At the same moment, in a parallel universe.
"Marc, you lunatic! How could you do this?!"
"Marc, don't listen to the lies of that god behind you! Look at what you've done! Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, they've all been stripped of their powers! What are you planning?!"
"You're insane, completely insane! You and your moon god want to rule Earth? Building pyramids all over Manhattan?!"
"He even stole Thor's Mjolnir! He's turned that hammer into his own weapon!"
"Shut your mouths! I'm not wrong!" Moon Knight retorted. "Through the god's eyes, I saw the catastrophic end of Earth. Everything I'm doing is to save it!"
Moon Knight stood amidst the wreckage of the Sanctum Sanctorum, his enhanced powers allowing him to hear countless voices, spoken and telepathic, condemning and cursing him.
The superhero community likely despised him, convinced he'd lost his mind or been bewitched.
Moon Knight looked down at his hands. He had ruthlessly stripped multiple heroes, imbued with ancient powers, of their abilities.
Like a tyrant, he followed the commands of Khonshu, the Egyptian moon god from the celestial Heliopolis.
"Your prophecy had better be right, or we'll be hunted by the entire world." Moon Knight said, engaging in a mental dialogue with Khonshu, the source of his power.
"It's not wrong." Khonshu replied, devoid of the composure and majesty befitting a god, his voice laced with panic. "Weeks ago, didn't you see what I was like? What could reduce a moon god like me to such a state?" He urged Moon Knight to hunt the next hero and seize more power.
Moon Knight fell silent, recalling the scene: he had fought through guards to reach Khonshu, only to find the ancient god cowering in a corner, trembling at visions of a horrific future.
It was Mephisto invading Earth, ultimately destroying it, a fate that had terrified Khonshu, a mighty moon god, to tears.
But it didn't matter if the god was broken. Empowered by divine might, Moon Knight, Marc Spector, resolved to defeat Mephisto.
"Let's go." He said. "Before the other heroes arrive, we need to enter the Sanctum's underground prison and kill this universe's Mephisto."
Man and god reached an accord.
Ignoring the barely alive Doctor Strange, whose magic he had just stripped away, and deaf to Strange's anguished pleas, Moon Knight used magic to carve a path into the deepest magical prison beneath the Sanctum.
Doctor Strange had defeated this universe's Mephisto and imprisoned him. To eliminate any future threat, Moon Knight intended to slay the demon.
Bound by countless crimson chains, Mephisto sat serenely, as if awaiting their arrival.
"Your time is up, Mephisto." Moon Knight declared, his voice stern upon seeing the red-skinned demon. "Your wicked designs on this world will never come to pass!"
"Is that so?" Mephisto replied. "Such a brave human. Yet I see the god behind you trembling before me. Pitiful… But it's no surprise. Heliopolis is no Asgard, Olympus, or Daluotian. A god from Heliopolis, even one wielding this universe's ancient power like your moon god, is only a deity on Earth."
This Mephisto, in his true form, leaned against the wall, his eyes glinting with eerie light as he let out a low, sinister chuckle.
Moon Knight quickly assessed the gap between himself and this Mephisto, confident in his victory. He shattered the prison's wards and charged in.
"Khonshu, give me more divine power." He said. "No holding back now. My plan is simple: use Mjolnir to kill this Mephisto."
Khonshu agreed, mustering courage to fight alongside his chosen servant. "This Mephisto's death is just the beginning. More will come from parallel universes. I don't know why they're hellbent on destroying this world, but it will happen."
Moon Knight raised Mjolnir, poised to hurl it at Mephisto.
But then, Mephisto stood, unleashing a terrifying laugh. "Hahaha! What an amusing pair, trembling yet daring to face me… But alas, I've no time to play."
A chill ran through Moon Knight, a bad omen rising, but he gritted his teeth, channeling his full strength, augmented by the primal powers stolen from Strange and others, into a single, lethal strike against Mephisto.
Mephisto's face held its dreadful smile. He merely stepped back, and the space behind him quivered, an unstable portal flickering into existence.
"No, Marc! We're done for!" Khonshu cried. "It's a dimensional gate! Mephisto's linking another universe, waiting for us to break his bonds so he can summon countless Mephistos to our world!"
Khonshu, driven mad by fear, urged Moon Knight to kill Mephisto at all costs, vowing to slay as many as came until they fell in glorious battle.
"Perhaps our efforts to stop Mephisto's apocalypse are what bring him here, causing the very end we fear." Moon Knight said, his breath ragged, mouth bitter.
He watched as the portal behind Mephisto pulsed with eerie auras, sensing multiple Mephistos converging. Despair fueled his resolve to fight to the bitter end.
He was a hero, wasn't he? Having seen that hopeless future, he had to stop Mephisto.
But in the next moment, Moon Knight and Khonshu froze, stunned.
To their shock, the brazen Mephisto stepped back, slipped into the portal, and vanished.
The other Mephistos, as if merely passing through, took this universe's Mephisto with them, heading to an unknown realm in the multiverse.
The trembling portal faded, as if it had never been.
Moon Knight stood alone in the prison, bewildered.
"What… what just happened? Didn't this demon summon a horde of his counterparts from parallel universes? Why did he flee?"
"There's one possibility." Khonshu murmured, a sense of relief washing over him. "These Mephistos have found a more critical target, so vital that they abandoned this world, one already marked by cosmic fate for their victory, to pursue another objective."
But who could it be? Who could compel these Mephistos to forsake a guaranteed conquest, redirecting their collective might to another target?
"Marc, my instincts tell me the entity behind this anomaly is crucial." Khonshu said. "We must uncover the reason… If it's a person, and not an irredeemable villain, we could ally with them to fight Mephisto together."
"For once, we're in sync." Moon Knight replied. "I hope it's a superhero from another universe. If not, we're in trouble."
Moon Knight had no way back. His actions, brutalizing heroes in this world, even with the goal of salvation, had made him an outcast, unacceptable to those who upheld justice.
As expected, a swarm of superheroes, led by Tony Stark, stormed in, surrounding Moon Knight.
"Heroes are heroes because they face the impossible head-on!" Tony declared. "Marc, your so-called world-saving crusade is the greatest mistake. We don't need someone like you to save us."
Tony spoke with conviction. Most heroes, himself included, dismissed claims of Mephisto's world-ending plans. Even if true, they trusted their own strength to prevail, not some third-rate hero like Moon Knight, who plundered others' powers to avert disaster.
"I can't reason with you self-righteous fools." Moon Knight snapped, his face etched with impatience. "You all think you're smarter, stronger than me. But when it comes to real crises, you're dumber and more arrogant."
He summoned Mjolnir to his hand. "I may have found a more reliable path to save the world. I don't know who they are or what they're like, but one thing's certain: they're stronger than all of you combined. That's the power worth betting on."
He and Khonshu had reached an accord. The heroes' opinions were irrelevant. If they got in his way, he'd take them down one by one.
---
A horde of Mephistos had converged, unmistakably flocking to Adam's universe.
"Sixteen in total… Mephisto, you've abandoned your tasks in other universes just to come here and die by my hand?" Adam said.
He wasn't shocked that Mephisto had summoned parallel versions of himself, but the sheer number and variety of these uneven allies was surprising.
"Strictly speaking, these versions of me were focused on one universe." A Mephisto replied, grinning with excitement. This one's appearance screamed demonic hippie. "But we can abandon that world to deal with you."
"I know where you're from." Adam said, nodding with sudden clarity, his expression one of realization.
This irked the Mephistos. They didn't buy Adam's earlier claim that their plans were within his own, but his knowing demeanor was infuriating.
Yet Adam did know their origin, especially these uniquely styled Mephistos.
The Khonshu Chronicle Universe.
By all accounts, that universe should have faced an endless invasion of Mephistos, thwarted by the lone warrior Moon Knight and a fear-crazed, unhinged Khonshu.
Their origin mattered little, though. What mattered was that, no matter how many came, Adam would ensure they stayed.
The Ancient One shared his resolve.
Seeing the swarm of Mephistos, her gentle expression grew even softer.
Amid the chaos, only Doctor Strange was truly anguished. He had watched his girlfriend inexplicably reduced to a husk, and now faced a legion of near-identical demons.
"Open your eyes, fool!" Druid bellowed, never missing a chance to twist the knife. Sensing Strange's importance from Adam's demeanor, he shouted, "Your woman was killed by a demon. Know why?"
As Strange shook his head mechanically, Druid continued, "Because you lack power. You're not a glorious, mighty Xenomorph."
"But Christina was, "
"Her body died, but her soul lives on." Druid interrupted, sounding more like a preacher than Bishop ever did. "In another realm, she's with every one of us."
The Ancient One glanced at him. "Your man's poaching mine. Not going to rein him in?"
"What are you getting at?" Adam replied.
"I want a bigger share of these Mephistos."
"Whoever grabs them keeps them." Adam said. "I'm taking them all."
Adam struck first. In truth, any Xenomorph's attack was his own.
Countless Xenomorph heroes led the charge, with waves more flooding in, engulfing the entire villa district.
The sixteen Mephistos didn't sit idle. With terrifying laughter, they unleashed a surge of magical energy, forming sixteen arcane nodes that resonated in unison.
The clash obliterated the villas, reducing them to rubble.
Crimson pillars shot skyward, as if forged from blood.
"The more you do, the more flaws you expose." Adam's voice rang out from an ordinary Xenomorph. "I know what you're planning, and I've already devised a counter."
One Mephisto furiously crushed the Xenomorph, but Adam's voice echoed from others: "You used the vile 'Singson Banishment' to exile so many of yourself to my universe. But sheer numbers won't shift the tide. Without Strange, you're forced to rely on yourselves to advance your next move."
"The tide?" A Mephisto scoffed. "A native of a single universe shouldn't lecture a great demon about something so easily altered. I see humans bound by time and fate as little more than vermin… I've confirmed your connection to the Xenomorphs. That's enough for me to unleash real measures."
Mephisto spoke with authority. Normally, this universe's Doctor Strange would have joined him, recklessly driving the next phase. But with that option gone, Mephisto had to act himself, rallying his parallel selves for the task.
These avatars weren't meant for this, but a backup plan was necessary.
This was the true purpose of Singson Banishment.
"I was reluctant to bring him here." Mephisto said. "Your universe's Strange was the ideal candidate, but now I have no choice."
Him, a prize from Mephisto's most cunning schemes, a minor conceptual entity born on a conceptual level.
The Serpent!
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