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*****
Breaking through the crust of the earth, Thanos and his two companions arrived deep within the underground of the red planet, appearing before the giant who stood still as a statue.
In the next second, pairs of eyes that looked like burning flames opened in the darkness. Magma began to flow, the space heated up intensely, and the entire dark void was illuminated.
Hiss!
Amidst the sound of heavy breathing that sounded like roaring fire, the owners of those eyes surrounded Thanos and his group.
They were pitch-black 'people,' their bodies flickering with spots of flame.
"How pitiful!"
Mephisto mocked them, saying, "After losing their source of power, these Fire Giants have become nothing more than extinguished runts."
Faora's eyes flashed with a cold light. She looked ready to strike at any moment, prepared to battle the enemies closing in on them.
Thanos, however, looked calmly at the statue-like giant, who stood several meters tall, and spoke slowly, "Surtur, we are here to cooperate with you."
The giant, resembling a sculpture of black stone, remained motionless. Instead, the surrounding Fire Giants continued to tighten their encirclement.
Thanos continued, " regarding Odin. And regarding your source of power—the Eternal Flame."
As soon as the words fell, a speck of red light appeared on the stone giant's body. Then, in the blink of an eye, this red glow spread across his entire form.
His body flowed like magma, his red eyes danced like flames, and the crown on his head looked like demonic horns, displaying a ferocious intent.
"What did you just say? Odin?"
Surtur roared low, his body—red as magma—becoming increasingly scorching.
Thanos's eyelid twitched.
Do all giants have brain issues?
Was the main point of what he just said 'Odin'? The main point was clearly the Eternal Flame!
"Hahaha! He is just as stupid as the legends say!"
Mephisto laughed out loud unceremoniously.
"You..."
Surtur looked at Mephisto, his angry expression pausing slightly. "You feel familiar. Are you Mephisto?"
As an ancient being himself, although he hadn't dealt much with Mephisto, he knew of him.
His anger gradually dissipated. He looked seriously at the three people before him and said, "So, let's talk. About Odin and the Eternal Flame."
As the King of the Fire Giants, he wasn't actually a fool.
Hearing this, Thanos smiled.
Good. They were about to add a new power to their ranks.
Kamar-Taj.
Stephen Strange held several magic books in his arms as he walked toward the Kamar-Taj library.
Meeting the Ancient One halfway, he greeted her happily.
The Ancient One nodded faintly, but inwardly, she was secretly amazed at Strange's progress.
Ever since Strange had his epiphany, his speed of improvement had been simply breathtaking.
Magical knowledge required accumulation, and Strange's reading speed, combined with his super-strong memory, allowed his reserve of magical knowledge to increase continuously.
And after accumulating this knowledge, his superior comprehension skills turned him into a magical genius in practice as well.
In just two short months, he had transformed from an ordinary person into an outstanding apprentice of magic.
Strange walked into the library, looked at the librarian, Wong, and smiled as he placed the books in front of him.
Wong, the slightly portly librarian, looked at Strange in confusion and pointed at the books. "You finished all of them?"
Strange nodded. "Find me some more."
Wong blinked. "What did you say?"
Strange looked helpless. He reached out and took off Wong's headphones. Hearing the aggressive heavy metal music blasting from them, he repeated, "Find me some new books."
"I know! I'm not deaf!"
Wong muttered impatiently.
"Did you really finish them?"
Wong asked in disbelief. These were five thick books; it took many people a month to finish them, yet Strange had finished them in three days.
"Of course!"
Strange looked proud. He smiled at Wong and said, "This speed is still a bit lacking compared to when I read books during medical school."
As he spoke, he pressed his hand against his lower back and said with a face full of helplessness, "Sigh, I'm getting old. My brain isn't what it used to be."
Wong looked at Strange quietly. "If your brain isn't working, why are you pressing your waist? Do you have a kidney deficiency?"
Strange: "?"
"Don't misunderstand, that is my blessing to you."
Wong said calmly, "Follow me."
He would provide reading suggestions based on each person's progress.
Strange nodded and followed behind Wong.
He had lied just now. He hadn't read this fast in university. The reason his speed was several times faster now was that he had mastered a little trick.
A little trick involving the use of magic.
He had to admit, magic... was really useful.
After picking up a few more books, Strange glanced at the books chained to the shelves by magic, his eyes twinkling with curiosity.
"Don't even think about it. Those books are not something you can touch right now," Wong warned Strange sternly.
Strange shrugged. "Why is one missing over there?"
"It was lost a long time ago."
Wong rubbed his chin and muttered, "It's been too long, I don't even remember myself. However... a very terrible incident happened in the library recently."
"Hmm? What happened?"
Strange asked curiously. Since he borrowed books often, he and Wong had become acquaintances.
"What happened?"
Wong's face suddenly darkened, and he spoke in an incredibly grim tone, "Some bastard took a book and didn't return it on time. He was beheaded right here."
Strange's face stiffened. "No, that can't be true, right? How is that possible?"
"Heh heh!" Wong smiled faintly. "I hope you won't be the next one."
"Haha, absolutely not, absolutely not..."
Strange laughed dryly, hugged his books, and left quickly.
Watching Strange's retreating figure, Wong sighed.
He hoped that during his tenure as librarian, he wouldn't get beheaded by anyone.
The Kent Household.
Morning, 7:00 AM.
"Ahhh!"
A scream rang out from Gwen's room. Mike, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, flashed out of existence and reappeared in Gwen's room.
"What's wrong?"
He looked at the panicked Gwen and frowned.
Gwen wrapped herself tightly in her quilt and shook her head frantically. "Nothing!"
"Nothing? Then why did you scream so miserably?"
Mike asked in confusion. Looking at Gwen's suspicious expression, he slowly said, "Tell me, did you do something bad?"
"Bad?"
Gwen blinked, then shouted angrily, "No, I didn't! Get out, quickly!"
"?" Mike was puzzled. "What is going on?"
"Out! Get out!"
Mike scratched his chin in confusion. As he walked out, he muttered, "What's the matter with her? Such a temper?"
Gwen watched Mike's back, her face flushing red then turning pale. After hesitating for a moment, she took out her phone and dialed Raven's number.
Moments later, Raven, wearing a smile, walked into Gwen's room, waving a white feminine product at a curious-looking Mike as she passed him.
Mike paused, then a smile appeared on his face.
His little Gwen had grown up.
"Aunt Raven."
Gwen sat on the bed, wrapping the quilt tightly around herself, her face tinged with embarrassment.
Raven looked at Gwen with amusement. "There's nothing to be shy about. You should have learned this in health class, right?"
Gwen nodded, still feeling a bit awkward.
"I learned it, but that was a long time ago, and this is the first time it's happened to me, so..."
Gwen's voice lowered until it was as quiet as a mosquito's buzz. "I was a little scared."
"That's very normal."
Raven stroked Gwen's smooth platinum-blonde hair. "It's normal to feel that way. You don't need to feel ashamed about it. Besides, this is just the beginning. You'll get used to it slowly."
Gwen: "?"
The words weren't wrong, but why did they sound a bit strange?
Minutes later, Gwen opened the door a crack. After seeing that Mike wasn't there, she let out a long sigh of relief.
Raven smiled behind Gwen and said, "Go eat breakfast. Don't you still have to go to school today?"
"Oh!"
Gwen responded and ran into the bathroom.
Whoosh!
Mike suddenly appeared.
"How is it?"
"How is what?"
"Gwen?"
"Pfft!" Raven covered her mouth and chuckled softly. "It's a normal physiological reaction. You don't need to worry."
"Oh!"
Mike responded.
Gwen's incident was just a small interlude in their daily life.
Time flew by.
Halloween, Christmas, Chinese New Year...
During this period, the Earth seemed very peaceful.
Of course, 'peaceful' here meant that no massive crisis capable of destroying the world had occurred.
So, during this time, the Kent family lived a calm and satisfied life.
Gwen and Little Lamb went to school as usual.
Erik and Charles were busy with matters regarding the Kent Star.
Raven and Mike lived leisurely, taking care of the kids, cooking, playing cards with old friends, or taking advantage of the time the kids were at school to travel and see the scenery, rushing back before school let out.
As for Clark, aside from work, he spent his time helping Hank Pym.
Hank Pym's experiments were going quite smoothly. He had conducted several explorations of that mysterious, uncharted dimension. After preparing a bit more thoroughly, he would launch the final exploration.
Superheroes were busy catching bad guys, while supervillains were busy destroying things to satisfy their desires.
And some people wanted to sacrifice this world to other dimensions in exchange for eternal life.
Kaecilius, a former Master of the Mystic Arts at Kamar-Taj, now a zealot of the Dark Dimension.
Ever since he discovered that the Ancient One was drawing power from the Dark Dimension to extend her own life, he had left Kamar-Taj.
In his view, the fact that the Ancient One could absorb power from the Dark Dimension to extend her life, but forbade him and others from doing so, was purely due to her selfishness.
Therefore, he wanted to sacrifice the entire world to the Dark Dimension, so that he, and everyone else, could possess eternal life.
Thus, he first attacked the librarian at Kamar-Taj, found the rituals to summon the Dark Dimension, and after performing the ceremony, absorbed the energy of the Dark Dimension to enhance his power. Then, he began attacking the three Sanctums on Earth.
New York, London, Hong Kong. These three Sanctums were the vital hubs supporting Earth's magical defenses. Once they were destroyed, Earth would be a lamb waiting to be slaughtered before the Dark Dimension.
He took his followers and attacked the London Sanctum first, destroying it with lightning speed, and then immediately arrived at the New York Sanctum.
But unexpectedly, here, they encountered a mage who couldn't even cast defensive spells very smoothly.
Even more unexpectedly, they actually stumbled at the hands of this mage. If his subordinates hadn't saved him, he might have been caught by the opponent.
Fortunately, that eyesore of a mage named Strange was wounded by one of his followers.
Later, he made a comeback. Just as he was about to destroy the New York Sanctum, that mage appeared again. And this time, the opponent had a helper—his old acquaintance, Mordo.
However, there were only two of them, so he didn't care.
But at the critical moment when he was about to destroy the Sanctum, that mage, whom he was growing to detest, actually used the Mirror Dimension to block his destructive energy, preventing the Sanctum's destruction once again.
He was furious about this and began to hunt down Strange and Mordo.
Because his connection with the Dark Dimension had grown stronger, he could manipulate matter and space here at will.
"Run!"
Strange shouted, fleeing frantically with Mordo.
Before opening the Mirror Dimension, Strange had snatched Kaecilius's Sling Ring. Without a Sling Ring, anyone trapped in the Mirror Dimension could not leave. That was why Kaecilius was chasing Strange with deadly intent.
He wanted to vent his anger at being blocked twice, and he also needed to escape the Mirror Dimension.
When these two reasons were put together, Kaecilius had no reason to let Strange go.
But at this moment, neither the pursuers nor the fleeing duo noticed that high above this Mirror Dimension, three figures were silently watching the battle below.
Mike, the Ancient One, and Odin.
Mike in his battle suit; the Ancient One in yellow robes with her hood up; and Odin clad in armor.
"Aren't you going down? They are about to be caught."
Odin pointed at Strange below and spoke calmly, his eyes twinkling with appreciation.
Strange's two counterattacks had been excellent. He was a smart man.
Mike smiled. "It's not that easy. After all, he is the Sorcerer Supreme in training."
Hearing this, the Ancient One smiled.
Although Strange was not yet mature enough, he already possessed the qualities a Sorcerer Supreme should have.
Curiosity and restraint, following rules but not being rigid, coupled with his talent for magic...
The Ancient One was very satisfied with her successor.
Under Kaecilius's manipulation, space and matter were like building blocks, folding and shifting at his will to help him hunt down Strange and Mordo.
Finally, the kaleidoscopic, ever-changing space trapped the two in a dangerous zone.
Seeing this, the Ancient One moved to leave. Just then, Mike shouted to her:
"Go die with peace of mind! I will collect your corpse for you!"
The Ancient One: "..."
She turned silently to look at Mike.
"Well, thank you very much for that."
(End of Chapter)