BOOM!
CLATTER! CLATTER! CLATTER!
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Tony Stark felt the agents' bullets constantly peppering his armor. A rattling sound resonated from the surface of his suit, accompanied by faint vibrations that traveled through to his body. His expression gradually hardened as a sense of helplessness crept in.
Although these agents were attacking him because they were under the control of the sorcerers' magic, the impact they were having was considerable. Being caught without mercy was definitely not in Tony Stark's vocabulary.
"JARVIS!" Tony commanded. "Release the anesthetic mist!"
"Right away, sir," the AI responded smoothly.
CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!
From high altitude in the distance, a golden and red streak of light flew in—one of Tony's remote-controlled supply units, shaped like a rectangular parallelepiped warehouse. The cuboid hovered in the sky above the battlefield and slowly opened with precise mechanical clicks.
A cloud of milky white anesthetic gas began to spread from the high-altitude container, cascading down onto the battlefield below. Most of the mind-controlled agents became weak after just a slight whiff, collapsing motionless on the ground.
Even the sorcerer fighting nearby caught a trace of the anesthetic gas and felt the magical power in his body gradually dissipating.
And at that moment...
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The air roared as powerful winds suddenly picked up.
Ian Blackwood and Vera Rosier mobilized their sorcerer team to cast wind magic, conjuring a powerful gale that blew the falling anesthetic gas away into the distance. Simultaneously, their healing specialists cast spell after spell, restoring those affected by the gas to fighting condition.
As for the anesthetized agents, the sorcerers made no move to revive them. It seemed they had reached a tacit understanding with the Avengers—neither side would use the lives of ordinary people as cannon fodder in their battle.
Tony's eyes flashed with disappointment as he realized his anesthetic gas had minimal impact on the sorcerers. They were clearly prepared with countermeasures.
"Time for Plan B," he muttered.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
His Iron Legion suits flew swiftly through the air, and after finding suitable positions, they quickly descended to the battlefield. The armors landed in front of the sorcerers and, under JARVIS's control, began engaging in close-quarters combat, their metal fists raised.
"Long-range attacks aren't effective," Tony thought. "Let's see how they handle direct engagement."
His attention shifted to the Hulk, who was currently restrained by multiple magical bindings, struggling violently to break free. Tony directed several of his armors to help; their forearms transformed into long vibrating blades that cut through the magical restraints with surgical precision.
With Tony's help, the Hulk quickly broke free of his magical prison.
"Banner, follow me," Tony called to the green giant. "We need to deal with their commanders directly."
The Hulk's eyes locked onto Ian and Vera in the center of the defensive formation.
ROAR!
A thunderous bellow resonated throughout the battlefield. The Hulk took wild, ground-shaking steps, swinging his massive fists as he charged toward Ian and Vera.
Tony followed closely behind, his armor's repulsors firing at maximum capacity. Under JARVIS's guidance, the surrounding Iron Legion suits attacked the sorcerers, countering their flying hexes and offensive spells with calculated precision.
When Ian and Vera spotted the Hulk barreling toward them, Ian's brows furrowed slightly, but he remained composed. These weren't just any wizards—they were trained combat sorcerers who had studied the Avengers extensively.
Ian raised his wand high, then moved it through a complex pattern with practiced efficiency. Instantly, multiple layers of shimmering golden defensive barriers materialized before the charging Hulk.
The sight of these magical obstacles only enraged Banner further. It was as if the barriers were personally challenging him. His already impressive muscles began to swell even larger, veins bulging as he raised his fists and swung with earth-shattering force.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Hulk's fists tore through the first defensive barrier as though it were made of tissue paper. He strode forward with determined steps, breaking through barrier after barrier, each magical shield shattering under his relentless assault.
Tony couldn't help but smile beneath his helmet. The path to Ian and Vera was clearing, and for the first time since this confrontation began, he felt they might have found a way to end this battle. A surge of excitement coursed through him as he followed in the Hulk's wake.
At that moment, Ghost Rider—Johnny Blaze—moved to join them, his flaming skull a beacon in the chaos. As the Rider approached, the surrounding sorcerers unleashed various spells to obstruct his path. However, as waves of dark red hellfire rolled and swept from the Spirit of Vengeance, all magic thrown his way was swallowed up and destroyed.
The three most powerful Avengers were converging on them, and Ian and Vera's expressions grew increasingly concerned. Their delaying tactics were failing; the enemy had identified their command position and was making a concentrated effort to reach them.
Vera's eyes narrowed as she made a quick decision. She flicked her wand with precise movements, conjuring a swirling portal of flame-red energy. The aperture opened to the far side of the battlefield—she was preparing to relocate and put distance between themselves and the approaching Avengers.
But the next moment...
BZZZZT!
The portal, barely formed, began to collapse with an ominous buzzing sound. The surrounding space fluctuated chaotically, becoming increasingly unstable. A strange force was interfering with their magical transportation—apparition and portals were being blocked.
"Someone's cast an Anti-Disapparition Jinx," Vera hissed, her eyes darting around for the source.
The escape attempt seemed to trigger something in Ghost Rider. The demonic entity clenched his skeletal fists tightly and slammed them into the ground with tremendous force.
BOOM!
Dark red hellfire erupted from the impact, surging across the ground toward Ian and Vera with lightning speed. Within seconds, a massive ring of hellfire encircled the two sorcerers, closing in with each passing moment. The scorching heat struck their faces as the flames drew nearer.
The surrounding sorcerers intensified their magical assault against Iron Man, Ghost Rider, and the Hulk, trying to draw their attention away from their leaders or at least delay their advance. Spells of all colors and effects filled the air—binding hexes, stunning spells, and more complex incantations that warped the very air they passed through.
Ghost Rider, like the Hulk, remained singularly focused on Ian and Vera, ignoring the magical barrage entirely. Iron Man's defenses, though impressive, weren't impenetrable. His armor engaged various countermeasures, projecting energy shields and deploying defensive systems to resist the onslaught of spells.
Yet, like his companions, his focus remained locked on the two magical commanders.
Ian's face remained impassive as he assessed the situation. With a calculated movement, he raised his wand and channeled an immense amount of magical energy through it. The wand moved in precise, deliberate patterns that seemed to affect the surrounding hellfire, which began to pulse and waver in rhythm with his movements.
Ghost Rider's flaming skull contorted in what could only be described as alarm. He could feel the other sorcerer attempting to seize control of his hellfire. Moreover, the wizard seemed intimately familiar with hellfire's properties and behaviors.
"Damn it," Johnny thought within the Rider's consciousness. "It must be some dark knowledge Lockhart was researching."
Johnny had long harbored resentment toward Gilderoy Lockhart for his previous attempts to study and control hellfire. Now, it seemed these sorcerers had gained that knowledge.
Fortunately, the hellfire closest to Ghost Rider remained under his control, but Ian successfully managed to wrest control of a portion of the distant flames. With deft movements of his wand, Ian shaped the commandeered hellfire into a massive, serpentine dragon.
The fiery construct lunged toward Iron Man with frightening speed. Among the three Avengers, Tony was the most vulnerable to such an attack, despite his technological marvels.
Something struck Ian as strange, however. He had taken control of the hellfire with unexpected ease. It was almost as if...
"Extraordinary cooperation between technology and magic," Ian murmured, impressed despite himself.
The hellfire dragon rushed toward Iron Man with increasing velocity. Ghost Rider, seeing his power turned against his ally, exerted his spiritual energy to reclaim control of the hellfire.
Meanwhile, the Hulk took a more direct approach. With a roar, he hammered at Ian's protective shield with relentless force, attempting to simply power through the magical defenses and engage the sorcerer directly.
Neither Ian nor Vera appeared particularly concerned. The strength of their combined defensive enchantments was considerable—enough to delay even the Hulk's raw power, at least temporarily. This bought them precious seconds to focus on eliminating Tony Stark first.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The Hulk continued to pound against the magical barrier while Tony quickly retreated, his armor releasing freezing spray to counter the advancing hellfire dragon. The stalemate seemed to hold.
But the next moment...
CLICK!
For reasons Tony couldn't immediately comprehend, his armor suddenly seized up. The Mark suit that had been retreating now froze mid-air, then abruptly changed direction, flying directly toward the hellfire dragon as if pulled by an invisible force.
"JARVIS, what's happening?" Tony shouted, fighting for control.
"Unknown magical interference, sir," the AI responded. "Systems compromised."
Simultaneously, the defensive barrier protecting Ian and Vera—which had withstood the Hulk's onslaught—suddenly shattered with a crystalline sound.
Bruce Banner, operating on pure instinct rather than strategy, saw his opportunity and lunged forward. With all his might, he delivered a devastating blow directly to Ian's chest.
In that terrible moment, two things happened almost simultaneously:
Tony Stark, his armor engulfed in hellfire, crashed to the ground with a sickening thud, his half-melted suit smoking and sparking.
And Ian, caught unprepared by the Hulk's sudden breakthrough, was hammered into the ground with bone-crushing force. Blood pooled beneath his broken body.
The battlefield fell eerily silent as both combatants lay motionless.
Vera's scream pierced the stillness. "NO!"
But it was too late. Both of them were dead.
The remaining sorcerers and Avengers stood frozen, staring at the fallen leaders, as the implications of what had just occurred began to sink in. This was no longer a battle—it had become something far worse.