For a cosmic sorcerer, few years are but a grain of sand in the ocean, and it is so for Dormammu. As the master of the Dark Dimension and a part of the cosmic dark laws, those days when he ruled the cosmos seem very distant now.
If to write a book about his experience in these years, the title might be "The Happy Life of Dormammu".
The standards of happiness for a demon god vary and are hard to define, but for Dormammu, one standard is very important, that is, to eat enough.
It sounds simple, but is actually very difficult, to satisfy the stomach of a dimensional demon god is almost impossible. Many races regard Dormammu as an extremely evil god, precisely because of his never-satisfying greed and an appetite that cannot be filled by any sacrifices.
But in recent years, he indeed ate a lot. However, it brought an unavoidable problem; he gained weight.
Although this sounds absurd, dimensional demon gods indeed put on weight. They cannot absorb energy instantly. As mentioned earlier, it takes time for dimensional demon gods to absorb energy. They have to focus for a very long period of time to transform the quantitative change of tremendous power into the qualitative change that enhances their own power.
For many minor devils with relatively weak power, they need to stuff their stomachs as soon as they get something to eat, work hard to digest and enhance their power to prevent themselves from being killed. But for dimensional demon gods like Dormammu, the need to enhance their power is not so urgent, their main purpose of eating is to satisfy their instinct.
Plus, The Ancient One resigned relatively early. Since the Kamar-Taj period when Strange arrived, neither the Supreme Magician himself nor his grand mages had the time to trouble demons.
The cosmic sorcerer was very powerful before, because The Ancient One was hanging over his head like a sword, those who did not strive would die. He had to eat a lot and work hard to grow stronger, to prevent being beaten up by the bald female mage.
This was once the incentive for Dormammu and his kind of dimensional demon gods to become stronger. In order to avoid being tricked by The Ancient One, Dormammu was desperate to invade the reality dimension and gain greater power.
But now The Ancient One is gone, his pressure is reduced. The energy he got back does not urgently need to be converted into power. The membership gifts he got are scattered all over his dimension. There is only a quantitative change but no qualitative change.
In addition, he doesn't have as much work managing hell as Hell Lord Mephisto. When others are sitting down to eat, he sleeps. As a result, his body size has balloined more than five times in just a few years. Now he has completely grown into a black gas ball in which no features can be seen, and his eyes are even squeezed out.
Hearing Modu's call, Dormammu immediately raised a hand. Yes, the thick darkness enveloping the entire Helheim is only the hand of Dormammu.
But almost instantly, there is nothing in this dimension except darkness. The rich darkness is presented in various natural phenomena. The original grey clouds turn into black clouds, pitch-black raindrops like ink float out from the rain clouds, dyeing everything into pure black.
Monster Doctor Strange stared blankly at the rampant dark energy in Magic Vision, and shouted incredulously.
"How dare you?! How dare you let Dormammu grow to such an extent?! Aren't you afraid of him invading the Earth?!"
Then he turned his eyes to Strange and the grand mages behind him, looking at their strong energy, a variety of energy-consuming spells are thrown out like no cost, and he could only grit his teeth and said: "It must be the problem with this cosmos. There is more energy here than ours. We must conquer here!!"
"By then, all these energies will be mine! Mine!"
Monster Doctor Strange was completely dizzy, or Captain America on the ground struggling against the mages' fierce attack shouted: "Infect them with madness. No matter how powerful the demon god is, it can't resist the madness of the great god!"
Hearing this, Strange, who was floating in the air, showed a strange expression. He took out a cellphone, cleared his throat and said to the other side: "Mephisto, get ready. If Dormammu goes crazy, you guys will go up together and chop and eat him. If you guys go crazy, I will go call others."
"The one who goes crazy is the member's gift, the one who doesn't go crazy is the member, it's that simple."
From the darkness of the void came a roar: "I'm not crazy!!!"
"Oh, how are you going to prove that?" Strange took out his ear and said: "I assume that the mad demon god certainly doesn't remember the existence of the Holy Sanctuary, and the demon god whose sense is still there certainly remembers our renewal rules..."
"Strange, you damned merchant, I've already recharged membership for twenty thousand years!!"
"Ahem, our Dark Lord is getting less and less rational. It seems that the boundless madness is continuously eroding his core. Maybe it's time to make a move, Mephisto?"
As soon as Strange's voice fell, raging hellfire was ignited in the darkness. The monster superheroes on the ground began to self-ignite one after another. Their souls became the fuel for the hellfire. The pain of direct soul burning made them start rolling and screaming on the ground.
A massive demonic phantom emerged from the flames, darkening the dominion of Dormammu a bit, with darkness and fire now ruling over Helheim.
"You've summoned the Lord of Hell!" Monster Strange yelled, "You're truly insane. Without a sacrifice, Mephisto will rip everything within his sight into shreds!!!"
"It seems Dormammu is the one who's insane." Mephisto stamped his satyr hoof and said, "He's spouting nonsense. A two thousand year membership? I recall that we both opted for a three thousand year membership."
"That's also how I remember it," Strange replied with a deliberately vague tone, "If he can't even remember his own membership dates correctly, he must be insane. Wong, open the door. Prepare to move!"
"Wait!" Dormammu shouted, "Can't I just extend it by another thousand years? You deceitful human!"
"Modu, go sign the contract," Strange commanded with a satisfied tilt of his head. Modu flew over, but Strange was still somewhat uncertain, "Is he really not infected? But then, how did Dormammu from that cosmos lose his sanity?"
"I am a Dimensional Demon God!" roared Dormammu, "How could a pinch of insanity from a few human souls be enough to drive me mad immediately?!"
Strange turned to look at Mephisto, who glanced at Dormammu attached to Monster Doctor Strange, and explained, "Dimensional Demon Gods can refuse anything entering their dimension. This Dormammu was most likely ambushed while outside his own dimension."
"A Dimensional Demon God and its dimension mutually complement each other. The Dimensional Demon God derives his power from his dimension. Without the Dark Dimension, Dormammu probably can't call on its power. A Dimensional Demon God without a dimension becomes extremely vulnerable, just like a goat without hooves."
Mephisto crossed his arms, looking at Monster Doctor Strange as he said, "The Dormammu from the other universe should be far more powerful than this. He probably lost the support of the Dark Dimension and doesn't know how to draw energy from the laws of nature, which is why he has starved down to this size."
Hearing this, the mutants in the base couldn't help but look at Monster Doctor Strange. Shadow Cat Kitty displayed a complex expression before saying, "I know this may sound bad, but the Dormammu from the other universe... how should I put it? Uh... is kind of cute."
In the sky of Helheim, the thousand-foot-tall Surter People and Thor were locked in a fierce battle. An even larger mundane python that coiled around Midgard contrasted with the shoulder height of the four-legged Fenrir Wolf equalling that of Dormammu. Surrounded by an assortment of demons and ghouls, the lunatic Dormammu did indeed appear... quite adorable.
"So, whether insanity can infect an individual is related to their physical size?" Strange asked Mephisto.
Nodding, Mephisto answered: "More and less is a cosmic concept. More is always more than less, and less is always less than more. More overcomes less, and less is always inferior to more. 1 less than 2, 2 more than 1; these are the most fundamental laws of the cosmos."
"The larger the physical size, the more insanity is needed to infect it. Unless the opponent's ability to spread insanity is more profound than the cosmic law of more or less, they must adhere to this law."
"So, is the physical size measured in terms of energy or wisdom?"
"It should have nothing to do with the level of wisdom." Mephisto shook his head, focusing on Stark who was constantly evading amidst the Magician's onslaught. Strange followed his gaze and understood his point.
In that case, thought Strange, the best way to deal with these insane superheroes would be to call upon all the Cosmic Sorcerers, encircle them and just beat them up. However, there's one fatal flaw with this plan.
"If one is unfortunately infected, is there a way to reverse it?" Strange asked.
"It's probably difficult to clear the insanity and preserve the power," Mephisto replied with a frown, "But you can directly cut off the infected part."
A light flared in Strange's eyes. Looking at the superheroes below, he asked, "What about them? Is there any hope for them?"
Mephisto shook his head, "The strength of a human soul can't match that of a demon god. A tree can live after its branches are cut, but if you cut grass, the chances of death are high."
Strange scoffed, "I'll do everything I can to save them. If I fail, at least I provided them with a dignified funeral - none of them will ever be on their knees before the gods while I'm here."
With that said, Strange's robe billowed, his eyes glowed golden, and the Eye of Agomoto shone as a gong-like voice reverberated across the battlefield.
"Time Management Bureau, freeze all invaders' timelines, directly banish resisters, attack now!"