I stepped out of the Sanctum, closing the door behind me. I couldn't let another group go into my sanctum, and keeping the Nthirium out of the sanctum was the right call.

The morning was closing in, and it was now approaching 4 a.m. The night was silent, and the sky clear. The night had already grown to be so exhausting.

The group of attackers was not far off, and I could sense them lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to pounce. I drew a protective cloak of spells around me, knowing that this was the night that I would demystify anti-magic.

What was it and how did it operate? I had glimpsed into the near future, where those answers lay.

From the shadows stepped a figure that I instantly recognized as Felix Faust.

"Doctor Strange," Faust sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. "You've made quite a name for yourself, stealing and meddling in matters that do not concern you."

"You're the one to judge." I replied.

"You know, Felix, I'm rather busy these days," I said. "I have other matters to attend to, and I can't waste my time on these petty confrontations."

"The crystal or your life." Felix went straight to the point.

"Let's get this over with." I said bluntly. "Shall we?"

I knew that the group with Faust consisted of several magic users and others armed with Lex's technology, and so I had to act quick.

"I've always been a proponent of maintaining balance," I replied, while I opened the eye. "But I won't be threatened by a mob. You should know better than to challenge the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Let's make things a bit fair." I said as I finished tracing a symbol in the air. "Time Freeze."

I slowed down the time. My surroundings froze, and I moved with lightning speed, akin to the Flash.

In a blur of motion, I dashed through the ranks of Felix Faust's group in the shadows. Magic users and those armed with advanced technology couldn't even react as I tapped into their essence, rendering them immobile. It was as if I had harnessed the Speed Force itself.

The flash of my movements was disorienting to the attackers, and they were left unable to comprehend how I had incapacitated them with such ease.

As I sped through the group, their weapons and magic spells were frozen mid-air.

Felix Faust stood frozen in place, unable to make a move, with the Nthirium crystal levitating right beside him, intentionally. I intended for the crystal to siphon away his magic away while I immobilized his people.

"Doctor Strange, you may have mystical speed on your side, but you can't keep us like this forever," Faust managed to grumble.

I smiled as I approached him, my movements still accelerated. "You're right, Felix. I can't maintain this state indefinitely. But I don't need to. By the time I'm done, you'll already be defeated."

I took back the crystal and, with a wave of my hand, I released the immobilized group from their stasis. Time resumed its normal pace for them, and chaos erupted as they tried to regain control of the situation. However, I was already several steps ahead.

I had used frozen time to disarm each of them, separating them from their weapons and devices. It was like a dance, as I effortlessly swiped away staffs, wands, and high-tech gadgets, leaving the attackers defenseless.

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The group's magic users attempted to cast spells, but their incantations were futile. With a snap of my fingers, I bound their hands, preventing them from accessing their magical abilities.

Just to assure my conquest, I opened a portal behind them and sent all of the goons flying backwards into it, and like the Assassins, I trapped them into the depths of the Sahara Desert.

I had already bound Felix Faust too with the crimson bands, but my decision as to whether to send him away with his group wavered.

He was an ambitious sorcerer, but sending him away would only make him more stubborn and resilient. Locking him away was a good option too, but I wasn't ready to use the prison in the mirror dimension.

Maybe what I needed to do was play his own card, and cut him a deal, risking even more, but buying myself and the world some peace. I knew of something he couldn't refuse - getting back his power.

But no, cutting a deal with Felix was a bad, bad idea. His motives would never change, and he would continue to cause harm.

"Now Felix," I started, "I have defeated you and your entire team in a matter of seconds, but I'll be lenient enough to spare you, only if you abandon your life as a sorcerer."

Felix, tied up and powerless, mocked my suggestion. "You might have tied me up, defeated my people and siphoned my magic, but you're stupid to think that I'd agree to your demands."

He sneered and laughed. "I already knew that you were a powerful sorcerer the minute we first met, that's why I took my time to prepare my attack."

"The very fact that you can stay around anti-magic for so long without feeling it's effects proves your potency for powerful magic, but that very fact makes you weak." Felix added.

"Anti-Magic." I said, amused. "What does it even do to the magic it takes? How does it work?"

Felix Faust jeered. "You shouldn't be meddling with objects you don't understand fully."

"You're one to say." I mocked. "Besides, shouldn't you be against something like anti-magic. Why are you giving it to Lex who is just going to use it against magic?"

"Lex Luthor is an ambitious man. When he came to me with a desire to learn the depths of the arcane, I immediately knew that it wouldn't be long before he discovered anti-magic, with a slight nudge." Felix explained. "I once was a strong sorcerer, much like you -"

"Doubt it." I interrupted. "But go on. It sounds like you've got something worth knowing."

"Believe it or not Doctor Strange, I was a really powerful being once, until my path crossed with Anti-Magic." Felix continued. "Anti-Magic halved my power during my time in banishment and -"

"Wait." I interrupted again.

"Won't you just let me finish." Felix said, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"I just want to know if you're accusing the Prime Wizard of Korr of using anti-magic." I explained.

"That is ancient knowledge. How do you know that?" Felix asked in surprise.

"I know about you Faust, and your desperate attempts at acquiring more power. I know the the Flame of Life became your doom and you were banished for ages, after which you stole somebody else's identity." I said. "Judging from just that, I know you are a really bad sorcerer. I'm surprised that you haven't showed me your true power yet."

"Although, in the much that I know about you, I have never heard of anti-magic. In fact, I'm surprised that there's a crystal for just that." I added.

"You seem to know so much Doctor Strange." Felix finally said, after shortly processing what I had just told him. "But let me enlighten you on anti-magic."

"The crystal you currently posses is one of the many artifacts of Anti-Magic, an ancient power that slumbers away in the Multiverse. Crossing paths with this power during my banishment is what cost me half my power, but it also granted me something more." Felix said.

"It seems that you've underestimated me, and I you." Felix said. "You know so much, yet I don't know of you, and I have never heard of the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Pleasure is not mine." I said.

Ignoring my words, Felix continued. "Something however rings a bell, and I suppose it relates to you. A destiny is inscribed in the Book of Thoth, about the Prime Sorcerer. I thought that I would one day be the one to wield that title, but I guess that it's already owned by someone else."

"You are the Prime Sorcerer, aren't you?" Felix asked. "That would explain the incredible power you posses."

I didn't reply to his question. "Enough. I have already heard all that I needed to hear. It's time to banish you once more."

"As I told you, you underestimated me, Doctor Strange." Felix said, confidently. "Parting with anti-magic granted me a gift unlike any other. For most sorcerers, anti-magic takes their power away permanently, but for me, it just does it temporarily, allowing me to thrive in it's effects, even if it's just temporary."

As Felix said these words, the crimson bands surrounding him dissolved, and he was freed. I sensed the magic within him resembling the feeling the Nthirium crystal gave me, in a mixture of magic and anti-magic.

"I didn't underestimate you, that's why I brought my whole artillery with me." Felix said as he brought out a card from his robes, one that was undoubtedly the Fate Card.

He started drawing on it before I could stop him, while chanting some incantations.

"If you know so much about me, then you know that I command the Demons Three, and their power is not to be joked with." Felix Faust said.