Jax's eyes slowly fluttered open.
The first thing he felt was the soft bed beneath him.
He instinctively moved a hand to his side, expecting a wave of agonizing pain, but instead he found... nothing.
The wound was completely healed.
Leaning back further into the sheets, he let out a weary sigh.
He raised his fist, staring at it somberly.
" I survived."
The realization was sobering and strangely calling. He'd made it through the Broadcast Auditions in one piece and against all odds.
The memory of the murderous battle kept replaying through his mind.
The last notification on his biometric band before he blacked out was particularly jarring.
[Highest Kill count: Jessy Jones]
[Longest kill streak: Jessy Jones]
Jessy Jones...
Her name kept resounding in his mind.
Just before the arena had dissolved, he'd heard the pleasure of making her acquaintance, albeit they'd interacted for only a brief, fleeting moment.
Jax rarely forgot a face. His eidetic memory allowed him to recall such small details vividly.
Jessy Jones…
Her name lingered in his mind like a whisper.
The arena had long since dissolved, yet the image of her remained etched into his memory with cruel precision.
Her face possessed a stark, haunting symmetry, high cheekbones casting faint shadows beneath the dim light. Loose strands of dark hair clung to her skin, some damp with sweat, others streaked with thin smears of drying blood.
Small crimson flecks marked her cheek and the curve of her jaw.
He remembered the grace with which she wielded her blade, with a serene kind of dark elegance.
Thin rivulets of blood slowly flowed down her blade, dripping to the ground.
And then her eyes, those eerily cold emerald eyes.
Then his eyes widened slightly.
His mind flashed back to the moment he'd realized who she was.
After auditions had concluded and just before they'd disappeared.
" Jessy Jones?! Those eyes! You're Jess the Reaper!" He gasped.
The dark-haired woman turned, flashing him a smile.
She crouched down, casually stroking his hair.
" You know me?"
Suddenly, it all made sense.
" Those poor fools didn't stand a chance…"
Jess the Reaper was a notoriously infamous serial killer with over seventy victims.
Despite the grievous wounds Jax had suffered, a shudder ran through his spine.
Jess's eyes were eerily cold and devoid of emotion.
Staring at his pale reflection in her eyes, Jax shivered.
Her gaze hungrily ran over him, with interest akin to that of a child appreciating a new toy.
Jess the Reaper was undoubtedly the most prolific serial killer in the Dominion, and now here he was, face-to-face with her.
According to the network, her preferred method of killing was slashing her victims' throats from ear to ear in a surgical manner.
Jess the Reaper was undoubtedly the most prolific serial killer in the Dominion, and now here he was—standing face to face with her.
In Jax's mind, the pieces slid together with a quiet, dreadful certainty.
While the world truly possessed some exceptional and uniquely frightening individuals, Jessy Jones was undoubtedly one of the most frightening that he'd encountered so far, and one of the few that had managed to make him feel true fear and horror.
Even within the Dominion's records and the haunting rumors whispered across the net, the clinical descriptions of her crimes—each one pointed to the same chilling truth.
Jessy Jones did not kill in fits of rage.
She did not stalk out of vengeance, nor hunger for power, nor the twisted pleasure that most killers confessed to.
She killed with chilling precision.
And cold detachment.
According to the network, her preferred method was always the same: a single, surgical slash across the throat, drawn cleanly from ear to ear. There was no hesitation or wasted motion.
The victims often didn't even realize they were dying until the warmth of their own blood spilled across their chest.
She was efficient, controlled. Almost… professional.
And her work was...almost like art.
She had turned herself in months ago, though only a handful of people actually knew that truth.
The Dominion had reshaped the story, of course.
They had broadcast to the public that their forces had hunted her down, that the power and vigilance of the brave Enforcers and Guardians they placed their lives on the line had finally borne fruit.
They'd captured the infamous Reaper.
And it was proof.
Proof that the Dominion protected its people.
Proof that no monster could escape its reach.
But the truth was far less comforting.
Jess had simply walked in.
Of her own volition.
Jax slowly came to an unsettling realization.
It was her will that she be confined. She decided to take part in the audition.
It was her choice.
Days later, after she'd been incarcerated, she'd been interviewed.
The interview was one Jax remembered with unsettling clarity.
It had been broadcast across the entire Dominion. Officials had hoped for something useful: a tragic past, a broken childhood, some explanation the public could digest.
A reason.
The interviewer had leaned forward, his voice tight with curiosity.
The man was clearly unsettled.
The petite woman across from him certainly looked nothing like the horrifying monster from the stories.
In a tense voice, he'd finally asked.
"Why did you do it?"
The audience held its breath.
Jessy had sat there in silence for a moment, her posture relaxed, her expression almost thoughtful. There was no madness in her eyes, no guilt, no pride.
Just the same eerie calm Jax remembered from the arena.
Then she had spoken.
"I was bored."
She said it the way someone might comment on the weather.
There was no malice in her voice; it wasn't dramatic.
It was just a simple statement of fact.
Her emerald eyes stared impassively into the camera.
She almost looked like any ordinary young woman in that moment
The Dominion had expected a monster.
But instead, they had found something far more unsettling—someone who treated human life as though it was little more than a passing distraction.
The notion of it was frightening, a little chilling even.
Jax let out a shaky breath, his lips curling into a thin smile.
"Damn. Bloody damn."
His heartbeat resounded almost audibly in his chest.
Jax covered his eyes from the light.
"I met Jess the Reaper in the flesh, and I survived."
How many others could proudly speak of the same?
Jax grinned.
The answer was glaringly obvious.
"Not many."