The crimson energy barrier created by Black Phoenix functioned purely as a defensive shield.
It blocked the attacking black monsters but did not interfere with Karl or the others fighting outside.
Karl glanced at the dark energy engulfing the entire city.
Then his Gold Cloth appeared around his body.
The Power Stone activated instantly.
A surge of purple cosmic energy erupted forward, blasting directly into the dark energy and tearing open a massive gap.
Through that opening, Karl could finally see what was inside.
Countless black monsters filled the city.
They were packed so densely that the entire landscape seemed to be crawling with them.
The sight was utterly disgusting.
At the same time, the crack in the sky widened once again.
Through that rift, Dormammu stared down at Karl and the others like a predator observing prey.
Karl simply smiled with disdain.
The six Infinity Stones embedded in his armor flashed brightly.
Then he launched another devastating blast into the dark energy.
BOOM—!
Every black creature struck by the attack was instantly vaporized.
Even the surrounding dark energy was blown apart.
At the same moment, Karl raised his left hand.
A terrifying blue freezing energy surged outward.
The icy power spread rapidly across the battlefield.
Every monster touched by it was frozen solid.
Even the dark energy itself began to crystallize.
The temperature of Karl's freezing ability now far exceeded absolute zero.
Under such conditions, even mystical energy could be immobilized.
With Karl suppressing the monsters, the pressure on Tony Stark and the others decreased dramatically.
The frozen creatures shattered easily under their attacks.
However, when Dormammu saw this through the dimensional crack, he reacted immediately.
A massive energy face formed within the rift.
The giant visage roared toward Karl.
At the same time, even more dark energy surged out from the Dark Dimension.
BOOM—!
Karl responded instantly.
A terrifying pseudo-universal aura erupted from his body.
At the same time, his golden cudgel appeared in his hand.
He swung the weapon toward Dormammu inside the dimensional crack.
The enormous energy strike penetrated directly into the Dark Dimension, shattering Dormammu's energy face.
But the victory was temporary.
Moments later, the face reformed.
Dormammu began ramming the crack repeatedly.
The dimensional breach grew larger and larger.
Soon—
Dormammu's massive energy face pushed through the rift and partially manifested in Earth's reality.
Dark energy gathered around his enormous face.
More and more darkness poured out of the expanding crack.
As soon as Dormammu appeared, he immediately began launching attacks.
However, Tony and the others discovered something terrifying.
Their attacks had no effect.
Dormammu casually blocked them with a single motion.
BOOM—!
Karl launched another golden strike.
Although it hit Dormammu directly, it only dispersed the dark energy he had gathered.
Dormammu himself remained unharmed.
While continuing the battle, Karl began analyzing the situation.
He quickly realized something disturbing.
Dormammu was absorbing portions of the attack energy directed at him—
Converting it into dark energy to strengthen himself.
Whoosh!
After noticing that freezing energy could immobilize dark energy, Karl intensified his ice power.
Blue energy erupted from his body.
Using the Ruyi Jingu Bang, Karl channeled the freezing power directly toward Dormammu.
The moment it struck—
Dormammu's dark energy began freezing.
Even his enormous face became trapped inside the ice.
Unfortunately, the victory lasted only a moment.
Dormammu shattered the ice and broke free.
Karl's expression became slightly serious.
He had not expected Dormammu to be this troublesome.
Karl immediately changed strategies.
He activated the Time Stone, creating a temporal loop around Dormammu.
At the same time, he opened the Mirror Dimension.
Both he and Dormammu vanished from everyone's sight.
Inside the Mirror Dimension, Karl summoned The World Beyond.
Using its first ability—
Time Stop—
Dormammu was frozen completely in place.
A flash of blue energy followed.
Karl struck Dormammu with tremendous force, knocking him back into the Dark Dimension.
Dormammu's consciousness returned to his original form within his home dimension.
Unaffected by the time stop there, he immediately attempted to return to Earth through the dimensional rift.
But the rift had already been sealed.
Stephen Strange had created a powerful Kamar-Taj sealing array around the breach.
Breaking it would take time.
BOOM—!
Dormammu began attacking the sealing formation furiously.
Meanwhile, Karl reappeared beside Stephen Strange.
Blue energy from the Space Stone flowed through Karl's hands.
He began repairing the spatial rift itself.
Dormammu became even more enraged.
He attacked the magical array recklessly.
Within moments—
The sealing array shattered.
Dormammu prepared to launch a surprise attack on Karl as he repaired the rift.
BOOM—!
At that moment—
Ganata appeared beside Karl.
Her right hand released an immense blue multiversal energy blast.
The attack instantly shattered Dormammu's projected consciousness.
The energy wave even blasted directly into the Dark Dimension, evaporating massive amounts of dark energy.
It punched a huge hole in the dimensional barrier.
Seeing the opportunity, Karl quickly repaired the spatial rift.
Inside the Dark Dimension, Dormammu roared in fury.
His invasion had completely backfired.
His dimensional barrier had been damaged.
And his manifested consciousness had been destroyed.
Now he was forced to focus on repairing his own dimension.
"Thank you, Ganata," Karl said softly.
He created a multicolored energy sphere using the six Infinity Stones and handed it to her.
Soon afterward, Black Phoenix also arrived beside Karl.
Below them, most of the black monsters had already been eliminated.
"Hehe, it's nothing~ No need to thank me!"
Ganata looked slightly embarrassed after hearing Karl's gratitude.
But when she saw the colorful energy sphere, her eyes lit up.
"Wow! This looks delicious!"
She grabbed it immediately and began eating it happily.
Karl then turned toward Stephen Strange.
"Stephen."
He opened a small box and handed it to him.
"I'll be leaving Earth in a few days."
"From now on, the responsibility of protecting Earth's dimensional security will belong to you."
Inside the box were several colored energy spheres.
"These contain attacks I stored earlier," Karl explained.
"The green one contains Time Stone energy. You can use it for advanced time magic."
"The others contain the powers of the other Infinity Stones."
"Use them when necessary."
"Thank you, senior."
Stephen Strange accepted the box respectfully.
Then he hesitated for a moment.
"Will you come back?"
He carefully stored the box while waiting for Karl's answer.
...
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