Author's note: Guys, please… if you can spare some power stones, I'd really appreciate it.

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Tucson, Arizona.

A great carnival was underway on the outskirts of the city, drawing in a massive crowd that now packed into a large circular arena, cheers rising and falling like waves as the next act prepared to begin.

The thunder of engines tore through the noise, blending with the crowd's restless roar. At the center of it all, a young man, barely in his early twenties, sat astride a heavily modified stunt bike, still and composed, like the calm before a storm.

He rolled his shoulders once, loose and relaxed, as if the thousands of eyes fixed on him meant nothing. Dust swirled lazily around the arena floor as he revved the throttle, the deep growl of the engine cutting through the noise of the crowd.

Wrroom-WROOOOOM!

He surged forward, the bike ripping across the dirt, a trail of dust exploding behind him as he gunned straight for the steep metal ramp. The crowd reacted in an instant, cheers erupting, some shouting wildly while others fell silent, breath caught in their throats.

His speed didn't drop, it only climbed, the engine screaming louder as he pushed it even further. At the very last second, he leaned in and twisted the throttle harder, and the bike blasted off the ramp, launching into the air like a catapult.

For a brief moment, man and machine hung in the air, frozen against the burning orange sky. To the ordinary people below, who knew nothing beyond the mundane, it was as close as they would ever get to watching an extraordinary miracle unfold right before their eyes.

The noise of the crowd cut off the moment the young man leaped, all eyes locked on him as they watched and gasped while he twisted midair, the bike tilting at an impossible angle. One mistake, and it would be the end for both man and machine. Fortunately for the young man, he was both skilled and lucky.

When the bike tilted, under the young man's masterful and impressive control, it righted itself just in time, and he made a clean landing.

The crowd erupted once more, the entire arena bursting into cheers. People shouted his name, voices blending into a deafening roar, while at the center of it all, the young rider only grinned wider, as if this, this roar, this danger, this razor-thin edge between life and death, was the only place he truly felt alive.

However, there was one person whose smile didn't quite match the atmosphere. In a far corner of the stands, half-forgotten by the crowd, sat a middle-aged figure dressed in a full suit despite the blazing midday sun. While others wiped sweat from their brows, he remained perfectly at ease, his posture relaxed, his gaze steady. Not a single bead of sweat touched his skin.

After the young man finished his stunt and the crowd erupted, he did not join the applause. His lips curled into a faint, wicked smile before he rose to his feet.

He turned and walked toward the exit, slipping through the rows with unhurried steps. And yet, what was truly strange was that no one reacted. Shoulders did not brush against him, no eyes followed his movement. It was as if he passed through the crowd unnoticed, as though he had never been there at all.

Outside, the roar of the crowd still echoed faintly behind him as he walked, unhurried, toward no place in particular, when at last, the wicked expression on his face finally began to change.

"Soon..." he let out a low, audible laugh. "Soon, Johnny... your relentless hunger for the thrill will send your soul to me—" His voice was heavy, as if meant only for himself, but then it cut off.

He paused, his head tilting slightly, brows tightening as if something unexpected had just caught his attention.

"A new demigod?" That wicked smile on his face returned as he murmured, looking that way, while to anyone else there was really nothing but more Wild West-style houses and the wavering shimmer of desert heat.

"What a delightful turn of events this is..." he said, turning to walk in that direction. But before he could take more than two steps, his expression changed again, and he stopped. The smile faded as his gaze lifted slightly upward where an orange circle formed in the air, and from it, a figure stepped through.

"How careless of me..." he let out a quiet chuckle. "I should have known even the slightest stir of my power would alert the likes of you...."

With a soft thud, the figure landed a short distance ahead of him, directly in his path, and calmly clasped her hands. Clad in flowing orange robes, she carried herself with quiet authority, and the look on her face made it clear she was not pleased in the slightest seeing him.

"Perhaps. Otherwise, I wouldn't have caught the wisp of that disgusting energy from you..."

"Huhuhu..." A soft, mocking chuckle escaped him. "Disgusting? And you don't hear the hypocrisy in your own words, Yao?" he replied, his voice smooth, laced with quiet amusement.

The Ancient One, however, remained unfazed. She ignored the taunt entirely and replied, her voice calm and firm, "Will you leave on your own, or must I make you?"

"Huhuhu... hahahah..." A low chuckle slipped out, then swelled into sharp laughter, as if he had just heard the finest joke. "Another time, I might just humor that threat... but do you really think I can't tell you're an avatar yourself?"

The Ancient One frowned, letting out a quiet sigh. Indeed, if this were her true self, dealing with an avatar of a hell lord would not be difficult. But, as the demon had pointed out, she too was only a remote consciousness, able to wield just a fraction of her full power. Even so, she was confident she could stop him, though it would come at a cost.

"No matter," the Ancient One said, her expression firm as she raised her hands, weaving a precise motion that pulled the space around them inward, folding it into the Mirror Dimension. "This is as far as you go."

"Your arrogance will someday get the better of you, hypocritical old mortal." His expression twisted, a feral edge creeping into his features as a dark, malignant aura began to seep outward from him.

His gaze flicked once more toward the direction where he had sensed that sudden spike of power, lingering for only a heartbeat, before settling back on the obstacle in front of him.

Avatar or not, this woman was no easy opponent. For a hell lord like him, she was the single greatest obstacle to spreading chaos in this plane so rich with life. Infuriating.

Even so, he wasn't willing to leave, at least not before uncovering the source behind that... otherwise delicious disturbance.

"Hah!"

He threw both hands upward, calling forth the hellfire at his command, while the Sorcerer Supreme moved in tandem, her arms weaving through the air as she drew upon layers of eldritch power.

The Mirror Dimension trembled, cracks of distortion rippling through space before their energies even met. But just as they were about to collide, the rumbling came to an abrupt halt.

The hell lord and the Sorcerer Supreme both turned their heads in the same direction, their gazes lifting slightly toward the sky. The Ancient One's expression grew even more solemn, while his changed into something far less composed, a mix of tension and... fear.

Obviously, something even more alarming had brushed against the edge of their senses. One must understand, these two beings were far from ordinary. To unsettle them so completely would require a presence far beyond the realm of their own power. Yes, in that instant, the two of them did not merely pause because they sensed something, but because they were forced to.

Within their line of sight, the midday light began to flicker like a failing bulb, the sunlight blinking in and out as the rhythm grew faster, until, in a matter of seconds, everything around them was swallowed by darkness.

Subsequently, far, far off in the distance, two vast lines began to form, stretching outward before widening into what could only be described as a pair of eyes. They burned a deep crimson, and in the next moment, shadows gathered around them, slowly taking shape, forming the outline of a head.

It was the head of a bird, formed from absolute darkness, vast beyond measure. It lifted slowly, as if roused from a long slumber, stretching across the entire horizon. Faint traces of its feathers could be seen along its form, but what drew the eye were the scattered, star-like patterns spread across it, glimmering even along its beak and throughout its immense shape.

A deep, otherworldly silence settled over the dimension as the two of them stood frozen, staring at the godlike presence that now claimed half the sky.

"You... are..." the hell lord tried to speak, but the pressure bearing down on him was so immense that he, a sovereign of an entire dimension, was left visibly shaken by a mere gaze and had to force the words out. "The Deceiver... Bloodra—"

"Scum of the underworld... disappear. Our audience is only with the disciple of Oshtur's son..."

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, neither male nor female, and it crashed into the senses of both the Ancient One and the hell lord like thunder, leaving their minds ringing and numb.

They both groaned, especially the avatar of the hell lord. Clearly, the address, or rather the command, was directed at him.

Even so, despite the crushing weight of it, his expression did not yield completely. Perhaps he could... negotiate? He could not defy that order, that much was certain, but this multiversal, no, omniversal being had only told him to leave. It had not said where.

"Lord... Deceiver... I have no quarrel with leaving you to speak with this mortal, so perhaps you might allow me to take my leave of this cursed dimension first?"

He had to ask. The moment that unfathomable presence revealed itself, he could no longer muster even an ounce of his power.

He turned slightly to look at the Sorcerer Supreme who, despite not having said a word until now, looked like she had more than one thought churning inside her mind.

"If you would allow me to channel—" he continued, but then cut himself off as a low huff reached him before his face turned ashen, eyes bulging as if he were suddenly struck by a wave of raw pain.

"Arrrrrrhhhh! No... you can't do this. I am also a subject of the Omni One... you are an outsider... Arrrrrrhhhh..."

He wailed, his voice breaking into a guttural scream laced with defiance. Then, before the horrified eyes of the Ancient One, his body ignited, devoured by flames so black they seemed forged from darkness itself, and in a matter of heartbeats, he was gone, reduced to nothing.

"The audacity... to think he could bargain with me like the mortals he toys with..."

The Ancient One heard the voice again, but this time, it no longer felt like her mind was about to tear apart. She slowly turned skyward again and was shocked to see that the entity, which had looked like a colossal bird of darkness was now gone. In its place, still as enormous, was a humanoid figure, rising from the waist up and still taking up the entire horizon.

It was still pitch black, with the same celestial-like markings all over its body, making it impossible to define its appearance. However, what truly shocked her was that this was not the first time she had seen this... godlike being.

Her eyes widened, and before she could stop herself, the words slipped out. "You are—"

However, the next thing she saw was the sky flickering again, and just a second later, before she could say anything else, she, or rather everything around her, had returned to... normal.

"Haaah..."

A long, deep breath rushed into her lungs. She hadn't even realized how long she had been holding it. Her face was damp with sweat as her gaze swept her surroundings. The Mirror Dimension stood intact, undisturbed, as if nothing had happened at all.

"Deceiver...?" A few breaths later, she murmured the name to herself, a name that was not unfamiliar to her at all. If a hell lord knew of the powerful beings that lurked across the multiverse, then she, a disciple of an elder god, would know as well.

But the so-called Deceiver was said to descend in only one form... well, at least until now, she thought inwardly.

So that being, the one who had blocked her gaze into the future back then... was it one and the same?

Then why... her thoughts raced, why had that being simply left after driving the hell lord away? Had it not said it wished to speak with her? Or... her eyes sharpened as another thought surfaced, had it descended for that alone, to stop him?

She let out a slow breath, her gaze turning toward where her true self should be. A faint smile touched her lips. This would become a very interesting memory once this fragment of her consciousness returned to her.

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Author's Note:

🔥 Drop those Power Stones! 🔥

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