When they met again after so long, Ancient One's expression carried a faint hint of complexity, but she remained as calm and detached as ever.
"Thank you for not making a move against Stephen. Once he inherits my mantle, I will fight you with everything I have."
Her tone was even, without the slightest ripple, as though she were merely stating a fact.
Yet hearing it, Xu Yue was still somewhat surprised.
As expected of someone capable of using the Time Stone. In terms of manipulating time alone, her level of authority was indeed higher than his.
The future was filled with endless variables, but the power of time could be used to continuously observe those possibilities. This was still one of Xu Yue's shortcomings, while her abilities with the Infinity Stones were clearly far stronger.
At the very least, she already knew his intentions!
Ancient One was the sort of Supreme Mage who accepted her fate. She had already "sensed" that her time was running out. She had to make way for Stephen in the future; dying at the hands of her traitorous disciple was death, and dying at the hands of this being whose fate she could not see was also death.
Since that was the case, she might as well choose a more dignified end.
"Oh? Then I'll lend your successor a hand with Dormammu too."
Xu Yue made the promise just as freely, leaving Ancient One speechless as she shook her head.
In most of the futures she had observed, Kaecilius successfully summoned Dormammu, so she did not say much in response to Xu Yue's words.
Kaecilius had already performed a summoning not long ago and received a portion of Dormammu's power. Dormammu had also captured this plane's coordinates, making his arrival unavoidable.
This could be