Chapter 361: Parameters

25th April 2015, New York City

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

Wanda stayed when Selene betrayed me, and when I banished Rose she didn't even judge me for it. She was always grateful and helpful in my lows. And she saw that I was acting differently, speaking differently. I was so defeated after my conversation with Death, having let go of my defiance due to the inevitability of it all. I honestly had nothing. Every single hope I had was practically gone. Without Odin and the Celestials there with me, my chances had dropped astronomically, I was ready to fail, and to have Death and her fellow cosmic entities restart the timeline. But no more, I was going to take my place and fight with everything I can, not because of some higher beings, but because that's what I did. It was always my role, I realize that now, the woman who stops the monsters. I guess I could have it in me for one last one.

Suddenly, a voice appeared that no one but me could hear, a voice that made me stiffen when I recognized it. It was Entropy, "Morrigan, I know you can hear me. I was hoping to make this somewhat civil by having a little pre-battle meeting to put a few rules in place. Meet me in the place your daughter died in your hands. You have one hour."

I didn't know how long I was just frozen in place, but it felt like an eternity. Logically, I knew that the confrontation was coming to a close, but to have it proven to you in such a way was petrifying. A battle for the multiverse was commencing, a battle for my freedom in a way. If I somehow succeed and manage to do what Death says I'm destined to do, then whether I survive or not, I will be free.

There was more on the line than anything I have ever experienced before, and I wasn't ready. My plan was solid, but I needed more time to prepare and set everything up. I had to somehow delay the battle by at least a day or so. Hopefully, I would be able to wrangle something out of Entropy, especially since he's going out of his way to have rules. What was his angle exactly? He had every advantage. He had Thanos and his army at his disposal, he had the fucking Reality Stone, and the Mind Stone on him, which synergized with his actual abilities to a ridiculous degree. Hell, he even had the Necrosword, which was honestly, fucking broken.

Still, there had to be something missing, something that he needed to start the attack. Well, I might as well go meet with him. There isn't much I could do with an hour that he wouldn't easily foresee and plan for.

I teleport to my desired location and was met with the familiar sight of Bayville. Damn, I haven't been here in years, ever since my first encounter with Entropy, and my banishment to another universe. There was this odd feeling of nostalgia here. Well, it was towards my peaceful years here, when I taught in the high school that I could see in the distance. All I had to worry about was Wanda's rehabilitation, making sure that Jean didn't go all Dark Phoenix and destroy the planet, and make sure that Xavier and his little boy band didn't really fuck things up. I mostly stayed at home with Selene. We worked jobs, me as a teacher, and her as the CEO of my company. I got to relax slightly, in the few moments in my life I even had the illusion of freedom, and she got to deal with the little politics that she liked so much.

We were happy and when I looked back to my situation right now, I couldn't help but pity myself. Barely a decade ago, I had everything I could have ever wanted, but now, my wife had betrayed me, and I locked her up for it, my daughter is practically a stranger considering how much time we spent apart, and I understood that my freedom had never been anything more than some wishful thinking.

I slowly walked while reminiscing, remembering the time I scared the hell out of Fury and his minions when they came to confront me in my classroom, while Wanda and Jean watched secretly from the back. It was a funny memory. Things were so simple back then. There was no multiversal threats, no cosmic entities butting in every single choice I make. Hell, I was still human, in mind and in body, something that I couldn't claim to be anymore. For all the feelings that were assaulting me, there was this detachment to them, and while I wouldn't say that it wasn't useful to have a clear head, I hated it with all my heart, or at least what remained of it.

I froze the moment I arrived at the street where I saw the corrupted future version of Wanda, who killed herself in a foolish quest to save me from something inevitable. I didn't know if I was going to die or not, but it didn't really matter. The end result was what Death alluded my destiny to be, and they would restart the time loop with countless iterations just to achieve it.

After that second of hesitation at the memory of my daughter being erased from existence, I continue forward. I could sense Entropy's power envelop the entire street. Every single person on the street just walked away, and I could see the cosmic entity waving at me from a coffeeshop.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly walked towards him and sit down in front of him. A mind-controlled woman, probably one of the only remaining civilians on the whole street gave me a fake smile, and a blank look, while giving me a cup of tea.

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"Ah, Morrigan," Entropy spoke up.

"Entropy," I replied.

I took a sip of the tea. It wasn't that bad, all things considered, especially for one brewed in a random café. I stared blankly towards the man in front of me before losing my patience slightly, "Why are we here, Entropy?"

"Well, I believe we have a lot to talk about. This is our destined battle, one that would impact the very fabric of reality on a scale that has never been seen since the One Above All created the multiverse. Some pre-battle banter and insults are almost required at this point."

I raised an eyebrow at this, "Required, you say? We both know that for all our differences, the battle itself is not a personal affair. You wish to destroy the multiverse, and I wish to save it. There's no need for the usual insults that don't really mean much."

The cosmic entity actually burst into laughter, "That's right, there isn't, is there? But you have a point, for all our differences, this has never been personal from either side. I want to achieve my goal and you want to stop me, which is why I'm proposing a few ground rules that would benefit us both."

Well, he had my attention now, "what do you mean by ground rules?"

"As you probably guessed, I want to use Thanos' snap to spread my essence when the dimensional borders are weakened. And you want to have an actual chance against me. So, here's the deal, I am willing to make our confrontation an actual duel, in a location of your choosing, and in exchange, neither of us will use our infinity stones. They will be outside of our duel. You will give yours to a mortal, or do with it whatever you want, but the stones can't be in the duel. I will give mine to Thanos. That's an even fight, don't you think? You and your little team against me, while humanity fights against the Mad Titan."

I was flabbergasted by the offer, to be perfectly honest. I didn't really know what to do about it. Giving away the stones makes it easier for Thanos to collect them, but if I do accept this offer, both Entropy of myself would lose enough power for my team to make a better difference, giving me a better chance at defeating him. However, I voiced the biggest question that was on my mind, "Why? Why go through all this trouble, for this?"

"Can't I just be generous about it?"

"No," I replied, "that's not it, is it? You could simply beat me, take the infinity stones, and give them to Thanos later to do his treasured snap. Except, you can't, can you? You're stuck and you know it. It's the universal lock, you just realized how close to it you are. We didn't know exactly when it would fall but I can sense now that it's in a few days and you don't have the time to do this without some huge risk. With the stones, there's a chance that we'll end up in a stalemate at best, and you can't risk that. You ran out of time to whittle down my strength for the stones. Your plan has to happen in the exact moment the dimensional walls are down, a second later and the rest of the cosmic council would interfere."

The man was gritting his teeth now, "They can't interfere, since I made myself as mortal as possible to escape their silly little restrictions. But I don't want to take the risk."

Entropy stayed silent for a moment before continuing, "The deal I am offering you is a generous one and you know it. I'm giving you an increased chance at victory. I'm giving you a chance of not just delaying the inevitable and waiting for my siblings, the cosmic entities, to deal with their mess. Your little team, the Phoenix Force Avatar, Dream's champion, the half-Celestial can have a better chance at making an impact in our fight. They were cannon fodder before, now, they stand a chance at doing something other than delaying me at best, and inconveniencing me at worst. And well, with your wife not around to help, you did lose one of your strongest fighters."

I suppressed the urge to growl at the infuriating man. I needed to stay calm and not make rash decisions. I needed something clearer, and more concrete to make the choice. For the first time in a while, I opened up my Death Sight and took a look at Entropy. He had gotten more powerful, but that didn't really matter to my plan. I used my plan as a scenario and saw where it would have gotten me. It was odd, in a way, cosmic entities weren't really alive as much as just existed, but I could see that Entropy had mutated in a horrific way that mimicked a living being. Had he done it to escape the other Entities' sight? I didn't know, but that gave me enough to create a model using my Death Sight, and see what would happen if I implemented my plan with and without the infinity stone. Which one had the better chance at killing him?

I couldn't really see the futures since it would have overwhelmed my brain with possibilities and the universe was still time locked. It wasn't even future sight; it was more like modeling a possibility based on existing data. Something that I never really did before, but it worked well with my Death Sight.

Surprisingly, the chances of killing Entropy without the stones were astronomically higher. Taking him by surprise was a lot easier when he didn't have access to the stones, and that was critical.

Choosing not to rise to his bait, I simply nod, "You have a deal. We will have a duel, you and only yourself against me and my team. When the duel officially begins, no other participants will be involved. We will fight in an empty dimension, devoid of life, to not risk any casualties. The fight will be tomorrow, in exactly 24 hours. You will not allow Thanos to attack the planet before then. That is my final offer."

The cosmic entity, "I agree to these terms, may my very existence be bound to my words."

I responded, "And may mine be bound by my words. A pact is sealed, and a deal is made. I will see you on the battlefield, Entropy."

I teleported away. I had a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it all. Firstly, I needed to get to Avalon. I could tell with my Death Vision that my chances of success were higher if I visit my wife first. I was already dreading this conversation.

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