Below, the demon army erupted into chatter once again.
Countless pairs of eyes shifted back and forth between Mephisto and Dormammu, their flames flaring and dimming like stars churned by fierce winds in the night sky.
"Dormammu is talking to Lord Mephisto like that... there must be quite a story behind this."
"But what he said seems... reasonable? Lord Mephisto really does seem to have acted only after Russell took the Dark Dimension..."
"What do you know? Lord Mephisto calls that strategy. Do you think this is a street brawl? In Hell, you survive by using your brain. Dormammu dominated the Multiverse for so many years, but didn't Lord Mephisto still take him down?"
"That's true... but Dormammu isn't wrong, either. If he were at his peak, Lord Mephisto might not have been able to..."
"Might not have been able to what? Do you have a death wish? Lord Mephisto is standing right up there!"
Beneath the dome, Mephisto listened to Dormammu's hoarse voice, thick with resentment. His eyes, burning with sulfur flame, narrowed slightly.
But the change lasted less than a breath before he swiftly returned to a lighter, almost conversational tone.
"Dormammu, you're right."
"If you were at your peak, I wouldn't fight you head-on. I've lived for so many years, and calculating the balance between risk and reward is what I do best.
"Fighting you head-on would carry too much risk for too little reward. I don't do things with high risks and low returns."
He paused, his sulfur-flame eyes lingering on Dormammu's pale face.
"But the question is, Dormammu, when were you ever at your peak?"
The flames in Dormammu's eye sockets suddenly leaped.
"You ruled the Dark Dimension for so many years. How much of your power was borrowed from the Dark Dimension itself? How