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Magik narrowed her eyes. Anyone standing in her way back to Earth… was her enemy.
After defeating Belasco and claiming dominion over the Border of Hell, she had spent years mastering the arcane and scouring dimensional paths in search of Earth's coordinates.
Even with her teleportation abilities, time had warped things. Her connection to Earth had long since faded. It wasn't like before she couldn't just think of "home" and arrive.
That used to scare her.
Before she understood magic.
Now, she knew: her mutant power hadn't failed Earth's coordinate drift was a known phenomenon across dimensions. That's why returning to any prime realm required precise magical calibration.
She had finally found it. Earth's signal.
And the moment she opened the gate, they arrived at Kamar-Taj's defenders. Accusing her. Attacking her. Refusing to even ask why.
"So… there's a whole order on Earth dedicated to blocking dimensional travel?"
Magik scoffed. No wonder Belasco always returned from Earth tattered and scorched. These people were the reason.
"I was born on Earth," she said coldly. "I'm human."
Mordo stepped forward, eyes hard. "You may have been human once. But look at you now your aura radiates hellfire and black magic. You've been changed by the realm you ruled."
He wasn't just hostile he was ready to strike.
Mordo hated dark magic. In his eyes, every wielder of it was a threat to Earth. Every one of them led back to Dormammu.
To him, dark magic wasn't just dangerous it was treason.
"I need magic to return home," Magik snapped. "What do you expect me to use good intentions?"
She jerked her chin toward Wanda. "That one uses dark magic too."
"That's Chaos Magic. It's different," Nolan said quietly.
Mordo's brow furrowed. "If she's your ally, you should have steered her toward the Light. That's your duty as Sorcerer Supreme."
Nolan gave him a sharp glance. "We'll discuss my duties later."
He could already tell Mordo's perspective was becoming too rigid. Binary. Dangerous.
"I didn't choose darkness," Magik said, magical energy flaring around her. "Belasco kidnapped me when I was a child. Taught me only what he knew—black magic and hellfire."
She hadn't wanted it. But it was all she had. And she'd become strong.
Belasco had never seen her as a student just a vessel. A means to amplify his own power. And when she surpassed him, she crushed him and took his throne.
But the Borderlands weren't a real domain. This realm was a joke to greater demons too close to Earth to fully thrive, too weak to claim as home.
Powerful demons avoided it. Lesser demons couldn't hold it.
Ruling here? It was like ruling a broken bridge.
"You." Magik glared at Mordo. "You're the one who keeps standing in my way. I only have one family member left, my brother. And you'd bar me from ever seeing him again?"
"That's right," Mordo said flatly, conjuring golden rings of energy.
"Enough." Nolan raised a hand. "Mordo. I'm the Sanctum's Guardian now, remember?"
Mordo froze. His belief in hierarchy was absolute even his zealotry bowed to structure.
"According to the Order's rules, we can't allow her to step into Earth's realm," Mordo muttered.
Magik's gaze sharpened. "Then you're no different from demons."
"But," Nolan interjected, "I can arrange for Colossus to visit you."
She blinked. That caught her off guard.
"And besides," Nolan added, eyes narrowing, "you think you could beat us if you tried?"
The truth was: Nolan could handle her. But Mordo?
That man was a problem.
The Ancient One's legacy was complicated. Wong and Mordo were now Kamar-Taj's senior figures, but only Wong understood the burden she carried the cost of her long rule, her use of dark magic to shield Earth.
Mordo? He had no idea.
He didn't know she'd tapped into Dormammu's realm just to hold back the tide.
Didn't know that even Vishanti might have turned a blind eye because power, when wielded in defense of Earth, had its allowances.
To beings like them, results outweighed ideals.
They knew the truth:
Power doesn't have morality. It only has direction.
The strong didn't obsess over light or dark. They learned to balance.
They learned to use the enemy's tools without becoming them.
And Nolan?
He was becoming very, very good at that.
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