In the early morning, warm sunlight gently filtered through the light blue curtains and fell over the man on the bed.
Renzo opened his eyes suddenly, and a flash of golden light vanished from them. He had not been sleeping. He had merely been sorting through the rich, chaotic information packed inside his mind. It took up too much space. His brain was now filled with advanced technology, so he had to remove some useless things and, while he was at it, organize the memories of his past and present lives.
It was not difficult, but it was time-consuming.
"Wanda?" Renzo frowned. His beloved wife beside him had disappeared. He touched the spot next to him and found that it was still warm. She must not have left long ago.
Renzo pushed open the door and looked up. In the kitchen, a slender girl was busy frying bread while staring at the burnt mess on the bottom of the pan.
"You woke up so early." Renzo gently hugged Wanda's slim waist from behind. The dark red nightgown slipped casually from her fair shoulder, making him want to reach out and touch her.
"Don't make trouble. I'm making breakfast!" Wanda glanced at Renzo angrily and lifted the fallen shoulder strap with her soft white arm.
"Are you talking about the black mess in the pan? I can't even tell what it is. Sesame paste?"
"It's an omelet!" A flash of scarlet flickered deep in Wanda's pupils. Her boyfriend's teasing left her pride a little wounded. "You do it." She threw the failed product in the pan into the trash and sat angrily on the sofa in the living room, playing with her phone.
"It depends on talent," Renzo called out loudly. Then he heard the sound of something being crushed. It sounded like an electronic component. "Maybe you just need more practice..." Renzo said weakly a moment later.
This was not cowardice. It was respect for his girlfriend!
With Renzo's cooking skills, a delicious breakfast was quickly prepared: fresh Portuguese egg tarts, a pot of preserved egg and lean meat porridge, two fried eggs, and two slices of bread.
"I threw away all your cereal. It tastes like dry straw. Even cows wouldn't eat it." Renzo was rummaging through the refrigerator, thinking about what to make for lunch, but his words caused Wanda to misunderstand.
"Do you think I'm useless?"
"No... How could that be? That's not what I meant!" Renzo had not yet realized the seriousness of the situation, and his tone was still casual.
Wanda was a sensitive girl. She had been separated from her boyfriend for a long time, but after coming back, she was still being criticized. She had clearly wanted to make a loving breakfast for him, yet this was disliked and that was criticized. Bit by bit, anger slowly accumulated into a flame, like a towering tree growing higher and higher.
"I don't want to eat!" Wanda shouted, then went back to the room and locked the door. Her anger almost turned into a visible blush.
Renzo was confused. He did not know how he had offended Wanda. Could it be that it was that time of the month?
That was understandable. After all, it was normal for girls to be irritable and have strange tempers during that period. On the contrary, acting as if nothing had happened would be the strange part.
Knock, knock, knock!
"The big bad wolf is looking for the little white rabbit to eat carrots..." Renzo gently knocked on the door and called to Wanda softly. "I was wrong. I apologize, Wanda. Come out and eat."
Of course, Renzo did not know what he had done wrong. But when his girlfriend was angry, it was best to admit his mistake first, regardless of whether he was actually wrong.
Renzo lay against the door and listened for a long time, but there was no movement inside. He felt something was wrong and immediately entered the room.
But the room was already empty. The sunlight had gradually become dazzling. The blue curtains were open, and on the bedside table were still photos of Wanda and Renzo. They had been taken last Christmas, in a children's arcade. The two of them had powered on an electric racing game and sat on the motorcycle seats while the red motorcycles on the screen overtook opponent after opponent.
Wanda's laughter had become bright and cheerful. She had dragged Renzo to try many games she had never played before. She played arcade fighting games with Renzo and was bullied so badly that she almost dismantled the game console. She played air hockey, indoor basketball, and sang Billie's latest release, "Don't Smile at Me"...
Finally, they had stopped in front of the claw machine. Neither of them planned to exchange money for game coins. Instead, they picked them up one by one from around the feet of children playing games. Renzo had smiled from ear to ear. This was exactly what he had done in arcades when he was a child.
Wanda tried several times but failed to catch anything. Only on the final attempt did she grab an especially ugly dog doll. Renzo thought it was hideous. It had yellow fur with black spots, and a big nose that almost touched Renzo's face.
Wanda had been very happy and had never let go of the doll. From time to time, she glanced at Renzo, showing it off intentionally or unintentionally.
Renzo had also cooperated very well, pretending not to know that the doll had been taken out with magic, and smiled as he kept her company.
Renzo picked up the ugly puppy from the ground. Half of its face had been burned. Black and white cotton stuffing spilled out from inside it. Faintly, crimson energy could still be seen wrapped around it. Residual spatial power still lingered in the room...
Someone had taken Wanda away.
And they had taken Wanda away silently in less than two minutes...
Renzo could not believe that such a person truly existed. What followed was endless anger.
"Strange. It can only be Strange..."
Kamar-Taj was the biggest suspect. Portals, magic, Strange... They had reason to suspect Wanda's identity and abilities and take her away.
Renzo's eyes turned fierce. No matter who dared touch Wanda, they would have to bear his anger.
The black light ring flashed excitedly, as if bursting into harsh laughter from across the infinite universe. Black plasma seeped endlessly from the ring, instantly wrapping around Renzo's body and lighting up his dark pupils.
The Space Stone was wrapped in black aura, and a portal opened. On the other side of the gate was Kamar-Taj...
Strange sat in the meditation room, a thin stream of sweat dripping down his forehead.
Suddenly!
Strange woke with a start, clutching his chest and gasping for air. Wong hurriedly supported Strange from the side, calling his name loudly. "How are you, Strange? Are you all right?"
"Not good..." Strange stood up with Wong's help. The heavy dark circles under his eyes showed that he had not slept for at least three days. "Those dimensional demons are becoming more and more arrogant. They don't take us seriously at all!"
Strange was helpless as well. Since the Ancient One's death, the dimensional demon gods had remained fairly stable during the first year. Dormammu had still feared being trapped in the time loop and had kept the agreement. But after a year, Earth's time and space had begun to suffer invasions from other worlds: the Beholder, Nightmare, the Crimson Dimension...
Dormammu had also been making moves recently, gradually invading Earth with darkness, but he had not been too blatant. He seemed to be testing Strange's bottom line.
Strange did not dare relax, not even for a moment. If they showed that they could no longer defend themselves, then they would probably provoke not only these dimensional demon gods, but monsters from even more dimensions.
Strange could only continue repairing the cracks in time and space with Wong and the other mages. He also rushed to the front line to fight against the demons' followers, clean up the traces they left behind, and at the same time use the Time Stone to resist their attacks.
Mages had not yet appeared in the eyes of ordinary people, so the concept of magic still existed in most people's impressions as something from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter: waving a wand dramatically, muttering strange spells, turning friends into mice, or flying through the sky on broomsticks.
As a doctor with superb medical skills, Strange was extremely serious in every professional field, whether as a mage or as a surgeon. He was arrogant, prideful, compassionate, and sharp-tongued on the surface, but when peeled back, his heart was unexpectedly clean and sincere.
The Ancient One had entrusted Kamar-Taj completely to him, and he would not disappoint her.
Wong looked at Strange's side profile and sighed helplessly. He had studied magic since childhood, and the secrets he knew and the mystic arts he had learned far surpassed Strange's. However, because of the difference in talent, his current strength was not very powerful.
"Who is it this time? Is Dormammu preparing to reopen the boundary?"
"It's Chthon. Chthon, the Elder God!" Strange breathed heavily, and dark energy flickered across his forehead. He had still followed the Ancient One's old path, absorbing the power of the Dark Dimension to briefly enhance his own strength, then relying on the Time Stone to fight against those demon gods.
But this was not a long-term solution. Strange could feel those dark powers corroding him bit by bit. Slow, sticky, disgusting, evil... It would not be an exaggeration to use every negative word in the world to describe that force.
"It broke into Earth and opened a crack while I was fighting against the Beholder and Cyttorak's projection. It disappeared again after only three seconds. I'm afraid it didn't come with good intentions." Strange's face looked grim. "I'm afraid it planted seeds on Earth. That being... is no weaker than Dormammu. It may even be stronger!"
Wong frowned at those words. "Chthon, the Elder God? Earth should not be that attractive to it. It should not care about competing with Dormammu for territory."
"That's only a small problem." Strange sat cross-legged in the temple. He needed to recover his strength. The attacks from the demon gods had not weakened at all. He could not waste too much time here.
"What truly frightens me is Mephisto, the lord of Hell and master of the dead."
Wong was shocked. "Mephisto? Shouldn't it have been banished?"
"I don't know." Strange shook his head, and a trace of solemnity flashed in his eyes. "I'm afraid Hell is going to be reopened. Its goal is clearer and stronger than the other demon gods. It wants to break into this world!"
Wong did not know what to do. One or two demon gods, if he and Strange risked their lives together, could probably still be stopped. But if a group of demon gods attacked Earth at the same time, even if the Ancient One were resurrected, it would be difficult to resist. They would only be able to watch Earth become a delicious cake, eaten away and devoured bit by bit by greedy demons...
Strange stood up with difficulty. His physical strength had almost recovered, but a vortex suddenly opened out of thin air, blocking their path.
A powerful, evil aura instantly filled the entire temple. Countless magic artifacts trembled. Even Strange was startled by the ominous, deathly stillness of the aura... He vaguely felt as if he had sensed it before, but he could not remember where.
A withered arm, like that of an undead, stretched out from the vortex. A black, tattered cloak was draped over a skeletal body. Black blood seeped from the surface of its skin. Its teeth clicked together, making a mysterious sound.
The Zombie Deathblade rushed toward Strange in an instant. Even without a weapon, his physical strength and combat skills were still superior to Captain America's. Almost in the blink of an eye, that withered body appeared right in front of Strange, and its bony arms suddenly grabbed for his neck.
"Get out of the way!" Wong shouted. He immediately formed seals with both hands, and a bright red-gold chain shot from his hand, striking the Zombie Deathblade.
Snap!
The Zombie Deathblade was knocked several meters away by the blow. Its skeleton-like body was instantly torn open, exploding with black-red blood that dragged across the ground.
Wong tightly bound the Zombie Deathblade with chains, and Strange also reacted. A magical fan appeared at once, and with three strikes, he removed the Zombie Deathblade's limbs, chopping him into a limbless torso. Only a head remained, lying on the ground and crunching its teeth.
"What the hell is this?" Strange frowned and asked Wong.
Although he had used the Time Stone to speed up his learning, he had only been a mage for two years, after all. There were still many ancient secrets he had not read. They were precious treasures left behind from the age of Agamotto, revised and supplemented by every Sorcerer Supreme and guardian of the temples. A few years might be enough to read them, but to fully understand and study them could take more than fifty years.
"Wong?" Strange called again, but Wong still did not answer. The mage turned his head instantly, and the first thing he saw was a dark fist.
Boom!
Strange was directly smashed into the wall by the punch. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. His head spun, and the pain felt as if it would tear his skull apart.
Looking carefully, he saw a pure black figure standing with one foot on Wong's body. He did not know whether Wong was unconscious or already...
"Wong!" Strange roared furiously. That was his friend, his assistant, and his mentor. Wong had helped him so much and solved so many troubles over the past two years. Now he was lying on the ground like a dead dog.
Incomprehensible!
Unforgivable!
Strange no longer had any intention of finding out who this person was. Anyone who dared break into Kamar-Taj had to pay the price!
The Images of Ikonn!
In an instant, countless Stranges appeared. All of them used magical chains, binding Renzo's body tightly. Strange's hands turned dark, and the power of death traveled directly along the chains toward Renzo's body.
Strange frowned. The Time Stone flashed, and the invading dark aura was blocked by a dazzling green barrier. It continued pushing backward, forcing all the power of death back toward Renzo.
"Give Wanda back to me!" A roar like a wild beast came from Renzo's mouth. Not far away, the Dead Blade General, who had been reduced to a limbless torso, stood unsteadily. Black energy wrapped around his body, repairing his limbs. His mouth let out a roar like Renzo's, just like a beast.
"An Avenger?" Hearing this, Strange finally remembered the identity of the black figure in front of him.
"Renzo?" He thought of the dark aura he had sensed from Renzo a few days ago. That ring had been full of ominousness and deathly silence, exactly like this.
"I don't know where Wanda is!" Strange hurriedly explained, but the man in front of him was obviously unconscious and could not hear anything. "Damn it! Looks like I can only beat you awake!" Strange cursed under his breath, opened the Mirror Dimension with both hands, and trapped Renzo and his zombie inside.
He was not stupid enough to challenge Renzo in a direct duel. Although the Time Stone was with him, his enemy was terrifying: a man with three Infinity Stones and an artifact of unknown origin. Even risking his life, Strange might not be able to defeat him.
"Wong!"
Strange quickly stepped forward to check Wong's injuries. Fortunately, he had only fainted and was not seriously hurt. Strange finally breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
A tiny crack suddenly appeared in space. It was as faint as a wisp of breeze passing through, but the crackling sound immediately drew Strange's attention.
Bursts of black energy emerged from it.
Then, immediately afterward, came a hand.
A hand stained with death...
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