American comics: Damn it, I’m surrounded by those who worry about their fathers!.

Chapter 1077 Peter's Teachings to the Strange Wizard—What is Love?
"You are... the Ancient One?"

Stephen stared in surprise at the figure that had suddenly appeared before him.

Despite the different dimensions, the other party's unique bright yellow robes, smooth head, and eyes that seemed to see through everything yet remained calm and undisturbed were exactly the same as the mentor in his memory who had guided him into the world of magic.

The Ancient One's gaze swept gently over the batman Bruce Wayne, who was on high alert, and over the wary yet curious Raven, before finally landing on Doctor Strange, where she nodded slightly.

"Yes, I am the Ancient One. Travelers from other worlds, why have you set foot in this already scarred universe?"

The Ancient One's voice has a penetrating power that reaches the depths of the soul.

Perhaps because she was held in his arms when she was a child, Raven had a good impression of the Ancient One, even though he wasn't the Ancient One from the main universe.

She stepped forward and explained, "Ancient One, we didn't intrude intentionally. We encountered an accident in a multiverse portal and were forcibly dragged here. Can you send us back? Or can you tell us how to leave?"

The Ancient One gazed at Raven and slowly shook his head.

"The barriers of space have become extremely unstable due to the violent distortion within. Opening the passage rashly could throw you into an even more dangerous void, or even exacerbate the collapse of this universe."

Her gaze returned to Stephen. "Especially you, Stephen Strange, your very existence is a huge variable for this universe."

"variable?"

Stephen was a little confused.

Before Stephen could react, the Ancient One suddenly raised her hand and slammed it into his chest.

The other person's movements seemed slow, but Stephen was hit in an instant.

The next second, Stephen felt an indescribable force instantly seize his soul, violently pulling him down from an indescribable dimensional channel.

"what!"

Stephen let out a scream.

The colorful and bizarre scene flashed wildly before his eyes like an accelerated kaleidoscope.

A torrent of memories and information flashed before Stephen's eyes.

In Endgame, Peter Patrick manipulates the Time Stone to turn the tide of battle.

Wanda Maximoff's eyes were bloodshot, and her body was shrouded in the evil runes of the Dark Book. Chaos magic reduced the ancient Kamar-Taj palace to dust.

In Universe 838, the controlled Wanda erased Black Bolt's attack organs, crushed his head, and easily defeated Captain Carter and Captain Marvel.

These images flashed before his eyes one by one.

Countless fragments of information forcibly flooded in, the impact of which almost caused his soul and consciousness to collapse.

Just as Stephen felt his soul was about to give way, "snap," and the dizzying sensation disappeared.

The next second, his soul was suddenly pulled back into his body, returning him to reality.

Familiar scenery returned to my eyes, and fragments of memory vanished in an instant.

Stephen staggered back a step, his face as pale as paper, panting heavily, his forehead covered in cold sweat, as if he had just experienced a terrifying mental storm.

Ancient One slowly withdrew her hand, a knowing look on her face.

She whispered, "Peter Patrick... So that's how it is, there are such strange beings in the multiverse..."

The strange sorcerer's gaze suddenly fell on Raven: "A being who can manipulate dreams, a being unlike any other... Peter Patrick, is he your father?"

Raven was taken aback by the Ancient One's sudden change of focus, then nodded and said with pride, "Yes, he is my father."

The Ancient One frowned slightly, her eyes, which could see into the past and future, seemed to be trying to see through something, but she quickly revealed a rare look of confusion.

“Strange… I can’t see the trajectory of his destiny. His past, present, future, and even the essence of his existence are all shrouded in an impenetrable fog, as if he were independent of all known rivers of fate.”

Upon hearing the news about her father, Raven immediately asked anxiously, "Master, can you see where my father is now? Can you send us to him?"

Although Raven also has the ability to teleport, her teleportation is completely ineffective when it comes to the complexities of the multiverse.

The Ancient One raised her eyes and looked at her gently. "Don't worry, you will eventually return to your own world."

Her gaze returned to Doctor Strange, who had just recovered. "Stephen from another world, do you now understand why this universe is wailing?"

Stephen swallowed hard, suppressing the discomfort on a spiritual level, recalling the fragments of Strange's words about this universe that he had just seen, as well as the unstable flickering of the world around him. A terrible conjecture formed in his mind.

"Is it because of... me in this universe? He... he's been trying to resurrect Christine? Constantly going back to the past?"

"It's more than just trying."

The Ancient One's voice carried a hint of heaviness.

"It is obsessive, reckless, and involves countless resets and alterations. Every time he uses that forbidden power to reverse time, trying to pry open a crack at the 'absolute point,' it causes irreversible damage to the fundamental structure of this universe."

"The cracks of the time paradox have spread like a plague, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. Countless things are losing their continuity and stability of existence. Every hopeful return he makes brings a deeper level of destruction. This universe... is collapsing because of his desperate love."

The Ancient One's words struck Stephen, Raven, and Bruce deeply.

The three of them now finally understood that the ubiquitous "flickering" and "lag" in the city were actually signs of the universe's impending collapse!

……

Meanwhile, deep within Cagliostro's Lost Book City.

Time flows at a completely different pace here compared to the outside world.

Stephen Strange (Black Strange) stands atop a mountain made of countless ancient magical books.

His body was surging with chaotic energy mixed with the characteristics of countless devoured creatures. His originally blue mage robe was now stained as dark as the night, and the edges of his floating cloak were tattered and ominous.

Before him stood Auburn, the librarian who had once guided him here, now old and frail, his life hanging by a thread.

The passage of time is clearly visible on him.

Auburn's face was covered in wrinkles, and his breathing was weak.

Black Oddity, having forcibly frozen the flow of time within itself using powerful dark magic, remains exactly as it was when it first arrived at the book city.

He looked at Auburn, who was on the verge of death, and a complex emotion flashed in his eyes, as if he wanted to win back his only "guide".

Black Strange raised his hand, and the Eye of Agamotto appeared on his chest, with green time energy beginning to surge.

“I can save you, Auburn, I can reverse the time in your body…”

"No need...child."

Auburn used his last bit of strength to shake his head with difficulty, his cloudy eyes looking at Black Strange with a kind of all-knowing pity.

"Life...has its own end, and forcibly prolonging it is meaningless, just like you...clinging to a reality that cannot be changed."

He gasped for breath as he uttered his last words, “And haven’t you realized it yet, Strange? You… are not whole. You are only a broken half. You need to… find your whole self.”

Before he could finish speaking, Auburn's head slumped limply, and his last breath of life vanished.

The black, strange hand froze in mid-air, and the light of the Eye of Agamotto gradually faded.

Gently holding the other person's hand, with a heavy heart, he silently saw off this guide.

Auburn's dying words echoed wildly in Black Strange's mind.

"It's not complete..."

"The separated half..."

He suddenly looked up, his eyes pulsating with intense black energy.

In an instant, all the clues connected in his mind, which was filled with dark knowledge.

Why does he always feel that his magic sometimes has a discordant, stagnant quality?

Why are some early memories of Kamar-Taj blurry?

Why did the Ancient One let him go so easily back then?
The truth pierced through the fog like lightning, and Black Strange instantly understood what had happened.

It was all Gu Yi's doing!
When he tried to restart time to save Christine, the Ancient One stopped him and struck him in the chest. She used a supreme power he couldn't comprehend, and that strike cleaved his life trajectory in two from a point of despair.

One timeline is about him, who didn't hesitate to fall into darkness, frantically research forbidden knowledge, and try to devour everything to gain power to reverse the past.

The other timeline is that of Stephen Strange, who "accepted" Christine's death (or suffered the pain in another way), stayed in Kamar-Taj, and embarked on another path as a Guardian.

He was separated; he was incomplete.

Therefore, he cannot truly break through that "absolute point" because he lacks the "weight" and "possibility" of the other half's existence.

"I need to devour another version of myself."

A terrifying glint flashed in Hei Qiyi's eyes; madness and ambition completely devoured the last trace of hesitation.

"Only by becoming one, possessing complete existential power and all possibilities, can I truly control the immense power capable of cleaving through absolute points in time."

The bookstore exists outside of time; he has devoted countless years to its study, but for the outside world, not much time has passed.

Without hesitation, Hei Qiyi turned and took a step forward. Powerful dark magic tore through space, taking him away from the Lost Book City and back to the already flickering and unstable real world.

Upon returning to New York, he immediately began setting up a massive and malevolent dark magic circle.

The purpose of this magic circle is not to summon demons, but to locate and forcibly pull his "other half"—Strange from another timeline—who shares the same origin but has taken a different path.

He set the core of the magic circle at the origin of all the tragedies.

The highway where Christine Palmer was killed in a car accident.

A dark light shot into the sky, tearing through space.

The next second, a figure dressed in a perfectly intact blue mage's robe, with a confused look in his eyes and a sense of justice that had not yet been corrupted by darkness, was forcibly dragged out of Kamar-Taj and appeared in the center of the magic circle—it was another Strange from this universe.

"Where...is this? You...?!"

The radiant version of Strange stares in shock at the familiar yet unfamiliar car accident scene, and at the "self" before him, radiating an overwhelming aura of evil, with a face exactly like his own yet incredibly distorted.

"Don't you understand, my dearest other half?"

Black Strange spread his arms, and the dark energy around him writhed like a living thing.

"The Ancient One separated us, making us each bear half the pain and walk half the path, but this is meaningless. Only merging is the only choice. Only by possessing all the power and possibilities can we break this damned fate and save Christine."

"You are crazy!"

Strange, now in his Light form, was both shocked and furious. He immediately assumed a defensive stance, and the divine energy of Vishanti gathered in his hands.

Although he didn't understand what was happening, he knew that this evil "self" definitely had ill intentions.

“Look at what you’ve done, practicing dark magic. This isn’t salvation, it’s utter depravity. Christine would never want to see you like this.”

"hope?!"

Black Strange let out a maniacal laugh, "What's the use of hope? Can it bring her back to life? Can it change the despair of watching her die countless times?! Stop deceiving yourself! Accept reality, we are one! Embrace me, and you will embrace wholeness, embrace the power to change everything!"

"No, I will never stoop to your level."

The Light version of Strange firmly refused, and the golden Ring of Laggardor instantly lit up.

"I can't help you!"

Black Strange's face hardened, and without further ado, he pushed forward with both hands.

A vast, chaotic torrent, imbued with the power of countless dark creatures, like a black river bursting its banks, instantly swallowed the Vishanti's divine shield, which Strange had been desperately trying to maintain.

Light and darkness relentlessly erode and annihilate.

However, the difference in power was too great. The power of the Light Strange was pure, but far inferior to the complex and terrifying dark energy that the Dark Strange had accumulated through devouring.

The shield shattered after only a few seconds.

"Do not--!"

Light Strange let out a roar of unwilling anger, his body completely swallowed by endless darkness.

Black Strange stood in the center of the magic circle, frantically absorbing and fusing the power and essence of its other self.

He could sense that something that had been missing was being filled; his soul, his magic, and his perception of the rules of the universe were becoming more "complete" and more powerful.

The whole process lasted a short while. When the last ray of golden light was completely swallowed and annihilated by darkness, the Black Strange slowly opened its eyes.

In the depths of his eyes, besides the original madness and obsession, there was also a trace of calmness and wisdom belonging to another "self," but this wisdom had now been completely exploited by darkness.

He felt an unprecedented, almost overflowing, immense power surging within him, and a satisfied smile curved his lips.

Now, he is the complete Stephen Strange.

Now, he finally has the qualifications to challenge absolute time points.

He looked up into the void, as if he could see through time itself, his gaze fixed on the coordinates he had tried countless times to change but could not.

"Christine... this time, I will definitely save you."

Just as the Dark Strange devoured the Light Doctor Strange.

In New York City, Raven noticed a building in the distance suddenly, like a sketch erased by an eraser, silently transforming from its base into countless drifting, grayish-white elementary particles that rapidly spread upwards and eventually disappeared completely.

"Then...what is that?!"

Raven pointed in shock at the empty sky.

The Ancient One gazed calmly into the void, her eyes deep, as if she had foreseen all of this.

She spoke slowly, her voice devoid of any emotion, "He has completed it. This universe's Stephen Strange has filled in the missing half of his soul, achieving an unprecedented state of 'completeness'."

She tilted her head slightly, looking at Stephen, Raven, and Bruce from the main universe.

"Now, he is going to accomplish his only goal—to try to save Christine Palmer again. This time, with his full existence, he will have no more scruples."

Bruce Wayne frowned. "This means he's going to restart time again? And according to what you said before, each restart accelerates the collapse of this universe, so this time...?"

“This time,” the Ancient One’s voice remained calm, “the spacetime paradox and structural collapse he caused will be devastating, and the end of this universe is almost a foreseeable outcome.”

She paused, then added, "Perhaps... at the very moment he successfully 'saved' her, the entire universe was also doomed to annihilation."

Raven gasped, then turned to Doctor Strange beside her, whose expression was complicated: "Dr. Strange, what are you going to do?"

Raven wants to know what Doctor Strange will choose.

In the original universe, he and Christine were separated, but the Doctor Strange in this universe loved Christine so much that he was willing to restart countless timelines for her.

She wondered if Doctor Strange would stop Doctor Strange in this universe.

Bruce looked at Stephen, waiting for his answer.

Stephen fell silent. He looked down at his hands, which had once trembled but could now wield profound magic.

A moment later, his hand instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out an old watch that had long since stopped working, its glass shattered, and its hands forever frozen at a certain moment.

This was a gift from Christine to him on one of his birthdays. He had tried countless times to fix it, but eventually gave up.

He stared at the frozen time on the clock face for a long time before slowly raising his head to look at Raven.

“Raven… I was once completely ignorant of the most important and simplest thing in the world, which is that the meaning of life does not lie in oneself.”

“Your father, Peter Patrick, understood this long ago, and he saw what was happening today.”

Stephen's voice carried a hint of emotion, "That's why your father reminded me, because he knew that true love is not about possessing and reversing everything, but about respecting the course of life itself and taking on the responsibility of protecting more lives."

(Peter: I was just saying!)
Stephen gripped the stopped watch tightly, as if drawing strength from it, his gaze sweeping over Raven and Bruce before finally settling on the Ancient One.

"We must stop him."

(End of this chapter)