Aaron looked at Wanda. He only knew a small part about this major event. He might not know as many specific details as Wanda.
Wanda hesitated for a moment, then slowly recounted the information she knew.
"Actually, I don't know much either. This whole thing started a few months ago, before the temporal storm began."
"I heard from Stephen that even earlier, Victor had asked him to borrow the Darkhold, but he refused."
"To prevent Victor from attacking, Stephen threw the Darkhold into the Astral Realm."
"However, not long after, the temporal storm struck, and the resulting world entanglement caused several Universes to merge."
"Including the world I was in. I had to use my own power to maintain the time rift to prevent my world from being destroyed."
"After that, Dracula, the King of Vampires, used some kind of power to plunge New York in the 2024 Universe into eternal night. Vampires began a grand party in New York, countless humans were infected and turned into Vampires, and in a short time, New York became a ghost city."
"Only a very small number of humans were resisting in various parts of New York."
"At this time, Dracula led the Vampires to attack the Sanctum Sanctorum, wanting to seize the Darkhold to obtain its Vampire chapters, attempting to use ancient magic to transform Vampires into a perfect race that fears neither sunlight nor has any weaknesses."
"During the battle, Stephen was struck into the Astral Realm, and due to the temporal chaos, he was unable to leave the Astral Realm and return to reality."
"So he sought me, offering to resolve the time rift in exchange for my help to escape the Astral Plane..."
Wanda had a very detailed understanding of what happened in the 2024 Universe.
Everything Stephen had experienced, he told her without reservation.
After all, Stephen had only recently become Sorcerer Supreme, while Wanda was already a qualified and mature Sorcerer Supreme.
"While Stephen was in the Astral Plane, he wanted to find the Darkhold he had thrown there."
"But because of the temporal storm, the Astral Plane and the Sanctum Sanctorum's Reality Plane overlapped, and it was chaotic and disordered by the time he found the Darkhold."
"Khonshu, the Moon God, had already gotten the Darkhold first."
Luna raised her hand. "Why would Khonshu want the darkhold too? He's a God."
"I did hear Stephen mention this."
Wanda recalled the past, slowly saying, "I heard that Victor had once approached Khonshu, hoping that the moon would stay in the sky longer, plunging the world into eternal night."
"However, Khonshu mercilessly rejected the request."
"Even so, Dracula used another method to plunge New York into night, which undoubtedly was a slap in the face to Khonshu, the God of the Moon."
"Moreover, Khonshu's duty is to protect pedestrians under the moonlight, but the Vampires led by Dracula frantically attacked humans under the moonlight and created a Vampire carnival. This undoubtedly slapped Khonshu's face again."
"So Khonshu decided to find the Darkhold and use an ancient magic from the book called the Montesi Formula to exterminate the Vampire race."
Iron Fist frowned upon hearing this. "Wouldn't that kill innocent citizens in New York? Can't they wait to cure them before using the Montesi Formula?"
Luna and Wolverine also felt that Khonshu was too extreme.
They were Mutants and their relationship with those humans wasn't good. But as lives in the 2024 Universe, they found this outcome hard to accept.
After all, if humans were treated this way, would Mutants also face a similar genocidal curse one day?
Aaron's expression was normal, and he said faintly, "For a God, sacrificing the humans of a city to exterminate Vampires and avoid embarrassment is clearly a very cost-effective matter."
"Those innocent who died are all acceptable necessary sacrifices."
Iron Fist and the others felt uncomfortable, but Wanda showed no particular expression, clearly having a higher acceptance of such matters and agreeing with Aaron's statement.
"At this point, Stephen sought me out. He was no match for Khonshu and hoped I could help him figure out a way to get the Darkhold back."
"Khonshu, the Moon God, is obsessed with an ancient Egyptian board game called Senet."
"So I told Stephen to wager helping Khonshu cast the Montesi Formula in a game with him, with the winner gaining ownership of the Darkhold."
Luna became even more puzzled upon hearing this. "Khonshu wouldn't agree to a game that clearly has an ulterior motive, would he? And the stakes are completely unequal. Khonshu could just use the magic himself."
Wanda shook her head. "The Darkhold records dark magic, and all Kamar-Taj magic has a characteristic."
"That is, any magic will incur a corresponding price. The stronger the spell, the stronger the backlash and the greater the price, and dark magic is especially so."
"The Montesi Formula is a decisive extermination spell. Even Khonshu, as a God, is unwilling to bear the huge backlash brought by such a genocidal spell."
"So he needed to force Stephen to recite the spell for him."
"Is magic that scary?"
Luna took half a step back in fright. She had thought mages were cool, but now... mages were practically risking their lives.
Aaron raised an eyebrow. "That's just Kamar-Taj magic. Even white magic requires a price to cast, it's just a smaller price than dark magic."
"If you want to become a mage, I can help you. There's no price, you can use any magic you want."
Although he wasn't a Dimensional Ruler, he was better than one. The energy contained in trillions of Universes surpassed any Dimensional Ruler. Even Cyttorak was a little kid in front of him.
He could very well establish his own magic faction and create some real white magic with no price.
Well, it wasn't without a price.
But that wouldn't count as a price.
Wanda subconsciously glanced at Aaron. This offer was very tempting.
Even Vishanti wasn't this generous.
But now was not the time to talk about this.
"In the end, Stephen narrowly won the game, thus retrieving the Darkhold."
The others didn't hear Wanda speak after that.
"It's over just like that? Khonshu lost just like that? No way, he's a God."
"I thought there would be a thrilling chess match, with twists and turns and more twists."
Iron Fist said, "He's so bad, how could he agree to it?"
Wanda's expression was strange. "That's normal, Khonshu loves this kind of 'betting' behavior."
"Many years ago, when Khonshu was playing Senet with Thoth, the God of Wisdom, he lost his radiance and absolute control over the moon. This is why the moon has phases."
Aaron summarized, "So Khonshu is bad at games but loves to play."
Iron Fist nodded in agreement.