Did Herman and the Ancient One perish together?
No.
Of course not.
The powerful spell the Ancient One had prepared for so long hadn't harmed Herman at all. In fact, it wasn't even an attack spell to begin with.
"Spatial magic? Temporal magic?"
Vanished from Earth, Herman now found himself in a hazy corridor, surrounded by a twisted, kaleidoscopic chaos.
If he focused on any section of the passage, he could see countless worlds unfolding their own stories—each one distinct, vibrant, and alive.
This was the rift between worlds, the passage connecting past and future. The Ancient One's spell had transported Herman into this very realm.
It was a teleportation spell.
The battle between them—on the surface—seemed like Herman's overwhelming victory.
However, in truth, that victory was far from perfect.
The Ancient One had still managed to cast an ancient and extraordinarily complex spell, sending Herman into this boundless, chaotic realm.
Unlike the End of Time in the Marvel Universe, where countless Lokis converged, the place Herman now found himself in was the true void—a domain linking infinite universes.
It existed between illusion and reality, an expanse devoid of form or matter. All that filled it were gateways—portals leading to endless universes.
Herman could feel it clearly: if he wished, he needed only to dive into one of those swirling clusters of chaos, and he could directly enter a universe.
Escaping wasn't the problem.
The real challenge was finding the right one.
After all, within the Marvel Multiverse, the number of universes was nearly infinite. Every passing moment, new parallel universes were being born, while others met their end and faded into oblivion.
Perhaps a single extra sneeze from an ordinary person could create an entirely new parallel world. In such a vast, ever-shifting sea of realities, finding his own universe would make searching for a needle in a haystack look simple by comparison.
"I've been played. You really can't afford to underestimate an ancient being who's lived for thousands of years."
Herman had the distinct sense that the Ancient One's visit had never been about defeating him in combat. She had come for this—for this spell.
What was her true purpose?
Why go through the trouble for such a thankless act of... banishment?
If she couldn't destroy him completely, wasn't she afraid he might return one day? Or had she simply calculated that he would never find his way back?
Indeed, finding the correct universe among an endless expanse of realities—far more numerous than the stars themselves—was an almost impossible task, even for someone like Herman.
If her intention had been to exile him, then she had succeeded. Finding a path home would be nearly impossible.
"She didn't seem to know I was a traveler from another world. She never uncovered my secrets... yet she still came for me and made this choice."
Herman felt as though a veil of fog hung over the entire matter of the Sorcerer Supreme. There was something he couldn't yet see clearly. The Ancient One, stripped of her soul, had acted in ways so strange they defied understanding.
She had attacked him without hesitation, and for the sake of banishing him, had even sacrificed her own life. But why? What could she possibly gain?
Though Herman hadn't seen her body fall back into the real world, as the one who struck the final blow, he could easily gauge the devastation his attack had caused.
For all their famed mastery of close combat, even the strongest Kamar-Taj sorcerers weren't built for physical endurance. The Ancient One's Sky Father–level body, while formidable by mortal standards, was among the weakest of that tier—perhaps even inferior to the Frost Giants who barely touched that level.
Her true strength lay in her magic and her mind.
Under the full force of Herman's divine fire beam, he was certain she had no chance of survival.
After all, in her final moment, she hadn't even used the Time Stone.
"Come to think of it... the Ancient One who fought me wasn't wearing the Eye of Agamotto around her neck." Herman's eyes flickered slightly.
He suspected that when the Ancient One came to confront him, she had already chosen a successor—poor Doctor Strange might have been forced to take up the mantle ahead of schedule.
Otherwise, as the Sorcerer Supreme of Kamar-Taj, she should have always carried the Eye of Agamotto. Guarding it was the duty of every Sorcerer Supreme throughout the ages.
The Eye of Agamotto.
Even back when the first Sorcerer Supreme, Agamotto himself, guarded Earth, this mystical eye was already known across countless dimensions for its immense magical power.
Some claimed that the All-Seeing Agamotto forged it himself. Others believed he discovered it drifting among the stars—a divine relic long lost to time. But in truth...
The core of the Eye of Agamotto was the Time Stone.
It granted its wielder the "all-seeing" power to pierce through illusions and gaze into unseen realms.
Of course, because of the Time Stone, its greatest ability lay in observing the past and future—and even reversing time itself. It responded directly to its wielder's will and consciousness, forming a supernatural bond with whoever bore it.
In the hands of a worthy master, the Eye of Agamotto—better said, the Time Stone—could unleash power at the very limits of a single universe.
During his battle with the Ancient One, Herman had remained cautious of the Eye of Agamotto, wary that even he might not be able to withstand the might of an Infinity Stone.
Even with his mastery over temporal singularity, the Time Stone's inherent power far exceeded mere control over time. In certain parallel universes, Doctor Strange had even used the Eye of Agamotto to reverse Scarlet Witch's Chaos Magic, restoring reality itself.
That alone proved the Time Stone's power extended far beyond temporal manipulation—it contained one of the most potent energies in existence across the cosmos.
Had the Ancient One chosen to enhance herself with it, she could have elevated her power to the very peak of a single universe. In terms of magical talent and combat capability, the Ancient One in most realities utterly surpassed Doctor Strange.
How should he put it...
During their fight, Herman had been running through countless countermeasures in his mind—that was precisely why he'd failed to notice the Ancient One secretly preparing her spell. To be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault; his understanding of magic wasn't exactly deep.
Who could have guessed that from start to finish, the Ancient One never planned to use the Time Stone at all? Instead, she'd quietly prepared a banishment spell like some crafty old schemer?
"I really got burned by my lack of education."
Now Herman truly grasped the importance of knowledge. Once he found a way back, the first thing he'd do was head straight for Kamar-Taj and empty out their entire library.
Steal?
No!
He'd simply be reclaiming what rightfully belonged to him—his spoils of war. Magic could be strange and unpredictable, but it never hurt to understand more about it.
"The real problem now is... how the hell do I get back?"
He gazed into the swirling chaos surrounding him. In his vision, countless parallel universes flickered by—one where Wolverine ruled the world, another where Iron Man had become a cosmic deity...
There was even one where an evil Ancient One had conquered the entire planet. Each universe told a completely different story.
If he were anywhere else, Herman might have enjoyed watching these like some grand multiversal "TV series." But right now, he was too preoccupied with one thing—finding his own universe.
"Not this one."
"Not that one either."
"This one's even worse... Iron Man's armor is devouring his skin and turning the world into a Cthulhu-style metallic nightmare."
"This universe looks a bit... off. And that one's not much better... Damn it, why can't I lock onto the location of the Stark Tower!?"
The chaos around Herman shimmered with alternating light and shadow. One universe after another appeared before his eyes—similar, yet not quite the same—until his head began to spin.
His Sky Father–level perception wasn't enough to pinpoint exact locations across universes. He could only catch vague glimpses of Earth-like worlds, which made it nearly impossible to tell which one was truly his own.
There was no helping it.
This was already impressive considering his exceptional vision. If it were someone like Odin, that one-eyed old god would probably see even less.
A Sky Father–level being was immensely powerful within a single universe, but on the scale of the Multiverse, that strength quickly became insignificant.
You could only say... it still wasn't enough.
Of course, that didn't mean beings at the Sky Father level were doomed to get lost in the Multiverse.
If Herman had followers—vast numbers of worshippers like Odin or Zeus—he could use their collective faith as anchors to locate his universe.
Unfortunately, he had never walked that path.
"Even if I didn't need it, I really should have spread a bit of faith around... At least then I'd have an anchor point."
"Damn, I never thought I'd end up in this mess."
Herman sighed and rubbed his forehead in frustration. He regretted never establishing a religion of his own. If he had, he could have used that faith as a fixed point to find his way home.
A devoted following.
A large enough number of believers.
If he'd had that, he wouldn't be drifting lost like this now.
Whether or not their faith made him stronger didn't matter—what mattered was that it would have served as an anchor, a beacon to locate the universe where his faith resided.
"Regret won't do me any good."
Herman let out a long, weary sigh.
Who could have guessed? Just a few hours ago, he'd been sitting at the dinner table of his suddenly appeared fiancée, mulling over how to complete her so-called "Identity Exclusive Mission." Then, in the span of a few short hours, he'd gone from fighting the intruder Savitar—to clashing with the Ancient One, who had shown up out of nowhere. And this Ancient One hadn't played fair at all, trading her own life just to banish him.
"No matter what, I can't stay here forever."
Trying to find the correct universe among an infinite sea of them was practically impossible. He didn't possess the kind of willpower or perception needed to search across every single one.
Relying on luck alone? That was nothing more than wishful thinking.
"If all else fails, I'll just pick a universe at random, get in, study the situation, and find a way to travel between parallel universes from there."
He pondered quietly for a while, his mind already running through the many methods he knew of within the Marvel Universe that allowed travel between realities.
Staying in this interdimensional rift forever wasn't an option. Even if he wouldn't starve or die of thirst here, he had no way of knowing whether time passed normally in this place.
If he kept searching blindly, by the time he made it back to his own universe, that universe might already have reached its end.
To minimize that uncertainty, he had to pick a universe—any universe—enter it, and plan his next move from there.
Finding a way to cross into another universe wasn't necessarily difficult.
The Quantum Realm from Avengers: Endgame, for example, was one possible route for interdimensional travel. There were also cosmic artifacts and mad scientists throughout the multiverse capable of opening the doors between realities.
Of course, in Herman's opinion, the safest method was to go straight to the source. Since the Ancient One of his universe had used magic to banish him to the border between reality and void, then surely, in the Kamar-Taj of another parallel universe, similar spells must exist.
If he could track down that same banishment magic array, he might be able to return to this boundary realm on his own terms.
As he weighed his options, something caught his attention.
"Hm?"
In the swirling chaos linking countless universes, an obscure flicker of energy suddenly flared to life—subtle, but unmistakably active.
Herman felt it immediately. It was like something in that universe was calling to him—a faint, peculiar signal reaching across the void.
The sensation grew stronger with every passing moment, and though he couldn't tell if it came from his original universe, it stirred something deep in him.
"Is it this one?"
He turned his gaze toward the source.
But all he could see was a hazy, Earth-like world, blurred and indistinct. The call pulsed stronger for a heartbeat—then wavered, as if on the verge of vanishing entirely.
"Whether it is or not... I might as well go and see for myself."
If that signal disappeared, he might never find this universe again among the infinite multitudes.
After all, new worlds were born with every passing moment. The same view might lead to a completely different universe the next time he looked.
"This one it is."
Without hesitation, Herman made his choice. His body flared into golden light, streaking straight into the universe that was calling him.
Ripples spread across the chaotic passage. Reality twisted—and then, he was gone.
The corridor between illusion and existence soon returned to its eerie stillness.
...
A long time later, a pair of eyes—ancient and terrible, filled with a power that seemed eternal—slowly opened within the void.
They swept across the chaos for a while, searching.
Then, just as quietly, they vanished.
"Not here..."
...
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