CHAPTER 86: ANCIENT ONE

The desolate streets of New York were empty, with the two of them standing about ten meters apart, scrutinizing each other with their eyes.

Ancient One?

Upon hearing the young woman’s self-introduction, Kyle maintained his cold and expressionless demeanor on the outside, but inside, a storm was brewing within his heart. His muscles involuntarily tensed, and he entered a state of heightened alertness like never before.

Ancient One, the strongest Sorcerer on Marvel Earth, an old woman who had lived for hundreds of years, the Sorcerer Supreme who delved into the truths of cosmic magic!

Almost instinctively, Venom, symbiotically bonded with Kyle, became equally wary. His suit, hat, sunglasses, and everything else transformed, twisting and morphing into his Black Night battle armor, emanating a brutal and feral aura.

Ancient One’s lips curled into a smile as she looked at Kyle, who had entered the battle mode. She spoke in a soothing tone, “General Kyle, I mean you no harm.”

“What have you done, and where are we?” Kyle asked coldly, surveying the streets and buildings around him that were a mix of reality and illusion.

“This is just a mirrored dimension of Earth’s space, it’s like a person looking in the mirror and the mirror’s internal Mirror Dimension, or you can call it a parallel spatial dimension that is always present by Earth’s side” Ancient One explained.

“Shifting spatial dimensions…” Kyle furrowed his brow. Although he had known about the abilities of Ancient One, who could manipulate time and space with magic, experiencing it firsthand made him realize just how terrifying it could be.

He had lost control of the situation for the first time, and at the moment, there was no escaping or fighting. He could only wait for the other party to reveal their intentions.

Even if he fled to the farthest reaches of the Mirror Dimension, he would not be able to return to the dimension of reality without the corresponding magical abilities.

And fighting Ancient One— Kyle believed that even if some higher-dimensional beings claiming to be deities were to arrive, they would be instantly defeated by the woman before him.

She is called the strongest guardian of Earth in the comics and in the Cinematics series. Did they think it was a joke?

“I wanted to meet you for some time now, and since I knew you had some free time today, I came directly,” Ancient One spoke softly, her words carrying a hint of enchantment that inexplicably dissipated the wariness and unease in others’ hearts.

“Meet me?” Kyle was taken aback, wondering when he had caught the attention of this old woman.

Ancient One gazed at him and asked with a smile, “What have you done to the Tesseract?”

“The Tesseract?” Kyle was slightly surprised, pondering his response, “Are you referring to the Magic Cube item that Hydra used to create infinite energy weapons, which I retrieved from the depths of the battlefield and handed over to the military base? It should be in the research facility of a US military base now.”

“Have you seen anything similar to it, particularly a gem embedded inside, like this one?” Ancient One asked, her left hand still resting on her back while her right palm turned upward and a necklace with a gemstone appeared out of thin air in her hand.

The necklace dangled from her slender palm, with a metal eye-shaped pendant at the bottom. The eye was a green gemstone, radiating a faint green light.

“What is this? A magic item of Sorcerer? It actually emits light,” Kyle calmly asked, counter-questioning.

In fact, as soon as he saw the eye-shaped necklace, he knew it was something extraordinary— the Eye of Agamotto, the Time Stone!

Like the Space Stone extracted from the core of the Tesseract, it was one of the six Infinity Stones!

“Have you never seen a gem inside something that emits light?” Ancient One continued to inquire. This time, Kyle seemed a bit impatient, shaking his head and saying, “If I say I haven’t seen it, then I haven’t. In the German armory, I did see a stockpile of gems stacked like mountains, but none of them emitted light like this one.”

This statement was true. He had indeed never seen the Space Stone physically because after extracting it into card form, it had remained stored in the Card Space without materializing.

“I see,” Ancient One deeply looked into Kyle’s eyes, then turned her hand, and the eye-shaped pendant necklace disappeared into thin air.

Kyle looked somewhat disappointed at the empty hand of Ancient One and spoke, “I wonder if you would be willing to part with that neckless, you can name your price for that magic item. I have a friend who is very fond of collecting such rare and precious artifacts.”

This time, it was Ancient One who was momentarily stunned, shaking her head and saying, “This thing is priceless and only belongs to those with fate.”

“Am I considered someone with fate? How about you give me that magic item…” Kyle pushed his luck.

Now he understood the reason for this meeting. Ancient One had sensed the disappearance of the Space Stone from the Tesseract and had come to investigate.

Indeed, as a Guardian of Earth, her intentions were pure, taking action only against external threats that posed significant harm to the planet. There was no need for her to deal with a “Defender of the Homeland” and a “Small and Ignorant” War Hero like him.

“Your penchant for killing is too heavy, and you are definitely not someone who would have any kind of fate with that,” Ancient One declined before she turned around as if she was about to leave.

Kyle, feeling a sense of urgency, quickly caught up and hurriedly pleaded, “Wait! Ancient One, how about teaching me some magic? Or, on behalf of my country, let me invite you for a cup of afternoon tea before you go?”

As Kyle was about to enter a three-meter range behind Ancient One to draw a card for investigation, Ancient One casually waved her hand, and tiny, dazzling sparks of light swirled and tore open a portal in the space in front of her.

Ancient One stepped forward and entered the splendid and wondrous portal, her white robe vanishing rapidly from view.

“Wait!” Kyle narrowed his eyes, accelerated his steps, and swiftly leaped out of the portal…

And came out on the bustling streets of New York.

“F*ck!” A businessman in a suit, carrying a briefcase and a newspaper, hurried along the street. Just as he lowered his head to check his watch, a dark figure suddenly leaped out in front of him, startling him so much that he fell down on the ground, his belongings scattered around.

“Who the hell are you?” The gentleman in the suit cursed and looked up, his eyes instinctively shifting to the New York Times spread across the pavement when he saw the mysterious person wearing the familiar iconic Black Night battle armor, surveying the surroundings.

On the front page of the newspaper, there was a large banner featuring a stern young man standing in front of the captured German Presidential Palace. The robust figure in the black battle armor looked exactly like the person who had suddenly appeared on the street.

After a momentary daze, the man in the suit burst out with excitement, his voice resembling that of a slaughtered pig, “It’s General Kyle! The real deal!”

“Huh?” Kyle, who had just come out of the Mirror Dimension, hadn’t yet reacted. After a brief electrical sensation from traversing the space, he suddenly realized that he was back on the bustling streets of New York, surrounded by a dense crowd of pedestrians.

Upon hearing the shout from the man in the suit, the entire street fell silent, and countless pairs of astonished and fiery eyes focused on Kyle at the street intersection.

“Oh no!” That was Kyle’s first thought. He also realized that he was currently in his Venom Battlesuit, with full coverage…

His second thought was:

“That old woman, I won’t forget this!”