Doctor Strange touched down on one of the countless entities drifting through the Dark Dimension and raised his left arm.
Focusing his will on the green gem housed within the Eye of Agamotto, he activated the spell—one he was confident would prove very interesting to the primordial entity that ruled this realm.
Green runes encircled his arm as he looked around, waiting for Dormammu to notice his intrusion.
It didn't take long.
Doctor Strange turned to find a massive violet eye staring directly at him.
The eye pulled back, revealing Dormammu in all his terrible size and power.
Undeterred, Strange levitated to another floating fragment before the entity. He glanced briefly at his arm to confirm the spell had taken hold, then faced the Devourer of Worlds.
"Dormammu," Strange said, floating forward to meet the interdimensional creature's gaze with unflinching determination. "I've come to bargain."
"You've come to die," Dormammu thundered. "Your world is now mine. Like all the—wait. What is this? Some kind of illusion?"
The entity's tone shifted, almost... amused.
"Very well."
Two massive pillars of dark matter materialized above Doctor Strange and slammed down, crushing him instantly.
However, mere moments after his death...
"Dormammu," Doctor Strange said, floating forward to meet the interdimensional creature's gaze with unflinching determination. "I've come to bargain."
"You... what is happening?"
Seeing Dormammu's shocked and confused expression, Doctor Strange offered a thin smile and explained.
"Just as you gave Kaecilius power from your dimension, I've brought a little something from mine." He raised his left hand, the Eye of Agamotto glowing brighter. "This is a time loop. An infinite loop. It won't work on you directly—but that's exactly what I'm counting on."
Dormammu did not sound pleased.
Doctor Strange looked up to see a colossal hand descending toward him.
It struck, obliterating him completely—
Only for him to reappear at the exact moment he'd set.
"Dormammu," Doctor Strange said, floating forward to meet the interdimensional creature's gaze with unflinching determination. "I've come to bargain."
"You cannot do this forever!" Dormammu roared.
"Actually, I can." Strange's voice remained steady, almost conversational. "This is how things are now. You and me. Trapped in this moment... endlessly."
"Then you will spend eternity dying!"
"Yes." Strange's expression didn't waver. "But everyone on Earth will live."
"You will suffer!"
Doctor Strange's jaw tightened, his voice dropping to something quieter, more dangerous. "Pain's an old friend."
A moment later, he was engulfed in flames.
Doctor Strange crashed to the ground, groaning in agony. Even burned and broken, he forced himself to stand.
"You'll never win!"
"No..." Doctor Strange struggled back to his feet, his voice strained but resolute. "But I can keep losing... again and again and again... forever." He stood upright, meeting Dormammu's gaze triumphantly. "That makes you my prisoner."
He was killed again.
And appeared before the multiversal entity once more.
"STOP!" Dormammu's voice carried something new—desperation. "Release me!"
Doctor Strange knew he'd won. "No. I've come to bargain."
Dormammu's form roiled with barely contained fury, his voice seething with rage.
"What do you want?"
"Take your zealots from the Earth," Strange stated clearly. "End your assault on my world. Never come back. Do this, and I'll break the loop."
Dormammu and Doctor Strange stared at each other, neither breaking eye contact. The silence stretched between them, waiting to see who would speak first.
Back in Hong Kong, everything remained exactly as it had been before Doctor Strange entered the Dark Dimension.
Then he simply appeared behind the zealots.
Sensing his presence, Kaecilius whirled around to find Doctor Strange returned, completely unharmed.
The former master knew immediately that something had gone terribly wrong.
"What did you do?"
"I made a bargain," the Sorcerer Supreme said flatly.
Strange watched as Kaecilius began to notice something was very, very wrong with himself.
"What—what is this?" the lead zealot said, staring at his arm in growing horror.
His skin had turned slate gray, covered in spreading cracks like shattered porcelain.
"Well, it's everything you ever wanted," the former surgeon said with dark satisfaction. "Eternal life as part of the One. You're really not going to like it."
In that moment, Kaecilius and the rest of his zealots began to burn with an otherworldly fire. They cracked and flaked apart before being violently pulled into the Dark Dimension. Their screams of agony were cut short the instant they crossed into their master's domain.
"You know, you really should have stolen the whole book," Strange remarked, shaking his head. "Because the warnings come after the spells. Seriously, why do they keep making them like that?"
The sudden shift in tone caught the group off-guard. Then they heard it—a sound completely unexpected given what they'd just witnessed.
Laughter.
They turned to find Wong absolutely losing it, hands on his knees as he struggled to breathe through his mirth.
"You okay?" Ghost Rider asked, one flaming eyebrow raised.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Wong said, slowly composing himself. "It's just... that was genuinely funny."
Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange exchanged glances, the latter commenting dryly, "...Well, alright then."
Doctor Strange activated the Eye of Agamotto once more, channeling its power to complete the restoration of the Hong Kong Sanctum and reverse the deaths that had occurred within and beyond its walls. As he worked, his attention caught on the remaining Rākshasa demons. With a focused application of the Time Stone's power, he unmade them entirely, ensuring they would plague humanity no more.
"We... we actually did it," Bucky muttered in amazement. "Holy shit, we did it."
"Yeah." Ghost Rider grinned and clapped the super soldier on the back hard enough to make him stumble. "Of course we did."
Much as she hated to dampen the moment of victory, Celeste knew better than to celebrate prematurely.
"We've dealt with one threat," she reminded them, her voice cutting through the relief. "Muur is still out there with everything he's absorbed—and now he's been corrupted by the Dark Dimension's madness."
"Damn it, we just can't catch a break," Ghost Rider groaned.
"How do we even find him?" Wong asked.
"Well..." Doctor Strange considered for a moment. "I think we should return to the Avengers in Manhattan. They're still waiting for us."
"Agreed," Mordo said with a nod. "Perhaps their resources will prove useful in tracking down and defeating Karness Muur."
Doctor Strange, Mordo, Ghost Rider, and Celeste began walking toward the nearest portal location, while Wong and Bucky remained where they stood, clearly confused.
The two exchanged matching bewildered expressions.
"What exactly did we miss?" Bucky asked Wong, who simply shook his head.
"Come on." He patted his friend on the shoulder. "I think we should just let this one play out naturally."
Meanwhile...
Karness Muur stumbled through his hastily conjured portal, twitching and convulsing as his body underwent constant, horrific changes.
He whimpered and groaned in agony, desperately trying to control the chaotic powers warring within his stolen flesh.
The ancient Sith could feel every entity he'd absorbed over the millennia fluctuating violently, threatening to tear free. It took every ounce of his considerable willpower to force them back under his dominion.
During this entire ordeal, he had no idea where his portal had taken him. He staggered forward blindly until he sensed someone approaching.
Muur found himself face-to-face with an elderly Chinese man who crouched before the Sith Lord, genuine concern etched on his weathered features.
"Sir, are you alright?" the man asked in Mandarin.
Without warning, Muur felt a strange numbness wash over him as he stared at the man.
That numbness quickly transformed into emptiness, which became...
"Hungry," Muur said, his voice completely devoid of emotion.
The old man tilted his head, clearly not understanding the English word.
"English?" he tried, his thick accent making the word sound uncertain.
Muur didn't respond. He slowly raised his hand and placed it gently on the man's shoulder.
The Chinese man looked at the hand for a moment, then back up at Muur's face—and gasped in terror at what he saw there.
"I'm hungry," Muur repeated, his eyes and mouth beginning to glow with sickly red light.
The old man didn't even have time to scream.
In mere seconds, his body withered rapidly, aging decades in heartbeats. What remained was little more than a mummified husk that collapsed to the ground with a dry rattle.
Muur's expression remained dead, emotionless, as he stared at his hand. It shifted and warped between the many different limbs of the creatures still struggling to escape his control—tentacles, claws, appendages that defied description.
"Need... more..."
The Sith Lord's eyes found a path leading to what was clearly a sizable village in the distance.
As he began moving forward, the hunger within him exploded into an all-consuming need.
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