The surge of magic instantly alerted the ruler of the Dark Dimension.
For centuries, he had known this aura was his eternal enemy.
"The Ancient One?" Dormammu's massive voice thundered. "That old witch dares step into my realm? She must have lost her mind."
For hundreds of years, Earth had always been on the defensive. Dormammu had pressed again and again, only to be blocked by the Agamotto wards.
He had never managed to breach Earth, but it had left him seething with hatred.
And now… the Ancient One had brought the fight here. Into his home. Into the Dark Dimension itself where he was omnipotent.
"Foolish woman. In this realm, I am endless! I am immortal! If you want death, I will grant it!"
Dormammu's colossal body, the size of a planet, rose from the abyss. Eyes vast as moons flared with hunger and malice.
His form wasn't just in the Dark Dimension it was the Dark Dimension. The shadow, the flame, and the void all flowed from him.
"Go, my slaves!" Dormammu bellowed. "Take Earth. Burn it to ash. Deliver it to your master!"
Around him drifted shattered husks of countless worlds, stripped of light and life. At his command, black, formless masses oozed out of them, gathering into swarms.
These were once proud civilizations, pulled into the Dark Dimension the weak devoured, the strong twisted into mindless thralls.
And leading them was one who once bore a familiar face.
Now nothing more than a warped silhouette of his former self, reborn in pure darkness. He bowed before Dormammu.
"My lord," Kaecilius rasped, his voice heavy with shadow. "If the Ancient One came here, she must believe she has an advantage. Perhaps… that 'mystic Superman' I sensed."
Once, Nolan had ended Kaecilius's life with a single strike. Dormammu had seized his broken soul and reforged him into something worse a weapon of shadow.
His old Kamar-Taj spells were gone, but in their place, he wielded Dark Sorcery, far more vicious.
Dormammu's laugh was like an earthquake. "Superman? In my dimension, I fear no one not even her! Lead the dark mages. Lead the swarms. Conquer Earth!"
Kaecilius lowered his head. "As you command, my master."
But in his eyes lingered hatred not for Dormammu, but for the Ancient One. She had stolen from the Dark, warned her disciples of its danger, and then secretly drawn power from it herself. To him, her hypocrisy was the ultimate betrayal.
A streak of blazing light tore through the corridor from Earth.
Two radiant blades of stellar energy carved across the void, aimed directly at Dormammu's titanic face.
The impact shook the Dark Dimension. Planetoids nearby shattered under the shockwave. Thralls screamed as they were annihilated by the unleashed energy.
Dormammu reeled in shock.
"Skyfather-level?!" he roared. He had not felt pain in centuries, not since battling other dimension lords. Only another wielder of such authority could wound him.
The aura was unmistakable. Not just a sorcerer a Dimension Master.
"Who dares?!" Dormammu demanded. "That is not the Ancient One's magic!"
Nolan floated before him, golden markings glowing across his body, twin stars burning in his hands.
"They call me Superman."
Dormammu froze. "…You?"
His burning eyes narrowed. "So it was you who fought in the last incursion. The one who shook the veils of the dimensions…"
"Of course." Nolan smiled faintly and in the next instant, his body expanded, matching Dormammu's colossal scale. Golden sigils blazed across his skin. The twin stars in his palms funneled endless energy into him.
A beam of pure cosmic fire erupted from his hand, smashing straight into Dormammu's face.
"AAARGH!" Dormammu howled. For the first time in ages, he bled. His face cracked under the combined weight of multiple universal laws.
"You—!" Rage boiled through the Dark Dimension. "Here, I am the law! I am the power! This entire realm bends to me!"
The very fabric of the Dark Dimension warped, turning hostile. Space folded in on itself, stars long-dead twisted into weapons, planets hurled at Nolan like stones from a sling.
But before they could strike—
Reality split with razor edges.
Dimensional blades sheared the projectiles apart.
From the rift stepped the Ancient One, her yellow robe flowing, eyes sharp.
"Dormammu," she said with a cold smile. "It's been too long."
On her forehead flickered faint black runes scars of the very dark magic she had once dared to draw upon. Even here, in his realm, she was siphoning strength from the Dark Dimension itself.
Her presence swelled, matching Nolan's.
The war for Earth had officially begun.
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