Mephisto's return to this universe, with all its commotion, had not gone unnoticed by those watching Earth.
"Oh? That Mephisto's back, stirring trouble again." Dormammu muttered, brimming with discontent. "But to target my prey? That's a problem. I can't exactly storm Hell to deal with him…"
Who in the cosmos didn't know Earth was Dormammu's prize? A demon from Hell meddling in his domain was an affront.
Yet, confronting Mephisto head-on posed a challenge for Dormammu.
Once a sorcerer of the ancient Faltine, Dormammu had ascended to a single-universe entity by claiming the Dark Dimension, akin to Mephisto's dominion over his Hell. But therein lay their shared dilemma: the longer their true forms left their respective dimensions, the weaker their dimensional enhancements became, leaving them vulnerable.
Having made many enemies, a weakened state could be fatal.
Threatening to invade Hell to oust Mephisto was out of the question for Dormammu.
Destroying Mephisto's avatars, however, would achieve little.
Worse, Mephisto had now flooded Earth with a swarm of his avatars, an act of madness.
"That old fool will regret this." Dormammu sneered. "He's not the only outsider to see Adam's value…"
Underestimating Adam would cost even a demon feared across worlds dearly.
"Fine. Let Mephisto test Adam's limits." Dormammu mused. "Then I'll swoop in, crush his avatars, and drag Adam's soul to the Dark Dimension."
His colossal form loomed in endless darkness, gazing at a desolate planet teeming with Xenomorphs.
These were the hundreds he'd taken after his last failed invasion of Earth. Resilient creatures, they thrived in harsh conditions, but Dormammu, wary of losing too many, had crafted an Earth-like environment with oxygen for them.
He periodically experimented on one or two, attempting to use their soul-consciousness with curse magic to erode Adam's soul. Each attempt failed.
The moment a Xenomorph's consciousness was severed from Adam, even briefly, it died instantly, forcing Dormammu to tread carefully.
But the prize was clear: control Adam, and the Xenomorphs would follow. Dormammu envisioned forging Adam's soul into an artifact, a source of Xenomorph origin, much like Null's Necrosword, the root of all symbiotes, a perfect fit.
If only Null, that fool, hadn't lost the Necrosword. How else could he have fallen so pathetically to Adam?
Why challenge a cunning, sinister human like Adam in a weakened state? Why not regain full power first?
"I'll keep an eye out." Dormammu muttered. "If Earth's situation sours, I'll send Black Souls to invade his Hell…"
Like Mephisto's demon army, which clashed with native forces across universes, Dormammu had cultivated his own forces in the Dark Dimension.
If I can't have it, neither can that demon.
But soon, Dormammu sensed trouble.
A massive spatial disturbance rippled through the universe's barriers, a breach wide enough for powerful entities from other realms to slip through.
"Has Mephisto lost his mind?" Dormammu growled. "His avatars' demonic auras are fading fast… He's sacrificing himself to open a gate to another world? What a vile spell!"
This breached a taboo among native gods.
Only a rare few multiversal entities, like Eternity or Death, could shrug off such intrusions, existing as part of the multiverse itself. Losing single-universe avatars or entire universes meant little to them.
But for single-universe gods like Dormammu, every interloper from another realm was a dire threat.
If this universe faltered, Dormammu would suffer, with no connection to his parallel counterparts, each existing independently.
"It's here…" Dormammu's face darkened, the flames on his head flickering, betraying his seething rage.
Mephisto's recklessness had drawn attention.
Other entities, sensing the disturbance, turned their gaze to Earth.
Mephisto had earned a spot on this universe's blacklist. Free passage was over; he'd face a reckoning from many.
"It's come to this." Adam said, unsurprised. "With Mephisto's true form refusing to leave Hell and Strange no longer a fulcrum for fate, his options were limited."
He marveled at Mephisto's decisiveness.
Sacrificing a horde of avatars, permanently losing power, was bold for a schemer like Mephisto, who never acted without assurance.
"Is his mindset part of your plan too?" The Ancient One asked.
"No, I'm not omniscient." Adam replied.
"Good. Your act almost fooled me." She said.
The Ancient One calmly spread her hands, weaving a new magical array, this time, using black magic.
"Black magic? That's new." Adam remarked. "First time I've seen you openly use it against an enemy. Why not Vishanti's white magic?"
"Someone's eager to lend me power." She said. "Might as well use it."
"Dormammu?" Adam nodded. "Rare for that god to be generous. Seems he'd rather suffer himself than let Mephisto win."
The Ancient One's black magic drew on Dormammu's power, indebting him to Chthon.
"The real reason is that you're too alluring, with far too many suitors." The Ancient One said.
As she spoke, her form radiated dark matter, eerie black runes spreading across her face.
Adam couldn't help but think maliciously that, in terms of black magic, the Ancient One had never fought such a lavish battle, with all expenses footed by Dormammu.
This revealed how furious Dormammu was, terrified that Adam might emerge unscathed, yet equally afraid of Mephisto succeeding.
Druid, ever protective of Strange, offered his assessment: "Even among gods, their relationships are endlessly complex. We'd best steer clear."
Strange knew the words were meant for him.
"Is Adam a god?" Strange blurted out, despite Druid's mental guidance, feeling on the brink of madness. "Scholars have dissected his life. He's clearly a mortal human."
"That's what you think." Druid replied. "You know nothing about him. I'm different. I understand him better than anyone in this world."
Strange could see Druid's pride and conviction.
Sunk in grief, Strange couldn't fathom Druid's perspective, nor did he care to. He only stared in anguish at the desiccated corpse on the ground.
The woman he loved, the one he might have married in a few years, had been reduced to this before his eyes.
What tormented Strange most was: Why Christina? Why had Mephisto targeted her instead of him?
Christina had been gravely injured in that car accident, healed by Adam. Even if Mephisto orchestrated the crash, Strange should have been the target. When had Mephisto struck at her?
"That's why Mephisto is the demon." Druid said coldly, "and my master's mission is to defeat him. You should be grateful for our aid, or your fate would be worse, living death."
To Druid, anything not a Xenomorph, not wholly devoted to Adam in body and soul, was incomprehensible.
As the sixteen Mephistos' bodies withered, their sacrifice mirrored Christina's, draining life and soul.
Yet, contrary to Strange's hopes, they didn't all perish.
It was enough, however, to forge a portal for an otherworldly visitor.
The entity hadn't fully entered this universe, but the relentless spread of its terrifying power already drew attention.
A mere taste of this force revealed it belonged to a being steeped in divine might.
Adam, the Ancient One, and others familiar with the Yggdrasil's power instantly recognized its connection.
"A Yggdrasil Skyfather from another universe?" The Ancient One ventured, glancing at Adam.
Adam's face remained calm, his expression as deep as a black hole, even in the face of this divine power radiating endless dread.
"I know who it is." He said. "As expected, this one's tricky."
He began assigning roles. "Ancient One, clean up these half-dead Mephistos. All sixteen, every last one, capture them. I can use them. I'll handle this otherworldly guest."
"How confident are you?" The Ancient One asked. "His divine power isn't overwhelming, but it feels dangerously ancient, perhaps older than I anticipated."
She was cautious facing an unknown foe. Against Dormammu, centuries of familiarity and siphoned power made her unflappable, but this was different.
"Here we go again." A skeletal Mephisto rasped. "You think you know everything? You're not a god of knowledge, or any god at all!"
To Mephisto, who thrived on deception, Adam's all-knowing facade was infuriating, especially when he pinpointed critical elements of their schemes.
Having paid a steep price to summon this titan from the main universe, Mephisto refused to believe Adam could fully grasp a native entity confined to a single universe.
The Serpent! Across the multiverse, such beings were rare, their numbers scant.
Especially the Serpent of Earth-616's main universe, a god born at the multiverse's heart, inherently stronger than his counterparts.
Every major event in the main universe rippled across the multiversal plane, drawing the gaze of multiversal entities and sparking wars on that scale.
No wonder Earth-616 was the gods' focal point.
"I'd hoped to claim this unnumbered universe for myself." Mephisto said regretfully, eyeing the figure stepping through the portal.
A towering, robust silhouette emerged, with long black hair and stern features etched with utter savagery. At first glance, he was the archetype of a tyrant.
And indeed, he was a cruel despot.
"He's here." Adam said slowly. "The king of Asgard…"
"But he doesn't seem like Odin." The Ancient One noted. "Is this a unique Odin from another universe?"
"Not Odin." Adam clarified. "He's Odin's brother, Asgard's former god-king, far more brutal and cold-blooded."
The Ancient One's mistake was understandable. With countless parallel universes, wildly divergent counterparts were common.
In one universe, Iron Man replaced Thor, becoming Tony Odinson, Odin's son, wielding Mjolnir in a suit of armor.
Adam studied the hulking figure.
The god-king Cul, the famed God of Fear from the main universe, intent on turning Earth-616's humans into fonts of terror.
In the normal course, Odin devised a ruthless counter: if Cul sought fear energy from Earth's people, slaughtering them all would thwart him.
That plan failed, not due to Thor or Earth's heroes, but because Zeus, the Olympian god-king, intervened.
The Olympian pantheon, drawing power from the Yggdrasil and bolstered by mortal faith, could not tolerate Odin exterminating Earth-616's humanity.
Adam scrutinized Cul. He didn't seem overwhelmingly powerful. Amid the swirling aura of boundless fear, there was a faint hunger, as if summoned mid-feast, roused before he was sated.
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