Deep within Kamar-Taj.

A woman meditated with her eyes closed.

Magic seemed to follow the rhythm of her breath as it emanated from her before returning to her body.

If Damian or any of his family were to see her, they definitely wouldn't recognize her as the woman had long, shiny black hair.

Her eyes finally opened, revealing charming green eyes that seemed filled with magic.

Her body began to levitate gently to stand up before walking towards a mirror.

Then she saw her face again, one somewhat similar but almost forgotten after hundreds of years.

The face of her youth, now only vague memories of those days when she began learning the mystical arts.

With the dark dimension completely purged from her body and the overwhelming amount of magic she had acquired, her body had returned to its prime.

She looked to be just under 25 years old with delicate facial features.

Her eyes suddenly went to her status.

Jen

Species: Human

Magic: 100,000,001

Strength: 431

Agility: 512

Intellect: 7

(Do you still consider yourself human? Look at that magic)

More than a year of hard work had brought her to her current state.

She had extracted energy from other dimensions and integrated it into her body before condensing it.

That had been her routine; her physical stats grew as her magic did, as expected since if the container isn't strong enough, it might not be able to accept so much magic.

"Ancient One," a voice said outside the room.

"Come in," Jen said softly.

The door to the room opened, and a man around 35 years old entered, dressed as a master of the mystical arts.

"Master, I am now a master of the mystical arts, but I still feel the emptiness in my heart, I can't find inner peace," the man said, clearly uncomfortable.

"Kaecillius, I've told you before, don't put all your energy into becoming stronger without first finding a purpose," Jen said softly.

"What is your goal? What do you want to do with the power you have? You must find those answers, leave Kamar-Taj, wander the world, and discover what it is you desire," Jen said, looking at him.

"Yes, Ancient One," Kaecilius said respectfully before leaving the room.

"Don't take the same path," Jen murmured to herself as she saw him leave.

Suddenly, in front of Jen, a sparkling orange portal formed before she walked through it.

Unlike before, when she had to move her hands, now she didn't even need a ring, just a thought was enough.

After Kaecilius left Jen's room, his expression remained one of anguish.

Although at first, learning magic had distracted his grieving heart, now that he had learned almost everything, that emptiness he felt with his wife's death returned.

As if the dopamine from learning magic had worn off.

Thinking about this, he decided to visit the library before leaving, at least he could take a book for the journey.

Walking through the familiar library, his eyes suddenly fixed on the most advanced books that were usually only for the Sorcerer Supreme.

Although they were only for the Sorcerer Supreme, as knowledge wasn't prohibited in Kamar-Taj, technically anyone could read them.

As he passed by the books, he suddenly saw the Book of Cagliostro.

A book about time.

He had glanced at it before but had never read it completely.

"I'll take this," Kaecillius said to the librarian as he gently grabbed the book.

The librarian frowned slightly at the book but ultimately nodded and said nothing.

Kaecillius walked back to his room before packing his things and preparing to leave.

The book suddenly slipped from his hands and fell open on the bed.

As he went to pick it up, some words suddenly caught his attention.

"Dormammu?" Kaecillius murmured.

...

On the other side of the galaxy.

It was already bedtime, so the lights in the prison began to dim as the guards made sure each prisoner was in their cell.

Monica and Gamora were in the cell, both waiting for the guard to pass by them.

"Tell me, who is your father?" Gamora asked, looking at Monica, taking advantage of being alone to ask her.

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"Damian," Monica said.

"That Damian? The one who killed the Collector and now owns Knowhere?" Gamora asked, surprised yet uncomfortable.

"That's him," Monica nodded.

"I see," Gamora said, smiling ironically.

Just as Gamora was about to say something, the entire prison shook violently.

Monica immediately frowned, not knowing what was happening.

"It seems we have to hasten our escape," Gamora said, frowning and opening the cell.

Monica also ran behind her; in the hallway, they immediately met Peter, Rocket, and Groot, who came with a bloody arm.

"We got lucky; in the tremor, it fell in front of our cell," Rocket said, smiling, referring to the guard's arm.

"We have to move fast; I think Ronan is here," Gamora said, frowning.

"That's not good; then let's hurry," Rocket said, immediately frowning.

"I'll go for the battery; I'll see you at the tower entrance," Monica said, nodding before jumping to the first floor.

Gamora, Peter, and Rocket looked at each other before running to the tower entrance.

Monica landed forcefully before floating to the battery and ripping it out, causing the alarms to sound immediately.

Seeing this, Monica quickly returned to the group before handing the battery directly to Rocket.

To her surprise, Drax was also there; she guessed he followed them.

Rocket took the battery and skillfully connected it to the guard's controller before opening the control tower door.

The poor guy inside was just forcibly ejected before Rocket started working on the controls.

"Can you find out what's going on outside? I suppose no guards or robots are coming towards us despite what we did because they're dealing with something more important," Gamora said, looking at Rocket.

Rocket didn't respond but quickly accessed the prison's cameras; several screens showed an army of Sakarians fighting against the prison forces.

On the screens, Ronan could be seen leaving a trail of destruction behind.

"They are taking the orb," Monica frowned, feeling the magical mark moving.

"Quick," Gamora said, looking at Rocket.

"This really changes the plans," Rocket frowned.

Suddenly, several of the robots that were fighting against Ronan stopped shooting before flying towards them.

The top of the tower also detached from its base before the robots hooked onto it from below.

"Hold on tight," Rocket said before revving up the robots' engines to the maximum as they quickly left the area.

The place was completely devoid of guards so they didn't encounter any problems.

"Go to the storage room, we need our weapons," Gamora told Rocket.

"But that's where Ronan is," Rocket said, looking at her as if she were crazy.

"That's also where the ships are, we have no other choice. Do you want to wait for Ronan to decide to blow up the prison?" Peter said, looking at Rocket.

Rocket just made a grumbling sound before driving towards the location.

"Don't worry, I'll distract Ronan and get my orb back. You guys grab your stuff," Mónica said casually to calm them down.

"No, I'll take care of Ronan, you guys go ahead," Drax said seriously.

Gamora just rolled her eyes; from what she had seen, there was no chance Drax could be Ronan's opponent. For now, she could only put her hope in Mónica.

The tower flew down a long hallway, at the end a metal door suddenly opened by Rocket's command, revealing the corpses of the Novas and many of Ronan's soldiers.

Ronan himself was also there, holding the orb in his hand, looking at it with curiosity.

He didn't know what was inside that Thanos wanted so badly.

Rocket suddenly grinned before directing the tower straight at Ronan.

"Hey! what are you doing?" Peter quickly said, holding onto something.

"That's it, crush him," Drax said with a laugh.

Ronan suddenly turned towards the noise, but it was too late and the tower crashed directly into him.

The orb fell from his hands, rolling away to Nebula's feet. She quickly picked it up and retreated behind the army of Sakarians.

"Quick, let's move before he gets up," Peter said, stepping out of the tower first.

The whole group quickly exited the tower and took refuge in the storage room where they retrieved their belongings. Since they had arrived the day before, everything was on the surface so they found it quickly.

Each with their gear, they quickly went back to retrieve the orb.

Rocket quickly started firing at the Sakarian army waiting for them.

Suddenly, the tower trembled briefly before Ronan emerged from the rubble. His face and clothes were dirty but he didn't seem injured, just very annoyed.

"Nebula!" Ronan shouted.

"I have the orb," Nebula said, showing it to him.

"Good, then let me deal with these guys and we'll leave," Ronan said, advancing towards the group.

Nebula nodded and quickly ordered them to stop firing.

"Damn, he's coming towards us," Peter said, looking towards Ronan.

"I'll finally let my wife and daughter rest in peace," Drax shouted, running towards Ronan.

Drax quickly threw a punch towards Ronan's face.

Ronan ducked nimbly as he advanced, before striking the back of Drax's head.

Drax fell to his knees from the strong blow before getting up unsteadily and launching himself at Ronan again.

Ronan predicted and easily avoided Drax's punches before delivering devastating blows to his face and body.

"It seems like he really can't handle him," Mónica sighed. She had heard Drax's story so she had thought about letting him fight Ronan.

But what was in front of her wasn't a fight, it seemed like an execution.

Mónica walked towards Ronan who was beating Drax on the ground. Her body began to glow faintly as magic rippled along her body.

The group behind her watched in amazement, only Gamora was a bit calmer, although she wasn't sure if Mónica could defeat Ronan.

Mónica, who had reached Ronan, quickly extended her hand and caught the blow heading towards Drax's face.

''Why don't you pick on someone on your level?" said Monica looking at Ronan.

''And you're on my level?" asked Ronan as he stood up, the two of them having a battle of strength as Ronan tried to free his arm.

Ronan's expression finally became somewhat serious as he saw that he was using all his strength but still couldn't break free.

Mónica was also amazed at Ronan's strength; she was almost using all her strength.

The Kree weren't that strong in Carol's stories.

"You're strong, for a Kree," Mónica said, looking at him.

Ronan immediately showed anger upon hearing her mocking remark; his other arm quickly moved to punch towards Mónica's face.

Mónica easily avoided the blow as she ducked before kicking Ronan in the chest, making him slide several meters along the floor.

Mónica quickly grabbed Drax's arm before throwing him towards the group behind her.

"You know, Carol told me a little about you, about how you didn't dare to face her and fled when you saw her. But I've heard that lately, you haven't been behaving well. If she found out, you'd surely be in trouble," Mónica said, smiling at Ronan.

Ronan's look was murderous upon hearing Mónica's words, so he lunged at her.

The roles from before seemed to have completely reversed, with Mónica calmly dodging Ronan's attacks while dealing devastating blows.

A strong kick sent Ronan flying before crashing against one of the prison walls.

The whole place shook slightly from the strong impact.

Mónica appeared in an instant in front of Ronan, hitting his chest hard, making the metal crunch as Ronan buried himself further into the wall.

Mónica didn't give him time to recover and unleashed a quick barrage of punches; the prison trembled with each blow as Ronan's figure dug in more and more until the structure couldn't take it anymore. Ronan broke through the wall and fell on the other side.

Upon falling, Ronan did everything he could to roll and gain distance, blue blood was streaming down his face, but because it was blue, it wasn't too noticeable.

Ronan breathed quickly, feeling a pain he had never felt before, before looking at Mónica who was calmly walking towards him as if they weren't fighting.

Anger made him forget all the pain as he took a step forward to hit her.

Mónica slightly moved her body, dodging a jab from Ronan before hitting his abdomen hard.

Ronan's feet left the ground for a moment as he was immediately forced to hunch over.

"Cough, cough, how is this possible?" Ronan said, constantly coughing up blue blood that spilled all over the floor.

Nebula at the back of the Sakarian army saw that the situation was not going well, she could only think of one way out of this.

She quickly used her communicator and ordered to bombard the entire prison; it was a risky bet, but it was better than dying.

The prison suddenly shook violently, sending several of those present flying.

Chain explosions sounded everywhere as alarms blared loudly.

From the outside, several large holes had been made in the prison as the ship continued to fire.

----

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