Marvel: Little Genius - Chapter: 376 (Patreon)

Boom!

The magical impact caused by Kaecilius not only destroyed the magical teleportation gate connecting the two locations, but the residual shockwave also had a certain impact on the four individuals inside the forbidden chamber.

The aftermath of the explosion damaged the structural integrity of the forbidden chamber, causing a large amount of debris to fall, obstructing the vision of Mark, Wong, and Mordo. They had no time to consider chasing Kaecilius.

Fortunately, all three individuals were experienced and mature sorcerers. They immediately reacted by retreating into the mirror space, isolating themselves from the dangers of the real world.

However, Doctor Strange wasn't as lucky or responsive. Just a little over two months ago, he was a medical elite living in a peaceful society.

Despite undergoing rigorous training during these days and acquiring a solid foundation. But real combat experience couldn't be compensated for by reading books and practicing a few times.

Swept up in the explosion's shockwave, Doctor Strange was lifted off the ground and slammed heavily into the magical teleportation gate leading to the New York Sanctum.

Bang! Doctor Strange's impact forcibly pushed open the door, and he himself fell into the forbidden chamber on the New York Sanctum side.

Clatter! After Doctor Strange crashed into the New York Sanctum, the falling debris followed like a torrential flood, completely sealing the entrance of the teleportation gate, isolating him entirely.

"Wong! Mordo! Mark!" Doctor Strange got up and called out tentatively. But he realized that his calls were in vain, as no sound came through the rubble. This prompted him to turn around and assess his surroundings.

"What's going on?" It wasn't until this moment that Doctor Strange finally snapped out of it. He realized he was no longer in Kamar-Taj and, worse yet, the sling ring he had been wearing was nowhere to be found. This left him unable to use the portal to return to Kamar-Taj.

Shaking his slightly dazed head due to the explosion's impact, Doctor Strange organized the information he had and gained a rough understanding of his situation.

He had been brought here by the explosion just now, but whether he was in the Hong Kong Sanctum or the New York Sanctum remained unknown. Doctor Strange shook his heavy and muddled head once again and prepared to go out to assess the situation.

With unsteady steps, Doctor Strange left the forbidden chamber and entered the grand hall of the building. As he reached the door, he turned the handle, opened it, and was met with a sight that couldn't have been more familiar to him.

Turning around and looking up at the building's nameplate, then raising his head and gazing into the distance, there was a grand cluster of modern skyscrapers. Among them, the most prominent were the world-famous Avengers Tower and the new headquarters of the Mark Research Center.

At this moment, Doctor Strange knew where he was - one of the three major Sanctums, the New York Sanctum, personally guarded by his teacher, Mark!

Confirming this, Doctor Strange once again stepped back into the Sanctum, hoping to find other sorcerers within and receive some assistance.

"Hello! Is anyone there?"

Doctor Strange stood in the grand hall, shouting loudly. However, after waiting for a while, he received no response. So, he decided to venture deeper into other parts of the Sanctum.

"Who are you?"

Suddenly, as Doctor Strange was about to ascend the stairs, a deep voice emerged from behind him, startling him without warning. He nearly stumbled and fell down the stairs.

But in that split second of losing balance, a cold and firm hand supported his back, saving Doctor Strange from harm.

However, the crisis wasn't entirely averted. Doctor Strange stiffly turned his body, wanting to see the owner of this sudden voice, to ascertain whether they were a friend or foe.

However, to his surprise, as he turned around and got a clear view of the person behind him, he realized that the owner of the voice wasn't strictly a person!

Although it could produce sound and engage in conversation, it lacked any organ that could be called a mouth. In fact, its face lacked any facial features at all. While its overall form resembled a human, with a torso and limbs. But everything was made of metal without a trace of flesh.

As for how Doctor Strange could deduce that this entity wasn't like Iron Man, where there was a person inside operating it, it was due to the two eye-like voids on its featureless face. Through these voids, one could see its empty interior.

"Who are you?"

Seeing Doctor Strange observing it without responding to the question, Terminator asked again.

No mistake, the metallic humanoid that had suddenly appeared behind Doctor Strange was Terminator, created by Mark in imitation of the Destroyer once wielded by the All-Father Odin, created to replace him in guarding the New York Sanctum.

And the reason Doctor Strange initially couldn't detect it was that once Terminator sensed someone intruding into the Sanctum, it had activated its Pym Particle generation device inside, shrinking itself to the size of an ant and was hiding.

It needed to determine whether the intruder was accidental or had malicious intentions, and decide on the appropriate course of action.

However, when it sensed the immense magical power contained within Doctor Strange, while it couldn't confirm whether he was a malicious intruder, Terminator surfaced to prevent him from proceeding deeper into the core of the Sanctum for the sake of its absolute safety.

"Uh, I'm Stephen Strange. I used to be a neurosurgeon, and now I'm a sorcerer of Kamar-Taj. I'm also a student of Mark Stark, the guardian of the New York Sanctum."

Facing Terminator's second question, Doctor Strange immediately averted his gaze and earnestly responded. Because before him, Terminator who asked him the second question had opened a larger void in its head, and there was a dangerous ray of light inside.

Doctor Strange had no doubt that if he failed to answer promptly again, that dangerous light might completely obliterate him. Without the Sling ring, he couldn't even escape.

Upon receiving Doctor Strange's answer and hearing that there seemed to be some connection between him and its master, Terminator retracted the energy beam it had prepared. It then shouted into the empty ground floor of the Sanctum, "Baymax, is he telling the truth? Is this wimp really the master's student?"

Wimp! Hearing Terminator calling him that, Doctor Strange was far from pleased! But under the circumstances, he had to swallow his pride and let others call the shots.

Soon, a voice echoed through the space, responding, "Correct, Terminator. I've just investigated his background and verified it with the master. There indeed exists a neurosurgeon named Stephen Strange, who suffered hand injuries in an accident. Through a series of coincidences, he joined Kamar-Taj and became the master's student.

The facial comparison matches the data I retrieved, and his physiological responses during the questioning were stable. It can be confirmed that he was telling the truth."

Hearing his identity being validated, Doctor Strange finally breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, now they wouldn't mistake him for an enemy.

However, the next second, when he heard Terminator's remarks, despite knowing he stood no chance against it, he couldn't suppress his rage and desire to take Terminator down with him.

"Oh, so you're not just a wimp, you're also a cripple! How could master accept such a useless piece as a student?"

As an emotionally inept humanoid artifact, Terminator's careless tone in revealing such a harsh truth in front of others was what made Doctor Strange angrier than anything.

And just when Doctor Strange had already resolved to take Terminator down with him and was preparing to raise his fist to fight desperately, the next sentence from Terminator made his mood take a complete 180-degree turn, from the depths of despair to the peak of a mountain, and not just any mountain but Mount Everest!

"Speaking of which, why hasn't master given him an Extremis upgrade? That way, not only could his combat strength be increased, but his hand disabilities could also be healed..."

"What did you say!? Extremis upgrade? Can my hands really be healed?"

Upon learning that Mark had a way to heal his hands, regardless of how much Terminator had belittled and insulted him earlier, Doctor Strange had already cast all that aside. Now, he was only interested in the information about the extremis upgrade that Terminator mentioned, whether it was true or false.

However, before their conversation could continue, Terminator suddenly pushed Doctor Strange aside, then leaped from the stairs, landing on the ground floor of the grand hall.

As soon as Terminator touched the ground, the walls and decorations around the entire space began to shift and transform, like a Rubik's Cube undergoing rotations, forming a distorted scene.

"Be cautious, Terminator. The energy level of the newcomer is a level above yours, and he has even broken through the spatial blockade set by the master, encompassing the entire Sanctum within the Mirror Dimension. This isn't advantageous for you!

I've informed the master, but he needs to ensure the safety of the Eye of Agamotto before he can return to the Sanctum. You just need to delay him for a while."

With Baymax's warning, Terminator earnestly nodded. From the newcomer's aura and pressure, it could sense the complexity of the situation. If they didn't handle things carefully, the task assigned to it by Mark to guard the Sanctum could fail, and it would lose its purpose of existence.

"I didn't expect Mark to leave a contingency plan in the Sanctum. He truly is a genius who has revived the ancient lost artifact-making techniques. Such an ingenious and powerful artifact, I believe there's probably only him on the entire Earth who can create it now.

It's a pity that such an exceptional artifact will be destroyed here today. So, how about it? If you're willing to betray Mark and join Lord Dormammu's side, I can guarantee that you will continue to exist unharmed."

At this moment, on the stairs, Doctor Strange, who had been pushed aside by Terminator, upon hearing the commotion downstairs, quickly stood up, extending his head to investigate. "Kaecilius!"

Having crossed paths with him in the forbidden chamber of Kamar-Taj's library, Doctor Strange recognized him immediately.

"When he attacked the Kamar-Taj's library earlier, there were a total of five people with him. Now, there are only two left. If my guess is correct, the other three must have gone to attack the final one of the three major Sanctums, the Hong Kong Sanctum."

While Doctor Strange was observing the battle, he was also constantly analyzing the situation. In case Terminator couldn't withstand the assault from Kaecilius and his companions, and if Mark couldn't arrive in time, Doctor Strange needed to carefully consider how he could escape from this situation.

However, the more he thought, the more conflicted Doctor Strange felt. If Kaecilius succeeded in destroying the three major Sanctums and summoned Dormammu to devour the Earth, even if he managed to escape, he would ultimately face inevitable death.

Yet, his purpose for learning magic at Kamar-Taj had always been to heal his hands. He had never undertaken any psychological preparation to face the responsibilities and pressures of this moment. It had all been too sudden for him.

Just as Doctor Strange was on the stairs, torn over what choice to make, downstairs in the grand hall, Terminator was now at a disadvantage against Kaecilius and his companions' assault.

Not only did the enemy have numerical superiority, but they were also able to constantly draw power from the Dark Dimension. Compared to Terminator, who needed to convert energy through its internal runes, in terms of quality and quantity, it was completely overmatched.

In this way, the enemy could sustain high-intensity attacks while Terminator, who was fighting three opponents alone, would steadily deplete its energy. It would soon find itself in an unavoidable losing situation.

Just as the situation became dire, a voice suddenly echoed from upstairs, halting Kaecilius and his companions in their tracks. "Stop!"

Terminator looked up and saw that it was Doctor Strange, the same one it had been mocking earlier. "Kid, you..."

Doctor Strange: "Don't misunderstand. I just wanted to know if what you said about the extremis upgrade is true or not, whether it can heal my hands. I'm not trying to help you, even though it may seem that way in the process...

But if we manage to win this, you better explain the details of the extremis upgrade to me clearly!"

Terminator: "Kid... no, Strange! I take back what I said earlier about you being a wimp and a cripple. Now, I truly believe you're my master's student. Rest assured, I'll tell you everything I know about the extremis upgrade!"

"Haha! It's this late already, and you guys still want to make it out alive from our hands?" After hearing their conversation, Kaecilius sneered, looking at Doctor Strange on the stairs. "How long have you been at Kamar-Taj? Trying to stop my actions, you're a bit naive!"

After speaking, Kaecilius leaped up the stairs and launched an attack on Doctor Strange.

Observing this scene, Terminator was both anxious and worried. It had witnessed Kaecilius's strength earlier. While Doctor Strange possessed a significant level of magical power, there was still a notable gap compared to Kaecilius, who had been baptized by the Dark Dimension.

"Strange, hold on for a moment! Once I deal with these two, I'll come to your aid immediately!"

Although Kaecilius had shifted his focus, Terminator still had to deal with the other two dark mages and couldn't break free to assist Strange.

Moreover, although these two were not as powerful as Kaecilius, they still exerted significant pressure on Terminator. It wasn't an easy task to handle them, and he was hoping to defeat its opponents before Kaecilius could take down Doctor Strange.

On the other hand, Doctor Strange's situation wasn't as dire as Terminator had assumed. While his magical power might not match Kaecilius, in terms of knowledge accumulation and magical application, Doctor Strange was an undoubted genius.

With this advantage, though he couldn't defeat Kaecilius, he could manage to hold his own reasonably well.

However, this situation didn't last long. Realizing he couldn't easily dispatch Doctor Strange, Kaecilius quickly changed his strategy.

Kaecilius stopped seeking close combat with Doctor Strange. Instead, he deliberately created distance between them and used control over the mirror dimension to render Doctor Strange defenseless without his Sling Ring.

Bang! As the space turned and twisted once again, an unprepared Doctor Strange fell heavily to the ground.

Getting back on his feet, Doctor Strange now realized that, as Terminator had suggested, his best strategy was to stall and endure. He needed to wait for Terminator to deal with the enemy reinforcements or for Mark to handle the Eye of Agamotto before returning to the Sanctum.

Upon rising, Doctor Strange didn't engage in a confrontation with Kaecilius. Instead, he turned and fled, strategically retreating.

"Running? Within the mirror dimension, without your Sling Ring, how do you think you can escape from the palm of my hand?"

Swoosh! Kaecilius's wrist moved, causing a massive shift in the space's direction once more. Doctor Strange, focused on retreat, once again lost his balance and collided with a glass display case.

Da da da! Kaecilius's footsteps, as ominous as the Grim Reaper's, brought him to Doctor Strange's side. After a series of heavy strikes, Doctor Strange, who was already affected by the previous explosion, lost control over his body and was now unable to stand and continue the fight.

"Bid farewell to this world!" Kaecilius stood in front of Doctor Strange, a dark energy blade forming in his hand, ready to strike down at Doctor Strange's head.

At this critical moment, a gentle force stopped Kaecilius's wrist, preventing the magical blade from descending.