"Prepare to fire!" Hal shouted from the back of a Green Lantern Ship, "Attention all units, no holding back! Fully suppress them with the ship's firepower before getting close, focus your attacks on the opponent's shields. I repeat, no holding back, no holding back!"
Actually, there was no need for him to say it; the Green Lanterns wouldn't hold back anyway. Please, that's the Supreme Sorcerer! The Doctor Stranges are very active in Battleworld, and many have crossed paths with them, taking quite a beating, so no one would show mercy now. If the bombardment isn't sufficient, it's your own life on the line.
Quickly, the Green Lantern Fleet began to unfold, slowly surrounding the mages who were relying on the outpost for defense. All cannons were preheated, and once fully charged, countless green lights covered the entire battlefield like a web.
This stunned Doctor Strange.
They had anticipated attacks, but in their imagination, it was more like a medieval duel: a group of people rushing forward, each targeting one person. You didn't say it had evolved into interstellar warfare!
But you can't blame them for that. True cosmic combat experience is mainly possessed by his mentor, The Ancient One. In most universes, ever since Stephen Strange became the Supreme Sorcerer, the Human race's defensive circle is basically limited to Earth. Doctor Strange generally doesn't cause trouble in the cosmos, and even if he occasionally encounters the Three Great Empires, they wouldn't provoke him into a fight. Even if they did, the ship cannons powered by conventional means pose no real threat to him.
However, it's different with Green Lantern Ships; this is real Emotional Spectrum energy, equivalent to being bombarded by the Prime Universe's origin power at full strength. You're origin power, I'm origin power too; let's see whose power is greater and more forceful.
Obviously, the Green Lantern Fleet had the upper hand, not only because they had more people and ships but also due to their coordination. After the ships completed a round of fire, the Green Lanterns immediately followed up to continue the attack. There was alternating fire from different positions and sequences, with rotations between laser-like weapons and explosive-type weapons. In short, they filled this space with Green Lantern energy, bombarding the mages before they could use their magic power.
The Primary Universe Doctor Strange waved his hand, and a golden energy storage Array appeared before him, targeting a ship. Yet, just before the magic energy was released, a sudden laser attack struck from behind, sending the Primary Universe Doctor Strange flying with a muffled grunt.
He didn't have time to stabilize his form before he was targeted by the cannons of two ships nearby. Immediately, two beams of Green Lantern energy, thicker than a person, slammed towards him. If not for the Cloak quickly pulling him up, he would have been washed by Green Lantern energy from head to toe.
After elevating, the Primary Universe Doctor Strange intended to use the suspension ring for a flanking maneuver, but upon opening a Teleportation Portal, he found the energy interference too strong. The portal flickered and closed within two seconds, and he couldn't get in.
He tried again, and it was slightly better this time, but the drop point was completely unintended—he flashed straight onto Hal's face.
Hal wasn't about to be polite, charging forward with a punch, followed by a spinning flying kick into an uppercut, and finally a downward whip kick. Covered in Green Lantern energy, these three moves shattered the Primary Universe Doctor Strange's shield.
The Cloak pulled the Primary Universe Doctor Strange into a desperate escape, but the Main Universe Green Lantern appeared behind him, kicking him towards the ship's cannon mouth. With a buzz, the Green Lantern energy from the cannon struck the Primary Universe Doctor Strange, sending him flying.
With no shield left, the Primary Universe Doctor Strange was struck directly and fainted. Strange looked around, noticing that no one was paying attention to him, hurried over to retrieve him, only to find this guy didn't even have a Life Support Device.
"Do you even remember that you're human?!" Strange cursed in his heart. Without magic power, mages are no different from ordinary humans. Don't even mention the vacuum; the current temperature could freeze him dead in seconds.
Fortunately, Strange had brought along a few extra rings. He quickly put one on the Primary Universe Doctor Strange, carried him to the back of the outpost, provided a shield, and left him there. There were already several others dumped behind the outpost.
Indeed, just from this encounter, the unprepared Doctor Stranges suffered several casualties, and they weren't the weakest ones; most were of decent level.
Strange couldn't help but sigh, "Indeed, humanity's greatest enemy is arrogance."
Though a bit untimely, Strange still thought: Look at the Green Lanterns, they are fighting on foreign ground, so they should conserve energy, yet they started with a saturation attack, showing enough vigilance and respect for their opponents, effectively exploiting the weakness of the Doctor Stranges.
Even though Marvel's power levels are somewhat higher, many universes are actually quite poor. The mages, considered the wealthiest locally, are poor here. They disregarded Strange's advice, and didn't ask for his help, resulting in their energy being limited to what they brought, with shields as thin as paper that crumbled under the saturation attack.
Oddly enough, Strange sighed in his heart and quickly dimmed his shield's brightness to avoid attention. But as luck would have it, the Main Universe Green Lantern had already spotted the peculiar Doctor Strange.
You'd think he's not strong since he dares to rescue people under the cannon mouth of Green Lantern Ships, seemingly unafraid of his shield being broken; yet you'd think he's strong as he's a medic, saving rather than fighting, and even when he fights occasionally, it's clear he's not going all out. Whether he's barely participating or an undercover agent is unknown.
The Main Universe Green Lantern flew directly towards Strange, but Hal intercepted him halfway.
"Let's go together," Hal said, "You might not be able to defeat him alone."
"Do you know him?"
"I've heard of him; he should be a local, the Doctor Strange of the Central Universe. People from this universe are not easy to deal with; we need to be cautious."
The two of them flew in Strange's direction. Strange also noticed their intent, but since there were still allies standing firm on the battlefield, he had to at least put on a show.
Thus, he waved his cloak, clasped his hands together, and then spread them apart. A golden energy storage array appeared in the center of his palms, with light swirling in his opponent's eyes, fully displaying the demeanor of the Supreme Magician.
Hal was not to be outdone, delivering a straight punch to his opponent's face. Strange quickly backed away, and two beams of golden light shot down from above Hal's head, followed by a large golden phantom hand reaching for the Main Universe Green Lantern.
The Main Universe Green Lantern hurriedly dodged backwards, instinctively punching at the hand's palm, only to feel something was off. He shouted to Hal, "Something's wrong!"
Hal roared in his heart: Of course, something's wrong! When I got closer, I realized this guy's shield had a filter, manually adjusted brightness, looking pretty dim when it's actually ridiculously thick. When I punched it just now, I almost broke my fingers.
What he didn't know was that Strange was also cursing inwardly: Shiller always says Stark's fighting skills are at the bottom of The Avengers, but if you include me, I'm the worst of them all—I can't engage in close combat at all!
He's even worse at fighting than other Doctor Stranges because he was never used to fighting; he used to crush opponents with energy. Now he's not allowed to use energy, and he has no idea how to fight!
Seeing the two people in front of him, if they're not agents or police, they must be athletes of some sort; either way, their body technique is top-notch—you can tell they're trained. Strange inwardly lamented: What do I do? I can't just rely on a thick shield as a sandbag, can I?
After thinking for a long time, Strange decided to widen the distance first; if worse comes to worst, he could just keep running circles around them until reinforcements arrive.
The two Green Lanterns didn't know he was stalling; they thought he was building up for a big move. Neither dared to get too close, after all, mages are indeed powerful, and taking a direct hit wouldn't be something they could handle easily.
Thus, each had their own misconceptions, one daring to run, the other daring to chase. Strange fought while retreating, the Green Lanterns chased while attacking, both passively procrastinating, ready to leave the tough problem to their reinforcements to solve.
"No problem, Batman," The Flash's voice came over the communication channel. "Earth shows no signs of troop concentration. Their star port on Pluto is very quiet. A few large destroyers have ignited their engines, but none have moved, and there's hardly anyone on them. I checked everything out, so don't worry."
Shortly after, The Flash from the Andromeda Galaxy also spoke, "The mutants here are not moving, and the ships parked here haven't ignited their engines. Everything seems fine."
The Main Universe Batman nodded and said, "Everyone, get in position and prepare to act."
At this moment, several reinforcement squad teams were in position. The Martian Manhunter Ron activated his anti-psychic intrusion mode, ready to at least cut off one wave of reinforcements by holding off Professor X for a while.
"Wait!" A sudden shout came from The Flash in the channel, "The Asgard base!!"
"What?" The Main Universe Batman quickly pulled up the surveillance.
"The Asgard base... is gone!!!"
"What?!?!"
The speed at which the Main Universe Batman was switching screens slowed, leaving only a faint glimmer on the monitor, as the dwarf planet that should have been dead center in the distance completely vanished.
Looking at that light, the Main Universe Batman understood everything: they didn't need to gather an army at all; their base had its own superluminal teleportation engine!
The Main Universe Batman took a deep breath, his mind swirling: a planetary-level superluminal teleportation engine...
It was at that moment he realized how advanced the human race in this universe had become. You must understand, not even Apocalypse Star had this technology, nor did the Little Blue People—if they did, Oa Star would not have fallen to Darkseid.
No, perhaps they could build such a large superluminal engine, but couldn't ensure the planet wouldn't fall apart during teleportation. But humans here could, because they had a magical defense network.
Realizing everything, the Main Universe Batman immediately understood: his plan for encirclement and reinforcement-cutting was doomed to fail, and the enemy would soon initiate a counter-encirclement. He had no choice but to tell his bewildered teammates over the communicator, "Their main forces are here. Now, break out individually, and I will send someone to assist you."
In the eyes of the superheroes, a dwarf planet suddenly appeared with teleportation light, and hundreds of battleships immediately took to the skies. Roars echoed in their ears:
"For the Father of All Gods! For Asgard! Long live His Majesty the God King!!!"