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Kaecilius had no idea that Fini's change in attitude was the first step in a calculated plan to steer his destiny.
During those long, monotonous months on Vormir, Fini had spent a lot of time weighing the threats to come. If Thanos was a "late-game" boss who needed time to farm resources, Dormammu was a final boss who arrived fully geared from the very start. In terms of raw power, the Lord of the Dark Dimension was arguably even more terrifying than the Mad Titan.
Dormammu's goal was simple: consume Earth. While Fini wasn't sure if the demon's obsession with the planet was purely due to his grudge against the Ancient One, one thing was clear: as long as the Dark Dimension existed, Dormammu was effectively immortal.
He wasn't like Thanos. Even with the Infinity Gauntlet, you could theoretically aim for Thanos' head and end it. But you could hack Dormammu into a thousand pieces, and as long as the energy of the Dark Dimension remained, he would simply reform. This was exactly why Dormammu loathed the Ancient One for siphoning his power—she wasn't just stealing energy; she was nibbling away at his very essence.
As his own power grew, Fini stopped relying solely on the Ancient One's protection. He began to strategize for a future where he might have to face Dormammu alone. He concluded there were two paths: either prevent Dormammu from reaching Earth while he "farmed" more skills, or obtain the Reality Stone and see if Gilded Manifestation could counter the laws of the Dark Dimension.
These plans weren't mutually exclusive. Thus, Fini decided it was time to get close to Kaecilius, understand his state of mind, and wait for the "Convergence"—the once-in-five-millennia celestial event that would reveal the Reality Stone.
Oblivious to these cosmic calculations, Kaecilius could only find Fini's sudden friendliness utterly baffling. Knowing that trust isn't built in a day, Fini didn't push too hard. After a few casual words with Kaecilius, he turned back to Mordo to catch up on the happenings at Kamar-Taj over the last half-year.
By the time Fini returned to New York, it was late at night.
In his room, the Tesseract and the Scepter sat casually on his desk. They were close enough to touch; he wondered idly if the Space and Mind Stones were whispering secrets to each other.
To be honest, housing these two was a bit of a headache. They weren't exactly "pocket-sized." The Tesseract was manageable—about the size of a palm, easy enough to toss in a backpack—but the Scepter was long and unwieldy.
Kamar-Taj didn't have any specific spells for dimensional pockets or concealment, and Fini wasn't ready to pry the stones out of their casings just yet.
"Forget it, I'll just leave them at home for now," Fini muttered. He actually had a potential solution in mind, but it was a bit complicated, so he decided to save that experiment for a quieter day.
The next morning, Fini made his long-awaited return to university.
Unlike at Kamar-Taj, where he was a celebrity, he was just another student here. Though a few cheerful girls smiled and waved as he passed, no one seemed to realize he had been missing for six months. Since he had asked Skye to handle his leave of absence, the paperwork was already sorted, and he slipped back into campus life with ease.
While the general student body was indifferent, his classmates—especially his close friend Billy—were a different story.
"Fini! You're back!"
Seeing the look of pure shock on Billy's face, Fini looked at him with a hint of nostalgia. Compared to the Red Skull, Billy was definitely easier on the eyes.
"Long time no see, Billy!"
"Where the hell have you been?" Billy sat down next to him, eyes wide with curiosity. "I asked the professors, and they just said you were on a temporary leave."
"Just went on a long trip. I got back a few days ago," Fini explained vaguely, quickly changing the subject. "What about you? Did you finally get a girlfriend while I was gone?"
"Who needs a girlfriend when you have video games?" Billy scoffed. If it weren't for the flash of sadness in his eyes, Fini might have actually believed him.
"Oh, right! Since I was bored while you were gone, I started developing a game about the 'Knight of Divine Punishment.' It's almost finished! Also, did you hear? He showed up again yesterday! He had this—"
"Wait, wait," Fini interrupted, holding up a hand. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we linguistics majors?"
"Yeah?" Billy nodded, confused by the question.
"Then how did 'boredom' lead you to game development?"
"Does a guy need a reason?"
"I mean... usually?"
Billy thought about it for a second. "Maybe because that girl I was chasing really liked games?"
"..." Fini was speechless.
"Anyway, the game is almost done. You have to playtest it and give me some feedback!"
"Sure thing," Fini agreed, genuinely curious to see what a linguistics student's idea of a game looked like.
"So, did you see the news? Manhattan! Aliens! There was a guy in a red cape with a hammer, and that big green guy—I showed you a picture of him before, remember?"
Billy was animatedly recounting the Battle of New York, but as he spoke, his expression shifted to one of deep suspicion. "Wait a minute... you left about six months ago, right?"
"Yeah, why?" Fini nodded.
"The Knight of Divine Punishment also disappeared about six months ago."
Fini shrugged, affecting an air of total innocence.
"Then yesterday, the Knight suddenly reappears," Billy continued, squinting at Fini. "And now you're back."
"And your point is...?"
Fini didn't really care if Billy figured it out anymore. His existence was becoming common knowledge to the powers that be. Besides, with the Scepter in his possession, if anyone tried anything funny, they could have a chat with the Mind Stone about their life choices.
"You're not... actually the Knight, are you?" Billy whispered, his voice trembling as if he were terrified the answer might be yes.
"So," Fini said, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Do you still want to eat that table?"
"You are the Knight of Divine Punishment?!" Billy gasped. Once was a coincidence. Twice was a fluke. But this many overlaps? It was impossible to ignore.
"I don't believe it!" Billy shook his head. The gap between his best friend and his idol was just too large to bridge in his mind.
"Believe what you want," Fini rolled his eyes. Then, he added firmly, "And for the record, I hate that nickname. I'm a Sorcerer."
(End of Chapter)