Doctor Strange seemed to hear the bartender's thoughts.
With a wave of his hand, two teleportation portals appeared.
However, Venom sensed danger at this moment.
With a roar, it forcefully took control of Eddie's body, merging with him to become the true Venom. They crashed through the bar's wall and escaped.
Doctor Strange immediately chased after them.
"Wait! You haven't paid yet!" The bartender's angry voice echoed in the bar.
"Oh! Sir, I'm grateful for your help! Although skipping out on the bill isn't what honest Eddie should do, you're the one responsible for all this, not me," Eddie shouted loudly as he ran, occasionally looking back at Doctor Strange.
A black line appeared on Doctor Strange's head.
He thought this guy suddenly wanted to thank him for something, but it turns out he was blaming Doctor Strange for skipping out on the bill!
"If you want to thank me, come with me," Doctor Strange said. He extended his hand, and a teleportation portal appeared in front of Venom.
"Oh no!" Venom suddenly changed direction, darting past the portal's side. He looked suspicious. "What on earth is this thing? Magic?"
"That's right, it's Magic." Doctor Strange swung his right hand, creating a beam of light that shot towards Venom.
"Weird powers. There's actually magic in this world? This place is more complicated than I thought!" Venom grinned.
He had no intention of fighting and continued running forward.
However, Doctor Strange had numerous tricks up his sleeve, and Venom couldn't get far. He was constantly pulled back to the same spot by Doctor Strange.
But for a moment, Doctor Strange couldn't do much against Venom. The symbiote appeared large but surprisingly agile.
Moreover, Doctor Strange had just attempted to separate Venom from Eddie's body, only to fail.
It seemed like this guy didn't have a soul!
How was that possible?
At this moment, Doctor Strange truly understood the meaning behind what Mark had called "tricky."
However, Doctor Strange was not without the means to subdue Venom.
He extended both hands and drew magical runes in the air.
In his right hand, a whip of flames formed, tracing a circle around the area, directly enclosing it.
Then, the whip of flames transformed into a towering wall of fire, blazing fiercely.
"Ah ah ah!" Venom let out a terrified howl.
Fire was his weakness!
Deep fear almost made him shrink back.
At the critical moment, Eddie regained control of his body.
He attempted to break through the wall of fire and escape.
However, realizing the intense heat of the flames, he looked up at the sky.
"It's about a dozen meters; it should be doable." Eddie estimated the distance in his mind, checked his own condition, and then made a desperate leap.
But at that moment, the circular light from Doctor Strange's left hand flew into the sky, appearing directly in front of Venom, blocking their way.
The circular light instantly split into dozens of pieces, spinning rapidly.
As they rubbed against each other, they produced an extremely harsh noise.
"Ah—"
*Roar—*
Venom crashed heavily to the ground, and the voices of both Eddie and the Venom symbiote sounded together.
Seeing this scene, Doctor Strange breathed a sigh of relief.
It was fortunate that Mark had informed him of Venom's weakness ahead of time. Combined with this guy's overconfidence, otherwise, dealing with him could have been quite tricky.
Doctor Strange performed a teleportation spell, transferring Venom to the underground chamber of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
"Oh? Mr. Strange is back too?"
As a glowing portal appeared, Mark, Spider-Tom, and Max had just returned to the underground chamber of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Doctor Strange stepped out of the portal, looking somewhat exhausted.
Mark was curious. "Did you find Venom?"
Doctor Strange pointed to the magical prison in the corner. "Found him, surprisingly easy."
Because he knew Venom's weakness, the battle didn't take too long. However, the search had consumed a great deal of his energy.
In a short time, he had opened so many portals and searched almost the entire world, checking everyone named Eddie Brock. The magnitude of the task was enormous.
Right now, he just wanted to rest.
But he forced himself to stay alert and asked, "How about your side? What's the situation?"
Mark gestured towards Max behind him. "We initially found two of them, but unfortunately, one got away. The good news is, Max here will join us in the search."
Doctor Strange glanced at Max, nodded without much expression, likely trusting in Mark's abilities.
Mark walked over to the man lying on the ground in the darkest corner of the underground chamber.
"Is this Venom?"
Unfortunately, Mark couldn't see his face, so he couldn't confirm whether this was the version of Venom from Tobey's Spider-Verse or the one he had seen a bit of in "Venom: Let There Be Carnage."
These two versions were quite different and represented entirely different meanings.
The former was a pure antagonist, and in that world, Eddie Brock held a deep grudge against Spider-Man, positioning him firmly as an antagonist.
The latter, however, could be considered an anti-hero.
An anti-hero is a character who has the qualities of a protagonist but also exhibits the flaws of an antagonist. They don't shine as brightly as traditional heroes and aren't universally praised, but they have their own set of moral standards.
At times, they are heroes, while at other times, they are despised and even considered villains.
Representative examples include Deadpool, certain versions of Venom, Catwoman, DC's Red Hood, and more.
Compared to traditional heroes, they are more relatable, more in tune with human complexity.
But if it's the latter, it raises a serious question!
Because Venom from "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" comes from another independent universe!
This indicates that, apart from the original Spider-Verse with Tobey and Andrew, there's a third parallel universe affected by this event.
Could there be a fourth, fifth, or even more?
"Hey! Are you Eddie Brock?" Mark squatted in front of the magical prison barrier and knocked on it. "What's your girlfriend's name? Gwen or Anne?"
"Dammit! Who the hell are you, blabbering endlessly? I'm gonna tear your mouth apart!" Eddie Brock cursed as he got up from the ground and looked at Mark.
Then he glanced around. "Where am I?"
Mark kindly introduced, "You're in the magical dungeon of the greatest sorcerer in this world. Impressed?"
Eddie Brock rolled his eyes. "The greatest sorcerer in the world? You must think highly of me! Should I thank him?"
"No need for thanks; he's not here right now," Mark turned to look, not seeing Doctor Strange around, figuring he had gone to rest.
Then he turned back to Eddie in the cell. "You haven't answered my question yet. What's your girlfriend's name?"
Eddie Brock walked around the magical prison barrier, seemingly observing if there was any escape route.
He looked puzzled at Mark. "Why do you care so much about my girlfriend? Do you have some special fascination with other people's girlfriends? Let me disappoint you; I don't have a girlfriend."
"None?" Mark selectively ignored Eddie's profanity.
At this age and still no girlfriend? That didn't quite fit the norm, ain't it?
"What about your ex-girlfriend?" Mark continued to ask.
Bam!
Eddie Brock suddenly rushed up to Mark, punching the magical barrier. "What the heck are you trying to do? After bothering about my girlfriend, now you're curious about my ex-girlfriend? I'm gonna beat you to a pulp today!"
Mark: "."
Some awkward looks were cast from behind.
Mark turned his head and found that Spider-Tom had discreetly moved MJ slightly behind him.
What the heck!
Mark had a twitch on his forehead. "I just wanted to confirm if you're from the world I know! Okay, okay, my bad. Let me rephrase it. Do you know 'Venom: Lethal Protector'?"
Eddie began to reply, "Why do you..."
"Hahaha! See, I told you someone likes that name!" A dark head emerged from Eddie Brock's neck, abruptly interrupting Eddie's words.
"Venom..." Mark's expression froze.
However, after seeing the appearance of this symbiote and hearing what it just said, Mark finally confirmed its origin.
Yes, he was the protagonist from "Venom"! A true anti-hero!
But this directly indicated another issue: it wasn't just those two worlds connected to this universe! Perhaps there were even more parallel universe visitors roaming around in this world!
"Kid, I admire you. Want to play with me?" Venom's head pulled out a strand from Eddie Brock's body and pressed its entire face against the magical barrier, looking at Mark.
Full of fangs, and it had a crimson, oversized tongue. Oddly enough, it had a somewhat ugly-cool appearance.
Mark shook his head. "Too bad, I'm not interested in you, and I don't want another consciousness sharing everything with me."
"What a pity. Don't you want to gain tremendous power? I can make you very powerful!" The Venom symbiote didn't want to give up.
It sensed an extremely powerful aura from Mark's body. Although it got along very harmoniously with Eddie Brock, pursuing powerful genes was an instinct among the symbiotes. Only that way could they keep strengthening themselves!
Eddie shouted, "What! You want to go with him? You're not here for a girlfriend; you're here to steal him!"
"Hey, hey, don't make it sound like a love triangle. I've already said, I'm not interested in him." Mark spoke up to stop this nonsense; otherwise, his reputation would be ruined in a flash.
"What is he? Why does he look so... strange?" Spider-Tom and the others arrived at the scene. This question came from Ned.
"Symbiote Venom," Mark explained. "He's very dangerous. Don't come into contact with him; he'll eat your brain."
"What?" Ned stepped back in fear. "That's terrifying!"
°°°
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