Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1622 Kamar-Taj Euclidean Space

As soon as the Royal Guard, Amphitryon, stepped through the gate, he realized he had fallen into a trap.

The psionic alarm flashed wildly, turning the holographic tactical display screen a bright red. He blinked and deactivated the sudden alarm.

The First Secret Regiment soldiers and combat sisters who followed him in tactical formation were nowhere to be seen. An ancient wooden gate studded with countless copper nails opened before him, revealing a wide square covered in frost and snow, the snowflakes melting on the golden armor of the Royal Guard, Amphitryon. Before him, on a long, higher flight of stairs, a figure in black robes awaited him. The man's fingers gleamed with the light of brass and fire, and psionic runes spiraled from his wrists upwards to his neck, finally biting into his carotid artery.

The guard, Amphitryon, took a step forward, and the figure vanished. The mountain staircase, which had been so close, flipped outwards from one of its points. Sunlight-sprayed matter transformed into auroras in the high sky before falling to the very top of the staircase. This staircase unfolded with vector rotations that defied the measurement of Hilbert's spacetime geometry, far exceeding the scope of calculus. There were no handrails or railings on either side; each step was like escaping from a lightless abyss, climbing to a terrifying height.

The figure in the long black robe was there, etheric fire burning fiercely within him, aurora shimmering behind him. Amphitryon strode into the spacious courtyard, stepping onto the pristine white marble path. The slippery frost was shattered by the weight of his power armor, and the black-robed man at the end of the steps vanished from his sight once more. The Royal Guard, Amphitryon, glanced at the time on his tactical display screen. He remembered entering the courtyard twelve seconds later, an hour earlier, and one year, fifteen days, twenty hours, and seven seconds later. He used the holographic tactical display screen to gather information; he could see the power armor's energy reserves, the ammunition levels in the explosive guns, the external temperature, humidity levels, and atmospheric composition, as well as the planet's orbital period and day-night cycle.

He saw the sky above darkening at a visible speed, the Milky Way dancing wildly, revealing to him stars born, collapsing, and exploding over billions of years under gravity, countless super-civilizations expanding, destroying, and ultimately being forgotten, the quicksand of ten thousand civilizations' relics flowing down the steps. He saw gods battling across the Milky Way, leaving bloody wounds on the ecliptic plane, hot, colorful ionized soup overflowing from wounded stars like blood that would never congeal, and dust in the nebulae shimmering like twitching ganglia. The Royal Guard, Amphitryon, heard voices from the sky, as if understanding those voices from the stars would unlock the ancient mysteries of the Milky Way, but he paid them no heed, continuing his ascent, unaware of how long he had been climbing.

The external world was in complete chaos, but he possessed boundless patience.

"It's just entropy."

He gazed at the black-robed sorcerer atop the endless staircase, calmly pulling back the bolt of the Guardian Spear's explosive bolter. He felt as if some inhuman, reptilian, inorganic wisdom was watching him from beyond the heavens. This feeling sent chills down his spine, like standing on ice in early spring, the ice cracking under stress from a colossal creature slowly swimming beneath, the sound transmitted through his bones to his eardrums.

"You can't influence me. I can go on forever, but how long can you keep going?"

The aurora borealis shimmered on the ruby ​​lens.

The Imperial Guard, Amphitryon, shut off the bolt, pressed the power switch, and made sure there was indeed a bolt-action round in the chamber. Everything was changing; he had to confirm that he and his weapon were credible.

Then he moved. The shattered frost, the dust weathered by civilization, and the ancient white marble steps exploded as if detonated by explosives. His figure was invisible to the naked eye, and his movements were beyond the processing of the normal nervous system. A flash of golden supernatural light appeared and disappeared. He rushed towards the black-robed sorcerer, whipping his hips to tense his body, and swung his electrically charged spear horizontally. The blade sliced ​​through the air and the sorcerer's body. The bubbles burst into a shower of colorful light, and the rapidly spinning Milky Way in the dim sky gradually faded away.

The Royal Guard, Amphitryon, heard a heartbeat and the sound of blood dripping into the snow. The time displayed on the tactical holographic projection goggles began to jump rapidly before settling into a stable value. The electric current on the blade of the Guardian Spear burned and evaporated the blood. An arm, still warm, lay on the snow, its broken bones flashing orange-red ethereal electricity. It seemed that ether had replaced the nerve currents and chemical neurotransmitters, manipulating the spinal cord and limbs to react after the brain had generated a response. But the sorceress was clearly not doing a good enough job; it was evident from the venomous, white-glowing eye she stared intently at the Royal Guard. She believed she could evade Amphitryon's Guardian Spear.

"Unfortunately, you cannot. You have invoked foreign, non-human wisdom."

Amphitrite placed the Spear of Guards back before him. As if reading minds, he spoke to the person kneeling on the ground, bleeding profusely. Snowflakes fell and melted on his armor, turning to steam upon landing on the Spear's blade. He pointed the Spear at the female sorceress kneeling from blood loss, then pierced her skull with the blade, cleaving her lengthwise to ensure the body was completely immobilized. Having seen many manipulated corpses since his formal service, including many of psychics, he knew how dangerous manipulated psychic corpses could be.

Thank you for your help, Lord.

He silently recited it in his heart.

"I can hear you, Ms. Tatiana."

He put away his weapon and turned on the communication channel.

He could see Tatiana's codename flashing rapidly, with several unread messages displayed next to it. After opening the communication channel, Tatiana's slightly panicked voice came through the earpiece. She and Amphitryon had entered the fourth courtyard, but the Royal Guard had suddenly vanished, leaving her and the other combat sisters, along with the soldiers of the First Secret Regiment, completely bewildered. Even after they subdued the arcane mage who had erected a psionic defense in the courtyard, Amphitryon was still nowhere to be seen. Amphitryon asked Tatiana and the other combat sisters if they had seen an arcane mage in a black robe on the mountainside staircase, to which he immediately received a negative answer.

"Reassure the soldiers and then continue the advance."

He took a few steps in the opposite direction, making himself visible to the combat sisters and soldiers. The black-robed sorcerer's corpse still lay where it was, his dissected body spilling foul-smelling entrails. Although the Emperor had repeatedly stated that casualties should be avoided as much as possible, this rule of engagement was less of a priority when a sorcerer was hindering the advance. He sent a signal through the chain of command. While waiting for the combat sisters and the soldiers of the First Secret Regiment, transport planes, risking being shot down, manipulated, or confused by psionic attacks, airdropped firing fortresses onto the four already captured courtyards.

"Be careful, the next arcane mage may be a high-level arcane mage who has mastered the Mirror Space."

The atmosphere among the young sorcerer apprentices in the prisoner-of-war zone was shrouded in gloom.

This quiet valley had never heard a gunshot, nor a plane flying low overhead. They even saw the plump, socially adapted Pallas's cats fleeing in panic along the paths. Heavily armed soldiers in black armor entered the courtyard of eternal peace. Beneath the emblem of the First Sorcerer Supreme, Agamotto, the massive, heavy armored vehicles' tracks crushed the greenery and gardens, their metal barrels radiating malice. If these young apprentices could break free of their psionic restraints and immerse their minds in the sea of ​​aether, they would discover that endless aetheric lightning surged at the highest point of the mountain, and some lurking danger was drawing ever closer.

Even if they could do that, they can't see anything right now.

The equally powerful psychic radiance briefly dispelled the dark clouds. The Emperor, holding nothing back, unleashed his psychic aura with abandon. White and pure gold soul light radiated across his armor, naturally generating static electricity in the air. Not all young arcane apprentices recognized Him, even though many of the arcane arts and theories they learned had been modified by Him. Even with their psychic power restrained, they still possessed intuition; they could feel a familiar connection to the Emperor's very presence.

It was as if a star had brushed past them, burning their souls so they could no longer look the king through the city gates. To the young apprentices, this star had always resided in the mountaintop courtyard, radiating intense psychic light. Sometimes the psychic light would vanish, but its presence, like the unchanging, towering mountains in the Etheric Sea, was always palpable.

The Emperor showed no sign of backing down; he was declaring war on the Sorcerer Supreme atop the mountain. More precisely, he was declaring war on the entity that manipulated and harmed the Sorcerer Supreme, and it had sensed the Emperor's will and accepted the challenge.

Hundreds of millions of possibilities interacted and influenced each other in the void, each one worse than the last. The possibilities of fate continued to increase, even exceeding the number of stars in the Milky Way. The Emperor immersed his mind in the ether, constantly surveying all the possibilities. Wanda Maximoff blinked painfully, feeling her connection to the Sea of ​​Souls flicker. To maintain this connection, she had to remain focused, immersing her mind in the etheric sea. This was something she had never experienced since gaining her powers; she could only rely on the mental barrier the Emperor had taught her to build, leaning on her serpent staff, to ensure she wouldn't be harmed by getting too close to Him.

"I'm sorry," the emperor suddenly said as they entered the first courtyard. "Because I couldn't control the Eye of Agamotto immediately, I had to do this. If I could control the Eye of Agamotto, my calculations would be much faster."

“There’s no need to apologize, Master.” Wanda took a deep breath and silently recited the incantation the Emperor had given her. Crimson energy filled the serpent head of the serpent staff, and her mind stabilized. “Let’s help the Sorcerer Supreme as soon as possible.”

(End of this chapter)