"Even if you try to stop me, hasn't it been opened by me anyway?" At this moment, Kaecilius was like a devil crawled out of hell. His entire body only had one-third left, but he was still stubbornly alive, and even his voice was full of energy. This made the faces of the five people opposite him look extremely ugly. None of them had expected that such a guy would completely disregard his own life just to open something. But in the next moment, the leader's expression changed. These little guys might not know about the cracks in the barrier, but he knew a thing or two. Could it be that this guy was trying to open a crack in the barrier to invite in crooked, evil forces from the outer realms?
"All of you retreat, leave the rest to me." After realizing the true intention of the guy in front of him, the Captain quickly ordered his four team members. This was no small matter; he couldn't let these children fall here. If these pillars of the future mystical side all remained here, then he would be a great sinner of Taiwanese. Without time to think about the truth of the opponent's words, the Captain issued the retreat order solemnly. The four left without any hesitation. It wasn't that they didn't want to stay, but obeying orders was their first team rule—they must not violate any order issued by the Captain, including abandoning the Captain.
"Crack! Crack!" After the four retreated, sounds of cracking came from around Kaecilius, exceptionally crisp. This made the Captain's expression extremely grim. It seemed this guy hadn't bluffed him. Fortunately, the ordinary people here had all been evacuated; otherwise, it would have caused large-scale casualties. Thinking of this, the Captain breathed a sigh of relief, but the situation on the opposite side had changed. Black, gaseous things seeped in from the crack in the air and were absorbed into Kaecilius's body. Slowly, Kaecilius's body grew back, and the scene looked exceptionally terrifying.
"I see it, follow me." On the other side, standing on the hotel building overlooking the city, Artoria, through the extraordinary vision of her Dragon Eyes, finally found the place where the barrier had fractured. The crack, like spider silk, bloomed instantly; Artoria couldn't help but notice it. She called Galacta and Gaea to rush toward the place where the barrier had cracked. Galacta took a look at that place and directly grabbed Artoria and Gaea, disappearing from the rooftop of the hotel. Teleportation was a very good ability. Artoria had anticipated that the distance might be too far, and Galacta's arrival just happened to make up for this shortcoming. Even if Galacta weren't there, Artoria could have called Touka over. As a descendant of a unicorn and a Pegasus, its speed was also astonishingly fast. This was still because it was underage; if it were an adult, its speed could already reach the speed of light. Of course, this information was told to Artoria by Gaea.
"It seems we aren't late." In the blink of an eye from Galacta's teleportation, the three of them appeared above Kaecilius. Watching the two people standing opposite each other on the ground, Artoria knew she hadn't arrived late. Calculating based on the degree of the barrier's cracking, in about one minute, this crack would be completely opened, and Dormammu would be able to use this hole to devour the entire barrier, including Earth.
"Clang!" When Artoria descended to the ground, her intuition told her that something was attacking her. Artoria blocked with her hand, and the sound of the collision came directly from her bracers. Artoria lowered her hand and looked at Kaecilius. She hadn't expected this guy's combat proficiency to be so high, that he could actually notice the situation in the air while engaged in a fight, locate Artoria's position, and launch an attack. This series of beautiful attacks made Artoria want to applaud this guy. It really wasn't easy; to be able to train himself to this degree, he was worthy of being one of the disciples the Ancient One had praised.
"Kaecilius, you have committed an unforgivable crime, the crime of treason, you traitor." Artoria, who couldn't sneak attack him with a kick to vent her anger, although feeling a pity inside, outwardly imposed the charge on Kaecilius with righteous indignation. This wasn't Artoria randomly assigning blame; this guy had indeed betrayed Kamar-Taj and the Ancient One. Although there was the Ancient One's pushing behind it, it could not absolve Kaecilius of his act of betrayal for the pursuit of power.
"It wasn't me who betrayed anyone; it was the Ancient One who betrayed my trust. Such a powerful force, yet she refused to hand it over to me. Since she wouldn't give it to me, then why should things I obtained through my own ability be called betrayal? I haven't betrayed anyone."
The mention of the word 'betrayal' clearly touched a nerve with Kaecilius. He roared at Artoria, still believing that the Ancient One, who refused to hand over the dark power, was clearly the one in the wrong. It was because of the Ancient One's selfishness that he had reached this point, so the root cause lay with her; he had done nothing wrong.
"How is it? Is there a way to repair it?"
While Kaecilius was roaring, Artoria quietly asked Gaea. Galacta clearly didn't seem like someone who had studied magic, but Gaea was different; she had witnessed the origins of countless civilizations and the birth of power on Earth. Gaea should have a good way to patch it up. Unfortunately, Gaea shook her head, indicating she didn't know how to fix it. After all, she wasn't interested in human magic. She knew its composition and birth, but when it came to its application, even an ordinary mage was much better than her. She only relied on her innate talent to attack enemies. She was already strong enough, so there was no need for her to learn magic.
"Alright! We can only wait for Steve to get here."
Gaea's answer left Artoria feeling helpless. Fine, knowing you study magic is redundant, but couldn't you have a little curiosity or something? Go learn it! It's not like it'll kill you. If anyone else had your talent, becoming a Sorcerer Supreme would be a absolute certainty. It's truly a waste of such great talent. At this moment, Artoria felt a bit of pity for Gaea. If a Planet were to learn magic, how powerful would that Planet become? Humans only condense mana by absorbing magic particles from the atmosphere, and there are far too many of those in Marvel. If Gaea were to learn, stepping on one or two Demon Gods would be like child's play.
"What kind of soap opera am I watching?"
At this moment, the most depressed person wasn't Artoria, but the ignored Captain. His current mood was beyond words. He had originally thought he would sacrifice his life for the country today, but he didn't expect that since Artoria appeared, the situation had changed. It was as if it had become a beautiful disciple seeking revenge for her Master, questioning the traitor on why he defected. He had seen plenty of such melodramas in the TV shows he'd watched over the years, mostly involving a woman falling for a man. But looking at the situation before him, this woman... isn't this Miss Artoria Stark? Why is she here?
"Um, Miss Artoria, please leave quickly. It's very dangerous here. Who knows what might come out of there? We will handle this matter."
Realizing that a person of high status had arrived, the Captain didn't care about anything else and hurriedly told Artoria to leave. If something happened to this person, it wouldn't be a small matter. Her brother was a regular on the world's richest list, and her own wealth was also on the list. However, the sister was even more influential than the brother. As expected, beautiful women are always the center of attention. Right now, the Captain didn't care if she was beautiful or not; he just wanted to persuade her to leave first! Although they weren't from the same country, a life is a life after all.
Bang~!
Just as the Captain was persuading Artoria, the already cracked barrier instantly shattered, opening a large hole. Black energy began to spread. Seeing this, Artoria's eyes narrowed. Even without seeing Dormammu's true form, Artoria could feel how strong the opponent's power was. Steve still hadn't arrived. While Artoria was thinking, two dark masses fell from the hole and landed beside Kaecilius. The blackness receded, and two people stood upright on the ground.
"Do you see? This is Dormammu's power. We can be reborn and even achieve eternal life in that darkness. You cannot kill us. This is the charm of the darkness."
Seeing this, Kaecilius laughed even more arrogantly. He spread his arms as if embracing the world, speaking frantically to Artoria.
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