Chapter 231: HAHAHA—THE ANCIENT ONE DIED!

Bang!

Strange was thrown outside like a piece of rotten garbage, crashing to the ground and lying there motionless.

Several seconds later, he sprang to his feet like a madman and began pounding on the door, but there was no response from inside.

He immediately broke down!

Hope was clearly right before his eyes, yet that single door had cut him off from everything!

One who had never seen the light could endure the darkness.

But after witnessing it, how could anyone return?

Outside the screen, many viewers looked at Strange with pity.

However, they were even more confused about why the Ancient One had done this.

Xavier's School.

Professor Charles appeared thoughtful.

Perhaps only after losing everything would a person truly learn to cherish hope.

Just like Raven.

He already regretted allowing her to leave like that.

The Sanctum!

The Ancient One and several other sorcerers were observing the dimensional defenses, seemingly guarding against something.

Mordo, who stood nearby, also wore an extremely solemn expression.

At that moment, the footage suddenly flashed back.

One month earlier, the sorcerer Kaecilius had betrayed Kamar-Taj, murdered the librarian, and stolen forbidden pages from the Book of Cagliostro!

One of those pages recorded a method of drawing power from the Dark Dimension, along with a spell for contacting its ruler!

Once all three Sanctums were destroyed, Dormammu, the Lord of Darkness, would be able to invade the material dimension!

In the next instant, an image appeared of Earth being dragged into the Dark Dimension and withering away!

S.H.I.E.L.D.!

Dense beads of sweat appeared across Nick Fury's bald head!

Unless he had seen incorrectly, the image of Earth withering had included a S.W.O.R.D. space station being destroyed!

Motherfucker!

Did that mean this Marvel World was actually his own!?

But could someone explain what the hell Kamar-Taj was?

And since when did magic exist?

Why had he never received any information about any of this!?

Even more terrifyingly, some kind of cosmic demon god was currently lurking inside the Dark Dimension!

Fuck!

He felt it might be time to activate that cosmic pager!

Kamar-Taj!

Kaecilius had gone completely numb!

He had not even finalized his plan yet. All he had done was secretly tempt a few sorcerers.

Yet before he had even committed the crime, the blame for his future actions had already been placed squarely upon his head!

All he could do now was hope that he could successfully escape after the video ended.

The image of darkness descending disappeared, and time returned to the present.

Inside the Sanctum, after the other sorcerers departed, Mordo looked solemnly at the Ancient One and said,

"If Kaecilius manages to decipher the secrets within those pages, he will destroy all of us."

"The power of darkness continues to grow. Perhaps Strange can help Kamar-Taj survive this crisis."

Mordo was not desperately turning to anyone he could find.

Anyone capable of enduring such a long dimensional journey was undoubtedly extraordinarily gifted!

The Ancient One revealed a thoughtful expression and no longer objected.

...

Outside on the street, Strange continued pounding on the door, but there was still no response from within.

Day gradually turned into night, and eventually, he ran out of strength.

Strange did not leave. Instead, he turned around, leaned against the door, and slowly crouched down, trembling in the cold wind.

He looked as pitiful as an abandoned stray dog.

His eyes were lost as he weakly and helplessly murmured,

"Please don't shut me out. I can't even afford a meal anymore—Aah!"

The door suddenly opened, causing Strange, who had been leaning against it, to fall straight inside.

In the next second, his energetic voice rang out from the darkness.

"Thank you!"

Inside the recovery room, Wong glanced sideways at the man lying on the bed, who was wearing an expression that said none of this had anything to do with him.

He sneered inwardly.

Heh.

So this was the kind of person Strange really was.

He was remarkably good at pretending!

Wong would have to be more careful around him in the future.

Mordo led Strange to a small room and lit a candle to dispel the darkness.

It was already nighttime, so Strange would not meet the Ancient One until the following morning.

Before leaving, Mordo handed him a slip of paper with a single word written on it: SHAMBALLA.

Strange looked confused.

"What is this? My mantra?"

Mordo immediately looked at him as though he were an idiot.

"Have you considered the possibility that it's the Wi-Fi password?"

"We aren't savages!"

After saying that, Mordo turned and left, abandoning a dumbfounded Strange inside the room.

Stark Residence.

The corner of Tony's mouth twitched.

"There is absolutely nothing magical about that."

Deadpool, however, revealed a deeply disappointed expression and sighed regretfully.

"Sigh. I can't support it if the password isn't HAHAHA—THE ANCIENT ONE DIED!."

This time, it was Tony's turn to look completely bewildered.

He had no idea what nonsense this lunatic was talking about now.

The following day.

Inside a side hall, Strange sat solemnly upon a meditation cushion.

Sitting across from him, the Ancient One slowly and clearly explained the mysteries of the Mystic Arts.

"The language of the Mystic Arts has existed since the dawn of civilization. Long ago, ancient sorcerers called it spells."

"If that concept is difficult for you to understand, you may regard them as programs."

"Programs that harness mystical power and reshape the source code of reality."

"Of course, there is something else we must do—draw energy from other dimensions."

As her words fell, she spread her hands, and lines of golden sparks immediately formed within the air.

Under the Ancient One's control, they continuously shifted and expanded, becoming increasingly complex until they finally combined into a magical shield composed of nine circular rings!

Outside the screen, golden sparks reflected within Tony's eyes as he revealed a fascinated expression!

It was beautiful!

The structure within that magical shield possessed an extraordinary geometric elegance!

He felt that his earlier theory had been correct.

There had to be a connection between science and magic!

And mathematics was the foundation they shared!

Inside the House of Mystery.

Constantine copied the Ancient One's movements exactly.

However, because the screen sealed all energy, he could not release any magic.

Even so, he sensed something unusual.

Although the spell could be constructed using the caster's own magical power, there were several structures within it that seemed to require permission from an unknown source before they could function.

"Magic granted by a higher existence?"

Constantine narrowed his eyes slightly.

Rather than feeling disappointed, he became even more excited.

In the past, he had needed to sign contracts with demons merely to borrow their power once.

But this...

No, this type of spell was entirely different.

It was more like having a simple switch built directly into the spell.

Constantine immediately formed an idea.

If he could understand the principle behind it, he could proactively seek out demons and sign contracts with them.

And when that time came, he would no longer be restricted to using their power only once.

Everyone knew that borrowing things was what he did best.

He would make those demons understand the true meaning of—

Borrowing forever and enjoying it forever!