Chapter 69: Sentry, Embrace the Truth and Become a Complete Alien!
"Your expression tells me you've already thought of something very bad." The Ancient One appeared very calm.
She didn't feel there was anything wrong with her methods. More importantly, all that mattered was that they worked.
Du Wa was silent for a moment before slowly saying, "I can't help but suspect that one day in the future, every prominent figure in the entire Multiverse will be your creditor."
"Indeed. That's a very interesting future. If that day truly comes, it will in turn prove that my strength has reached an extremely high level. Otherwise, not so many powerful individuals would be willing to lend me their power."
The Ancient One sized up Du Wa. "If you one day become a powerful individual in this universe, then I would be honored to borrow some power from you."
Du Wa had never expected this. He had envisioned many possibilities beforehand, for example, that the Ancient One of this universe was actually a male version, exceptionally powerful, and favored by cosmic Creator Gods like Eternity.
Even a massive personality change would have been acceptable. For instance, if the Ancient One had been extremely difficult to deal with, screaming to kill him upon their first meeting, Du Wa had also mentally prepared for that. He had meticulously devised a counter-plan and multiple self-preservation plans specifically to handle such a situation.
Well, this wasn't the worst-case scenario he had imagined, but it was still a lot of trouble.
"I'm suddenly very interested in that strange future. If that day really comes, you might be the safest person in the Multiverse, in a way."
Everywhere would be vicious creditors. Every single multiversal entity would want to kill the Ancient One more than anyone else, yet at the same time, none of them would want her to die.
However, when that time truly came, the Ancient One, being able to draw power from so many powerful beings, would likely have already accumulated a level of strength that was incredibly sublime, possibly even reaching a level above a single entity.
Perhaps she could reach the Single-Entity Omnipotent Tier? As for becoming a multiversal entity, Du Wa thought about it and considered it completely impossible.
"After dealing with you this time, my intuition tells me I should stay far away from you," Du Wa said, gravely considering the possibility.
"You can't get far. Don't forget, I still need to help you develop that magic you're researching. If all goes well, we might see results within a few decades. You're not going to tell me you can't even live for a few decades, are you? Then I would have to doubt the upper limits of the Alien gene."
"An Alien isn't omnipotent, but it definitely won't have problems with its lifespan. I, however, doubt you can live for several decades."
The Ancient One lowered her head and thought for a moment. "The body may die, but the soul will be fine."
"Excellent. Then I can confirm one thing right now. When you lose your body and achieve 'death' in the physical sense, you'll probably only be able to bear half of your original debt."
Kaecilius was riddled with diseases. Even the Sorcerer Supreme version of Strange, who relied on a large group of Ascetic Monks to help share the price, still suffered from minor ailments like stomach perforations and insomnia.
So the question was, if the Ancient One abandoned even her body, relying solely on her soul to repay her debts, how long could she last?
Or rather, when those powerful beings who had inadvertently glanced at this universe realized the Ancient One was playing tricks on them, how long would they tolerate it?
One had to remember that the current Ancient One was already finding it strenuous to repay her magical debts.
"As I've said, there are always more solutions than problems." The Ancient One's face showed no trace of anxiety. This Sorcerer Supreme, after centuries of scheming, had long since made all necessary preparations.
"I now understand why Dormammu won't let you go. Devouring Earth is one thing, but wanting to vent his anger and reclaim his dignity as a cosmic Demon God is another."
Du Wa shook his head and immediately summoned a larger number of Aliens, ready for deployment. He needed to speed up his progress in learning magic as much as possible.
Instantly, golden portals began appearing one after another inside Weyland Tower.
Some ordinary people who had walked in to discuss business immediately stopped in their tracks, looking confusedly at these things that had appeared out of thin air.
"What is this, some kind of magic trick?"
"Don't be ridiculous, use your brain, you idiot! Even if it were a magic trick, how could it possibly appear inside Weyland Tower? Weyland Corporation doesn't run a circus."
"I'm guessing someone is invading Weyland Tower. They must be insane. So many people have already proven with their lives that this method doesn't work."
Soon, their jaws dropped in shock. They saw large numbers of Aliens lining up and efficiently rushing into the golden halos.
As the halos closed, the Aliens all disappeared.
At this, even the most foolish person instantly realized what these halos were for.
"Spatial teleportation? Is magic real?"
"Which superhuman's ability is this? And it's spatial teleportation. I don't remember any mutant who could transport people through space like this. Not even Nightcrawler can do it to this extent."
A commotion stirred through the crowd. Immediately after, they all took out their phones and quickly reported the situation to their superiors.
Before long, the whole world knew that Kamar-Taj was cooperating with Du Wa, but the exact nature of the cooperation was still unknown.
Even so, this was enough. It was a piece of information that would spark the imagination, especially for someone like Fury.
"Why would the Sorcerer Supreme get mixed up with Du Wa? This is not funny at all."
Fury let out a deep sigh. He felt his job was too difficult. Everything had been going so smoothly, so why had the situation turned into this mess in just a few short months? Everything was starting to slip from his grasp.
Coulson was dead. Fury had no choice but to promote Hill heavily, but Hill was ultimately not Coulson. She lacked Coulson's comprehensive strategic planning ability.
"The Mother Mold platform has successfully crossed Venus's orbit and is now heading towards the Sun," Hill said excitedly, scrolling through information on the virtual screen.
"Good job, Hill. With this, it means we have a crucial weapon in our hands." A glimmer of hope appeared in Fury's eyes.
The Mother Mold project was a super-enhanced version of the Sentinel robot project. Everyone knew that relying on Sentinel robots alone would make it very difficult to achieve the extinction of all mutants worldwide.
Even if the robots truly achieved the ultimate plan—the ability to replicate a mutant's X-Gene, so that once one robot copied it, all other robots would simultaneously receive the data transmission and instantly gain the related ability.
But even so, they would still be outmatched when facing mutants led by Magneto and Professor X.
Magneto could crush all metal constructs, using his nearly omnipotent magnetokinesis to erase all the machines.
Professor X couldn't do anything to the robots, but he could take out the people controlling them and command others to rewrite the Sentinel robots' control codes.
Of course, these two were no longer the only unstable factors. Fury had a premonition that a new powerful faction was rising at light speed. It might soon become more troublesome than the mutant problem. That guy was manually building and expanding a terrifying new race.
"First Asgard, and now Kamar-Taj? Even the Sorcerer Supreme thinks highly of Du Wa, even though he's a destroyer of order in modern society?"
Fury had never dealt with the Sorcerer Supreme, but he had people under him who had.
He summoned a Dum Dum Dugan.
"I told you last time, when I ask you again, you need to give me an explanation. Devouring so much of our funds, what exactly have you been doing? The countless clones you've created could form an army! If I weren't holding things down, people would think you were preparing to establish a country overseas!" Fury's expression was grim. With Coulson's death, his patience was rapidly running out.
Now, the matter also involved Kamar-Taj and the Sorcerer Supreme.
"Chief, I was just about to report to you. I discovered Du Wa's subordinate in Kamar-Taj, that Eternal named Druig. He spoke with the Ancient One for a long time."
Dum Dum Dugan said, "But my gut tells me that guy wasn't just Druig. It's highly likely that Du Wa was speaking with the Ancient One through the Alien on his chest."
Fury felt his mood worsen.
"So you have no idea what they talked about?"
"Of course not. We're just a bunch of magic apprentices. The Sorcerer Supreme said she'll have a use for us soon, but I haven't figured out how she'll use us yet."
Dum Dum Dugan also looked perplexed.
Based on the results S.H.I.E.L.D. had gathered so far, their research into magic wasn't very deep. They only knew that talented mages could generate magical particles within their bodies through study, and by mastering the relevant spells, they could convert these particles into powerful magic.
They had yet to grasp the truth: that using magic is a form of borrowing.
Therefore, even someone as cunning as Fury couldn't understand the Ancient One's actions. What was the point of recruiting so many Dum Dum Dugans?
"Chief, we're about to have a major operation. Although it's not right for me to leak secrets to you, from what I can tell, the Sorcerer Supreme has no intention of hiding the truth."
Dum Dum Dugan tapped his head, scrolling through the cloud-saved memory shared by his numerous clones. "Almost all the sorcerers have been dispatched, spread out across the world, seemingly preparing to face an extremely terrifying enemy. This is the first time I've ever seen them like this."
"What about you? Since there are so many of you, you must have received missions from the Ancient One, right?"
"No, quite the opposite, Chief. Not a single one of me was sent out. We were all left behind to guard the Sanctum."
Dum Dum Dugan suspected it was because their strength was too weak, but then he thought again. Since all the sorcerers, including the other magic apprentices, had been sent out, there was no reason they wouldn't be included.
"Wait, Chief, new memory has been uploaded over there. Let me see... Damn it, what did I find? I saw a large group of Aliens mixed into our ranks, learning magic!"
They were truly shocked. Even upon entering the Grand Hall of Kamar-Taj, one could see Aliens. A mere glance out of the corner of one's eye at the burly and ferocious individuals nearby was enough to send a chill down one's spine.
Letting Aliens learn magic, was this the agreement Du Wa and the Sorcerer Supreme had reached?
All preparations were proceeding in an orderly manner.
Even the Dum Dum Dugans could feel the signs of an impending storm.
Just then, Fury heard Hill let out a cry of alarm.
"Not good! The Mother Mold platform, which was about to enter the Sun's orbit, has suddenly deviated slightly from its course!"
"Find the cause immediately. Our technology can't possibly fail at something like this," Fury said calmly.
Scientists and engineers came and went, their expressions grave as they conversed in low voices.
"The initial report is that some terrifying unknown entity has compressed the surrounding space, and our Mother Mold starship was unlucky enough to be hit by the force of this movement," a Scientist reported.
Fury stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky as if trying to see the edge of the Sun.
Some entity that could affect the Mother Mold? It sounded like a poor cosmic joke. What kind of immense mass would that require?
It seemed Kamar-Taj was preparing for this very thing.
"Recalibrate the orbit. We must deploy the Mother Mold to the designated location," Fury commanded.
"It's failed. We've completely lost contact with the Mother Mold platform... The Mother Mold has disappeared."
"?"
...
Dormammu indeed had reason to be furious.
As a renowned ancient Demon God in the universe, he was treated with the utmost respect wherever he went. Yet, he had suffered repeated setbacks on this tiny planet, Earth.
The Ancient One was like an indestructible wall. Though her strength was not as great as his, she always used various means to send him back empty-handed, time and time again.
What Dormammu found most unbearable was that the Ancient One was actually treating him, a supremely noble cosmic Demon God, like a sucker.
"Now, even my loyal servant Kaecilius is dead!"
The mere thought of this drove Dormammu into a frenzy of rage, his face contorted with cruelty as flames blazed furiously on his planet-sized body.
Those people on Earth would never know how much he had invested in Kaecilius.
Those fools had no idea what a heavy price Dormammu had paid to enhance Kaecilius's strength to a level where he could at least contend with the Ancient One for a few rounds.
Dormammu would sometimes have a vague feeling of lofty beings wandering in the endlessly distant higher dimensions, occasionally staring at him with malicious and ill-intentioned eyes, clearly assessing a delicious meal.
Dormammu felt he had done so much and gotten nothing in return. Rapidly cultivating Kaecilius and a host of other Black Magicians, which caused him to shoulder even greater burdens, was all for the purpose of sending them to destroy the magical formations on Earth and ultimately achieve his goal of killing the Ancient One.
Sending a group of small debtors to deal with someone who owed a colossal debt? Dormammu also felt something was not quite right, but he had no choice before.
But now, he no longer had to worry about this. Dormammu decided to act personally.
Killing the Ancient One was not the goal; capturing the origin of the Aliens was.
A deep, cruel glint emerged in Dormammu's enormous, starless eyes.
The Alien creature was simply too suitable as a vessel for his needs.
As long as he could control the origin and meticulously create magical bodies, Dormammu could continuously create magical clones and deploy them to Earth in massive numbers.
"The Ancient One can rely on magical formations and artifacts to resist me, but can she stop countless weaker versions of me from appearing all over Earth?"
Unfortunately, that fool Kaecilius had accomplished nothing. After so many years of toil, he had uselessly consumed countless black magic quotas. Now his death settled everything, forcing Dormammu to take action himself.
The more Dormammu thought, the angrier he became. Terrifying flames coalesced in his hand. With a remote grasp into the endless void, a phantom-like figure of Kaecilius appeared in his palm.
"Lord Dormammu? I knew I wouldn't die, as long as you were here..."
"No, you will die. A constant failure like you is nothing but a burden to me! You are nothing more than that! It's better for you to die sooner. Become one with my Dark Dimension forever."
With Kaecilius's final scream, Dormammu crushed his soul into its most primitive energy and merged it into the Dark Dimension.
Kaecilius would not be lonely, for he would be with the countless dead planets in this Dark Dimension, a corpse pile built from trillions of lives.
Dormammu lunged ferociously towards Earth. The vast Dark Dimension now tore open a terrifying rift, aimed directly at the entire solar system.
Of course, during this process, Dormammu also noticed that his world had incidentally swallowed a strange technological construct, but such things happened from time to time and were not worth his attention.
Everyone seemed to sense something. They all raised their heads, staring dumbfounded at the tumultuous sky.
Within their field of vision, it was as if a terrifying black hole had been torn open, brewing an aftershock that threatened to devour everything.
Even an ordinary person with no transcendent power now felt as if they were being stared at by an extremely terrifying monster from across countless light-years. A shudder from the very soul, a despair that terminated all thought, ravaged the entire planet.
Faced with the terrifying mass of a single-universe-level entity, Earth seemed minuscule.
The entire Earth began to stir. Various factions started using every means at their disposal to investigate the source of this change. Those powerful individuals at the very top prepared for the worst.
Whatever could cause such a commotion must be an unimaginably terrifying enemy from the depths of the universe.
"What's going on? I feel so cold, like there are countless people screaming inside my head!"
"God! Look at outer space with an astronomical telescope! A huge rift has appeared in that direction!"
"Is it a god or a demon? Why has it come to Earth?"
"An Alien! I want to become an Alien!!"
Countless erudite scholars were frantically poring over ancient texts, trying to find some clue from history, to identify this unknown visitor.
But no matter what they did, in the face of such a powerful enemy, everything seemed pale and futile.
This was also the first time that modern humans had to face a being of this level—a Demon God from another dimension.
Mountains trembled, and the ocean roared.
On the Moon, Black Bolt had already donned his battle suit. His cold face showed no emotional fluctuation. He simply raised his head, his gaze fixed on the rift where the Dark Dimension met the reality of the universe.
As a Skyfather-level powerhouse, Black Bolt knew more than ordinary people. He was well aware of how dangerous a being Dormammu was.
But he had no choice. If Earth was destroyed, the Moon could not hope to survive alone.
However, Black Bolt did not rush into action. He alone was far from being Dormammu's opponent. He focused his attention on the activity on Earth.
In the next second, an intense magical fluctuation erupted from Earth. Three extremely bright points of light shone brilliantly in the dark vacuum of space, firmly sheltering the planet.
The Sorcerer Supreme had made her move. Everyone, including Black Bolt, let out a brief sigh of relief.
The drastic upheaval in Midgard quickly spread through the World Tree. Before long, all the other worlds felt Dormammu's arrival.
It was important to note that almost every world was guarded by a Skyfather-level powerhouse.
On numerous planets, the warring Asgardians and people of Jotunheim now paused their fighting, tacitly retreating and awaiting the outcome in Midgard.
Even Odin couldn't help but rise to his feet, gazing in the direction of Midgard.
"The master of the Dark Dimension... this fellow's strength is no less than that of the Celestials. In some ways, he's even more difficult to deal with than the Celestials."
Odin could see that Dormammu's attack this time was aggressive and menacing, clearly determined to achieve his goal.
But in many past confrontations, Dormammu had never gained much of an advantage over the Ancient One. So this time, was Dormammu confident he could devour Earth? Was that why he was putting on such a show?
"It seems I can no longer remain silent. If this were a thousand years ago, Dormammu would never dare to be so audacious."
A look of exhaustion was plain on Odin's face.
The vast Odin Force within him constantly exerted immense pressure on his body and mind, leaving him teetering on the verge of total collapse.
The racial trait of the Asgardians was that the older they grew, the stronger they became, and the faster their divine power increased. So in theory, an elderly Asgardian was at their peak combat power. But once they entered the final stage of their life, the speed of their fall from that peak would also be unimaginably fast.
The mighty divine power accumulated over a lifetime would ultimately become the deadliest assassin that crushed them.
Odin felt that Loki spreading news of his feigned death had made many believe it was true, and they had thus become increasingly brazen.
Laufey was one such case, and so was Dormammu.
Odin assessed his own condition. Even with Gungnir in hand and clad in the Destroyer Armor, he might not be able to stand against Dormammu, but defeating Laufey was not a problem.
"Let's see the Ancient One's preparations first. If she really can't hold him back, then I will act. It is the mission of the King of the Gods of Asgard to protect the peace and order of the Nine Realms. However, after this battle, it will be up to Loki and Thor to deal with Laufey." A trace of worry flashed in Odin's eyes.
If only he had a reliable heir, he wouldn't have to worry so much and could pass on his Odin Force directly.
Fortunately, Thor had changed a lot. Even now, he was still fighting bloody battles on the front lines with his alien army.
Odin also wanted to take this opportunity to observe the Ancient One one last time. He had always wanted to know what she was so worried about. Was it really just Dormammu?
On the Helicarrier.
Nick Fury calculated the position of the rift, subconsciously compared it to the full firepower of the Helicarrier, and immediately gave up hope. He then asked, "It seems our Mother Mold was devoured by the entity in that rift. We still can't confirm its identity?"
"No, but it's most likely a demonic beast from another world. Otherwise, Kamar-Taj wouldn't have reacted so strongly," Hill said. "This is the enemy Kamar-Taj was preparing to face."
The atmosphere on the Helicarrier was incredibly tense.
Fury's face had already turned from black to a shade of livid green.
The Mother Mold project was his key to suppressing the mutants and dismantling Du Wa's forces once again. As long as this project succeeded, Earth would return to its former state, and all disruptive elements would be eliminated.
But now, just as the Mother Mold platform was about to fall into place, ready to begin developing and mass-producing weapons of war at the edge of the Sun—the safest, most unexpected location—it had ended up like this, entering an unknown domain and disappearing without a trace.
Who knew how long it would take to build a second Mother Mold platform.
More importantly, the possibility of a leak had also increased dramatically.
This made the already exhausted Fury so frustrated he nearly coughed up blood. Not only had he lost the Mother Mold, but he now had to face this Demon God of unknown origin.
Even if the Ancient One successfully defeated the enemy, what then? As the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury had no idea how to quell the global chaos that was bound to erupt.
Was he supposed to explain to the people of the world that this was just a large-scale virtual reality show? That things like extraterrestrials, gods and demons, and otherworlds didn't exist?
It was impossible to hide. Utterly impossible.
"I can understand the Ancient One being prepared, but I don't understand why Du Wa is qualified to be involved. On what grounds was he chosen by the Ancient One? Don't tell me a person like him is preparing to take over her position."
Fury couldn't comprehend it. If the Ancient One chose Du Wa, she must be blind. Du Wa could very well turn the entire world's population into Aliens.
Du Wa looked up at the sky, also unable to comprehend this scene.
"In your previous confrontations, was Dormammu always this ostentatious? Openly making a move in this manner? I'm honestly worried he'll be swarmed by a group of Skyfathers from the World Tree in the next second."
"This is quite normal. While Dormammu has a cunning side, he is mostly defined by his extreme arrogance and conceit," the Ancient One said.
Du Wa nodded slightly. "But I like the way he says hello. No smoke and mirrors. However, regardless of the outcome of this battle, this world will be changed beyond recognition, heading down a different trajectory. I imagine you haven't seen this scene in your countless futures, have you?"
Even if this version of the Ancient One had a maverick style—likely one of the few in the entire Multiverse who would dare to play loan shark games with a whole bunch of multiversal deities—Du Wa believed that she should at least share a common trait with most other versions of herself: a dedication to protecting Earth.
"After this battle, the existence of Kamar-Taj will be completely exposed to the world. Even ordinary people will frantically search for evidence of your existence. It seems your past method of secretly protecting Earth will have to be changed starting today," Du Wa said.
"Perhaps there is another possibility. That we all die here today, and there will be no future to speak of, let alone any need to consider how to face the post-war Earth."
"That's true."
"After the battle starts, you will assist me."
The Ancient One raised her hand and beckoned. Two hovering cloaks flew over, one red, one blue.
"The red magic cloak can envelop the entire solar system, and the blue one can protect the Earth. You can choose one."
"Can't I have them all?" Du Wa was very interested in these two cloaks.
Under the terrifying pressure, the Ancient One just watched Du Wa calmly.
Du Wa smiled slightly and immediately summoned Reynolds.
Reynolds wanted to choose the red cloak, but the red cloak wanted nothing to do with him. Reynolds didn't care. He immediately grabbed the fleeing red cloak, forcibly draped it over his shoulders, and tied it around his neck.
"I've been working on my own battle suit lately, and I felt something was missing. Now it's complete."
Reynolds stretched out his thick arm, wrapping it tightly around the red cloak to prevent its escape, and grinned.
A piece of clothing that could think for itself and assist its master in battle—Reynolds was very satisfied. It was just a bit disobedient right now, but that was fine. Reynolds was confident his charm could win it over.
"But I still need to confirm something." Reynolds looked up at the sky with a fearful expression. "Boss, you're not really going to make me fight that thing, are you?"
"Relax, you're just providing support. Follow the Sorcerer Supreme's lead. My will shall be with you as well."
Reynolds felt a little more at ease. Du Wa's certainty always had a calming effect on him.
What's more, the so-called strongest person on Earth, the Sorcerer Supreme, was also present.
Reynolds felt the strength of his hovering cloak and immediately turned his gaze to the Ancient One, who was draped in the blue one.
"Don't do it, Reynolds. She is no ordinary opponent. You will be beaten to death."
"But you said I was stronger than anyone."
"That's right, I did say that. But she's not a person."
Du Wa dissuaded the eager Reynolds. Although the Ancient One appeared peaceful, it was entirely based on her supreme confidence in her own strength.
Because she knew she was powerful enough, she treated external matters with a polite indifference.
But if Reynolds really wanted to challenge the Ancient One, that would be a different matter entirely.
"The magical formations are fully active, and my people are in position. So, Sorcerer Supreme, what's the battle plan?" Du Wa asked.
Since the Ancient One was taking the lead and having Du Wa assist, there must be a detailed strategy.
The Ancient One's expression was gentle. "There is no such thing. You just need to charge with me. It would be best to use the weapons you've prepared at this time, otherwise, there might not be a later. Also, let me remind you, based on my understanding of Dormammu, his target this time might not be me, or even necessarily Earth."
Du Wa's eyes narrowed in thought. He remembered Kaecilius's obsession with him.
"Yes, I understand. I thought I was just here to help out, but I've unexpectedly become a key figure directly affecting the safety of Earth... Dormammu cannot be allowed to succeed. I'll have to use a few of the one-time contingency plans I've prepared."
Du Wa looked up at the rift, which had now expanded to its maximum size, and saw a giant eye of Dormammu peering out from within.
"Reynolds, do you remember what I told you? You are very strong, with extraordinary potential. Now is the time to fully unleash your potential—as an Alien."
(end of chapter)