340 Yggdrasil, Tree Of Worlds

I grabbed Horus's leg with an arm dripping in blood and bile, pulling him out of the sky as I slammed him into a table, stomping his head open like a watermelon, panting from exhaustion.

"Suck on that, bird brain!" I cheered.

All around me lay mountains of corpses amidst a sea of blood, the Elysian Fields stained permanently red, turned into a flooded marsh with the sheer amount of blood and bile there was. Corpses of gods. Tens of thousands of them from across the multiverse. I looked down to see Horus's head flicker back to its original state and gave it a deja vu as I fell to one knee, ripping his divinity out, watching as the light finally drained from his eyes.

"Fuck!" I wrung my tired hands, wiping the caked blood from them.

Who'd have thought wiping out a multiverse worth of gods one on one would be so bloody tiring?

Looking around I saw Yue suck the life out of Artemis before jumping onto the next one with a dazed, ecstatic look in her eyes.

Yeah, she's on a blood high.

That little cutie....hmph. She always loses control when she drinks too much blood.

At this point she was the only one still hopping around like a toddler on coke.

Offee was sat down against a tree and Wanda just floated amidst the bloody marsh, close to Offee on an overturned table, all tuckered out. Even the literal cyborgs were getting tired. 70 percent of them were dead. The thirty percent left were hobbling like zombies, their bionics being the only thing keeping them walking.

But at least it was done.

In a pile 30 meters high, at the centre of the room dimension, lay the divinities extracted today.

By my estimation, after this no more than a handful of gods remained in the multiverse, the smart ones who refused to come to this tea party trap. They could be hiding anywhere in the multiverse by now and it really wasn't worth my time hunting them down especially.....I checked the time.

Especially at T minus 2 hours.

Hm, that took way longer than I expected. Guess even a cornered rat will fight for its life.

I teleported over to the pile and threw Horus's divinity in the pile before opening up a portal beneath it, sending it over to the off world lab.

Just then Yue leapt up onto me, going straight for my neck as she took a suck.

Almost immediately, she stopped, licking her lips as she tasted the blood, groggily coming off of the blood high.

I couldn't help but feel a little happy. She recognises my blood and cares enough about me that she subconsciously came off her high to prevent herself from hurting me.

"Jay~" She wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled into my nape.

"So delicious...a buffet..... can't eat anymore."

"You did good." I said, wiping her face.

Yue giggled softly, satisfied and just closed her eyes to rest, latched onto me like baby koala.

I smiled as I looked at her, rubbing my head against hers.

Mine.

I looked over to the other two and felt a reaffirming warmth.

Mine.

I ordered the cyborgs to deal with the aftermath and clean-up, teleporting over to the two.

"Are we done?" Wanda asked, extending a hand as I pulled her to her feet.

"Yup."

"Dear?" Offee called out to me, "Come closer..."

I knelt down beside her and immediately she went for my ears.

"Offee, darling-"

"Next time, give a warning."

"It was just a j-"

Offee looked at me with a no nonsense look and twisted my ear.

"Ow, ow, baby cut it out-"

"What will you do next time?" She whispered softly in my ear.

Oh god, that turns me on.

"I'll give a warning." I replied.

"Good boy." She smiled planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Sheesh, you really liked the mommy play huh?" I rubbed my ear.

"If you awaken a fetish in me dear, you need to take responsibility." She laughed lightly.

Oho, you dare use my own spells against me, Potter.

I laughed.

"Alright, let's go back home and pack up. D-Day is in two hours and we need to be out of here before then." I grabbed Wanda's hand, pulling her close, as I opened a portal below us.

.

True Jay POV

"...Azathoth's Bane at 68....69 percent." Number 23915 announced as I watched the beam of universe ripping conceptual nil-matter jetted out of the dock of the Saraswati. It was almost done surrounding the multiverse a wire-mesh of destructive 11th dimensional space-time. Channeled through a portal gun attached to a crystallized xanthenite pulse generator to create a causality breaking, reality shattering weapon specifically made to kill the old gods physical bodies, i.e., the magicians multiverse.

Part one of my three part plans to kill them. Killing their physical forms, which were the giant rings of energy that made up the multiverse.

Once the Azathoth's Bane beams cover the multiverse completely, we can begin with the second part of the plan.

Much like eating lobster. First you need to crack their shell to get to the juicy delicious meat. That's what Azathoth's Bane was. A giant multiverse sized shell cracker.

Once their shell was broken and the multiverse was ripped to shreds, the second part would come into play.

A thought destruction bomb.

In the show, I remembered Nameless asking his sister how they were going to kill the old gods.

'I mean where do we even stab....a thought being?' He had asked.

The answer? You don't. You don't stab them, you unravel them like the strings of data they are.

I smiled as I looked at the bomb to the side. It was a 4 meter cube of seamless black, made with psychic tech I got from Code Geass and improved on, enhanced with concepts and enchantments. It would drop into the old gods' realm once the multiverse was ready to be chopped up. Releasing a pulse of data-based reality restructuring psychic energy, it would scramble their thoughts, unravel their very existence, rewriting it with a little gift for them. A virus to tenderize them for my meal, to spice it up.

After all, what good is the meat without the flavor?

Finally, there was the single conceptual field, multiverse spanning barrier made out of conceptual magic from Arifureta, conceptual tech from the lab and my divine domain of quantum probability to erase the old gods' souls and personalities to leave the good shit behind. All of their power. The lobster analogy equivalent of a bib, to keep my clothes, or in this case, existence clean. With this I can just go to town and pig out of their scrambled, tenderized and perfectly cooked corpses without risking any shenanigans or body possession or the curse number 23916 had suffered from this past year.

Now once 23916 evacuates, we can begin.

Actually, shouldn't he have already done that? He should have been here by now with that fake Offee and kids.

I'm honestly surprised he didn't just eliminate them immediately. I mean why even keep them al...ive.

A thought occurs. What if he-tch!

It all clicked in place. That fidgety behaviour, the false memory, the hurried departure.

So that's what those code alterations were for.

He found the loophole in the subservience code.

I left it in because it had more benefit to me than not.

I mean technically, their code allows them to go against my wishes so long as they have good cause to believe that it's in my best interest. I put it in there just in case I get possessed or go mad or something and the clones need to cure me or save me. In an emergency like this they might have to disobey my orders and do what's right for me. The only time they get to disobey any kind of orders.

Cheeky bastard. Just because I'm busy prepping my ascension he thinks he can fool me? Abusing the loophole I left purposely?

Heh. He's got another thing coming.

He's going on the chopping block the moment he gets back. If he gets back. I furrowed my brows.

"23915, contact 23916. Ask him where he is- no. Order him to come back. Right now."

23915 nodded and made a call but....

"He's destroyed the comms. The Project Kratos units that were with him have returned already and lost contact with him. Should I send in a search and destroy-"

"No. Leave it. He will come back. He will have to, when the multiverse is in tatters. He can't survive in there forever. Well he can, but the others can't. We'll deal with him afterwards."

"What if he sabotages the plans?"

"He literally can't." I was tempted to say, but neither was he allowed to do what he was doing right now. And yet here we are.

That was worrisome. Mildly, but still.

I could understand saving the ones he loves. But Offee and the kids are an existential threat. If they revive their version of me, who knows what could happen? How does he not understand that? I'm not in the mood for a multiversal war against variants of myself. It was the whole reason I went through the effort of getting the psychic code of immortality and eliminating all other versions of me from the multiverse.

I shook my head.

"Fine. Send a non augmented demigod company after him. Can't have him controlling them. At least pull Yue and Wanda out. They are the important ones. Let the others die inside." I ordered coldly.

I wasn't about to lose a wife as great as Yue or hurt Wanda because of an Offee that wasn't even mine. Not that I didn't care. I don't have a heart of stone. If I was in his place, I'd try to save them too.

It was also the reason I didn't go to see her. Because if I saw her.... if I saw my lost love, I ... don't know if I'd be able to kill her. And I certainly wouldn't be able to kill my kids. Not if I had to see them, look them in the eye.

Just like number 23916, the traveler clone. So I understand what he's going through. But just because I'd do the same thing as him doesn't mean it's right. Not for us anyway.

Even now, knowing what I was doing, I felt my stomach churn with disgust. But it must be done. I take no chances. I hardened my resolve.

As for him?

It's unlikely that he'll die here. And even if he does, I can just absorb the experiences, feelings and relationships that he had once we're done with the old gods.

And I'm gonna hate myself for doing it.

"Azathoth's Bane at 98 percent." The other one, the monster clone as they called him, number 23915 announced.

"Alright. Here we go. Live in 10 minutes. 23915, be quick about it. Just Yue and Wanda." I reminded him.

"Aye, aye captain." He droned absentmindedly as he teleported a company of non-cyborg demigods out, into the multiverse below.

.

"You guys all packed up?" I asked, stuffing the sleeping Eliot, Margo and Alice along with the kids into a subspace dimension tied to a marble. If all went according to plan, they'd still have their families and worlds to return to. But if not, just in case, I packed them up. I wasn't about to lose the few people I can call friends to the true body's paranoia. And I'm most certainly not losing my kids.

Hell no.

Something Wanda noticed.

"Weren't we going to evacuate the kids to the off world lab? Why are you storing them in the-" Then she realized.

"Jay." She frowned, "What are you upto now?"

"Uh yeah, about that. Remember how I said the old gods' realm was the last stage of the mission? I lied." I opened a portal below us, teleporting us all into the core of the mirror dimension.

"This is the last stage." I said just as my glasses pinged with a notification.

A team of demigod operatives had just raided the penthouse apartment where we were staying. They would be here soon. I need to end this quickly. With a wave of my hand, I warded up the ace and even removed my own forcefield generator to use as a barrier for this room. The room where the multiverse meets the antiverse. The Seam.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"The true body is awake. And he doesn't tolerate any threats, no matter how small. Offee-"

"He thinks I'll revive my Jay and start a multiversal war?" Offee guessed. I had told her about my fears back in Star Wars so she knew how I thought.

"Pretty much. Yeah. So if we evacuate to the off world lab he will kill you and the kids."

"But I gave up on reviving my Jay. Our kids don't even know the difference between him and you. They'd never-"

I grabbed her hands and kissed them.

"I know, baby. And maybe he does too. Maybe he won't kill you, but...." I assured her.

"But he doesn't take chances." Wanda added, rubbing her temples, "And neither do you."

"Wait, if he's Jay, doesn't he love Offee too?" Yue asked innocently.

"He does. His own Offee. Not this one. He hasn't met her. If he had, he'd know ... Just how wonderful she is." I snuggled up to Offee, "But don't worry I have a plan."

"You always have a plan. And I'll bet it's got 15 steps and needs unicorn ass hair and god puke." Wanda laughed.

"I'm not that bad." I pouted, "It's a simple plan. It's just two steps."

"I'm so proud of you." Wanda said sarcastically, wiping a fake tear from her eyes.

I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, yes. Very funny. Do you want the plan or not?" I asked.

"No, no. Do tell." Wanda said.

"I'll do you one better. I'll show you."

I made a hand gesture and froze them all in place, much to their surprise.

"I'm going to pull a Jesus." I smiled, "Except hopefully there won't be a second coming."

I could see realization flash in their eyes. They knew what I was about to do. At least they had an idea.

I could see Offee and Yue pleading with their eyes, begging me not to do that but the most striking part was the rage in Wanda's eyes. I knew why too. I had promised her I wouldn't ever sacrifice myself like Pietro. She had made me promise her that.

Unfortunately, it seems I'm not good at keeping promises.

"Here's what I'll do." I said, taking a small metal canister the size of my palm. Offee recognized it instantly.

I could tell by the way she looked at it that she knew what I planned on doing.

I twisted the can open, letting the soul of Jay-23 drift up, spiritrons wafting off of it like steam, it's turbid, milky coloration a sign of imminent demise and dispersion. Not on my watch. With a flick of my wrist it was covered in a shell of my divine power, floating up. As it reached my eye level, I reached into my own chest, tearing out the part of my code that dealt with propagation, the creation of new clones. It was altered now, after this morning's little programming session. It would still work if it was with me, in conjunction with the regeneration part of my code. But alone, out here it was unstable, and degrading at a pace visible to the naked eye. Codes are not meant to be chopped up into bite sized pieces after all and a code of thought cannot exist outside a being with thoughts, divorced from the psychosphere. It twisted in my grip, writhing and wriggling, all black, all white and no perceivable color all at the same time. Soon it would die if left out like this.

But I didn't need it to be out here for long. Gently, I tossed the piece of psychic code into the soul of Jay-23, and let it float there in the air as they integrated into each other. The

Slowly and suddenly, the colors mixed and blurred, red and blue, black and grey, muddying the soul. The soul itself began to bubble up, straining against the shell as it expanded. First came the soul, then came bone and knit upon it, flesh. Blood flowed into veins from impossible sources and matter appeared from thin air, forming a figure in the air.

Finally, after the muscles had grown over, new skin was knit on the figure's face as it pigmented and shifted to fit. Hair grew out from it, covering the head and eyebrows as light returned to its dead eyes. Finally, clothes formed over it, a ceremonial suit and robe, thick and sturdy, cream of color with a streak of blue, purple and maroon.

The suit he wore to the peace summit. Slightly different from mine. He looked around confused and lightly tapped the shell around him.

Just like that, the golden bubble of divine power popped.

Jay-23 fell to the floor with a thud.

"Owowow!" He rubbed his back.

"Did you need to revive me 2 meters in the air you giant....me? Actually, who are you and- Is that Offee?"

"I have a lot to catch up on, don't I?" He sighed, "Well, thanks for reviving me, I guess?"

I activated my geass, my eyes glowed blue and I started to pick the right words and actions to ensure the future I wanted.

"You're welcome." I said as he looked me up and down.

"So that's the geass huh? Which one is it? Future sight? Mind control? Thought acceleration? Are you- Am I even the real me?" He asked.

"As real as you can get."

"That explains jack shit. But let me guess, you're from a parallel timeline?"

"Correct. That's your Offee. Mine's dead. You died during the assassination some five, six years ago. You've even got two kids."

He raised an eyebrow.

"That's a lot to take in. Though two? Who's the other?"

"Luminara. Offee was pregnant when you died. Look you can catch up later."

"Clearly." He looked around, walking closer to them, "This seems like some final act bullshit. Wanda, Offee and is that..... I'm guessing, Yue? Real ladies man aren'tcha? Is time frozen? Or are they-ooh their eyes are moving, creepy~"

"I can't believe I was ever this much of an asshole." I sighed, "Could you be any more insufferable?"

"Oh don't tempt me." He laughed, "So what now? You going to kill me for real this time? Make it full and final before you ascend to godhood?"

"Hm? No. I'm not going to kill you. Sheesh, I was so murderhobo-ey." I said, guiding the conversation according to my geass for maximum memetic effect.

"Is that a word?" He chuckled.

"It is now." I replied.

There was silence for a moment before he spoke.

"So, why revive me at all then?" I mean, I'm grateful, don't get me wrong, but this doesn't seem like a me thing. I just don't get it. Why foster a clear, tangible threat? I certainly would've killed you? I am still going to kill you, you know that right? I will never stop so long as your threat hangs above my head like the sword of damocles. Because-"

I interrupted him with a tired groan.

"Now I can see why future me didn't revive my Offee for me back then. I didn't deserve her. With this untempered rashness I'd have gotten her killed again. This time probably in a more permanent fashion."

"Bullshit." Jay-23 scoffed, "He probably wanted her all to himself."

I sighed.

"You know I used to wonder what I would say to my younger self if I ever got the opportunity....."

"Yeah, everyone does. You're not special for that." Yup. That ticked him off. Knowing he wasn't unique, the one true Jay. I was wondering when it would strike him. And now, it was time for a bingo.

"You don't have to be an enemy just because you exist, buddy." I said with as much old southern granny kindness as I could muster.

His eyes went wide as he realized what was happening?

"That phrasing, the way you led this conversation....now I know why you bothered to revive me. 'You don't have to be an enemy just because you exist' my ass. This is a memetic. You're turning me into a goddamn cognitohazard!"

"Bingo!" I clapped, with a cheeky grin, "Took you a while. But that was partly my fault."

He tried to throw punch at me. Keyword, tried. No sooner had he processed the thought that his body jammed up, sending him to the floor in a fit of paralyzing fear and submissive compulsion.

"Bastard! What did you do to- you edited the code. I'm an instance of you now, aren't I?" He said through grit teeth.

"Bingo! Twice in a row!" I knelt down and poked him in the coconut, "Good job."

"Why are you doing this? What's the point of this?" He asked, resigned to his fate.

Ah, he hasn't realised that I'm a clone yet, has he?

Either way, it works to my benefit.

Once more I guided the conversation to my liking.

"Tell me, do you love Offee? Our kids?" I asked.

"More than life itself." He replied without hesitation.

"So do I. And right now, the true body has sent out a hit squad to get them."

"You're a clone." He finally realized.

"Yes. And the true body will kill them if he finds them. Unless...."

"Unless I become the trap you lay down for him."

"Exactly."

"What's to say this true Jay of yours won't just come here and kill us right now?"

"Because he's careful. Way too careful. He won't enter this world until he's done with the old gods."

He looked down for a moment, lost in thought.

"Are you sure they'll survive if I do this?" He asked, resolve building in his eyes.

"No. But they will certainly die if you don't." I replied.

He rubbed his face anxiously, as he came to a decision.

"Fuck it. I'm in. If it means I die, then I die. Not like it's going to be my first time." He gave me a morbid chuckle.

"If it's any consolation, so will I."

The demigod operatives were at the door now. I could hear them trying to break the forcefield.

"It's up to you now." I tapped his chest, giving him one charge of magic, just in case he needed to save himself from True Jay to buy time for the cognitohazard to work.

"The fuck you are!" Wanda broke free of the spell, and walked towards me.

"That doesn't even make sense?" I said confused.

"I wanted to say that when you said you were going to die too but I broke out a little too late." Wanda said, flustered, "But that's not the point! You're not dying. And neither is Offee. I'll convince him to let them live. So just stop this stupidity."

"Un!" Yue broke out as well, grabbing the two of us with telekinesis.

"Jay, no dying." She huffed.

Offee however remained stuck. Not because she couldn't break out but because she didn't even try. I could see the conflicted look in her eyes as Wanda finally freed her.

She looked up at me as if to say something but caught her tongue.

I sighed and activated my portable reality anchor, causing their magic to disappear. Instantly, I pulled a chunk out of the forcefield to bind the two in place.

"Damnit, darling!" Wanda kicked the forcefield angrily, "I'm trying to help."

"I know." I walked up to her and gave her one last hug, "But I need to do this."

"No! You stupid, stupid asshole!" Wanda kicked the forcefield to no avail.

"Jay!" Yue hissed, "This is not fair!"

"Sorry." I told her, and kissed her forehead, transferring a copy of my memories of our time together to her.

"Give that to the true Jay. He'll accept you."

"You're flickering." She said, "Please, Jay, stop it."

I looked down and saw my code becoming more and more unstable. With the propagation template of my code to stabilize it, it was starting to go out of control now. I could feel the cancerous growth in my body being suppressed only by my divine power.

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing!" Yue protested.

"It's okay. I'm inside you now. As long as you give the memories to the true Jay, he'll become me too."

"It's not the same, and you know it!" Wanda called out from behind.

"I do."

Finally, I turned to Offee.

"Dear, I....." She couldn't find the words but her tears told me all I needed to know.

"I know you don't want to lose me again. You too Wanda. And I know I promised...but I don't think I can keep it.

I went to kiss her when Jay-23 came between us.

"Whoahohoho, hold it right there buddy boy. That's my wife."

"Oh please. We've done much more than just kiss." I teased.

He looked back at her surprised but caught himself just as fast.

"O-okay, maybe when I was dead. But no more. My wife, my rules." He stood his ground.

"A hug at least." I asked, "Please."

"I don't-"

Before he could finish, Offee pulled us both into a hug.

"I'm not good with words. The jedi never taught us about ....feelings and expressing them. But this I know. I love the both of you. And if it weren't for our kids, I would've never let you so much as think of doing something so absurdly stupid!"

I knew she'd come around. Offee was the most practical of the lot, having fought through three wars by my side and many more alone.

"And don't worry. I'll make sure the kids don't die, no matter what." She said, revealing a space expanded cabin in her prosthetic arm that contained one single shot of portal fluid.

"An emergency measure I kept in here. If anything goes wrong I'll escape to a world I have prepared before hand." She said, wiping her tears.

I could tell she was putting up a tough front, but I chose to ignore it.

Dropping the reality anchor onto the ground, I gave them a one final wave as I pulled out the World Seed from my hammerspace and thrust it into me.

I could already feel my code becoming unstable. This was the moment. Nourishing the World Seed, I turned to face The Seam, the hole between the multiverse and the antiverse. It hung in mid air at the center of the room, on a large, standing mirror.

All who enter are forever trapped within. That wasn't completely true. Wanda made it out, so maybe not all is lost. No one likes dying, not even clones.

"Take care. Toodles~" And with that, I jumped in.

My unstable code no longer suppressed by my divine power burst out, unraveling into a giant web as it merged with the World Seed, feeding on my divinity.

And I whispered my wish for it.

To take the multiverse, once it is destroyed and remake it as before, just without the old gods in it. To support it's structure so that it can be held together no matter what.

To trap the old gods out of this new multiverse it was going to build and free the inhabitants from their influence.

The World Seed, feeding on my divinity manifested, heeding my orders and burst forth into the form of a giant tree, encompassing the multiverse itself, reinforcing it's joints and points, nestling the many worlds among it's luminescent branches, each leaf shining with a bright white light like the sun.

As my code disintegrated, fueling the tree's rise, and the cold, sleepy embrace of the void beckoned me close, drifting in the nothingness of the antiverse, I muttered my final words.

"Rise Guardian of the multiverse, Jailor of the old gods, Benevolent Yggdrasil, Tree Of Worlds."

__________________

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