Marvel: Sign-In System – Starting with the Glint-Glint Fruit

How large was Limbo?

It did not have a fixed physical size. It was considered a pocket dimension, with a natural foundation roughly comparable to an Earth-like planet. It possessed a complete surface and uniform gravity, but no true star-filled sky, and on the whole it was far smaller than the galaxies of the main universe.

However, its boundaries could expand almost without limit depending on the magical power of its ruler.

The exact size depended entirely on the ruler’s will—if they wanted it larger, they could continue expanding it.

Under Belasco’s control, Limbo had grown to a scale comparable to a star, perhaps even somewhat larger than the Sun.

For an entire dimension, that was still relatively small.

But from a human perspective, and even from the perspective of most demons, it was already unimaginably vast.

Limbo was large enough to hold tens of billions of demons.

And once again, that depended on Belasco.

Authority was bound to the rules of the dimension—that was the privilege of its ruler.

Limbo also contained an enormous amount of magical energy. Because of this, although the dimension did not appear especially vast, the energy stored within it was fundamentally comparable to the hell realms ruled by certain Hell Lords.

Belasco himself was nowhere near the level of a true Hell Lord, yet inside Limbo he could wield power comparable to one.

That was what made Limbo so unusual.

Its enormous size also meant that if Reacher and the three warbands tried to advance through conventional warfare, clearing demons and occupying territory step by step, the campaign would take an extremely long time.

The most efficient approach would actually be to concentrate all available forces, advance directly on the Dark Fortress, kill Belasco, and seize control of Limbo’s authority.

Once control of the dimension had been secured from the top down, they could gradually eliminate or expel the remaining demons according to Matthew’s will.

In practical terms, Matthew was fully capable of doing exactly that.

The difference between Belasco and Magik was simple—Belasco’s fundamental level of existence was far too low.

Even after countless years of accumulating knowledge, he would eventually be surpassed by Illyana, the very girl he had personally trained.

Once Illyana matured, she would kill Belasco, become the Queen of Limbo, and eventually reach a level of power high enough to defeat Dormammu.

Belasco was nowhere close to that potential.

Even with the advantage of fighting inside his own dimension, the current Belasco could still be killed by Matthew.

There was no doubt about that.

The only issue was that the battle might take considerably longer.

Matthew’s foundation was simply too deep.

His current knowledge of magic had already reached an astonishing level, surpassed only by the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One.

Combined with his mastery of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the Glint-Glint Fruit, all three forms of Haki, and his other abilities, he was already capable of fighting high-dimensional rulers on the level of Dormammu.

Compared with that, Belasco was far behind.

More importantly, most of Belasco’s abilities were based on dark magic, while Matthew specialized in white magic that directly opposed it.

Belasco had Limbo itself supplying him with power—

but Matthew had the Punch Dimension and its limitless kinetic energy supporting him.

That difference would only continue to grow.

If Limbo were currently ruled by a fully matured Illyana as Magik, Matthew would never have considered taking it.

Even someone as meticulous as Reacher would not have focused on this dimension, much less staged an entire war specifically to give the three warbands real battlefield experience.

During their brief exchange, the intensity of the clash between Matthew and Belasco reached its absolute peak.

Yet Belasco soon discovered that no matter what he tried, he simply could not defeat Matthew.

Every form of dark magic he used—whether curses or something else—was easily neutralized by Matthew with the corresponding forms of white magic.

Matthew himself showed little desire to fight aggressively, spending most of the battle simply responding to whatever Belasco threw at him.

By now, Belasco had basically concluded that Matthew had never intended to fight him seriously in the first place. Then, as he sensed the countless disturbances spreading across the vast territories beyond the Dark Fortress, he finally understood Matthew’s real objective.

The anger in Belasco gradually subsided, replaced by cold calculation—a calmness born from anger.

He was furious that this human had treated Limbo as a training ground and turned what should have been a massive war into an exercise for deploying troops and testing formations.

But he also realized that if Matthew intended to play things this way, then Belasco could use a different method to take Illyana back.

He could win the game instead.

“Emperor of Humanity, if you want to play a game, then let us turn it into a wager.” Belasco said coldly.

Matthew remained seated calmly on his throne, looking at him from afar without showing any unnecessary emotion.

“A wager? What do you have to offer?”

Matthew had always known that this style of military advance could never truly be hidden from someone like Belasco.

He simply did not care.

As far as Matthew was concerned, Belasco was already finished, and nothing was going to change that.

“If I choose mutual destruction, you won’t be able to stop me. I can turn all of Limbo into our grave,” Belasco said, his voice laced with madness.

That kind of threat was enough to make almost anyone hesitate, including many of the powerful Hell Lords ruling other hell dimensions.

After all, Limbo was extremely unusual.

Over the years, numerous Hell Lords and powerful ancient demons beneath that level had coveted it, and some had even tried to seize it.

Every attempt had failed.

Part of the reason was that Belasco possessed Hell Lord-level power while inside Limbo, making him extremely difficult to kill.

But there was another reason as well.

Belasco possessed one final option—mutual destruction.

In theory, he could detonate the entire dimension, forcing the pocket dimension itself to collapse and explode, releasing enough power to tear apart almost any enemy.

Even powerful Hell Lords could be severely injured by such an event.

That was why many of them had ultimately allowed Belasco to retain control over Limbo.

Unfortunately for him, that threat could not frighten Matthew.

Matthew knew from the beginning that Belasco’s supposed final move was mostly a bluff.

Technically, Belasco did possess such an ability, just as any Hell Lord who held authority over a hell dimension could theoretically destroy their own realm as a final suicidal measure.

But Belasco’s relationship with Limbo was unusual.

More specifically, Belasco himself was unusual.

Belasco had originally been a sorcerer from the thirteenth century. He had made a bargain with ancient gods, receiving immense mystical power and near immortality in exchange for helping them return to Earth.

Under that contract, Belasco was effectively unable to die before fulfilling his obligation.

His reason for abducting Illyana and preparing her as a sacrifice was precisely because he hoped to use her to complete the contract.

The consequences of breaking that agreement were even more terrifying than death itself.

That was why, in the original timeline, even after Illyana had secretly grown strong enough to turn his own dark magic against him, Belasco still never chose to destroy Limbo.

He had not been killed; he had been banished.