71 Nice + 1

"Mephisto had been closely following the progress of planet Earth, especially Savant and Doom's involvement, from his seat in Hell. He could not reconcile with the defeat at the hands of Doom. That defeat had cost him the Infinity Stones, and he was humiliated. The Lord of Hell is not a being you can humiliate easily, and if you do somehow manage to accomplish it, then you would have to be prepared for the entire Hell dimension to bear down on you.

Mephisto brewed up a plan, one that would ensure the destruction of all that Doom and Savant were trying to build. He would feast on the desperate human souls while laughing at their misery very soon. Sitting on his majestic throne, Mephisto chanted some magic into the air, which started to form magic symbols suspended in front of him. The circular, geometric patterns started to spin wildly until something akin to a crack was heard.

"Mephisto! Why have you disturbed me this time? Do I have to remind you again that I am not some gullible dimensional lord you can fleece for your amusement?" A menacing voice suddenly sounded in the Hell dimension. It seemed like the voice was coming from everywhere at once.

"I have no such intentions. But you must have realized that our connection to Earth is getting weaker every day. They are putting up more security than ever," Mephisto started speaking. He began with the topic that would interest the other party to continue listening.

"So?" the voice asked curiously.

"So, I think this is the best time for us to attack Earth. I know it is something you and the others have wished for a long time. Revenge against Gaia is within reach if you follow my plan," Mephisto continued to entice the voice.

"If they are shielding themselves better, how is it a good time for us to make a move?" the voice sounded skeptical.

Mephisto chuckled, "Think from the perspective of a weak human. They are barricading themselves inside the planet because they are expecting internal troubles. They can't deal with internal troubles while being attacked from the outside as well. So they have no other choice than to shield themselves heavily at all costs just to avoid outside influence."

"Plausible. What do you have in mind?" the voice sounded very interested.

"I have heard some whispers about the Scarlet Witch's madness-induced spell that is spreading across the multiverse. 'No more mutants,' she said. And so shall it be. And when the largest fighting force of humanity disappears, we shall appear as hope for humanity," Mephisto chuckled.

"Oh. How many others have you convinced so far?" the voice seemed to understand what Mephisto was after.

"You were the first I contacted. I will contact the others, and when the spell hits this universe, we shall bring about a new age for humans." Mephisto's evil laughter echoed in Hell as the crack slowly began to heal by itself.

Savant was watching Odin preparing to spar with Doom to test the new powers they had gained through rune magic. Cypher, who had newly gained his powers, was nowhere near their power levels to actually spar to test his powers and was sitting beside Savant.

"You don't have to pout like that. Like I said, you are no match for those two. Besides, you have perfect control over your power; you can test the powers in a controlled environment without having to fight anyone," Savant consoled Doug.

"It has begun," Cypher said as he looked forward at the two beings floating in empty space.

"I can't believe we are in an unknown part of the universe. That rainbow bridge is a magnificent transportation method. I wonder how long before we can develop a teleportation device like that," Cypher said as he looked around himself.

Savant and Cypher were sitting on recliners that were placed on a floating platform. The platform itself was floating above a beautiful gaseous planet with swirling colors of massive tornadoes. This was a star system with only two planets somewhere deep in space. The star itself was giving off a diffuse red glow.

"That rainbow bridge is the amalgamation of peak magical and scientific technology of a race that calls itself gods. And to be exact, its primary use at one time was as a planet-busting weapon. We have barely managed to make short-distance teleportation commercially viable, so don't dream too far ahead."

Cypher nodded at Savant's reply. He could imagine the energy required to operate something like that, and the earth just didn't have that kind of energy production even with Stark's new arc reactors. Of course, there were individuals like the mutants and superheroes who had unknown amounts of energy, but one couldn't use a human as a battery pack.

Cypher looked at the fighters, "Why have they been standing there like that for this long? When will they even fight?"

Savant chuckled, "Don't you watch movies? This is the classic scene where two characters who think of themselves as the smartest beings and the fight itself as a chess game. They are mentally simulating the battle. It's silly though. Remember this scene; this is how it looks when you are too prideful to just get on with the fight."

And just then, Odin made the first move. He threw Gungnir at Savant while runes appeared and glowed on his skin. Doom brought his hands forward and grabbed the air to slice down. The spear thrown by Odin clashed with the sword that appeared in Doom's hand.

"Coating the sword with runes, huh? He would have been pierced through if it was just some magical sword," Savant analyzed.

By the time Doom had deflected the spear, Odin had already finished his next attack. Cracks appeared around Doom as space itself began to twist.

"Did he just use magic to crush space itself?" Doug asked with amazement.

"Our scientists can crush and bend space like that with their teleportation devices. Why are you getting so excited?" Savant dismissively spoke.

"It's not the same thing at all! He is actually shattering space like it is made of glass. This shouldn't be physically possible! But why is Doom so calm?" Cypher was very excited and was already standing at the edge of the platform to get a closer look.

"Don't get too close. If you leave my shield, you might get crushed yourself. As for Doom, well, he had already fortified space and reality around himself. That is another lesson for you, when fighting beings with great power who can affect reality itself, make sure you and your surroundings aren't part of the things that can be affected. Of course, if the other party is much stronger than you then it doesn't matter."

Indeed, Doom had already fortified a small area around himself to be unalterable, at least without expending a large amount of energy. And Odin wasn't going to spend that much energy to do so. In the end, Gungnir went back to Odin's hand as Odin closed the distance.

"They are fighting in close quarters. I thought this would be a magical battle," Cypher said.

"They are using magic. Look closely, they are fortifying their weapons, teleporting, mixing attacks with spells. Oh, Doom just made the shaft of Odin's spear slippery. Damn, that sounds wrong," Savant chuckled.

"No, I mean I was expecting them to throw spells at each other from a distance. Not this kind of melee fight," Cypher explained.

"When mages with very little difference in skills and power levels fight each other, that kind of long, drawn-out fight might happen. But realistically, it's easier to just stick a sword through the opponent's throat than to continue throwing spells at each other and depend on them making a mistake or running out of energy. As for when there is a clear difference in power and skills, you can guess."

Doug nodded. It made sense. If there is a clear difference, then the weaker one would be dead fairly quickly. No wonder Kamar-Taj and the Order mages were trained in physical combat and magic.

As the fight continued, the difference in equipment became clearer, with the weapons and armor that the dwarves made for Odin outperforming Doom's equipment. But despite being slightly weaker than Odin and having poorer equipment, Doom didn't lose completely. He continued to use the runes in ingenious ways to always keep up with Odin.

"It is starting to get boring," Cypher said as he sat back down and observed the fight that was getting drawn out.

"Both of them aren't using their particularly destructive moves and aren't going for the kill, so this drawn-out battle is to be expected. But if it was a real fight to the death, I'd choose Odin for the win. Although you can never say with Doom; he might bring out a crazy weapon he developed and turn the tide within seconds," Savant yawned as he concluded the findings of his information processing through that fight.

"I think it is time we head back. The Chancellor of Earth has much work to do," Savant said lazily as he stood up."