Only after Mephisto had truly left did the Ancient One finally let out a long breath.
From the initial chaos in the Timeline, to Dormammu’s invasion, and now the expulsion of Mephisto, she had barely gotten any rest for months.
Just thinking about the tangled Timeline gave her a headache.
She had spent months trying to sort it out, yet it remained every bit as hopelessly knotted as before.
Eventually, she had even resorted to contacting Eternity.
But when she discovered that even a being as mighty as Eternity had no idea what was causing the chaos, the Ancient One finally realized that the severity of the situation might far exceed anything she had imagined.
With that in mind, she abandoned her attempts to straighten out the Timeline.
Instead, she began investigating whether some person or event might be responsible for throwing it into such disorder.
She used the Eye of Agamotto to observe the world, then employed Astral Projection to examine other Parallel Universes.
Among the countless Parallel Universes, there were naturally many whose development closely resembled that of her own.
She intended to compare them against her universe and identify exactly what had gone wrong here.
Unfortunately, the Marvel Multiverse was already chaotic beyond measure.
Combined with the interference the disordered Timeline caused to the Eye of Agamotto, the task proved extraordinarily difficult.
It wasn’t until Dormammu appeared, followed by the battle between Gawain and Blackheart, that she finally found something unusual.
In all her previous observations, there had never been anyone named Gawain.
And now, yet another unknown powerhouse had suddenly appeared.
She had originally intended to investigate him immediately, but the demons of Hell had simply gone too far.
No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t allow a demon on Mephisto’s level to remain on Earth.
Not even an avatar.
After expelling Mephisto, the Ancient One conjured another circular portal.
On the other side was the top floor of Stark Tower.
Once the portal stabilized, she stepped through and immediately cast the spell for the Mirror Dimension.
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After leaving behind the scene of Hulk and Abomination beating each other senseless, Tony, Gawain, and Yang Chen soon returned to the top floor of Stark Tower.
When the indicator outside the laboratory turned green, a smile appeared on Tony’s face.
“The armor I designed for you is finished. Want to take a look?”
Without even waiting for Gawain’s answer, Tony headed toward the laboratory, speaking to Yang Chen as he walked.
“Mr. Yang, I’ve already notified my assistant. Whatever you need, just ask her. Or J.A.R.V.I.S.”
With that, Tony entered the laboratory, and Gawain followed him inside.
The moment they stepped through the door, Tony pointed at a gleaming silver suit of armor.
“This is what I designed based on your fighting style. I stripped out the unnecessary weapons systems and massively improved its agility. It can handle long distance flight just like my armor, but the most important part is that I completely redesigned how it operates.”
Tony gestured enthusiastically as he spoke.
“As long as your magical energy doesn’t run dry, this thing can keep fighting. It can also channel magic to generate an Energy Shield, amplify your strength, and a bunch of other things. This is absolutely one of my masterpieces.”
The pride in Tony’s voice was impossible to miss.
After all, aside from Tony Stark himself, there probably wasn’t another scientist alive right now who could create armor that fused magic and technology like this. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Gawain, for his part, was extremely satisfied with what he saw.
His greatest current weakness was high speed mobility.
With this kind of technology added to his arsenal, he was confident his overall combat power would rise substantially.
Under Tony’s guidance, Gawain soon equipped the new armor.
But when the two of them stepped back outside, the scene before them left both men stunned.
Yang Chen was sprawled across the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, gripping a brand new handheld console in both hands.
His fingers were moving so quickly over the controls that they were practically leaving afterimages.
The table in front of him was covered with drinks, including Coke.
The immortal like bearing he’d carried before, with his overwhelming sword aura and otherworldly presence, had completely disappeared.
Tony stared.
For a moment, he genuinely thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
He blinked.
Still there.
Then he rubbed his eyes hard.
Nothing changed.
If Tony hadn’t witnessed Yang Chen’s strength with his own eyes, there was absolutely no way he would’ve connected this hardcore gamer lounging on the couch with the terrifying powerhouse who had crippled Abomination in an instant.
While Tony was still processing the sight, the door opened and Pepper Potts walked inside, followed by several Stark employees carrying all sorts of gaming equipment.
The moment Pepper spotted Tony, she quickly walked over and stared straight into his eyes.
“This is the VIP you were talking about?”
Pepper had been busy handling company matters when Tony had suddenly contacted her, telling her an important guest had arrived and instructing her to fulfill his requests as much as possible.
Anyone Tony Stark personally described as a VIP couldn’t possibly be ordinary.
So Pepper had immediately set aside her work and hurried over.
When she arrived, she’d found a red haired man dressed in white.
He certainly looked extraordinary, and there was an unmistakable pressure in his gaze.
Pepper had assumed he might make some request that would require the mobilization of significant Stark Industries resources.
She had even started considering which departments she would need to coordinate.
What happened next nearly made her jaw drop.
All the man wanted was the latest handheld console and some drinks.
Confused or not, Pepper had still arranged for someone to bring him everything he’d requested.
Now that Tony had finally emerged from the lab, she couldn’t resist asking.
Tony himself was still somewhat stunned. New chapters come out on g.com first.
This guy had one hell of a contrast going on.
Apparently sensing several strange gazes directed at him, Yang Chen paused his game.
He looked lazily toward Tony and the others.
“What? Never seen a swordmaster play video games before?”
“Huh?” Tony’s response slipped out before he could stop it.
Yang Chen continued as if there were nothing strange about any of this.
“The Eight Desolations Realm is boring as hell. Every day, it’s either fighting or training. Now that I finally get to visit another world, obviously I’m going to enjoy myself.”
He cracked open a Coke and took a drink.
After smacking his lips in satisfaction, his fingers immediately went back to flying across the controls.
Tony looked at Pepper and shrugged.
“Have them finish setting everything up, then they can get back to work.”
Pepper didn’t say anything else.
Once the employees finished installing the gaming equipment, she led them out.
Barely moments after Pepper left, a stream of radiant light suddenly swept across the entire top floor of Stark Tower.
Yang Chen, Gawain, and Tony were pulled into a strange space in the blink of an eye.
Yang Chen’s relaxed expression vanished.
His eyes sharpened.
The Crimson Mystic Sword flashed from its sheath.
In the next instant, Yang Chen slashed four times at the surrounding space.
Four streaks of sword energy wreathed in crimson flame tore outward in every direction.
They slammed into the boundaries of the Mirror Dimension almost instantly.
BOOM!
The entire Mirror Dimension shook violently.
The surrounding space trembled so fiercely that it seemed on the verge of collapsing altogether.
Only after those four strikes did Yang Chen lower his sword.
The razor sharp intensity in his eyes gradually faded.
By then, Gawain had finally reacted.
He immediately stepped in front of Tony, shielding him behind his body.
Tony wasn’t wearing his Iron Man Armor right now, after all.
A couple of solid hits and he’d be dead on the spot.
Yang Chen swept his gaze across the strange space around them.
Then he turned toward a particular point in the distance and called out in a clear, resonant voice.
“Ancient One, please come out and meet us!”