Chapter 122: Into the Black Hole

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Kamar-Taj, early November 2011.

Edward, Stephen and the Ancient One sat together around a table, drinking tea, when Edward said, "This can't go on anymore, we need to find the source of those demons, or we will be overwhelmed."

Stephen nodded and added, "There is a being at the origin of those attacks, I can feel it, but for some reason I can't feel who or where they are. But if we can find them and stop them, then we would be able to stop the attacks before they become too much to handle."

Both of them continued talking, while the Ancient One listened silently. Finally, after several minutes of internal struggle, Yao sighed, "I know the origin of those attacks. I know where it is too."

Edward and Stephen looked at him in shock, and the Ancient One continued, "You don't understand, this is a threat I've known about for years, but even to this day I still haven't found how to stop it."

Stephen asked, "What is this threat? Dormammu?"

Yao snorted softly, "Dormammu wouldn't be enough to fill the gap between his teeth… well, if he had some."

"What?!"

Both Edward and Stephen reacted in the same way as they heard something absurd. In many of the books of Kamar-Taj, Dormammu was the ultimate threat to Earth, his powers were so grand he could defeat Celestials and were he to be given access to their realm, Earth would stand no chance.

And yet, they were facing a being capable of completely stomping this 'ultimate' threat?

Yao lightly smiled, not out of amusement though, it was a tired smile, and finally he said, "His mere presence is said to crush galaxies, killing him is supposedly impossible and the only gateway that is powerful enough to send him into our galaxy is a black hole. One of the Great Old Ones, peer of the God of Chaos Chthon, his name is… Shuma-Gorath."

At the mention of Chthon, Edward showed some surprise as he had faced the god before, as well as his book, the Darkhold. Back in Camelot, he had faced the conscious of three gods, Dormammu, Knull and Chthon.

Back then, he only faced an abysmally low portion of their power, one so low that using percentages would be irrelevant. But even then, part of him had noticed that Knull and Chthon stood a little higher than Dormammu, not in terms of power because their power had to be equal for the demon to live, but in terms of intelligence.

Both Knull and Chthon had been able to grant intelligence to such a small part of their power, while Dormammu's clone was nothing but a mindless drone.

Of course this didn't say as much as the Darkhold itself onto Chthon's power. The book had always been a massive threat to Earth, and so it's creator could only be much worse.

To think they would be facing it's equal…

Yao knew what both of them were thinking, and thus said, "I would like to say I don't need your help, but the truth is, I won't be able to stop him alone."

Stephen scratched his head and replied, "I don't mind helping, but is there really anything we can do against him?"

Edward nodded, his thoughts aligning. Whether they wanted to help or not, if they didn't Shuma-Gorath would enter their dimension and they would have to fight him then, so they might as well do so together.

But even as a team, they were far in power from a multiversal entity such as Shuma-Gorath. The Great Old Ones were a special group of beings at least predating the Earth, and for some even the universe itself, just like the Celestials.

Thankfully, not all hope was lost as Yao reassured them as well as he could, "We don't actually have to fight him, all we have to do is to destroy the Black Hole while resisting his presence."

Stephen grumbled, "Even ignoring his GALAXY CRUSHING presence, how are we supposed to resist the pull of a Black Hole? We are just going to end up ripped apart!"

Edward shook his head and said, "Maybe we won't have to… Shuma-Gorath's presence should be clashing with the black hole's, so they should be weakening each other."

Yao nodded and added, "They will, and I also have an artefact that will lower the pull of the black hole on us."

Stephen sighed as he looked at his hands. The scars of his incident were still there, the vestiges of his past self haunting him, but also always there to remind him of who he was.

He clenched his fists, and asked, "When are we leaving?"

Yao smiled slightly, and replied, "Now."

A portal opened next to them, and the three went through it.

In the center of the Milky Way, a black hole was residing there, pulling everything toward it to absorb it, the absorption force so strong it shaped the galaxy into it's current form.

The black hole at the center of the Milky Way wasn't just any black hole, it was a supermassive one, capable of affecting an entire galaxy.

Not far from the black hole, a portal of Eldritch Magic appeared, and the three came out of it. Before even entering, Yao had also thrown a disk, which served to stabilize the space around them, as well as provide their human bodies with everything they needed, such as air and survivable temperatures.

Still, as they appeared in the middle of space, Edward, Stephen and Yao felt an enormous pressure on their body. Edward was the one in the best condition as he had by far the strongest body, while Stephen and Yao had to reinforce their bodies with various spells to not get scattered into atoms.

As their situation stabilized, Yao looked around with a smile and said, "If this is the last thing we see in our life, I have to say it is quiet the sight."

Edward and Stephen nodded as they too looked around. Black holes were so strong that not even light could escape from their pull, and so as one approached a black hole, if they could survive the experience, the spectacle of the distorted lights made for a beautiful spectacle.

The rays of light were stretched to the point they all formed rainbows, showing the entire light spectrum. All together, it made for a giant picturesque show.

After a moment of observation, Yao pushed the disk forward, and the three followed as they approached the center of the black hole.

The pull on their bodies strengthened as they approached, but it was still bearable. However, when they reached within a hundred meters of the absolute center, Edward finally felt the gateway.

It was minuscule, so small he couldn't even feel the hole itself. However, he could sense how space was messed up around it, much more so than the rest of the black hole.

Moreover, Edward could feel a vile presence coming from inside, and it seemed it had felt him as all three felt a second pressure surround them.

This pressure was not affecting their bodies though, but their minds. Struggling under the influence of Shuma-Gorath, Yao said through gritted teeth, "We must destroy the black hole! Resist his influence, and give it everything you have!"

Edward and Stephen shortly nodded, before they both closed their eyes, and so did Yao. At the center of the black hole, through the gateway, a giant eye was watching the three with amusement as they were forcefully sent into dreamworld.

However, less than a second later, Edward's Royal Will exploded out as he got himself out of Shuma-Gorath's influence, waking up. He looked at Yao and Stephen, but he unfortunately didn't manage to wake them up.

Edward looked back toward the center of the black hole, and began advancing toward it. However, he was soon faced with a problem.

The disk Yao used wasn't moving as only Yao could control it. But even if he could move it, Edward wouldn't as it would leave Stephen and Yao defenceless.

So after a few seconds, Edward took a deep breath, filling his entire body with energy before he flew out of the zone stabilized by the disk.

As soon as he left it, Edward felt the atoms all around his body flow off his body, getting instantly destroyed by the power of the black hole. Edward had already taken off the Armor of the Ancients as he didn't see how it could survive this.

Edward's skin began quickly disappearing, and his flesh was quickly following, golden blood flowing out too.

However, Edward's healing factor kicked in too, and his disappearing cells were quickly replaced as his healing factor forced his remaining cells to quickly duplicate themselves to keep up.

This situation made Edward think of his time in the spacetime tunnel, after he finished his mission in Arda, Eru had put him in a region of spacetime his body could barely handle, where he studied the two Concepts.

Thinking about that experience, Edward stopped 90 meters from the center of the black hole, and sat crossed legged in the middle of space as he began… meditating!

Edward used the power of his Concept of Space to mitigate the damage of the black hole around him as he worked on understanding space.

Although a black hole was very dangerous, to the point it bended light and space, it also was the best possible place in which Edward could understand space, even better than the Spacetime Tunnel, and so that's exactly what he did.

Time was irrelevant here as it was warped too, and the closest one was to the center of the black hole, and the slower time passed, so Edward had no idea how much time passed as he understood more and more about the Space Concept.

The main focus of Edward's mind was on understanding the Space Concept, but a minor part was also making him move forward when he could.

Edward was thus constantly on the limit where his healing factor and the black hole's pull were negating each other. It wasn't just the intensity of the pull that increased as he got closer, the speed at which he understood the Space Concept also increased.

And as he understood more about the Space Concept, Edward could also influence his surroundings more, thus allowing him to get closer.

But after who knows how much time, Edward heard a voice in his head, "You are doomed to fail, Sorcerer."

Edward extended his Chi Sense once again, and felt that Yao had actually managed to awaken, and was even ahead of him as he threw spell after spell toward the center of the black hole.

However, all of his spells were weakened by the pull, some even completely dispersed before they could reach the center of the black hole.

With every second that passed though, Yao was getting weaker, his spells losing in power and his mind in sharpness as both the Black Hole's and Shuma-Gorath's influences were weighing him down.

Edward tried reaching for Yao with his powers, to stabilize the space around him, but Yao was far too deep in for him to do anything.