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Jessica had only met two beings in the seven realms who surpassed her spiritual strength, Satan and Emperor Thanatos. Both ruled an entire realm, a seemingly infinite universe all their own. Both were bound to their power source so inexorably, the great and eternal Jessica Oaklanda could not hope to defeat them without destroying the entire realm they ruled. She was not below such tactics, but destroying the Sixth Realm would also destroy the countless trillions of souls within it, including her beloved sister, Dayonera. Even if she could rescue her sister, she could not hope to pull both of them out of this dimensional thread of existence before it all came unraveled, which would undoubtedly happen if any one of the seven realms were destroyed. Thus, that option for killing Thanatos was not available to her.
She had tried many times to sever his connection to his realm or to damage him spiritually beyond repair, but his power source was greater than hers, and he was genuinely a part of it. Every time she'd destroyed his body, the Sixth Realm simply made him a new one. It was frustrating, and Jessica had begun to despair of ever rescuing her sister from the monster when the Oracle, of all people, had chosen to help her. Jessica was certain the prophet knew what she was capable of and the unforgivable crimes of her past, but the Oracle still extended the offer to help. It was not the first time Jessica had been used as a tool to forward the prophet's agenda, but the Oracle had indicated it would be her last.
It was a risk that the Oracle led her to the knowledge she required, knowing Thanatos could kill Jessica and spare Midia and the Seven Realms the threat of her existence there. In all of the thousands of years since Jessica and Dayonera had lived in what became the High Kingdom of Faiden, not once had the prophet bothered to plot against them. That could have been because the Oracle knew Jessica would not destroy her own home this time, or it could be that she knew Jessica would destroy herself attempting to kill Thanatos.
All the same, Jessica had no choice but to take the advice of the Oracle, despite what the prophet's ultimate plan may be. She'd told Jessica that Thanatos could be killed on a very specific day, though not which day. For that, Jessica had convinced Jellen to foolishly give her the soul devourer, Velan, a sphere of such age and power, it had knowledge no other could possess. It could guess at the future better than any prophet whose power was based in chaos, and it could recount nearly any event that had already transpired. It spoke in light, images, emotions, and hunger. There were few in the realms who could have touched it without being consumed, and Jessica was one of those few. She had learned the date and time when Thanatos' connection to his power source would be challenged, when he would become killable.
She had worked tirelessly in the few years since, building the room in which the great Emperor of the Sixth Realm would perish. She knew from experience that his greatest weakness was the same as a demon's, spiritual magic drawn from the higher realms, energy so pure and light that it demolished the darkness of chaos with ease. Unfortunately, utilizing such spiritual energy had a cost, for it was also Jessica's greatest weakness. She'd worked every day till the limit of her endurance, gathering and layering pure spiritual magic until it became so concentrated it manifested like a physical object. She constructed tiles of light and energy, and knit them together with her own spiritual strength.
It was painful, exhausting, and left her vulnerable. Jessica disliked being weak, but she would stop at nothing to kill the monster who had murdered her sister and stolen her away to the loathsome Sixth Realm for centuries of torment. With every inch of the solid walls of light she built, she grinned through the sweat and tears of concentration and pain. She thought of Thanatos' destruction, and laughed with a malice and gleeful hatred she had not entertained since leaving her last home in irreparable ashes. She thought of the moment she would draw his soul into the cage she'd built for it, and the endless eons of misery she would bring to that wretched being. More than anything, though, she thought of touching her sister's soul once more, of embracing her and holding her near and safe. As ever before, her love for Dayonera was the only infallible power in the many universes that could quell Jessica's anger and hatred.