211. The Evolution of Spite (End of Book Four)

Jay and YoAnna ambled casually back to the Protectorate graves, his tail now held by her hand. Above their heads was a cloudless night sky, a showing of YoAnna’s power holding back the fallout storm. Nowhere else had the pleasure of beholding the cosmos other than this bastion. The storm covered the rest of Earth now.

The moon was full, and the stars glinted with an extra luster. The sounds of life coming from Lionguard Village and Protectorate City felt extra energetic tonight. It was as if every day and night living under Jay and YoAnna’s mercy was a gift to the people of this bastion, regardless of the sacrifices, regardless of the losses.

“In the Multiverse, death is not the end of one’s journey,” YoAnna said, breaking the silence between them. “If Chance allows it, one could be reincarnated anew elsewhere. I believe Rick and Hailey are deserving of this turn of kismet.”

“Kismet?” Jay tilted his head.

“Arabic for fate. The world felt more fitting, dear.”

“Ah.” Jay raised an eyebrow. “There’s more you want to say.”

Prompted, YoAnna pressed her free hand to her chest. “Even with their deaths, even with their fate separating them from us, I can’t help but feel something still connecting me to Rick and Hailey. Perhaps I am mad with grief, and what remains is an echo of my link to my Champions.”

“Perhaps there’s more to it than an echo.”

YoAnna fell into a deep and thoughtful silence.

Whenever they came across a patrol, a pulse of Jay and YoAnna’s powers concealed them while in plain sight. The two didn’t have to say a word to coordinate this, able to read each other’s moods. Jay was mostly an open book to YoAnna, and he understood how she ticked quite well now.

Once they reached the grave, Jay paused to look at YoAnna. A second later, she released his tail and grew to her twenty-five foot form, but the usual Disney princess effects were dimmed down now. And her eyes were still pitch-black.

“Jay, you have grown so much.” YoAnna reached up and caught the moonlight with her fingers. She pulled on them like strings until they reshaped to her desires, illustrating figures that look like him and the Champions. He was at the front, leading the way with a sword raised. “You have not only proved me right in choosing you, but you’ve smashed my expectations.”

“Two of your Champions are dead under my watch.” Jay held his hands behind the small of his back and stood attentively, like a soldier in the presence of their superior. “I have caused you so much trouble and failed you in critical areas. I don’t know if I deserve the praise,”

“My heart still aches. I thought I would be prepared. But I wasn’t. Once again, the Multiverse has truly carved deep into me. Into us. But it will not blind me of your achievements and the path you are taking. Your Rank 5 is going to be vastly different from any evolution before it.”

“I agree. But will it be enough?” Jay studied her towering form. “And won’t it cause more trouble for you?”

“I don’t care about trouble from the System Admins anymore. Nor am I troubled by the Grandmaster. Right now, I’m debating on making one more outrageous move to spite all of them.”

Jay smiled a little at the word spite. It touched something profound inside of him, but he didn’t know why. He should probably advise YoAnna to have patience. To not provoke the powers above while they were still licking their wounds and about to face the greenskin horde. But that would spit in the face of everything he said in the cellar with the delicious drink of YoSora’s Laughter fizzling in his belly.

“Do it.” Jay felt devilish as he broke out of his stiff stance and floated up. He hovered to the side of YoAnna’s face and rubbed her chin with his hand. He could almost sense the curse humming under her flesh. “Do it.”

She turned to him fully, her dark pits for eyes pulsating with twin golden lights that shone on him. The urge to kiss her nearly overcame him, but he held back, and for good reason. He wanted the spiteful YoAnna to come out.

“No more being nice. No more bowing to the powers above. Survival is not enough. Setting the record straight is a fool’s errand. Let’s be spiteful and unleash ourselves.” Jay grinned, baring his fangs.

Kleo squirmed around inside of Jay’s chest, becoming more and more active. His words might pull her out of her home again.

YoAnna’s breathing quickened, gusting against him. A sudden passion overtook her, the air growing warmer around her. Her hands neared around his body only to stop before she did something that was so unexpected, Jay nearly shouted in alarm. He watched with his mouth falling open as YoAnna reached down, hiked up her dress…

And knelt.

“Jay Luckrun.” Her voice flowed around him with the power of magic and divinity. “Many seek to have me as theirs. Many seek to make use of my power. If I am to be used, I wish for the hand to use me to be the one I want to give everything to. Will you do me the honor of being my master?”

A Multiverse Deity is granting you ownership over her. Do you accept ownership of YoAnna Sainte-Luckrun?

There were a ton of questions Jay could ask. Most of it failed to get past his shock. He couldn’t recollect the words mumbling from his mouth as he reread the notification.

“What does this mean?” Jay got out.

YoAnna remained kneeling below him. “You will stop being a Champion. And become the highest authority of the Protectorates. Your orders are mine to follow if you wish to command me. While I may still be more powerful than you, your ownership of me is a pact that binds me to you like that of a familiar but without the direct interaction of profiles. This is more of a magical connection of the highest order.”

He should turn this down. He should ridicule the idea. But he held his tongue and let all that she’d said settle in his head. She was providing him a binding pact of divine ownership right before he evolved into whatever he was to become. Something like this was much more impactful than marrying YoAnna. This was snatching her power for himself for as long as he breathed unless he decided to end his ownership of her.

Or died.

“We’re going to piss off a lot of people with this.” A smile crossed Jay’s face. “Which makes me wonder, have you always planned something like this?”

“No.” YoAnna tilted her head up, the moonlight shining on her open face and warm smile. “I’m seizing an opportunity in the spur of the moment. With this, I’m certain of what you will evolve into.”

Jay sighed. “Alright. Let’s fucking do it. Let’s see where my unruly ambition takes me next.”

YoAnna giggled, sounding both merry and devious. The essence of divine spite.

You’ve accepted ownership of YoAnna Sainte-Luckrun. You’ve acquired a new Talent! [Deity Master]:

[Diety Master]: …

“Huh, no description. That’s not ominous at all.” Jay chuckled as he felt more changes happening.

A Title has been replaced! [YoAnna’s Conqueror of Challenge and Change] → [Conqueror of Challenge and Change]

Urgent! You have an urgent administrative inquiry!

Urgent! You have an urgent administrative inquiry!

Jay completely ignored the admin inquiries as he floated down to the ground. YoAnna towered over him even while kneeling, but her gaze seemed different to him now. How strange. Did he really have control over her? Was her servitude unquestionable? Just like Kleo?

“I can release you from this in the future, right?” Jay asked, just in case.

“Isn’t that something you should ask before you accept, Master Jay?”

He shivered from hearing that and noted how she didn’t answer the question. Shaking his head, Jay realized it didn’t make much of a difference. He was well-practiced with having Kleo disagree with him on things, and him disagreeing with her. Maybe that helped with YoAnna’s choice in giving herself to him as his servant deity, which Jay was still trying to wrap his head around.

It made him think of the first necromancer humans he met in the Sea of Death and how they talked about enslaving a Stage 1 [Godling]. His initial reaction was thinking YoAnna would turn those idiots into dust. Now here he was with YoAnna as his deific wife and servant, pitting him as the ultimate authority in the universe.

“I feel weird.” He looked around, sensing strange and distant ripples. “Things are getting weird.”

“The local System is glitching, Master.” YoAnna giggled further, sounding a little nutty. “This is unprecedented. Never has there been a System Guide like me in a derelict Pre-Apocalypse Test while under the ownership of a Rank 5 [Freak] with a Gravity Affinity, a piece of divinity, and the race of an eldritch monster. This is going to shake things up a bit.”

“For good or bad?”

“I don’t care. I’m doing this out of spite. And to see you grow even more powerful.”

Jay nodded along, still stunned by how quickly things were unfolding. With nothing else to say, he found Amanda’s grave and sat against her headstone while facing the Yoroachian egg in the distance. He felt her ghost appearing behind him, giving him a pat on the shoulder before he closed his eyes and concentrated inward.

For a second, he thought about pulling up everyone’s profiles for a quick comparison like usual. But decided against it. He could check again when he saw them later. All that mattered now was that they were all Level 100 and moving on to the next rank with their surplus of stored Experience. He checked his and then went on with the evolution.

Congrats! Exceptional Freak is at the pinnacle of its growth! It’s on the verge of evolving and requires your guidance. Are you prepared to evolve to Rank 5? Yes or no?

Congrats! Laevaintinn Faerie is at the pinnacle of its growth! It’s on the verge of evolving and requires your guidance. Are you prepared to evolve Kleo to Rank 5? Yes or no?

Huh, it felt like a long time since Jay was so excited for an evolution. The Rank 4 evolutions happened in the spur of the moment and without too much fanfare.

This truly felt different this time around. For him and Kleo.

***

Name: Jay Luckrun, Rank 4

Class: [Exceptional Freak, Level 100]

Race: Eldritch Monkey Scion

Allegiance: Multiverse Protectorate Pantheon

Affinity: Gravity

Familiar: Creepy Kleo of Luckrun, Rank 4

Type: [Laevateinn Faerie, Level 100]

Statuses: [Health 4550/4550 HP], [Stamina 3880/3880 SP], [Mana 7580/7580 MP], [Chance x25/x54 CM]; [??? 79/100%].

Attributes: [2,159 Applied AP]; 225 Resilience, 230 Poise, 150 Strength, 238 Agility, 580 Perception, 200 Intellect, 300 Conviction, 236 Discovery; [0 Free AP].

Jay’s Skills: [Horizondancer (S), Level 100]; [Relativity Sovereignty, Level 100]; [Graviton Monster, Level 100]; [Martial Gravity Superiority, Level 100].

Kleo’s Skills: [Situational Gravity (F), Level 100]; [Gravital Supremacy (F), Level 100]; [Cosmic Showrunner (F), Level 100]; [Harness-G (F), Level 100].

Jay’s Talents: [Faerie Master], [Eye of Venerated Madness], [Status Meditation], [Eyes of the Abyssal Monk], [Attribute Perfectionist], [Gravity Wives], [Perceptive Highness II], [Ranker 120], [Hungry Bounty Lord], [Champion Hunting Grounds], [Presence of the Protectorate King], [Leadership 100], [Deity Master].

Kleo’s Talents: [Influential Actor (F)], [Fortified Homeowner (F)], [Against The Odds Rectifier (F)], [Mana Power Dominance (F)], [Mana Weaver II (F)], [Familiar 60 (F)].

Jay’s Titles: [13th Freak of Freaks: Pre-Teen], [Devil of Gravity], [Jester of the Death Court], [Smiling Doom of Assassination Orders], [Inescapable Death of Ancient Immortality], [Glorious Conductor of Massively Stellar Slaughters], [Chair-Leader of the Multiverse Protectorate Pantheon], [Delver of Lairs], [Rescuer of the End Times], [Master of Earth], [Conqueror of Challenge and Change].

Kleo’s Titles: [Slayer of Tyranny (F)], [Successor of the Dungeon (F)], [Dame of Awesome Support (F)], [Mistress of Earth], [Secretary of the Multiverse Protectorate Pantheon (F)].

End of Book Four