Alaric didn't know that Tony was secretly meddling again.
He knew that Thor had come to Earth because he could sense spatial fluctuations.
But after confirming it was Thor, Alaric didn't pay it any more attention.
He was much more interested in the movements of Sersi and the Eternals.
Earlier, Alaric had marked Sersi and Ikaris, so no matter where they were on Earth, Alaric could locate them at any time.
A week later, all the Eternals had gathered, and Alaric felt it was time to act.
Near an abandoned oceanic region.
All the Eternals had gathered here.
Because this was the place where a Celestial was sleeping.
But at this moment, they were already divided into two groups.
One was led by Sersi, and their goal was to carry out Phastos's plan: using the device they built and Druig's psychic abilities, to link the consciousness of several of them to the Celestial Tiamut and control his awakening.
On the other side were Ikaris and Sprite. To prevent the emergence of the Celestial, Ikaris's method was to kill all the Eternals.
Sprite had joined him because she had always been in love with the powerful Ikaris.
However, since Sprite was still a child when she received her powers, her childish appearance limited the emotions she wanted to express. That's why she always hated being treated like a child and overly protected.
A great battle broke out.
Sersi, Druig, and the swift Makkari were preparing to use Phastos's device to connect to the Celestial through Druig's abilities.
But Ikaris suddenly appeared and seriously injured Druig with his heat beams, interrupting their action.
At the same time, Ikaris flew to the spaceship in the sky, threw Thena out, and destroyed the craft.
Makkari saw her beloved Druig nearly killed by Ikaris and furiously launched an attack.
When Alaric arrived, he saw that scene.
Alaric landed on a rock and shook his head, watching the chaos.
At the same time, he activated perception magic and completely covered the area.
Then Alaric sensed a powerful spiritual presence beneath the distant ocean.
"Celestial…"
Alaric frowned. From the energy fluctuations he sensed, he could estimate the intensity and power of the being.
It was just one Celestial who had absorbed the life energy of Earth and was preparing to be born, and his strength was already enough to easily destroy the entire planet.
Not to mention Arishem, who would soon come to Earth.
Alaric felt that this battle might actually be worth it.
The power of the Celestials didn't reach the level of Dormammu, but surpassed that of Odin and the Ancient One.
Alaric thought it was a good opponent.
As he thought, the others also noticed his arrival.
The particularly striking red cloak made them guess who it was.
After all, Alaric was now a global celebrity. Except for Sersi, Druig, and Thena who lived in seclusion, everyone watched the news.
"Is that the mage?"
Sersi wasn't taking part in the fight with Ikaris, because only her ability to change the structure of matter might be able to alter the body of the mechanical Celestial into something else and thus kill it.
Of course, the energy of Sersi alone probably wasn't enough.
So when she saw Alaric, hope awoke in her heart. Maybe Alaric could help them!?
After all, everyone had seen that Alaric's strength was by no means inferior to the Eternals.
Just when Sersi wanted to run to him and ask for help, a figure suddenly appeared not far from her.
"Ajak? Or… Sprite? Is that really you?"
Sersi wasn't fooled by the illusion and directly called Sprite by name.
Shik!
Just as she was about to say something more, a dagger pierced her lower back.
"I'm sorry, Sersi." Sprite revealed her true form and looked at Sersi with an apologetic gaze.
"I envy you, Sersi. You get to live a normal life like everyone else, and I never could."
"Do you know why I hate living among humans? Because they have what I want: love, family, the awareness that they've truly lived!"
"Now it's all over. We can start again somewhere else!"
"No one can stop the Celestial from awakening!"
Sprite said that and activated an illusion, which simultaneously covered Alaric's position as well.
Because she also saw Alaric, and thought that as long as she hid his presence, no one would stop Ikaris from defeating the others.
As the illusion activated, Sprite became invisible in the air, hiding.
"No! Sprite!?"
Sersi fell to the ground, overwhelmed with despair.
She couldn't believe that her roommate, with whom she had lived for over a thousand years, betrayed her at the crucial moment!
Alaric silently observed it all.
In essence, they were just tools used by the Celestials.
But that wasn't enough to move Alaric to mercy.
Alaric had been watching the show, but suddenly the entire scene before him changed.
"Hmm? Illusion magic?"
But Sprite's illusion couldn't hide Alaric.
Alaric's immense mental power swept through the area and immediately discovered Sprite sneaking up behind him.
Sprite felt something firm gripping her neck — Alaric appeared before her in an instant and grabbed her with his right hand.
Sprite's face filled with panic.
This person was extremely strong! Incredibly strong!!
"Got cocky, have you? Because you've lived too long?"
The scornful tone from above made Alaric frown.
"Speak… umm!!"
Sprite tried to speak, but her breath was cut off.
Because Sprite was now under control, the illusion she had just created immediately vanished.
Tony and the Chitauri she had conjured in the illusion were merely images, nothing real.
"Why are you here, mage!!"
Tony, in his suit, suddenly appeared near Alaric and shouted at him, but that too was part of Sprite's illusion, before it was broken.
When the illusion shattered, the real Tony wasn't there.
Alaric lifted Sprite and coldly asked:
"Tell me why you're here!"
Ikaris saw what was happening near Alaric and quickly shouted:
"Stop!!"
Because, whatever their conflict was, if Sprite was killed, the balance would completely collapse.
But that didn't change the fact that Alaric already had everything under control.