The duel between the high elf archmage Lina and the Kamar-Taj sorcerer Daniel took place here.
But all of the Kamar-Taj sorcerers watching wore strange expressions.
Because what they saw wasn't an exciting magic battle, but a completely one-sided beatdown... no, it wasn't even that—it was more like being toyed with.
It wasn't that Azeroth's magic was stronger than Kamar-Taj's. In terms of raw power, they were on the same level. For example, Daniel's magical shield could normally block most of Lina's spells, even her polymorph spell.
But when it came to the variety of spells, personal power, and combat experience, the young, delicate looking Lina—who was actually almost a thousand years old—was completely out of his league.
Simple spells like Polymorph, Blink, and Frost Nova were played by her like tricks.
Her moves were fast and elegant, showing great skill and control.
In comparison, Daniel looked awkward throughout the match, like a big gorilla.
But because of this, the Kamar-Taj sorcerers were now deeply interested in the magic of this "Kirin Tor" group, and any doubts they had about exchanging magical knowledge with them had vanished.
"That's enough! Daniel, you've lost!" Seeing that Daniel still refused to admit defeat while Lina continued to toy with him, the Ancient One finally spoke.
Her words calmed Daniel down a bit. Looking around at the strange expressions on everyone's faces, he realized what had happened. He had become the laughing stock of Kamar-Taj.
He gave Lina and Josh a hateful look, opened a portal and left Kamar-Taj.
Watching Daniel disappear through the portal, the Ancient One let out a small sigh.
If Daniel hadn't left, she might have spared him for old times' sake—even if others couldn't see it, she had clearly noticed something.
Even though Lina didn't seem to hurt Daniel during the duel and only toyed with him, she had actually marked him with a magical imprint early on.
As long as Daniel stayed on Earth, Lina could locate him and teleport to him at any time to take his life.
Josh didn't believe in forgiving enemies—his way of solving problems was to remove the source of the problem altogether.
It didn't matter if Daniel had started the conflict or not. Now that the situation had escalated, there was no reason to show mercy.
He was a sorcerer, after all. Letting him go today could mean trouble tomorrow—who knew if he would team up with some demon or dark god for revenge?
Examples like that were everywhere in both the Marvel and Azeroth universes.
So Josh would never leave such a threat behind.
"My apologies, Ancient One, for the unnecessary inconvenience," Josh said politely.
"No need to apologize," the Ancient One replied. "This exchange with the Kirin Tor benefits us both. As long as you remain on Earth's side, we will always be your strongest ally."
The Ancient One's outright support surprised Josh.
Though their brief meeting at Tiamat's Nest had made it clear that this powerful figure recognized him, he hadn't expected such open and direct support.
"Thank you for your support, Ancient One. I'll do my best," Josh said with a raised brow.
Now that the alliance and the exchange between them was officially established, there was nothing more for Josh to do. He politely bid farewell to the Ancient One and then used Kamar-Taj's portal to return to New York.
Back in New York, Josh kept a low profile.
As his various organizations continued to grow rapidly, he himself became more and more low-key. It was rare to see him on television or in the newspapers.
But behind the scenes, his control over the entire Earth became tighter than ever.
And just like that, another year quietly passed.
One day, while Josh was at home playing baseball with his kids as usual, one of his men came to report something.
After a year of careful planning and construction, the "prisons" Malacrass had built for the dimensional gods were finally complete.
"That's great news!" Josh immediately ripped open a magic scroll. Within minutes, a golden portal opened beside him, and the figure of the Ancient One appeared.
"Ready?" she asked.
"All set. I'll need a little help from you later," Josh replied with a smile.
"No problem," the Ancient One nodded slightly. To her, helping deal with a few weak dimensional gods was no big deal.
However, the idea of imprisoning them to absorb their power was something she had never thought of before.
She often borrowed power from such beings through contracts—basically tricking them into giving her power without returning anything, a one-time deal.
But Josh's method allowed for a continuous extraction of power, which she found quite interesting.
She couldn't help but wonder if she could learn to do the same.
With the Ancient One clearing the way, she and Josh soon arrived on the island of Fuerteventura, where Malacrass, Ophelia, and Xu Wenwu were already waiting.
"These fancy houses… I think Bast and the others will live very comfortably," the Ancient One said with a strange smile as she looked at the four giant statues on the plaza.
Who would've thought that these grand statues were actually prisons?
"Let's get started," Josh said without hesitation, giving the order to Malacrass.
Malacrass nodded and walked to the center of the plaza's magic circle. Soon, similar circles lit up in front of the four statues.
"O great Beast Gods, your people call upon you—descend into this world!" Malacrass chanted.
At once, four powerful and awe-inspiring auras began to fill the skies above the island.
"Hahahaha, well done, Malacrass! Now suffer my revenge, wretched earthlings!" came Bast's arrogant voice.
"...So who exactly are you going to take your revenge on?"
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