Boom!
“Damn it! You, you…” Another wave of dark energy swept over, and Lin Rui cursed under his breath before releasing his domain once more.
This time, Lin Rui managed to hold off the onslaught of dark energy for a bit longer, but eventually, his domain was shattered by the relentless force, and he was once again consumed by the darkness.
Dormammu was still seething with anger, and at this point, nothing Lin Rui said would make a difference. Moreover, now that he had a target for his frustration, Dormammu was not going to let Lin Rui off easily.
Swish!
As time rewound, Lin Rui appeared before Dormammu for the third time. This time, before Dormammu could attack him, Lin Rui instantly released his domain. Then, under the protection of his domain, Lin Rui quickly dashed away from Dormammu, heading in the opposite direction.
Since Dormammu was unwilling to listen to him, Lin Rui had no intention of being killed repeatedly. The sensation of dying was far from pleasant.
“There’s no way to negotiate with Dormammu now! I should let him go through hundreds of cycles on his own!” Lin Rui thought desperately as he continued to flee.
Although Lin Rui had prepared himself for the possibility of being killed and resurrected during the negotiation with Dormammu, it was a different experience than he had anticipated.
Unlike Strange’s calm and calculated approach in the original plot, Lin Rui had already experienced death and resurrection three times, and he was finding it increasingly unbearable. The feeling of being consumed by the dark energy was excruciatingly painful.
Lin Rui couldn’t tell if being consumed by dark energy was inherently this painful or if Dormammu’s anger was intensifying the agony. Each time his domain was shattered, and his internal energy depleted, the dark energy invading Lin Rui’s body would inch by inch sear and gnaw at him, causing excruciating pain in every part of his body.
“I wonder… did Strange know that the person negotiating with Dormammu would go through this? Is that why he didn’t want to do it himself?” As the surrounding dark energy almost cornered him into a small space where he could no longer escape, Lin Rui continued to contemplate.
Boom!
Just as he finished this thought, Lin Rui was completely surrounded by the encroaching dark energy. The battle between his internal energy domain and the dark energy began once again.
With each resurrection, Lin Rui’s condition would recover to its peak, allowing him to further hone his control over his domain. In the struggle against dark energy, Lin Rui’s domain was gradually maturing, and he could withstand dark energy attacks for longer periods.
“Damn it!” A second later, a deep azure domain echoed with Lin Rui’s curse. Then, his domain was once again shattered, and his figure was engulfed by dark energy.
A few seconds later, Lin Rui’s figure appeared before Dormammu once more…
Inside the unique space where Strange, Jack, and the others were located, Jack and Iceman watched Lin Rui being repeatedly killed and resurrected by Dormammu. Their expressions were grim. While they had heard Strange mention that the initial negotiations might not go smoothly, they hadn’t expected things to be this challenging.
“In just this short time… Jackson has already died… seven times…”
“No, it’s eight times!” Jack interrupted while Iceman and Strange were speaking.
“Strange, can’t you do something to limit Dormammu’s attacks? Like putting Jackson and him in different time flows, so Dormammu can’t attack Jackson?” Unable to bear watching Lin Rui being endlessly slaughtered, Jack anxiously asked Strange.
Based on the current situation outside, Dormammu wouldn’t stop attacking Lin Rui until he had killed him hundreds of times. Jack was concerned that continuing this way would push Lin Rui to the brink of collapse. Perhaps erasing Lin Rui’s memories in sync with the time loops might be a better solution.
“I’m already struggling to maintain such a large-scale time reversal, and our current location is already isolated from time reversal. Changing the time flow around Lin Rui in front of Dormammu is something I cannot do,” Strange explained with a wry smile in response to Jack’s inquiry.
“In that case, are we just going to stand here and watch? Should I go out instead?” Knowing that Strange couldn’t extract Lin Rui from the current situation, Jack proposed an alternative.
However, Strange shook his head, “If we switch now, Jackson’s death will have been in vain.”
“Why…” Initially puzzled by Strange’s statement, Jack quickly understood the reasoning.
Dormammu had vented his anger on Lin Rui dozens of times already, and now he wasn’t as furious as he was initially. If they switched personnel at this point, Dormammu might feel like they were toying with him.
Therefore, if they changed personnel, Dormammu might become even more furious, and all of Lin Rui’s previous deaths would have been in vain.
“So, let’s have Jackson endure a bit longer! And, all these deaths aren’t without gains. At least, he’s become skilled at resisting Dormammu’s attacks,” Strange continued, seeing the hesitation in Jack’s expression.
Upon hearing Strange’s words, both Jack and Iceman felt at a loss. No one would willingly choose to gain experience in such a way. However, they had no other option but to watch Lin Rui die over and over again.
…
Huff, huff, huff!
Within the space shrouded by the Mirror Dimension, Lin Rui, who had died and resurrected dozens of times, finally managed to use his domain to withstand the attacks of dark energy for longer periods.
Of course, this was because Dormammu’s attacks were consistently at the same level. After so many iterations, Lin Rui had also become familiar with Dormammu’s patterns of attack.
Enveloped by the deep azure internal energy, Lin Rui’s domain compressed into a space of less than a meter around his body. The originally irregular circular domain had undergone some changes.
The internal energy inside had become more concentrated, and the energy at the edges had formed diamond-shaped blocks that resembled tangible gemstones of deep azure.
The relentless flow of dark energy from the outside continuously struck the edges of the domain, releasing its devouring power. However, it was all blocked by the diamond-shaped barrier that had formed within the domain. As time passed, cracks began to appear in this composite barrier.
Crack, crack, crack!
“Sigh… I hope the next time I can hold out a little longer!” As he saw his domain about to shatter once more, Lin Rui couldn’t help but mutter.
Boom!
…
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