Seeing annabelle suddenly shatter into pieces, Sharlot knew that his previous mental and physical attacks had finally worked!
Despite this, Sharlot did not relax his vigilance.
Instead, he reopened Hell's Gate, this time choosing a black volcano erupting with eerie green lava in the Dark Dimension, and threw the already shattered annabelle into it.
He watched it melt, then returned to Gwen's house and waited for another hour.
After confirming that annabelle had not recovered as it had before, Sharlot let out a long sigh of relief.
It seemed this Class C exorcism incident was completely resolved.
However, one thing struck Sharlot as odd.
According to Director George's description, annabelle could indeed cause people to fall into nightmares and experience pain within them.
But it was more of a passive influence, not an active attack like before!
annabelle's behavior just now, in Sharlot's opinion, was as if... someone was controlling it!
Could it be... Agatha!?
Thinking of this, Sharlot's heart tightened again.
If Agatha was controlling annabelle to attack, didn't that mean he had been targeted by Agatha, a Witch who had lived for four hundred years?
And since he had just counterattacked with the Chaos Shield, wasn't Agatha currently trapped in an illusion?
Wouldn't she hate him even more when she woke up?
At this thought, Sharlot's head began to ache.
Immersed in Dark Magic, having lived for four hundred years, possessing the darkhold, and with a backing suspected to be Pluto Chthon—such an Agatha truly seemed difficult to deal with!
Sharlot felt that after tonight, he should first return to Kamar-Taj to lie low for a month or two.
After all, Kamar-Taj had the Ancient One Great Master, who had lived for thousands of years.
And behind the Ancient One Great Master was Eternity, one of the Five Great Gods!
Surely, no matter how bold Agatha was, she wouldn't attempt something as crazy as forcing her way into Kamar-Taj, would she?
And he could use this time to lie low and learn a few more magic spells, especially some powerful big moves.
For example, Bozat's Thunder, the Swords of Vishanti, Winds of Watoomb, and the Shield of the Seraphim—these were the big moves Doctor Strange would only use in the later parts of the movie, specifically to counter Thanos.
If he learned these big moves, he should be more composed when facing Agatha, right?
Thinking about the enemy he was about to face, and the things he had to do in the near future, Sharlot couldn't help but sigh.
"Sigh~ (￣▽￣)"
"I originally thought this exorcism mission would just broaden my horizons and give me some experience, preparing me for dealing with big figures like Thanos and Dormammu in the future.
But who knew, this whole night has been nothing but bad news?"
Just as Sharlot was lamenting, Gwen, who had been the first to fall into a nightmare due to annabelle's influence, slowly woke up.
Seeing this, Sharlot quickly went over.
"How are you, Gwen? Do you feel any better?"
Gwen touched her aching head. For some reason, she felt that the power that had been tormenting her and causing nightmares every night had vanished.
"Master Sharlot, is everything over?"
Sharlot nodded and said, "Don't worry, annabelle has completely disappeared.
This exorcism has been successfully completed, and your father, George, should wake up soon.
Don't worry, Gwen, with me here, you won't be in any danger again!"
Gwen looked at the pleasant-voiced Sharlot in front of her, recalling what Sharlot had also said to her in the nightmare earlier—
"I will definitely help you drive away annabelle.
Even if I don't, I will always be with you."
Gwen couldn't help but murmur, "Will Sharlot protect me, whether in dreams or in reality?"
Gwen's voice was so soft that Sharlot didn't react for a moment.
"Gwen, what did you just say?"
Hearing Sharlot's words, Gwen hastily stopped her soliloquy, a maidenly blush appearing on her face, and explained softly, "Nothing, I was just saying... Thank you, Master Sharlot."
After speaking, Gwen, the young girl liberated from a month-long nightmare, gave Sharlot a hug filled with both gratitude and a hint of a different, maidenly emotion.
Feeling the sudden warmth against his chest, Sharlot was startled, then a smile appeared on his face.
It seemed tonight wasn't entirely bad news... Another half an hour passed.
Downstairs at Gwen's house, after waking up and learning that Sharlot had successfully completed the exorcism without his help, Wong couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
After all, Sorcerer Ancient One had personally instructed him to help Sharlot with his first exorcism mission.
But what happened? He came all this way and achieved nothing useful; he was carried by Sharlot, an Apprentice Sorcerer, the entire time.
In fact, if he had come alone tonight, he probably would have been having nightmares with George and the others.
At this thought, Wong's face was filled with embarrassment; he felt like he couldn't hold his head up.
Sharlot noticed Wong's awkwardness and proactively changed the subject, saying, "By the way, Wong, what was your nightmare about?"
Hearing this, Wong's face twitched slightly.
He spoke with lingering fear, "Hiss—don't even mention it.
Just now, I dreamed that in the near future, the Archsorcerer Kaecilius and Mordo would both fall into darkness!
For some unknown reason, Kaecilius killed the Kamar-Taj librarian, stole the books specifically for communicating with Dormammu, and eventually became a disciple of the Dark Lord Dormammu.
He even murdered Sorcerer Ancient One! He made her fall from a great height, dead beyond all doubt!
And Mordo was even stranger! For no good reason, he also turned dark.
I don't know why, but he suddenly betrayed Kamar-Taj, began siphoning magical energy from Kamar-Taj Sorcerers scattered across the World, and eventually became an existence no weaker than the Sorcerer Supreme!
He openly became an enemy to you and me!
This was simply too terrifying! You tell me, how could these two possibly end up like that for no reason?!
Fortunately, all of it was just a nightmare created by annabelle."
Watching Wong's lingering fear, Sharlot's expression became strange.
Some say that dreams can give us different life experiences because our souls travel to different parallel Universes during sleep, experiencing another version of our lives.
Sharlot had been skeptical of this before, but now, seeing the content of Wong's nightmare, Sharlot couldn't help but believe it a little.
No matter what, he would treat Kaecilius and Mordo turning dark as a potential future scenario to prepare for.
Once he returned to Kamar-Taj, he would have to learn more magic.