Aftermath

After combining his own power with the True Darkhold, Savant was able to subdue Chthon and even seal the dimensional lord completely. When the fight was done, the sticky dark magic was pushed off by the golden light emanating from Savant's body.

"Ack! I hate that sticky, oily feeling. How can magic feel so dirty? I feel like I will have to bathe in lava to get this feeling off of me." Savant complained while the dark magic coming off of him reformed into the True Darkhold that was sealing Chthon.

Savant looked around in the dimension filled with chaos magic. All of Chthon's minions had either been crushed during the fight or had run away even before that. The dimension was in shambles, looking even more deserted and desolate than it did when he first stepped inside it.

"Well, that should just about do it. I should quickly get back to Earth."

When Savant got back to Earth, he found that the ongoing war had been very brutal. Cities were devastated, lakes emptied, forests razed, and people scattered. Even with great efforts from the heroes, the federation army, and the allies like Asgardians, the loss of human lives seemed very significant. He immediately blasted away some demons in his line of sight.

After solemnly observing the situation, he teleported into the command headquarters.

Odin turned to Savant who had appeared out of nowhere and gave him a slight nod. "Did you accomplish your mission well? How was it?"

Savant grumbled at Odin's question, "Don't even talk about it. Fighting without the sense of time was such a pain in the ass. And that dirty book kept trying to enter my body. I shiver just thinking about the violating feeling, ugh!"

Odin shrugged, "I'll take that as the mission going well. You have grown stronger yet again. I can't keep pace with your growth at all."

"Yeah, yeah. I beat the demon and sealed him. Let us just skip all that. Now tell me the situation on this side. Have any of the others returned yet?" Savant shook his hands dismissively.

"Except for the Sorcerer Supreme, everybody is back and handling other missions. The sorcerer should be returning victorious anytime now. Hoggoth himself went with him so it should not take too long." Odin began informing Savant.

"As for Earth, you can see it yourself. The army brainwashed by Doom is doing exceptionally well. Although they have a higher mortality rate, their mission completion rate is also the highest of all. I can't tell if their madness is good or bad for them. Sigh."

Savant nodded. He had briefly seen the crazy Alpha Legion that reminded him of another universe that he had read about a long time back in his past life. Although he found it funny, he was also a little scared that he would find out he was inside the Warp or the Immaterium.

Just the premonition at his level of existence and the strangely twisted fates where an Alpha Legion similar to the one he remembered had appeared, Savant had a lot to worry about.

What if the Marvel Universe that he was currently inside was just one of the many bubbles existing inside the Warp? Savant tried to shake away his worries.

Odin noticed Savant's unusual behavior and asked in concern, "What happened? Why do I feel like you are scared of something? Are the Celestials attacking as well?"

Savant himself was not sure about his anxiety and didn't want to cause any panic until he was sure about it. He shook his head, "No, I am just thinking about all the losses on Earth."

Although he wasn't fully convinced by the excuse, Odin didn't probe into the matter anymore. If it was something he needed to know, he would find out eventually anyway.

"Well then, let us wrap it all up! Gaia should be able to close the magical shield to shut down the invasions any time now. The control of the energies from the few large dimensions should be helpful to her in accelerating the work. We should join the clean-up crew."

Savant didn't refute Odin's words and nodded at his orders. He was the one who nominated Odin as the Commander-in-chief of the allied army, he should obey the orders faithfully.

"Where should we start?" Savant asked.

Odin waved his palm in the air and a golden holographic image of Earth appeared from thin air. "These are the sites with the highest energy signatures that have yet to have found assistance. I'll continue relaying the locations to everyone telepathically from here, you can go do the work."

Savant gave a short nod and teleported away to the location shown in the projection.

...

After expending a lot of her own powers and siphoning off the energies from the large dimensions Doom and the others had gained control of, Gaia was able to once again create a barrier around Earth to shield it from dimensional influence.

While Gaia went into a deep sleep once again to conserve her strength, the dimensional portals that were ripped open all over the planet disappeared as if they were all a lie. Now there were only the demons and dimensional beings left on Earth who had already invaded.

The cleanup was easier. Although everyone was tired to their bones due to the continuous fighting for hours without a break, their morale was boosted by the news of the portals being shut down for good. Those damn portals had become a sign of their grief.

"Attention everyone! This is your Commander-in-chief Odin. I am informing you all that with the help of the great warriors from Earth, the dimensional barrier has been restored. All the dimensional portals will now disappear. Just hang in there for a moment and clean up all the Vermin that dared to invade your planet. It will all be over soon."

Cheers erupted all over the planet with Odin's announcement. Despite the fatigue, the heroes and the army pressed on to eliminate their enemies to get things back to normal as soon as possible.

The intensity of the war that had entered a dull period increased once more. This time the side of humanity was the one that was pressing the invaders. Although there was some additional damage, the war finally came to an end the next day.

After almost a full 24 hours of fighting, Earth was able to triumph over the invaders. "Humanity should rejoice this moment. You have successfully defended yourself against an army much larger and stronger than you. You have once again proven the resilience of the human race."

The war came to a close with an emotional speech ringing in the heads of everyone on Earth. People had begun to come out of the shelters and mirror dimensions and they were able to see the extent of devastation that the war has caused.

Some broke down crying, some collapsed on the spot, and some others just solemnly looked on at the scene of desolation that told the story of the bitter struggles of humanity. The reactions from the general public were varied.

But one thing that was common to all of them was that they were feeling an overwhelming sense of grief and loss. Although only parts of the cities were completely turned into rubble in most cases, it was also someone's house or their place of work. And even the parts that were not directly affected had significant amounts of damage.

A lot of the public infrastructure had completely collapsed. Transportation was hard with many airports being destroyed along with the highways. Communications systems were also paralyzed in many places. Some factories and industries were turned to rubble and scrap metal.

Not just the damage to the infrastructure, even a rough estimate had calculated that at least ten million human lives were lost during this invasion. The correct figures could be much higher when the dead and the missing are sorted out later.

But humanity couldn't continue to wallow in their grief, they could only move forward with firm footsteps. They had to remember the dead but the living had to continue living as well. So immediate reconstruction plans had begun all over the planet.

"Although it was a tragedy, this reconstruction should boost the global economy and create a lot of jobs. The construction industry will probably see some development as well." An economic advisor to Doom explained. Everyone was looking for even the smallest positive news in the bleak post-war atmosphere, so it was a piece of welcome news.

"Regulate all the construction projects. There should be no problems later on. Also, try to include as many small-scale construction companies as possible. We need as many experts as possible in the construction industry." Doom ordered while looking through the documents.

There were plans to develop Mars and to go further beyond the solar system. A lot of skilled labor would be required in the process no matter how much robots, mutants, and magic were used during the process.

Both Savant and Doom agreed that relying too much on magic at this point for the development process was detrimental to humanity's progress. They tried to promote growth through technological advancements as much as possible.

They were of the opinion that magic and science should only be used interchangeably when there is enough understanding regarding magic and science among the common people.