"Quick, think of something!!"
"There must be some magic that can avoid this!!"
Faced with the inevitable attack, Alaric's mind was working at full speed, searching through every spell he had ever learned, looking for any way to save himself.
"Wait… I'm stupid! Can't I still stay like this?!"
At that moment, Alaric's eyes gleamed. But the attack had already arrived.
Rumble!
A purple energy beam pierced through space, turning into a brilliant rainbow that disappeared into the depths of darkness.
"Phew! Finally over."
Dormammu sighed in relief, finally thinking he had dealt with the troublesome mortal.
"Phew! What a risk! That was close!" said Alaric, wiping sweat from his forehead as he suddenly appeared beside him, smiling with satisfaction.
"Hm? It's not over... Why aren't you dead?"
Dormammu froze and slowly turned his head. He couldn't believe his own eyes.
Wasn't this mortal destroyed by his attack?! How was he still alive?!
How did he avoid it?
Could it be… that time had been reset?
Dormammu quickly analyzed the situation and determined that the first attempt was still ongoing. So it wasn't a time loop.
"Isn't it better that I'm not dead?" Alaric said with a smile, returned to his normal size.
"It would've been better if you were," Dormammu muttered helplessly.
"I understand your disappointment," said Alaric cheerfully. "But hey, I survived."
The way Alaric survived was actually very simple. At the last moment, he summoned saintly magic, returned his body to its original state, and teleported away before the chains of darkness could grab him. That way, he completely avoided the attack.
"No matter, I'll just do it again," Dormammu said coldly, and the black chains rose once more.
Rumble!
"If you want to catch me, you'll have to be faster than this!" Alaric teleported a few meters away and laughed, provoking him.
"Unless you leave the Dark Dimension, you have nowhere to run," said Dormammu. The dark energy in this world was under his total control. Here, he was god.
Unless Alaric summoned one of the five deities, he had no chance.
As Dormammu spoke, the dark energy around Alaric began to move, growing denser, trying to envelop him completely. If he were trapped, the dark energy would transform into entities that would control him.
"What a nuisance!" Alaric frowned. He was forced to only dodge, without any way to attack.
"This won't do... is it really possible to come here only this way?"
Then it struck him. "It seems that only light can oppose darkness!"
"Appear, God of White Magic!!"
His voice echoed through the dimension, and radiant golden light burst from his body. Behind him, a massive figure of light began to form, growing clearer with every moment.
As he summoned the God of White Magic, the white energy began to disperse the darkness, creating a circle of pure light around him.
"God of White Magic… Vishanti?" Dormammu narrowed his eyes, watching the shadow rising behind Alaric. He sensed white magic, but… something was off.
Although the figure had a human form, it was not the Emperor Weishan. He couldn't feel his presence. Moreover, Vishanti would never casually enter the Dark Dimension. He wasn't insane enough to come into his enemy's domain.
"If it's not Vishanti… then who is this?" Dormammu frowned. "Is there another god of white magic?"
He paused, then his eyes suddenly widened. "Wait… this aura… Is that Alaric?!"
Dormammu froze. "No… impossible! Alaric became the God of White Magic?! If that's true, then why is he so weak?!"
The situation completely confused him. Every previous assumption was shattered.
Alaric's power was clearly not on the level of Vishanti. Otherwise, Dormammu wouldn't have defeated him so easily. And yet, now Alaric had summoned a deity from the same source of magic as him. It defied all logic!
"I still underestimate you," sighed Dormammu.
Since their last encounter, this mortal had relied on time magic, and now, in such a short time, he had gained enough power to hold him in battle. Even if he wasn't using full strength, this was astonishing.
Dormammu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension, was forced to fight seriously against a mere human. If anyone found out, he would become the laughingstock of the entire multiverse.
"You can make me take you seriously. That's already quite an achievement, Alaric."
"That's fine~," Alaric replied modestly, though with obvious satisfaction. He stood in the circle of pure light, now more relaxed, calm.
"But do you know," said Dormammu darkly, "that even Vishanti doesn't dare to appear here of his own will?"
"Why?" asked Alaric.
"Because I would devour every particle of his power!"
The dark energy began to corrode the white light, turning it into darkness. The light was melting under the weight of the darkness.
"Hmph! Don't think I'll just watch that!" Alaric raised his hands, and the god of light behind him mimicked his movement.
Beneath their feet, an enormous Yin and Yang diagram appeared, rotating in a vortex of power. Space distorted, and the two energies, dark and white, began to swirl in perfect balance.
The dark energy, which Dormammu controlled, began to retreat, sucked into the vortex of light. The power of white magic grew stronger with each passing moment.
"I feel… like I should've done this earlier," Alaric muttered to himself. Then he realized, the endless dark energy of this dimension was his most powerful resource.
It didn't matter whether it was black or white, every energy was just material for transformation.
"Maybe I should place the God of Magic in the Eternal Night World," he thought. "There, the growth would be even faster."
He had no intention of missing this opportunity.
"You can actually use black magic?" Dormammu asked, in a tone between shock and admiration. "You are… such a genius."
For a few moments, he was silent, then added, "I can't even bear the thought of you dying. If you left Kamar-Taj and came to my dimension… you could be my successor."
Alaric raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"