Somewhere in the universe.

The Mad Titan was in the midst of a battle, purging a new planet by randomly eliminating half of all creatures.

His weapon was bloodied, while a river of blood flowed through the city, and the corpses had almost formed a small mountain.

"My lord," said a tall alien with gray skin.

"Ebony, speak," said Thanos, glancing at the gray alien.

"The spy monitoring Asgard from a distance sent a message. They sounded the alarm; it seems Asgard is going to war," said Ebony.

"War? Against whom?" asked Thanos, frowning.

"We don't know. Though we've tried over the years to infiltrate Asgard, with that man who sees everything, it's difficult."

"We can barely monitor Asgard from a distance," said Ebony.

Thanos frowned as his mind quickly worked. He could only think of Earth as Asgard's target.

But this seemed hard to believe. Odin is a cunning person; he definitely wouldn't go to war with Damian over a trivial matter.

Odin should also know about Damian's power, perhaps even more than Thanos himself, so he could only think that Odin was cornered in some way.

"There is a piece of information we're missing," said Thanos.

"When we finish with this planet, prepare the entire army, and let's move closer to Earth," said Thanos, looking at Ebony.

It's possible an opportunity had arrived sooner than he ever thought.

He doesn't believe Odin would prepare for a fight without at least a chance of winning; he must ensure to take advantage of that opportunity.

....

Damian woke up hugging Cortana, his eyes immediately went to her face, she looked like a doll when she was asleep, without her usual mischievous expressions.

His hand extended and gently organized some of her strands before kissing her on the temple while carefully getting up.

The night before, after talking with Cortana, he had dinner with the rest of his family.

When it was time to sleep, he stayed with Cortana to make it up to her in some way.

Looking at the time, he noticed it wasn't too early, so he quickly dressed before teleporting to Sokovia.

He hadn't forgotten the promise he made to his little apprentice. He was supposed to visit her immediately after returning, but with the twists at the end, he couldn't do it.

So once ready, in the blink of an eye, he appeared outside Wanda's castle in Sokovia.

The guards were startled for a moment when they saw him appear, but as he was a relatively usual visitor, they just greeted him before letting him pass.

Damian greeted them casually before entering the castle. Passing through the entrance, he casually met Circe.

"Oh, hello," said Circe, waving at Damian.

"Hello, how are you?" said Damian, greeting casually.

"Good, with a lot of work," said Circe, sighing.

"How have the witches fared in this new world? Have they adapted well?" asked Damian, smiling.

"It's actually quite good, much better than before. My little ones are like fish in water, making deals all over the world," said Circe, laughing lightly.

"Before, we were very repressed by the gods, but now they are the ones who hardly dare to come out," said Circe, letting out a rather macabre laugh.

"I'm glad," said Damian with a smile. He was really pleased to hear that the world he had created was enjoyable.

"Wanda is in her office; I just left her with some work. Now that you've arrived, it seems she has the perfect excuse to avoid it," said Circe, laughing lightly as she walked away.

Damian nodded before heading towards Wanda. Upon reaching the doors, his hand extended before softly knocking.

"Come in," said Wanda's soft voice.

Damian took the handle and turned it, opening the door. The first thing he saw was Wanda with a serious look, sitting behind a large desk while working on something.

Damian paused for a moment, observing her. She looked really beautiful, her lovely red hair seemed to fan out behind her, almost hypnotizing him.

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He quickly came to before Wanda looked up as he closed the door behind him and advanced toward her.

Wanda's serious expression completely changed when she saw it was Damian. She quickly showed a smile as she stood up.

"Master, you didn't take too long," said Wanda, smiling.

''I wasn't too far away from reaching the sixth circle'' said Damian smiling.

"I see you have things to do," said Damian, looking at her desk.

"It's nothing, I'm free," said Wanda, smiling while covering Damian's view with her body.

"Then, how about we have a little magical combat?" said Damian, smiling at her. It was something they usually did since he saw Wanda's lack of combat experience.

"Let's go," said Wanda as her eyes lit up.

Damian immediately made them appear in a forest on Mars. Despite being a forest, it didn't resemble those on Earth; the plants had quite different shapes and colors, so there was no doubt they were on another planet.

"Can't we do it somewhere else? I really wouldn't like to destroy this forest," said Wanda, looking at the beautiful forest with purple colors.

Damian shook his head before making them appear in a long plain with only grass.

"Then let's begin," said Damian, smiling.

"Hm," said Wanda, nodding as her hands filled with a crimson mist.

Damian noticed that the mist in her hands was much more condensed than when he first met her.

Wanda smiled before sending a simple crimson magic missile directly at Damian. The missile left a crimson trail before colliding directly with Damian's chest.

The crimson energy completely enveloped the area around Damian before dissipating, allowing Wanda to see the result of her attack.

To her surprise and disappointment, her master hadn't even moved from the spot, and the missile seemed to have hit his chest harmlessly.

"It was a great attack, small, quick, and very lethal," said Damian honestly.

"It almost sounds sarcastic," said Wanda, pouting at Damian's compliment.

Damian just laughed lightly when he heard her.

"Alright, let's do it," said Damian, levitating before throwing a fireball at Wanda.

Wanda's hands extended from a distance towards the fireball before moving her hands to the side, deflecting it.

Turning to look at Damian, she saw dozens of similar fireballs coming her way.

"Why try to block? Just dodge. You never know what kind of attack you might encounter," said Damian, shaking his head.

Seeing the dozens of fireballs heading her way, Wanda quickly teleported dozens of meters away while trying to locate Damian.

Suddenly, she was hit from behind by a fireball, sending her to the ground.

Damian looked at Wanda, who had been knocked down face-first with her rear raised. He could only cough silently while avoiding looking at her.

Wanda quickly stood up while looking around and trying to sense her surroundings. She didn't care about her fall or that her face was now dirty.

She was now just trying to sense her opponent's presence.

Her master had always told her what she lacked as a fighter was instinct, it could also be called a sixth sense, and that was what Damian was trying to develop in her with these combats.

Still, it was really difficult for her. Although she could use her magical circles to detect her surroundings, she knew that against her master, it didn't work, so she could only endure.

Her eyes quickly moved, trying to find the silhouette of her master and his attacks.

Wanda was so focused that she didn't notice an illusory crimson tiara formed on her head.

Suddenly, it was as if something had unlocked inside her when she quickly dodged to the side, avoiding a fireball heading for her back.

Wanda opened her eyes in surprise, seeing that she had dodged instinctively. She was so surprised that she didn't dodge the next fireball, which sent her face-first to the ground again.

"Master, do you do this on purpose?" yelled Wanda to the nothingness with a complaining expression.

"I promise I don't do it on purpose," said Damian, stifling his laughter.

"At least pretend you're not enjoying it," said Wanda, speechless when she heard his amused voice.

"You're very good; you've finally started to master it," said Damian, appearing in front of Wanda and looking curiously at her forehead. Apparently, without concentration, there was no trace of her tiara.

"The first 10 times we fought, I thought you just wanted to hit me," said Wanda, looking at Damian.

"But it was a surprise to realize you can actually avoid attacks purely on instinct," said Wanda, a little excited. She thought it only happened in movies.

"You didn't notice, but the moment you dodged, a tiara appeared on your head," said Damian, smiling while creating an illusory silhouette identical to Wanda.

"Wow," said Wanda, looking at her clone in front of her. She looked curiously at the tiara before turning around the clone, and examining it. It was really identical to her.

"What are you looking at? As far as I know, it's identical to you," said Damian, joking.

"Even under the clothes?" said Wanda unconsciously before stopping. Her cheeks suddenly turned red while she concentrated on her illusory clone to avoid looking at Damian.

Damian just chuckled from behind Wanda, making her feel even more embarrassed.

"Master, did you also do this kind of training?" asked Wanda, changing the subject and looking at Damian curiously.

"That's right. You see, years ago, despite my great physical abilities, I had never participated in any kind of combat, so my skills in that area were really poor. I could only win because my physical abilities overwhelmed those of others," said Damian.

"Then I started training with Carol. She was really ruthless, and since I'm immortal, she hit me without holding back. That's how I gained experience and obtained the instinct to fight."

"In the end, it's just the sense to avoid danger, and it's not so strange even for very skilled normal people," said Damian.

"So, are you taking revenge for your learning days?" said Wanda, putting her hands on her hips while looking at him.

"Who knows?" said Damian, laughing lightly.

Damian practiced with Wanda for a while longer while Wanda tried to use her abilities all the time before they both returned to Sokovia.

....

Kaecilius had been traveling for three days and had arrived in Europe.

His journey had been confusing and full of obstacles, though these obstacles were mostly for his mind.

After reading the Book of Cagliostro, his thoughts had become quite twisted. He had tried not to think about it, but every time he looked at the book, his thoughts returned.

The forbidden ritual appeared in his mind from time to time, while many questions he had in the past were resolved.

Like the apparent immortality of the Ancient One.

Due to his time with her and the help she had given him, Kaecilius tried to avoid the truth, avoid thinking about the fact that his respected teacher made a pact with Dormammu to obtain eternal life despite her insistence on the prohibition of the matter.

The journey the Ancient One had recommended to improve himself turned into torture. The book tempted him constantly and didn't let him sleep.

Sometimes when he woke up, he already had the book in his hands, open to the ritual page.

He knew the book was tempting him, but he couldn't conceive the idea of throwing it away.

Kaecilius felt like he was going completely insane.

His thoughts were so twisted that he started blaming the Ancient One for suggesting he leave Kamar-Taj.

Yes, if he hadn't left Kamar-Taj, he wouldn't have gone to find a book to browse in his free time and wouldn't have fallen into this situation.