The Last Hope

"Although the Master Gu Yi has fallen, her magic is not something a fanatic can withstand. If we go up there, we'll only make things worse." Mordo advised Strange not to do anything foolish. Don't try to do something you're not qualified for.

Look over there, the Master Gu Yi is handling it with ease, single-handedly taking on three Zealots. Kaecilius tried to use space-distorting matter to interfere with her, but she just slapped him back. If you go up there now, you'll only be a hindrance.

But when Strange finished what he had made, Mordo was once again dumbfounded. "What have you done?"

Strange, holding up the weapon he had sculpted, said with some pride, "I'm a United States, and under the influence of arms dealers, gun-playing is a social custom in our country."

With a flick of the trigger, a bullet formed from magic was fired from the barrel, striking a fanatic directly in the back and piercing through her body.

The man was about to unleash a twisting slash at the Master Gu Yi's side when a magical bullet shattered her spine. The dark magic within her surged rapidly to heal her injuries, but his movement froze, and he was then kicked away by the Master Gu Yi.

The fanatical mage stood up, dusted himself off, and stared at Strange with murderous intent—this was the current Sorcerer Supreme, after all; sacrificing his life to Dormammu would surely bring him a rich reward.

Then, with a pull of both hands, a spatial blade appeared in her grasp. She charged towards Strange, only to be driven back by a barrage of bullets, the 20mm caliber bullets tearing her apart.

"This one is still the best." Strange looked at the magic gun in his hand and said to Mordo, "This was originally intended for use in the duel with Clark, but I didn't expect to use it against an enemy for the first time."

But the situation reversed; two of the marks on the foreheads of the three fanatics rose, and a massive consciousness took over their bodies.

Dormammu!

The Master Gu Yi looked serious. It seemed that when Kaecilius summoned Dormammu and made contact with the Dark Dimension, the Lord of the Dark Dimension had already inoculated a wisp of his consciousness into their bodies.

This is the price they paid.

The Zealots then changed tactics, trading blows for lives. After sacrificing one Zealot, the other two sorcerers used joint locks to bind the Master Gu Yi's arms, using the Dark Dimension energy within them to resonate with the Master Gu Yi's magic.

Having long borne the responsibility of saving the world, the Master Gu Yi had to transfer the cost of her spells into the Dark Dimension, or bypass Dormammu and draw magic directly from the Dark Dimension. However, her body was being corrupted by the power of the Dark Dimension and had reached its limit. That's why she bestowed grace upon Wei Xiuming and hastily passed on the position of Sorcerer Supreme to Strange.

The Lord of the Dark Dimension arrived in person, using his supreme authority to trigger the Master Gu Yi's dark magic to run rampant. The Master Gu Yi was instantly frozen in place; this was a certain death situation.

Kaecilius, who had been teetering on the edge, seized the opportunity and pierced the two fanatics with two spatial blades, pinning them to the Master Gu Yi.

"No!"

"No!"

Even though Mordo despised the Master Gu Yi's depraved behavior, he still showed an expression of disbelief when the Master Gu Yi was killed.

Kaecilius, with a cold expression, kicked the Master Gu Yi off the arena. The skyscrapers below were transformed into spikes by him, ensuring that no matter where she fell, she would be impaled.

Mordo and Strange leaped from the platform they were standing on, chasing after the Master Gu Yi. Mordo, holding the Sling Ring, opened a portal, allowing the Ancient One to enter the real world through it. They then left the Mirror Dimension as well.

Strange abandoned his self-created weapon and lashed out with an Energy Whip at the Master Gu Yi, attempting to entangle her and reduce the risk of secondary damage.

As for what to do after catching her, they didn't think that much about it in their haste.

Unfortunately, due to the distortion of the Mirror Dimension, the location of the portal Mordo opened was not what he expected. It was only five stories above the ground, a distance from which they had no chance to react. As Strange lashed out his Energy Whip, the Master Gu Yi had already crashed through the glass canopy on the second floor, shattering into countless pieces of glass as she fell to the ground.

Meanwhile, inside Kamar-Taj, Wei Xiuming was sipping a cup of milk tea with sweet cream, marveling at the convenience of having a portal. He could gather ingredients from all over the world to make milk tea, and even obtain spices from parallel worlds.

At that moment, a phantom appeared before him; it was none other than the Master Gu Yi, dressed in a yellow monk's robe.

"Master," Wei Xiuming bowed respectfully, "You still chose this path."

"Yes, it is destiny. Even before you appeared in this world, and in the countless possible futures, I have used the Eye of Agamotto to peer into the flow of time more than once, but my end has always been to die at the hands of fanatics who followed Dormammu and were deceived by his lies." The Master Gu Yi said very quietly, "The difference is that it was Kaecilius who killed me, or Mordo who fell into darkness because of his extremism, or myself who could not withstand the corrosive power of dark energy."

Upon hearing this, Wei Xiuming confirmed that the Master Gu Yi might have known from the beginning that her two disciples would become traitors for various reasons, but she had been carefully nurturing them, making them whetstones in Strange's hands.

She even included herself in the equation; she's here to entrust her child to someone else.

"What state are you in now?" Looking at the illusory image of the Master Gu Yi, Wei Xiuming could confirm that the Ancient One in a state of soul separation, but it was different from that.

"Astral projection—in the last second before my body died completely, my soul left my body and was then bestowed the identity of a Holy Spirit by some being," the Master Gu Yi said. "But I need to follow in His footsteps and travel between dimensions. This trip is to say goodbye. Strange's growth needs supervision to prevent him from incurring debts he cannot repay. As for knowledge of the occult, Kamar-Taj has many good teachers and friends for you."

Wei Xiuming did not refuse.

The Master Gu Yi then disappeared, traveling across space to New York to explain to Strange the duties of the Sorcerer Supreme and what he needed to do—stop Dormammu's invasion.

Then, accompanied by a beam of light descending from a higher dimension, the Ancient One's soul vanished from this world.

"This is really troublesome." Taking a sip of milk tea, Wei Xiuming said, "It's best not to owe favors in general, especially not to a sorcerer. What if someone tries to repay the favor one day? Will you pay them back or not? If it's someone as reliable as the Ancient One, at most you'll have to put in some effort. But if it's someone like Constantine, they probably won't even leave you with a trace."

"It seems we have no choice but to force it to grow faster."

After finishing his milk tea, Wei Xiuming pinched his cheek and then found Wang, who was in charge of monitoring the global defense network.

The burly man with a fierce face said somewhat urgently, "The New York Sanctum has been destroyed, only the Hong Kong Temple remains. I will lead a group of mages to support them."

"No need, don't worry about anything with me here," Wei Xiuming said. "Do you have any money on you? Let's go eat at a Hong Kong night market. Do you prefer preserved meat rice or offal noodles?"

Influenced by Wei Xiuming's calm demeanor, Wang's emotions also calmed down. "I prefer to eat roast pigeon, paired with a pot of chicken congee. There's a very good restaurant near the Hong Kong Temple, and the coconut sago dessert next door is also very authentic—but I only have rubles on me."

"Alright, please open the door now!"

After being teleported to the Hong Kong Temple, Wang, posing as a member of the Kamar-Taj headquarters, instructed the mages stationed there to prepare for battle, leaving behind the bold declaration, "This is humanity's only hope; no one will be allowed to enter the temple." He then had a local mage lead him to a nearby gold shop. Wei Xiuming took out a piece of gold the size of a thumb from his pocket, sold it for some money, and then used the money to treat Wang and the venerable mage, who looked like he had stepped out of an ancient martial arts drama, to a simple meal.

The monk ate the roast meat casually. Even though the other two Sanctum Sanctorum had already been breached by the enemy and it was their turn next, the monk who brought the news showed no tension or seriousness that should be present before a great battle. Instead, he was immersed in the delicious food.

"If I told you that the former Sorcerer Supreme had just fallen, and the current Sorcerer Supreme was just an apprentice who had been studying for less than a year, would you even be able to eat?"

Wei Xiuming scoffed at the concerns of this local mage, and then dropped two even more shocking bombshells.

The monk didn't lose his appetite; he was just so startled that he dropped his chopsticks.

As he watched in horror, a portal appeared in the middle of the street, from which Strange, draped in a red magic Cloak and wearing the Eye of Agamotto around his neck, and Strange Mordo, looking utterly vengeful and on the verge of turning evil, emerged.

This unusual entrance attracted the attention of those around, but after a couple of glances, they acted as if nothing had happened and went back to their own business— the Sanctum Sanctorum had a built-in "avoidance for idlers" spell, which effectively concealed the actions of the Mages.

Then Strange recounted his experiences after leaving Kamar-Taj at three times the speed, including how Kaecilius killed the Master Gu Yi, how she passed the position of Sorcerer Supreme to him before she died, and how Kaecilius destroyed the New York Sanctum while they were taking the Master Gu Yi Ancient One to the hospital for treatment—given their power, it would have been pointless for them to stay there anyway.

Knowing that Kaecilius' next destination would definitely be the Hong Kong Temple, the two of them rushed over to save the day. Fortunately, they arrived in time, before Kaecilius.

"Don't be nervous, sit down and have some char siu rice and a bowl of sweet soup," Wei Xiuming said. "Being nervous now won't help. Even the Master Gu Yi died at Kaecilius's hands. Do you think you can stop him? You might as well have a good meal before the world is destroyed and die a full-bodied ghost on your way to the underworld—no, if Dormammu devours the earth, our souls will become his property and we won't have a chance to be reincarnated."

Upon hearing this, Strange immediately pulled up a stool and sat down next to the King, asking the fat man, who was engrossed in eating braised pigeon, to order him a plate of fried noodles. Then, he took a pair of chopsticks from the chopstick holder and started eating the char siu. Since only Chinese restaurants were open during the Temple Day, he would usually order Panda Express when he was busy with surgeries. Although he wasn't very skilled at using chopsticks, he knew how to use them.

After finishing his meal, Kaecilius rushed over. Of the Legion of fallen mages who had followed him, only two remained. Most of the others had died from the Ancient One's purge, while others had been dealt with by the mages stationed at Kamar-Taj. The two fanatics whose bodies had been directly taken over by Dormammu and who had been corrupted beyond recognition by dark energy had turned to ashes.

The two men accompanying him were there to distract the Ancient One after the attack on the London Sanctum. Finding them took him a lot of effort, which is why it has been delayed until now.

When Kaecilius appeared, he immediately saw a group of people sitting around a table, leisurely drinking sugar water.

"Kaecilius!"

Wang immediately stood up, staring intently at Kaecilius, trying to recall any spells in the magical tomes he had read that could be cast directly through the eyes, and then glared at Kaecilius until he was dead.

Although the Master Gu Yi had already told him about her impending death and that it was an inescapable fate, so that the king should not be too angry or sad, he still could not help but be affected by his emotions after hearing the news. He could eat four pigeons, but he only ate three.

"My lord, you've chosen the wrong side," Kaecilius said arrogantly. "Let me show you the power of the Great Lord."

Having said that, Kaecilius and his followers swept their hands together, and spatial blades appeared in their hands—having gained Dormammu's favor, they could even kill the Sorcerer Supreme, let alone a bunch of insignificant mages.

"Strange, kneel down!"

Wei Xiuming suddenly adopted a grandmaster's posture and spoke to Strange, who was preparing to activate the Eye of Agamotto.

Strange exceptionally gifted in magic. Upon first perusing the Book of Camus, he learned how to manipulate the Eye of Agamotto and wield the power of the Time Stone. Now, he prepares to set an anchor point in the flow of time for himself, planning to stage a "Bite of the Dust" or "Edge of Tomorrow" scenario, using his own death to find a way to defeat Kaecilius.

"Make me kneel down, is that surrendering to Kaecilius?" Strange left an anchor point, rambling on, "Master, but I've read the warning behind the spell in the spellbook. Even if I become Dormammu's apostle and gain Eternity life, no longer controlled by time, the price is becoming a part of Dormammu."