Dormammu's physical endurance couldn't compare to Lyon's.
His power was almost entirely derived from dimensional energy.
But now, Lyon had used the Space Stone to seal off the pocket dimension, preventing Dormammu from connecting to the Dark Dimension.
The energy within his body was finite—once used, it wouldn't replenish.
In a battle of equals, he would only grow weaker over time.
In contrast, the more Lyon fought, the more powerful his momentum became, as if his understanding of the cosmic laws was advancing with every clash.
Dormammu had no idea that Lyon carried literal suns with him, and that under its rays, any injuries he sustained were rapidly healed.
He only felt himself growing more and more exhausted as the fight went on.
After unleashing an attack strong enough to destroy a star, he weakened significantly—
And was once again treated like a baseball by Lyon, smacked around the cosmos.
But even so, he—Dormammu—would never retreat a single step!
Once again, Dormammu rose from the rubble, his broken and battered body slowly regenerating.
"Dormammu, perhaps it's time we had another talk," Lyon hovered in the sky, his cloak billowing behind him.
Dormammu stared coldly at him. "There's nothing to talk about between us."
"Heh~ I admire your resolve," Lyon shrugged. "Hope you enjoy the next part of the show."
With that, Lyon shot skyward, disappearing beyond the continent.
"Show?" Dormammu frowned, watching Lyon soar into the depths of space.
What was this Sorcerer Supreme planning?
Just as he was filled with doubt, a colossal humanoid figure suddenly appeared before Dormammu's eyes.
It was a giant easily thousands of kilometers tall.
In comparison, Dormammu's current few hundred meters of height made him seem like a mere grain of sand.
"This is… a Celestial?" Dormammu froze. "But something feels off—the Celestials don't look like this… Wait, what are you doing!?"
The gigantic figure suddenly crouched down, reached out a hand, and scooped Dormammu up into its palm.
As Dormammu looked at the increasingly close face of the giant, he suddenly felt something familiar in its expression.
"You… this appearance… Are you that Sorcerer Supreme from just now?!"
The giant didn't answer Dormammu's question—instead, it smiled.
And then, radiant energy burst forth all around its body.
Those lights were all energy made manifest.
At first, Dormammu was confused—then his expression shifted dramatically as realization dawned, the flames atop his head blazing fiercely. "You're going to self-destruct!? Wait a m—!"
BOOM!
Before Dormammu could finish his sentence,
the colossal humanoid, thousands of kilometers tall, crushed him in its grasp and detonated on the spot—without even a second of hesitation.
Within that giant body was energy equivalent to an entire planet.
So much energy compressed together exploded, and at the core of the blast, even space itself twisted and warped.
Light, particles, and airflow all spiraled around the center of the explosion, like a Rasengan magnified hundreds of millions of times.
At that moment, Lyon descended from the sky, his chest rising and falling as he exhaled deeply, creating a powerful gust that swept out for several meters, dispersing the shockwaves of the explosion after a long while.
Once all had returned to calm, the aftermath revealed a crater tens of thousands of kilometers wide.
At the bottom of the crater, only Dormammu's head and part of his upper body remained, groaning in pain as he slowly began to regenerate.
"Clones created through the Blood Sea Clone Technique really are perfect for self-detonation," Lyon nodded in satisfaction, quite pleased with the explosion's effect.
Although it was his consciousness controlling the clone just now, since the self-destruction occurred in an instant, he didn't feel any pain.
Massive power, minimal side effects—looking at it this way, the little clones were practically portable super bombs.
Once he became even stronger in the future, a self-destructing clone might even be able to create a black hole.
At the same time, inside his inner world, Lyon conjured another clone within the Blood Sea.
With a thought, Lyon retrieved another thousand-kilometer-tall clone and flew back into the sky.
BOOM!
Another Blood Sea clone exploded.
Lyon felt like he was beginning to grasp the art of detonation.
He kept creating Blood Sea clones one after another.
And every time Dormammu's wounds had barely begun to heal, he would immediately send in another clone to self-destruct.
This cycle repeated dozens of times.
Eventually, the massive continent—tens of millions of kilometers wide—had been blasted into five separate landmasses before Lyon finally stopped.
On one of the shattered land fragments, Dormammu, trembling, reached a hand out from beneath the rubble.
"We… we need to talk!" he said weakly.
Dormammu felt utterly calm now. His fury was gone—he didn't even have the strength to act tough anymore.
Lyon silently descended and hovered in front of Dormammu.
"Hmm? What is there to talk about?" Lyon turned the tables, taking the lead.
"As long as you don't bring up the authority of the Dark Dimension, you can say whatever you want…"
Dormammu was exhausted. He brushed away the rubble from his body and lay in the deep crater, his eyes vacant as he stared into the black void of space.
Lyon raised an eyebrow. "Then will you acknowledge me as your master?"
After all, in the secret manual given to him by the Beast God Zhou, there were soul-enslavement techniques.
As long as Dormammu willingly opened his mind, Lyon could enslave him.
As for forcing the enslavement spell, Lyon hadn't considered it.
As someone who had only reached the World Lord stage, trying to enslave a dimensional demon god was still far beyond his soul's capabilities.
If he really tried to force it, Dormammu would likely choose immediate suicide—and then, upon resurrection, seek revenge at any cost.
Naturally, Dormammu flatly refused: "Absolutely not! You might as well just kill me. But you'd better protect Earth well—because once I resurrect in the Dark Dimension…"
Lyon frowned. This old bastard—already a defeated dog and still daring to spew threats?
He leapt up and smashed a fist down directly onto Dormammu's face.
Dormammu let out a miserable howl and immediately quieted down.
"Resurrection? Hmph!" Lyon sneered. "Have you forgotten how many hell lords are eyeing your dimension like wolves? When you die once and try to resurrect—will you still have the power to stand against them?"
"Besides, for all you know, before you even come back, the Dark Dimension might already belong to Mephisto!"
Lyon's words made the flames atop Dormammu's head change color—clearly, these were very real possibilities.
"..." Dormammu was silent for a while. "I won't give you the dimensional authority, but I can allow your Kamar-Taj sorcerers to borrow my power without paying any price."
"You're letting a bunch of sorcerers who worship the Vishanti use dark magic?" Lyon gave a mocking laugh.
Then suddenly thought of something: "Am I included too?"
In the late stages of the swallowed star cultivation system, advancement required massive amounts of energy—sometimes enough to drain an entire universe.
If he could draw from the Dark Dimension without cost, then at least until he reached the multiversal level, he'd never need to worry about energy again.
And besides, once he drained the Dark Dimension dry, it wouldn't matter who the dimension's master was anymore… kekeke~
Dormammu had no idea how devious Lyon's thoughts were.
He still thought Lyon was tempted by the offer: "Of course! You're the Sorcerer Supreme—naturally, you can also borrow the energy of the Dark Dimension!"
"Good, that's one condition. What else?" Lyon asked.
Dormammu was stunned. "You want more? Isn't this already enough?"
"A defeated party has to cede land and pay reparations. You've paid the compensation—but haven't ceded any land yet," Lyon sighed and shook his head.
The flames atop Dormammu's head darkened. "You're still after my dimensional authority! Sorcerer Supreme, you'd better let me return to the Dark Dimension quickly—otherwise, you're definitely going to regret it!" he said in a rush.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Lyon raised his fist. "You're still threatening me?"
Dormammu shrank his head back slightly. "I originally came here just to devour a small world. I didn't plan to spend too much time here."
After a moment's hesitation, he confessed: "In the Dark Dimension, the Stephen Strange from your timeline's main universe is currently working with my niece, Clea, to deal with an incursion crisis!"
"If I don't return to the Dark Dimension soon, and they're discovered by the hell lords who are already sniffing around, the operation will definitely fail!"
Dormammu tried to appeal to reason and emotion: "Let me go, and I'll help them get through the crisis—which would also benefit your universe!"
"An incursion crisis?" Lyon's gaze sharpened. "What kind of collision? And how do you solve it? Speak clearly!"
Dormammu spread his hands. "It was caused by that Stephen Strange recklessly traversing parallel universes, disrupting multiversal order, which ultimately led to the incursion."
"The simplest way to solve it is to destroy one of the colliding universes!"
"But Strange and Clea seem to have other ideas. They're doing something in secret within the Dark Dimension."
"If you let me return now, I can help them!" Dormammu offered his promise.
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