Strange and Galactus once again stood in confrontation.
Strange's face was crimson tinged with pallor, clearly having suffered significant losses in the recent exchange.
Galactus, on the other hand, had shed his armor, and faint traces of blood flowed on his exposed purple skin.
Undoubtedly, both were wounded.
Galactus felt a desire to retreat. If he continued fighting, he was highly confident of victory, but it wasn't worth it.
Galactus realized that to defeat his opponent, the energy he would need to expend far exceeded the energy he would gain from devouring a Planet.
"Let's end it here, powerful sorcerer."
"I was thinking the same thing." Strange nodded in agreement.
He was not afraid of battle, but since the enemy was willing to retreat, he would not pester him.
Furthermore, Galactus had his concerns, and so did Strange.
His power was not entirely his own. The burden in battles of this level was immense, and the dark energy within him could easily spiral out of control.
Earth-404, New York.
After Galactus left, his mothership did not stop working. If left unchecked, it would soon destroy Earth's ecology, and even go further to completely destroy Earth.
Kamar-Taj sorcerers, various supernatural organizations, and newly emerging superheroes from all over took turns in the fight.
They either tried to break through the mothership's defenses to enter and shut down its systems, or tried to damage the mothership's structure to make it stop working, or tried to push the mothership away to move it far from Earth.
Without exception, all these methods were ineffective. This greatly disappointed everyone, and they were forced to unite and discuss a solution together.
Suddenly, someone pointed at the purple halo appearing next to Galactus's mothership and asked, "Look, what's that?"
Everyone looked in the direction, only to see Galactus emerge from it, his blue and purple cosmic armor clean and tidy, as if new, not at all like he had just been through a battle.
"Could it be that the dark creature Strange summoned was defeated? And didn't cause Galactus any harm?" Reed muttered to himself.
At this moment, the lingering shadow of Galactus in his heart expanded infinitely, completely engulfing him in an instant.
Under everyone's gaze, Galactus calmly returned to his mothership, then activated it.
Rumble!!!
A roaring sound emanated, and to everyone's astonished gazes, Galactus's mothership slowed its approach to Earth, until it stopped, then accelerated in reverse, about to depart.
"You cause such a commotion in my territory, and then just leave? Galan, or Galactus?" Inside Galactus's mothership, a voice faintly sounded.
"Who are you?"
"Have you forgotten me so quickly?"
Accompanied by sparks, a figure in a plain white robe quietly appeared.
It was Lucas, who had just been observing.
"Sorcerer Lucas, is this your world?" Galactus frowned.
Lucas smiled. "Congratulations, you got it right. For the sake of the Galactic Glaze, I'll only make half a move."
Upon hearing this, Galactus was displeased, feeling that Lucas was too arrogant.
He feigned a contemptuous tone and said, "For the sake of the Second Eternity, I forgive your transgression."
Lucas chuckled softly. "That won't be necessary. He and I aren't that close, actually."
Galactus returned a cold laugh. "Sorcerer Lucas, you don't need to use only half a move. Galactic Glaze isn't anything rare."
Lucas slowly shook his head, his tone sincere. "No, it is necessary. Otherwise, I'll kill you."
Galactus scoffed, "Sorcerer Lucas, if you truly have the ability to kill me with one strike, then do it. No one would dare to trouble you for it."
Lucas said, "Mainly, if this got out, it would be bad for my reputation and cause misunderstandings."
"Misunderstandings about what?"
"Misunderstandings that after I borrowed something, I killed the creditor to clear the debt. So, Galan, you absolutely must survive."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lucas transformed into a silver stream of light and shot out, closing the distance between him and Galactus. His speed was extreme, as if he had surpassed the limits of what the reality could bear. His body rubbed against the reality spacetime, leaving a trail of black cracks.
In an instant, Lucas arrived in front of Galactus. His body had now expanded to three meters, making him a head taller than Galactus.
Without the slightest hesitation, his right fist slammed towards Galactus's chest. This punch contained the pure physical strength of Lucas's Sacred Body, the ultimate of speed and power, capable of tearing spacetime and shattering the Universe.
The fist, with an unstoppable momentum, violently smashed into Galactus's chest.
Time seemed to stand still for a moment.
Then, Galactus's newly donned armor, under this immense force, instantly caved in, shattered, and melted like a fragile cake, offering no protection whatsoever.
Facing this punch, Galactus had no time to react. He only felt an irresistible immense force strike him, and his body was sent flying.
Boom!!!
Galactus's flying body crashed into Taa II, and the terrifying kinetic energy was unleashed as a powerful impact.
Fortunately, in the next moment, Galactus pierced through Taa II and continued to fall, not transferring all his kinetic energy to Taa II.
But even so, the entire Taa II shook violently, as if it was about to fall apart.
...
"Could it be that Galactus is leaving?"
The situation took a turn, and Reed, who felt like he was plummeting into an abyss, desperately clutched at the last straw.
Strange opened his eyes and smiled slightly. "Perhaps."
If anyone observed closely, they would find that after sitting cross-legged for a long time, Strange's condition had not only not improved but had worsened considerably.
Compared to his previous feigned magical exhaustion and weakness, the current Strange was truly weak. He had just experienced a fierce battle with Galactus, completely releasing the dark energy he had swallowed, and now he had to seal it back up.
Both the release and the sealing processes were not small drains on him.
"That's great." Susan couldn't help but cover her face.
However, before they could rejoice, Reed, who had been nervously watching the movements of Taa II and Galactus, noticed an anomaly.
From his perspective, he saw a figure, too fast to be seen clearly, suddenly shoot diagonally out from beneath Taa II.
The figure's speed was extreme. If it weren't for the friction with the air, leaving a long, comet-like tail flame behind it, Reed probably wouldn't have noticed it.
"Look! What is that?"
"Let's go see what happened." Mordo locked onto the direction of the falling flame, opened a portal, and walked straight in.
The others silently followed.
They had only just breathed a sigh of relief when they saw signs that Galactus seemed to be leaving. They didn't expect another anomaly to occur so quickly.
Mordo and the others passed through the portal, only to find nothing in the direction where the flame had fallen, just a faint clicking sound coming from the depths of the void.
Looking up closely, everyone was startled to see a distorted and broken mirror suspended hundreds of meters above the ground.
Mirror Dimension!
Strange was the first to react. He swiped his hand, opening a rift into the Mirror Dimension and leading everyone in.
Entering the Mirror Dimension, what greeted everyone's eyes was blinding fire and a huge mushroom cloud rising into the sky.
After that, a powerful impact swept into the distance, and the high-rise buildings made of reinforced concrete instantly collapsed, becoming fragmented in the face of this destructive force.
After a long while, the dust settled, and everyone slowly walked towards the center of the explosion.
Along the way, everyone was silent. None of them knew whether this sudden change was good or bad.
Occasionally, someone wanted to speak out to express their confusion, but sensing the atmosphere, they could only hesitate.
This road was not long, but everyone felt as if they had walked for a long time. Finally, they reached the end and saw the truth.
A purple figure was embedded in the earth, his armor shattered, and blood flowing incessantly.
"Galactus?!"
Incredulous, the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom were incredulous. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Galactus, who had brought them endless despair, Galactus, whom they couldn't budge in the slightest even with all their might, now lied there, his life or death unknown.
After seeing that it was Galactus in the deep pit, the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom couldn't help but stop. The lingering shadow in their hearts made them unwilling to approach.
"Is he… is he dead?"
"Not yet."
A voice sounded from above their heads, answering Susan's unconscious question.
Following the sound, they saw a plain white figure walking down.
"Sorcerer Lucas."
"Sorcerer Supreme."
"Lucas."
The titles from everyone made the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom understand the identity of the person before them.
They, like most sorcerers, bowed slightly and respectfully said, "Sorcerer Supreme."
Lucas's gaze swept over them, nodding slightly in response to everyone, then his eyes rested on Dr. Doom.
"Tony? Which Universe's Avengers are you?"
A hint of awkwardness flashed across Dr. Doom's face and he explained, "I am not Tony, I am Dr. Doom, Von Doom."
"Dr. Doom." Lucas was also silent for a moment.
How was this Dr. Doom nothing like the Dr. Doom he had met in the 616 Universe?
After a pause, Lucas looked at Reed and the others and asked, "Then you shouldn't be the Avengers either, but the Fantastic Four, right?"
The four nodded in unison, then asked in confusion, "Sorcerer Supreme, how did you know he was Dr. Doom and conclude that we are the Fantastic Four?"
Lucas smiled mysteriously. "What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again. In the Multiverse, there is nothing new."
The Fantastic Four pondered this, nodding thoughtfully.
Presumably, Lucas must have met the Fantastic Four from other Universes during his travels through the Multiverse.
He truly lives up to the name of Sorcerer Supreme, being so knowledgeable.