Chapter 188 Chapter 0188: Corrupted
As the roars reverberated through the room, four huge beasts appeared in everyone's vision and four torches surrounding the circular ritual slab automatically got a new breath of life. The lines and murals forming the ritual circle all gained a red glow that lit Strange in an eerie light.
"Tell me he's in control of these things…" Tony said to Wong as he stepped back from the demonic-looking beast that was approaching him with a threatening expression, he had to step aside as it approached Strange.
"I wouldn't count on it," Wong was in a similar situation and had to move away from the beast that was approaching him.
"Just great…" Steve said stepping back from his beast, "Instead of Wanda, maybe we should've focused on this dude more."
"Snap out of it, Strange!" Wong wanted to get Strange back before things got out of hand and threw a rope dart relic at him at an angle so that it wouldn't stab the man but would wrap around him. One of the beasts intercepted Wong's relic and allowed it to wrap around its arm before pulling. Wong had to let go of the relic as the beast pulled on it so that he wouldn't fly away. The beast roared at Wong threateningly while throwing the relic away.
Wong hurriedly conjured two swords for himself after realizing that Strange's actions of getting on top of the platform had somehow dispelled the anti-magic field. This allowed him to freely use his magic.
"This doesn't look so good..." Tony commented and blasted one of the beasts with his uni-beam from the centerpiece in his chest. The beast created a ball of red in between its hand and intercepted the laser blast with it before pushing it toward Tony. The man had to stop his attack to dodge the red sphere that so effortlessly took care of one of his most powerful attacks. He powered his repulsors up and created a shoulder-mounted canon with the nanoparticles of his suit. It glowed with a blue light as the blast charged, ready to attack the beast with another beam.
Looking at the hulking beast that was twice as tall as him and far more bulky, Steve knew that he wasn't its match and took a defensive stance. The beast seemed even larger than the Hulk and Steve didn't want to entangle himself with it. When the beast passed by him without engaging, he almost heaved a sigh in relief.
Natasha on the other hand created a huge whip from her palm that extended out to the beast and wrapped around its neck. She propelled herself toward it and quickly stood on top of it while grabbing the whip as if it was some sort of leash that she then yanked, making the beast roar in defiance as it burst out with a crimson blast that threw Natasha off. She collided with the ceiling and fell back to the ground on her feet, ready to take the beast on for another round.
At this point, Strange addressed them, "Stop! These are the Elder Beasts. Created by Chthon himself to protect the temple." He said while glancing all around the room, examining the myriad inscriptions all around.
The Elder Beasts didn't engage them and everyone seemed tense as they waited for Strange to say something.
"You asked me what we were doing about the planets didn't you, Stark?" Strange asked rhetorically, "I have your answer." He said and his Eldritch magic circles turned red as he started channeling the energy of the Chaos Dimension through the conduit of the ritual circle below his feet.
He chanted something and brought his hands together before separating them apart as multiple crimson nodes appeared all around him, however, they were somewhat dim as if weakened — it seemed as if they weren't receiving enough power. Even when he tried to focus on one of them to see the contents of the node, he was unable to access it as if something was interfering with his attempt.
"Is he moving around the inside of some kind of neural network?" Tony asked Wong, "Or some kind of web I guess."
"I'm as lost as you are," Wong said, "But I can tell that he's trying to access other realities within the multiverse…"
Strange continued browsing through the multiple realities and kept coming up with blanks. Within seconds, sweat had formed on his forehead and a drop dripped from his brow as he screamed, "What the hell is going on!?" His hands shook as the nodes and the connections all disappeared. The levitation of his cloak faltered for a moment as he fell down on the slab. It prompted all four Beasts to roar at him in defiance and wrath.
Steve frowned, "Aren't these beasts supposed to be under his control?"
"They don't look very under control to me…" Tony commented as he got ready for an actual fight.
"I know, I know! Let me try again." Strange said to no one in particular with an irritable tone as he floated above the slab once again and took a breath to prepare himself. He channeled his sling ring before creating a portal in front of him.
"Strange! Stop this farce!" Wong couldn't let Strange continue to do whatever he was doing. The portal that Strange had opened led to Agatha and the Darkhold. Wong threw his sword at Strange's extended hand, making the man flinch back and preventing him from grabbing the Darkhold. Wong then cast a spell that destabilized the portal and made it fizzle out of existence.
"Can't you see, Wong?" Strange tried to cast the portal once again to try and get the Darkhold, "I'm trying to fix everything!"
"All you're doing is giving in to the latent will of Chthon," Wong destroyed the portal once again and tried to attack Strange, but was interrupted by the Elder Beast that was in front of him. It roared and sent a ball of Chaos energy at him.
"Keep them busy!" Wong shouted as he dodged the Elder Beast and approached Strange, "I'll take care of him."
"I knew this was a bad idea…" Nat commented as she cracked her knuckles before jumping at the Elder Beast that was approaching Wong.
[No you didn't.] Alex said, [You had the same curiosity as Stark.]
[Yeah, well they don't know that.] She said cheekily to Alex as she kicked the Elder beast in the face.
"Start pulling your weight Tony, Cap isn't going to be much more use than a projectile today," Nat said with a laugh as she kneed the back of the Elder beast's head and created a scythe in her hand.
"I take offense to that," Steve shouted as he intercepted one of the beasts and hit it in the face with his Vibranium brace.
"She's not that wrong…" Tony commented as he saw the beast having been barely affected by Steve's attack. He charged it and powered his palm repulsors before grabbing its head and blasting both repulsors at full power. The beast roared as smoke rose from its head, but it still seemed alive as a red glow appeared on its head, acting as a shield that protected it significantly from that lethal attack. Tony was relentless and continued attacking it while keeping it engaged in close combat alongside Steve.
Back on Nat's side, she swung the scythe that she'd created on her arm at the beast's neck, planning to decapitate it in one go. Sensing the lethal attack, the beast threw a red ball of chaos energy at the scythe to block it. The red ball collided with Nat's scythe, but it just passed through the ball of energy, cutting the beast's head.
It was so abrupt that it even surprised Natasha. She was frozen for a second when she realized that one of the beasts was dead.
[Focus.] Alex said. He was the one who manipulated the beast's Chaos energy to allow the scythe to pass. Unlike Wanda or any Chaos-based entity in general, he was only a manipulator. Even the spells that he could cast were done using Wanda's energy, so the temple never realized his presence.
Alex then directed Natasha to the other two beasts that were approaching Wong and Strange who were engaging in a duel of mystic arts. They seemed equally matched to Natasha and she could tell that if the beasts got involved, Wong would lose, badly.
[How'd you break through the sphere…] Nat asked as she jumped above the two Elder beasts and landed behind them.
[I'm bonded to Wanda too, honey. Chaos Energy isn't really a big deal to me.] Alex told her as she created two whips and wrapped them around the Elder Beasts' torsos, stopping their advance.
[Then can't you deal with that guy too?] She asked as she pulled the whips taut and sent a jolt of lightning through them, electrocuting both beasts.
[No can do.] Alex told her, [I'm looking for an opportunity to do something.]
Nat understood that Alex was after something. And that's why he was so closed off this whole time, [You're looking to get something from those two sorcerers.]
[Kinda.] He said, [I didn't really expect Strange to go all demonic and get himself corrupted by the temple palace's lingering will. But now that he is, I can put my plan into motion.]
[Well, whatever…] Nat said as she saw the beasts recovering from her attack. She yanked both whips and pulled both beasts back with her enhanced strength.
***
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