Who Is the Real Ghost Story?

London Sanctum, within the collapsing Mirror Dimension

The dark vortex in the sky spun like a funnel. It was Dormammu's greedy maw, trying to devour reality. Corrosive dark energy fell like raindrops, assimilating everything it touched into black crystals.

"Feel the blessings of darkness!"

Black tears streamed from Kaecilius's eyes as he wildly waved his hands. Invisible dark energy transformed into sharp spatial shards, shredding toward Jiang Li's position.

However, there was only a cloud of gray mist dispersing there.

"Blessings? This looks more like indigestion."

A hoarse, chilling voice, like fingernails scraping across a blackboard, suddenly sounded beside Kaecilius's ear.

"What?!" Kaecilius abruptly turned around.

There was nothing there.

"I'm behind you... no, I'm in your shadow."

That hair-raising voice rang out again, this time from the left, then from the right the next second, drifting unpredictably.

Ectonurite—Ghostfreak!

"Stop playing tricks!"

Kaecilius roared and swept the spatial blade in his hand indiscriminately around him.

Whoosh!

The blade sliced through the air—and through a gray figure that suddenly appeared.

Yet strangely, no blood splattered. The sharp magical blade passed directly through Jiang Li's body as if it had cut through smoke.

Intangibility.

Jiang Li's huge purple eye rotated beneath his gray robe, staring fixedly at Kaecilius as he hung upside down from the ceiling.

"You like darkness? Ectonurites were born in the gaps of the Dark Dimension. To me, this place feels like... coming home."

Jiang Li suddenly spread open his gray robe, revealing his "true form" beneath it.

"Ahh!!"

Countless black tentacles surged madly from beneath the robe, instantly wrapping around a fanatic disciple trying to ambush Mordo.

"Let me go!" The disciple struggled in terror, but physical attacks were completely ineffective against Ghostfreak in his intangible state.

"You want to serve Dormammu? How about lending me your body first?"

Jiang Li sneered, transforming into a cloud of gray smoke and drilling directly into the disciple's mouth and nose!

Possession!

"Arghhh!"

The disciple let out a miserable scream. His body convulsed violently, and his eyes rolled back. The next second, he abruptly raised his head, the whites of his formerly black eyes turning an eerie purple.

"Hi, Master Mordo."

The possessed disciple split his lips in a grin, stiffly twisting his neck as Jiang Li's voice came from his mouth. "This body is in terrible shape. Did these dark circles come from staying up all night cultivating immortality?"

"This..."

Mordo's pupils contracted violently as he watched, his face revealing undisguised disgust and horror.

"What are you doing?! You took his body?!"

"I'm disarming him," Jiang Li said matter-of-factly, controlling the disciple.

"That's even more evil than dark magic!" Mordo roared. "It is a violation of free will! It is witchcraft!"

"Don't be so dogmatic, Mordo. It's tactics."

Controlling the disciple, Jiang Li abruptly turned and smashed a fist into the face of another disciple casting a spell nearby!

Bang!

Completely unprepared, the disciple was sent flying by his own companion's punch, even losing his wand.

"Bastard! Give him back his body!"

Realizing one of his men had been controlled, Kaecilius immediately formed a spatial spear and stabbed it toward the possessed disciple. For the sake of darkness, sacrificing a few underlings meant nothing.

"How cold-blooded. You'll even kill your own people."

The instant the spear struck, Jiang Li turned into gray smoke and slipped out of the disciple's body, floating into the air.

Squelch!

Kaecilius's spear pierced his own subordinate.

"You've enraged me! Freak!"

Kaecilius went completely berserk. He no longer cared about the fallen pawn and instead directly invoked the dark vortex overhead.

"Dormammu! Devour this space!!"

Rumble—!

The roof of the London Sanctum completely shattered. Black corrosive energy poured down like a waterfall, and the reality matter on the ground began to be assimilated by darkness.

"This is bad! The Sanctum's defensive array is about to break!" Mordo raised a shield, but the pressure forced him to one knee. "If London falls, Earth's shield will lose one corner!"

"Gwen! Get Mordo out of here! This place is about to collapse!"

Jiang Li floated in the air, his single eye watching the torrent of dark energy pouring down.

"What about you?" Gwen hung from the shattered chandelier by her webbing and shouted anxiously.

"I need to shut off that 'tap.'"

Rather than retreating, Jiang Li charged straight toward the torrent of dark energy!

"Has he gone mad? That's pure energy from the Dark Dimension! It devours souls!" Mordo cried out.

"If it were a human soul, it really would."

Jiang Li's voice echoed through the storm, carrying a hint of madness.

"But an Ectonurite's DNA is written with shadows. To me, this is just like coming home for a cold shower!"

Jiang Li charged straight into the heart of the dark vortex.

An icy, empty, malicious sensation instantly enveloped him. It was as though he saw a massive face formed from purple flames watching him from the other side of the dimension.

Dormammu.

"Get out!"

Jiang Li roared, using Ghostfreak's Intangibility to forcibly squeeze into the "valve" of the spatial rift, then abruptly solidified!

"Omnitrix! Hold it back!!"

Jiang Li was like a stubborn stone wedged between the connection point of two dimensions.

The watch erupted with dazzling pink light—Omnitrix's rejection response upon detecting an invasion of extradimensional energy.

Bzzzz—!!

A high-dimensional technological shield and dark magic collided wildly, producing piercing detonations.

The transmission of dark energy was physically severed!

Below, Kaecilius lost his energy supply, and the spell he had been casting instantly backfired.

Pfft! He spat out a mouthful of black blood, staggering backward as blood even seeped from the cracks in his skin.

"Retreat! Now!"

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Kaecilius cast one unwilling glance at the gray monster stuck in the rift above, opened a portal, and fled in disgrace with his remaining disciples.

As the casters departed, the Mirror Dimension began to collapse.

"Jiang! Get out of there!" Gwen shot out a strand of webbing, trying to catch Jiang Li.

Jiang Li fell from the air. Before hitting the ground, he ended the transformation and firmly grabbed the web.

"Huff... huff..."

Jiang Li gasped for breath, his face pale. The instant he had faced Dormammu head-on, the Omnitrix had nearly overloaded.

The surroundings returned to normal. London's gloomy sky reappeared. Though the Sanctum had been badly damaged, it had at least not collapsed, and the enormous dark vortex had vanished as well.

"We... held it?" Gwen looked around, hardly daring to believe it.

"For now."

Jiang Li wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and glanced at the Omnitrix, where a red countdown was displayed.

"Kaecilius isn't dead, and Dormammu is still watching this place. They've just changed targets."

Crackle—

Ancient One suddenly appeared through a golden spark-filled portal. She looked over the devastated Sanctum, then gave Jiang Li a deep look.

"Well done. You protected London."

But Ancient One's expression was more solemn than ever, even carrying a trace of sorrow.

"But the war is shifting."

"The attack just now was only a feint. While you were defending London, Kaecilius's main force... had already broken through the defenses of the Hong Kong Sanctum."

"What?" Jiang Li froze. "A diversion?"

"The Hong Kong Sanctum has fallen."

Ancient One raised a hand and opened a massive portal.

On the other side was no longer a normal street, but the streets of Hong Kong, blazing with fire and already half-consumed by darkness. Dormammu's enormous purple face floated over Victoria Harbour.

"The darkest hour has arrived."