Chapter 24: What the Ancient One Had Done
Click. Bang.
With two simple grappling movements, the Ancient One took the gun from Coulson’s hand and, under his stunned gaze, placed it into an iron box nearby.
"Firearms are forbidden in Kamar-Taj. I ask our guest to observe the rules."
After dealing with the handgun, the Ancient One turned back to look at Coulson and spoke.
"Let me introduce her. This is Master Ancient One, Earth’s dimensional guardian and the Sorcerer Supreme of Kamar-Taj."
Seeing the Ancient One appear, Orion Cross smiled and introduced her to the other three.
"A sorcerer?"
At this moment, Coulson, Pietro, and Wanda all had conflicted expressions.
This sorcerer... was somewhat different from what they had imagined.
Especially Coulson. As an agent, combat techniques were one of his required courses, but what had happened?
In two moves, the Ancient One had disarmed him and taken his weapon.
This was a sorcerer?
Or did real-life sorcerers, like Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, also like putting all their skill points into melee combat?
"Thank you for releasing my friend, little witch."
After everyone sat down, the Ancient One poured a cup of tea and pushed it in front of Wanda with a faint smile. "This is Kamar-Taj calming tea. It can help sorcerers focus their will and recover from mental fatigue."
"Thank you."
Wanda held the teacup with both hands, then said softly, "My name is Wanda. I’m not little witch, and I’m not a sorcerer either."
"To be honest, I admire you."
Orion Cross suddenly spoke to the Ancient One.
"I merely did what I should have done."
The Ancient One froze slightly, then replied with a smile.
"No."
Orion Cross shook his head. "I mean, after seeing all the future plotlines, you can still hold yourself back from spoiling anything. That is truly admirable."
The Ancient One: "..."
"You should have already noticed. You do not care about that matter?"
The Ancient One asked with slight surprise.
What she was referring to was naturally the matter of her drawing energy from the Dark Dimension in order to continue resisting dimensional invasions.
The Ancient One knew that Orion Cross possessed a special form of perception. He was extremely sensitive to the power of demons and gods, so he must have already discovered the problem with her body the moment they met.
"Power itself has no distinction between good and evil. Besides..."
Orion Cross stood up and walked to the side. He took Coulson’s confiscated handgun out of the iron box. Demonic flames flashed across his hand, and the ordinary agent handgun turned into a Demonic Gun revolver.
Snap.
Orion Cross smiled and placed the revolver on the table. "It seems I’m not qualified to criticize you, am I?"
"This power... But the Hell Dimension has clearly been completely sealed and isolated by me..."
The Ancient One touched the Demonic Gun and could not help feeling somewhat puzzled.
A hundred years ago, the Ancient One had accomplished a feat that no previous Sorcerer Supreme had ever achieved. She had almost permanently sealed away nearly every dimension that coveted Earth within their own dimensions.
Unless someone took the initiative to undo those seals, then even if the Ancient One died, the only ones capable of threatening Earth’s dimension would be the few dimensional lords she had not sealed back then, such as Dormammu.
"This is my own power."
"We can talk about these things when there’s time in the future. Are the words you said back then still valid?"
Orion Cross did not forget the purpose of this trip and asked directly.
"What happened back then was my dereliction of duty, whether as a friend or as the Sorcerer Supreme..."
The Ancient One nodded slightly and looked at Orion Cross. "So, what request do you have?"
Back then, Orion Cross had ended the Olympian pantheon, and the Olympian divine power throughout his body had scattered. At his weakest moment, Odin, who had descended to the mortal world, noticed him and wanted to take him to Asgard.
At that time, the Ancient One had only just inherited the position of Sorcerer Supreme. Her strength was insufficient, and after a battle of spells against Odin, she had been defeated.
It was also because of Orion Cross’s influence that she likewise had little goodwill toward gods and demons.
"Naturally, I want to learn magic."
Orion Cross smiled helplessly. "You only regret having too little mana when you need it. Many of my abilities require the consumption of mana. If I had learned magic first back then, Odin probably wouldn’t have been able to take me away."
At this point, Orion Cross glanced at Wanda, who was listening attentively beside him. "Even if I had been taken away, when I was summoned out, I wouldn’t have made Wanda suffer that much pain."
"Wanda doesn’t blame Brother Orion Cross..."
Wanda grabbed Orion Cross’s arm and said softly, "And back then, it only felt very tiring..."
"Magic... I almost forgot. Of course you can."
The Ancient One froze slightly, then smiled in relief.
Back then, Orion Cross had indeed had the chance to learn magic. Unfortunately, the war against the Olympian gods had been far too urgent, leaving him no spare time to study.
At that time, even Orion Cross’s increase in strength had come from the most direct method of god-slaying and self-apotheosis. That was also why, after the Olympian pantheon was destroyed, his own divine power had scattered as well.
"The magical energy of Kamar-Taj comes from cosmic energy of other dimensions and is closely connected to the rulers of those dimensions."
"For example, the most famous and most commonly used dimension in Kamar-Taj was created by the Vishanti, the trinity formed by Agamotto, Oshtur, and Hoggoth."
"To learn magic, one must first understand the concept of dimensions..."
The Ancient One began teaching directly without the slightest avoidance. Although the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj did not emphasize bloodlines, talent was still necessary. Without magical talent and comprehension, a person could listen a million times and still fail to learn anything.
At this moment, however, Orion Cross’s expression became somewhat strange as he listened to the Ancient One explain dimensional theory.
Because after a long absence, the Ancient One series mission in his system had refreshed and appeared again.
[the Ancient One Series Mission: Defeat the Ancient One in dimensional theory.]