When Ancient One appeared before Lin Rui and his group, they were initially taken aback, but then it seemed like they realized something. Especially Lin Rui, a knowing expression appeared in his eyes.
Just moments ago, Lin Rui had been puzzled as to why Dormammu had suddenly agreed to his terms and rapidly left Earth. It turned out that Ancient One was about to return.
With Dormammu’s fragmented power, once Ancient One returned, he would obviously be unable to escape. Therefore, to avoid losing one of his fragments, Dormammu had chosen to accept Lin Rui’s conditions.
“You did well! It completely exceeded my expectations!” Ancient One praised as Lin Rui silently pondered.
This time, Ancient One had truly not expected that Dormammu would imprison himself, Odin, and Ego with his main body and then secretly send out a fragment to consume Earth.
Otherwise, Ancient One would have left some countermeasures on Earth. However, what surprised Ancient One, even more, was that Lin Rui and his companions managed to resist Dormammu’s consumption of Earth.
Although in terms of power, Lin Rui and his group were indeed unable to stop Dormammu. However, it was a fact that Dormammu had been trapped under their combined efforts.
Of course, Ancient One also understood that Dormammu’s departure was likely due to her return. Nevertheless, Lin Rui and Strange had done their best; otherwise, Earth wouldn’t have held out until Ancient One’s return.
Hearing Ancient One’s words, Lin Rui smiled wryly. “We did what we had to. If you hadn’t returned, we wouldn’t have held on.”
Looking at Strange, who was currently unconscious, it was clear that his ability to manipulate time had been pushed to its limit. If Strange had fallen before Ancient One’s return, Dormammu would have had enough time to destroy Earth.
However, it was precisely because Lin Rui and his team had successfully lured Dormammu into the Mirror Dimension and trapped him in the time loop that Dormammu had not had the opportunity to cause significant harm to Earth.
Furthermore, despite being extinguished many times by Dormammu within the Mirror Dimension, Lin Rui had gained unexpected growth, except for the exhaustion of his mental energy.
“You did well. I’m very curious how you managed to hold on until now. Judging by the time Dormammu trapped us, he should have had enough time to exhaust Strange’s magic and mental energy,” Ancient One nodded and continued to inquire.
He was genuinely curious about how Lin Rui and his team had managed to withstand Dormammu.
In response to Ancient One’s question, Lin Rui and his group began walking towards the luxurious lounge on the top floor of Stark Industries. Jack placed Strange on the sofa, and Lin Rui roughly explained everything that had happened since their encounter with Dormammu’s fragment.
Because the events had unfolded rapidly, it took only a few minutes to recount.
“Well, you did well. Now that I’m back, leave Dormammu to me” Ancient One smiled and said in response to Lin Rui’s words.
“Huh?”
Hearing Ancient One say to leave Dormammu to him, Lin Rui, Jack, and Iceman were somewhat surprised. Hadn’t Dormammu already left? Moreover, he had promised not to trouble Earth again, so why was Ancient One saying this?
“Could it be that Dormammu will return to Earth? Is his promise completely useless?” Jack asked with a furrowed brow, expressing his doubts.
Hearing Jack’s question, Ancient One smiled. Apparently, Jack had misunderstood.
“A being of Dormammu’s level, if he doesn’t keep his promises, the rules of this world would be meaningless. Don’t worry too much; since he has already promised not to return to Earth, he won’t,” Ancient One assured them.
“In that case, why did you say…” If Dormammu wasn’t going to return to Earth, Jack wondered what Ancient One meant.
“We’ve been pushed around on Earth to this extent. Are we just going to let it go? What about those innocent lives that were lost? Even though Dormammu has promised never to return to Earth, I won’t let him off easily. Does he really think it’s that easy to come and go from Earth?” Ancient One continued to explain.
As he spoke these words, Ancient One’s aura suddenly surged, and his tone became more forceful. At this moment, the seemingly affable and approachable Ancient One revealed the imposing presence of a top-tier cosmic sorcerer.
Crack, Crack, Crack!
Under the unintentional release of Ancient One’s aura, some glass Art in the luxurious lounge made a brittle sound and developed cracks. Although Ancient One maintained a calm expression upon hearing the sound of glass shattering, his eyes blinked a few times with a hint of embarrassment.
As Ancient One’s aura shattered some of the glass artifacts in the room, Tony and the others, who had been walking toward the lounge on the outdoor platform, instantly halted their steps. They thought something had happened inside.
After Dormammu had left the Earth’s atmosphere, Tony and his team descended in their two spaceships.
If SHIELD hadn’t already announced that these spaceships were part of SHIELD’s latest research achievements, the sight of these damaged but advanced spaceships landing on Earth would have likely caused another panic among the general populace.
However, given that Earth had recently experienced the invasion of the Dark Elf race, it seemed that Earth’s capabilities had improved.
Amid the eager gazes of countless people in New York, the two impressive yet damaged spaceships descended into SHIELD’s New York base, eluding the view of other countries and factions.
Before the spaceships landed at the SHIELD base, Tony had already flown out and headed toward Stark Industries. Just as he touched down, he heard the commotion coming from the lounge.
“What’s going on?” Tony asked as he took a few steps into his own luxurious lounge, glancing at the shattered glass artifacts.
Following Tony, Captain Rogers, and Spider-Man Peter, they quickly entered the lounge. Thanks to Tony’s spacious lounge, it could still accommodate the group, although it was beginning to feel crowded.
“Nothing serious, are you all okay?” Lin Rui responded after seeing that Tony and the others had returned.
“What could happen to us? It’s you guys who had us on edge when you said you had a way! But you really pulled it off!” Tony replied, looking at Ancient One before continuing.
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