The fragile spatial barrier shattered with a loud explosion, and a pitch-black figure emerged, shrouded in a sinister aura:
"Puny humans, rather than living in endless fear of death, why not kneel and serve Dormammu? Offer up your souls and everything you have, become loyal servants of the Dark Dimension's ruler."
His sunken face was crisscrossed with dark purple veins, resembling the withered bark of an old tree. It was utterly terrifying.
Sean curled his lips into a cold smirk. This body held no trace of life, and was forged entirely from dense dark energy.
"Kaecilius?" Mordo's voice trembled with disbelief.
The once-gifted philosophy-spouting sorcerer who had trained in Kamar-Taj had turned into... this?!
'Is this the fate of those who became Dormammu's followers?' A chill ran down Mordo's spine.
As a sorcerer of Kamar-Taj, he could tell that Kaecilius had become nothing more than a puppet of the Dark Dimension. Without Dormammu's support, even his soul would cease to exist.
"Mordo, you are still loyal to the Ancient One, that hypocritical weakling? I can't wait to see the look on your face when you learn the truth. How pitiful it will be." Kaecilius, whose body was shattered by Sean and remade by Dormammu, laughed wildly.
As the Dark Dimension's emissary, his power far surpassed what it once was.
Though his physical form in the material world had been destroyed, this planet was about to fall into the Dark Dimension. Freed from the material world's laws, he cared little for his monstrous appearance now.
"You became Dormammu's lapdog and now demand others agree with your servitude. Medically speaking, that's a severe psychological disorder." Strange sneered.
The arrogant genius doctor's sharp tongue rivaled Tony Stark's.
"You don't understand. I've grasped the truth of life... Humans are prisoners of time, and I will free you–"
*BANG!*
A metal gauntlet smashed through space, striking his face. His withered tree-like head exploded into a cloud of black mist, his body obliterated by overwhelming energy.
"Still don't get it? Dormammu has granted me eternal life." A surge of dark flames enveloped his shriveled skull as the crimson mark on his forehead glowed.
His lifeless body absorbed the dark energy, reforming in an instant.
"I just didn't want to hear any more of your nonsense." Sean said. Flexing the metal gauntlet, three-colored light swirled around his arm, weaving into a dazzling halo, "Dormammu's 'generosity' is nothing but slow poison, bait for fools like you. Kaecilius, you're lost in the delusion of an eternal paradise, blind to the Dark Dimension's true nature."
Sean glanced toward the hellish gate behind the storm clouds, where a bloodstained figure in white robes had slaughtered demon lords, leaving them trembling in fear.
With a sigh, he said, "You have no idea what true power is." Then he glanced at Mordo and Strange, saying, "This fanatic is all yours. I'm going to meet this 'great' Dormammu that he worships."
With that, Sean brushed past Kaecilius and charged into the slowly expanding Dark Dimension.
Behind them, the New York Sanctum crumbled, violent energy erupting in relentless waves, battering the sturdy structure standing at the dimensional node.
The Dark Dimension loomed like a colossal vortex, eroding the Ancient One's Mirror Dimension. Soon, this mirrored New York would collapse entirely, and Dormammu would consume the material world, swallowing the planet whole like a tasty snack.
Passing through the fractured spatial barrier, Sean plunged into the abyssal silence of the Dark Dimension. Countless miniature planets hung suspended, chained together by thick tendrils of cosmic law. They were devoid of the slightest hint of life, like dead stars.
This was the fate of worlds dragged into the Dark Dimension: entire planets absorbed by Dormammu, and all life extinguished.
No sane being would wish for this. Only Kaecilius, deceived and ignorant of the truth, could foolishly believe that submitting to the Dark Dimension would free humanity from time's prison and grant eternal life.
"Insect... You dare enter my domain?" A guttural voice echoed directly into Sean's mind, like ten thousand tolling bells, deafening and thunderous.
The Dark Dimension's silence shattered as turbulent energy surged like a cosmic tide, stirring the fabric of reality. A colossal spectral head formed, dwarfing even the dead stars.
Eyes brimming with destructive light fixed upon the audacious human. Dormammu felt an odd familiarity. The purity of this soul resonated with something from his past.
"I remember you... The little one who stood beside the Ancient One." Dormammu's voice shook Sean's very soul.
Clenching the gauntlet, the Mind Stone blazed to life, its radiance erupting like a torch, a brilliant sun in the abyss.
Seeing this insignificant human withstand his gaze, Dormammu felt a flicker of interest, "The Ancient One's life nears its end. Why cling to her?"
Weaklings like Kaecilius fell to madness with just a glance from the Dark Dimension. Their wills become eroded, and they gradually become assimilated by the dark forces.
To Dormammu, such devotees were worthless. If not for Kamar-Taj's stubborn defenses, he wouldn't have bothered with Kaecilius at all.
"Your world will soon be mine. To me, you are but a slightly stronger insect among countless weaklings... I offer you the chance to serve as my emissary, to seek out new worlds in my name." Dormammu considered this offer exceedingly generous.
Rarely did he grant choices. But Sean was different.
The three stones on that gauntlet stirred something unfamiliar in the Dark Dimension's ruler: fear... An emotion long forgotten since he shed his mortality and merged with the abyss.
"Sorry, but I'll have to decline." Sean stood before the infinite void, a speck against the cosmic abyss, yet unshaken. Golden flames erupted from his body as he met Dormammu's colossal gaze and spoke firmly, "I'm here to bargain."