ROAAAAAAR!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
CRASH!
The black dragon, exuding waves of malevolent dark magic, tore through the crimson tempests with savage precision. Its enormous wings sliced through ethereal matter, its massive tail swept aside magical constructs, and its ancient claws ripped through defensive spells with contemptuous ease. Dragon-fire of darkest midnight blue erupted from its maw, incinerating anything in its path.
Attack after devastating attack, the construct shredded the blood-red storms, gradually relieving the pressure on the assembled sorcerers below.
Meanwhile, within the magical circle formed by the fallen sorcerers, the divine essence remained ensnared by countless gray-black tentacles of binding magic. Though it continued releasing golden threads that severed the tentacles around it, new tendrils replaced the destroyed ones with overwhelming speed.
The divine sphere grew increasingly obscured behind the writhing mass of dark restraints. Only occasional flashes of pale golden light penetrated the shadowy cocoon, brief glimpses of the captive divinity within.
Victory is within our grasp! thought David, leader of the fallen sorcerers.
Yet his expression betrayed no joy—only mounting anxiety.
The magical circle they had initially formed had been violently disrupted by the divine essence's counterattack. Almost every sorcerer present had suffered internal injuries, himself included.
And now...
Mephisto had summoned his soul-forged dragon, while Dormammu had called forth his dark disciples. David, once positioned as the strongest among them, suddenly found himself outclassed. Even worse, several fallen sorcerers under his command likely harbored questionable loyalties and private ambitions.
How could he possibly feel secure under such circumstances? Especially considering his own clandestine plans.
His gaze fixed on the divine essence wrapped in dark tentacles, raw desire and naked greed gleaming in his eyes.
"Chief, something's wrong," Strange's urgent voice reached David through their magical connection. "We must proceed with greater caution. I fear—"
Strange's warning was abruptly cut short by a catastrophic disruption.
BOOM!
From within the confined divine essence, an explosion of blinding white-gold light erupted with overwhelming force. The detonation's roar was deafening, causing many sorcerers to experience sudden tinnitus or temporary hearing loss.
The sensory assault was total—dazzling light scorched their vision, thunderous sound battered their ears, and waves of pure magical energy crashed through their bodies.
In less than ten seconds, the entire binding circle shattered with a resounding crack, the gray-black tentacles disintegrating into nothingness.
The white-gold divine essence, now radiating a sacred aura of untouchable purity, floated majestically above them.
Simultaneously, the surrounding space began to tremble and distort in response. The scattered blood tempests started gathering once more, their coloration shifting dramatically—from crimson to vibrant red, then soft pink, and finally pristine white before settling into the same white-gold brilliance as the divine essence itself.
These transformed white-gold tempests converged, but rather than forming a larger storm, they began reshaping into an enormous humanoid figure. Waves of majestic energy condensed around this form, while the rich essence of life and spiritual power merged into something new—a bottomless, primordial soul energy unlike anything most present had ever witnessed.
"Is this... truly a soul?" whispered one fallen sorcerer, disbelief evident in his voice.
The eyes of every other sorcerer widened in shock.
They had been searching for the god embryo since their arrival, yet never suspected that the god's soul had been the omnipresent white mist surrounding them all along.
Many sorcerers' expressions shifted to rueful smiles as realization dawned. No wonder their previous attempts to absorb the milky white energy had resulted in immediate counterattacks rather than successful assimilation.
What arrogance they had shown! Even an embryonic god's soul was beyond their capacity to digest—especially within the deity's own domain.
Everyone stared at the colossal soul manifestation with profound shock—everyone except Mephisto.
The demon lord gazed upon the immense soul with carefully controlled expression, though greed flickered briefly in his ancient eyes. With his unparalleled mastery of soul magic, he had suspected the truth from the beginning.
Though the milky white mist had seemed unrelated to conventional soul energy—appearing merely as concentrated magical and spiritual power—it represented the most primitive form of soul essence, especially characteristic of nascent divine consciousness.
Even Grindelwald, who had manipulated countless souls throughout his dark career, could not suppress his astonishment. He had seen souls, toyed with them, experimented upon them—but this...
"Enormous" would be an insult to what stood before them. This was truly a divine soul.
Standing at its feet, they could barely see past its ankles, let alone its knees. Each toe loomed before them like a mountain peak. They could only gaze upward in stunned reverence.
This was beyond sensation—beyond comprehension.
Dormammu's expression grew solemn. In terms of soul quality, his ancient essence far surpassed this embryonic divinity. But the sheer quantity of soul-matter more than compensated for any qualitative disadvantage. Moreover, he was present only as an avatar—a mere fraction of his true power.
"Everyone, prepare yourselves!" someone shouted. "The divine essence is returning to its soul. We must prevent the reconnection, or all is lost!"
But everyone's attention remained transfixed on the white-gold sphere, which had begun dispersing into luminous mist.
Tendrils of white-gold essence streamed outward from the central sphere, ascending rapidly toward the colossal soul-form above. The relationship became instantly clear—the immense figure represented the divine body, while the essence constituted the consciousness that would awaken it.
"Once the essence fully rejoins its soul, the god embryo will fully awaken," Mephisto warned, his tone deceptively casual.
Panic erupted among the sorcerers. As one, they manipulated their sling rings frantically, conjuring barriers of gray mist to prevent the white-gold essence from ascending further.
Black spectral arms materialized in midair, shadow-claws grasping desperately at the rising streams of divine consciousness.
But their efforts proved futile.
The shadow-claws passed harmlessly through the white-gold essence as if they existed in entirely different dimensional planes. Despite their frantic attempts, the divine consciousness continued its inexorable ascent, penetrating both the shadow barriers and the gray mist without resistance.
Just as despair began settling over the assembled sorcerers, something unexpected occurred.
BZZZZZZT!
A sphere of intense blue flame suddenly manifested high above them. The azure fire intercepted the rising white-gold essence with impossible speed, enveloping it completely.
Then—
BOOM!
With a blinding explosion of blue incandescence, the divine essence vanished.
"Attack with your most destructive curses and soul magic!" a voice commanded—not Strange's, but Grindelwald's. "Forget preservation—focus on complete annihilation!"