That won't work; I've already applied to switch back to the day shift.
I will continue to update before 3 AM.
The current update pace is making you unhappy, and it's making me unhappy too.
Strange found Mordo in the corridors of Kamar-Taj.
Mordo stood in front of an open window, his back to the doorway, gazing out at the courtyard surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
He stood very straight, but you could see that his shoulders were drooping slightly, as if something was slowly breaking apart inside him.
" The Ancient One is gone." Strange stood in the doorway, his voice very soft.
Mordo didn't turn around. He remained silent for a long time before speaking, his voice hoarse and low. "She's not what I thought."
She's complicated.
"Complex?"
Mordo finally turned around, his eyes dry of tears, but filled with the bewilderment of someone betrayed by the person he trusted most. "We all know the Dark Dimension is unstable and extremely dangerous. What if she were to be controlled by it? She taught us it was forbidden! Yet she absorbed its energy to prolong her life. She deceived everyone, for hundreds of years."
She just did what she thought was right.
Mordo shook his head with a wry smile.
"The price will eventually be paid. Don't you understand? All of this happened because she touched a taboo, which caused Kaecilius and the others to side with Dormammu. It's all her fault. And now we're cleaning up the mess she left behind."
Strange fell silent; he understood the Ancient One's actions.
If it were him, he would have to choose between the rules and his life.
Rules are never a priority. But he also knew it was pointless to tell Mordo those things.
Mordo's personality was too rigid; he would not accept any compromises or compromises.
So Strange simply changed the subject. " Mordo, it's pointless to talk about this now. London has fallen, and the New York Sanctum has been attacked twice. You know what Kaecilius is going to do next."
" Hong Kong."
"You once made me fight, saying I was afraid to face the truth. Now I need you. I can't defeat them alone."
Mordo looked at him, a flicker of struggle in his eyes. In the end, he nodded.
Strange raised his hand and drew a circle in the air. Orange sparks burst in the corridor, and a rotating portal opened in front of the two of them.
Beyond the door lies the street of Hong Kong Sanctum.
Screams erupted from all directions as a massive dimensional rift slowly expanded in mid-air, its edges crackling with unstable dark purple lightning. The aura of the Dark Dimension poured out from the rift.
The main building of the Hong Kong Sanctum has been destroyed.
Mordo looked up at the ever-expanding crack, the light from the Dark Dimension casting a cold shadow in his eyes.
" Dormammu is here. It's too late; we can't stop him."
Suddenly, a portal lit up in the air in front of them.
Lynn slowly walked out of the door, surrounded by a five-colored halo—yellow, green, blue, white, and gold. With his back to Strange and Mordo, he looked up at the dimensional rift suspended in mid-air. His voice lacked its usual nonchalance, instead containing something that had been suppressed for too long and was finally beginning to surge.
I'm really unhappy right now.
Lynn's tone was unusually calm. "I finally found someone from my hometown, and before I could even exchange a few pleasantries, he left! He just left! It's so frustrating."
He turned his head and his gaze fell on Strange.
"Leave Kaecilius and the others to me. You have the Eye of Agamotto with you, right? Stop all this for now, go and talk to Dormammu. He transcends time, yet exists within time itself. Do you understand what I mean?"
Mordo looked at Strange, puzzled. "What is he talking about?"
Strange didn't answer. He cast a spell with both hands, and the Eye of Agamotto slowly opened on his chest. Green time runes flowed from the artifact, transforming into visible green ripples that spread in all directions. The destroyed building walls began to rebuild piece by piece, shattered glass was pieced back together, and collapsed walls rose again. Beneath the ruins, a thick arm suddenly stretched out from the rubble.
Strange flicked his fingers through the air, precisely severing the effects of time rewind on the King.
Wang dusted off his robes, watching the Hong Kong Sanctum gradually return to its original state as time reversed. He then looked up at the ever-expanding dimensional rift in mid-air and glanced at the Eye of Agamotto, the green runes flowing across Strange's chest.
"I'm breaking the laws of nature, I know that," Strange said with a self-deprecating laugh.
Wang glanced at him and said calmly, "Now that you've started, don't stop."
Lynn stood in front of the three, not turning his head, and said, "Stop watching the show. Strange, do you understand what I just said? Go negotiate with Dormammu. This is what you must do after taking over the Ancient One's duties."
"You weren't there when we were putting in the effort, but you speak so righteously about sending people to their deaths."
Strange replied, but his feet didn't hesitate for a second.
He leaped toward the dimensional rift in mid-air, his Cloak of Levitation fluttering in the night wind, green time runes swirling around him.
Lynn turned around and glanced at Mordo and Wang.
"You all just watch quietly. I wasn't planning on getting involved, but I'm furious right now."
Lynn slowly floated up, with a five-colored halo gently flowing around him.
As soon as Kaecilius and his two followers broke free from the constraints of time reversal, they saw Lynn flying towards them, surrounded by a five-colored halo.
Kaecilius instinctively conjured a dark energy blade, but his fingers were trembling.
He could sense a change in the magical fluctuations in the air; it wasn't any kind of magic he was familiar with, but something more fundamental and underlying.
Lynn raised his hand. A very faint silver light spread from his fingertips, instantly expanding into boundless ripples of information.
Kaecilius discovered that the energy blade he had condensed was beginning to disintegrate on its own, starting at the molecular level.
The magic that constitutes the energy blade is being rewritten from the ground up by a force he cannot comprehend at all, peeled away and dismantled layer by layer.
His two followers were also frozen in place, like three statues.
Then Lynn withdrew all his abilities. The five-colored halo slowly receded into his body.
He slowly walked up to Kaecilius, said nothing, and swung his fist, smashing it hard into his face.
This punch was delivered without any enhancement from any special abilities; it was simply a pure fist.
Kaecilius ' head was knocked to one side, and he staggered back half a step, but Lynn did not give him a chance to catch his breath.
The second punch landed on his cheekbone, followed by the third and fourth. He grabbed Kaecilius by the collar of his robe and pulled him back, kneed him in the stomach, and then slammed his elbow into his back.
Kaecilius groaned and fell to his knees. Lynn released him, turned to the two followers who were still frozen in place, and delivered a swift and decisive punch to each of them.
He turned back, grabbed Kaecilius by the collar again, lifted him off the ground, and began punching him repeatedly.
His knuckles were red, and his breathing was rapid from the continuous strenuous exercise, but he didn't say a word.
There was no mockery, no questioning, no judgment.
It was just venting. Every punch was for the departed without a chance to say goodbye, every punch was for the innocent lives swallowed by darkness, every punch was for this war that should never have happened.
Mordo and Wang stood behind, watching in silence.
Finally, Lynn stopped. He loosened his grip on Kaecilius's collar and took a step back.
Kaecilius lay sprawled on the ground, his face unrecognizable.
Physically, he was beaten beyond recognition; his nose was broken, his lips were split, and his eyes were so swollen he could barely open them.
Two other followers also collapsed beside him, groaning faintly.
Lynn looked down at them, rubbed his reddened knuckles, stretched his wrists, and let out a long sigh. "Much better."
He turned around and took a few steps toward Mordo and the King, who both of them simultaneously took a step back.
Lynn stared at them wide-eyed, incredulous. "Do you know how much this small step you've taken has hurt me?"
The two looked at him awkwardly.
Just then, the dimensional rift in mid-air began to tremble violently. Lynn looked up; he knew Strange had succeeded.
The former surgeon was playing an infinite loop with Dormammu using the Time Stone, reappearing before Dormammu every time he was killed, over and over again. Dormammu transcended time, but Strange turned himself into an Eternity anchor, trapping him in his own dimension, until Dormammu finally agreed to stop invading Earth and withdraw all his followers.
The edges of the crack began to shrink, and green time runes seeped out from the fissure, like a wound that was healing.
The dark magic within Kaecilius and his followers began to be drawn away by an invisible force, and the cracks caused by the erosion of the Dark Dimension slowly widened, but he no longer had the strength to scream.
Dark magic was forcibly extracted from their bodies and sucked back into them through the not-yet-completely-closed crack at the edge of the fissure. Their bodies began to crumble after losing the support of dark magic, and Dormammu himself reclaimed everything he had given them.
Those cracks that were once filled with dark magic became real fissures, spreading from fingertips to arms, from arms to torso, until finally the whole person turned into fine dust and was swept into the last shockwaves of the fissures.
Strange's figure slowly descended from the last rays of light in the rift. His Cloak of Levitation fluttered gently in the night breeze, and the Eye of Agamotto slowly closed on his chest. He landed with light steps.
The streets of Hong Kong Sanctum have returned to calm. The buildings restored by time reversal stand serenely in the night, streetlights casting a warm yellow glow, and the occasional bark of a dog can be heard in the distance. Wang, hands behind his back, looks at this peaceful street scene and lets out a long sigh. "We succeeded." He walks towards the distant Sanctum with a smile, his steps unhurried.
Strange was about to follow when Mordo spoke up. His voice wasn't loud. "Yes, we succeeded. But it was also by defying the laws of nature."
Strange turned to look at him. "Look around you. We saved them, and this is all over."
"After what happened with the Ancient One, do you think there will be no consequences for what you're doing, Strange? No cost? We, like her, broke the rules. The cost of breaking the rules will come sooner or later. All of this will be settled sooner or later. I will never go down this path again."
After speaking, Mordo turned and walked towards the other end of the street. His back remained as straight as ever.
Lynn stood to the side, watching Mordo's figure gradually disappear into the distance. She pursed her lips and muttered under her breath, "No matter how many times I hear it, I still can't stand his stubborn personality."
He raised his hand and drew a circle in the air, and a pale golden portal opened in front of him, revealing the warm lights of a New York apartment on the other side. He glanced back at Strange, his tone returning to its usual nonchalant tone, "I'm going back now. Natasha's waiting for me for dinner."
After saying that, he stepped into the portal, and the sparks receded behind him. The Hong Kong night returned to silence.
In the days following the Kaecilius incident, Strange barely slept.
The Hong Kong Sanctum was restored by the power of the Time Stone, but the London Sanctum suffered most of its main structure destroyed during Kaecilius's attack. All the magic arrays were rendered ineffective, the runestones corrupted by dark magic needed to be replaced piece by piece, the shattered Crystal dome needed to be reassembled, and the defensive magic arrays destroyed by Kaecilius's followers needed to be redrawn from scratch.
When Wang told him this, Strange remained silent for a while before asking, "How long will it take?"
"If it's just the two of us... at least a month."
The ruins of the London Sanctum were quieter than Strange had imagined.
The shattered runestone slabs lay scattered on the stone floor, while ancient scrolls, soaked and decayed by rain, were piled up in the corner.
The air was filled with damp dust and the smell of rotting old book pages.
Wang stood in the center of the ruins, looking around and rolling up his sleeves to his elbows.
"First, pick out the usable stones. Prioritize runestone slabs; drawing one of those takes several days, so save where you can. Separate the Crystal shards, keeping the complete ones and the broken ones separate. Let the scrolls dry first; some ancient books have already rotted from soaking, and there's nothing we can do about it—we'll have to complete them later."
"Where did you learn all this?" Strange crouched down and began picking up pebbles.
"Before the New York Sanctum was renovated, around 1963, it was also accidentally damaged."
Strange moved a relatively intact runestone tablet to the corner, straightened up, looked at the ruins, and remained silent for a long while.
"So this is the Sorcerer Supreme's daily work?"
"No. This is the Sorcerer Supreme's internship."
Wang didn't even look up. "The true Sorcerer Supreme deals with things like Dormammu, and the occasional dimensional rift. Repairing the house is the easiest part. You should sweep the floor clean first."
The days that followed were completely different from those in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was repaired by time reversal; the power of the Time Stone reversed everything, and all they had to do was clean up the mess.
But restoring the London Sanctum wasn't urgent, so they only had hands and shovels.
Every morning at the crack of dawn, Wang would be waiting for him at the Sanctum entrance, carrying two cups of black tea he had brought from the coffee shop on the street corner.
Then the two of them began moving stones, sifting through fragments, and cleaning runestone tablets that had been corrupted by dark magic and were no longer usable.
They would eat lunch on the steps at the entrance of the Sanctum.
They continued working until dark. Wang would check the runestone tablets Strange had collected that day before finishing work each day.
Two weeks later, Strange finally completed the first runestone tablet for the Sanctum's defensive array.
The stone slab was installed in the center of the dome of the main hall of the Sanctum.
As he stood on the ladder, tilting his head back to adjust the angle, the afternoon sun streamed down from the restored Crystal dome, illuminating the edges of the stone slab in his hands. The runes shimmered with a pale golden light in the sunlight.
Wang stood below watching him embed the stone slab into the groove, and unusually gave him a positive review. "Not bad."
"That's probably the highest compliment you could give me, right?"
"That's about it. Let's come down for lunch."
Strange climbed down the ladder and took the still-steaming fish and chips.
"Once the work here is finished," he mumbled, chewing on a fries, "Won't we still have to repair the Sanctum when we get back to New York?"
" The New York Sanctum is mostly undamaged. A few stone slabs in the foyer were blown up, and they've already collected and stored the magical artifacts you carelessly left behind."
"... Alright." Strange looked down at his hands, which were still trembling slightly, his fingers covered in runic ink and stone dust.
Then he slowly clenched his fist, and then slowly relaxed it.
My hands still shake, but it's not a big problem anymore.