Selfish

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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4th October 2012, Hogsmeade

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

I shook my head, "No, I'm planning on using a few mortals to help me fight."

For some reason, the cosmic entity looked dismissive of my concerns. Did he not understand what a cosmic entity even was? Did he not understand how difficult fighting against a principal aspect of the multiverse is probably going to be?

"I'm sorry we couldn't come to an agreement." I heard him mumble.

I took a good look on his face, and he genuinely looked saddened by the fact, "I'm sorry, but the Expansion is my purpose. I cannot shy from it. I will complete it even if I have to force your collaboration."

The celestial's eyes glowed with power, and he looked ready to attack me. Well, fuck it, it seems that I'll have to fight a fucking celestial of all things. Why do these things always happen to me?

Ego's energy projection flew at me and grabbed me with it. He continued to fly upwards holding me in his hands, pretty much destroying the Three Broomsticks, waking up the wizards and witches that the celestial had knocked out with his presence alone.

To avoid any casualties, I chose to let him fly with me and as soon as we were airborne, I let out a wave of darkness around me. The darkness destroyed a part of the projection, revealing the inhuman blue light that made up my opponent.

This didn't seem to bother the celestial much since he reformed a few seconds later, but I had cut off the arms that were holding me, freeing me from his grasp.

I chose to conjure a small floating platform for me to stand on. It took me a lot less concentration to move a physical object using my telekinesis than it takes me to physically fly. And considering that the fight ahead of me will probably require a lot of concentration, it's preferable this way.

Ego, on the other hand didn't seem threatened by my powers, if anything, he seemed elated, "So, you figured out how to use my light as well. I will admit that you are impressive, to do this while you've had my powers for less than a year. I will admit that it took me thousands if not millions of years to be this proficient."

I did not correct him by telling him about my magic, or my true age which would explain a lot. Instead, I tried to admonish him, "Ego, this is your last chance. If you wish to refuse my offer, then leave the planet in peace. Should you not accept, then I will have no choice but to destroy you."

It was a bit tacky to be honest, but it sent the message. I watched as the wizarding population were gaping at the two of us, and who wouldn't? Magical unaided flight was deemed impossible to many of them for centuries.

The celestial on the other hand, burst into laughter, "You think that just because you know a few tricks, you have a chance of beating me? I came into existence before your little race was no better than apes, and you expect to have a chance against me?"

I shrugged, "Perhaps it is foolish to challenge someone of your power, but I believe that I could achieve more in a lifetime than you have in your entire existence. Earth is my home, celestial, and I have protected it from gods and men alike, and I will continue to defend it against you, Ego."

"Admirable, I suppose. It's a shame that you didn't join me. We could have made a formidable team."

"And yet, with a threat against all of creation, all of time and space, all of life and death, you didn't seem worried or even fazed."

He shrugged, "I will deal with it when it arises."

I sighed in disappointment. Ego would have made such an ally, and yet he chose to ignore a veritable threat to his existence, in favor of achieving his meaningless goal, "Is there no way I could deter you from this path?"

The celestial shook his head, "It is my purpose, to unite the galaxy as one being, as me. I will not let an opportunity like this pass."

"Very well."

I put two hands together and summoned a beam of darkness, that Ego stopped using an energy shield. The beam was stopped for a few seconds, before the shield started to crack and broke like a piece of glass. Ego was able to dodge the incoming beam, that continued past him and destroyed the top of the mountain behind him.

Ego looked awed by my display, not having expected me to outpower him in a contest of strength. It did make sense; this Ego was simply a projection from his core that made up his planet. He was weaker here, far away from his source, even if he was practically all powerful on his planet.

In response, Ego conjured hundreds of steel spikes that came downwards towards me. I had no choice by to destroy them using a telekinetic pulse; many citizens of magical Britain had, for some reason, not run away from the conflict between me and Ego, choosing to watch the encounter.

With that done, I needed to get out of there, quickly before Ego massacres the entirety of the wizarding population in Britain. I jumped and leapt, flying forwards towards a surprised Ego and pushed him and myself into a portal I just created.

I put us in the furthest point away from population, the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I stopped myself and let Ego fall into the water. I didn't have any misconceptions about him drowning; he was an energy projection; he didn't need to breathe after all.

I was proven to be correct when he emerged from the sea with a giant avatar of water that leapt towards me. I, in turn, conjured a giant sword of light and cut him in his torso. If it was a being of flesh, this would have cut him into two pieces, but Ego just laughed and reformed the avatar easily. He then sent a punch at me, which I was able to hold by creating an energy shield.

Honestly, I was kinda disappointed. I didn't know if he was just underestimating me or if he was just inexperienced when fighting someone with similar powers as himself, but all of this felt so human, so mortal. It was like the celestial had no imagination whatsoever and was just imitating whatever he saw.

Surprised by the fact that his punch was stopped, Ego was distracted for a fraction of a second, and it was all I needed to cut his hand with my giant sword and push him telekinetically.

As the celestial flew back, I readied my sword, which started to slim down, resembling more and arrow than a sword. I then released it, sending out a beam of light, or more accurately, a giant solar flare at my opponent, evaporating the water that made up his avatar with the unbearable heat that made up my attack.

I gasped in exertion a bit. This was the first time I had used this attack, and it did take a lot out of me, not because I was drained, but because my body just wasn't used to channeling this kind of power.

I groaned in exasperation because I knew that Ego was still alive. His energy projection was probably going to reform soon. My speculation was proven to be correct when I heard another chuckle behind me. Ego, who was barely more than a humanoid being of blue energy that was slowly being reformed, "I have to say, I am impressed. I never expected anyone to take only a seedling of my power and elevate it to such heights. If you had kept practicing for a few million years, you would have had the entire galaxy in your hands without question. Unfortunately, I do not see you surviving our little duel, and thus will not see you achieve your potential. I believe it's time I take the kiddy gloves off."

The water around us started to levitate and transform into solid matter. It was making up to be some kind of biological superweapon that I just couldn't comprehend. But if anything, I could feel the danger that this thing presented, the power that it contained. I didn't want to deal with something like that.

Suddenly, the entire construct started to get sucked into itself, and in the end, all that remained was a cube that was glowing red in power.

As usual, Ego started monologuing, "This, dear Morrigan, is my attempt at recreating a very powerful artifact known to some as the cosmic cube. I had never seen the cube myself, but I heard tales of its power. The ability to control Energy and Matter on a universal scale, to be able to grant any wish. I tried for millions of years to recreate such a legendary artifact, and this was the best I could manage. An artifact that sends out a wave of anti-matter so strong, so powerful, that it could destroy entire star systems at once. It's not actually that energy consuming to make, you just need a lot of initial matter. Unfortunately, it can only be used once, and even a small one like this should be enough in this situation. Morrigan, if you submit yourself, allow me to use my power to complete my expansion, I will let you and this planet go, otherwise, I will activate my weapon and this planet will be destroyed in seconds."

My mind was racing at the ultimatum in front of me. He had me and he knew it. No matter the fact that I had the advantage, in terms of power, he had millions of years to hone his skills. I didn't know how to counteract an anti-matter wave. The situation seemed impossible and yet I had a trump card, my Death senses, which I tried to avoid using but if it would save the planet from my mistake, then I would do it without question.

Because it was my mistake. I was the one who chose to use Ego's seed to save myself. I'm the one who was overconfident and didn't expect that Ego would be able to outmaneuver me, even as an energy projection, and I wasn't going to let my planet suffer the consequences.

So, with a deep breath, I opened the floodgates, released the abilities that I kept under lock and key, and let my Death Senses overwhelm me. Immediately, the world seemingly changed. I could see the lines around me, and feel my humanity slowly slip away, as I came one step closer to ascending. I needed to make this fast.

I looked at the anti-matter weapon and immediately noticed its flaw. It was a powerful weapon, there was no doubt about it, but it wasn't as powerful as Ego pretended it to be. The initial construct was simply a biological computer that transformed matter into anti-matter somehow. I honestly didn't understand how it happened and yet it did. The cube had absorbed the anti-matter, to be released at Ego's leisure. But the amount of anti-matter created was far less than whatever was needed to destroy a planet. It would cause untold damage, but humanity would survive his attack.

I was able to easily discern the weakness to this weapon, but I was distracted by seeing what made up Ego. I could see the mind behind the projection, even if it was countless light years away, I could see its thought process, and if I had to describe it, I would say that it was odd for an entity as old as Ego. It was so emotional, so illogical, and in its core, it was so lonely. And in the end, if I had to describe it in a single word, it would be…. human.

Ego felt like a human, acted like an entitled human and while it was extremely surprising, it provided me with a way to defeat my foe. I knew exactly what I had to do.