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One of the heavily damaged skyscrapers finally gave way after the Void crashed through and snapped its last remaining support pillar.
The collapsing tower seemed to act as a signal.
Under the Sorcerer Supreme Ancient Oneâs incantation, the magical barriers protecting Earth through the three Sanctums simultaneously shut down.
Most of the Kamar-Taj mages and sorcerers couldnât sense exactly what had happened. They merely noticed that the magic within them had suddenly become far more active.
Only Frigga, Queen of Asgard, immediately understood.
She also understood the significance of those barriers, and asked in astonishment:
"Sorcerer Supreme, are you not afraid of a massive invasion by extradimensional entities?"
The white-bearded old mage replied helplessly:
"Better that than letting those two smash the barriers apart themselves and forcing us to painstakingly repair them afterward."
The ferocious battle no longer allowed the Sorcerer Supreme to remain a mere observer.
He instructed the others:
"Mordo, Kaeciliusâyou will each lead a group responsible for repairing the tears in space they create."
With a casual motion, the Ancient One opened and closed a portal instantly, bringing two people before him.
Jean Grey was startled by the silent teleportation.
Wanda Maximoff reacted similarly, though the moment she saw the old mage she respectfully greeted him:
"Sorcerer Supreme."
Jean Grey recognized Wanda MaximoffâQuicksilverâs sisterâand relaxed slightly. Rather than resisting or questioning anything immediately, she first chose to observe the situation.
"Miss Grey. Scarlet Witch. Your task is to suppress the Sentryâs large-scale matter manipulation abilities as much as possible."
The instruction left both heroines confused.
Wanda asked:
"Sorcerer Supreme, how are we supposed to do something like that? Weâve never learned magic like this."
"You donât need to learn it, child," the Ancient One replied. "When your instincts tell you something is wrong, resist with all your strength. That alone will suffice."
"In the face of primordial power, spells and incantations are unnecessary."
"And Scarlet Witchâyou are to lead that group."
He pointed toward the assembled witches and mages.
Wanda nodded.
"Understood, Sorcerer Supreme."
Jean Grey then asked:
"And me? Can I return to my teammates?"
"You may. But remember what I just told you. This is extremely important."
"Understood."
Jean followed Wanda away from the Kamar-Taj magesâ position.
Though she still didnât fully understand, she figured obeying was enough for now.
The Ancient One then turned to his disciple.
"Stark. You will use the Book of the Vishanti to create mirror dimensions and force those two to fight within them. Queen Frigga and I will serve as two corners of the Vishanti Triangular Formation to support your magic."
Tony Stark stared in shock.
"You mean Iâm leading this? Seriously?"
The distant battle had already begun twisting Manhattan into a surreal landscape.
Rifts in space.
Skyscrapers shattering like mirrors.
Strange galaxies appearing overhead.
Magnificent planets seemingly hanging just beyond reach.
And that didnât even include the countless indistinct eyes peering through the cracks in reality.
There were even more indescribable and incomprehensible things assaulting human sanity and understanding.
The Ancient Oneâs two senior disciples followed orders, each leading groups to repair the torn spaces.
The "wounds" had already become too dense to heal naturally. Left unchecked, dimensions would overlap, spatial chaos would spread, and catastrophe would become unavoidable.
Without another word, the Ancient One shoved the supreme artifactâthe Book of the Vishantiâinto his still immature discipleâs hands.
"Only you can keep up with his speed of thought. Neither Queen Frigga nor I can accomplish that."
"If you refuse, this world is doomed."
"Youâand heâare our hope."
"He will defeat the Void."
"You will protect Earth."
Watching his senior fellow disciples scrambling desperately despite having studied magic longer than him, Tony Stark finally stopped protesting.
He formed a spell seal with his hands.
The Book of the Vishanti floated before him, its pages rapidly turning.
Just from observing the destruction alone, Tony already understood that their battle was beginning to affect reality itself.
He had no illusions that trapping those two inside a mirror dimension would somehow imprison them permanently.
Without hesitation, he cast another spell.
The Eye of Agamotto immediately rose from his chest, projecting magical radiance that formed a miniature celestial sphere before him.
Even reduced to tiny points on the sphere, the two combatants moved at impossible speeds.
Tracking them with ordinary vision was utterly impossible.
Tony swept his right arm in a wide arc.
A mirror dimension formedâ
âand was immediately punched through.
Like paper.
The battlefield instantly returned to Earth.
At that moment, Tony finally understood why the Sorcerer Supreme had specifically chosen him to lead.
Only his uniquely rapid spellcasting mind could possibly keep up.
Supported by the Cloak of Levitation, Tony floated higher into the air, one knee bent.
The Book of the Vishanti acted as the arrowhead connecting him to Ancient One and Frigga behind him.
The Vishanti itself was a trinity of white magic gods.
At this moment, the phantom of Omnipotent Oshtur appeared behind the Ancient One.
Though from a different magical system, Queen Frigga borrowed the power of Hoary Hosts as well.
And when the image of Agamotto manifested over Tony Stark, he spread his hands outward like butterfly wingsâ
âand eight additional pairs of arms split from his body.
Together with his original arms, nine pairs of hands flew through spell signs at dizzying speed.
New York transformed into a kaleidoscope.
The night sky bloomed with multicolored geometric flowers.
Buildings generated more buildings like endlessly multiplying blocks that rolled and shifted through space.
Outside reality itself, Tony Stark created mirror dimension after mirror dimension.
Most were destroyed before they could fully stabilize.
If one actually completed formation, it didnât mean it had been luckyâ
It simply meant that dimension had failed to catch even a glimpse of those two monsters.
So Tony had to calculate coverage range, positioning, and construction speed.
He even needed to predict where the two monsters would move next and prepare dimensions in advance.
Without prediction, even ignoring spellcasting speed, his efforts could easily be wastedâcreating entire mirror worlds that the combatants never entered.
And all this was with support from Ancient One, Frigga, and the Book of the Vishanti dramatically accelerating dimension creation.
Even then, Tony couldnât simply cast a giant net over reality.
That approach was too slow.
He could only desperately predict their trajectory.
If only they would move their battle into outer space.
Unfortunately, the Void seemed deliberately fixated on densely populated New York, hoping to pressure Superman psychologically.
If this man dressed as Superman truly were the comic-book Superman, then the Voidâs strategy would undoubtedly have worked.
But...
He wasnât.
The one hunting the Void now was merely a blood-soaked madman wearing a red-and-blue suit.
He no longer cared about collateral damage.
He no longer cared whether reality itself collapsed.
He cared only about killing the Void with everything he had.
And this battle had long ceased being an exchange of blows.
It had become a one-sided manhunt.
Because he fought entirely through mutual destructionâtrading punch for punch, life for lifeâcompletely abandoning defense in order to beat the Void to death.
The most brutal exchange came when the Void took advantage of an opening, allowing himself to be punched through the abdomen in exchange for severing the attackerâs right arm.
He had assumed his regeneration far surpassed the otherâs.
Trading injuries should eventually kill his opponent first.
But the madman simply continued punching with the severed arm as though he hadnât even noticed his hand had been cut off at the wrist.
This should have been the Voidâs opportunity.
He could have capitalized on the berserk attack and widened the advantage.
Insteadâ
A blazing arm and fist formed entirely from condensed solar energy slammed directly into the Voidâs advancing face.
The strike was more effective than every previous attack combined.
The Void staggered, dizzy and horrified.
At this point, every wound on the manâs body radiated brilliant golden sunlight.
Just like the glowing arm, the light restored himâmaking him whole again, even stronger than before.
What exactly was this thing before him?
Even the Void no longer knew
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