Chapter 68: Within the Universe, Whoever Sings My True Name Shall Be Rewarded with a Xenomorph
Xenomorphs were even more useful than expected. That was the Ancient One's conclusion.
If nothing else, the ability to transmit messages in an instant was astonishing. As long as an individual carried a xenomorph within them, Du Wa could perceive them in real-time and engage in remote communication and control.
If one had to be nitpicky and find a flaw, it would be that xenomorphs couldn't directly communicate with each other over extreme distances for the time being.
"This is the Sanctum Sanctorum? It looks like it's layered with a lot of powerful magic." Druig sized up his surroundings with a critical eye, but he had to admit that the place was somewhat terrifying. Every random house was protected by a powerful magic array.
It was truly hard to imagine what a stunning defensive system it would reveal if all the magic arrays could be activated at once.
Of course, the person capable of controlling all the magic arrays simultaneously was also crucial, and that would depend on the Ancient One.
"This isn't some deserted place. If you wish to come and study magic, we would welcome you," the Ancient One said.
Almost every year, there would be mages who, having failed to achieve greatness, would leave Kamar-Taj and return to the mortal world.
However, this had its drawbacks, namely that some of these magicians were lured away by Dormammu and Kaecilius.
"Magic? I would never learn something like that."
Druig shook his head and said, "Don't think I can't see it. That black magician named Kaecilius was in a very poor state just now. If he were at his peak, it wouldn't have been so easy to stop him. Otherwise, you wouldn't have chased him for so many years without managing to kill him."
The Ancient One removed her hood and glanced at Druig, her expression placid. She didn't speak.
Listening to the stranger's somewhat careless words, Mordo looked displeased. "Forget about the Sorcerer Supreme taking action. Just give me Professor X and Magneto, and I'd be confident I could slaughter Kaecilius."
"Not needed. Professor X and Magneto could finish off Kaecilius by themselves; they don't need you," Druig said, his face cold. "Besides, Reynolds and I are much stronger than Professor X and Magneto."
Druig pointed to his chest. His cold, unapproachable expression suddenly shifted, becoming exceptionally devout.
With every breath, he was one with the xenomorph in his chest. With every thought, his consciousness seemed to be in that sea of flowers within the dark abyss. The stark contrast created an extraordinary sense of security and belonging, a feeling that was intoxicating.
Mordo's face was filled with anger, so much so that he laughed. He turned, about to grab his weapon and have a go at this person.
He wasn't ignorant; he knew this guy was an Eternal with mental abilities, lacking the formidable physique of a Gilgamesh or an Ikaris.
Furthermore, for some unknown reason, the more terrifying Sentry hadn't come. If it had been Sentry, Mordo wouldn't have so readily issued a challenge, as he would have needed to use multiple powerful spells just to stand a chance.
Mordo was already planning in his mind how to teach Druig a lesson. He would first cast a spell to protect his brain, then use his staff to execute the ancestral staff techniques of Kamar-Taj and give this guy a sound thrashing.
A sorcerer who hadn't mastered advanced combat techniques was an unqualified sorcerer, equivalent to having learned nothing from Kamar-Taj.
"He's not here to fight, Mordo. Kaecilius is dead, but a greater trouble is about to arrive. They are our allies," the Ancient One said.
The group entered the Grand Hall.
Various sorcerers were constantly passing by, their steps hurried. They would give a slight nod upon seeing the Ancient One before immediately departing with thick books in their arms.
The place greatly resembled an ancient version of a university.
Wong came forward to greet them. "Kaecilius is dead. I heard about it from Elektra and rushed over from the training ground. This is truly heartening news. Under our combined assault with Du Wa, we've finally eradicated the black magicians."
He then turned to look at Druig. "Are you looking for Elektra and Murdock? They're in the training ground fighting a vampire. I heard this vampire is even their teacher. But isn't Elektra always hunting vampires? The relationships are too complicated; I've never been able to figure it out."
Druig glanced at Wong without any reaction, nor did he intend to seek out Elektra.
As long as they had their xenomorphs, they were all eternally together.
"But the soil that breeds black magicians still exists, and it's about to make a comeback. What we need to do now is to figure out how to eradicate this soil."
"Understood. It's like dealing with a mudslide, except this mudslide is terrifyingly powerful," Wong said with a nod of realization.
Dormammu, Lord of the Dark Dimension, the top dog of black magic in this universe, and Chthon's temporary number-one spokesperson—a single-universe-level entity.
Although there were varying levels of strength among single-universe-level deities, truthfully, anyone who faced Dormammu would feel a headache coming on.
Even if you could win, it would be extremely difficult to kill Dormammu, as it would mean invading the Dark Dimension and fighting a decisive battle on his home turf.
The difficulty level was simply off the charts. To kill Dormammu, one would have to destroy the Dark Dimension along with him, which was equivalent to destroying a pocket universe.
What's more, Dormammu's backing was ridiculously powerful. If truly pushed to the brink, and Dormammu disregarded the cost to ask for power from the multiversal-level Chthon, who knew how much strength he could unleash.
For the people present, just repelling Dormammu's invasion and, preferably, hurting him badly—which, strictly speaking, wasn't even truly defeating him—was already an exceptionally difficult mission.
Druig looked at the Ancient One and said, "Aren't you Earth's most powerful individual, the Sorcerer Supreme? You should go and have a one-on-one fight with Dormammu and kill him."
Mordo felt that he simply couldn't communicate with a one-track-minded fellow like Druig. "Do you have any idea who Dormammu is? Do you know how strong he is? That's an old monster who has lived for billions of years! The Sorcerer Supreme is only a few hundred years old."
Only then did Druig finally understand.
He had learned the truth from Ajak earlier, knowing that he was actually a Celestial's puppet who had lived for millions of years, but he currently only had memories from after arriving on Earth.
But even if you counted his entire life, millions of years was still a world of difference compared to Dormammu. Moreover, he didn't possess the immense strength accumulated over those past millions of years. In Druig's perception, his current set of skills seemed to be innate, and they hadn't been enhanced much over the past 7,000 years.
As Druig thought of this, he immediately thought of Arishem, the one who had used him as a tool. Millions of years—that was millions of years! He had been like a fool, cyclically performing the same mission. That was one thing, but to have his memory wiped, to have to start over on every new life-bearing planet...
The more respect he used to have for Arishem, the more he wanted to kill Arishem now.
There would be an opportunity. Druig thought of Du Wa. Du Wa was not a leader who liked to stay quietly in a safe zone. On the contrary, he possessed an extraordinary aggressiveness and an expansionist mindset.
He had seen many things in Du Wa's mind. Although he didn't have time to explore the entirety of those abyss-like thoughts, the fragmented information he saw was enough for Druig to understand what kind of person Du Wa was and what kind of distant and grand goals he had.
*No one understands Du Wa better than I do,* Druig thought, lifting his chin proudly.
The Ancient One was like a skilled tea connoisseur. With her fair, slender fingers, she lifted the teapot and precisely poured the tea into a quaint teacup without spilling a single drop.
This tea set alone would be a priceless antique in the outside world.
The Ancient One made a gesture to drink the tea. "Try this. You surely haven't had it for several hundred years."
"I don't drink this. I only drink boiled water," Druig said.
The Ancient One's gaze shifted directly from Druig's face to his chest.
"I think we can have a proper talk now. We can't always let Druig improvise," the Ancient One said.
Druig's body stiffened, and then his mouth began to speak uncontrollably. "It is time to talk, Sorcerer Supreme. You probably don't know how nervous I was before. I had to specifically move Reynolds to a safe place."
"But your tone betrays no nervousness, only calm and composure." The Ancient One's gaze seemed to fall directly upon Du Wa himself.
Du Wa stood by the window, motionless, and said faintly, "Pay it no mind. It's just a polite phrase. I think anyone who suddenly comes face to face with the Sorcerer Supreme would subconsciously become vigilant, especially someone like me, who holds a weapon capable of dealing with the Sorcerer Supreme. I think you've already guessed, because I wouldn't move Reynolds away for no reason, reducing your chance to instantly defeat him."
With just this one sentence, the Ancient One's expression didn't change, but Mordo and Wong exchanged a look, both seeing the astonishment in each other's eyes.
Are you kidding? A weapon that can deal with the Sorcerer Supreme?
Does such a thing exist on Earth? Is it S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Cosmic Cube or something else?
"But you weren't certain, nor did you expect that I would personally go to kill Kaecilius. You thought the ones going would be Mordo and Wong."
The Ancient One slowly said, "Therefore, the weapon you mentioned is not some artifact or spell, but Sentry. But Sentry alone is not enough."
"Not enough now, but I have ways to make him enough. It's just that I don't have absolute certainty. Don't you have the Time Stone? You can take a look at the future."
Relying on Reynolds alone? Du Wa just thought about it and shook his head repeatedly.
Reynolds was still the same Reynolds: timid, cowardly, and skilled at bullying the weak and fearing the strong, not to mention having a few screws loose in his head.
Don't be fooled by Reynolds's current invincible aura, as if he could take on the world. It had reached a point where even Reynolds himself believed he was nearly invincible, wanting to test himself against anyone he saw, especially those with great fame and high status.
But to put it bluntly, Reynolds's debut battle was against Magneto. That battle was extremely perilous. If it weren't for Du Wa constantly giving him moves, constantly motivating him with words to stimulate the "addiction" within Reynolds—or more accurately, his desire to show off—and the xenomorph larva providing him with powerful combat instincts and the additional weapon of highly corrosive blood, Reynolds would have only barely managed to defeat Magneto.
If it were any other time, you wouldn't even have to think about it. The moment Reynolds saw how tough a nut Magneto was to crack, he would have been scared off and fled.
Fight? Fight his ass. Escaping with his life was what mattered most.
The Ancient One shook her head. "The Time Stone is a weapon, not time itself. It's impossible to use the Time Stone to solve all problems on the temporal plane. Furthermore, the chaotic nature of time itself means it's constantly changing, which makes predicting the future very difficult."
"For example?"
"For example, in the countless futures I've seen, there are ones where Magneto causes the end of the world, ones where Professor X causes the end of the world, and even Elektra has the possibility of destroying this world. If you were in my shoes, which future would you believe?"
"I wouldn't believe any of them. I only believe in myself," Du Wa said, his tone calm.
Time in a single universe was a joke, unless it was something that was bound to happen, a "time node" that existed as part of the rules of the universe.
The Ancient One picked up her teacup and took a sip. "It seems we share the same thoughts on this matter. Time is just a weapon, nothing more."
"But I'm very interested in something else you possess: magic. If I could have the opportunity to learn magic, that would be wonderful," Du Wa said. "I trust you won't blame me for being so frank. It's much better than lying."
"Kamar-Taj has always been a relatively open place. If you wish to learn magic and possess the magical talent for it, you can come to Kamar-Taj to learn some of the more basic introductions to magic and minor spells. But don't even think about the truly powerful advanced spells."
Magical talent?
This probably referred to a constitution that could accommodate magic particles, as well as the talent to successfully incur magical debt from beings on a multiversal level.
The importance of the latter far exceeded the former.
"I don't need to learn those advanced magics. The more you learn, the more you owe. Although I haven't personally experienced this process, I can roughly guess that the more power you use, the more tightly you become bound to some entity behind the scenes."
Du Wa, controlling Druig, unceremoniously found a place to sit down. "I will continuously send xenomorphs to improve learning efficiency."
Both Wong and Mordo overheard their conversation.
Wong complained to Mordo in a low voice, "Listen to him. I simply can't imagine the scene: a two-to-three-meter-tall monster mixed in with a group of magicians, its tail whipping about from time to time, accidentally slicing a few poor apprentices in half."
No matter how you imagined it, the scene was just too dissonant.
Mordo's expression wasn't much better. Letting a xenomorph read books and learn magic was simply a demented idea.
"I'm reminded of Kruger again..."
"Shut it, Wong. Kruger is not a fish, he has nothing to do with fish!"
"Then maybe a red-skinned lizard?"
Mordo had no desire to discuss this topic with Wong. He sometimes wondered if Kruger, who had already joined the Marauders, would travel a thousand miles to come back and fight Wong to the death if he knew Wong was saying such things behind his back.
Mordo flicked his sleeves and walked away. Wong followed, muttering under his breath.
They both knew that the ensuing conversation between the other two was not something they were suited to participate in.
Du Wa said, "Let's continue our previous topic. I have no use for those profound magics, but I am very interested in the knowledge related to deconstructing magic. Don't question my learning ability. The more xenomorphs I have, the stronger my learning ability becomes."
Through the mental link with all the xenomorphs, whatever they learned would naturally become Du Wa's.
"And then? After you learn magic, do you also plan to borrow power from the Vishanti to cast some spells?" the Ancient One asked.
Du Wa shook his head. "Borrowed power is unreliable, even if the Vishanti is a powerful and righteous ancient god. Compared to borrowing power, I'm more interested in developing my own path of magic."
The Ancient One's expression flickered, a look of surprise appearing on her face. Even she had never considered such a possibility. No, it should be said that it was theoretically impossible.
Across the entire multiverse, there were only a handful of beings who could act as a magical entity and lend out power.
But Du Wa was just a guy who wasn't even a god. On what basis did he dare to think this way?
"Very bold, but also very crazy. Although the future holds infinite possibilities, it's still almost impossible for you to walk this path."
"You said 'almost.' Then I am that 'almost'." Du Wa's voice was very calm, as if he were recounting something that had nothing to do with him.
The Ancient One developed a keen interest in Du Wa. "And what happens after you succeed? After you have your own magic system and can provide power to others, what do you plan to do? Develop new magic? That would be even more difficult."
Yes, not only did one need to be able to lend out magic, but one also needed a set of magical techniques that a sorcerer could quickly grasp and use proficiently.
You couldn't just take magic particles and scatter them around like pure energy. A pistol or a knife would be more effective in that case.
Du Wa looked at the Ancient One with an astonished gaze, and Druig mirrored the action.
"Why would I need to create a complete magic system? Why would I need to specifically develop so many spells of varying difficulty? If I were to develop magic, I would only need one spell."
Druig pointed at his own chest.
Du Wa said, "Within my reach, whoever sings my true name shall receive a xenomorph."
After a moment's thought, Du Wa added, "Of course, it would be best if the spell included the two stages of successful teleportation and successful parasitization."
The Ancient One was so stunned that the hand holding her teacup froze in mid-air. She looked up in astonishment, staring at the audacious person before her.
Is this a kind of magic a human could come up with?
You shout my name, and I'll send a dangerous xenomorph across an endless space, the kind that successfully parasitizes you in the blink of an eye?
It sounded somewhat fantastical.
But the Ancient One could tell that Du Wa was serious.
"The xenomorphs... it's possible that you, the master of the xenomorphs, might truly change the face of this universe beyond recognition."
"Perhaps. Who can say what the future holds? Even if I do succeed, it won't be a bad future for Earth and humanity. At the very least, when faced with danger, they will have a brand new possibility," Du Wa changed the subject.
Grasping both divine power and magic, who knew which path would succeed? Du Wa would certainly not give up.
His xenomorphs shouldn't just be simple planetary creatures. They should be cosmic beings capable of freely traversing the cosmos, even capable of spontaneously engaging in faster-than-light space travel.
By then, they could fly all over the entire universe, spontaneously seeking out high-quality hosts.
Du Wa just had to think about it to feel satisfied with that future.
But there would definitely be many who would be dissatisfied. This was destined to be accompanied by countless wars.
The Ancient One hesitated for a moment. If it were in the past, she might have tried to stop this crazy fellow, as his actions would inevitably have a great impact on Earth. But now, there was no need.
She didn't have much longer to live, and this universe itself was facing more and more problems. After repelling Dormammu, the Ancient One decided to quicken her pace and get Strange on the right track early.
Even if that right track, in terms of probability, could also lead the entire universe to an extremely terrible future.
The future was difficult to predict accurately.
The Ancient One said nothing, lost in thought.
Du Wa said, "Never mind how I'll learn magic. Let's talk about Dormammu. That guy is probably furious right now. He might already be aggressively targeting Earth, ready to strike at any second."
Dormammu was a petty one. The fact that this fellow became the Lord of the Dark Dimension was not achieved through kindness and mercy.
"How much do you know about Dormammu?" the Ancient One asked.
"I know a little. He comes from the ancient Faltine race, right? But that species is almost extinct," Du Wa said. "I also had the distinct pleasure of experiencing Kaecilius use the 'Faltine's Maw' spell."
"Then you should know how dangerous such a demon god is. Therefore, we absolutely cannot let the battle take place within the Dark Dimension. In the worst-case scenario, if we get tangled up with him, it could very well lead to other demon gods taking advantage of the situation and bypassing us to attack Earth directly."
"Didn't you set up a powerful magic array for Earth? Why not use it?"
"That kind of magic array can only play a supporting role; it can't truly block a cosmic demon god. What I'm trying to say is, you can bring out that weapon you were saving to guard against me and use it against Dormammu."
The Ancient One said slowly, "Protecting Earth is my duty, yes, but if Earth is gone, you can't survive either."
"No, I can survive. I'll just pack up and run to Asgard in a minute. Although they're at war over there and it's very chaotic, and Odin is either dead or close to it, I think they would welcome me with open arms, wishing that I would bring my xenomorphs and join Asgard as a clan."
"..."
The Ancient One fell into deep thought.
"When did you come up with this idea?"
"I've always had it. The more places the xenomorphs appear, the safer I am. At least, I don't think Dormammu has the strength to destroy this single universe and wipe out all the xenomorphs in one go."
Du Wa looked at the silent Ancient One and said, "So why should I do something like challenging Dormammu?"
"Then assist me. Help me deal with him. The reward is, I will open all of Kamar-Taj's magical knowledge to you."
"Good, we've come full circle. In return, you will assist me in my research on magic."
Wanting to become a magical entity himself was destined to be a massive undertaking.
Even though the entity Du Wa sought was, in reality, a super watered-down version that only needed to complete the few steps of hearing prayers and bestowing xenomorphs.
Having the Ancient One involved from the very beginning to clear some theoretical hurdles would greatly advance his progress in this area.
"So trusting. Aren't you afraid I'll leave a backdoor in the magic I help you develop?"
"Of course, I'm afraid. That's why I plan to kick you out once the research is on the right track." Du Wa's voice was full of composure when he said this.
The Ancient One fell silent once again.
After a while, she stood up. "I hope you can succeed. Talking with you is a bit of a headache."
The two finally reached a consensus and slowly walked out of the Grand Hall.
With a casual scan of his perception, Du Wa knew that Elektra was currently in this sanctum, fighting a vampire.
"That guy has already become a vampire. Why are you still keeping him around? Shouldn't he have been eliminated long ago?" Du Wa asked.
"Stick hasn't truly fallen into villainy, at least not yet. My help might allow him to rediscover his sense of justice. Of course, it's more probable that it won't, but as long as there's a possibility, I will try."
Du Wa listened, lost in thought.
*Betting on probabilities? No, it's more complex than that. At least, it's not something I would do.*
Along the way, Du Wa saw many hurried magicians.
He also saw many, many Dum Dum Dugans.
Seeing these guys gathered in groups, painstakingly practicing magic, Du Wa finally understood what these clones were busy with.
"No wonder the Dum Dum Dugans who were monitoring me at the beginning were so subpar. It turns out the real elites all ran over here."
Du Wa nodded repeatedly, marveling at the Ancient One's creativity. He had, of course, guessed what she was using these guys for. Without a doubt, it was as ascetics.
Cheap, mass-produced, and strong in execution—what could be more cost-effective than recruiting a large number of Dum Dum Dugans?
But thinking about it from another angle, the deeper meaning of this situation was worth pondering. It showed that the Ancient One had been making careful preparations, deliberately hoarding a large number of ascetics to help share the cost.
But were so many ascetics really just for the Ancient One herself? Or were they being prepared for Strange?
Besides, there was no guarantee that Strange would become the Sorcerer Supreme. In other universes, there were real instances of a Spider-Man Sorcerer Supreme, an Iron Man Sorcerer Supreme, and a Kruger Sorcerer Supreme.
"Does our universe have a designation?" Du Wa suddenly asked.
"No. Only a very few universes have their own specific designations. Those are worlds that are watched by the gods. Unfortunately, our universe is among the majority of countless universes."
"In a way, that's also a kind of luck, because it means those troublesome beings will plant their seeds in this inconspicuous place with less frequency," Du Wa said.
*If that's the case,* he thought, *then after this Ancient One here dies, it's really hard to say whether her soul will go to Eternity or the Vishanti.*
"If one day you can't make it, you can come and seek refuge with me. Don't worry, I'm a pretty reliable person, and I'd be more than happy to have a Skyfather-level xenomorph on my side," Du Wa suddenly said to the Ancient One.
The Ancient One was once again caught off guard, looking at the Druig before her with surprise.
She found that communicating with Du Wa was truly fascinating. This guy could always come up with wild, incredibly bold plans.
At the very least, openly proposing to recruit the Sorcerer Supreme during their first meeting was somewhat mind-boggling.
"Well then, if one day I truly have nowhere else to go, I will come find you. But you'd better be prepared when that time comes."
The Ancient One spoke terrifying words with a gentle face: "Because by then, a whole host of magic gods and dimension lords will probably come flocking."
Du Wa stopped in his tracks, looked at the several-hundred-year-old woman before him, and couldn't help but ask, "Just how much magical debt do you owe? What does the Vishanti have to say about it?"
The Ancient One's expression remained unchanged. "The debt to the Vishanti, I'll delay it as long as I can, but I won't go too far. They are on our side, after all. When the time comes that I really have to repay it, I'll pay back a little, and then use the power of black magic to repair the damage to my body and spirit."
"Thank you for your honesty, revealing even this. Hasn't Chthon given you any trouble?"
"Mm, with Dormammu taking the heat at the front, Chthon mainly goes after Dormammu. But it's not like I let Dormammu bear it all. If I use too much black magic, I'll symbolically pay back a tiny bit. Of course, I usually use the power of Raggadorr to heal myself afterwards."
"?"
Du Wa suddenly felt he had discovered an incredible secret. "And Raggadorr? How do you plan to pay him back?"
The Ancient One looked at Du Wa in surprise, seemingly astonished that he even knew of Raggadorr. "Matumbe, Balthakk, Arto, Ikonn... There was a time when I was very diligent, listening to the voices of other dimensions all day long. I developed many paths, so I have more options to choose from."
"...They haven't chosen to beat you to death?"
"Not yet, but I suspect some are getting impatient. So now you understand why I need you to step up and deal with Dormammu, right? It's not hard for me to repel Dormammu's attack, but it might leave me unable to juggle my finances and directly snap my debt chain. And as you know, reassembling a broken chain is very troublesome."
The Ancient One hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice. "That's why I've been paying attention to the demons of Hell recently. Cyttorak is hard to fathom, so I need to observe him more. But fortunately, Mephisto occasionally roams to Earth in this universe. This is a rare and great opportunity. If he doesn't work out, I'll try Nightmare, Zatanna, Despero, Zom... There are always more solutions than problems."
"??"
Du Wa's heart skipped a beat. He vaguely felt that this game of servicing debt with more debt was somewhat familiar, and then, for the first time, he began to doubt his own decisions. Should he have stayed far away from this Ancient One person from the very beginning?
Even Du Wa, who prided himself on his calmness, had to admit she was a master, which completely refreshed his understanding of this Sorcerer Supreme. He was now thoroughly convinced that if the pond was big enough, you'd truly find all sorts of strange fish in it.
(end of chapter)