Everything happened so fast.
Stephen Strange felt like he was in a dream, his familiar world once again completely transformed.
His lover had died tragically, and he had inexplicably joined a place called Kamar-Taj, seemingly destined to become a sorcerer.
If this had happened a few days ago, Strange might have been overjoyed. He was arrogant and conceited, but not a fool. In this rapidly changing, crazy world, his old worldview had been shattered into pieces in just a few years. Anyone still clinging to the past was simply out of touch with the times, not even knowing how they died.
Superhumans were emerging one after another, and terrifying gods or demons kept appearing from the depths of the universe. Sometimes, after finishing surgery and returning home exhausted, Strange would lie on his expensive sofa, sipping fine wine, and ponder philosophically: What would the world be like without Adam?
For someone like him, who could barely be considered part of the upper class, his value was depreciating rapidly in this era.
But if he could become a sorcerer, holding both the identities of a doctor and a sorcerer, straddling the mundane and mystical worlds, that would indeed be wonderful.
However, if this transformation came at the cost of his girlfriend's death, Strange had to think about how to avoid such an outcome.
Being a doctor was useless now. As for becoming a sorcerer, he had carefully inquired with Mordo and Wong, only to receive stern warnings that reviving the dead was taboo, and reversing time was a disaster.
But Strange didn't care about that. The reactions of those two precisely indicated that there was a way to reverse the situation, just that the cost was too high.
"Devil, it's all because of you that Christina died!"
Strange wished he could devour Mephisto alive.
The several Mephistos wore malicious smirks: "Was it me who killed her? Maybe it was you."
"Don't use such low-level tricks on me; I won't fall for it. If you hadn't caused that car accident, Christina wouldn't have died."
"So that's how you think about it. Then why don't you consider another perspective, Mr. Strange? If it weren't for you, how would Christina have died?"
Mephisto stood up, glaring maliciously at Strange: "It was clearly you who killed your girlfriend. That night, if it weren't for you, she would have been safe. Christina would have returned home safely, prepared a delicious dinner, and waited for her lover to come back. But why did she die instead of you? Because she had to make a deal with me."
"No, it's not like that! You're the culprit, it's you…" Strange clutched his head, his mind filled with images of Christina turning into a desiccated corpse. The scene replayed uncontrollably, making him nauseous.
"You're the culprit. Think carefully about that night. If I hadn't saved Christina, how could she have held on until Adam arrived?" The Mephistos laughed maliciously. "What deal did she make with me, offering her soul? Your girlfriend, even on the brink of death, first thought to save you with her life… Also, if Adam had arrived earlier, couldn't he have saved Christina?"
Strange's eyes turned red as he tried to rush forward, but Mordo and Wong held him back tightly on either side.
"This place isn't somewhere you should be. We've already made an exception by bringing you here."
"Mephisto is trying to provoke you. You actually believe a demon's words? Then we must reevaluate your abilities. If you can't stay calm in the face of verbal provocation, you'll never become a top-tier sorcerer."
Mordo and Wong exchanged glances, very dissatisfied with Strange's performance. They couldn't believe that someone like him would be the next Sorcerer Supreme after the Ancient One.
Why did the Ancient One choose him?
"I thought the Sorcerer Supreme would choose a successor from Adam's side…" Wong muttered.
Mordo was shocked: "Are you joking? Why would you have such a crazy idea?"
"I never joke."
"Adam is a complete danger!"
"That depends on how you define 'danger.' He has saved Earth many times; we all know that."
Mordo and Wong decided not to continue this fruitless conversation. They dragged Strange out of the magical prison.
This allowed Mephisto to sit down comfortably again. He wasn't afraid of human hatred because hatred itself was the most important driving force, giving demons like him opportunities to exploit weaknesses.
But Mephisto's mood soon soured because Adam was seizing his other incarnations, turning them all into Xenomorphs.
"They're about as I expected, all relatively weak, far from reaching the Skyfather level."
Adam looked at the Xenomorphs that had burst from Mephisto's chest.
It was normal. If these incarnations had the potential to reach the single-universe level, Mephisto would have found ways to cultivate them himself; there would be no need for others to intervene.
But Mephisto's true form was only at the single-universe level, and the longer he stayed away from Hell, lacking the support of Hell's dimension, the weaker his power became.
"Demons… I know what to do."
Adam directly sent these demonic Xenomorphs to Kamar-Taj.
He had been using the numerous Xenomorphs in Kamar-Taj to voraciously absorb magical knowledge.
After long efforts, it was now time to reap the rewards.
"You've finally decided to use these magic-learning Xenomorphs? But as far as I know, you haven't let any Xenomorph seek power from a god."
The Ancient One closed the portal and said to Adam.
A Xenomorph nodded: "Dealing with gods is very dangerous, especially borrowing power through magic, which is the most direct form of interaction. I won't do it unless absolutely necessary."
"Is it necessary now? With your current strength, you're more than qualified to claim a vast star domain as your territory, not just on Earth, but throughout the universe." Said the Ancient One.
"You're right, but instead of building a Xenomorph empire, I can use this opportunity to spread more Xenomorphs across the entire universe."
"Creating a Xenomorph universe? That's a mad idea. Many Cosmic Beings will try to stop you, but I probably won't be around to see it; I'm about to leave this world."
As the Ancient One spoke, she saw Mordo and Wong dragging Strange out.
Strange, upon seeing these strange, dark-red Xenomorphs, immediately began pleading loudly: "Adam, you must have a way, right? You can defeat gods; reviving a mere human should be easy for you! Please, save Christina, just like you did last time when you saved her from Mephisto after the car accident…"
"Strange, the car accident was caused by Mephisto, and Christina was tricked into offering her soul. I don't need to think to know that she sacrificed herself to Mephisto to save you, but Mephisto never intended for you to die, so Christina was deceived. This tragedy was a scam orchestrated by the demon from the start."
One of the Xenomorphs stopped and said, "I defeated the demon, but that doesn't mean I have to save those harmed by him."
"But you can! Please, tell me what price I need to pay. If I can't pay now, I'll find a way later. I can sign a soul contract with you, you must have a way. In the future, I'll learn powerful magic and serve you. How about that? If you still don't trust me, you can even implant a Xenomorph in me…"
"Your worth is too light; it's not enough." Adam said dismissively.
The Ancient One supported Strange and said gently, "Everyone at Kamar-Taj has lost a lot, which is why we continue on the path of sorcery to protect more innocent people from the threats of other-dimensional demons. Of course, learning magic comes with a price. Look, this is Hamir the Sorcerer; he sacrificed his left hand."
The Ancient One pointed to a disabled sorcerer and said, "I hope you understand that when your perspective expands to countless dimensions and infinite time, your friends and family will become part of your past."
Having lived for centuries and seen all her loved ones die, the Ancient One had the right to say this.
The people present left the dispirited Strange alone, giving him time to think.
"Do you really have a way to revive Christina? Christina was completely consumed by Mephisto as material for the Singularity Exile spell; she's utterly dead. Unless you can retrieve her from Death itself." The Ancient One said with interest.
Adam thought for a moment: "Strictly speaking, Christina hasn't truly belonged to Death yet."
For ordinary people, death means the death of the body.
But in the Marvel Multiverse, Death is not just a state of life; it is also an omnipresent Creator God.
Even if the body is gone and the soul has dissipated, as long as it isn't claimed by gods of other multiversal tiers, it will be governed by the greater concept of Death, one of the Creator Gods.
Otherwise, if only bodily death counted as death, then those who exist as souls without bodies could all resist the concept of Death.
Therefore, normally, since Christina was used as a consumable by Mephisto, her soul was also consumed. To retrieve her, one would need to negotiate with Death.
But in reality, it hadn't reached that point yet, because before her death, there was a Xenomorph inside Christina…
"That's why I hurried here after obtaining the demonic Xenomorph. I've devised an astonishing plan that can be realized with just a few simple steps. If successful, reviving Christina will be no problem at all."
"Become a Cosmic Being?"
The Ancient One knew that Death was one of the Cosmic Beings, both a real entity and the ultimate end of all things in existence.
This was about reaching a level where one could snatch people from Death's grasp, and with just a few simple steps? If this hadn't come from Adam, the Ancient One would have thought she was dealing with a deranged demon.
"You haven't even dealt with the Serpent Cul from the parallel universe."
"The Serpent Cul is tied to a troublesome world. He's already in my grasp and can't escape, but now isn't the time to execute him immediately."
"I hope you win. Though I don't care about this universe's future, I also don't want to have just relinquished the Sorcerer Supreme title only to see Strange forced to belong to Death because of your failure." The Ancient One was somewhat troubled, wondering how many of her counterparts in other parallel universes were as "lucky" As she was to encounter someone like Adam.
"I won't fail. I'm just maximizing the use of problems that need to be solved anyway. If I fail, Earth won't be safe either."
Adam initiated a mental storm, mobilizing countless consciousnesses in his mind to share the computational load, frantically calculating all possibilities.
Now that he had demonic blood, even if it was manufactured by Mephisto and of low quality, it was enough to provide Adam with crucial insights. Combined with the magical knowledge painstakingly learned by so many Xenomorphs, it was time to put it to use.
"Don't disappoint me… Knull!"
Adam's mind conjured this thought, filled with deep expectation. He said to the Ancient One, "Lend me a few sorcerers who have mastered long-range teleportation spells, like Wong."
"What do you need them for? Wong is a good teacher; he should spend more time guiding Strange."
"I don't like waiting passively. Instead of waiting, it's better to take the initiative and create favorable conditions for myself."
The Ancient One didn't interfere further. Her mindset was like that of a retired veteran, ready to abandon her current body and identity at any moment, leaving this universe to explore the vast multiverse.
Soon, with Wong's assistance, portals opened one after another, sending a large number of Xenomorphs beyond Earth.
Along with the batch previously sent by Kraglin, these Xenomorphs would quickly transform into Queens upon reaching their new locations and begin reproducing.
A vast network was taking shape in Adam's hands.
Adam never let any enemy go; he dealt with them one by one according to his needs, squeezing out their maximum value.
Now it was time for Knull to make his sacrifice.
But hunting a cosmic entity who had lived for billions of years was extremely difficult, especially since this entity was rapidly regaining his peak power.
"All conditions are in place, but if I really want to, there's still one more thing I can do to weaken Knull…"
The Necrosword!
^^^
If you'd like to read up to 50 chapters ahead, feel free to visit our patron: pat reon . com /XElenea