"Stay back, Barton! This guy is out of your league!" Steve shouted.
The rest of the Avengers had already noticed Belasco.
Tony Stark soared in from the distance, unleashing a barrage of repulsor blasts to divert Belasco's attention.
Repulsor beams!
Lasers!
Micro-missiles!
"Damn it! None of my weapons are even scratching this thing!" Tony gritted his teeth, pushing his Mark 42 suit to its limits.
From the ground, Belasco barely reacted.
He simply tilted his head, unimpressed.
"Weak attack."
His voice rumbled like an earthquake.
He raised his massive blade and pointed it directly at Tony.
"Warning! Extreme heat levels detected!" Jarvis' voice rang through Tony's helmet.
"Yeah, no kidding, Jarvis!" Tony snapped, veering away, heading straight toward the Hulk's position.
After the Battle of New York, Thor had taken Loki back to Asgard.
That left Hulk as the Avengers' last true powerhouse.
"Hulk! I brought you a big guy to smash—oh hell, this thing can fly?!"
Before Tony could finish, a powerful force struck him mid-air, sending him spiraling out of control.
The Mark 42, still a prototype, took the impact hard, nearly breaking apart mid-flight.
At the last second, Hulk leaped up, catching Tony and setting him down safely.
"ROAR!"
"Alright, alright, no need to yell. I'm still alive—barely." Tony groaned, crawling out of the wrecked armor. "Jarvis, get the party started."
As soon as he said it, his backup suits launched from Stark Tower, inbound for battle.
Tony looked up.
Belasco loomed in the sky, his monstrous wings spread wide, blotting out the sun.
The massive demon cast a dark shadow over the battlefield, and with it, an oppressive force that crushed the spirits of everyone present.
A single thought crept into their minds: 'Can this thing even be defeated?'
Meanwhile, aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Nick Fury watched the battle unfold on several holographic screens. The Avengers were losing ground fast.
Across from him, a council of high-ranking officials appeared via projection, their expressions tense.
"Perhaps… it's time we consider another nuclear strike?" one of them suggested.
Fury's expression darkened further.
'Idiots.'
"Last time the council considered that, we nearly eliminated the only true deterrent our world had." he said coldly.
His hand slipped into his pocket, gripping a worn-out pager.
If things got any worse, he knew exactly who he needed to call.
In a warehouse in Port Jefferson, the darkness finally faded.
"It's finally over..." Luke exhaled, his body trembling from exertion.
Just as the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. were reaching the brink of despair, Luke had completed his ritual, absorbing the energy of the Shadow Demon.
Power surged through him.
His mind instantly understood its most fundamental and powerful ability—
The power to command shadows was now within his grasp.
"Shadow?"
Luke glanced at the container nearby, eyeing the shadow it cast. With a thought, the dark outline began to ripple and twist. Within moments, the shadow solidified into the shape of a soldier wielding two swords.
Its entire body was pitch black, blending into the dim surroundings, with only the faint shimmer of its blades giving it definition—a chilling aura clinging to them.
"Come here."
The shadow soldier, responding instantly to Luke's command, walked toward him. It was connected to him by thought alone.
Luke watched it up close, curious. He slowly reached out and placed his hand into the creature's chest. It didn't resist.
In an instant, the soldier faded into smoke, the shadow twisting and reshaping into a black sword that Luke now held in his grip.
"Is this your power, Shaco?" he asked with a smirk. "Not bad at all."
He loosened his fingers, letting the sword melt back into a shadow and return to the ground.
"Of course," Shaco replied confidently, standing nearby with an almost cocky nod.
He didn't even notice that Luke had started calling him by name.
But he was pleased—because he believed he was close to gaining something far greater.
Soon, Shaco thought, he'd fully absorb the incredible energy Luke carried. Energy so pure and demonic, it could rival the core force of an entire dimension.
With that power, he could tear open the barrier between dimensions.
The Shadow Dimension would rise and consume the dark energies of the Hell Dimension tied to Luke's strange demonic presence.
Once that happened...
"I'll finally become a dimension lord!" Shaco trembled with excitement. He could already see it—his throne, his domain, his rule.
"Human, I've given you part of my power," Shaco said, stepping forward, voice brimming with self-importance. "Now it's your turn."
Silence.
Luke casually spread his hands. "Where? Where's this so-called power you gave me?"
Just then, the sound of a system notification echoed in his mind:
[Ding!]
[Abnormal energy detected!]
[Supreme Exorcist System has successfully purified the intrusion!]
At that moment, Luke knew—it was over.
He didn't owe Shaco a damn thing.
You said your power's inside me? Then call it back. Let's see if it answers.
"Wait, I... just now..."
Shaco froze, eyes wide.
He couldn't feel it.
The shadow power clearly radiating from Luke... had no connection to him at all.
"You... you tricked me!?"
Fury erupted from him. Shadows surged from every object nearby, morphing into twisted, snarling beasts.
Luke instinctively tried to resist, to seize back control of the nearby shadows. But...
They weren't his to command—not yet.
"You've still got some cards up your sleeve, huh?" Luke muttered, half-amused, half-annoyed.
"Hehe~ Stupid human!" Shaco snarled. "Did you really think I'd give you all my power?"
The shadow monsters crept closer, circling Luke.
"You'll regret trying to deceive a demon of my rank... I'll show you the wrath of a dimension—"
Before he could finish, a blinding white light burst outward.
Luke had triggered the exorcism array he'd secretly set up earlier.
Crafted by the Supreme Exorcist System itself.
It activated flawlessly.
And it was glorious.
A flash of white light exploded across the room.
In an instant, all the shadow monsters were wiped out—gone without a trace. Even the Shadow Demon had vanished, as if it had never existed.
"Ah~" Luke let out a sigh, clapping his hands as he looked around. "Thought you were the only one with a hidden move, huh?"
There was no trace of Shaco anywhere.
With the demon gone, Luke suddenly felt it—control. The shadows of every object around him now bent to his will. No resistance, no tug-of-war. He had full command.
"Dimensional Demon God?" he scoffed to himself. "You weren't even a proper dimension lord. And you had the guts to mess with someone like Dormammu?"
Luke shook his head, remembering how Shaco had pompously called himself a 'Dimensional Demon God'. It was laughable.
Right then, the system chimed in his mind again:
[Ding!]
[Achievement Unlocked: First Time Expelling a Dimensional Demon!]
[Congratulations! You've received a reward: Mouth of the Heavens!]
(Entry 1: No rituals required. Your words are law. You can summon by simply speaking a demon's true name.)
(Entry 2: Summoned demons have the right to refuse.)
Luke blinked at the screen, then grinned.
"So... I don't need blood, bones, or any of those creepy rituals anymore?"
"Just the name?"
His eyes sparkled with excitement.
No sacrifices.
No incantations.
That meant he could call whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted! It wasn't until he read the second entry that reality kicked back in.
"Right... they can still ghost me."
Still, this was a massive upgrade from before.
"Even if I can't read that ancient scroll the Ancient One gave me... I can still summon, as long as I know the name."
Luke recalled the scroll, filled with ancient markings. No matter how hard he tried, the language made zero sense.
But now?
"Who cares what it says, I just need the name."
He tried to remember what the Ancient One called that sealed entity... "Was it Praise?... Quas?"
"No... Quag? Quaggs?"
He mumbled through the guesses until one name slipped out:
"Quagus."
BOOM—!
The pressure that followed was unreal. Heavy. Suffocating.
Tentacles burst from thin air. Eyes—dozens, maybe hundreds—opened in the darkness.
In seconds, the entire warehouse was filled with an overwhelming presence. Fear pressed from all sides.
"Oh crap!"
"Did I really just summon that thing!?"
"I haven't even set up the exorcism array yet!"
Panicked, Luke scrambled to activate a defense. But before he could finish, the pressure vanished. Just like that.
Everything—tentacles, eyes, the whole surreal nightmare—disappeared.
The warehouse returned to normal, like nothing ever happened.
Quagus never came.
Luke exhaled sharply, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"The Ancient One did say he was sealed... guess she wasn't kidding."
He chuckled nervously. "Man... I almost summoned a full-blown dimensional lord... with zero prep."
He shook his head as he walked out of the warehouse. "Yeah, I probably shouldn't toss demon names around like party invites."
Just a few steps outside, he stopped.
"???"
"Wait, what the hell is going on over there?"
The air was thick with a familiar energy.
He sniffed, narrowing his eyes toward the horizon.
"That's demonic energy. Strong, too. And... wait a sec. That scent... it's familiar."
Luke's expression darkened.
It smelled like the same group of demons he summoned from before!
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