Mephisto finally understood the true value of Dormammu's "instant kill."
No wonder Dormammu had been so cautious.
Rather than seizing this dimension alone, he'd planned to find the Dimensional Demon Gods who had recently siphoned energy from the Dark Dimension.
Anger surged through Mephisto as he shouted Malrick's name, enraged that Malrick dared ally with such a powerful Sorcerer Supreme.
He was also calling, pleading with Malrick to betray the Sorcerer Supreme to save the rest of them.
"Satanish, don't be foolish! Save us!"
Mephisto attempted to self-destruct to avoid capture, but the Time Fortress's suction suppressed all his energy.
His cries for rescue were cut short as he was drawn entirely inside.
In that moment, he saw Malrick being sliced in two by the Sorcerer Supreme's crimson beam.
Damn it.
I told you not to rely on a human.
Now you've been betrayed by one yourself.
Memories flooded Mephisto's mind — of a mortal named Johnny Blaze whom he once tried to control.
That human had once destroyed him.
But this time it wasn't carelessness.
It was betrayal by Satanish.
This miserable Satanish would surely seek vengeance when resurrected.
Mephisto hated him so deeply he felt his teeth ache.
Before he could think of another escape, the Time Fortress consumed him and his consciousness plunged into darkness.
Outside the fortress, the Black Light clone writhed, its torn halves flowing back into a single viral form.
Malrick controlled the merged body as they returned to the God-Realm Dimension together.
From the distance came a voice: "Hmm? A human?"
Malrick turned, a sly grin forming.
A demon — dark blue and with a massive tail — soared closer.
Blackheart.
Mephisto's worthless son, now arriving at the worst time.
"You're just in time," Malrick said with a wave of his hand.
The Time Fortress reopened and Blackheart, mid-flight, was sucked inside.
"Package it up."
Malrick shrank the fortress, fastened it at his waist, then drilled directly through into the God-Realm Dimension.
Inside that realm, he awakened the real Satanish.
In the demon's shocked eyes Malrick said quietly, "Sorry. Our cooperation was pleasant, but you've seen my trump card. I have to erase your memory."
He struck Satanish unconscious again and tossed him into the Time Fortress — a perfect scapegoat.
Even if Mephisto or the others tried to strike back secretly, they would attack Satanish first.
After signing seemingly unlimited power-borrowing contracts with those Dimensional Demon Gods, Malrick planned to kill them all.
He loved cheating demons the most.
These wretches were utterly sinful; taking their power didn't weigh on his conscience.
Rather than borrow energy like the Ancient Ones did, he preferred outright asset transfers from the start.
"As for Dormammu," Malrick thought, "he can't be forgiven so easily."
Malrick returned to the central continent of the God Realm Dimension and set about expanding the realm.
Under the structure of the Six-Gem Rules, the dimension began absorbing stray external energy.
But even to Malrick this was too slow.
Infinity Stones energy felt like robbing Peter to pay Paul.
He needed a better method.
He decided on the Dark Dimension.
Like a man returning home, he linked seamlessly to the Dark Dimension.
When Dormammu had ruled there previously he never stopped its energy absorption, but always secretly limited the rate.
Now, with Dormammu trapped in the Time Fortress, there was nothing to restrain the flow.
Malrick hummed softly as he slit the void with a sweep of his hand.
A spatial rift tore open across most of the God Realm Dimension.
From that rift, a torrent of Dark Dimension energy — as black as void and infinitely deep — poured forth.
The flood of energy seemed to cleave Malrick's dimension in two.
But the God Realm absorbed it almost instantly.
The realm trembled and screamed under the influx.
The tremor's frequency rose higher and higher — as if a sea-creature molting violently under pressure.
One trillion light-years… two trillion… ten trillion…
The diameter of the God Realm expanded continuously.
Months later the expansion stopped.
The dimension had grown over a hundred thousand times larger than before.
A low hum echoed throughout the realm.
In that instant, the God Realm Dimension transformed into a proto-universe.
Not the kind seen in a typical Marvel single universe — this state was akin to the chaotic, half-formed prototype of a cosmos, similar in concept to the Crimson Cosmos.
In its final form, it would lack Infinity Stones.
Its master would always be Malrick alone.
With that change complete, the expansion slowed.
To push further Malrick would need to embed more fundamental forces — concepts like Eternity and Infinity — into the core.
He knew advancing further would take immeasurable time.
He sealed all rifts connecting to the Dark Dimension.
Outside, the Dark Dimension appeared withered.
Had it once been like Earth's Pacific Ocean, it was now only like the Mediterranean.
Dormammu's domain had shrunk by multiple rings.
If Dormammu ever returned, he'd find the dimension drained — even inside his realm his power would have dropped drastically, barely surpassing a single universe's level.
Malrick's absorption had stripped away ninety percent of Dormammu's gains over billions of years.
Malrick paused and reflected.
"Maybe I was too harsh on him," he thought.
Yet there was another concern.
With the Dark Dimension weakened so dramatically, Dormammu's control over it would falter.
Others might take advantage and seize it for themselves.
If ownership changed, Malrick could no longer shamelessly absorb energy at will.
"No," Malrick decided.
"Dormammu has been pitifully stripped. I can't be cruel beyond this. I'll send him home quickly."
He drilled into the Time Fortress.
The native beings of the God-Realm — who'd suffered months of trembling continents and existential dread — finally exhaled in relief.
Over the past months, the dimension's vibrations had nearly driven their minds to madness.
Inside the fortress lay nine Dimensional Demon Gods, subdued and unconscious.
Over those months their genetic makeup and energy structures had been absorbed and analyzed by the Black Light clone.
They were now useless.
Malrick awakened them one by one.
Under threat of eternal suppression he forced them to sign contracts granting Malrick's faction unconditional borrowing of their power.
These demons had sent their true bodies to claim the ownerless dimension — a reckless act under ordinary circumstances.
At first they signed reluctantly.
They had once made deals with Dormammu — if the circumstances faltered, Dormammu would pay a terrible price.
But this time it was Satanish's betrayal and the overwhelming might of the Sorcerer Supreme that trapped them.
Their true bodies had been captured.
They couldn't self-destruct or flee.
Their dominion over their realms would slowly erode.
Someday they would be reduced to mere Sky-father–level demons.
This long decay would take millions or even billions of years.
But the demons could not accept their eventual loss.
They signed the harsh contract, barely holding their pride.
Even Mephisto — the demon most fond of contracts — hesitated as he repeatedly read the parchment, fearful of hidden traps.
He double-checked: "The contract's witness is Eternity? Are you serious?"
Malrick only smiled.
Then, one by one, he erased each demon from existence.
He had promised to let them go — but he'd never specified how.
Satanish was the final one released before Dormammu.
The other demons glared fiercely at him as he departed — one could already imagine the retribution awaiting him.
Satanish, naive and trusting, believed Malrick's words.
He grumbled as he left.
"Sorcerer Supreme, you betrayed me!"
Malrick asked casually, "What was our agreement?"
"Help me deal with the other Demon Gods, then you rule the dimension and make me your servant!" Satanish hissed.
"So that was it," Malrick said softly.
"Sorry — I betrayed you too. I just wanted to be a good person."
Malrick snapped his fingers.
Satanish vanished.
At last he released Dormammu's restraints.
The demon stirred awake, betrayed by allies and suppressed for months.
Dormammu's flaming head erupted in purple fire before instantly turning stark white.
His flames flickered wildly.
Then he saw Malrick.
Rage and despair flashed across his face.
"Where is that wretch, Satanish?" Dormammu rasped, gnashed his teeth.
Malrick nodded.
"You'd better sense the Dark Dimension first."
Dormammu looked around, alarm growing.
His flames shifted from purple to white.
Horror and disbelief twisted his features.
"What have you done to my Dark Dimension?!" he wailed, as though the sky had collapsed.
Malrick regarded him with cold interest, noting his pale, agonized face.
Their futures, once intertwined by betrayal and conquest, now diverged forever.
_____
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