About fifteen minutes later, the tranquillity of the dark and silent forest was broken by the ring of Strange's phone.
He picked up the phone and pressed the answer key, then put it to his ear. A pleasant voice from the Holy Sanctuary's custor service ca through: "A call from phisto, the Lord of Hell, will be connected in 30 seconds. During this ti, there will be waiting music, please be patient..."
After dozens of seconds of pleasant music, the phone whizzed out of Strange's hand. The key part turned into a large mouth full of fangs. phisto's voice ca from that mouth: "I say, Strange, where did you see this pattern?"
His teasing tone left Strange a little puzzled. He asked, "What's wrong? What is this pattern?"
"You don't know? It's the symbol of Hela, the Lord of the Underworld. That's the crazy lady who plays with skulls and souls at ho all day. Have you seen any sudden resurrections of skulls and corpses around this pattern? If you have, it's definitely her..."
"Indeed, and there's more than one or two. A cetery nearby has been haunted for several days."
"That's right, Hela's best trick is the Undead Army. Her death attribute cos from the backside of the World Tree, which happens to be the antonym of birth, besides death, there is resurrection..."
"But why would Hela appear on Earth?"
"How should I know? However... Given the good discounts you gave before, I'll remind you, this woman is tough to deal with. Once she shows up sowhere, her pervasive death and resurrection power will pollute a large piece of land, and various troubleso creatures will erge. If you don't want your territory turned into a skull dance halls by her, you'd better think of a way..."
After hanging up the phone, Strange frowned, looking at the pattern. Shiller patted him on the shoulder and said, "Let's get out of here for now, can you handle Hela if she really ca?"
"No..." Strange shook his head and said, "I'm worried about Hela's arrival. If she really cos, I can't leave, because only I can deal with these troubleso Cosmic Sorcerers."
After gaining a comfortable lifestyle, Strange seed to have regained so sense of mission. He stared at the pattern on the ground, considering ways to restrict Hela.
Shiller continued, "I'm afraid things won't be as simple as you think. No matter what, the Lord of the Underworld has no reason to appear on Earth, especially here..."
"If she wanted to attack Earth, she wouldn't just leave a mark here. As phisto just said, if she really wanted to do sothing, she would have flooded this place with the Undead Army a long ti ago. There are hundreds of ceteries in New York, more than enough for her to use."
"Indeed." Strange's expression was a bit puzzled.
"I understand the way these Cosmic Sorcerers work. They won't warn or negotiate with each other like humans, or make tentative shots first. The mont they make a move, it's a fight to the death."
"If Hela wants to invade Earth, she doesn't need to put a marker here first. Everyone knows that a surprise attack is the quickest way to win. Her action is more like flushing sothing out of hiding."
"Why do I feel like she's sneaking around?" Shiller looked at the symbol and said, "It's like she's deliberately restraining her power, not wanting to be discovered. But the power of a Cosmic Sorcerer is too strong, so much was leaked, causing supernatural events."
As the two kept speculating, Strange's phone suddenly rang again. The sudden bell tone surprised him. He pulled out his phone, but the phone flew into mid-air. The familiar big mouth appeared again, and phisto's voice sounded: "Stephen, let's make a deal. That quarterly mbership of your Holy Sanctuary... If you give a quarterly mbership, I'll give you more clues, how about that?"
Strange cursed under his breath. phisto was a cunning fox, deliberately not telling him everything earlier and emphasizing Hela's threat to whet his curiosity without providing answers. Now, he's playing the savior, just to take more advantage.
"I can only offer you a one-month mbership at most. You know, I don't own that place. The Supre Magician and the Father of All Gods also have shares. I can't give too many gifts. I can't explain that to others..."
"Alright, one month it is."
phisto was just taking advantage of the situation. Following that, a black air spread from the phone, forming the upper half of phisto's body. He snapped his fingers, and a wisp of black smoke drifted towards the symbol. He explained to the two others-
"Generally speaking, a Cosmic Sorcerer leaves their own mark sowhere to convey information. For example, I left my own mark in your phone, which allows to call you whenever I want."
"Of course, the magical broadcast you guys ca up with is good. Don't forget to let leave a mark next to that magical array after you're done. The signal will be much better."
"So what does this mark left by Hela represent?"
"Wait, I'm interpreting it. You know, won always like to add too much unnecessary decoration to their items. Hela's symbol is the sa. She carved so many complex patterns, but only a small part is actually useful..."
"...Well, I've got it. Huh?" phisto sounded puzzled, then said, "Hela is looking for soone."
"Looking for soone? ...who? No one on Earth should have anything to do with her, right?"
"She didn't leave a na, just said it's a black-haired girl...wait, there's more, if found, please call her at the Holy Sanctuary..."
"Strange, you're quite the talk of the town." phisto turned to Strange, teasing him.
Strange spread his hands and said, "Well, it seems we have another missing pet situation. Regardless of who she is looking for, the mark she left behind is causing us a lot of trouble. How do we get rid of her?"
"If you're willing to give another month..."
"No need, we'll figure it out ourselves, goodbye." Strange abruptly threw the Deep Red Ribbon, wrapping his phone back to himself, and hung up. phisto's figure vanished instantly.
After a while, the phone rang again. phisto said, "I can clear all the power in this place for you, but you have to give an exclusive line. I am going to be a bit busy for the next twenty thousand years..."
"An exclusive line is impossible, but I can give you an extra thread. Our premium custor service is limited, you know..."
"Alright, just give an extra thread."
phisto's figure crawled out of the phone again. He snapped his fingers, and instantly, countless dark energies surged into his body from the marking and surroundings. All traces vanished. After phisto disappeared, Shiller said, "Looks like you got deceived by this demon again."
Strange's face was a bit unsightly too. Anyone with eyes could see that phisto had just been absorbing power. This cunning demon not only got a portion of the energy left behind by Hela but also managed to get Strange to give him extra custor service threads.
"Here's a suggestion: direct all calls regarding phisto to Nick. Even if it doesn't earn us a profit, at least we won't run at a loss."
Strange turned to Shiller and said, "What's your phone number? If we could divert every unknown call to you, Earth would've beco a sacred place in the cosmos already."
"Fine, we've resolved the issue of residual power. Now we have to figure out who Hela is looking for."
"Definitely not an ordinary person. Hell and the Underworld are not places an ordinary person can stay. It's possible she's trying to find another Cosmic Sorcerer." Strange opened a portal and said, "The good news is, we've solved the supernatural event. The bad news is, there might be another Sorcerer lurking sowhere on Earth."
Shiller stepped into the portal following Strange, saying, "Do not let Nick know about this. Otherwise, his blood pressure will skyrocket again."
Back in the room at the Arkham Sanatorium, Strange was about to make another call. Shiller asked him, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to call The Holy Sanctuary. I'll ask them who among the known Sorcerers resembles a black-haired girl. That way, even if this Sorcerer causes trouble, we can suppress them in ti."
"I would advise against that. You might offend Hela. Haven't you noticed that Hela left a mark secretly here, possibly hoping that you would help her find soone in secrecy?"
Strange sat on the sofa, touching his face, saying, "She has no reason to do this. Why would she sneak around to do this? Who can do anything to her? ... Oh wait, there is soone. Is Hela afraid of The Ancient One? But the Supre Magician shouldn't be able to reach her Underworld."
"Don't forget, apart from The Ancient One, Odin is also among the Nine Major Kingdoms. Not only Odin, Thor too has regained his divine powers and even made advancents. But more likely, the person that Hela is looking for might hold a unique identity..."
"The problem cos back to the beginning, who exactly is this person?" Strange then leaned his elbow on the armrest of the sofa and held his forehead with his hand.
Just then, Shiller's phone rang. Strange turned to Shiller who picked up the phone and said, "...Hello? Peter? What's happening? How are you guys doing over there? The skull suddenly lost all its power and beca a skeleton? That's good news."
"The great heir to the Supre Magician, Strange, went and made a deal with a demon. As a result, phisto, the Lord of Hell, helped us solve this problem, but brought us a bigger predicant..."
Just as Shiller was speaking, a loud noise was heard from Peter's end, followed by chaotic cacophony. Shiller heard Peter's soaring voice, followed by the 'whoosh' sound of spider silk being shot.
After a string of "crack, creak, and bang," Peter's shout and a woman's scream sounded simultaneously. A few seconds later, Steven's voice ca from a distance. He said, "Peter, are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." Peter was then lying on the ground, and on top of him was a woman, or rather, a girl dressed in black.
Steven was standing a few ters away. Instead of rushing over, he took a defensive stance and asked the girl, "Who are you? How did you suddenly fall from the sky, and besides..."
Steven looked around and all around him were scattered skeleton fras. He looked at the girl and continued:"", "... why are there so many skulls around you?"
The girl in black got up. Now that Peter was finally able to get up from the ground, he dusted off the debris on him and turned to the person next to him. He saw a slender fair hand reached out from under the black robe and removed her hood.
From the other side of the phone, Shiller heard, "What the fu..."
"...language!"
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