Shiller hung up the phone and picked up his coffee cup to conceal his expression, but in his heart, he was cursing phisto, "You disguise , I get it, but you don't charge?!
Aren't all devils supposed to be greedy? Is the only bit of generosity in your thousands of years all used on ?!
Shiller knew about Stark's anxiety, but anxiety is part of his daily life. He wasn't willing to co for treatnt himself, and Shiller couldn't go and grab him. The fact that phisto managed to get into his lab proves that Stark wants to receive treatnt. Such a rich fellow is right in front of you, and you can actually resist not charging him?!
phisto, your imdiate priority now should be moving your butt off the king of hell position, you're losing face for all the devils!
Shiller sighed heavily in his heart, but there was nothing he could do. Through Danny's account, he found out that phisto is soone who doesn't like to resort to violence. He typically doesn't take reckless aggressive actions but rather prefers using his brain, employing deceit to make the human race cooperate with him.
Moreover, he is very pragmatic. He knows he can't beat the Supre Magician on Earth, so once any clue erges, he slips away faster than anyone, and he's very good at shifting bla onto others, almost always retreating unscathed.
And indeed, he is quite cunning. From what Shiller knows, the Holy Sanctuary hasn't gained much advantage over him either. Johnny running to The Sanctum three tis a day isn't for nothing. Probably it's because he caused Strange so much headache that Strange would choose him as an antagonist.
If that's the case, phisto has a very significant weakness, which is as long as you can find a loophole in a contract and breach it, he can't do much about it, at least he certainly won't use force against you. Most likely, he'll admit defeat and then look for an opportunity next ti.
Shiller carefully thought again about the contents of the contract. Although it specifies that phisto can appear, it doesn't specify that a certain box office must be achieved, or how the movie must be shot. You can definitely start with these aspects.
However, Shiller wouldn't be one to destroy an entire movie series just to expel phisto. Although he doesn't particularly want to be a big star, he still has to promote magic and the Magic Academy. This plan must not be scrapped for anyone.
The only solution, then, is to have so force majeure appear, preventing phisto from acting in the movie. Only the director can co forward and refuse him to act. If the director doesn't allow him to act, there's nothing he can do.
Because it's this particular director who directed such a popular movie. If the director stands firm and doesn't relent, in a situation where there's only one of two choices, Strange will certainly choose the director. If phisto insists on not backing down, then the two parties will have to tear it apart, and phisto doesn't want to confront Strange hard on Earth, so ultimately he'll have to back down.
But now the problem circles back to the starting point, which is that Shiller can't find Chris. He suspects that phisto might have taken him to the Hell Dinsion, so he still has to deal with phisto first. But how exactly to deal with phisto?
As Shiller was racking his brains, Danny was sipping his coffee beside him. Suddenly, Shiller had a flash of inspiration and said, "Has anyone ever expelled phisto?"
"I've never heard of it," Danny replied, "Oh, wait. The Spirit of Revenge inside is the one who defeated phisto last ti."
"How did he do it?"
Danny briefly recounted the story of Kyle, the Spirit of Revenge. Basically, Kyle did sothing that touched the angels, and they snatched his soul back from phisto. But he ultimately didn't return to the world, instead becoming the Spirit of Revenge, judging the sinners of this world.
Indeed, as in most settings, angels and devils are irreconcilable. But the problem lies in the fact that angels in the Arican Comic World aren't entirely righteous either. Their chanism of operation isn't much different from that of the devils; they're both Dinsional Demon Gods, needing Faith Power to sustain themselves. So summoning angels to deal with phisto isn't wise either.
"Can angelic powers restrain devils?" Shiller asked.
"There's not really any restraint," Danny thought for a mont before answering, "phisto doesn't want to get into conflicts with angels because they are quite a hassle."
"Quite a hassle?"
"Yes. After all, Christianity is everywhere. Those angels have absurdly rich Faith Power. phisto can't outlast them. Plus, humans are predisposed to believe that angels are just, so when they fight, people support the angels. This would make their power stronger, and phisto, as a devil defeated by angels, would be despised, making it even harder for him to spread belief. He probably thinks this is a losing battle, so usually, he doesn't do it."
Shiller understood a bit more. What Danny said was sowhat convoluted, but essentially it's that in a fight between angels and devils, the angel side benefits regardless of winning or losing.
Because normal people see the church exorcising devils and would only support the church. If the church wins, people think it's impressive; if it loses, they sympathize with them. In contrast, even if the devil wins, people don't see them as powerful, just more evil. If they lose, they get even more disdain.
Even though the church's strength isn't as great as it once was, the number of believers is too high, so phisto doesn't want to confront them head-on. Generally, when encountering things with an angelic aura, he avoids them. That's the truth about why the church can exorcise devils: it's not like the Holy Water Cross can do any harm to devils of phisto's level; rather, it's that the other party doesn't want the trouble.
Shiller thought it might not be that angels have such a strong deterrence, but mainly because the Supre Magician plays favorites. Since the other side's followers are nurous, if you ss with them, so many followers having issues would be troubleso. The Supre Magician always stands on the side of the majority of the human race and naturally won't let devils cause chaos. As long as the other side can't beat the Supre Magician, they have to behave.
Even though Shiller didn't want to attract the angels' attention, he thought he could still make use of the church's power. So he said, "Don't panic yet, I need to contact the church. I have a few friends over at the Vatican who might be able to help."
Danny imdiately looked at him with admiration, then nervously asked, "What do you need to do?"
"I need to go back to Europe, and you need to stay here and keep a close eye on phisto. Inform as soon as anything possibly related to him occurs."
"Alright." Danny nodded, downed his coffee.
Shiller really needed to make a trip to Europe. Most of the churches around New York are Protestant, with so Catholic ones, but they belong to a sub-branch of a sub-branch. If you really want to talk about the power of the church, you have to go there.
Shiller bought a ticket on the earliest flight and flew to Italy as quickly as possible, then applied to visit the Vatican. After getting permission, he first went to et with the Cardinal and presented his purpose.
The other side ntioned that while the Catholic Church did create so trouble at certain tis, it indeed made significant contributions in resisting devil invasions at one point. Kamar-Taj played along with them, as well.
Before the Supre Magician's power was recognized, and the Earth Magic Defense Network was perfected, actually, every religion bore so task of resisting foreign invaders. And traditional Western devils like phisto naturally gave enough power to the Catholic Church. Even if it was for this power, they can't just take the money without doing the work. At least, they need to show so success to prove their value to the Supre Magician.
For those within the circle, the words of a researcher from All Souls College are to be taken seriously, especially since he has gone to Arica for fieldwork. It's likely that phisto indeed made so moves, and therefore they should naturally do sothing.
In their eyes, the words of a researcher hailing from All Souls College were deed very important, especially because the other party had conducted field research in Arica. It seed that the rumors about phisto making moves were true, so they, of course, had to take action.
Having communicated the sequence of events precisely and collaborated with the other side's researchers for their studies, exchanging information, etc., Shiller now needed to return quickly to New York. But just as he was about to board the plane, he received a call from Danny.
"Doctor! Sothing's happened, it seems phisto's made a move! My brother and I are already on our way to the scene. When can you return?"
The background noise from Danny's side was a bit chaotic. Shiller listened carefully and didn't hear any police sirens, which slightly relaxed him. He asked, "Wait, which sanatorium?"
"Uh, let see. It's called... Arkham Sanatorium!"
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