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The In Between dimension [August 2015]
–Ancient One–
Ducking under another invisible space shard, she thrust her palm forward, releasing a beam of light that stuck center mass at the amalgamation of Dark Energy that Kaecilius had become. The light oriented spell made a sizzling sound upon contact and yet, she didn't hear any sound of pain from the entity standing before her.
It hadn't even moved from its place, only attacking her with invisible shards of space or the occasional dark energy beams. That spell would have induced pain in the very soul of Kaecilius and the fact that nothing of the sort was happening meant that Kaecilius was long gone by now, whatever was left was a shell piloted by Dormammu's will, nothing more.
Dormamu was using Kaecilius' soul as an anchor to stay in this realm and to continue pumping more and more Dark Energy to create something that would overpower her, and from the looks of it, he was succeeding. She couldn't escape because DOrmammu was using the Bulk of his Dark Energy to maintain the barrier keeping her trapped.
Her attacks did little actual damage since any gap was just mended by Dark Energy instantly. The spell soon fizzled out, and she had to lash out with her fans to deflect a rain of spatial shards, her instincts, and Dark Energy senses being the only thing keeping her alive and not a human equivalent of Swiss Cheese.
Yet another volley of spatial shards, this time from underground, had her hopping, making generous use of Dimensional energy to boost her physical characteristics to dodge every single shard being thrown at her. She was trying her best here and yet, there were no signs of Jack or any other Master being here. Abruptly, she whirled around and thrust both her hands, wincing as they were both impaled by the two zealots that had since been healed or more like, taken over by Dormammu with their facial features twisted in pain.
Generating a shockwave, she jumped back to create distance but choked as she felt a shard puncture her lung. She reached towards her back and crushed the shard with her now ruined hand and dropped down on the ground. She looked up and Kaecilius or what was left of him was slowly floating towards her.
Coughing, she could feel her hold on her energy slip away and in the situation, she was left with no chance to do anything but wait for death. Igniting her soul to self destruct would have been an option had her soul not already been tainted. She coughed out even more blood as a shadow loomed over her.
She tried to mold Dimensional energy but it was pointless, the damage was too much. She could feel death approaching and for once in her long life? She was at peace. If she was going to die, she was going to die with dignity.
She opened her eyes, her blurry vision informing her about the massive hand that was raised by Kaecilius, Dormammu apparently choosing to end things in a grisly manner, and yet, despite the looming threat, she smiled.
She smiled as she saw something through the haziness of the barrier. With every ounce of will that she had cultivated for herself in her centuries of life, she molded Dimensional Energy for one last spell.
A spell that she would have cast with a snap of her fingers just a scant few hours ago but now needed all of her focus. She felt the impact as everything around her shuddered, the light in the distance growing as she closed her eyes and cast her final spell.
A small range displacement spell. She didn't cast it on herself, she was a lost cause now but on the treaty papers. She could not have the Fae get the opportunity to rampage on Earth, especially since they had been blocked for centuries.
Then, she felt something heavy hit her face before it all went…black.
____xx__
London Sanctum
–HIVE–
He arrived in the designated location, cloaked because of the powers of his minions. Truly, they were very useful in the current situation because he didn't have to deal with anyone truly powerful. Otherwise, they were useless. He needed more Royal Blooded Inhumans, to get truly powerful abilities, and yet frustratingly, his search yielded no fruit. It was as if they had all been killed off or more likely, had been hidden somewhere, and yet, he couldn't fathom where they could be hiding.
He had been on all the seven continents and yet, he had yet to even get a whiff of any truly strong Inhuman, save for Jack and even him he could not control because his powers registered Jack as an Inhuman but not a Royal blooded one, despite being this powerful.
"Inform me once they arrive." He ordered one of his minions before heading into another room, not too excited to sit around waiting for Kaecilius to arrive, especially since he was going to betray them. He entered the other room and sat down in the office chair, ready to continue reading his book when he felt something touching his feet.
His gaze instantly went down as he saw a ball of some sort, glowing a dark purple color resting against his feet. For some reason, all his mind could think of was touching that ball of dazzling purple. His hand was outstretched towards the ball as the book slipped from his lap. The second his fingers touched the ball…..
His chest thumped, his mind going blank as he found himself in a dark space, facing a giant?
"Hmm, truly, some monkeys are much better than other monkeys and yet, they all have one thing in common," Was all he heard before all he could see was a purple wave headed towards him before…..
____xx____
–HIVE [Repossessed]--
"Start the assault, use the bombs, make sure nothing remains of the place," he ordered the other monkeys using the subtle mental connection that he now empowered with all the monkeys this body had placed under its control, before giving them a boost of his power, further putting them under his control. When he saw them leave through the walls after he had boosted the power of one of the monkeys, he grinned.
Looking at the hands of this body, the amount of Dark Energy flowing through it without breaking apart like other fragile bodies, he grinned. It was as if this body was built for him. Accessing the monkey's memories told him as to why that was. That stone that was used to make him, the blue monkeys somehow got their hands on the core of one of his Dark Generals' cores, probably after some errant God destroyed it.
They used that core to make this body and as a result of that…. His hand waved through thin air as ripples in space appeared right after that. The amount of energy he could exert in this body was truly remarkable, especially since his newest toy was all but dead.
Oh well, at least he was going to take out the most irritating pest he had ever had the misfortune of meet–
He paused mid stride, as he felt something shatter the barrier he'd cast to kill the Ancient One, once and for all. No matter, he also felt the satisfying squelch of that monkey finally dying. He also felt the activation of the spatial magic, something he could have stopped had the body he was piloting been intact. His brows creased as he felt his connection to them wink out of existence as their bodies were…erased?
No matter, he took a single step forward and came face to face with the destroyed visage of the shield anchor. Now, all that was left was the last one, and had it been the pest from before, he would have taken the time to gloat more but for now, he was just excited to finally consume Earth and gain the One Magic. It would propel him to the top of the Lords of Chaos and he could not wait!
Sending away the monkeys, he appeared in the middle of the rubble, and with a twitch of his finger, the Sling Ring was torn apart from the corpse of the guardian of this anchor, with the monkey's finger still attached to it. As soon as he put it on his finger, he used his own energy as a substitute and in the next moment, he was in front of the Last Anchor of the planet.
Not in the mood for playing around with these monkeys, he punched out, releasing a wave of Dark energy that punched through the wards and created a hole in the anchor building. Another step had him right in the center of the anchor building, coincidentally right where the Guardian of this anchor building had collapsed.
"Now, what a coincidence," He grinned at the downed Guardian before he punched down, his hand going through bones and muscles alike as it connected with the anchor, releasing a wave of Dark Energy, erasing the guardian as well as the anchor all around him.
The next second, this body was flooded with even more Dark Energy as he floated mid air, Dark Energy cocooning all around him. Using this body as an Anchor, he cast a spell for his dimension to latch onto the anchor and bleed itself into this universe.
He grinned as the atmosphere all around them began fracturing, as his energy began penetrating this world, finally.
"HAHAHAHA!" He laughed as he floated mid air, not even paying any attention to the monkeys gathering around him, pointing their flimsy things at him. They were all going to be dead soon anyway. What was the point of talking to corpses?
He stopped mid laughter as he felt something impact him. He looked as he saw a bright blue blast impacting him. It barely registered and yet, his curiosity was peaked as he knew that this was not the same monkey who could have posed a problem to his plans, had he not found this perfect host body.
He saw a monkey, floating? In red armour, which was joined by other floating monkeys. This time, the blast was much bigger and yet, not that much powerful. Bored, he waved his hand, sending an omnidirectional wave of his energy, knocking the armoured monkey back.
His hands behind his back, he floated above the city, waiting for the strongest monkeys on the planet to come and try to stop him. He would love to see their futile struggles against him, their fear would be delectable.
___xx____
Previously
—Jack Sullivan—
"NOOO!" He screamed as he broke through the barrier, which actually required the usage of a controlled blast of the Power Stone before he blasted through the entire thing, arriving right at the big ball of Dark Energy. He felt something hit his barriers, something light but he ignored that as he drove his fist, glowing purple right through the body of the Beast and yet….
He averted his eyes as he was late, way too late. Waving his hand, he fought back the tears as an opaque barrier covered the…remains of the Ancient One.
He was about to open a portal to call in all the Masters before he felt something. Eyes widening, he created a barrier around himself, powered by the Power Stone, and closed his eyes, calling on his Astral Form.
"Ancient One!" He called out as he saw the leader of Kamar Taj in front of him, smiling softly at him.
"I am afraid I don't have long, Master Sullivan, so please, listen carefully." he choked back his words and just nodded.
"First, make sure that those treaty papers are logged properly in the Sanctum Room so that the Vishanti have a legitimate copy of it. They are very important."
He nodded slowly, his eyes widening a bit more as he saw her form becoming even more transparent, parts of her lower body flaking away, even in the Astral realm.
"Second, in my authority as the Sorcerer Supreme, I now appoint you as my successor. You are free to wield the Time Stone now," As she spoke, he felt something settle over him, like a weight, heavy but comfortable.
"That is the mantle of Kamar Taj, granted by Me and recognised by the Vishanti. Treat it with respect, don't just hand it over to anyone, it will revoke their access to the Eye."
He nodded once again, feeling the mantle on his neck. It was completely white and yet, he could see three different shades of white in it.
"Lastly, Dormammu is vastly more prepared this time. Make sure he is stopped. He was colluding with the Fae earlier, be careful."
"Don't worry, I will deal with him."
She smiled softly at him, only her torso left at this point, "I know you will, Sorcerer Supreme."
With those parting words, her form dissipated as he too returned to his body. Standing up, he looked at the slowly rising forms of the two zealots as his eyes burned with ferocity.
Calling upon the Power Stone, he let loose multiple streams of energy that burned through their bodies as well as the large mass of Dark Energy that had spilled over everywhere. After he was done sealing the Dark Energy infected landmass in the mirror dimension, he opened a portal and came to Kamar Taj and immediately felt the difference.
The wards, they latched on to him as soon as he arrived, giving him complete control over the wards of the place. He could place it wherever he wanted to, complete control over atmosphere and space as well as limited control over time in this space was granted to him as the bearer of the Mantle.
His mind was supplied with another piece of interesting information.
The Sling Ring network. The network of Sling Rings that allowed the Master of the network to track every single ring and every single ring usage. That came in handy as it told him the precise location of every single Sling Ring and ergo, every single Master of Kamar Taj on the planet.
Sighing once more, he ignored all the Masters and went straight to the Library. This time, he could feel the wards snap off as soon as they recognised his arrival. Taking hold of the Eye with both of his hands, he felt its weight as he placed it on his neck.
As soon as he did so, the weight became negligent and it felt like he was wearing nothing. Another flash in his mind had him grunting in pain as another packet of data was downloaded right into his mind.
"Right, that's how Strange knew every single spell of the Eye so well," He muttered as he felt the full breadth of the Eye's abilities become accessible to him. No wonder Strange had learned everything so quickly, he was probably already granted access to the mantle probably.
Now, his eyes glinting green, all that was left was for Dormammu's all zealots to be sent back to his realm. After all, if they wanted Immortality so much, they could enjoy Eternal Torment in the Dark Dimension for all he cared.
It was their choice to sell their soul to the Dark Lord and it would be his choice to send them to Dormammu.
That was his promise. He vowed as the substitute Sorcerer Supreme.
He was not going to stay in this position for long, no matter what Ancient Sorcerers or extra dimensional God like entities said about it.
Word Count - 2643
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