Marvel: Cultured Reader System

"Sorry for being late"

Strange's voice echoed throughout the Sanctum Sanctorum. Around his body, that red light grew brighter and brighter, until Strange moved his hands and caused a gigantic explosion of energy. In the blink of an eye, Illyana and I found ourselves on top of a gigantic lake.

The water was a little murky, however, it was still possible to see small glowing spheres that alternated in color. Illyana lifted one of her feet, realizing how sticky the water was. It stuck to our feet, just like chewed gum in a kid's shoe.

"Strange is gone, we need to look for him," I said, as I tried to assess the situation. He hadn't commented on throwing me into a different realm, that wasn't in the plans for the confrontation.

A hand grabbed my shin, Illyana cut off that arm with a swift movement of her sword. With a kick, I threw that hand away, while distancing myself from where we were.

Strange's voice surprised us, he had appeared mysteriously, as usual "The robots that Victor Von Doom sent to New York are finished for now, they won't make it out of this limbo. We don't have much time, the original is heading towards Kamar-Taj"

Strange was visibly wounded and tired, his face looked a little pale. His eyes, as well as being tired, were marked with heavy circles, as if he hadn't slept for days.

"What happened?" Illyana didn't hesitate to ask.

"Those robots are copies of Doom, I've been battling them for a few days. For you, it must have only been seconds," he commented with a laugh. "When we get out of here, we won't have much time"

Strange looked deep into Illyana's eyes "I'm going to need you to make a Soulsword attack on Dr. Doom's armor. Only then will we have a chance of trapping him in a time loop."

Illyana nodded, her sword still glowing with an intense blue light. She then reduced the size of the blade, keeping the sword like a knife in her hand, so she wouldn't have to take it out of its sheath in the middle of combat.

In the blink of an eye, we returned to the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York. "What happened?" Wong said, a little confused.

He had one of his hands pressed against his chest, blood marking the red and blue suit he was wearing. Strange threw his cloak towards his friend, helping Wong to stand. Then the cloak slowly placed him on the ground, lying down.

"Say no more, my friend. Save your energy." Strange then looked at me. "Let's gather the wounded before going to the monastery, let's take them to the portal room."

"Understood," I said, along with Illyana.

The rest of the Sorcerers who were in the Sanctum Sanctorum helped us take care of the wounded. Of the seventy warriors in the facility, twenty were seriously injured, some had even lost arms and legs.

The situation and the mood were not good, however, Stephen Strange was managing to maintain a motivational energy among the sorcerers. Those with severed limbs were the first to be treated; magic couldn't completely heal their wounds, but with the help of the future Sorcerer Supreme it was possible to restore the parts in place.

That was absurd to watch, seeing a person who had just lost a leg or an arm glue it back in place with a few incantations. Well, in a world where you can fly, it's obvious that this kind of thing wouldn't be impossible.

Strange was giving orders and moving people around, Illyana was running from place to place, picking up gases and healing talismans. Meanwhile, I remained with five other Sorcerers in the portal room. Our mission was to keep the four portals in that room switched off, so that the Doombots or even Victor Von Doom could take advantage of the passage.

It took about thirty minutes to provide first aid.

"It's done, open the portal" Stephen said, kicking in the wooden door.

Illyana was behind him, her sword ready for combat. I exchanged glances with the other four sorcerers who were with me, all of whom were a little worried about what might happen.

Still, there was no other option.

As the portal opened, gray lightning flashed through the gap. Strange quickly used the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, locking the two Doombots that came through the portal at the same moment.

Illyana used the Soulsword to cut off the heads of those two robots, while Strange advanced in front of us. "Let's go!" he shouted, stepping through the portal while creating a magical shield with an incantation of light.

Illyana stepped through in front of me, followed by the other three wizards. Clenching my fists, I ran towards the portal.

...

The sensation of going through the portal was nauseating, the magic that held it in place was completely unstable. When I caught my breath, what I saw was the greatest scene of war and blood I've ever seen.

There were wizards destroying robots with portals, as well as robots going through humans with their fists. Bursts of magic went back and forth, while war cries echoed throughout the icy mountain.

We were outside the monastery, among the snow-capped mountains of Kamar-Taj. The snow was dirty red and black from the blood of my battle brothers and the oil of those robots from Latveria.

At the top of that mountain, there were two figures glowing in a surprising duality of energies. On one side was one of Marvel's greatest villains, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of X-men, Avengers and even Spider-Man.

On the other was a nice mystical lady with alopecia.

Dr. Doom was wearing a different kind of silver armor: he had two gigantic skull-shaped shoulder pads and spikes on each of the metal plates that made up his outfit.

His green cape was torn, as there were thorns going through the neck. There were even two metal horns on the mask that covered her face, but these were glowing with an intense red energy.

On the other side, the old woman was using Agamotto's eye, dodging Doom's attacks while reversing his actions. The two of them were standing still in the air, as if each movement was millimetrically thought out.

The old woman turned her face, looking in my direction. She smiled and then stretched out her arms and launched an attack. Several iron spheres appeared around the lady, flying towards Doom, who seemed unconcerned.

Doom was enveloped in a gelatinous aura, which made the metal spheres lose speed as they approached. Then they changed color, going from a perfect gold to a fainter and fainter glow, until they shattered completely.

Strange clicked his tongue, "He's using an withering aura, we're not gonna be able to fight up close"

"What if we don't get near it?" Illyana said, as she extended her sword. The blonde's blade increased in size until it reached an astonishing two meters. That saber turned into a Great Sword, but two meters was still too small to penetrate Dr Doom's protection.

My God, I'm beginning to understand why Dead Pool makes these kinds of jokes. I've got to stop thinking about this nonsense.