After the dark clouds dispersed over the Himalaya Mountains, the weather began to brighten up. The sky, awash with purplish-blue hues, looked strangely enchanting. Barry, who had just finished his training in the martial arts field, was dripping with sweat. Clutching his magic wand, he returned to his dorm room, planning to take a shower and then get some rest.
He saw Little Bruce still bent over at his desk, the surface of which was stacked high with documents. The strange, twisted symbols he was writing filled the entire piece of parchment and made Barry dizzy just by glancing at them.
"Another unfortunate soul obsessed with forbidden knowledge," a voice echoed in Barry's mind. In his mind's eye, Doctor Strange, pale in complexion, sneered and said, "It won't be long before your partner is consumed by knowledge too profound for humans to understand. He's on the wrong path. The faster he goes, the closer he gets to destruction."
"Is devouring the counterparts from other universes the right path then?" Barry retorted sarcastically, "You're no better than him."
"I'll forgive your minor offense, child, but only out of my mercy, don't forget that you still need my help to take care of your partners."
Barry fell silent and didn't continue the conversation. Over the past few days, he had mostly figured out the identity of the entity haunting his dreams. Who claimed to be Doctor Strange from another universe. However, this Strange had taken a different course than the one Barry knew. He wielded a divine artifact known as the "Book of Dark God" and consumed the power of other versions of Doctor Strange via his dream walking ability.
According to him, he had devoured numerous counterparts from other universes, gaining immense power from them. He'd started using this power to explore the boundaries of his dream-walking abilities, hoping to harness the power of the Book of Dark God further.
In his continuous exploration, he discovered this strange universe which existed at the very edge of his dream-walking reach. This Strange, who had three eyes on his forehead, felt that this universe was different and that there would be even more powerful forces waiting for him to devour.
However, he could not find any traces of Doctor Strange in this universe during his dream searches. So, following some symbolic clues, he made his way to Karmatige Magic Academy and found Barry—another individual with extraordinary talents.
Barry agreed to form a contract with him, not because he wanted to assist in any wrongdoings, but due to the increasingly odd behavior of his two companions, Little Bruce and Harley.
After that day, Little Bruce had been acting strangely, drawing twisted runes without any formal training. This was the result of what he had glimpsed in his dreams. While he was still decoding it, Barry thought Little Bruce might have gone mad.
Harley had somehow procured a unique type of chaotic energy. In the first three preliminary matches, she had been nearly unstoppable, though her strikes were harsh. Her unfortunate opponents were surely in pain, judging by the screams, but they quickly recovered due to the healing capabilities of magic.
Barry had come to realize the world of magic was not what it seemed. Filled with pitfalls, chaos, and madness, everyone was slowly losing their sanity. If he didn't take precautions, he would also end up in danger.
This peculiar Doctor Strange was not an ideal collaborator, but Barry had no other choices. At least Strange seemed rational and capable of communication, which was preferable to unintelligible and maddening gods.
For now, Barry Allen was still an ordinary boy, but he had a firm moral baseline, which helped him distinguish right from wrong, even in the face of Doctor Strange's enticements.
However, he did not possess the top-notch wisdom of Little Bruce or Harley and was often tricked by Doctor Strange into revealing information about a distant, thriving world filled with untapped powerful forces - a world Strange wished to wait for Barry to return to, hoping to offer him opportunities to harness even more power.
Thus, each of the three held their secrets. Little Bruce was studying forbidden knowledge and seemed to have gained power from it. Harley had obtained the powerful chaotic energy and her crazy wisdom to support it. Barry, with Doctor Strange's attentive guidance, was relentlessly honing his power in the martial arts field.
The preliminary rounds ended quickly, and the semi-finals came much sooner than expected.
It was a particularly bright morning. The chilling wind that blew across the valley softened for the occasion. The dry autumn-like air pervaded the atmosphere as the kids emerged chaotically, flocking towards the edge of the field.
The field itself served as the ring, and right beside it, on the closest mountain cliff, a temporary stand was erected. Seated there were all the professors of the academy to date. The Master of the Holy Sword, who was the referee for the day, waved his magic wand and shot a dazzling beam of light into the sky, triggering the outbreak of cheers as the contestants walked out from the crowd.
As predicted, Helen Stark, Harley Quinn, Bruce Wayne, and Barry Allen had all made it to the semi-finals. This was hardly a surprise as there were few students able to form stable alliances with demons. Their opponents in majority were just ordinary students practicing a few spells with their magic wands.
Helen was the first to compete, facing a female student two grades above her. Looking at Helen, the senior student seemed to be afraid, engulfed by the rumors that Helen was the rightful heir. They feared any involvement with the Asgard royal family feud.
Helen levitated slightly. The divine power she inherited from Thor caused electricity to jump between her hands. The second the opposing student brandished her magic wand, an arc of electricity jumped onto her wrist, flinging the wand into the air with a "snap".
The student seemed panicked but didn't back down. A strong, dark force enveloped her. Helen didn't seem surprised, but Doctor Strange cried out in Barry's mind as he watched from the sidelines.
"Dormammu?!" Doctor Strange exclaimed in shock at the name, then added with even more astonishment, "What about the Supreme Magician? His student made a pact with Dormammu, becoming a follower of the dark dimension!"
"Can you stop overreacting?" Barry was clearly drained from all the intensive training, he retorted with a roll of his eyes, "I also have Dormammu's number. Do you want me to call him?"
What happened next left Doctor Strange even more astounded — after the girl was swiftly defeated by Helen, the next two students who appeared were legends in their own right. The powers of the Mephisto's Flames were awakened in one who ignited the inferno of hell on the field. Doctor Strange first thought that Hell's Master had invaded Earth.
The other student was even more extraordinary. With a wave of her hand, six deep-red ribbons enveloped her, impenetrable to the outside world. The potent power of the Scarlet Dimension even extinguished half of the demon flames.
These were seemingly young students, but what came out of their mouths were the words of seasoned villains.
"Shen Fang, you tread on Satan's back to leave Hell and stole a flame that wasn't your own. You are destined to be burned by it and fall into the Hell Abyss without peace!" she shouted.
"Silence and listen, Andriari! The power from the Scarlet Dimension cannot let you see the truth of this world. The world is destined to burn under the foot of my lord!" he countered.
"Excessive words will only expose your weakness. I will teach the heretics a profound lesson with the power of deep red!" she retorted.
"Mephisto is the only one who is truly evil!" he declared.
Countless flames emerged from the guy's back, nearly burning up the spatial structure. Behind him seemed to be the volcanoes and abyss of hell, where countless souls wailed in agony.
Matching his intensity, the girl in mid-air manifested a giant crimson hand from behind her, snuffing out the grasped flames like a candle in the wind. The subtle chants of the Deep Red believer sounded like distant thunder and nearby whispers.
At this moment, the sky over the Himalayas was divided into two halves, one black and one red.
"What's going on? Are the Demon Gods attacking Earth altogether?!" Doctor Strange started yelling in Barry's mind, "Is this universe's Supreme Magician just going to let this happen? Where is he?!"
Barry, cleaning his ears, replied dismissively, "Why don't you put your power in my eyes and look up at the sky?"
Doubtfully, Doctor Strange attached his power onto Barry's eyes, opening the vision of magic for him. And then he noticed, two gigantic figures were floating above the Himalayas, looking downwards.
Mephisto was leisurely grabbing souls from a tear in space, munching on them cheerily like an old man eating sunflower seeds, and Setorak seemed half-asleep, elbow on the arm-rest of his seat, gawking with one eye half-closed at the spectacle below.
"You're doing excellently! Use the fire to burn her ribbons... Are you stupid? How can you get ensnared?"
"Can you quiet down?" Setorak rolled his eyes, retorting, "You noisy goat foot."
"Hahahahaha! My disciple is about to take down yours!"
Mephisto burst out laughing, but he quickly stopped because his disciple was defeated in the next game by a disciple of the Serpent God Seth using insidious tactics. Mephisto immediately turned to stare angrily at a certain illusion in the air.
Looking around, Doctor Strange could see that the sky over the Himalayas was nearly overcrowded with Demon Gods snacking on seeds, chatting, and betting on the games. After each game, the cheers of the winners rang out loudly.
For a moment, the sky over Earth was filled with the sounds of booming drums, firecrackers, and cheering crowds. If one didn't know better, one would think a group of monkeys had invaded.
Although, technically, there were monkeys, but clearly, Doctor Strange was a little taken aback by the scenario unfolding before his eyes.
Dare the Demon Gods appear so brazenly without anyone to stop them? Where's Earth's Magical Defense Network? Where are the Grand Mages? And most importantly, where is the Supreme Magician?
Did the Supreme Magician really abandon his own home?
Turns out, I'm not the craziest one in the multiverse?!