Inside the Vault
The cracks on the Tesseract spread wider and wider.
Finally, with a crisp shattering sound, the entire cube completely broke apart.
The Space Stone was now fully exposed, radiating an even more dazzling blue light.
A wave of invisible energy began to pulse outward from the stone, threatening to expand uncontrollably.
But Lyon reacted instantly—without hesitation, he grabbed the stone and directly sealed it into his internal world.
The violent energy surge finally came to an end.
The space energy that had engulfed his body gradually faded away.
However, inside his internal world—
The Space Stone, like a fish that had been out of water for too long, suddenly returned to the vast ocean.
Now completely unrestrained, it began unleashing its energy even more wildly.
Endless waves of space energy continuously poured out from the stone, merging into Lyon's inner world.
For a moment, his entire internal universe rumbled and trembled, as if on the verge of an evolution.
The original diameter of Lyon's internal world, which was 60,000 kilometers, began to expand after absorbing space energy.
The growth wasn't fast, but it was continuous.
Lyon observed it for a few minutes before his brows furrowed—suddenly realizing something.
The energy of the Space Stone originated from the Marvel singular universe.
Yet now, that energy was being absorbed into his internal world.
By all logic, this shouldn't be possible.
But so much time had passed already…
Eternity and Infinity, those nosy cosmic entities who loved spying on him, would have definitely noticed the anomaly by now.
Since they weren't intervening, that meant they had tacitly allowed him to continue.
This led Lyon to ponder deeper about the potential uses of the Infinity Stones.
He knew that inside his internal world, he still had a clone incubating, waiting for the necessary time to fully develop.
Even though, after breaking through to Domain Lord, the incubation period of his Blood Sea Clone had already shrunk from thousands of years to just a few decades—
It was still too long.
Since the Space Stone could influence his internal world, there was no reason the Time Stone couldn't do the same, right?
Lyon flipped his hand, sending the Eye of Agamotto into his internal world as well.
He formed a hand seal, casting a spell to control the Time Stone, attempting to accelerate the flow of time.
However, after just a few seconds, he stopped.
"No good… Time acceleration alone isn't enough. It can speed up the incubation process of the clone, but it can't provide the energy needed for it to grow."
"The required energy is World Force—in that case, maybe the Space Stone can supplement it."
He then switched strategies, attempting to manipulate the Space Stone to convert its energy into World Force.
Soon, an incredibly dense energy began to fill the space.
"It works!" Lyon's face lit up with excitement.
He then controlled both Infinity Stones simultaneously.
The time flow in his internal world suddenly accelerated dramatically, while an endless stream of energy poured in from the Space Stone.
At the center of his world, the massive egg incubating his Blood Sea Clone began to grow visibly.
One kilometer… two kilometers…
It kept expanding until it reached a diameter of 100 kilometers!
"The clone has officially entered the full incubation phase," Lyon concluded.
"Unfortunately, time acceleration is capped at 1,000 times—any higher, and it will destabilize the space."
He stabilized the flow of energy from both Infinity Stones.
"Tsk. My internal world is still too immature. Maybe in the future, I can try even greater time acceleration."
"But shortening the incubation time from 60 years to just 21 days is already a massive breakthrough."
Lyon gazed at the giant sphere at the center of his world.
It was as if he could already see the day his hundred-kilometer-tall Blood Sea Clone would be born.
With a thought, he exited his internal world, leaving the clone to develop quietly.
...
Back in the Vault
When Lyon opened his eyes, he immediately used the Mystic Portal to return to the previous room.
However, the moment he stepped through the portal,
he saw Tony and the agents standing with their backs to him, seemingly confronting someone.
Lyon casually closed the portal behind him and stepped forward—
Only to find that the people standing opposite them were Wong and Mordo.
The two were trying to explain that they meant no harm, and behind them, a portal to Kamar-Taj was still open.
But Tony clearly wasn't convinced.
"Wait, don't do anything yet!" Lyon quickly called out, stopping Tony and the agents, who were ready to attack. "They're on our side!"
"You're okay now?" Tony didn't even turn around. "Because these guys showed up the moment you disappeared—you sure they're not some hit squad sent by Kamar-Taj to take you out?"
"Kamar-Taj… taking me out?" Lyon's expression became funny for a second.
Across from them, Wong and Mordo also looked equally baffled.
"Lyon is our Sorcerer Supreme!" Mordo raised both hands in front of his chest. "Why would we try to take him out? You're all misunderstanding the situation!"
They both knew about Tony's close relationship with Lyon.
So they had never shown any hostility at all.
Otherwise, this could've already turned into an all-out battle.
"Sorcerer Supreme?" Tony's expression shifted as he realized they might have made a mistake.
"The Sorcerer Supreme represents the strongest force in the magical world," Wong explained. "They are the leader of Kamar-Taj and the guardian of Earth's dimension!"
Now it was Tony's turn to be completely thrown off.
"Wait, so you're telling me that Lyon is basically the chief of some secret wizard village?"
Lyon cut him off immediately.
"You call me a Village chief?! It's a hidden organization that's been secretly protecting Earth since ancient times!"
Lyon sighed helplessly. "The process was a bit… complicated, but before the last Sorcerer Supreme passed away, they passed the title to me."
"Wait, you were only gone for a little over a month—and you already became their leader?" Tony was completely speechless.
His little brother could climb to the top no matter where he went.
This time, he even outlasted their previous boss.
"A month is long enough." Lyon patted Tony on the shoulder.
If he only counted the time spent in the Marvel universe, then from the moment he awakened his abilities until now, not even a full year had passed.
From that perspective, a month was already a pretty long time.
He then walked toward Wong and Mordo.
"It's only been a few hours since I left—why are you two here?"
Lyon was genuinely curious about their sudden arrival.
"Don't tell me something happened to Kamar-Taj? Did a Dimensional Demon destroy one of the Sanctuaries?"
At those words, Mordo's mouth twitched.
Why did it sound like Lyon was almost hoping for a Dimensional Demon attack?
"Kamar-Taj is perfectly fine," Wong explained. "Mordo and I sensed a massive energy surge here, so we came to see if you needed backup."
Mordo's expression turned serious. "Did you encounter a Hell Demon?"
"The power that erupted here was immense—probably strong enough that every major sorcerer on Earth could sense it."
"If necessary, we can immediately notify everyone to assemble!"
"Ahah.. No need, it was actually just a misunderstanding." Lyon pinched his brow.
The power of the Space Stone was indeed far too overwhelming.
Even a tiny fraction of its energy leaking out was enough to alert supernatural forces across the planet.
With his enhanced vision, Lyon scanned the surroundings and even noticed a few Eternals approaching to investigate.
"Let's head back to Kamar-Taj first. Since you're both here, we might as well begin the new magic training."
Lyon planned to release another energy burst once they were back at Kamar-Taj, ensuring that all interested parties would focus on the sanctum instead.
"Right now? But Mordo and I haven't finished organizing our affairs yet." Wong was caught off guard.
"There's no need for preparations—we'll go, get it done, and be back quickly."
Plans never keep up with change.
With the Space Stone's energy surge, it was inevitable that various external and internal forces would start probing.
Lyon decided to bypass the usual timeline and fast-track Wong and Mordo's training by traveling through time and dimensions nodes.
"Banner, you're coming too. Let your lovely girlfriend stay with the Avengers for now—once you've mastered soul magic, you can come back for her."
Before stepping into the portal, Lyon called out to Banner.
This guy was a key reserve member for the Kamar-Taj battle squad—he needed to be roped in as early as possible.
"Huh? Oh—okay!"
Banner hesitated for a moment but then nodded repeatedly.
After whispering a few words to Betty, they reluctantly parted ways.
"Wait, what about me?! Don't leave me behind!"
Seeing the portal starting to close and realizing Lyon hadn't invited him, Tony immediately activated his armor, launching himself through the portal before it shut.
___________
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