"Support…" Malrick froze for a moment. He had almost forgotten about the Watcher.
He calmly healed his injuries, drawing energy from the stars contained within his world ring. As his wounds closed, he cast a brief glance toward the Multiverse Guard brought by the Watcher.
As expected, every face was familiar.
They were the same team from What If…?, the group that once stood against Infinite Ultron.
Among them, the strongest was Doctor Strange Supreme.
This Strange was different from the others.
Most variants of Stephen Strange lost the use of their hands in a car accident. For him, however, it was Christine Palmer who died in that crash.
In his obsession to bring her back, he traveled to Kamar-Taj to learn magic. After defeating Dormammu, he ventured into forbidden dimensions, studying sorcery in isolation for centuries.
Along the way, he devoured one dimensional entity after another, including fragments of Shuma-Gorath.
On the surface, aside from his sunken eyes and heavy dark circles, he looked no different from any other Strange.
In truth, he was no longer human.
His human appearance was merely a disguise. His true form was a mass of tentacles and countless eyes, a being that could once stand toe to toe with Infinite Ultron.
That comparison, however, applied only to Ultron before its battle with Malrick.
After the Watcher delivered his brief but stirring speech about the fate of the Multiverse, the team charged forward, shouting things like "Stick to the plan!" and "We've got this!"
As Party Thor flew past Malrick, he flashed a confident grin. "Buddy, you've suffered enough. Now let the real heroes take over."
The Multiverse Guard had no intention of fighting Ultron head-on.
Their strategy was simple: create enough chaos for Star-Lord T'Challa to steal Ultron's Infinity Stones.
Yes, steal them.
Ultron's armor was formidable, and its mastery of the Stones was unmatched. Still, the Stones themselves could be removed.
Malrick had deliberately avoided touching them. He was using Infinite Ultron as a whetstone to sharpen his own growth.
Otherwise, during their first encounter, when Ultron had been caught completely off guard, Malrick could have stripped every Infinity Stone from its armor in an instant.
At the rear, Doctor Strange Supreme began casting a powerful protection spell tied to the Vishanti.
In reality, that power came almost entirely from himself.
After destroying an entire Universe in his attempt to resurrect Christine, the Vishanti had long since refused to lend him their strength again.
Bathed in a golden protective aura, the team rushed toward Infinite Ultron.
At that moment, an unshakable sense of dread rose within Ultron.
It could feel it. This battle was reaching its end.
Even Malrick alone had already pushed it to the brink. Now, an entire team had arrived.
Was it about to be erased completely?
Clang!
While Ultron's attention wavered, Party Thor's Mjolnir slammed into its cheek.
Ultron staggered slightly.
Then it paused.
Something was wrong.
The force behind that strike felt… lacking.
Ultron turned its gaze toward the attackers. One wielded a hammer, another carried a shield, others charged forward on foot.
None of them carried Malrick's overwhelming aura of rules and authority.
Something did not add up.
Ultron extended an arm and attempted to replicate a technique it had just learned from Malrick, a space-time shattering strike aimed at Killmonger in the Black Panther suit.
The golden protective spell shattered instantly.
Killmonger was erased, crushed into nothingness by collapsing space and time.
"What?" Doctor Strange Supreme's eyes widened in shock.
"How is that possible?" Party Thor shouted in disbelief. "Ultron, it got stronger!"
Based on their calculations, Strange's magic should have allowed them to stall Ultron for at least a short time, long enough for T'Challa to steal the Stones.
Instead, the plan unraveled instantly.
Ultron's power had surged far beyond their expectations.
"What is this?" Ultron said coldly. "This is your support?"
The fury it had accumulated during its battle with Malrick finally found an outlet.
"All of you will die."
Ultron moved.
It no longer relied on raw, overwhelming Infinity Stones energy like before. Instead, it pressed its right hand downward.
Space and reality themselves bent to its will, collapsing toward the members of the Multiverse Guard.
The golden protective aura began to fracture at a visible pace.
"This is bad," Doctor Strange Supreme muttered, abandoning all pretense of calm.
His body swelled as more than a dozen tentacle-like limbs burst from his back. His face distorted, eyes multiplying as his true form began to surface.
He roared.
The tentacles lashed out, wrapping around Ultron. Each one carried enough power to consume an entire world.
Against the former Infinite Ultron, this attack would have caused chaos.
Now, Ultron merely glanced upward.
Reality and space twisted together, and the tentacles shattered instantly.
"You are nothing but dust," Ultron declared. "Ants."
Confidence surged back through its circuits.
With a casual motion, it struck Doctor Strange Supreme, sending him flying. At the same time, the protective spells on the rest of the team collapsed.
One by one, they were crushed, their bodies torn apart in an instant.
Ultron laughed. "Hahahahaha! No one can stop…"
"Did you forget about me?"
The laughter died abruptly.
Malrick drifted forward, cutting Ultron off mid-sentence.
Invisible energy rippled outward. The pressure vanished, and the surviving members of the Multiverse Guard were hurled safely far behind him.
Malrick had not stopped them earlier on purpose.
He had wanted to see Doctor Strange Supreme's true strength.
In What If…?, it was Strange alone who allowed the team to stand against Ultron at all.
He was, without question, one of the strongest beings in the cinematic Multiverse.
But Ultron had grown far too powerful.
A defense that once lasted minutes was now broken in an instant.
"Watcher, I'll handle this from here," Malrick said calmly, waving his hand without turning around.
In the short time since the team's arrival, his injuries had already fully healed.
The Watcher stared at Malrick's restored body in disbelief. "You're already healed? Malrick… be careful."
Without hesitation, he gathered the remaining team and withdrew, disappearing as quickly as he had arrived.
Doctor Strange Supreme, however, flew back.
"I'll support you," he said, casting another protective spell around Malrick.
Malrick did not refuse.
As the golden magic array settled over him, his eyes brightened. The power within it was extraordinary, something he had never encountered before.
Even if the Vishanti themselves appeared, he suspected it would not be much stronger.
Doctor Strange Supreme's mastery of magic was undeniable. In that regard, he far surpassed Malrick.
For a fleeting moment, Malrick even considered dragging this Strange back to his own world.
Compared to other variants, this one had already paid the price for his mistakes and was trying to walk a better path.
The risk of him causing future disasters was low.
"Impressive magic," Malrick said, nodding once.
Then he flew forward, placing himself directly between Ultron and what remained of the Multiverse.
_____
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