Stepping out of the portal, Dio and Stephen immediately arrived at the Hong Kong Sanctuary. But as Dio expected, the Sanctuary has fallen! The sorcerers stationed there were all dead, including Wong, the senior sorcerer who acted as the librarian in Kamar-Taj. Not only that but the innocents who lived unknowingly were also killed brutally!
Above Hong Kong Sanctuary, an extremely distorted space was opened, marking the coming of Dormammu. It was the Dark Dimension itself, trying to merge with Earth, and from the look of it, it wouldn’t take long before the Dark Dimension completely integrated itself to Earth.
Stephen looked grim while Dio acted like he didn’t care! Dio knew that Stephen could use the Time Gem to roll back the time before the Hong Kong Sanctuary was even destroyed! The power of time was always a miracle to everyone. Thus, the Time Gem was one of the most powerful Infinity Gem there was!
As Dio expected, Stephen began to open up the Eye of Agamoto and rewind the time. It was a spectacular spell as everything began to get rewind according to the time flow. Meanwhile, Kaecillus noticed the anomaly of time and rushed towards Stephen to stop whatever he was doing, but it was all too late!
The rewind of time has begun, and Kaecillus couldn’t stop its effect as he was also being dragged back in time! The dead were resurrected, and the damaged buildings were restored to their original condition. Even the Sanctuary of Hong Kong that was destroyed to bits has returned to normal. But the Dark Dimension didn’t disappear, it was frustrating for Strange as he tried to rewind the time before the Dark Dimension even got into the Earth, but it didn’t seem to work!
That was because the Dark Dimension was a dimension devoid of the concept of time. Thus the power of the Time Gem wouldn’t work in it. The Time Gem may have greater power than the Dark Dimension itself, but in the end, it was only an item that worked as far as the user’s imagination went! Obviously, Stephen wasn’t strong enough to force the Dark Dimension out of Earth just yet!
Dio, on the side, looked at the Time Gem greedily. Among all six of the Infinity Gems, the Time Gem was the one that he wanted the most! But out of respect for the Ancient One, he didn’t grab it selfishly for himself before! But now that the Ancient One has passed away, he might just take the Time Gem for himself!
Dio struggled with his own inner desire as it kept tempting Dio to take the Time Gem from Stephen as it would be more powerful on his hands than in Stephen’s!
. . . . . . . . . .
Dio pulled out his death scythe, but he didn’t know why he did that as his thought was being clouded by the greed to take the Time Gem for himself. But he noticed that he was being manipulated by others, although he didn’t know who it is just yet.
“I do whatever I want when I want it!” Dio roared full of killing intent. He was pissed from the dark thought that clouded his mind and forcefully released his Hamon Energy to counter whatever it was that affected him. Sure enough, as soon as Dio did that, an old man with a cane appeared with a smirk on his face.
“Are you Mephisto?” Dio coldly asked as he was annoyed from being manipulated by this demon.
“Don’t you feel the spirit of vengeance on your body? I know you have battled against my Ghost Rider before, but how did you guess my identity?” the old man asked calmly.
Dio couldn’t answer that question as he just took everything into account, and the only one who had the power to manipulate humans was the demon lord from hell. Based on that information, Dio deducted the only demon lord who had enough time to come to Earth to bother the human was only Mephisto!
Dio at first wondered whether Dormammu was the one who manipulated him, but then he realised that Dormammu was a being made from energy. It wouldn’t affect the human mind that doesn’t contact it directly!
Dio didn’t realise that with the Ancient One’s death, Earth wasn’t only vulnerable to Dormammu’s invasion, but also the demon’s!
“What is happening to you? And who is that person!?” Stephen confusedly asked as he shuddered from Dio’s killing intent earlier.
“Mephisto! Now that the Ancient One has passed away, the demon from hell comes to take his chance. Take care of Dormammu; I will handle this demon!” Dio said coldly with unwavering killing intent. But Dio knew that he wouldn’t be able to kill Mephisto this time. The one in front of him right now was probably just one of Mephisto projection that always came to Earth
The Ancient One has destroyed Mephisto’s clone countless times, but sometimes, one escaped and managed to form a contract with a desolated human to become his Ghost Rider.
Stephen was startled by Dio’s word. He realised now that the Ancient One’s death had left the Sorcerer Supreme’s position empty, and the Multiverse started to gang up on Earth! He then realised how heavy the burden that the Ancient One has carried all this time. This made him respect the late Ancient One even more!
Stephen couldn’t help but think back about the Ancient One’s last word to him. It became more probable the Ancient One successfully knocked back all the threat from the other dimension by drawing power from various resources. After all, there was only so much a single human could do!