Round 12… ended in defeat just like before.
But this time I gained new information.
Inside the Dark Dimension Dormammu can sense everything—he knows exactly which dimension's magic is being drawn by whom and at what location. It's like he has radar scanning the skies and sonar probing beneath the seas.
And that's not all. His perception is so precise it's as if he's deployed hundreds of drones each equipped with thermal infrared and X-ray sensors feeding him real-time data.
That is Dormammu's ability—to perceive every single thing happening within his realm.
Which is why in Round 13 I decided to try something different fighting using only the power of the Ope Ope no Mi.
"Dormammu I've come to bargain!" I repeated the same line for the thirteenth time though this time my voice carried less confidence. I wasn't sure how much effect a Devil Fruit's power could have on the Lord of Darkness.
As always he laughed and tried to recruit me just like the twelve times before. He seemed to mistake my hesitation for the insecurity of a newly appointed Sorcerer Supreme unsure if his spells could even touch him.
"Heh… Strange I value talent like yours. If you join me I'll make you Kaecilius's superior."
The same words I'd heard so many times before. But hearing them again reassured me—the Time Stone was still working. Dormammu hadn't noticed the loop. That meant I still had time to train to sharpen my body my Devil Fruit powers and my sorcery. However many dozens or hundreds of loops it takes…
I will drive him away from this world.
Of course I wanted to test the Ope Ope no Mi directly—see if I could cut him or if he'd sense the attack beforehand. But revealing my trump card too soon could cause problems.
My greatest fear is this if I unleash the Ope Ope's power openly against his body Dormammu might sense the existence of the Four Blues and the Grand Line. He could break through dimensions and invade that world.
Even if Corazon is gone… even if I never return to that world… I refuse to be the reason Dormammu destroys it.
So for now I'll keep attacking with spells while honing every sense I have—human instinct mystical perception and Observation Haki. Combining all three I'll wring out every ounce of survival instinct from Stephen Strange's body.
Fwoooosh!
Dozens of black spears shot toward me. I raised the Seraphim Shield just in time reshaping it from a dome into a giant hand that caught the spears ready to hurl them back—now inscribed with the sacred sigils of the Vishanti.
"Hmm… the art of turning darkness into light. An advanced technique of the Vishanti. I can't believe the Ancient One taught you this" Dormammu said just as he had before—praise meant to lull me into complacency before striking from behind.
The first time a spear pierced my heart.
The next both lungs.
After that countless vital points.
Or my body dissolved consumed by darkness.
So many ways to die. Any ordinary soul would have gone mad just standing here overwhelmed by the oppressive aura of the Dark Dimension.
And yet here I was.
This time the thirteenth loop another spear came from my blind spot aiming for my chest. But I was ready. I summoned the Image of Ikonn instantly.
"Hahaha! Illusions… a hundred clones of yourself. Clever!" Dormammu chuckled still trying to trick me into lowering my guard.
In the early loops I might have believed him. But twelve deaths had taught me even a single second of carelessness is all Dormammu needs to strike.
Not this time.
I focused pouring everything into expanding my ROOM around Dormammu's head—wider wider as far as I could stretch it.
My goal to see if I could cut his head the same way I once cut his fingers.
The risk was enormous. If Dormammu sensed the Ope Ope's power forming a surgical field around his head he'd retaliate with everything he had and Loop 13 would end in failure.
But if I didn't try nothing would ever change. As one scientist once said
"Repeating the same experiment over and over while expecting different results is the height of foolishness."
Since I've already tried attacking Dormammu with magic for twelve time loops without much success, I had to change tactics and try something new. And when I expanded a ROOM wide enough to cover it's HEAD that large as three Empire State Buildings lined up together…
It worked.
I had successfully cast the ROOM around Dormammu's head without him realizing it.
At last… a path to counterattack is opening I thought while my hundreds of Ikonn clones unleashed a barrage of spells to distract him. Meanwhile my real body hid two kilometers away inside a mini-ROOM that sealed me off from the dimension like a glass sphere.
That was my second experiment if I cut myself off from the dimension Dormammu couldn't sense my presence.
"As expected of a Devil Fruit said to be Ultimate Class… a power that can cut through anything even severing one's existence from the main dimension itself. Next step… let's see if I can cut off the head of the Lord of Darkness!"