Killing to stop killing will only lead to the same terrible fate in the end.
The same was true for Atum, son of Gaea, an incomparably powerful Elder God. As he slew and devoured more and more evil Elder Gods to protect the innocent, Atum eventually degenerated into the monstrous and terrifying God Eater, becoming the Elder Gods' ultimate nightmare. All Elder Gods, good and evil alike, were targeted by the God Eater without discrimination.
After the Elder Gods withered and dwindled to a mere handful of survivors, the God Eater finally set his hungry sights on the four most powerful Elder Gods who remained.
Ultimately, the God Eater engaged in a devastating battle with Set and Chthon that shook the foundations of reality. The battle between the Elder Gods and the God Eater shattered the primordial Earth completely, distorting time and space itself. Under the influence of the World Tree, the Earth was divided into countless possible futures, giving rise to countless parallel universes branching off from the main timeline.
The World Tree connects all parallel universes together, and for a unique reason, one of its branches materialized physically in the main universe, connecting the nine dimensions. This is the true origin of the nine realms of the main universe, including Asgard itself.
In reality, the so-called World Tree in Asgard that connects the nine realms was merely a single branch of the true World Tree that spans all realities.
Parallel universes diverged from each other, and the Earth of the main universe once again fell into a harsh ice age.
Ultimately, the God Eater fled from the battle, gravely wounded, and fell asleep in an unknown location to heal. Set, near death from his injuries, also hid himself in an unknown dimension, slumbering forever to recover.
As for Chthon, fearing the God Eater's overwhelming power, he left Earth entirely and entered the Chaos Dimension, where he slept deeply, awaiting his opportunity to return.
As time passed slowly, Earth underwent profound changes.
Gaea and Earth completely merged together, becoming the combined consciousness of Earth's life itself, the Gaian Will.
Oshtur, learning from Gaea's example, and together with the Outer God Hoggoth, gave birth to Agamotto, who became the first Sorcerer Supreme. He brought systematic white magic to Earth and founded Kamar-Taj to teach it. Thus, the three of them formed the Vishanti Trinity, condensing the magical essence and constructing magical authority, becoming the God of White Magic.
With Gaea's will within the Earth itself and the Vishanti Trinity watching over from outside on the surface, Earth had become completely impenetrable to anyone who wished to invade or corrupt it. No Outer God, Demon, or Dimension Lord could easily intrude into Earth's domain. Set and Chthon, who had already left Earth, were completely isolated from returning, making their return to Earth nearly impossible.
Set, still slumbering deep in his dimension, might have reacted unnoticed, but Chthon, unafraid of Earth despite being unable to return directly, was secretly manipulating events on Earth from afar through his influence.
While the Vishanti Trinity spread white magic openly across the world, Chthon, imitating Oshtur's methods for crafting the Book of Vishanti, inscribed his own dark and chaotic powers on an indestructible parchment, creating a secret tome of black magic that he called the Darkhold!
Soon, black magic also spread secretly on Earth through Chthon's book. However, Chthon, not personally involved and working from afar, was ultimately no match for the Vishanti Trinity and their spokesperson, the Supreme Sorcerer. White magic overwhelmed the dark magic, keeping it hidden from the public eye and suppressing its spread.
However, the Vishanti Trinity did not completely eradicate black magic from existence. Having gained control of white magic, they deliberately allowed black magic to spread in small amounts, coveting its power for themselves.
Later, as magic developed over the centuries, various other types of magic, distinct from both white and black, began to spread to Earth from other dimensions, leading to its current diverse state.
Naturally, Chthon would not give up on this situation. However, Earth in the main universe was a key area of focus for Gaea's will, and the Vishanti Trinity would not allow anyone else to tamper with it directly. So, Chthon settled for a second best option: tampering with a secondary universe adjacent to the main universe that had less protection.
He isolated the spread of magic there, completely eradicating all magical heritage and magical creatures from that universe. He then placed his mark on a baby girl who was most compatible with him, imbuing her with unparalleled chaotic power that would grow with her. This baby girl was Wanda!
Seeing this revelation, Sebastian's face was filled with deep solemnity and concern.
While Chthon appeared severely suppressed in his influence, the ones suppressing him were incredibly powerful: the combined will of Earth's life known as the Gaian Will of the former Elder God Gaea, and the Trinity of Vishanti, the supreme beings of the universe and the source of all white magic.
Sebastian was truly grateful that he had brought Wanda here to this universe; otherwise, who knows what terrible things would have happened in the X-Men world where she originally came from!
As for the being that Wanda had been feeling called by, Sebastian felt it could not be Chthon himself, otherwise the Vishanti Trinity would not have remained silent about it, and the Gaian Will would not have allowed him to descend here to Earth.
Reflecting on his knowledge of this world's original history, Sebastian roughly guessed what was actually calling Wanda from afar.
A book of dark magic written by Chthon himself, standing alongside the Book of Vishanti kept safe on Kamar-Taj.
The Darkhold!
The prophetic scene abruptly ended there.
Sebastian and Vision, who had followed him through the vision, emerged from this dreamlike state and returned to their respective bodies.
By then, Wanda had fallen into a deep sleep from the magical exertion. Sebastian and Vision stared at each other, completely speechless about what they had witnessed.
What they had just witnessed was beyond their wildest imagination, especially for Sebastian. Deeply versed in magic as he was, he could see far more details and implications than Vision could, and his heart grew heavier with worry.
Furthermore, Sebastian had a rough idea of the reason for his incredibly detailed visions.
Under normal divination magic, Sebastian would likely have only glimpsed the Darkhold itself and, at most, received a warning about Chthon. However, this time, he had seen far too much, so much that even with the combined power of the Mind Stone and Reality Stone, he should not have been able to see so clearly.
While the Infinity Stones were higher in status than the Earth-born Elder Gods, they were, after all, merely a collection of power and authority without their own consciousness. Furthermore, these were only two of the six Infinity Stones working together. There had to be other forces at work behind the scenes, perhaps intentionally allowing Sebastian to see more than he should.
This kind of subtle manipulation tactic was precisely the favored method of those so-called higher beings, or rather, true gods who operated on a cosmic scale.
Was it the will of the World Tree itself, or Gaea, or perhaps some other surviving Elder God who wanted him to know?
It is highly unlikely that it is the Vishanti Trinity since they would have been more direct, so the most likely candidates are the World Tree or Gaea, right?
Did they notice me using the Space Stone to travel between parallel universes?
Or were they already aware of me from the very moment I arrived here in this universe?
Sebastian's mind was in a state of complete chaos as he tried to process everything.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Sebastian forced himself to calm down and said to Vision, "Vision, please leave this matter to me to handle. I am sorry to bother you this time and drag you into this."
Looking at Sebastian with his unreadable expression, Vision seemed to have never seen anything like what they had just witnessed before. He nodded slightly and said, "It is okay. I am glad I could help you and Wanda. I will take my leave now."
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