Chapter 67: The Great Battle Between Master and Disciple

In the face of a greater cause, everything done takes on a different meaning. The self becomes insignificant when compared to righteousness. For someone as stubborn as Mordo, this higher justice was his last salvation. The so-called hypocrisy of the Master suddenly became acceptable in light of the greater cause.

Mordo even imagined Ancient One in all sorts of noble and glorious scenes. He knelt heavily, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, Master! I shouldn't have doubted you! You are truly as grand as I always believed. Sob, sob!" The tall, dignified man broke down in loud sobs.

Ancient One felt a bit embarrassed. Meimu's words had not been entirely true. Over the long years, she had made her share of mistakes, but her millennia of protecting Earth could not be erased. The guilt that had weighed on her after revealing her use of dark power to combat Kaecilius now vanished without a trace.

Suddenly, Ancient One felt her spirit clear and refreshed.

"Mordo... I never claimed to be perfect; I too am prone to mistakes. It is because I once erred that I don't want you all to repeat my path. But... if it means safeguarding Earth, then everything is worthwhile. I will explain it all to you in detail later."

A moment ago, her gaze had been somewhat weary; now it was sharp as a blade. Kaecilius realized he had missed his best chance. He was unwilling to accept it.

"Heh! So quickly you've come up with new excuses to deceive my fellow disciples?" Kaecilius sneered, circling Ancient One at a distance. Unconsciously, the three—Ancient One, Meimu, and Mordo—were no longer aligned in a straight line. "Back then, I was desperate, confused, helpless. I trusted you, respected you as my teacher, yet you lied to me, just as you're now deceiving the newcomers."

Ancient One sighed. "I was trying to protect you."

"Wrong! You were trying to keep the truth hidden, to keep me away from the real knowledge!"

"To keep you away from the dangers of darkness."

Meanwhile, Meimu patted Mordo's shoulder, pointing at Kaecilius's ghastly face, whispering, "Also to prevent us from ending up looking like that hideous mess."

Mordo's cheek twitched, but he didn't argue. His mind was still muddled, but his heart began to return to Kamar-Taj.

In the original story, Kaecilius still looked human at this point. But in this lifetime, seeing his blood-soaked eye sockets, the shadowy tentacles sprouting from his shoulder—any sane person would recoil from the thought of becoming like that.

Mordo couldn't help but trust Meimu a bit more.

Sensing that words would no longer suffice, Kaecilius wasted no more time. "You use the power of the great lord Dormammu, yet lecture me? Ancient One, spare me your sanctimonious speeches."

"Sigh! I still must tell you, Dormammu is the one truly deceiving you. You haven't seen his real face. His 'eternal life' is not heaven, but hell. Look at your own hands!"

"No! Liar! I have nothing more to say to you!" At that moment, Kaecilius gave Meimu a vicious glare, as if to say—it was all Meimu's fault he ended up this way!

Mordo saw this exchange.

Meimu shrugged with a cheeky grin and whispered, "Yeah, yeah! It's all my damn fault. I should have stretched out my neck for you to cut, so your dark master Dormammu could rule Earth."

Meimu's quip made Mordo chuckle. "Alright, thanks, buddy. I feel much better already."

With words failing, the duel was inevitable.

Ancient One, now fully in command of the battle, faced Kaecilius's menacing approach without fear. Meimu clenched his fist quietly: This time, it should be certain.

In the original, Kaecilius manipulated his followers. While Ancient One pummeled them, Kaecilius ruthlessly pierced his own follower's chest with an invisible magic blade, then struck Ancient One fatally. What truly distracted Ancient One was the necessity of using dark magic to suppress Kaecilius's spatial sorcery, which compromised her persona and exposed her vulnerability.

To avoid this, Meimu not only had Mordo eliminate all of Kaecilius's minions, but also managed to pull Mordo—the one who almost fell—to their side.

"Kaecilius, Kaecilius! Now that Ancient One has the upper hand, let's see how you win!" Maintaining the mirror dimension earlier had drained nearly all of his and Mordo's magical power, so now he could only be a spectator.

In such an epic battle, sitting front row was quite thrilling.

Kaecilius unleashed his ultimate move.

In the mirror dimension, everything projected into it could serve as material for spatial magic. At this moment, they were theoretically a thousand meters above New York City, overlooking the entire metropolis.

Kaecilius's trump card was—the Statue of Liberty.

Damn it!

The 46.05-meter-tall statue, built from sheets of bronze, transformed into a gigantic grenade, exploding and disintegrating before Meimu and Mordo's eyes. Countless square-meter bronze fragments became deadly shrapnel, flying toward Ancient One and the group.

The force was like a towering mountain crashing down.

Unstoppable!

Irresistible!

Certain death!

Absolutely certain death!

Even if the three possessed battleship-strength armor, they wouldn't dare claim they could withstand such an onslaught.

Terror was already etched on Meimu and Mordo's faces.

Yet Ancient One blocked it.

With a single stomp, the massive bronze shards that had been tumbling toward them suddenly reversed direction, flying back as if by magic.

"Hmph!" Kaecilius realized that using spatial magic taught by Ancient One would never defeat her. He snorted, activating Self-Acceleration, and instantly transformed into a nimble monkey, agilely bouncing among the rapidly retreating bronze shards, darting toward Ancient One with endless zigzag maneuvers.

He was aiming for close combat.

"Oh?" Ancient One's expression turned icy and magnificent. Tilting her head, she threw a punch, a standard horse stance strike.

Enhanced by magic, the blow conjured a massive cement fist in midair.

The stone fist, as big as a truck, slammed into Kaecilius in midair. Even though Kaecilius used a shield of dark magic at the critical moment, he was still blasted away like a cannonball.

"Kaecilius! If you have any other tricks, you'd better use them quickly!" Ancient One said coldly.

This is the tragedy of a disciple challenging the master.

Without personal insight or original moves, a disciple can never surpass the teacher.