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"I'm not going there to die. I'm going to find out if I'm really alive."
- Spike Spiegel (Cowboy Bebop)
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<(Atem POV)>
"W–why aren't my spells working? What did you do to me?" Strange demanded, his voice tight with panic as he cycled through sigils and arcane gestures, none of which produced even a single spark of magic.
I didn't answer. Instead, I kept my eyes locked on him, exerting just enough focus to unravel the magic forming around his hands. My new vision... it was able to tear through the layers of mystical energy he was summoning, shredding every spell and breaking every mystic circle at its source. I wasn't exactly sure how I was actually doing it since it was more instinctual than technique, but it worked.
'If I continue to improve at this pace, I'll soon might even be able to kill with a glance... or unmake the very laws of physics and reality with nothing but a glare.' I laughed silently, watching the Sorcerer Supreme flail like a street performer-turned-mime mid-breakdown.
"Strange, run back to your Sanctum. Without magic, you're a liability. Even that Infinity Stone you recently acquired isn't going to save you. If I'm correct, that's all you've got left besides draining your own life force to fuel your magic or borrowing some of the dark power from our masters to cast some worthwhile spells, right?" Lord Mar-Vell, the one who carried the original title of Captain Marvel, way before Carol Danvers ever did, motioned to the Eye of Agamotto hanging uselessly from the sorcerer's neck.
"I can't go all-out while worrying about dead weight like you." Lord Mar-Vell's voice was flat as his gaze shifted toward me. "Besides, I'm more than enough to take him down. I was the one who got the lion's share of power from our masters, remember?" An ugly feral grin twisted the face of the Kree warrior as bands of light and heat spiraled around his costumed frame... Although despite all that blinding brilliance, there was something else buried within that energy—something darker, swirling beneath the surface like rancid filth churning beneath all that dazzling light.
"You scheming bastard. You think I don't see through you?" Strange snapped, voice sharp with accusation. "You want the glory of taking him down solo, don't you? Well, tough luck, jackass. That's not happening. Nobody is robbing me of my moment of glory." He scoffed at Mar-Vell as he pulled a carved wooden staff from somewhere inside his cloak.
"Anyway, I've got a read on how he's blocking my spells. It looks like he can shut me down while I'm casting, but he can't seem to cancel the effects of the enchanted gear I'm already wearing. My Cloak of Levitation is still functioning as it should, and I can feel the magic pulsing through my staff. I think I can use the time stone—Urgh!" Strange's sentence cut off with a wet gasp as dozens of crimson spears tore through his back, ripping him apart into pieces before he could even react.
'Seriously? He dropped his physical buffs just because he thinks he's absolutely immortal in this universe?' I thought, resisting the urge to sigh. 'I swear, half the so-called heroes and villains out there deserve to get wiped out just for showing up this unprepared. In a world where every tenth person can blitz you at Mach speeds, having some kind of defensive enchantment should be the bare minimum for anyone without a super-durable body.' I shook my head inwardly, equal parts disappointed and amused.
"God, you guys have seriously lost your survival instincts, haven't you? Well, I guess the absence of death does that to people... Anyway, what I wanted to say was, please don't ignore me like that from next time. It hurts my feelings," I said, a mock melancholic smile on my face, as I snapped shut the red-glowing inventory portal I'd opened right behind the sorcerer.
