Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1716 The Seventh Throne

"The avatar of this planet has spoken with me, and I know what the Seventh Throne is. At this time, I should order the army to attack the Kree, so I'm sharing some information that will make my time worthwhile."

The emperor held little respect for the dry, unkempt shaman with his long, unkempt black hair and beard, but of everyone present—to be precise, aside from the emperor, there was no one in the cave who could truly be called human—no one cared about the emperor's attitude towards Agamotto. As Agamotto himself had said, he couldn't even remember the last time he had bathed, so he didn't expect any respect from "the woman with perfume on her skin" (specifically Inanna) and her companion.

In fact, Inanna was not as rude as the emperor.

She remained cautious, both with the Sorcerer Supreme and Agamotto, knowing that the upcoming conversation might touch upon secrets the Emperor was unwilling to know. But the Emperor himself had the answer—the Seventh Throne wasn't a particularly secret to him. His well-trained mind and long-accumulated knowledge allowed him to have a vague deduction about his own birth even before receiving the definitive answer; the information Agamotto provided was not beyond his expectations.

"Behind the veil, there is no concept of time. The master of the Seventh Throne both exists and does not exist," Agamotto said, sitting on the ground. This old man had once been quite handsome, at least half a hundred thousand years ago; now he was just an old shaman in tattered robes, utterly unconcerned about his scent. He spoke to Inanna in the tone of someone instructing an apprentice, "You can imagine several chairs arranged on a stage in a theater. Some chairs already have their masters seated in them, while others only bear names. The masters of the first few chairs caused harm to this universe upon their birth—Oshtu and Hogos experienced this more than once over billions of years. But what would happen to this universe if, through sacrifice, the master of one of the chairs, who has not yet appeared, were summoned?"

"On a cosmic scale, nothing will happen," the emperor said in a low voice. "There will only be a plaque and an empty space."

"The correct answer!"

Agamotto suddenly raised his voice. "That stage lined with chairs is the black box containing Schrödinger's cat, and the master of that chair—in your words—is in a quantum superposition state. Unlike the existing master of the throne, the master of the seventh throne both exists and does not exist. Sacrifice and summoning are merely actions, opening the box and glancing at that cat whose life or death is uncertain. If you ask me, the person who came up with this theory is a genius; he has touched upon the essence of outer dimensions. I visited him in a dream of the future and learned how to describe this phenomenon in the language of the material universe, though not with great accuracy."

The Sorcerer Supreme looked at his student with concern, and the Emperor nodded to his teacher, indicating that he was perfectly calm. Agamotto raised his filthy arm, waving his hand in the air. "This is a very intricate spell. This ritual determines the master of the chair," the Sorcerer Supreme said. "Until the true master of that chair arrives, the figure on that chair can never appear. The masters of the other thrones have only two choices: either awaken the master of the Seventh Throne, or leave that throne forever idle."

"Why is it that only you could come up with this method?" Inanna frowned. "I believe other civilizations must have had similar ideas, so why didn't they implement them?"

"Because Earth is special, because those civilizations didn't have me, because the first arrival was real. Earth's ecosystem has been polluted by the blood of the gods, and humans are the only intelligent species in Earth's ecosystem. There are very few naturally evolved intelligent beings in this universe with greater potential than humans, even those races living in the Sea of ​​Souls. Perhaps the races that created the Rainbow Bridge could have done it, but they also indirectly caused chaos in the Sea of ​​Souls, and had no opportunity to practice this method."

Agamotto hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at the Emperor.

"There must have been civilizations in the past that tried to sacrifice themselves to the Seventh Throne, but He did not respond. There is no concept of time in the outer dimensions, so the Seventh Throne must exist, otherwise my plan would not have succeeded. Then there is an even worse possibility: that the Seventh Throne accepted the call voluntarily, and that this is the path He chose for Himself."

"I don't like this answer," the emperor said sternly. "It's full of fatalism."

"Facts are not based on your preferences, my dear product."

Before Agamotto existed, when dinosaurs ruled the planet, Oshto had already been traveling through the universe. Oshto witnessed the rise and fall of many highly advanced civilizations. Sometimes, a mere piece of information related to outer dimensions could cause a highly ordered society to collapse within a single orbital cycle, rocks and metals to grow organic flesh, and the limbs of intelligent beings that had evolved over millions of years to become deformed in an instant. All beautiful ideals and visions were twisted into terrifying and absurd thoughts without reason or logic.

Agamotto did his utmost to preserve the information dictated by Ostu. In the future, some records remained buried deep within the layers of rock and magical barriers of the Kamar-Taj Library, forever reminding the Kamar-Taj sorcerers of the existence of their eternal enemy. But this was not enough. The Sorcerer Supreme lowered her head and sighed—she had been too lenient, so much so that for over a thousand years, people had forgotten the true threat, even attempting to access deep psychic powers—in the future she saw, Kasirius was the one who dabbled in dark magic. If Kasirius could awaken, he could wield this power like her. But the Emperor would not allow it; he believed that such a task was sufficient for him.

Humans are good at forgetting, but he will remember forever.

He would rub salt into his wounds to remind himself of the dangers of the outer dimensions; it is difficult for mortals to accept this kind of pain that comes from the soul.

Inanna stared intently, scrutinizing every detail Agamotto described. She had learned much from the Emperor: the impact of the First Advent on Earth's ecosystem, the psychic potential of the human species. But she knew nothing of what would happen when an outer dimension devoured a planet, nor how insidious and imperceptible the corruption of that dimension was. She knew that any seemingly ordinary thought was laced with venom—sometimes a voice, sometimes a gesture, sometimes even a breath of fresh air could be a lie leading to corruption. When civilization came to an end, reality would lose its logic, the rational understanding of the universe by intelligent beings would become meaningless, the result could precede the cause, and the most absurd and bizarre fantasies in the universe would leap out of the illusory dimension and completely alter reality.

They can resist countless times, but if they fail even once, the outer dimension will achieve final victory. They are the damp, cold serpents in dark caves, the sharp whispers of sand rubbing against each other in the sweltering air. Their numbers are like mites, densely clinging to the thoughts of all civilizations, chewing on the frenzied energy metabolized by the unrestrained and maddening souls.

Agamotto kept saying that.

He was in a hurry, as if the air itself were squeezing his soul, as if something was chasing his footsteps, and he couldn't wait to squeeze out all the warnings. The Emperor summoned three armchairs and a few oil lamps into the cave, the uneven floor preventing the chairs from wobbling. He invited the High Priestess and Inanna to sit in the chairs, while he himself took another. As for Agamotto, the old shaman seemed quite comfortable on the cool floor, and although he repeatedly gestured to the Emperor with his eyes, the Emperor assumed he didn't need any further assistance.

"You possess the power to control stars, yet you use that power to create chairs, cushions, and hot tea?" Agamotto immediately recognized the magic of the future Kamar-Taj system; the air was thick with the smells of static electricity, frost, and ozone. He was quite certain he also saw a warm earthenware pot behind the chair, emanating the aroma of heated oil and sugar—he couldn't blame anyone, after all, it was afternoon tea time—he didn't have afternoon tea time; there was only pebbles and snow here, and the Pallas's cats at the foot of the mountain were too thin and too wary, neither tasty nor easy to capture. "I can't imagine what future arcane mages would do with these powers, and I certainly wouldn't like this answer."

"Even the people who invented ARPANET couldn't have imagined what would happen on the internet," the Emperor shrugged. "But there's one thing I quite agree with: it's an abuse of psychic powers. But I'm an exception, aren't I?"

"So, you've determined who that chair belongs to?" Inanna asked.

Although the cold winds outside the cave could no longer penetrate, the temperature here remained extremely low, an environment that Inanna, accustomed to warmer climates, vehemently disliked. Inanna accepted the hot tea and slices of honey sausage from a small dish, which the emperor wrapped tightly in a lion skin for her. These were products from the slaughtered livestock raised at the temple. She had once brought weak piglets into her room just to keep them alive, and wept for the dead livestock, yet now she could calmly savor the delicious sausage and offer a positive assessment ("This year's sausages are better than last year's; it must be because the honey harvest was better, and the priests were willing to use more honey!").

"Will this work? I mean, will it counteract the owners of the other chairs?"

"Of course not! In the material universe, this is just a cat, not the master of the throne. A cat is powerful, but I can't turn a cat into a lion and let the lion pass through to fight the wolves behind the veil. In the material universe, a cat is always a cat, and it can only grow into a lion behind the veil—fortunately, the wolves behind the veil can't completely cross through reality to come to our side. To fight a Chihuahua, a cat is enough. I gave him this for safety reasons."

Agamotto pointed to the three rings on the emperor's hand.

"The essence of this thing is the three true names of the Vishanti, something that can truly make the Vishanti submit. Although they caused a lot of trouble for the material plane before finding you, they also provided you with a lot of help, didn't they? These three rings wandered on Earth, looking for a suitable master—I just planned it out. The Vishanti behind the veil would tell me, at any point in this material universe, that the plan had succeeded, and the plaque of the Seventh Throne had arrived in the material universe, which is why I began to act—but that's not the true purpose of these three rings. The cat came to the material universe, and to make it strong, it must be fed, just as the material universe feeds the masters of all the thrones on that stage."

"You intend for me to eat it. Or rather, to eat Vishanti?" The emperor's expression was equally unpleasant.

This wasn't because of Vishanti, Agamotto, or Kamar-Taj; rather, it was because he suspected Agamotto had guessed part of his plans. Although he had acquired the three Celestial Rings long ago, he had never truly trusted Vishanti, and the Sorcerer Supreme knew that part of his plan was to oppose Vishanti. Now, having this thought revealed to Agamotto's face, he felt extremely uncomfortable. Not out of shame, but because he felt his secret had been violated.

"Oshutu and Hogos certainly didn't know your plans, which is why you created this thing."

“That’s right, they truly don’t know, because only I possess a human body, not pure energy. To make Vishanti nourish me, I must forge Vishanti’s true name into a gem. This is what you wanted, isn’t it? I know what kind of person you are; you can trust me, but you won’t trust Vishanti.” Agamotto turned to the Sorcerer Supreme and said, “You’ve raised him very well; he’s intelligent and cautious. This isn’t just his talent, but a quality more important than wisdom—the result of his upbringing. I’m glad you will be in charge of Kamar-Taj in the future.”

His Holiness smiled, without revealing much emotion.

Very few of the Sorcerer Supremes of Kamar-Taj were truly of mortal origin. She is the closest to being mortal, possessing a lifespan similar to that of ordinary humans, having lived for nearly 1,500 years by drawing upon the power of deep psychic energy. If it weren't for forcing the Emperor to act personally and for completely breaking free from the shackles of Vishanti, the Sorcerer Supreme would never have accepted limited corruption. Even so, she still maintains a certain degree of self-awareness; her willpower is the strongest among all the Sorcerer Supremes, and no praise is too much for her.

"My plan, along with Oshutu's and Hogos's, to fight against the masters of those thrones behind the veil has failed, just as Asgard's attempt to use psionicly-enhanced humanity to fight them has failed. We all have our own plans. The Vishanti are a symbol of failure; they are inhuman and don't care about the survival of humanity. Fortunately, the Vishanti cannot interfere with the material universe, nor can they stop what we are about to do. You might ask why I made this choice. I must tell you, only by becoming Vishanti can I retain my power, avoiding a complete and utter defeat like Ragnarok, where our souls become food behind the veil, forever losing the ability to wage war again. And—"

Agamotto took a deep breath. "—And only those who participate in the Seventh Throne of that Eternal Game are qualified to possess the power to fight against the gods. But that's a throne, not you. You're merely a nameplate, a cat that has come to the material plane, not a cat whose fate is already sealed in a black box. To maintain your essence in the material plane, to ensure your plans in the material plane can be realized, you need the Vishanti. Don't hesitate any longer—those great worms you captured were once an intelligent race, but now they have fallen into slavery in the outer dimensions, living there for a long time. The outer dimension invasion is more serious than you imagine. The talents hidden within the human race are now brewing a catastrophe. I contacted shamans all over the world and discovered that the outer dimension invasion is not an isolated case. They have already set their sights on this planet. Our time is running out."

How much time do we have left?

"Their eternal game consumes most of their energy, but my plan will definitely attract their attention," Agamotto sighed. "We have less than ten thousand years left."