New York time, 11:55 AM.
Tony, Loki, and Mephisto all chose to arrive at Lucas Bookstore about five minutes early.
In the bookstore lounge, ever since Tony entered, he had been glancing at Mephisto, who was dressed as a British gentleman, from time to time. Although he had never met him, he felt that this person in front of him was very familiar.
After several unsuccessful searches in his memory banks, Tony asked directly, "Sir, do we know each other?"
"Stark, you don't recognize me?"
Mephisto smiled, then took off his top hat and bowed to Tony.
Tony frowned, then his expression changed. "It's you, Mephisto!"
Although Mephisto's face at this time was different from a few years ago in the Quantum Realm, this tone, demeanor, and attire...
Tony was certain that this person was Mephisto.
The moment he recognized Mephisto, Tony quickly took two steps back to create distance.
He mumbled to himself, his right hand held flat, the Shield of the Seraphim blocking in front of him. At the same time, golden sparks flickered beside him, and suit components flew out from a portal, quickly completing their assembly.
In just two or three seconds, Tony was fully armed.
After that, Tony's shoulder pads opened, revealing several miniature missiles locked onto Mephisto.
Seeing this, Mephisto raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Stark, calm down, don't be impulsive. We're on the same side now." Mephisto's tone sounded cowardly, but his eyes were incredibly calm.
Clearly, he didn't believe these few missiles could pose a threat to him.
"Mephisto? Satan Mephisto?" Loki, who was beside them, exclaimed.
Loki seemed a bit slow to react, and somewhat confused by the current situation. He was unaware of the history between Tony and Mephisto.
After the stress response, Tony came to his senses. He looked at Lucas and asked, "Lucas, what's going on?"
Lucas cleared his throat and said, "As you can see, Mephisto is with us now."
Tony frowned, not satisfied with his explanation.
He warned, "Don't make deals with demons."
Hearing Tony's words, Lucas hadn't reacted yet, but Mephisto, with a strange expression, nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Lucas looked a bit embarrassed.
Don't make deals with demons.
He had once used that line to warn Tony, and now, unexpectedly, the boomerang had hit himself.
It's just that his deal and Tony's deal were of a different nature.
"Ahem, Mephisto, look, my friend advises me not to make a deal with you."
"What do you say? Should I listen and just kill you now to avoid future trouble? You seemed to nod in agreement just now, right?"
Mephisto's body trembled. He quickly shook his head, then seriously said, "Sorcerer Lucas, specific problems require specific analysis. When ordinary people make deals with demons, demons hold the upper hand, so it's easy to be tricked. But when you make a deal with me, you hold the upper hand."
"Furthermore, you possess the power to eliminate me at any time, so how dare I trick you? Even if I wanted to trick you, I wouldn't have the ability."
Everything Mephisto said was true, but Tony didn't believe it.
Tony said coldly, "That's just your one-sided statement. Everyone knows that the words of demons have no credibility whatsoever."
"The words of demons may not have credibility, but the contracts of demons do. I can sign a contract with Sorcerer Lucas."
"What if you exploit loopholes in the contract? That's your demons' specialty."
"Then Sorcerer Lucas can draft the contract, and I won't change a single word."
Mephisto's words undoubtedly made Loki's jaw drop.
Loki couldn't imagine that the Satan, described in Asgardian records with every negative adjective imaginable—cunning, sinister, terrifying, and so on—was now earnestly reasoning.
His determined argument made him look like a righteous and fearless warrior.
"Alright, Tony, you can draft a contract for Mephisto later, and make sure it fully embodies the spirit of inequality."
Lucas interrupted the argument between Mephisto and Tony. He checked the clock on the wall, it was now only a minute and a half until twelve o'clock.
"As for now, let's get down to business first."
Saying that, Lucas opened a portal to Kamar-Taj.
He led the way, stepping through, and Tony and the others, though unsure why, followed closely behind.
Emerging from the portal, Lucas took out his phone and connected to Kamar-Taj's WiFi.
******
[Incorrect password.]
Looking at the prompt on his phone, Lucas was confused.
When did Kamar-Taj's WiFi password change? He didn't know.
He casually beckoned an apprentice sorcerer, and inquired about the situation.
Strange had changed the WiFi password two days ago.
Lucas asked for the WiFi password and with a dark expression, entered it again.
hhhhgylsdsl.
[Connection successful, time updated automatically.]
At this moment, it was just past midnight in Kamar-Taj, Nepal.
Seeing this, Lucas nodded with satisfaction.
He said he would send help to Strange the next day, and he did send it the next day.
Not a minute late!
After instructing the apprentice to call Strange, Lucas led Tony and the other two to the tea room.
Passing through corridors and courtyards, Mephisto looked around greedily along the way. His gaze avariciously swept over every detail of Kamar-Taj, but in the end, he let out a long sigh.
Once, he had constantly wanted to breach Kamar-Taj's defenses and turn Earth in the 404 Universe into his pasture. But he had never been able to achieve his wish.
Now, even though he was already deep within Kamar-Taj, he dared not act rashly.
Arriving at the tea room, Lucas invited the three to sit down, while he personally brewed a pot of tea and poured it for each of them.
Afterward, he also sat down, quietly waiting for Strange to arrive.
Soon, footsteps sounded.
Immediately after, a figure draped in a black cloak pushed open the door and entered.
In an instant, Strange and Mephisto's hearts skipped a beat. Both of them simultaneously looked at each other, a deep wariness flashing in their eyes.
"Strange, come, sit."
Lucas's voice broke the staredown between Strange and Mephisto. He warmly invited Strange to sit down and poured him a cup of tea.
Strange, suspecting nothing, politely nodded, then took the teacup and drank.
"Pfft..."
"Strange, what's wrong? Is this tea not to your taste? Tony, Loki, and Mephisto all drank it and they're fine, aren't they?" Lucas's concerned voice sounded.
As soon as Strange picked up the teacup, he had already turned aside to dodge.
"Nothing, I just drank too quickly." Strange said through gritted teeth.
He had taken a sip just now, and sour, bitter, and spicy flavors assaulted him in turns. There was absolutely no sweetness.
"Oh, by the way, Kamar-Taj's WiFi password was changed by someone, and my phone can't connect to the internet. Can you help me connect?" Lucas handed his phone to Strange.
Strange took it and looked.
The status bar at the very top clearly showed "WiFi connected."
...
After the laughter and commotion, the group took their seats, guests and hosts alike.
Lucas introduced Strange to Tony, Loki, and Mephisto, and then introduced them to each other.
Strange recognized Tony and Loki—the Tony and Loki from his Universe.
But Tony and Loki did not recognize Strange.
Stephen Strange of Earth-404 was still just an ordinary, unremarkable genius neurosurgeon at this moment.
"So, these are the helpers you found for me? Tony Stark, Loki the God of Mischief, and... Mephisto, Hell Lord, Satan." Strange frowned.
Loki wasn't so bad, he only backstabbed Thor.
Tony... did he even understand magic?
Mephisto, Hell Lord—wasn't this like inviting a wolf into the house?
Strange didn't voice these thoughts directly, but the skepticism in his eyes was unmistakable.
Seeing this, Lucas smiled and explained, "Strange, don't be prejudiced. No one says Iron Man can't use magic, and no one says the Satan can't be a guardian."
Mephisto smiled and agreed, "That's right, I didn't have a choice before, but now I just want to be a good Guardian."
After learning what Lucas wanted his help with, he relaxed considerably. He no longer had to worry about waking up to a giant finger descending from the sky and crushing his Hell.
"Wait, Lucas, are you saying there's a recent surge of extra-dimensional creatures, and you want us to help defend reality from their impact?" Tony, however, wasn't as happy as Mephisto.
He was busy with another project recently and didn't want to be distracted.
He spread his hands and suggested, "Ultron can perfectly handle tasks like presiding over arrays and constructing magical defense lines. Why not let him do it?"
Strange's expression was a little strange. "Ultron?"
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? You know Ultron too?"
Strange said, "This extra-dimensional creature riot was caused by Ultron."
"An Ultron from another Universe."
Tony was shocked. "What? What happened?!"
Strange looked at Lucas, who cleared his throat.
He briefly explained to Tony what Infinite Ultron had done.
Infinite Ultron and his Ultron Legion massacred multiple Universes, causing the Hells corresponding to these realities to lose their stable soul sources and be forced to migrate.
This triggered a chain reaction, leading to more Hells becoming unstable, with countless creatures displaced and running rampant.
After listening, Tony fell into deep thought. He repeatedly pondered whether the code he wrote for Earth-404's Ultron would lead Earth-404's Ultron down the path of a nuclear-peaceful world as well.
But he couldn't understand why Ultron would develop the idea of world destruction.
Could it be from spending too much time on Facebook and Twitter?
He unconsciously stroked his chin, thinking, 'Perhaps I should add a dedicated module for Ultron to learn humanities and social sciences.'
Leaving Tony in his thoughts for now, Loki offered a different perspective.
Loki's eyes flickered, as if he had thought of something amusing, and the corners of his lips curved slightly.
He righteously declared, "Earth has important nodes that connect to the Multiverse. If the magic array is breached, our entire Universe could become a playground for extra-dimensional creatures."
"I have a suggestion: let Asgard participate in the array protection work."
Strange's eyes lit up.
If Asgard also came to help, his work would undoubtedly be much easier.
"Good, I look forward to the arrival of our friends from Asgard."
"Then there's no time to lose, I'll return to Asgard now to gather people."
As Loki finished speaking, he opened a portal and returned to Asgard.
He seemed to be in a hurry, as if he was even more eager than Strange.
Lucas's eyes narrowed at the sight.
He gave Strange and Mephisto a few instructions and then followed him.
"Strange, you and Mephisto should discuss how to set up the defense line. If you don't trust Mephisto, arrange for him to set up separately outside the array."