The Game Cafe in Marvel and DC

77 – Conflict with the Supreme Sorcerer

[Joshua Graham's POV]

Throughout the night, I found myself unable to sleep. It was too quiet, and the bed was too comfortable. I ended up sleeping on the floor. 

How do the Ancestors sleep like this? In a world as peaceful as this? 

How...how could they throw it all away? Was it god's punishment for Humanity's transgression and sins? 

Shaking my head, I focused. I was sitting in the bed of my quarters, slowly removing old bandages and replacing them with sterilized new ones.

Every inch of my body was wrapped in bandages, other than the small area around my eyes. It seemed as if God saw fit to let my burns remain. As a reminder? Perhaps. God indeed works in mysterious ways, after all, and who am I to question God's decision?

Shaking my head, I dressed and exited my quarters, finding the small hallway outside. Three more doors lined the hallway next to mine, with one door at the end leading to behind the counter of the Cafe, where Zeref was likely already doing God's work to improve Humanity's chance of survival against this harsh world. My duty was to help in whatever way I could prepare humanity's warriors against the threats that would seek to destroy them and bring them to ruin or die trying. 

...

[Zeref's POV]

As she frowned at me, I knew I screwed up, especially as she seemed to get into a combat stance and, without a moment of hesitation, proceeded to throw multiple orange balls at me that impacted me harmlessly before dissipating.

“Surely there has to be some kind of joke for this, right?” I asked with a bit of humor at the frowning stoic face of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme. 

“Humanity is not your plaything, creature! Leave this plane!” She ‘commanded,’ as if expecting me to listen to her orders as more spells futilely collided with my clone’s body, doing nothing to them.

Ignoring her attacks, even as they continued to hit me, I walked over to the reception area and sat down on the couch.

“Why don’t we discuss this over some tea?” I suggested, summoning some tea from the System store, only for her to seemingly ignore me as she continued throwing more complex spells. At one point, I swear a golden Iron Maiden surrounded me and the couch before suddenly shattering.

I patiently waited for her to calm down or give up and sipped on tea. In my unusual case, it was more like dumping the tea into my body's energy, where it was torn apart at the subatomic level. Strangely, I still tasted the tea, which was nice.

It took a few hours, and the once quaint cafe that was once the spitting image of my cafe on Earth was now in ruins as broken desks, obliterated furniture, and even a few fires burning around me. Did the Ancient One finally feel like trying to take the diplomatic approach? 

“You extradimensional entities are all the same. You see Humanity as nothing but a toy to play with, to entertain yourself. You all seek to corrupt and twist humanity, and your presence does nothing but cause chaos to this realm's inhabitants, bringing forth destruction, ruin, and death," The Ancient One spoke, seemingly pulling an entire speech out of her ass.

Looking at her incredulously, I realized my mistake.

There was no way she wouldn't attack me after my answer, especially if she regularly fought with Demons, Dormammu, the Lords of Chaos, and whatever else this hodgepodge of a world threw at her. More than likely, the statement and introduction earlier did not confirm her suspicions of my character; my mistake was not to realize that I was not dealing with someone unfamiliar with the supernatural nature of this world and the wider universe.

Deciding to be straight with her concerns, I said, "You do not believe my intentions to be true, do you? I admit that I find humanity fascinating and that I have a few mischievous intentions regarding Humanity as a whole. Still, something I can promise you is that I will not do Humanity any harm, physical or spiritual. I would promise mentally, but as you should well know, I cannot stop humanity from making ill-advised actions that are monumentally stupid. I know you are the Sorcerer Supreme, and it's your job and life mission to stop beings like me from corrupting, manipulating, or destroying humanity. Still, I can promise I am not like most of the...denizens of the multiverse for the past couple of centuries."

Before I could continue, she waved her hand, and the area around me shifted and changed, becoming larger and larger until we were in a giant open space.

"Silence! You will not twist or influence me with your words, vile creature!" She shouted, rather dramatically at that.

"If you do not believe-" Before I could continue my sentence, I felt hundreds of chains latch onto my body and begin to pull.

Looking around, I was met with countless summoned rope-like energy projections fueled by the  Ancient One attempting to rip me apart. It was surprising, as they appeared near instantly with only a twist of her hand. Unluckily for her, it was energy and, therefore, mine for the taking.

The black hole in my chest hummed and vibrated before dead silence took over the area, as sound itself began being sucked into the black hole. 

The energy around latched on me followed not long after, then matter, then light.

Within mere moments, the once bright Mirror Dimension was now shrouded in darkness, with the only source of light being the blindingly bright event horizon that surrounded the Black Hole in my chest.

Yet, in the darkness, I could see just fine. Strangely, I felt at home in the darkness, devoid of everything, with one notable exception: The Ancient One and myself.

With a thought, I let the light out, momentarily bringing the both of us but returning the dimension to one where we can both see the aftermath of an action that was, for me, as simple as breathing.

After seeing the scene before us, I knew for certain that the Ancient One's threat rating of me rose exponentially.

"Now, if I meant you or Humanity any harm, don't you think I'd have done something by now? I've been on Earth for months," I explained with a casual shrug as I looked upon the empty expanse that expanded far further than one would have expected, to the point where it looked like I had absorbed hundreds of miles of land and matter within seconds.

To be fair, I should have expected it, especially if I could absorb literal stars.

I wonder, since I could release the light I had absorbed, what about the matter? If so, what would the matter look like? Just a super condensed orb of material? I'd have to test that later, preferably without the Ancient One harassing me every step of the way.

"Hopefully, I didn't harm anyone in this Dimension while I was here, did I?" I asked, showing a bit of concern.

After a few moments, she eventually replied, "...No, no one but us was on Earth in the Mirror Dimension. I made sure of that."

 "It takes that worry off my mind; thanks for letting me know," I thanked her with a bow, clearly surprising her, though not enough to change her outward expression or opinion of me. I noticed her heartbeat change and tempo fluctuate, so she clearly heard me.

"Tell you what, you have the Time stone, yes? Review all of my time spent here on Earth since my arrival. Suppose I am as bad as you think. In that case, I am willing to offer proof of my... good intentions towards Humanity and introduce some of my customers who have been shopping at my store since the beginning, though I admit some of them have...well, criminal records," I said. Before I knew it, an orange portal tore open space behind her as she turned around and walked through it, clearly to Karamar-Taj.

She turned back to look at me.

"I will be seeing you again soon. If you prove to be a threat to mankind, we will banish you from this realm," she told me with conviction. She really believed they could banish me from the Earth if they tried. How amusing.

Left with the mirror dimension, I left my clone inside to explore while my other bodies continued their work.