Lost Soul

Now, his soul had actually been taken by someone else. As the ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu was someone Thor knew even his father could do nothing against. Odin might not have been his match and would have to give him a wide berth, but he would not have lost too badly either. Yet Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme who stood on the same level as his father Odin, was now in such a miserable state.

"Yes. At the time, Dormammu had taken the souls of nearly every mage on Earth. I thought Earth was finished, but do you know what happened?"

Thor listened to the God King Odin's words without saying anything.

"Yes, Chen Xu single-handedly saved all the Temple Mages on Earth, and he saved Ancient One as well. He actually went into the Dark Dimension to fight Dormammu and ultimately brought everyone back."

If it had been Odin, he absolutely would not have dared set foot in the Dark Dimension. There were only a handful of people in the entire universe who would dare do such a thing.

Yet someone had done it yesterday. He had returned alive, fought Dormammu, and Dormammu had even lost. The news spread throughout the universe at once.

"What? You're saying Chen Xu defeated Dormammu all by himself?"

"Yes. That also means he has the ability to defeat me."

Those words shattered the long-held belief that Odin was invincible.

The reason Odin wanted Thor to befriend him was naturally to prepare for the coming of Ragnarok. He was already old. Through the All-Knowing Eye, he had foreseen the future and seen that tremendous changes would take place.

Odin looked out at the stars, unsure what he was thinking.

"Do you want to go to Earth?"

"Yes."

"But wasn't the Bifrost destroyed?"

"I have my ways."

"I recently received word that Loki is not dead. However, he seems to have gone to work with Thanos, constantly invading other civilizations. Now he is eager to make a move on Earth! Go bring him back and find out what exactly he wants."

"Loki isn't dead? Fine, I'll go bring him back."

It was already morning on Earth. Chen Xu sat in a chair in the open space outside the New York Sanctum, basking in the sun and enjoying the warmth of the sunlight.

Suddenly, a very pleasant female voice entered Chen Xu's ears.

"Excuse me, can you learn magic here?"

Chen Xu lazily replied,

"Nooo."

The girl walked right up to him and greeted him.

"Hello!"

Chen Xu looked at the owner of the voice.

A breathtakingly beautiful face came into view. Her delicate features were flawless, and her face carried an optimistic expression as she looked at Chen Xu.

Chen Xu was so startled that he fell straight out of his chair. She was standing far too close.

"Damn, miss, aren't you standing a little too close? There's a difference between men and women, you know!"

"I don't mind. Why do you?"

Chen Xu was instantly rendered speechless. Looking embarrassed, he asked,

"Miss, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to learn magic."

"What? Miss, are you crazy? Have you watched too many movies? Magic? Magic exists in this world? Stop kidding around."

Chen Xu said that deliberately. He could not tell her the truth or reveal that he was a mage. Otherwise, if ordinary people outside found out, or if the American Consulate learned of it, there would be unavoidable trouble.

Kamar-Taj and everything related to magic were kept secret. Anyone who entered Kamar-Taj to study magic had to understand this first, and it was also the most important rule. People in modern society still did not know magic existed. Once they did, it would have an extremely serious impact on the real world. All beliefs, religious faiths, humanity's origins, and everything humanity currently understood would be overturned. Unless absolutely necessary, mages could not reveal their magic in front of ordinary people. Even if they did reveal it, they could not let others know their identity.

"There's no magic here. Miss, you should leave."

However, the girl ignored him completely. Chen Xu could even sense that she intended to stay here and refuse to leave. She began introducing herself outright.

"My name is Marina. I learned about this place through a friend. He said he knew astrology."

"He said that himself?"

Chen Xu looked at her with disbelief written all over his face.

"Fine. One time, at a bar, he struck up a conversation with me. He told me when he was drunk."

"What did he tell you?"

"Well... you guess."

Marina looked at Chen Xu with a mischievous smile, as though she had something planned.

Seeing her stare at him so intently, Chen Xu suddenly felt a little afraid. His hands actually began trembling with nervousness. He had not been afraid or shaken when fighting Dormammu, yet now his hands were trembling.

"Women really are terrifying creatures."

"Can you tell me who that person was?"

"No. I promised him I wouldn't go around telling people, and I can't reveal his name."

"Your confidentiality work is pretty solid."

"Anyway, if you don't tell me whether there's magic here today, I'm not leaving."

"I do know divination. I can give you a reading, but you have to leave afterward. You can't go around talking about it or reveal that I know divination."

"Really? All right, it's a deal."

Marina looked at Chen Xu as though her scheme had succeeded.

Chen Xu immediately used the Time Stone. When Ancient One had been saved by Chen Xu last time, she had directly entrusted the Time Stone to him for safekeeping.

A green magical pattern appeared in Chen Xu's hand, emanating an ancient, weathered aura. Using a strand of Marina's hair, he followed the timeline to explore her past.

He saw a village where flames filled the sky and burned everything. Women wailed, men shouted, and at the center, an old woman seemed to be conducting some ancient ritual. At the very center of that ritual were all kinds of human organs—bloody and cruel. Corpses lay everywhere in the village, each missing some part of their body. The cruelty was beyond imagination.

Then several people who looked like police officers rushed in. They found a little girl in a corner, sent her to an orphanage, and named her Marina.

Chen Xu suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Marina, unsure how to answer her for a moment.

Seeing Chen Xu's expression, Marina felt a wave of fear herself, afraid that Chen Xu had failed to divine anything.

"How was it?"

"Your parents are still alive."

"Really? Then that's enough."

"I forced myself to learn computers and become a hacker just to investigate their whereabouts. But there are so many people in the world, and too many people look alike. There was simply no way to find them."

"Just hearing from you that they're alive is enough."

"Thank you, Chen Xu."

The next second, Chen Xu felt something soft cover his lips. Instantly, he realized what it was.

Chen Xu immediately pushed Marina away.