The Dark Dimension, a space beyond the ordinary three-dimensional plane. Boundless. Eternally silent. Home to countless desolate, lifeless planets.
Dormammu, Lord of the Dark Dimension, bathed leisurely in the eternal night and churning magma. His eyes, each as vast as a moon, occasionally cracked open, radiating a chilling, bloodthirsty intent.
He was the Lord of Darkness, a top-tier cosmic entity within a single universe. He devoured stars as sustenance, treated the screams of billions of souls as symphony. The name Dormammu echoed across the cosmos as a terror not to be trifled with.
From time to time, unfortunate souls or even entire planets were dragged into the ever-shifting tides of the Dark Dimension, it was par for the course in his dominion.
Dormammu never concerned himself with the pathetic intruders who stumbled into his realm. The lesser creatures that he recruited, along with the swarming, mindless entities known as the Mindless Ones, would take care of any trespassers without mercy or delay.
So long as one set foot into the Dark Dimension, Dormammu reigned invincible.
"Kaecilius… that fool. He's dead?"
Dormammu gave a low grunt, sensing the abrupt severing of a servant's connection.
There were only two possibilities: either someone had completely erased the dark magic Dormammu had woven, an absurd notion itself.
Or Kaecilius had been eliminated.
"Who? The Ancient One? …Or Martin?" Dormammu's vast gaze narrowed. Infernal fire wreathed his massive skull, burning with a heat that could reduce stars to ash. Tendrils of dark magic coiled ominously.
How entertaining.
Someone had actually dared to kill one of his.
How quaint.
In that instant, countless dead worlds within the Dark Dimension exploded, disintegrating into fine dust under the weight of Dormammu's wrath.
"You should be grateful you're all still bound to Earth," he growled, dark flames erupting from his being, "If even a sliver of separation were possible… I'd have annihilated you all by now."
His arrogance wasn't unfounded. Dormammu had kept even the Ancient One, armed with her arsenal of powerful artifacts, confined to Earth for centuries. That was a testament to his unmatched might.
Yes, there was now another anomaly on Earth. A human called Martin. One whose rise to prominence had shaken the foundations of the cosmos. Even ancient beings had begun to take note of him.
But Dormammu paid him no mind.
Infinity Stones? So what?
Still garbage. No different from the Ancient One. Just another deluded insect.
"I'll find time soon," he mused, "and when I do, I'll kill him. I'll drag Earth into my Dark Dimension and savor the destruction."
He sank back into the magma, half-lidded eyes exuding contentment.
Until—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion split the void.
The mighty Dark Dimension, long deemed a cosmic no-man's-land by countless gods and demons, trembled.
Darkened stars collapsed. Rivers of shadow-magic surged wildly.
A gaping rift had been torn open, forcefully, by an unknown intruder. Its presence roared across the realm.
The Mindless Ones shrieked, converging like a plague toward the breach.
A pulse of devastating brilliance erupted.
In a single flash, the Mindless Ones were obliterated. Reduced to dust, their numbers, once legion, meant nothing before such raw power.
The survivors halted, trembling, terrified to advance.
"Who dares?"
Dormammu's low roar echoed like the death knell of a galaxy. His titanic body rose, eclipsing all sight, dark energies flooding the skies like a living apocalypse.
He turned.
And saw…
A single, human figure.
"…A human?"
Dormammu let out a cold, mirthless laugh.
Martin stepped forward.
He had torn open a gateway and now walked calmly into the Dark Dimension, eyes impassive. He scanned the bleakness around him with casual disdain.
This realm of ash and decay bored him.
Just like the towering monstrosity before him, radiating bloodlust and mockery, bored him.
"Dormammu," Martin said evenly.
"I'm here to negotiate."
His tone was calm, eyes fathomless, devoid of fear. Even in the face of a demon god who could devour star systems, Martin's gaze remained cool… surgical.
He looked not at a god, but at a pig prepared for slaughter.
Dormammu felt it. Despite Martin's minuscule size, something about him made Dormammu feel… observed. Measured. Beneath.
A terrible feeling.
Arrogant mortal.
"Martin," Dormammu rumbled, his flaming skull spanning light-years to loom above him,
"Negotiate? You mean, beg for mercy?"
Martin looked up.
"No. I mean you get on your knees, beg me, and maybe I'll let you live. Fair, isn't it?"
Silence.
Then—
Dormammu roared with laughter.
It was a laughter that tore through reality. Even its sound, laced with dark sorcery, shredded the fabric of the dimension, unraveling matter itself.
"You wretched speck!" Dormammu bellowed.
"You mistake me for Odin? Mephisto? The Ancient One? You're a fool!"
Martin's gaze sharpened.
"You'll know who the fool is… when I kill you."
HUMMMM—
The Polarity Gauntlet on Martin's hand pulsed with light.
Two Infinity Stones ignited, releasing energy that only beings of single-universe tier or higher could wield.
Power roared across the Dark Dimension.
Martin stepped forward, unflinching, and clenched his fist.
CRACK—
A single punch.
If launched in open space, it could have pulverized an entire galaxy.
And it hit Dormammu dead-on.
The twin Infinity Stones' power slammed into his eldritch form, wrenching a bellow of pain from the Dark Lord himself.
"Insignificant WORM!" Dormammu roared.
"I will rip out your soul and torture it for a billion years!"
He retaliated, unleashing torrents of cursed magic, attacks that flickered between matter and energy, forming bindings to entrap Martin entirely.
Martin's lips curled.
"Great idea. But make sure I don't get a chance to rip out yours first."
FLASH—
A surge of blue light, the Space Stone, swept the bindings away like smoke.
Then yellow—Mind Stone.
A mental shockwave detonated, slamming into Dormammu's psyche and spirit like a divine sledgehammer.
He howled in agony.
The battle now engulfed the entire Dark Dimension.
The universe trembled.
Dormammu, enraged, began drawing in the full power of his realm, every ounce of the Dark Dimension's twisted might fusing into his being.
"Today…" Dormammu screamed,
"NO ONE CAN SAVE YOU!!"
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