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THIRTY SIX | THE SORCERESS SUPREME

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Thor, along with the other heroes and armies from various kingdoms, let out a battle cry, their feet sounding like a storm: tumultuous waves and deafening thunderclaps, all preceded by still winds and calm seas. She pushed her feet forward, roared furiously, and sprinted alongside everyone else, hands poised to shoot magic in rapid succession.

Thanos raised his sword towards them, commanding his army to charge as well, and they surged forward. It was like being attacked by a swarm of insects. They all had bulbous eyes, and they blazed magma-red with hatred. Stephen was soaring in the air, his cloak of levitation carrying him closer to the center. Wakandan soldiers and Alona's army of Neptureans steered clear of her path as she began the attack by striking first and eliminating the frontline of Thanos' horde. Shrieks were heard all around as they died one by one due to Cassandra's unmerciful assault.

With the frontline cleared, the battle finally began.

The battlefield was covered in dust and dirt, all baked under an unrelenting sun, but it didn't matter.

The monsters swarmed them like a plague of ravenous locusts, and Cassandra was almost swatting them out of her way.

Standing beside Stephen Strange, the two worked together to eliminate every enemy of theirs. Multiple orbs of energy and spells flew rapidly out of their hands as they kept an eye on the twins, who were battling Thanos' army of beasts.

It was then that she sensed a presence standing behind her and immediately spun around to her left as a weapon sliced through her former position. She summoned mandalas and threw them like javelins, striking her attacker in the gut, as if her body went into pilot mode and the darkness imprisoned within her smelt the bloodlust and struggled to break free. It was like it was hanging on a string in a slingshot with a rock waiting to be launched, and no matter how hard she tried, it would eventually be released. Actually, what she feared most about the darkness was not its power but its craving for violence and ruthlessness. She didn't want to feel that bliss again like she did before when she almost obliterated the three Sanctums or killed Thanos. The witch curled up instantly at the impact; a bleeding wound opened up, but she didn't let this deter her.

Cassandra finally caught a glimpse of her attacker and recognized her as one of Thanos' children. She sported blue hair and red eyes, with black markings on her face that resembled a helmet and black horn-like antlers. She was one of the children who led the fight in Wakanda five years ago.

Proxima Midnight.

"Guardian of the Time Stone Keeper, you – "

"Nope, she got promoted to Sorceress Supreme five years ago, Hades," quipped Stephen as he just sent off another opponent into a portal that leads to only god knows where.

"Blue skin, blue hair?" asked Cassandra, catching on to the nickname.

"What's missing is the fire hair; then it's complete," Stephen replied, not taking his gaze away from their opponent.

"... will die today."

Cassandra sighed. "I'm sorry to break it to you, dear, but hell hates me so much that they'd spit me back out here if I died here, so..." She shrugged and turned to Stephen. "Go, I can – "

That was when the blue-skinned alien was accompanied by another tall, skinny alien whose skin was gray with a long face and red eyes. He looked like he had no ears, or perhaps they were covered by his hood. In his right hand was a glaive, a large double-sided polearm weapon that she heard was powerful enough to strike through vibranium.

Corvus Glaive.

"It appears that you require my expertise here, Sorceress Supreme, and I am delighted to be of service," Stephen remarked as the two stood side by side, anticipating their opponent's attack.

"Go, I can handle them."

The corner of his lips curled up as he sauntered over towards her. "No. Today," he breathed, creating a gate underneath the feet of their incoming enemy, vacuuming him into a different dimension. "I am your Guardian, Cassandra."

Cassandra wanted to roll her eyes, but instead, the corners of her lips lifted. She still couldn't believe Stephen was here, standing right beside her. She could feel his body heat, hear his voice, and see him. For five years, she had waited for his return, and now, here he was. She could only hope that this was not a dream and that it was real.

With murder in her eyes, the female alien with blue skin slashed three times at them in rapid succession. Focused on survival, Cassandra deflected, the air glowing and flashing with energy, more intense each second, until a bright beam of golden light shouted out of it in Proxima Midnight's direction. The witch raised her shield, and the gleaming on it soaked up the light of the sun. and the magical blast that had been launched at it. As she lowered it to stare the alien in the eyes, the shield began to throb with an eerie violet glow.

Paying no attention to it, she and Stephen battled their opponents. He focused all his strength on defeating Corvus Glaive, even conjuring the Sword of Vishanti to combat with him while she kept her eyes trained on Proxima Midnight.

Slash after slash, Cassandra countered with her eldritch magic, which was slowly getting overwhelmed by her dark magic. Getting distracted by this for a moment, her enemy's staff spun in front of her so fast it looked like a disc, and it was about to slash through her abdomen. A melon-sized chunk of phase-shifted dark matter froze midway between them and imploded, belching out a stream of rasping, fiery gas in the alien's direction, as if sensing desperation. The concussion threw Proxima off balance, sending her reeling backward with a hiss and a yell of pain.

As soon as the black gas dissipated, Cassandra caught a glimpse of her rival losing an arm, as if it had been chewed off by a beast, leaving only a stump.

"You wretch!"

Proxima growled, lashing out at her with the obvious intent of rending her to pieces. Cassandra shattered an interdimensional gate on the alien's right side, unleashing an oncoming horde; however, the glowering woman cut through the oncoming horde like her arm was a honed war-blade. The witch's magic became darker as the fight progressed, to the point where she said, "Die, you insect," motioning with both hands. The tips of her fingers darkened, and her eyes glowed a deep violet.

The alien swiveled and oriented itself toward her. "Die, you insect," she said, motioning with both hands.

Cassandra exhaled: "You first, bitch."

Launched forward, the Sorceress Supreme prepared for her rush; she cast a spell that phased her to the right, using the absence of light in her favor. Her casting presence split three ways, sending out spells and constructs in a deadly barrage as if time had distorted.

Cassandra caught the flash of something crashing down beside her. Proxima Midnight's body was split in half as it veered and smashed into one of the rocks.

Thousands more to go.

After catching her breath, the witch looked around, hoping to see her red-caped companion, who is supposed to be battling or reigning victorious against his rival.

But he was nowhere to be found.

Thousands of ominous thoughts prowled through her mind as she frantically searched for him, tearing her path through the raging war. His absence from her sight agitated her, forcing her to move into unknown territory. Cold, spiderlike fingers raced up and down her spine as she feared the worst. "Stephen?" Her heart raced, and her word almost got caught in her throat. He was still not around. A palpable surge of uncontrollable emotion washed over her; she felt it crawl through her being, slowly and steadily consuming her. "Stephen! Steph – " she yelled when she felt the hand grasp her shoulder and immediately spun around, only to come face to face with the person she was looking for. It was then that she realized that tears threatened to cascade down her cheeks, and she almost forgot that they were in the middle of a battlefield.

"Don't die on me here, Stephen," declared Cassandra like a command, yet also as a plea, as the two returned to the battle, focused more on their goal of defeating Thanos.

"You won't lose me again."

And I will hold on to that promise.

Not even seconds after she said this to herself, the two of them were thrown off their feet by a massive explosion, sending them flying across the field. Every muscle in Cassandra's body ached, but she endured it all, only letting out a loud growl and a curse under her breath. She wasn't even given a chance to catch her breath or check on Stephen since a large hand wrung itself around her neck, almost squeezing the life out of her. Like a defensive mechanism, thin tendrils of dark matter slithered around the Titan's arm with a soft hiss and burned his skin. Yelling in pain, he almost swatted her away, but thankfully, she managed to cast a spell that helped her regain her footing. Thanos lifted his head, focusing on her with a murderous glare.

She smirked. "There's more where that came from."

"Your potential is wasted here on this worthless planet! e could've been allies, but you'd rather choose to die!" And with that, he pitched a large boulder towards her, which she obliterated like a hundred butterflies. In response to his attack, she channeled a flurry of spells at once, hurtling them like there was no tomorrow. Thanos managed to evade them all until he had gotten close to her again, and this time, he already had his double-edged blade in his hand.

Using her magic, she rapidly overwhelmed him by hurling enormous piles of debris and powerful blasts of energy, though he managed to overcome this and moved to strike her with his weapon. She blocked this with her summoned mandalas, but Thanos was determined to slice her in half. She was struggling to stay upright and was losing ground when time began to move tauntingly slowly. The sky above her became a canopy of black; so deep was the darkness that she believed there would never be light again. Lightning ripped the heavens apart, and rolls of thunder tore the silence into pieces. She felt a chill as she stumbled into a pocket of density, and for the first time ever, she understood the essence of darkness. It was much more sinister.

What she thought was a living terror devouring every last particle of light turned out to be the feeble outline of some hands.

Where there is light, there is shadow.

The effluvium of death surrounded her at that moment. The battlefield had been baptized in blood, and the bitter, mordant perfume of corpses emanated from it, a constant reminder that she was chosen to protect humanity. The Sorceress Supreme recalled her mentor's words and then finally understood.

This is the prophecy bestowed upon her: to accept the darkness in order for the light to exist.

And with that, she took its hand and let the caged entity within her go free. It was never meant to harm her. It only wanted to be a part of her, not hidden or feared. When she opened her eyes, a violet shimmer of light shone brightly from them, threatening to blind her enemy from its intensity. Carving a smirk into her lips, she fiercely blasted him with a single energy strike, breaking his sword in half.

The mud beneath her began to steam and boil. Lilac wisps of flame coiled up, licking at her feet, and as she climbed higher above the smoldering earth, the flames grew thick. Instead of smoke billowing from the fire below, streams of dappled lavender light danced around her in swirling clouds. Familiar faces and enemies craned up at her. Cassandra couldn't tell if she was shocked or amazed; the world around her was distorted as if she were looking through a moving stained-glass window, a color carousel. Threads of amethyst light weaved themselves through and through, connecting with her fingers.

So she twirled, and the battle twirled with her. Debris ripped itself free from the ground and splintered and cracked, joining the dance. The grinding of stones was all she could hear as she rose higher and higher in the air. Steaming shrouds of cloud coil and writhe, and an unearthly caterwauling sound fills the air. The wind whipped up a frenzy, a shrieking, keening omen of the carnage to follow. Her song was reaching its crescendo, and sparks from the colliding rocks punctuated her movements. Her head felt light, and where she should smell sulfur, the sweet scent of lavender overtook her senses, turning bitter in her mouth.

She choked, pulling all the air deep into her lungs, her throat searing. The colors around her burned, shattering as she blew out, turning black as they rained down on the army of Thanos. They stood no chance, wailing out one last time before disappearing forever into ashes. In the midst of the chaos, she felt something clasp between her shoulders, and a euphoric thrill rush from her head to her toe. When everything collided, a pile of burned brown debris exploded into dust. As the dust settled, so too did the silence.

Cassandra was no longer wearing her beige robes; they had been transformed into purple and black articles of clothing with silver accents. With black leggings and thigh-high boots, she donned a halter top with a high neckline and cold-shoulder sleeves that had a billowing cape attached to her sleeves rather than her shoulders. Arm-enclosing silver vambraces were wrapped around her wrists as she descended from the air.

Just then, she felt a swish of air on her back, and she instantly spun around to stop whatever was coming her way, but somebody already did.

Holding her breath, she watched as a double-bitted axe was held back inches from her face by one of the people she expected to come to her rescue.

Paul exhaled, almost smiling. "I've got your back."

"So do we," proclaimed another, and Cassandra smirked at the sound of Vesper's voice. The blonde-haired woman hung her sword around her shoulders and marched over to her territory, with Alona by her side. "Oh, nice costume," she commented, eyeing it from head to toe. "Where'd you get it? Gucci? Balenciaga?"

Cassandra chuckled.

Staring ahead at the war that paused, Alona declared, "I like the new look, by the way, Cass. It suits you, very you."

A legion of armed Chitauri then surrounded the team, their weapons aimed at them all. Feeling the surge of her new power rush through her veins like an icy chill, Cassandra channeled her dark magic, shaping it into an energy blade. Its purple glare radiated against her face and skin as she maintained her stance. Cracking the muscles in her neck, she drove her weapon into the ground, creating a fissure that split apart and swallowed the aliens beneath. The tremor that followed was felt across the battlefield when Cassandra caught sight of Thanos's stumbling. In retaliation for her assault, she heard him call for an air strike from his large ship, directly aimed at her. Seeing the blasts from afar, she braced herself for the impact of the onslaught against her, but nothing came.

Because the Masters of the Mystic Arts, led by Wong and Stephen, gathered in front of her, their mandalas were raised to secure her.

Wong then bellowed, "Protect the Sorceress Supreme!"

author's note: hey, y'all lovely people! i missed you all so much! how are we all doing now? also, my girlie cassie finally had the transformation we all have been waiting for! can't wait to share with you the rest what i have in store for her and her fam!