The starry sky emitted a nauseatingly strange glow.
And on a barren teor-like planet—
Kaecilius no longer carried the bearing of the Ancient One's forr top disciple. Wearing that crude sorcerer's robe, he leaned weakly against a rock, his face pale and drained of all color.
Although his body appeared unhard on the surface—
In reality, the inside of his body was already riddled with damage, and his life force had weakened to the extre.
Like a flickering fla that could be extinguished by the slightest breeze.
Kaecilius's eyes were dull and lifeless. Only the faint rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still struggling to stay alive.
He did not want to die.
Joining Kamar-Taj, learning white magic, betraying Kamar-Taj to follow Dormammu—everything had only been for the sake of surviving, of living for a very, very long ti.
But summoning a powerful being from a dinsion far above his own ca at an enormous cost.
So enormous that Kaecilius had no idea how to recover the life force he had lost.
At this mont, Kaecilius felt despair.
He could sense even his remaining life force slipping away. He was about to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
In his dazed state, he seed to see the Grim Reaper holding a scythe, dressed in a dark hooded robe that concealed its face.
A female Grim Reaper?
Just as Kaecilius was sinking into despair, the dark mark on his forehead suddenly began to glow with a faint crimson light.
At the sa ti, surging dark power poured into his body.
His ruined body actually began repairing itself at an astonishing speed.
Kaecilius's spirit imdiately lifted. Feeling the vigorous vitality returning to him, he realized this was no illusion.
He instantly understood that this was a gift from his great master, the Dark Lord Dormammu.
Kaecilius hurriedly got to his feet before falling to his knees in reverence, praying devoutly with a trembling voice.
"Great Master, your humble servant offers his sincerest gratitude for your blessing."
"Kaecilius."
Dormammu's response ca quickly, his heavy and majestic voice echoing through Kaecilius's mind.
"Master."
"The Ancient One is close to death, but she has left behind a spark for Kamar-Taj."
After a brief silence, Dormammu spoke again.
"Master, I will clear away every obstacle for you, including extinguishing that spark."
Kaecilius understood imdiately and swore his loyalty without hesitation.
"You are too weak."
"My apologies, Master."
Dormammu's tone carried annoyance, even a trace of disdain.
Disdain toward this puppet for being too weak.
Forget the Ancient One—even that Matthew was soone Kaecilius could never defeat.
At Dormammu's level, he could naturally see things on a deeper level, such as Matthew's powerful body.
His vigorous life force burned like the sun.
Far beyond that of ordinary humans. Dormammu looked down on flesh-and-blood bodies. Otherwise, he would not have abandoned his own body and transford himself into a being of pure energy.
In the Dark Dinsion, Dormammu was energy itself—limitless and endless.
As long as darkness existed, Dormammu would never die.
And no one could defeat him.
That was true within the Dark Dinsion. On Earth, however, it might not be the case. For example, there was that old man nad Odin.
Still, Dormammu quickly brushed the old fellow from his mind.
After all, he knew Odin did not have much ti left either.
The two greatest threats would soon disappear, so Dormammu absolutely could not allow Matthew, the next "Sorcerer Supre," to grow into another obstacle preventing his arrival on Earth.
But Kaecilius was too weak to help him eliminate Matthew.
After finally finding a puppet with decent potential, Dormammu naturally intended to "cherish" him properly.
So Dormammu decided to invest a little.
"From now on, I will teach you dark magic and allow you to establish a connection with the Dark Dinsion, so you may borrow the power of darkness."
"Expand my followers. Find more believers."
"Eliminate every threat standing before the darkness, and you shall obtain eternal life, my most loyal servant."
"Master!!"
Hearing this, Kaecilius suddenly raised his head, his eyes filled with fanaticism and excitent.
…
The blazing sun hung high above the island base in the South Pacific. Waves rolled onto the crescent-shaped beach of the inner island while the sea breeze carried a refreshing scent through the air.
Yet beneath the beautiful scenery, a group of heavily built n and won radiating an oddly philosophical aura had no ti to appreciate it.
Because every single one of them was training under terrifying pressure.
From basic push-ups, sit-ups, and squats to punches and kicks—
None of them wore heavy weighted armor. They only had simple training vests and shorts on, yet each person looked as though they were carrying an invisible mountain on their backs. Veins bulged across their bodies, and their faces were flushed red.
In truth, that was exactly the case.
At first glance, the beach looked no different from an ordinary beach. However, this area had beco an extrely terrifying gravity zone.
The entire space was filled with eleven tis normal gravity.
The one capable of creating such a gravity field was naturally Matthew.
Magic covered many fields—natural elents, hellfire, the Crimson Dinsion, and all kinds of strange powers. Naturally, gravity was included as well.
Gravity magic altered the spatial field itself and was considered a branch of spatial magic.
However, very few sorcerers chose to study it.
Because it was not particularly cost-effective.
The enemies sorcerers usually faced mostly ca from dinsions outside Earth.
Anyone capable of crossing dinsions to reach Earth was generally very powerful, regardless of the thod they used.
Their abilities might differ in nature, but gravity magic was not especially effective against them.
Weak enemies could be dealt with using almost any other spell.
Strong enemies, anwhile, were barely affected.
But the mont Matthew read about this magic, he imdiately beca interested.
This was good stuff. He had to learn it.
It suited him, the Astartes, and the Raven Warband perfectly for physical training.
Compared to weighted armor, this gravity thod affected the entire body evenly.
It was basically like the gravity machines from Dragon Ball.
Wasn't Goku, Vegeta, and the others able to explosively increase their strength by training in gravity machines?
On top of that, gravity magic could be fixed into a designated magical barrier zone and maintained permanently.
Of course, he had to develop that part himself.
Kamar-Taj's magical barrier system did not include anything like it, though there were similar magical barrier thods, so learning it was not difficult.
If properly developed, with adjustable gravity levels added later, it would beco even more suitable.
And so, after returning to the base, Matthew enthusiastically arranged this new training thod for Reacher and the others.
The results were extrely effective.
That much was obvious from the twisted expressions on Reacher and the others' faces.
Of course, the nonstop cursing coming from them could safely be ignored.
When training reached a certain level of intensity, people naturally started swearing to vent their frustration.
Mm. Since they still had the energy to curse so loudly, the training clearly was not intense enough. The pressure needed to increase further.
Matthew fell into deep thought.
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