"Tony!"
The Hulk—Bruce Banner beneath the green exterior—stared in horror at Ian lifeless body, then turned to see Iron Man's half-melted armor and the motionless form within. His mind struggled to process what had just occurred.
Tony Stark, though arrogant and often infuriating, had always been the backbone of the Avengers. His genius, his technology, his sheer determination—all snuffed out in an instant.
Death had never seemed so abrupt, so... final.
The Hulk looked down at his massive fist, still stained with Ian's blood, then back at the wizard's broken body. A strange, overwhelming sensation flooded through him—something beyond anger, something that even Banner's consciousness, buried beneath layers of rage, couldn't fully comprehend.
Around them, the Masters of Kamar-Taj gradually lowered their hands, their spellcasting forgotten as they stared at their fallen commander. Disbelief etched across their faces, quickly giving way to a surge of collective fury that crackled in the air like magical static.
Vera Rosier, standing mere feet away, watched the scene unfold with an expression of pure anguish. Her normally composed features contorted with grief and rage as she raised her wand with a trembling hand. The air around her thickened with the scent of ozone and something darker—the unmistakable aroma of imminent death magic.
She aimed her wand directly at the Hulk, intent on avenging Ian's death with the most terrible curse in her considerable arsenal.
However, before she could unleash her vengeance...
A kaleidoscope of multicolored light flashed brilliantly, and Gilderoy Lockhart apparated beside Ian's body. No longer the fraud who had once taught at Hogwarts, this Lockhart moved with the confidence and power of a true master sorcerer, his eyes cold and calculating as they swept over the battlefield.
Simultaneously, Thor materialized next to Tony's mutilated form, his normally jovial face hardened into a mask of granite. Mjölnir hummed ominously in his hand, lightning dancing subtly across its surface.
The battlefield fell silent.
All eyes focused on Lockhart and Thor, awaiting their reaction to this devastating turn of events. Vera held her spell in check, her magic building to dangerous levels as she waited for her mentor's command.
Lockhart and Thor stood in perfect stillness beside the bodies of their fallen comrades. No words were exchanged between them, but their expressions conveyed volumes. The temperature of the battlefield seemed to drop several degrees under their cold gazes.
This was the first true casualty of their conflict—ignoring the mind-controlled Muggle agents who had been little more than pawns. But this... this was different. Two leaders, two linchpins of their respective forces, had fallen simultaneously.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Without preamble or hesitation, Lockhart's eyes hardened to ice as he slashed his wand through the air. The Killing Curse—unblockable, unforgivable—erupted from his wand tip. A jet of sickly green light, carrying the unmistakable aura of death itself, streaked toward Thor with frightening speed.
Lockhart's decisive action seemed to break Vera from her trance.
"Avada Kedavra!" she echoed, her voice breaking with emotion as she directed her own Death Curse toward the Hulk.
The atmosphere shifted instantly. What had been a battle of restraint transformed into a desperate fight for survival. The rules of engagement had been shattered alongside the fallen leaders.
CRACK!
Sensing the approaching death magic, Thor reacted with godlike reflexes. Mjölnir spun in his hand, gathering an electrical charge so intense that the air around him ionized. His cape billowed as thunder magic erupted from his entire body.
WHOOSH!
Without hesitation, the God of Thunder swung his enchanted hammer directly into the path of the oncoming Killing Curse.
BOOM!
CRACKLE!
The collision created a shockwave that rippled outward across the battlefield. Mjölnir met the green jet of death magic in a catastrophic display of conflicting energies.
Though Thor's blow carried the strength of Asgard behind it, Lockhart's curse was no ordinary magic. The two forces locked in a stalemate, neither yielding to the other. Thor channeled more lightning power from the depths of his being, pouring it into Mjölnir, while Lockhart fed a continuous stream of dark magic into his spell.
The energy at the point of contact boiled and expanded, creating a swirling vortex of blue lightning and venomous green death magic.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The collision generated gale-force winds that whipped across the battlefield. The atmospheric pressure fluctuated wildly, making it difficult for everyone present to breathe, magical or not.
Meanwhile, Vera's Killing Curse sped toward the Hulk with lethal intent, fueled by her grief for Ian.
Johnny Blaze—the Ghost Rider—had been anticipating such an attack. Chains of dark red hellfire materialized from nowhere, intercepting the green death magic before it could reach Banner. The Spirit of Vengeance had moved to protect his teammate, recognizing that Vera's power, while formidable, couldn't match Lockhart's centuries of accumulated magical knowledge.
The battlefield settled into another uneasy stalemate.
The Hulk, stimulated by the chaos and the near-death experience, roared as his eyes flashed with an unnatural crimson light. Taking advantage of the momentary equilibrium between opposing forces, he charged toward the nearby Masters of Kamar-Taj.
These sorcerers, however, were far from helpless. Ian's death had ignited a collective rage within their ranks, and seeing his killer barreling toward them, they responded with lethal intent.
Intricate patterns formed in the air as their hands traced ancient sigils. Sling rings sparked with golden energy as they conjured their most devastating offensive spells.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A barrage of magical projectiles—some resembling molten metal, others like crystallized light—slammed into the Hulk's massive frame. Each impact created a concussive burst that would have obliterated ordinary beings.
The Hulk's skin sizzled and smoked where the magic struck, causing him genuine pain despite his near-invulnerability.
ROAR!
The green behemoth bellowed in agony and escalating fury. His muscles swelled further, veins bulging beneath his skin as his body responded to the damage by growing even stronger. His already imposing stature increased by several feet, and a palpable pressure emanated from him, causing even the disciplined sorcerers to falter momentarily.
"Restrict his movements!" shouted Wong, one of the senior Masters. "Our offensive spells can't penetrate his hide—we need to contain him!"
The sorcerers adjusted their tactics with practiced coordination. Their spellcasting shifted from direct damage to environmental manipulation.
The ground beneath the Hulk liquefied instantly, transforming into a viscous magical quagmire that reached up past his knees. Simultaneously, massive golems of earth and stone erupted from the ground around him, their crude arms wrapping around his torso and limbs.
Masters from the Hong Kong Sanctum conjured glowing crimson restraints that resembled molten glass, which flew toward the Hulk's extremities—targeting his wrists, ankles, and neck.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Caught by surprise, the Hulk found himself partially immobilized by the sudden transformation of the ground. He swung his massive fists wildly, pulverizing the stone golems into rubble and snapping the magical restraints. Each blow to the enchanted swamp sent shockwaves through the earth, creating fissures that extended dozens of yards in every direction.
The Hulk appeared to grow stronger with each passing second, his rage amplifying his already impossible strength to new heights. One Hulk now commanded the destructive potential of ten.
Meanwhile, the standoff between Lockhart and Thor reached its crescendo. Thor's lightning—the pure power of the storm that vanquishes darkness—battled against the corrupting influence of the Death Curse. Neither force could overcome the other as both combatants channeled more power into their attacks.
The point of contact between Mjölnir and the Killing Curse expanded into an enormous sphere of conflicting energies—a swirling maelstrom of electric blue and poisonous green that crackled with unstable power.
Then, in a move that surprised everyone present...
BOOM!
Lockhart suddenly changed tactics. With a complex gesture of his wand and a surge of mental force, he seized control of the volatile energy sphere. Instead of continuing the direct confrontation with Thor, he redirected the combined might of their powers—sending the deadly orb hurtling toward the towering pillar of light that had appeared during the battle.
The speed was breathtaking. In less than a heartbeat, the sphere—containing both Lockhart's death magic and Thor's divine lightning—collided with the enigmatic column of energy.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A deafening explosion rocked the battlefield as three distinct powers converged: Lockhart's Death Curse, Thor's Asgardian thunder, and the mysterious energy beam emanating from what Lockhart had identified as a "god embryo."
The resulting shockwave was catastrophic. Enormous waves of pure magical force radiated outward from the light pillar, sweeping across the battlefield like an invisible tsunami. Everyone—Ghost Rider, sorcerers, even Thor and Lockhart themselves—was tossed through the air like leaves in a hurricane.
Above the Thames River, as the energy beam shattered under the impact, a new phenomenon manifested. A swirling vortex of pure white light appeared in the sky—a rotating wormhole that pulsed with otherworldly power.
The passage to the god embryo had opened.
And with it, the true battle was about to begin.