Dormammu was delighted.
In his moon-sized eyes, bloodlust and greed churned together like two dark flames, twisting and merging deep in his pupils.
"Ancient One, why so quiet?
My crafty old enemy has come right to my door to die. I can hardly contain myself."
His voice rose from deep within his chest, carrying a bone-chilling resonance, as though the entire Dark Dimension roared with him.
"If I don't kill you now, I'd feel terrible wasting the chance you've handed me!"
The Ancient One stood unmoved before the triumphant Dormammu.
Dormammu shaped dark energy into a giant hand.
Its five fingers, each as massive as an ancient stone pillar, slowly closed through the Dark Dimension. Every movement sent the dimension's energy field shifting in a vast, tidal surge.
In his palm, a mass of dark energy gathered, denser and purer than the darkness around it.
It grew so dense that it began to warp the surrounding space, forming tiny dimensional bubbles along its surface that flickered in and out of existence.
Dormammu's roar erupted, icy and savage, as though the Dark Dimension itself were bellowing with all its mass.
"My faithful followers, come forth.
The Ancient One's life is in my hands now, and her soul is mine. Her corpse will be nailed to the pillar in the deepest reaches of the Dark Dimension, where she will behold my glory forever."
At his command, scattered black masses appeared on planets that had lain silent and lifeless within the Dark Dimension.
They took many forms. Some were little more than lumps of mud that slowly writhed.
Others had a rough human shape, with two holes in their heads that resembled eyes. The flames burning inside those holes had dimmed to embers on the verge of going out.
Still others had strange