Chapter Summaries

Richard destroyed the Red Mountain Group’s headquarters, killing CEO Weitzler and the assembled operatives, then discovered that his spirituality and Holy Sword had changed. At Kepler Airport, he reunited with Lin, who learned he had carried out the attack alone.

• Richard allowed Weitzler’s security forces to gather in the CEO’s office, then used magic to bind and kill the operatives despite their gunfire.
• Richard killed Weitzler with the Holy Sword and noticed a red tint in its light and a change in his spirituality.
• A mechanical voice confirmed Weitzler’s death and began transmitting information to the Johannesburg Branch.
• At Kepler Airport, Richard met Lin, who confronted him about the Red Mountain Group’s destruction.
• Richard admitted he had acted alone and suggested that he and Lin find a place for a drink.

Richard returned to Kamar-Taj through his newly developed cross-dimensional portal, impressing the sorcerers and revealing kiss marks on his face. Later, he asked the Ancient One about changes to his divine power, and she began explaining how gods were ranked by strength.

• The Ancient One told Mordo, Hamir, Daniel, and the apprentices that the unstable portal was Richard's cross-dimensional spell, and they marveled at his ability.
• Richard emerged from the portal, complained about its force, and discovered that Lin had left several kiss marks on his face.
• After a video call with Christine, Richard visited the Ancient One and thanked her for helping resolve his problem during his cross-realm trip.
• Richard showed the Ancient One his altered divine power, and she explained that gods ranged from weak to strong based on the manifestation of their divine power.

Richard returned to New York after The Ancient One ended his training for the time being, and reunited with Christine at their apartment. He comforted her, spent the day with her, and cooked a meal while she recovered from their reunion.

• Richard decided to call his Divine Power mana after discussing it with The Ancient One, then prepared to return to New York.
• Richard opened a Portal to the Brooks Greenpoint Apartments, where Christine rushed to embrace him after recognizing his voice.
• Christine asked whether Richard had resolved his emotional issues and complained that he had failed to keep in touch during his training.
• Richard comforted Christine when she woke and found him gone, then promised her sparerib soup while she showered.
• Richard served Christine a table full of Chinese dishes and told her he had taken the day off for her.

Richard met Simmons, who had found a Black Snake Gang vault containing nearly thirty million dollars and crime records, and agreed to take the money and let Simmons join him. Richard then asked Christine to leave her doctor job and help him start a company, and she agreed; they headed out on their delayed date as she asked about the company.

• Richard postponed his date with Christine to meet Simmons at Alsop Cafe.
• Simmons told Richard he had found the Black Snake Gang's secret vault, containing nearly thirty million dollars, ledgers, and crime videos.
• Simmons offered the money to Richard and asked to follow him because he feared the danger it posed to his family; Richard accepted.
• Richard returned home and asked Christine to quit her doctor job to help him start a company, and Christine agreed.
• Richard and Christine went out for their date, and Christine eagerly asked about the new company's plans.

Richard reviewed resurrection experiment data from a parallel universe, selected two medical technologies for a planned laboratory, and went to collect Simmons’s thirty million dollars. He began explaining Simmons’s role in the venture but left the conversation unfinished.

• Richard isolated his computer in a mirror dimension, examined the resurrection technology data, and chose directed stem cell migration and visual center compensation as technologies to develop.
• Richard called Simmons and opened a portal to the secret vault, revealing magic and other supernatural beings to him.
• Simmons told Richard that the thirty million dollars was hidden under a bed and that the bedside safe held account books and criminal videos.
• Richard used magic to move the bed, found the money, and told Simmons he planned to use it to acquire a small medical laboratory.
• Richard began telling Simmons that he was not yet capable of running the laboratory, but the chapter ended before he finished.

Richard arranged for Simmons to study at Columbia University and take charge of a medical laboratory, then hired Carl Frank to find a laboratory outside New York and secured an auditing place at Columbia University Business School. The chapter ended when Sorcerer Mordo tumbled through a portal, badly wounded, and warned Richard that the New York Sanctum had been attacked.

• Richard left the secret vault’s money in place and called Carl Frank to arrange the acquisition of a medical laboratory outside New York with a budget of thirty million dollars.
• Richard called Professor Phillips, explained why Presbyterian Hospital had dismissed him, and told him about his research plans and need for a Columbia University Business School auditing place.
• Professor Phillips secured the auditing place, and Richard told Simmons to report in three days.
• Richard returned from the supermarket and began preparing lunch when Sorcerer Mordo emerged from a portal covered in wounds and said the New York Sanctum had been attacked.

Richard rushed to the New York Sanctum, where he used portals to rescue the mages and attack the Gateway of Hell. After his strike made the gate swell toward an explosion, he contained it in a Mirror Dimension, was badly injured, and left the remaining defense to Mordo and the others.

• Richard entered the New York Sanctum and used portals to kill two reaper demons while helping the mages retreat.
• Richard and Mordo helped Master Camille gather the surviving mages behind a defensive array as minotaurs battered it.
• Richard went after the Gateway of Hell, leaving Mordo to support the defensive array, and created one hundred magical clones.
• Richard sent one hundred Holy Swords into the Gateway of Hell, cracking it and causing it to expand toward an explosion.
• Richard enclosed the Gateway of Hell in a Mirror Dimension, suffered severe injuries, and told Mordo and the others to handle what remained before escaping through a portal.

Richard was taken to the hospital after collapsing, while The Ancient One faced Mephisto, Nightmare, and Chthon in a dimensional rift. Dormammu manipulated Kaecilius in dream space, leaving him suspicious of The Ancient One, and Richard eventually woke beside Christine.

• Mordo and Mage Camille led the Kamar-Taj mages in driving the remaining hell demons back as Richard fell into a coma and was taken to Manhattan Presbyterian Hospital.
• The Ancient One confronted Mephisto, Nightmare, and Chthon in the dimensional rift while the dimension lords demanded her surrender.
• Dormammu trapped Kaecilius and the London Sanctum mages in dream space, then challenged Kaecilius's faith in The Ancient One.
• Kaecilius returned to the London Sanctum questioning whether The Ancient One had deceived him.
• After Chthon departed, Mephisto and Nightmare retreated, and The Ancient One returned to Kamar-Taj wondering what Kaecilius would choose.
• Richard woke in Manhattan Presbyterian Hospital, and Christine greeted him with relief.

Richard woke in the hospital and reunited with Christine, then learned that Manhattan Presbyterian Hospital had lost emergency patients after he left. A board member, Karen Thomas, visited him, leaving Richard to face the hospital’s leadership.

• Richard reassured Christine that he would explain why he had passed out once they got home.
• Lina, Lilith, and Mary visited Richard, teased one another, and were led away by Head Nurse Jenna.
• Christine told Richard that patients had stopped coming to Manhattan Presbyterian Hospital’s Emergency Department after he left.
• Director Pansy brought board member Karen Thomas to visit Richard and introduced him.
• Karen Thomas offered to arrange anything Richard needed, while Richard and Christine responded coldly to his visit.

Richard refused the hospital board’s offer to return to Presbyterian Hospital and was discharged. On his way out, he offered to take Jonathan Pangborn, whose paralysis doctors considered incurable, to Kathmandu for a chance at treatment.

• Karen Thomas offered Richard the position of associate director of the emergency department, but Richard refused because he no longer trusted Presbyterian Hospital.
• Richard completed his discharge and left the hospital with Christine.
• Richard found Mrs. Pangborn and her paralyzed son Jonathan after Dr. Strange’s assistant turned them away.
• Richard examined Jonathan’s medical records and said modern medicine could not cure his condition.
• Richard suggested taking Jonathan to Kathmandu, Nepal, and Mrs. Pangborn agreed to try.

Richard learned that the Federer medical laboratory was for sale and arranged for Attorney Carl to negotiate its purchase. At Kamar-Taj, he discovered that Kaecilius carried Dormammu’s energy, and The Ancient One confirmed it without saying whether she had warned him.

• Professor Jennings told Richard that Wal Federer was selling the Federer medical laboratory for $25 million after losing the Federer Group’s working capital gambling.
• Richard asked Attorney Carl to negotiate for the laboratory and offered a bonus for every million dollars he could shave off the price.
• Richard returned to Kamar-Taj, where Mordo told him that The Ancient One had held off Mephisto, Nightmare, and Chthon during their simultaneous attacks on Earth.
• Richard encountered Kaecilius outside the main hall and sensed a familiar abnormal energy within him.
• Richard asked The Ancient One about Kaecilius’s energy, and she confirmed that it came from Dormammu.

Richard urged the Ancient One to help save Kaecilius from his destined fall, but she sent him away without promising to intervene. Back at Greenpoint Apartments, Richard tried to convince Christine that he was a mage and startled her by demonstrating a portal spell.

• Richard learned that the Ancient One had foreseen Kaecilius's future fall but had accepted him at Kamar-Taj because he could become an excellent mage.
• Richard argued that Kaecilius could still be pulled back from the edge and insisted that people could conquer destiny, prompting the Ancient One to call him a variable and a brand-new future.
• The Ancient One sent Richard out of the main hall, and he went to the library to borrow the Kamar-Taj Advanced Magic Compendium.
• Richard returned to Greenpoint Apartments, where Christine teased him about his strange outfit and dismissed his claims that he was a mage.
• Richard opened a portal and reached through it to pat Christine's shoulder from across the room, frightening her when she realized what had happened.

Richard revealed his magic to Christine and told her about his studies at Kamar-Taj. After armed intruders attacked their apartment and killed themselves rather than be captured, Richard woke Christine and prepared to flee with her.

• Christine saw Richard use magic and excitedly asked him to explain how he had become a Mage.
• Richard told Christine about his journey to Kamar-Taj and answered her questions about magic and the Multiverse.
• While studying the Advanced Grimoire, Richard sensed intruders approaching and expanded the Mirror Dimension around the apartment building.
• The intruders opened fire, and Richard twisted space so their bullets struck one another.
• The surviving intruders shot themselves before Richard could question them, leading him to suspect a secret force had ordered his assassination.
• Richard woke Christine and told her they had to leave immediately because assassins had broken into their apartment.

Richard moved Christine to Kamar-Taj for safety after she recalled a burned girl whose rapid healing and escape may have drawn the attackers. After entrusting Christine to Mordo, Richard disposed of the intruders’ bodies and called Dean Elwin, who revealed that Dr. Palmer had also been attacked.

• Richard packed Christine’s belongings and planned to hide her after warning that she could be targeted as his weakness.
• Christine recalled a severely burned girl who woke during treatment, healed rapidly, and fled the hospital, leading Richard to suspect the girl was connected to the attackers.
• Richard brought Christine through a portal to Kamar-Taj, where The Ancient One agreed she could stay and Mordo promised to look after her.
• Richard returned to New York, threw the intruders’ bodies into the Pacific Ocean, and called Dean Elwin.
• Dean Elwin exclaimed that Dr. Palmer had also been attacked.

After learning that doctors connected to a burned patient had been attacked, Richard traced the case to Director Alex Bulwer and uncovered his link to Wall Federer and an escaped experimental subject. Richard went to the Federer Laboratory, where he found it burning and exploding, then learned Wall had died suddenly and feared Alex was next.

• Director Elwin told Richard that five doctors had been attacked and revealed that Director Alex Bulwer had issued a gag order about the burned girl.
• Richard secretly listened to Alex’s call with Wall Federer and learned they were searching for an escaped experimental subject and discussing human experiments.
• Lawyer Carl told Richard that Wall had suspended the laboratory acquisition, and Richard obtained the lab’s address.
• Richard arrived at the Federer Laboratory as it burned and exploded, shielding himself from flying debris with the Rings of Raggadorr.
• Lawyer Carl reported that Wall Federer had died of a sudden heart attack, and Richard realized Alex Bulwer might be in danger.

Richard investigated Alex Bulwer’s death and searched the homes of Alex and Wall Federer, but found their valuables and records had already been removed. After suspecting HYDRA was behind the operation, he returned to his apartment, where Phil Coulson appeared at the door.

• Richard used Clairaudient Eavesdropping to locate Alex Bulwer, then found that Alex and the truck driver had both died in a staged collision.
• Richard hired Rupert Rhodes to locate the homes of Alex Bulwer and Wall Federer.
• Richard searched Alex Bulwer’s villa and found that the safe in his study had been emptied.
• Richard traveled to Wall Federer’s Beverly Hills villa and overheard security guards say Wall had died of a heart attack.
• Richard returned to Greenpoint Apartments and opened the door to find Phil Coulson waiting.

Richard suspected S.H.I.E.L.D. had uncovered his sorcerer identity, but learned Professor Jennings had recommended him for a medical role. After Richard accepted an external consultant position, he weighed the risks of joining S.H.I.E.L.D. and called Jennings to ask about Wall Federer’s death.

• Phil Coulson visited Richard and invited him to join S.H.I.E.L.D., prompting Richard to prepare to attack before a phone call interrupted him.
• Professor Jennings told Richard he had recommended him to S.H.I.E.L.D. and assured him he could accept or refuse without pressure.
• Coulson explained that Richard would provide medical support rather than work on the front lines, and Richard agreed to join as an external consultant without fixed hours.
• Coulson reported Richard’s acceptance to Nick Fury, who then sent him to investigate Tony Stark’s invention at Stark Industries.
• Richard considered the benefits and risks of joining S.H.I.E.L.D., then called Professor Jennings to ask whether he knew Wall Federer had died of heart disease.

Richard investigated the mastermind behind Wall Federer's death while Christine began training as a sorcerer apprentice at Kamar-Taj. Jonathan Pangborn arrived seeking help for his paralysis, and The Ancient One said his recovery could change the established destiny.

• Richard told Old Professor about the fire at the Federer Laboratory, prompting Old Professor to investigate.
• Richard agreed to let Christine register as a sorcerer apprentice, though she struggled to perceive magical energy and runes.
• Mordo brought the paralyzed Jonathan Pangborn and his mother to The Ancient One, who let them stay at Kamar-Taj.
• The Ancient One sensed that established destiny was beginning to change.
• Christine told Richard about the new arrival, and he recognized him as Jonathan Pangborn.

Richard reunited with Jonathan Pangborn at Kamar-Taj and helped arrange for Mordo to train him. After Mordo accepted Jonathan as his student, Richard returned to his dorm with Christine, who scolded him for calling her a dummy.

• Mrs. Pangborn welcomed Richard and told him that she and Jonathan had reached Kamar-Taj, where Jonathan had hope of recovering.
• Richard warned Jonathan that training at Kamar-Taj would be difficult and require perseverance.
• At breakfast, Jonathan asked Richard to mentor him, but Richard recommended Mordo instead.
• Richard praised Mordo and urged him to take Jonathan as a student, and Mordo eventually agreed.
• Christine pinched Richard for calling her a dummy, and he apologized before she let him go.

After developing powerful fire and frost spells, Richard arrived at a S.H.I.E.L.D. secret base for onboarding and was immediately ordered to treat five critically injured patients. He saved them through hours of surgery, while Nick Fury watched from a monitor and praised his work.

• Richard refined three increasingly powerful versions of Fireball into Pyroblast and created the defensive frost spell Ice Block, which could cause frostbite or suffocation if used carelessly.
• Phil Coulson arranged for Richard to travel from New York to a desert S.H.I.E.L.D. base, where director Andre Berkeley completed his onboarding.
• As soon as Richard received his specially modified phone, Phil Coulson called with an emergency request to save five critically injured patients.
• Richard examined the patients' extensive blast wounds and shrapnel injuries, then performed surgery with help from the base's doctors and nurses.
• After more than three hours of surgery, Richard left the remaining work to the medical team, and Nick Fury watched from the secret base and praised him.