw the battlefield ahead. I was still slightly wary of the use of my death powers. I remembered how much I changed the last time I used it, but this was a desperate time. As expected, I saw nothing when I looked at him. I couldn't kill him, after all, he's an avatar of energy with the cosmic entity's consciousness, not the entity. Not that I would be able to kill a cosmic entity anyway. They were concepts given consciousness and form. They were not alive in the broad definition of the term.

I still remembered the main weaknesses that the Entropy avatar had. The first weakness was that he was a creature of pure energy, should I drain it somehow, it should kill him and leave the actual entity outside of the universe to be dealt with by his peers. There was also the fact that he was bound by a linear perspective of time. I could trap him in a time loop like I did the last time, but he would see such an attack coming.

Slowly, a plan came into mind, and I looked at using my Death vision to approve its viability. When I got the result, I grinned. He did play with me last time and it's time to make him pay for it. The game is on.

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