"As I thought, my guess was right… With this, that kid finally has the power to protect himself. Now the question is—can he reach the standard I hope for?" Josh quickly received Loki's coded message through Hilda. He now knew Loki had already devoured his Saint Seiya counterpart, and he was very satisfied.
Of course, the message came through Hilda, but it wasn't in plain words—it was a pre-arranged code. With Hilda's sharp mind, she naturally understood the trick. But since she owed both Josh and Loki, and with so many things in the future still depending on Josh, she chose to turn a blind eye.
As long as Asgard wasn't in clear danger, she couldn't be bothered. Right now, she had far bigger problems to face—the Sanctuary and the Sea Realm.
With Loki's help, she had only just broken free from Poseidon's control. To truly escape the war between the two great gods was still far off. In this process, Josh wasn't worried that Hilda would interfere with Loki's moves in the Saint Seiya world. Especially now that Loki had absorbed his counterpart, Josh could rest easy.
But even though things in that world were smooth, a shadow still lingered on Josh's face. The worry didn't come from Saint Seiya, but from the Ancient One.
Not long ago, the Ancient One, through Abbendis, passed a request to Josh—this Supreme Sorcerer, who had guarded Earth in the Marvel universe for hundreds of years, wanted to quit.
But it wasn't Josh's work she wanted to quit. She was still fully committed to helping Josh's plan of stealing power from Azeroth's gods—something she also wanted to do herself.
What she truly wanted to quit was her old boss—the one who had always been her biggest backer in the Marvel universe: Eternity.
Everyone knew the Ancient One's reputation. Beyond her unmatched strength and centuries of protecting Earth from other dimensions, she was also infamous for her habit of borrowing and never repaying. Countless dimensional gods in the Marvel universe had suffered at her hands—but of course, it was their own greed that had allowed it.
The reason she dared to do this was not only because of her own great power, but more importantly, because she had a backer no dimensional being dared to cross: Eternity himself.
But this also meant something unavoidable: Eternity was also one of her creditors. And unlike the others, this was a debt the Ancient One could never escape.
When she died, her soul was bound to Eternity. She would have to serve him, working to repay her debt.
And it was clear she had never been willing. Unlike the role of Sorcerer Supreme, which at least ended once a suitable heir was found, Eternity's "job" for her was endless. With the size of her debt, there was no hope of finishing.
After all, Eternity's name wasn't given for nothing. (TL/N: This is from marvel comics)
In the past, she had no choice. Her arm couldn't twist against such power. She could only wait for that day to come.
Even after learning that Josh had the power to send people into other universes, the Ancient One didn't think much of it at first—because like the Celestials, she assumed those universes were still part of Eternity, just other branches of the same multiverse.
But when she actually arrived in Azeroth and realized this strange universe had nothing at all to do with Eternity, her once calm heart began to waver.
Damn it—if she had already escaped Eternity's grasp, why should she go back to be his servant?
The more she came into contact with the Infinite Dragonflight and the Bronze Dragons, the stronger this thought grew.
After deeper study, she found that Azeroth's timeline system was in utter chaos. The powers of the Bronze and Infinite Dragons looked terrifying at first glance, but in her eyes—as the Sorcerer Supreme who had wielded the Time Stone for centuries—their use of temporal power was crude, even laughably low-level.
Sure, most adult Bronze or Infinite dragons were far older than she was. But strength isn't only about age. In the Marvel universe, the Ancient One's lifespan was but a fraction compared to many dimensional gods—yet how many of them ever got the better of her?
As for mastery of time, even Aman'Thul, the Highfather of the Pantheon who granted Nozdormu his powers, might not understand it as deeply as she did.
If Aman'Thul had truly mastered time, Sargeras could never have defeated him.
And Aman'Thul's gift to Nozdormu was bound to Azeroth alone. Outside that world, Nozdormu and his brood were powerless.
For example, in Warlords of Draenor, the bronze dragon Kairozdormu wanted to travel 35 years into a parallel Draenor's past, but he could only do so with outside help. Even then, the only place he could reach was Draenor itself, because of its unique tie to Azeroth. In the end, he was easily tricked and killed by Garrosh.
So, after just one year in Azeroth, the Ancient One already entertained the idea of becoming a true god of time in this universe.
If she could fully master temporal power, then not only Titans, Void Lords, or even the so-called "Eternal Ones"—but perhaps even Elune herself would be unable to touch her.
And if she reached that level, the benefits to Josh would be immense. With her at his side, almost anything he wanted from Azeroth could be his.
But the danger was just as obvious: if the Ancient One ran away, Eternity would be left with an unpayable debt and no debtor. Who knew what he would do in his anger?
Eternity was far too mysterious. Even the Celestials knew almost nothing about its true nature.
Josh didn't even know if his "dimensional trading system" could stay hidden from Eternity's perception. And if Eternity discovered that he had smuggled the Ancient One into another universe… Josh might end up paying her debt for her.
That thought made him hesitate.
-- ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝※𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖※𝕟𝕖𝕥
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