Marvel Cybernetic Girl

Information gathering and analysis continued without pause.

Thanks to the joint surveillance efforts of the Argos Project and the CTOS system, it was now confirmed.

The one who had destroyed the Sanctum of the Asian Sorcerer Supreme… was none other than the Ancient One, completely consumed by Dormammu.

To protect the final remaining Sanctum on Earth—and to prevent this abundant world from being swallowed whole by the Dark Dimension.

Kagura and Stephen Strange brought their dimensional mystic training at Kamar-Taj to an abrupt end.

They boarded Rhodes Industries' "Halo" transport aircraft and returned to New York, standing together with the Avengers and Griffin members to defend the New York Sanctum.

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New York — Rhodes Industries Headquarters

No sooner had she arrived back in New York than Kagura threw herself into her research.

After all, a mere handful of mystic arts users wouldn't be enough to stop the corrupted Ancient One—not when she understood Strange and Kagura inside out, and possessed a level of mastery over the Time Stone that no one else could match.

Their only hope now was to integrate dimensional mysticism into Rhodes Industries' technology—to build the dimensional mystic army they had planned.

Maybe, just maybe, that could give them a fighting chance against Dormammu.

At that moment, Kagura stood in her lab, assisting her research team in processing massive volumes of data.

"Cortana, give me a status report—especially on the progress of dimensional mystic integration for the YoRHa units."

"Command acknowledged, Master."

Cortana activated a series of holographic projections, which expanded across the room like layers of curtains and screens, each displaying crucial information.

"We've completed the mystic fusion experiment on Vision. It was a success. However, applying those results to the YoRHa androids will take significantly more time…"

"Time… it's always time…" Kagura muttered, biting her lip.

"We need more time… Should I use the Eye of Agamotto again? No, that won't work this time. The scale is too large. We can't accelerate time in a meaningful way—not with the amount of energy and raw materials it would require…"

The Eye of Agamotto could create a "time chamber" that sped up time within a localized area—what felt like years inside would be just a day in the real world.

But for a complex scientific research project, this was simply unfeasible.

The integration of dimensional mysticism was incredibly advanced—so alien to modern science that it was essentially technology from thousands of years in the future.

Even Rhodes Industries could only make progress because they had access to Asgardian scientific principles and had acquired dark matter and dark energy tech from the Dark Elves.

To develop artificial dimensional mysticism—and adapt it for weapons and android soldiers was a near-impossible task under such a tight deadline.

And the enemy wasn't going to wait for them to finish.

Kagura ran simulations on the quantum supercomputer VEDA.

The result was grim: even if she, Strange, Wong, and Vision—Earth's most skilled mystic users—fought together, the chance of defeating the Ancient One was less than 1%.

So…

What about using the other Infinity Stones?

The Reality Stone with its Reality Rewrite ability.

The Mind Stone with its Mind Control potential.

Could that kind of "pay-to-win" strategy actually work?

Kagura furrowed her brows in deep thought.

She wasn't sure how long Reality Rewrite could hold off Dormammu's assault, or whether Mind Control would have any effect on Dormammu's will at all.

Worse—if she tried to control Dormammu's mind and failed, there was a very real chance he'd corrupt her instead.

And if that happened… the world would be truly lost.

Maybe for the first time…

Kagura felt like she didn't have a viable plan.

"Cortana, based on everything we have—do you see any possible way forward?" she asked, rubbing her face in frustration.

"Against the Ancient One… against Dormammu… is there really nothing Earth's science and civilization can do?"

Cortana responded calmly, "I must admit, Master, VEDA, Vision, and I all reached the same conclusion. It's very difficult."

"Dormammu is not merely a powerful being—he's the sovereign of an entire dimension. What we face is not just a supervillain or an alien civilization… but a true god from another universe."

Yes…

How could mere mortals possibly shake the heavens, when standing against gods and entire dimensions?

Even if they fully integrated mysticism into the YoRHa units, could they really challenge Dormammu?

Even if they multiplied their mystic users, could drawing energy from the dimensional planes really make a difference?

Maybe this time… Earth really would fall.

"…But Master," Cortana added, "there is always hope."

"I don't know how this ends. I don't know what you'll choose to do. But I do know this—gods are gods because they wield power beyond comprehension…"

"…and once any being becomes omnipotent, they forget something truly precious: courage."

At those words, a small smile tugged at Kagura's lips.

"You're right. Gods have nothing to do with courage. They operate on scripts, like programs governing the world… They don't have to choose to be brave."

"But humans do. True courage… belongs to humanity"

If winning wasn't possible, then she would abandon the idea of winning.

If a direct confrontation was impossible, then she would discard the notion of direct confrontation altogether.

Dormammu was the god of the Dark Dimension. And the one invading Earth… was essentially the Dark Dimension itself.

So what if they didn't fight Dormammu or the Ancient One?

What if they simply destroyed the Dark Dimension itself?

A spark flashed in Kagura's mind.

That's it. They didn't have to defeat the Ancient One. They didn't even have to defeat Dormammu.

They just had to destroy the Dark Dimension entirely.

It sounded insane—even more far-fetched than defeating Dormammu in combat.

But the Dark Dimension was, at its core, a dead thing. Dormammu, a living consciousness, would be harder to destroy.

Just like how you might not be able to beat Tony Stark in battle… but you could blow up Stark Industries, buy it out, and leave him with no tools or resources to maintain his armor.

Kagura's thoughts accelerated.

And slowly, a bold, outrageous—but possible—plan began to take shape in her mind…

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