"This is... cough cough... Dimensional Fusion."
Actually, Luca had only muttered the question subconsciously upon seeing the sudden, magnificent spectacle before him.
Who would have thought that a weak voice would actually answer him from behind?
Startled, everyone turned around.
They saw the Ghost Rider—who had been thoroughly sealed inside and out by Si Bei earlier—slumped weakly against a lab bench, covered in blood as he looked at them.
Whether it was because Si Bei had drained his flames too ruthlessly with the Fire Sealing Method, or because everyone had forgotten about him during the chaos, leaving him to tank the explosion head-on without his powers...
The Ghost Rider, who had been lively and aggressive just moments ago, now looked utterly miserable, hanging onto life by a thread.
Seeing that no demons seemed to be trying to force their way through the red-and-blue rift, Luca relaxed slightly.
"Uh, well... Si Bei, go check on his condition."
As he spoke, Luca shot Si Bei a slightly awkward look.
Although he hadn't planned to release the guy yet, Ghost Rider was technically a hero, and Luca hadn't intended to hurt him.
But with so many sudden twists and turns today, nobody had remembered there was an unprotected "prisoner" in the blast zone.
Since Si Bei knew medical ninjutsu, he was the perfect person to treat the guy's external injuries.
However, what Luca didn't expect was...
Si Bei flickered next to the Ghost Rider and performed a quick physical examination.
But after checking, instead of forming seals to use medical ninjutsu, he flickered back to Luca's side.
Bowing respectfully, he whispered, "Lord Luca, most of the seals on the target are still functioning normally. The energy shockwave only disrupted some of the mobility-restricting seals."
"Current assessment: the target poses no threat. Should I repair and strengthen the seals on him?"
As soon as Si Bei said this, a weird silence fell over the wrecked laboratory.
Everyone looked at the master-servant duo with strange expressions.
Tony, in particular, stared at them blankly for a good while.
So when you said 'check on him,' you literally just meant 'check his status'??
Feeling everyone's gaze, Luca, who was already embarrassed, wished he could find a crack in the floor to crawl into.
We are the good guys!!! Is this how I usually teach you??
It must be! It must be bad habits inherited from Orochimaru!
He was screaming internally, but he couldn't say any of that out loud.
Pretending nothing had happened, Luca gave Si Bei a new order.
"Go treat Mr. Ghost Rider's injuries."
"Yes!"
Watching Si Bei flicker back, Luca decided to change the subject (and satisfy his curiosity). Ignoring the other two, he addressed the Ghost Rider who was now receiving treatment.
"What did you mean by 'Dimensional Fusion' just now?"
Hearing Luca's question, the Ghost Rider looked at the group again, then fixed his gaze on the red-and-blue rift. After a long pause, he spoke slowly.
"So-called 'Dimensional Fusion'... I've only seen it a few times myself..."
Listening to his explanation, Luca and the others roughly understood the concept.
Dimensional Fusion, also known as Dimensional Devouring, referred to the phenomenon where two relatively complete dimensional spaces touched, collided, and finally merged into a new dimension, complementing each other.
However, while "fusion" sounded nice, more often than not, it meant "devouring."
A larger dimension—either actively or accidentally—would collide with a smaller one, tear it apart, destroy it, and then absorb the smaller dimension into its "body."
It would extract the essence to strengthen itself.
In the end, the larger dimension would evolve and become even more powerful.
The reason this Ghost Rider knew about it was that he had personally witnessed the Hell Dimension actively devouring other weak dimensions a few times.
While countless demon armies slaughtered and pillaged within the weaker dimension, the dimensional space itself was slowly nibbled away and swallowed by Hell.
Just like Dormammu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension, constantly clamoring to devour Earth—this kind of thing wasn't uncommon in the realm of dimensions.
It was just that the main universe where Earth resided was special. Even though the Dark Dimension wasn't as massive as the main universe, it still tried to take a "bite" every now and then.
"I can say with certainty that the red energy represents the Hell Dimension."
"In fact, most cases involve a Hell Lord discovering a weak dimension and initiating an invasion to devour it. This is the first time I've seen a passive fusion caused by an accidental collision."
"In a leaderless fusion like this, it usually comes down to a direct contest of mass between the two dimensions. But I don't know if the mass of the blue dimension is greater than that of the Hell Dimension. Furthermore, once the Lords of both dimensions discover this fusion, it might lead to further confrontation."
So said the Ghost Rider.
However, when these words reached Luca's ears, they translated into something else entirely.
Got it. So it's a dimensional turf war?!
The Ghost Rider didn't know what the blue energy represented, but Luca knew perfectly well.
Back at the New York Sanctum, Wong had mentioned that the dimensional compression energy released by his [Dehydration Gun] came from the "Hextech Dimension" that the Ancient One had swiped from him.
The interweaving energy before him simply indicated a collision between the Hextech Dimension and the Hell Dimension.
Does this mean I get to watch the Ancient One beat up Mephisto? That sounds entertaining.
Thinking of this, a smile unconsciously crept onto Luca's face.
Although, according to the Ghost Rider, this kind of natural collision was insignificant to vast dimensional worlds, and the Lords of both sides might not notice it immediately.
But in Luca's view, since the Hextech Dimension was under the Ancient One's jurisdiction, this headache definitely wasn't his to deal with.
Besides, that old geezer is as shrewd as a fox. She probably noticed this collision ages ago and is already preparing to secretly fleece Mephisto.
However, while Luca felt that the struggles of big shots were none of his business ("Rain Melon" ), he still needed to deal with the glaring "rift" in his laboratory.
Sigh. I can't just leave it here. Let's see if I can seal it or move it first.
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