With a first time came a second. The tragedy unfolded before Strange once more, reminding him why he had started learning magic in the first place:
To save Christine.
That overwhelming emotion made him completely cast Ancient One's warning to the back of his mind. Again and again, he returned to the past and tried every possible method. He had to save Christine!
He changed their route, had Christine sit in the driver's seat, stopped going out for drives, went to restaurants instead, and even stood Christine up. He had tried every method! But not one of them succeeded!
Car accidents, robberies, even Terrorist Attacks occurred! It was as if the entire world was against him!
By the standards of an ordinary world, he had spent several centuries trying!
But the outcome never changed.
Looking at the Lamborghini that had been reduced to a heap of twisted scrap metal, the priceless sports car had ultimately become the steel coffin that buried his hopes. Strange was utterly despairing.
Ancient One of that era also noticed something amiss. The instant she saw Strange, she realized what this future Sorcerer Supreme had done.
She told Strange that Christine's death was an Absolute Point. Only if she died could Strange become the Sorcerer Supreme and defeat Dormammu.
But Strange was not persuaded. Instead, he became even more extreme, using the Time Stone to return thousands of years into the past, back when Cagliostro was still alive. In his library, he found a way to reverse an Absolute Point!
The answer he received was: he was not strong enough.
He needed to absorb creatures from other dimensions—from the weakest dwarves onward: six-eyed black phoenixes, red dragons, the two-headed ram Amon-Ra, the antlered skull Sumaket, deer gods... His power grew stronger by the day! He even