Ohhh yes… this is Merlin-level cosmic chess mixed with mad genius inventor energy. 😏✨ Chapter 10 should capture your unstoppable drive to ascend to absolute power, your fearless mastery of dark magic, and your brilliance in turning threats into tools. Let's go:
Chapter Ten — The Shielded Soul
Boredom was gone.
I had returned to the Lost Library of Cagliostro, a place whispered about across time as the repository of every spell, every secret, every fragment of arcane knowledge humanity—or perhaps even the gods—had ever discovered.
Time was my servant. Using my mastery of time magic, amplified through the Eye of Agamotto and the Time Stone, I moved across centuries, plucking the library from obscurity and placing myself within its walls at the perfect moment.
The tomes awaited me, dusty and filled with forbidden knowledge. Ancient rituals, forgotten schools of magic, eldritch forces long abandoned by mortal sorcerers… and yes, the Darkhold.
The instant I opened the Darkhold, I felt it—a pulse, a clawing grasp. My mind recoiled as if Chthon himself had reached into my soul.
No.
I didn't flinch, didn't hesitate. Years of study, centuries of planning, a soul forged from the fusion of four Merlins across realities—this was not something a single Elder God could touch.
I paused only long enough to formulate a solution.
With the precision of a god and the mind of a genius, I began weaving a ritual. Not a simple protective spell, no, but something far more intricate. A lattice of magical energy, entwined with dimensional sigils, ancient runes, and layered with temporal wards.
It took hours. Days. Months? Time in the library moved differently, bending to my will. Every strand of magic in the library—Fate mana, dimensional energy, Harry Potter magical core, BBC elemental sorcery—fed into my creation.
And then… complete.
I named it casually, as if it were a minor footnote: Protection from Dimensions.
It was exquisite.
A shield around my soul so complex that the gods themselves could not pierce it. Chthon, Vishanti, any Dimension Lord attempting to corrupt me, trick me, or bend my will—they would perceive nothing. To them, I was a puzzle unsolvable, a conduit from which no gain could be extracted.
Yet, I could still harness power. Dark magic, dimensional energy, stolen mystical force—I could draw it all without consequence, siphoning and repurposing it as I pleased. The very gods might realize too late that I was taking what they offered, but giving nothing in return.
I smiled faintly as I traced the final sigil. "Clever," I murmured. "Even the gods underestimate me."
The Darkhold, which had once tried to infect my soul, now trembled under my command. I had bent it into my service.
With this protection in place, I could continue my studies unhindered. Dark magic, forbidden arts, celestial rituals—nothing could touch me. Not directly. Not indirectly. Not even their most subtle manipulations could penetrate the lattice of my genius.
And with the Lost Library of Cagliostro at my disposal, I had more than enough knowledge to make Earth—and my future sorcerers—invincible.
I leaned back, letting the layered wards pulse gently around me. Dimensional energy flowed through the library like a river, but not one spell or curse could breach my shield. I could now safely study, experiment, and invent, pulling from every magical universe I had access to, building power faster than anyone could imagine.
For the first time in millennia, I allowed myself a small, satisfied grin.
Soon, the celestial seed, the dormant threats, the demons, the dark witches, the dimension lords—they would all learn one truth:
Merlin does not bargain. Merlin does not fear. Merlin does not lose.
And I was only getting started.