Chương 144: Chapter 144: Counter-Attacking the Dark Dimension 

On a quiet, dimly lit street somewhere in London, an incredibly pale, highly attractive young woman wearing a revealing dress offered a sultry smile to a passing young man. She suggestively curled her finger, beckoning him, and gracefully stepped backward into a secluded, shadowed alleyway. 

The young man paused, completely stunned by his sudden, unexpected good fortune. A massive, slightly incredulous smile spread across his face. Is she actually looking for some quick, thrilling fun in an alley?! 

Eagerly, he followed her into the shadows. He found her leaning seductively against the brick wall, offering him a highly inviting, sultry gaze. 

Attempting to project an aura of sophisticated charm, the young man approached her smoothly. "Excuse me, miss. Do you perhaps require some... assistance?" 

The woman smiled, smoothly wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him incredibly close. "What exactly do you think I need assistance with?" 

As the young man's eyes slowly glazed over, utterly captivated by her proximity, the woman's smile widened. Suddenly, her beautiful, flawless skin rapidly, horrifyingly began to rot and dissolve! Within a fraction of a second, her entire face had completely withered away, revealing a terrifying, grinning, bleached skull! 

Bizarrely, the young man appeared entirely oblivious to the horrific transformation. His eyes remained glazed and totally unfocused, completely paralyzed by the localized illusion as he allowed her cold, skeletal fingers to gently trace the line of his jaw. 

"I shall graciously accept the offering of your soul..." the female skeleton hissed with a terrifying, ethereal echo. 

She raised her skeletal hand, her fingers glowing with a sickly, dark energy, preparing to violently plunge them into his chest and literally rip his soul from his body. 

Suddenly, a massive, highly muscular, purple-clad figure violently plummeted directly from the sky! 

"Not you again!" the female skeleton shrieked in absolute, terrified disbelief, recognizing the intruder. 

The figure completely ignored the scream. Galacta violently, brutally punched the female skeleton directly in the skull! The devastating physical impact instantly shattered the localized extra-dimensional avatar! The skeleton violently exploded into a cloud of foul-smelling, yellowish cosmic dust that slowly drifted toward the ground. 

Galacta waved her hand in front of her nose, an expression of profound, absolute disgust on her face. 

Why in the cosmos do the residual avatars of these pathetic, localized Dimensional Lords always smell so incredibly foul?! It literally smells like a bloated frog corpse that's been marinating in raw sewage for a week! 

Despite the absolutely horrific stench, Galacta's highly advanced cosmic senses immediately detected the highly concentrated, pure dimensional energy radiating from the residual dust. 

She absolutely refused to waste perfectly good food. 

Glancing down at the small, glowing, ethereal soul sphere she currently had tethered to her utility belt, Galacta reached out and aggressively grabbed the foul-smelling yellow dust from the air. With a casual, utterly pragmatic gesture, she aggressively smeared the concentrated dimensional dust directly over the surface of the soul sphere! 

This specific energy signature is far too foul-tasting for my refined palate. However, it functions perfectly as a highly concentrated, passively digestible nutrient paste to aggressively reinforce and stabilize this fragile, nearly shattered soul. 

Galacta nodded in profound satisfaction, admiring her bizarre, highly practical 'marinade.' She pulled out her highly advanced Stark Industries smartphone, checking her encrypted email to see if the Kamar-Taj sorcerers had formally logged any additional coordinates for suspected demonic incursions. 

Since two of the three primary Sanctums had been completely destroyed, the planetary defense grid was functionally severely compromised. While the grid still mathematically possessed enough localized structural integrity to actively repel the actual physical manifestation of the Dimensional Lords, the massive 'holes' in the network allowed the Lords to effortlessly, continuously deploy hundreds of these annoying, localized avatars directly into the material plane. Consequently, her workload had completely skyrocketed. 

She quickly scanned the latest, highly urgent email. However, the sender wasn't a generic Kamar-Taj alert node; it was specifically from Tony Stark. 

Rapidly reading the contents of the message, Galacta's eyes widened in genuine, profound excitement. She instantly securely fastened her phone and the 'marinating' soul sphere to her belt, violently launched herself into the sky, and flew directly toward the specified coordinates at maximum hypersonic speed! 

Meanwhile, in the devastated street outside the Hong Kong Sanctum... 

The massive, terrifyingly expansive Dimensional Gate was continuously, aggressively vomiting an absolute, endless tsunami of corrupted dark entities. However, the relentless, apocalyptic tide was currently being entirely, completely stonewalled by the sudden, overwhelming arrival of the absolute entirety of Luke's elite Shadowkhan legion! 

Dozens of towering, massively muscular Troll Ninjas quickly linked arms, aggressively forming a literal, impenetrable physical wall of absolute muscle and dense armor, violently blocking the primary chokepoint. Whenever a demonic behemoth attempted to violently smash through, the Trolls simply grabbed the struggling monster, hoisted it high above their heads, and violently hurled it backward into the sunlight. 

As the sunlight cast a sharp shadow behind the thrown demon, a massive, utterly terrifying entity emerged from the darkness. 

A specialized Shadow-Eater—rapidly growing larger with every successful meal—aggressively lunged forward, violently snapping its massive, razor-sharp jaws and completely, instantly swallowing the demon's shadow! 

The Shadowkhan's highly coordinated, absolutely devastating intervention had instantly stabilized the collapsing S.P.E.A.R. defensive line. In fact, their overwhelming, lethal efficiency was actively, aggressively pushing the endless demonic horde backward toward the portal! 

The elite, highly specialized strike units acted as terrifyingly efficient, impenetrable spearheads. They violently pierced deeply into the dense enemy formations, effortlessly shattering their ranks. Thousands of highly agile, utterly lethal Shadow Ninjas rapidly swarmed through the breaches, systematically, silently executing the disorganized demons. 

Protected by the impenetrable ring of Shadow Ninjas, the localized Shadow-Eater actively continued its aggressive feast. Having successfully consumed dozens of high-tier shadows, it had rapidly expanded into a terrifying, massive, fifteen-meter-tall behemoth! 

Fully matured and brimming with aggressive, predatory intent, the colossal Shadow-Eater violently launched itself entirely over the defensive line of Troll Ninjas! It crashed heavily directly into the densest cluster of demons! Opening its massive, horrifying maw—lined with thousands of jagged, razor-sharp teeth—it aggressively, violently bit down on an entire group of struggling monsters, instantly swallowing them whole! 

Radiating an aura of absolute, terrifying cosmic hunger, the Shadow-Eater glared down at the remaining, significantly smaller demons cowering before it. 

It was finally time to abandon the shadows and actively hunt the actual meat! 

The massive Shadow-Eater aggressively charged forward, partially submerging its lower body into the localized shadows to maximize its agility. It tore through the chaotic street, violently, continuously snapping its massive jaws, indiscriminately swallowing dozens of terrified demons with every single bite! Its physical mass continued to visibly, terrifyingly expand with every successful meal. 

With the colossal, highly aggressive Shadow-Eater violently clearing the path, the entire Shadowkhan legion advanced even faster, rapidly forming an absolute, impenetrable, suffocating defensive perimeter directly surrounding the primary Dimensional Gate. 

Hovering safely above the street, Tony watched the massive Shadow-Eater enthusiastically, violently devouring the demonic horde. He couldn't help but chuckle. 

Watching that terrifying monster indiscriminately gorge itself instantly reminds me of Galacta. I wonder which one of them can theoretically consume a higher total volume of cosmic biomass before bursting? 

Speak of the devil. A blindingly fast, glowing purple streak violently plummeted from the clouds, instantly stopping perfectly motionless directly in front of Tony. 

"Where is the buffet... ah, I mean, the critical, world-ending tactical threat?" Galacta asked eagerly, her eyes practically sparkling with absolute, cosmic hunger. 

The buffet. Tony sighed helplessly. He pointed downward at the massive, terrifying Shadow-Eater currently violently rampaging through the demonic ranks. 

"Your buffet is currently being aggressively monopolized by the giant, terrifying shadow-shark." 

Galacta looked down. Seeing the colossal, pitch-black entity rapidly, aggressively swallowing dozens of energy-rich demons, she gasped in profound, absolute cosmic outrage! 

"I will assist immediately!" Galacta declared, aggressively preparing to dive-bomb directly into the street to violently contest the Shadow-Eater for the meals. 

Tony instantly panicked and frantically grabbed her arm! 

Because Galacta was incredibly eager, she had accelerated rapidly. Tony's sudden grab completely failed to halt her momentum; instead, he was violently yanked downward with her! Fortunately, Galacta instantly registered the resistance and immediately halted mid-air, saving Tony from a highly embarrassing, violently lethal crash. 

"The absolute primary tactical objective right now is NOT the localized demonic horde!" Tony yelled over the chaotic noise of the battle, pointing frantically at the massive, expanding Dimensional Gate. "That portal is actively, continuously expanding! If we fail to permanently neutralize it, it will eventually completely swallow the entire planet!" 

"But... an infinite portal logically provides an absolute, infinite supply of highly nutritious, energy-dense enemies!" Galacta frowned, deeply confused. She honestly felt that the massive, swarming horde of dark energy monsters possessed relatively low nutritional value individually; she required massive quantities to even slightly satiate her cosmic hunger. An infinite portal seemed like a perfectly logical, highly efficient biological solution. 

"BUT if it continues expanding, it will eventually completely consume the Earth!" Tony reiterated, highly exasperated by her completely twisted, hunger-driven cosmic logic. 

Galacta watched as a massive chunk of a nearby apartment building was violently ripped from its foundation and aggressively sucked directly into the dark void of the portal. She finally nodded slowly in understanding. 

Right. No Earth means no more of the God of Cookery's incredibly delicious, spiritually enhanced pastries. That is a completely unacceptable outcome. 

Suppressing her overwhelming, cosmic hunger, Galacta turned to Tony with an expression of absolute, deadly seriousness. "Understood. What exactly is the required tactical objective?" 

"That specific portal is actively, continuously siphoning limitless dimensional energy directly from the Dark Dimension to fuel its exponential expansion," Tony explained rapidly. "We absolutely must immediately physically sever that localized energy tether! Once deprived of energy, the portal will naturally collapse. Stephen originally suggested we aggressively push through the portal to completely consume the localized energy source... but we require your specialized capabilities to actually execute that." 

Galacta pondered the tactical request. "I must formally state that my current maximum cosmic capacity is severely limited. Perhaps my father could effortlessly swallow the entire localized dimension in a single bite... but I absolutely cannot physically consume the total, infinite energy reserve of the entire Dark Dimension." 

She paused, then smiled brightly. "However... I do currently possess a highly advanced, specialized 'Cosmic Energy Isolation Array' gifted to me by my father! I can actively deploy it to completely, permanently sever the portal's localized connection to the surrounding dimensional energy field!" 

Tony exhaled a massive sigh of profound relief. "Excellent! There is one final, highly critical tactical variable. We must explicitly verify if actively deploying the isolation array will cause the portal to instantly, violently collapse, or if it will slowly, organically shrink." 

Tony was acutely aware of Galacta's terrifying, near-instantaneous speed. If the portal slowly shrank like the New York one had, she could effortlessly deploy the array and return. But if severing the energy caused an instantaneous, catastrophic collapse... she would be permanently trapped in the Dark Dimension. 

Galacta nodded. She instantly accessed the highly advanced, incredibly sophisticated localized scanning protocols integrated into her suit by her father. The terrifyingly powerful cosmic sensors completely penetrated the magical structure of the portal in a fraction of a second. A highly complex, glowing 3D holographic projection of the portal's localized energy matrix materialized in her hand. 

"Analysis complete," Galacta reported confidently. "This specific, highly stabilized dimensional matrix incorporates a robust, localized safety failsafe. If the primary external energy tether is severed, the portal absolutely will not suffer a catastrophic collapse. Instead, it will organically, steadily contract and shrink, exactly mimicking the behavior of your previous portal." 

"Outstanding," Tony breathed a massive sigh of relief. "I was genuinely terrified you would be permanently marooned. Alright, what is the precise tactical execution plan?" 

"I must physically enter the Dark Dimension," Galacta explained precisely. "I will aggressively deploy the localized isolation array directly around the portal's anchor point. However, the array requires several minutes to fully boot up, synchronize, and permanently sever the energy connection. We must actively defend the array from hostile interference during that critical boot sequence." 

Seeing Tony aggressively prime his repulsors, entirely eager to follow her, Galacta quickly held up a hand. 

"I strongly recommend you remain here. While your suit's localized anti-magic runes will successfully prevent you from instantly dying within the Dark Dimension... your primary, localized kinetic and plasma weaponry are entirely ineffective there. Within that specific realm, you would be strictly limited to highly inefficient, close-quarters physical brawling. Your presence would be highly sub-optimal." 

Hearing Galacta completely, highly logically dismantle his combat effectiveness, Tony sighed heavily in profound frustration. 

Remembering how utterly useless his highly advanced, incredibly expensive micro-missiles had been against the dark energy shield, he reluctantly accepted the harsh reality. 

He simultaneously made an absolute, ironclad vow to spend the next month completely locked in his lab, aggressively, obsessively researching Kamar-Taj physics until he had successfully engineered a highly advanced, fully integrated 'Mystic-Buster' armor. Once he achieved that, he would never be relegated to the sidelines of a magical conflict again. 

Just as Tony stood down, Megatron's deep voice echoed across the secure comms channel. "I shall actively lead the Shadowkhan legion into the breach and personally secure the required defensive perimeter." 

Having successfully evacuated the heavily damaged Barricade to the medical staging area, Megatron aggressively transformed back into his sleek fighter-jet mode. 

"Shadowkhan! Advance and secure the beachhead!" Megatron roared! 

He aggressively accelerated, violently blasting directly through the expanding Dimensional Gate! Thousands of highly disciplined, utterly lethal Shadow Ninjas instantly surged forward, following their commander into the absolute darkness! 

Seeing the vanguard deploy, Galacta quickly unclipped the glowing, foul-smelling soul sphere from her belt and aggressively tossed it directly at Tony. 

"What the hell is this?!" Tony panicked, instinctively catching the small sphere. The absolute microsecond he touched it, his olfactory sensors were overwhelmed by an incredibly foul, putrid odor. 

Seeing Tony actively preparing to violently throw the foul-smelling object away, Galacta yelled urgently, "Do not discard it! That is a highly fragile, heavily damaged soul belonging to a Kamar-Taj sorcerer! I accidentally recovered it earlier. It was rapidly dissipating, so I actively coated it in highly concentrated, localized Dimensional Lord essence to forcibly stabilize its structure!" 

A Kamar-Taj sorcerer's soul?! 1

Tony froze, his brow furrowing deeply in profound confusion. Then, a terrifying realization struck him. He stared at the glowing, foul-smelling sphere in absolute, mind-boggling shock. He opened his mouth, preparing to frantically ask Galacta for specific details... 

But Galacta had already aggressively launched herself forward, violently blasting through the Dimensional Gate and vanishing completely from sight. 

Well... I suppose I have to hold onto it for now. 

Tony aggressively manually disabled his suit's external air-intake and filtration systems to block the horrific stench, tightly clutching the small sphere as he slowly descended back toward the street. 

Meanwhile, completely enveloped within the chaotic, infinite expanse of the Dark Dimension... 

A massive, terrifyingly dense army of newly formed, heavily corrupted dark entities was currently actively assembling near the primary Dimensional Gate, eagerly preparing to flood through the breach and actively participate in the glorious conquest of the material plane. 

A massive, heavily armored behemoth aggressively kicked a smaller, pathetic demon out of its path, striding confidently toward the glowing portal. 

Just as the behemoth reached the threshold, a sleek, highly advanced, metallic fighter jet violently erupted directly out of the portal! The jet instantly executed a flawless, blindingly fast aerial maneuver, utilizing its razor-sharp wing edge to aggressively, violently decapitate the behemoth in a single, devastating strike! 

The colossal, headless body crashed heavily to the ground, instantly paralyzing the surrounding horde in absolute shock. 

Megatron seamlessly transformed mid-air, landing heavily in the center of the horde. He instantly conjured multiple, massive, multi-layered Eldritch mandalas, aggressively unleashing a devastating, continuous magical bombardment directly onto the dense clusters of demons surrounding the portal! 

Simultaneously, the colossal, terrifying Shadow-Eater aggressively squeezed its massive bulk completely through the portal! It violently swept its massive, scythe-like forelimbs, instantly clearing a massive, bloody perimeter directly around the gate. 

The endless tide of Shadow Ninjas flooded through the breach immediately after, ruthlessly, silently slaughtering the completely disorganized, stunned demons. 

Relying entirely on their absolute, overwhelming combat superiority and sheer surprise, Megatron and the Shadowkhan rapidly, violently secured a massive, highly stable defensive perimeter directly surrounding the portal within the Dark Dimension. 

Seconds later, Galacta confidently stepped through the portal. 

Immediately sensing the absolute, infinite, unimaginable density of pure, highly concentrated dark energy completely surrounding her, Galacta instinctively licked her lips. She forcefully, aggressively suppressed her overwhelming cosmic urge to simply begin eating everything in sight. 

She prioritized the mission. She rapidly deployed the highly complex, localized Cosmic Energy Isolation Array directly over the portal's anchor point. 

A massive, shimmering, translucent dome of highly advanced cosmic energy violently expanded outward, completely engulfing the portal and actively, aggressively isolating it from the surrounding Dark Dimension. 

Instantly, the portal—which had previously been aggressively, continuously siphoning limitless energy to expand—violently shuddered! Deprived of its fuel, the terrifying expansion halted immediately, and the perimeter began to slowly, organically shrink. 

"The array is fully operational and highly effective! We simply need to successfully defend this perimeter for several minutes until the portal completely, permanently collapses!" Galacta cheered enthusiastically. 

Megatron nodded firmly, taking to the air. His highly advanced processors operated at absolute maximum thermal capacity, continuously, aggressively conjuring massive, devastating magical arrays to relentlessly bombard the massive horde of demons attempting to retake the portal. 

Down below, the colossal Shadow-Eater completely ignored the demons—who lacked edible shadows in this specific dimension—and aggressively utilized its massive, scythe-like forelimbs to violently smash and crush the advancing enemies. 

Galacta, having successfully deployed the array, decided to fully indulge her cosmic hunger. She aggressively opened her mouth and began violently, continuously inhaling massive, unimaginable quantities of the ambient dark energy directly from the dimension! 

Once she was fully, completely saturated with energy, she closed her eyes, rapidly condensing the power. With a terrifying roar, she unleashed a massive, apocalyptic shockwave of highly concentrated cosmic energy! The devastating blast completely annihilated thousands of demons, violently tearing them to shreds! 

The Shadowkhan formed an absolute, impenetrable shield wall behind Megatron and Galacta, ruthlessly executing any demon fortunate enough to survive the apocalyptic bombardment. 

Unbeknownst to them... their localized, highly aggressive tactical insertion had occurred relatively close to the massive, terrifying dimensional rift completely connecting the Dark Dimension to Luke's localized realm! 

Because Dormammu had been explicitly, aggressively attempting to simply stall Luke and the Ancient One without expending massive quantities of his highly valuable Origin Essence, the brutal, physical brawl had effectively reached a highly tense, grueling stalemate. 

However, amidst the intense, localized struggle, Dormammu suddenly paused. He snapped his massive, burning head around, his cosmic senses instantly detecting a massive, catastrophic anomaly deep within his own dimension. 

Noticing Dormammu's sudden distraction, Luke aggressively seized the tactical opportunity! He violently charged forward, swinging his massive, combined Death Scythe with lethal intent! 

However, Dormammu roared furiously! Completely abandoning his conservative strategy, he violently unleashed a massive, devastating pulse of pure Origin Essence! The apocalyptic shockwave violently slammed into Luke, aggressively knocking him backward! 

Dormammu completely ignored Luke. He immediately turned and aggressively sprinted directly back toward his own dimension! 

"Why is he retreating?!" Luke yelled, rapidly recovering from the blast. Because he was currently in his massively augmented 'Dimensional Lord' true form, he easily absorbed the kinetic force without sustaining significant structural damage. 

He aggressively flared his massive skeletal wings, gracefully landing beside the Ancient One. 

The Ancient One, who had just spent the last ten minutes continuously, relentlessly bombarding Dormammu with high-tier magic, looked incredibly exhausted. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and frowned deeply. 

"I am uncertain. Based on the relatively minimal volume of Origin Essence we successfully forced him to expend, he should absolutely not be retreating yet. It is highly probable that a catastrophic emergency has occurred deep within his own dimension." 

Luke frowned, highly suspicious. Dormammu had literally just expended massive effort specifically to trap them here! Why would he suddenly completely abandon the engagement?! 

Determined to discover the truth, Luke aggressively sprinted toward the massive dimensional rift. Because Dormammu was currently completely stripped of his ability to actively manipulate the ambient dark energy to fly, the colossal entity was forced to manually run across the void. 

Watching the terrifying, apocalyptic Dimensional Lord awkwardly jogging away into the distance, Luke actually had to actively suppress a highly inappropriate chuckle. 

However, as Luke peered through the rift, tracking Dormammu's trajectory, his smile instantly vanished. He spotted several highly familiar, distinctive silhouettes actively engaging a massive horde of demons in the distance. 

Wait. Are those... Megatron and Galacta?! 

"How in the world did they end up completely inside Dormammu's dimension?!" Luke yelled in absolute, panicked disbelief. Completely ignoring the terrifying danger of entering Dormammu's realm, Luke aggressively flared his skeletal wings and violently launched himself through the rift! 

Because he was flying, Luke rapidly overtook the jogging Dormammu! He aggressively dive-bombed the Dimensional Lord, violently tackling him heavily to the ground! 

Dormammu roared in absolute, unadulterated fury! He violently twisted around, instantly conjuring a massive, highly concentrated sphere of pure Origin Essence, and aggressively hurled it directly at Luke's face! 

Luke was genuinely stunned! He absolutely hadn't expected Dormammu to instantly, aggressively utilize his highly valuable, irreplaceable Origin Essence for a standard, localized attack! It meant Dormammu was absolutely, genuinely enraged! 

Luke frantically executed a highly complex evasive maneuver, barely dodging the devastating blast. 

"RETREAT! ALL FORCES, FALL BACK IMMEDIATELY!" Luke roared urgently to Megatron and Galacta via his dimensional tether! 

"YOU SHALL NEVER ESCAPE!" Dormammu roared with apocalyptic, cosmic fury! 

He had willingly endured an incredibly humiliating, brutal physical beating specifically to stall Luke and the Ancient One, allowing his forces to destroy Earth! 

He had absolutely, completely believed his flawless strategy was succeeding... only to discover his pathetic minions had not only completely failed to destroy the Sanctum, but they had also allowed the mortals to launch a highly successful, devastating counter-invasion directly into his own realm! 

Furthermore, he could clearly sense that the terrifying, purple entity currently standing near the portal had literally, casually inhaled over two billion points of his highly valuable dimensional energy in a single breath! 

Dormammu's absolute, cosmic patience completely shattered! If he failed to successfully destroy the final Sanctum today and completely eradicate these pathetic insects, he would become the absolute, ultimate laughingstock of the entire multiverse!