Astonishing evil power swirled around Mordo.
It contained an extraordinarily twisted will.
Any attack that approached him was immediately deflected.
Even Karl did not attack recklessly, afraid that the evil power might contaminate him.
Nothing else needed to be considered.
That terrifying power alone would probably leave this entire region uninhabitable for tens of thousands of years.
Any ordinary person who entered the area would have their mind and body twisted by that horrifying will, ultimately undergoing a mutation.
Even someone as powerful as Karl was unwilling to come into contact with this power.
Anything taken to an extreme could become dangerously unpredictable.
These evil forces might not possess enough willpower to overcome Karl, but he still had no desire to touch them.
He was afraid they might affect him in some way.
Dealing with the consequences would be extremely troublesome.
After witnessing Mordo's mutation, Karl had become exceptionally wary of this power.
Under their watchful gazes, Mordo's body began undergoing an astonishing transformation.
His black power continuously condensed, forming a hard shell around his body.
Two horns grew from his head, making him look as though he were transforming into a demon from Hell.
However, compared to the demons of Hell, his body did not appear hideous or savage.
Instead, it possessed an almost regal quality.
Were it not for the astonishingly evil will surrounding him, Mordo would have looked like a heroic figure.
"What exactly is this?"
"This doesn't look like a mutation. It almost seems like a form of evolution."
"This form resembles the Dark Celestials."
Karl frowned as he spoke to Strange beside him.
At first, Mordo's transformation had seemed strangely familiar, as though Karl had seen it somewhere before.
Only now did he realize why.
Mordo looked somewhat like a Celestial.
The reflective carapace armor covering his body was especially similar.
It was practically identical to the armor worn by the Celestials.
Even the peculiar patterns engraved across its surface were exactly the same.
Upon hearing that, Strange nodded.
"You're right."
"I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't mentioned it."
"He really does resemble a Celestial."
"However, the Celestials' power is nowhere near this evil."
"That is indeed a problem."
"But we won't discover anything by speculating here."
"We can ask him ourselves once this is over."
As they spoke, Mordo's transformation was completed.
His body and head were now entirely enclosed within a metallic-looking shell.
He looked almost identical to a Celestial.
Mordo had practically transformed into a killing machine.
His eyes were blood-red, with beams of crimson light extending nearly two feet from them.
"What an incredible feeling."
"This is true power."
"This is the final evolution of life."
"I am a god now!"
Mordo's hoarse voice rang out.
"A god?"
"In this world, true gods would at least have to be beings capable of creating entire worlds."
"At most, you could be considered a monster. You certainly aren't a god."
Karl spoke disdainfully.
"No. You don't understand."
"I finally understand the true nature of power."
"I have become stronger."
"I have witnessed the truth of this world. I have seen the birth of this world."
"I represent the truth of this world!"
Mordo shouted loudly.
Karl thought he had gone insane.
True gods did not exist in this world.
The gods of the Marvel Universe were merely powerful life-forms.
They could not truly be considered gods.
In the end, gods were nothing more than concepts imagined by humans.
They were creations devised by the ignorant to comfort themselves.
Mordo no longer behaved anything like a sorcerer.
"Give it up, Mordo. You've already gone insane."
"I'm insane?"
"No, no, no. You are simply too ignorant."
"You have no idea what true reality is."
Red light flashed within Mordo's eyes.
The mysterious patterns covering his black horns began to glow.
A tremendous wave of psychic power surged directly toward Karl.
The surrounding space distorted.
Mordo's immense psychic power was directly warping reality.
And that was only the aftermath of his psychic attack.
Mordo had once been one of Kamar-Taj's most outstanding sorcerers.
He was proficient in every form of Kamar-Taj magic.
However, the fields in which he excelled most were hypnosis and soul magic.
He could easily control others and turn them into fanatically loyal followers.
Mordo had simply been too proud to rely on such methods in the past.
Now, however, he launched a direct soul attack against them.
Karl felt an uncomfortable pressure building inside his head, as though something were trying to force its way into his mind.
How terrifying was Karl's mental will?
He could resist the combined wills of tens of millions of people by himself.
Yet at that moment, even his mind showed signs of being invaded!
This was the first time Karl had encountered anything like this since arriving in this world.
Fortunately, his will was powerful enough.
Mordo's psychic attack was incapable of doing anything to him.
Strange, however, was a different matter.
The expression on his face changed constantly as he struggled against the assault.
This was the man who had once relied on nothing but a mortal's will to trap Dormammu until the entity nearly broke under the strain.
Yet now, Mordo's psychic attack had nearly taken control of him.
Forget contributing to the battle.
Strange would be fortunate merely to avoid becoming Mordo's puppet.
"Your will isn't bad, but your power is still too weak."
"Raw power also affects the strength of the soul."
Karl shook his head.
He waved one hand.
Time around Strange instantly stopped.
Strange appeared to have been sealed within a solid piece of amber.
Every force acting within that frozen space ceased functioning.
That included the psychic power attacking him.
Even the conflicted expression on Strange's face remained frozen in place.
"Time?"
Mordo looked at Karl in surprise.
He had no choice but to stop his attack.
Clearly, Mordo's psychic abilities had not reached the point where they could ignore the power of time.
Before frozen time, his attack was entirely useless.
He simply had not expected Karl to possess one of the most overwhelming powers in existence.
In a battle between opponents at the same level, possessing the power of time was practically equivalent to being invincible.
Crimson light once again extended nearly three feet from Mordo's eyes.
He shouted loudly.
"It's useless."
"Time is nothing more than time to me."
"I do not fear its power."
"Not even time can make me decay!"
Mordo issued his declaration.
Countless runes suddenly lit up across his dark carapace armor.
Those patterns possessed extraordinary power.
The temporal turbulence surrounding him could not affect the runes at all.
Mordo began moving through the frozen time.
For that moment, he had actually ignored the power of time!
(End of Chapter)
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