The wind blew down Privet Drive, passed through the streets of London, and reached Silver Hand Manor.
As the wind arrived, ripples spread across the huge, still cauldron of potion.
The potion began to boil, as though something were inside it.
Beside the potion, golden blood dripped toward the cauldron.
Just before it could fall in, a gust blew it aside.
Thump.
A faint heartbeat sent ripples across the center of the cauldron.
Kamar-Taj.
Stephen had a problem on his hands.
After the barrier reappeared, another problem followed hot on its heels.
"A Hell Lord? You mean a Hell Lord?" Wong asked incredulously. "The passage could let a being like that through?"
This was a Hell Lord, a being no less threatening than a Celestial.
Within their own dimensions, the Lords of the Dimensions could wield power comparable to that of a creator. Even outside Hell, a Hell Lord posed an enormous threat.
Stephen speculated, "His believers built him a passage capable of sustaining the teleportation."
"What we're facing isn't some minor demon causing trouble. It's a genuine Hell Lord."
A Hell Lord had come in person. Wasn't he afraid something would happen to Hell in his absence?
Stephen had no idea that a certain Wizard King had all but destroyed that Hell Lord's territory.
Kamar-Taj's responsibility was to deal with powerful dimensional beings, but even The Ancient One couldn't locate a Hell Lord who had gone into hiding.
"You miscalculated, Wizard King," Stephen said grimly.
Something had happened after all during the twenty-four hours without the barrier.
Only the Wizard King would be reckless enough to let their sturdy defenses vanish for an entire day.
Kamar-Taj's Sanctum Guardians were all reinforcing their defenses.
Unlike the unsettled sorcerers of Kamar-Taj, the man responsible for all of this seemed perfectly