Rowan didn't slow down after summoning the Light of the Two Trees.
He knew better than to assume Dormammu would fall so easily.
A second blade formed in his grasp, radiant and absolute.
"Excalibur."
At the same time, he manipulated the first sword with magnetic force and precise telekinetic control. The rift-cutting blade and the holy sword moved in tandem, carving arcs of annihilation through the Dark Dimension.
Rowan himself lunged forward in draconic form, claws tearing through layers of shadow as spells detonated between them.
It became chaos.
Steel and sorcery. Light and void. Claws against living darkness.
For a time, Rowan pressed the advantage.
His magic did not follow the rules Dormammu understood. His artifacts carried laws born in other realities. Every exchange forced Dormammu to adapt.
But Dormammu was ancient.
And adaptation was what ancient beings did best.
Gradually, the tide shifted.
Dormammu's counters grew sharper. His defenses adjusted. His retaliations grew heavier.
Soon, Rowan would be forced to retreat or risk annihilation.
And yet—
Rowan smiled.
"Human," Dormammu snarled, dark energy coiling around his colossal frame. "I understand your magic now."
"Good," Rowan replied calmly. "Then it's time."
Dormammu's massive form suddenly locked in place.
For a single heartbeat, the Dark Dimension went silent.
All dark sorcery ceased.
The suppression vanished.
Dormammu's control over his realm flickered.
Rowan spoke two words.
"Return."
Across countless worlds, every fragment of Rowan's divided soul answered.
They converged.
His spiritual presence surged to a new height in an instant.
Before Dormammu could fully react, Rowan's world expanded outward in reverse, pressing into the Dark Dimension itself.
Simultaneously, Rowan's soul invaded Dormammu's core.
"Separate."
The connection between Dormammu and the Dark Dimension fractured.
Not completely.
But enough.
Dormammu roared, fighting back—but he was already too late.
His authority slipped.
And the more it slipped, the weaker he became.
The weaker he became, the harder it was to resist.
A spiral of collapse.
The momentary paralysis that allowed this had not been coincidence.
When Rowan had devoured Dormammu's projection earlier, he hadn't erased it immediately.
He had consumed the energy.
But preserved a thread of soul.
Through that thread, at the decisive instant, Rowan had unleashed layered curses and dark rites drawn from multiple worlds.
They could not truly harm Dormammu.
But they could interrupt him.
For one second.
And one second was all Rowan needed.
Dormammu's grasp over the Dark Dimension continued to erode.
Panic crept into his voice.
"No…!"
If he lost the Dark Dimension, he would lose everything.
Without it, he might not even maintain his current cosmic standing.
Desperation overcame pride.
"Lord of Chaos—aid me!"
Rowan's eyes flicked upward immediately.
He felt it.
A crimson force gathering above the Dark Dimension.
Chaos energy.
Ancient. Primal.
Reality itself began to twist.
Rowan sensed the shift instantly. The unfolding future where he would seize the Dark Dimension began to warp—reshaped into a version where Dormammu claimed Rowan's world instead.
Chthon had intervened.
Rowan had anticipated this.
Without hesitation, he split his power.
Half of it reshaped into chaos energy of its own, pushing back against the distortion of reality.
The other half ignited into blazing cosmic flame—Phoenix force—accelerating his dismantling of Dormammu's control.
He had absorbed both powers before.
He could replicate their signatures.
A faint sound echoed across the Dark Dimension.
Surprise.
The chaos above intensified.
Reality bent harder.
Then—
The red mass parted.
A tall figure stepped forward.
White hair. Crimson eyes. Elegance wrapped in corruption.
Chthon had arrived in person.
Dormammu's laughter returned.
"You're finished!"
Rowan's smile only deepened.
"Are you sure?"
Dormammu's expression faltered.
Other presences had entered.
Familiar ones.
Rowan looked up.
Opposite Chthon stood four figures.
Eternity.
And beside him—
The Vishanti.
Not one being, but three united: Oshtur the omnipotent, Agamotto the all-seeing, and Hoggoth the ancient.
Each a multiversal entity.
Together, near the peak of their kind.
The Dark Dimension, once a battlefield of two, had become something far greater.
Dormammu's laughter died completely.