Chapter 1869: Madman's Journey (45)_1

Strange quickly retreated, but Auburn's hand-like claws had already reached him. Auburn's eyes shot out purple light, but his pupils showed no signs of diffusion. His consciousness was also very clear. Strange realized that Auburn might have already been corrupted by the Evil God.

Strange's hands revolved in front of him, condensing magic energy into a golden shield that blocked Auburn's first attack. Strange landed, staring coldly at Auburn, "Auburn, the guardian of the Secret Realm, do you dare to commune with the Evil God? Do you want to break your covenant with Kamar-Taj?"

"What do you know!" Auburn sneered, "I am the one who is protecting the cosmos. You, Strange, the great Supreme Magician, you are the culprit of the Universe's destruction. Only by killing you can the Universe be safe!"

With that, Auburn wheeled his magic wand and lunged forward. Strange didn't back down; the two started a fierce collision in the air.

Both of them fought fiercely in mid-air. Strange constantly built a golden shield and used his magic whip to restrain Auburn, who smashed towards Strange with all his might.

As their battle ascended over the great library, suddenly, a huge rumble sounded, and dust rose, shrouding the sky.

Strange turned around and hovered in the air, not far from the library. Looking at the collapsed library, his eyes widened slightly.

"See, Supreme Magician, the other you destroyed everything, he will also destroy the Universe... Ah!"

Tentacles shot out, obscuring half of the sky like erupting volcanic lava. Auburn was instantly coiled by a giant tentacle, it swung him back and forth twice, and he was cut in half amidst a scream.

Strange quickly retreated, but it was too late. One of the tentacles, moving at a speed too fast for the naked eye, lashed out at him. Strange had no choice but to block with his arm.

"Bang!"

Strange was smashed into the ground, lying there coughing, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.

He staggered to his feet, gazing up at the giant eye slowly rising from the library, Strange called out its name, "Eye Demon Shuma..."

Below the dark island, Strange and a few children quietly stood in the shadows. This was clearly not an unexpected situation, but a carefully planned trap.

Strange sighed quietly, but his gaze was determined. "We are one person. There is no need to divide into two. And if, as you said, we need to go beyond the timeline, to break through the outer wall of the individual universe, then we must become one."

"But I don't want to waste any energy on him. Anyway, the Eye Demon Shuma is my target. Let them fight until both sides are severely wounded, and then we can reap the benefits. That's just right."

Helen glanced at Strange's expression and rubbed the goosebumps on her arm, shivering slightly.

Stephen Strange is a superhero with villain potential. The root of it is his inherent obsession, which pushed him to leave the small remote town and became a world-renowned surgeon. And when he became the Supreme Magician, his obsession only became greater.

Maybe this is precisely why he was destined to be the Supreme Magician. No one suits "Supreme" better than a person who strives for the best in everything.

Strange quietly floats in the distance, looking at his other self who is fighting fiercely with the Eye Demon, covered in wounds. Even though he shares all the pain and despair, he is willing to pay any price to save Christine.

In the end, the other Strange makes a final blow to the Eye Demon with all his might, but he also got pierced through the chest by a tentacle and collapsed to the ground, without the strength to get up.

As planned, Helen goes to deal with the injured Eye Demon, and the darkened Doctor Strange appears beside his other self.

"You... will destroy... everything..." the Strange lying on the ground, a large hole in his chest, his eyes dispersed, looking at the sky and saying, "You can't save... give up..."

Strange stood in front of him, staring at his other self with eyes sunken deep in his sockets, "Without obsession, there would be no talent. If I were someone who gives up, the tragedy wouldn't have happened in the first place."

"But since I've been through all this, I won't let it be meaningless. I'd like to see who gave God the courage to bless me with talent."

With that, Strange opened his mouth, a brilliant glow illuminating from his eyes and nose. The dying other Strange was lifted off the ground.

Strange spread his arms, the two figures merged into one. When he turned around again, the voices of the two started to coincide.

"Nothing can limit me, nothing can bind me. I will break free from everything, until I have reclaimed what should have been mine."

"Boom!"

A severed giant tentacle fell in front of Strange. The dust kicked up cleared, and Helen, clutching her arm, flew down, hovering above the tentacle, and said:

"Come on, the feast has begun."

Yet Strange's gaze moved beyond Helen, aiming at something behind her. He saw a faint human-shaped shadow with a massive head and a blue cloak, somewhere in the void, observing everything from behind a barrier.

Strange stared at the figure with glowing blue eyes and muttered to himself, "Yes, the feast has begun...I see you."

In the dark of space, a bright point of light got closer. Inside the Star Devouring Engine, Thor turned to look at Stark, busy in front of the lab table, and asked, "Did you just abandon Helen and the others in another universe?"

"You should worry about that universe," Stark said as he typed, "Also, the signal from the other universe is stronger. We need to get there as fast as possible; we might catch them in the act."

Nick was on the other side, using a device from the Time Management Bureau to check the status of their destination universe. This time he was determined to have a good look beforehand, to avoid arriving only to find the universe destroyed again.

As he looked, his brow furrowed more. He turned to Shiller, seated nearby, and said, "Looks like it's time for you to step in, Doctor. This universe poses some complications."

All ears instantly perked up; they were curious about the kind of trouble that Nick thought needed Shiller's involvement.

Shiller took the tablet from his hand and glanced at it; of course, it was the universe with the Golden Panther.

As everyone knows, Tony Stark was kidnapped and taken to Afghanistan, where he built his first battle armor in a cave, setting him on the path of Iron Man.

But what if Tony Stark, after being taken to Afghanistan, was rescued by someone before he had a chance to build the armor in the cave, and that rescuer was not a good man, what would happen?

Stark leaned in, then saw a starkly different life being played out in the other universe from the information displayed on the tablet.

As soon as Tony Stark was taken into the Afghan cave, he was saved by a man named Erik.

Most people's impression of this man named Erik, a black man, probably only extends as far as him sharing a name with Magneto, but in reality, he once incited a rebellion in Wakanda.

With the influx of precious metal melting gold mined from the Andromeda Galaxy, Erik, under Shiller's manipulation, shouted "Long live Hydra!" managing to divert the attention of Iron Man and Captain America towards Hydra.

Of course, after that, he became useless and never graced the world stage again. As Stark looked at T'Challa with a strange light in his eyes from behind the bar, T'Challa couldn't help but walk over to have a look at the content on the tablet.

After reading it, he shook his head and sighed, "Erik is a prime example of populism, and he oversimplifies things. He believes that the only purpose of uniting Wakanda is to conquer the world. I've said before that he can never suppress his inner beast, hence destined to fail as a king."

"But he succeeded in this universe," Stark retorted, "You can blame it on Iron Man of this universe being too naive to place such blind trust on a stranger."

Just as Stark said, the Tony Stark of this universe wholeheartedly trusted Erik after being rescued by him. Not only did he hand over the security duties of Stark Group to Erik, he even made him vice president of the company. For Erik's drone armor project, he went so far as to find the Vibranium dealer Krau, indirectly causing the death of the Black Panther.

The rest of the story is as expected; with control over all resources, Erik became the Golden Panther, followed by a grisly massacre.

After reading this, T'Challa tactfully remarked, "Tony is a very sentimental person. If he likes someone, he will devote himself to them completely. We often say that he wears his heart on his sleeve, maybe this is a reflection of that."

"You could just say he's naive," Nick bluntly stated, "Friendship and interest should never be mixed. When the other party accepts your unreasonable returns undeniably and even wants more, then you know they are not but a ravenous hyena ready to take a bite out of you at any moment."

Stark rolled his eyes but didn't retort as vehemently as before, tacitly agreeing. He crossed his arms, turned to Shiller and said, "This does require your intervention, it's just I wonder whether your magical psychotherapist skills can save the great genius Stark again."

Shiller silently shook his head and moved over to the lab table, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

Nick stood in front of the jump device console, Operating it while asking Shiller, "To which time point do you want to jump to? Gaining his trust before Tony was attacked should be comparatively easier, right? Or perhaps you could just save Tony and cut Erik out of the picture entirely?"

"What's the fun in that?" Shiller gave a smile, "A certain genius is just dying to see me turn the tide."

Nick stared at his grin for a moment, realizing that once again, he had gotten a clear look at Shiller's eyes, usually hidden behind glasses.

He understood Shiller's intent, and thus pushed the lever, setting the time jump slightly later, after Erik had saved Stark.

Once again, the Star Devouring Engine exploded into light. They jumped through the timeline again. Shiller stood within the teleportation array; as the light of the array illuminated, his figure vanished.

Natasha, sitting on the side, seemed to recall something. The female agent turned her head, her eyes falling on the lab table next to her.

Under the dim light, Shiller's glasses lay quietly on the surface of the lab table.