"Why have you brought us back?" She snarled at me with her hands on her hips and squinted like-a-tiger stalking its prey.

I rose from the throne inside the body of Dormammu's avatar. We were one again. Hela at least couldn't read minds, so she didn't know what we'd talked about or that there were two of us.

"That man is too dangerous to face right now." I asserted.

"Are you afraid of a mortal?" She sighed.

"I calculated our pros and cons. There's no need to rush and nothing to gain by beating him." I affirmed, she understood and turned to look at planet Earth through the portal.

She's not wrong.

It wouldn't be your first time.

What a disgrace to be wrong.

Even though-

That's enough! Destroy him! You have all the power you need! We'll fix my mistake!

No! Hey! Wait!

Within seconds I was back in astral form on the other side of the portal. Again I floated in the skies of planet Earth as a soulless astral version of Dormammu's avatar, while the armored body stayed behind with Hela in the dark dimension. The port was empty when I descended to the wooden dock bridge. There were no signs of life anywhere.

Damn it, Dormammu has the power to expel me out of his body at will. But is that the only power he can use at the moment? Or is he just slowly regaining all of his powers? Oh, maybe he lied about not having control? Am I a puppet or his guinea pig?

I squeezed my fist and blew the bridge to pieces and flew to solid ground. No one came out to check the noise from the explosion. It looks like the whole place evacuated or they're hiding inside the houses. There was nothing else to do, so I advanced through the village. Fire chips appeared in front of me and there was Dr. Stephen Strange in person. Alone, he came alone. It wasn't surprising that he came here alone, but it was a relief.

"Dormammu, I believe the last time we met we agreed you would not set foot on this planet again."

"True. Our bargain hasn't been broken. I'm not here physically. It is not my fault that we didn't discuss the terms about my soul not being able to come."

Oh, shit. What did I say? This is going to end badly.

Doctor Strange put up his hands activating his magic shields but didn't make a move. Was he waiting for me to make the first move? I raised a hand and fired a red energy wave directly at him. His magic shields stopped the power.

Dormammu wants me to prove myself, but I don't know if I can. At least, he can't read my mind while the astral form is separated from the body. This was bad. I didn't come here to kill Doctor Strange. If he had been a villain, it would have been a different story.

He stood his ground. The energy dispersed, and he opened his hands in a twisted turn and launched the exchange mirror dimension technique at me. I held the mirror dimension entrance with my hands as the surrounding ground cracked. I didn't know what else to do, but I couldn't take this anymore. Up in the sky, Doctor Strange had multiplied into many clone versions of him and released his energy ropes to trap me in the mirror dimension.

With an immense roar of force, the mirror dimension shattered, and we were back in the real world. The energy bonds came off one by one as I slowly stood up. I flew upwards, freeing myself from the remaining bonds. Taking on a gigantic form, I knock out the clones. For my first time in this form, I was a little dizzy. Yeah, no, I couldn't do it. I went back to my regular self before I threw up a fireball.

A portal opened up above me, and a gasoline truck went off in the moment. It didn't cause damage, but the smokescreen was to hide the other portal that opened below me into an ocean of lava. I levitated in the air to avoid it. Ahead, a huge leviathan fish-looking-beast came at me from another portal with its mouth open wide. I had to hold the beast with my hands to keep it from swallowing me. And the beast pushed me into the portal behind me that led to outer space. I opened a portal back to earth and appeared behind him.

"I thought that would have given me a second to think." He sputtered. He raised his hand and out of nowhere appeared a necklace.

Impossible! He couldn't. How?

"I heard Thanos destroyed the stones!" I barked, pointing at the Eye of Agamotto hanging from his neck.

"Oh, you noticed. You should also know that I already activated the loop. I may not be able to defeat you by myself, but I can prevent you from continuing forward from this point in time." He divulged.

I placed my hands behind my back and let my guard down. I couldn't do anything and needed to know how he did it.

"Tell me, I need to understand. Thanos was in the garden when the stones were destroyed. How—"

"My soul traveled the multiverse, and I lived 14,000,605 lives on other timelines in which we lost to Thanos. I learned many techniques. Technically, I made sure that all versions made the same move so we could create a timeline where we won."

"That still doesn't explain how you got the time stone back?"

"Correct. Before the fight with Thanos on Titan, I sent my time stone into the future in another timeline—"

"That was the move that was repeated across all the timelines?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Then, you went to Titan through your portals and recreated the gauntlet and the stones by reversing time. And you sent the time stone back to its original timeline the moment you traded the stone for Tony Stark's life."

"Not quite right. But, yeah." He demurred.

The wind blew behind me. The sky turned black, and a portal of green fire opened behind me. Hela came out of it alongside the armored Dormammu avatar where the real Dormammu resided at the moment.

"Now, I understand." I mused.

"Well, isn't this an eyesore?" Hela mocked.

"No matter how many of you there are, the loop will be activated." Dr. Strange said.

Within seconds I was back in Dormammu's avatar. We were one once more.

Read my mind.

What? Surely not that easy?

It is one of my abilities, but do you understand what you have to do?

Yes.

Then it is time for me to collect the favor you own me.

Doctor Stranger's lost sight of me. I had teleported behind him and pulled him up by the throat.

"You can't kill me or the loop will activate." Dr. Strange huffed.

"No, it won't," Hela said, from the other side holding the Eye of Agamotto.

"What?" Dr. Strange's eyes widen.

"The Dread One told me that his intelligence is unrivaled. He knew you would come back after the Asgardian evacuation. That's why he sent me to get this toy and replace it with a fake that he created before you came back." Hela sneered.

What is going on? Did Dormammu plan for this to happen? Damn, it. He wants to see if I am loyal to him. He wants me to know if I would kill Dr. Strange for him. I forgot he can manipulate matter and create things out of nothing, even artificial life.

Returning to the moment, I noticed Doctor Strange's life-force energy through my hand. I was killing him. I opened my hand letting Dr. Strange dropped to the floor breathless. My hand shook as he appeared to have lost consciousness.

What are you doing? Kill him! Take my revenge!

He's defeated. There's no reason to kill him.

How disappointing —

Dormammu bellowed an entire rant in my head, but I played deaf. Afterward, the avatar body of Dormammu was choking its own astral body. Me. He was choking me out of his avatar body. Until I was outside the avatar and hanged in the air by the throat.

"Help," I heaved.

"Did you bite off more than one can chew? Do you think he didn't tell me everything? Why would I give up my power to help a mortal?" Hela boomed.

"I am a man of my word! This monster is not! If I die, you will remain a slave! Exactly what he wants me to be!" I retorted through sharp words.

Hela was absent from the scene for a moment, unblinking and tight-lipped. Her mind silent in deep thought. For a second, her bleak expression turned to a wolfish one.