The Ancient One's Shock

In the shattered Mirror Dimension, the Ancient One slowly flew out of the ruins of the upside-down Empire State Building.

The compassion and resolve in her eyes had given way to shock unlike anything she had ever felt.

She stared at the man in black floating silently in the void.

That simple punch had not only shattered her magic; it had shaken everything she had believed about power for centuries.

She could feel what that punch had contained: pure, absolute power that answered to no rules and stood above the laws of reality.

Wanda, Kara, Diana, and Koo Ja-yoon flew over to Xiao Han's side.

The four women, each different yet equally powerful, surrounded him like guardians. They watched the defeated Sorcerer Supreme in silence.

The Ancient One remained silent for a long while, then gave a bitter smile and let the magic around her fade.

She knew resistance against someone like him was meaningless.

She bowed to Xiao Han.

"Please, enlighten me."

Xiao Han nodded slightly and snapped his fingers. The shattered Mirror Dimension instantly repaired itself, and the six of them returned to the roof of the New York Sanctum.

This time, the tension was gone. The air was calm.

"First, I need to tell you the truth," Xiao Han said.

"The Universe Collision Crisis you face, and every agonizing choice you've made to protect this world, are all part of an experiment conducted by beings from a higher dimension."

"An experiment?" The Ancient One frowned. In her centuries of life, she had never heard anything so absurd.

"Yes." Xiao Han raised a hand and projected a vast image of the Multiverse into the air.

Countless universes appeared and vanished like bubbles. Beyond them all, in a deeper void, several immense, indescribable figures could just be made out.