Chapter Ninety-One: Power from the Abyss

Have you heard? The council has reached its decision. The Archmage has handed over the Eye of Agamotto to the Clock Tower for one month to make up for the negligence of the sanctuaries.” The mages on the Himalayas gathered in low voices, discussing it among themselves.

“What about the Heavenly Court in the East? Do they have no objections? I heard the mistake at the former Hong Kong sanctuary was even worse.”

“I don’t know. Our talks with the Heavenly Court have not even begun yet, but I reckon the Eye of Agamotto will be in outsider hands for at least the next two months. Sigh... what a mess.”

Those sanctuary mages really can’t do anything right! They botched something so simple and made such a huge blunder. I heard the deputy overseer of the Hong Kong sanctuary even wanted to break open the seal. If he weren’t already dead, I’d have beaten him to death myself!”

Listening to the others, Moray felt a little moved. So the Archmage did care about them after all, or she would never have surrendered such a priceless treasure as the Eye of Agamotto. They were truly useless. No, from now on they would have to work even harder and win back their honor.

While Moray was silently cheering himself on, Kaecilius slipped away from the crowd. When no one was nearby, he clenched a fist in excitement. Without the Eye of Agamotto, the Archmage’s surveillance over the time lines would have a flaw. His chance had come.

After calming himself, Kaecilius entered the room and sat upright before the small statue. “The Archmage will not be returning anytime soon. Give me your power. I will conduct the review in her stead, and then make arrangements for you.”

Mephisto felt like laughing when he saw Kaecilius acting this way. What was this little fool trying to do in front of an old fox who had lived for millennia? A mere rabbit trying to pass itself off as an elephant.

And conduct a review in the Archmage’s place? Why not say he would expel him back to Hell in her stead?

Of course, that was only what he thought. It was not what Mephisto said.

“Ah, you are truly a mage with a sense of responsibility. If you were to become the next Sorcerer Supreme, I would certainly have far fewer troubles,” Mephisto praised him with false sincerity. He thought his flattery sounded absurdly fake, but it should be more than enough for the fool before him, whose mind was already broken.

Kaecilius could not suppress a smile. “That is impossible. If I were Sorcerer Supreme, you would not be able to come here even once in a year!”

Tch... if you were Sorcerer Supreme, this planet would become my second home.

While sneering at Kaecilius, Mephisto released his power, letting Kaecilius take it from him by the methods of the hidden order at Kamar-Taj.

Kaecilius was not a fool either. While borrowing this portion of power, he used every precaution and diversionary technique Gu Yi had taught him. But evidently he had forgotten the most important words she had ever said: the best defense is not to make contact at all.

Once the energy entered Kaecilius’s body, Mephisto’s hidden contingency immediately took effect, seizing part of Kaecilius’s bodily and spiritual control.

For such a minor mage to try scheming against a lord of Hell was still far too naive.

After seizing control, Mephisto immediately searched Kaecilius’s surface memories and learned what the mages had been discussing just now.

Gu Yi had surrendered the Eye of Agamotto?

Mephisto simply refused to believe it. Without the Eye of Agamotto, Dormammu would be laughing himself to death.

As for that mage from the so-called Clock Tower, Kieran, Mephisto had never even heard the name. Could he really force Gu Yi to yield? Could he really make her hand over the Eye of Agamotto?

And if Earth truly had more than one Gu Yi-level mage, could he still come and go so peacefully every year?

Mephisto, who was well-versed in schemes and seduction, immediately sensed that something was wrong. It was as though he himself had stepped into a vast conspiracy.

However, the fool before him was already nearly completely deceived. To give up now would be far too wasteful.

Mephisto looked at Kaecilius and considered it carefully. This had to continue. At worst, Gu Yi would discover it and send him back to Hell the moment he arrived. If that price could make Gu Yi irritated for a while, Mephisto deemed it well worth it.

In any case, he could not be killed on Earth. If this avatar were destroyed, it would not matter much; by next year it would be restored anew. That was precisely why Mephisto came only once a year.

Having thought it through, Mephisto concealed the avatar deep within the statue, drawing back the energy that had been spilling outward and leaving only a one-way channel to Kaecilius.

Feeling the surging power within him, Kaecilius was overjoyed.

He extended both hands and drew a circle in the air. Within the brilliant golden energy, a trace of black was mixed in, but in Kaecilius’s eyes that black simply did not exist.

He only felt that the portal was more stable than before, and faster to open.

Looking at the slowly turning portal before him, Kaecilius extended his right hand and squeezed hard.

Crimson hellish energy poured into the portal, directly destroying its structure, and the power within scattered into the surrounding air.

Having suddenly obtained such great power, Kaecilius very much wanted to display it, but reason told him this was not yet the time to show himself. He still needed to hide, to keep hiding.

He concealed the statue in a hidden compartment, pulled up his hood, and left the room, heading for the usually unvisited summit of the branch mountain.

Moray, who had been in the courtyard all along, saw Kaecilius leave and remembered the matter he had meant to ask about yesterday. He hurried after him.

But he was still a little too slow, and only caught sight of Kaecilius’s back as he stepped through the portal.

Stopping where the portal had vanished, Moray’s nose twitched. Why did the lingering scent after the portal dissolved feel a little strange? It was not the same as usual.

He waved lightly at his nose and sniffed the air.

Yes, not an illusion. There seemed to be a faint smell of smoke and gunpowder.

Did Kaecilius have explosives or firearms on him? What on earth would he need those for?

Moray was left with a head full of question marks. Having stayed in the New York sanctuary for so long, the first thing he associated with the smell of smoke was gunpowder and gunpowder weapons.

At the summit of the Himalayan branch, Kaecilius freely released the power within his body across the surrounding land.

With Mephisto as his reservoir of energy, Kaecilius had been promoted overnight from a peashooter to artillery. If his former power had been a river, then what he now possessed was an entire ocean.

And this sensation of spending a little and instantly replenishing it was simply wonderful.

With bloodshot eyes, Kaecilius looked at the scorched blackness around him and could not help but laugh aloud.