"Why has the Dark Dimension become so barren? Why is the energy so thin?"
Dormammu muttered, as if the sky itself had fallen. All his time, all his efforts, all his schemes had gone into building the Dark Dimension into the formidable realm it once was. Every wisp of energy had been painstakingly acquired by consuming Earth and other dimensions.
And now… everything was gone.
He closed his eyes and opened them again. The Dark Dimension seemed to have reverted overnight to the state it had been when he first became a Dimensional Lord.
"Why is this happening? Why is this happening?" Dormammu repeated in despair.
Malrick watched from the side with mild curiosity. Dormammu now resembled a panicked investor whose stocks had collapsed overnight, desperate to find someone to share his ruin.
"Is it you, Sorcerer Supreme? Did you do this?" Dormammu's eyes blazed with fury, as if he wanted to devour Malrick alive.
Malrick raised his hands calmly. "Look around. Are your brothers still here?"
"What brothers?" Dormammu turned and saw only Malrick in the boundless emptiness.
He paused, recalling Mephisto and the others — the Hell Lords who had once betrayed him. "Are they… the Hell Lords? Have you driven them away? How long have I been unconscious?"
"You've been unconscious for several months. Just a few days ago, the curses and poisons on your body finally wore off."
Malrick had omitted the detail that Mephisto and the others had also been incapacitated for months. Dormammu's outrage flared anew.
"Bastards! Those Hell scoundrels, Dimensional villains! Since they couldn't claim the new Dimension, they plundered my Dark Dimension! I won't let any of them escape!"
Malrick feigned concern. "Is that so? But you seem… weakened. Is your Dark Dimension intact?"
"My realm is nearly drained, and now… Wait. This feeling — someone is seizing my authority! Who is it? Those scoundrels? Or is it Umar?"
Dormammu panicked, losing all composure. To discover the dimension had shrunk was bad enough. Now, it felt as if someone had taken his place, exploiting his domain and possessions.
"I have to go back. I must return!" he said, struggling futilely against the ground that held him pinned.
He stared up at Malrick. "Sorcerer Supreme, I'm in grave trouble. Let's put our past conflicts aside. Let me return first. Anything else can be negotiated afterward."
Malrick considered. The other Dimensional Demon Gods were no longer a threat. Their true bodies had been absent for months and then destroyed. The only entity capable of claiming the Dark Dimension now was Umar — Dormammu's biological sister.
Long ago, Dormammu and Umar had been expelled from the Faltine Dimension. Her talent and power surpassed his, so much so that Dormammu imprisoned her in a pocket dimension, visiting occasionally to humiliate her. Now, if he delayed, she would seize the opportunity to claim his authority.
Dormammu eyed Malrick nervously. "Sorcerer Supreme, you must let me return!"
Seeing no immediate reaction, he appealed emotionally. "I fulfilled all previous contracts. Even if my actions were excessive, I helped Strange to the best of my abilities!"
"Strange… You mean the one who resolved the Universal collision crisis? The main Universe?" Malrick's eyebrow rose.
Dormammu faltered. "No… I failed. I returned to the Dark Dimension too late. The Universal collision could not be prevented."
"Now their Universe will soon collide with another?" Malrick pondered silently. Strange's failure implied a Universal collision in the main reality, precisely the crisis Eternity had warned about.
Dormammu, sensing Malrick's silence, grew desperate. "Sorcerer Supreme, let me go! I will accept any condition you impose!"
Malrick produced a contract he had long prepared. It contained numerous unequal terms, pressing against Dormammu's limits but not completely stripping his will.
Dormammu scanned it, saw Eternity as the witness, and grimaced. Reluctantly, he nodded. His head blazed with black fire.
"I agree to everything!"
He could not bear to see Malrick a moment longer, not only because he needed to reclaim his dimension but also because each encounter with this Sorcerer Supreme had proven disastrous. Magic was a deeply metaphysical domain, and Dormammu realized Malrick might be his fated nemesis.
Once the contract was signed, the parchment dissolved into specks of light. Malrick could now draw energy freely, and Dormammu would no longer secretly limit it. Occasionally, he would even be compelled to serve Malrick's purposes.
"Very well. You may go." Malrick snapped his fingers. "Your Dark Dimension is far from here. I'll help you get there — consider it a free ride."
Dormammu, curious, watched as his body disintegrated into fine dust.
"You're just like those Hell Lords, also a scou—" His protest was cut short as he vanished.
Malrick stored the Time Fortress and returned to the Divine Kingdom Continent — the central hub of his dimension. Though called a continent, it was a pocket universe only accessible to him.
There, the Rege Duo Clone and the Black Light Clone stood beside the Sea of Blood, observing its [Creation] talent at work: forming and then crushing countless ethnic groups repeatedly, reaffirming the cycle of creation under Malrick's control.
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