Chapter 19: The Supreme Sorcerer Ancient One Appears

Crack!

A crisp sound of bone breaking echoed as Rhodes fell from the sky.

The intense pain jolted him awake from unconsciousness.

“Damn it! My leg! Ow!”

Rhodes looked down and was horrified to discover his right leg bent unnaturally to the left. A searing pain radiated from the nerves in his leg.

Clearly, his leg was broken!

“Ahhh!” Rhodes groaned in agony, his voice weak from the pain.

Nearby, Wanda stood her ground, looking utterly satisfied as she gazed at the defeated Rhodes writhing on the ground. She seemed to revel in the sight of her enemy’s anguished cries.

Carl couldn’t help but shiver. Since when had Wanda become so violent?

After soaking in her triumph, Wanda turned to Carl and, surprised, asked, “You haven’t dealt with Stark yet?”

Carl shrugged helplessly and said with a bitter smile, “You know my strength isn’t on par with his. Honestly, it’s a miracle I’m still standing. If it weren’t for the Red Queen sending two Iron Man suits to keep him occupied, I’d probably be running for my life!”

Hearing her partner’s self-deprecating comment, Wanda, still unsated from her recent victory, let her crimson energy flare up even brighter. Without hesitation, she flew toward Carl with a determined expression.

“I’ll deal with him myself!” she declared coldly. “Stark, prepare to die!”

Carl watched as Wanda, cloaked in her scarlet aura, descended like a goddess of war straight into the battlefield where Tony Stark and the two white-and-gray Iron Man suits were locked in combat.

Tony finally realized something was wrong. “Wasn’t that woman Rhodes’ problem?” he muttered, turning to glance behind him. What he saw made his heart sink—Rhodes lay on the ground, clutching his leg and howling in pain. Still, he managed to shout out a warning.

“Tony—ahh—watch out for that crazy woman!”

As the Iron Man suits crumbled into piles of metallic debris, clanging to the ground, Tony frowned. He was concerned about Rhodes’ injury, but the battle wasn’t over yet.

“What did you do to Rhodes?” he demanded, glaring at Wanda.

Wanda, consumed by her hatred and unwilling to waste time on explanations, launched a barrage of chaotic magic toward Tony without a word.

“You’re insane!” Tony cursed as he saw the glowing red orbs racing toward him. He wasn’t about to test their power firsthand—Rhodes’ current state was warning enough.

Reacting quickly, Tony maneuvered his Mark VII suit through the air, dodging the crimson projectiles with agile twists and turns.

Carl, meanwhile, stood on the sidelines, watching the battle unfold with an air of detachment. Once Wanda joined the fray, Tony was reduced to doing nothing but dodging.

The stalemate dragged on, with Tony narrowly escaping Wanda’s attacks like a slippery eel each time.

Frustrated, Wanda snapped, “All you can do is dodge?”

Her scarlet aura flared even brighter, and with a sudden burst of speed, a crimson beam shot out, striking Tony before he could react.

No one, not even Tony, could react to an attack moving at near light speed.

Tony found himself in a dire predicament—his suit’s internal systems began to fail as the air inside was rapidly siphoned out.

“What the hell is this? Air extraction?” Tony gasped, struggling for breath.

Jarvis chimed in with a calm yet urgent tone:

“Sir, the air within the Mark VII is depleting at an inexplicable rate. The internal pressure is approaching a vacuum. If no action is taken, the vacuum pressure will cause fatal organ ruptures.”

Tony’s face flushed red as the relentless pressure left him unable to speak.

“Uh…”

Realizing the imminent danger, Jarvis calculated a solution in less than 0.1 seconds. The only viable option was surrender. However, Jarvis couldn’t control the suit’s systems to signal surrender directly.

Instead, it activated the suit’s external speakers, broadcasting in a conciliatory tone:

“Madam, Mr. Stark is on the verge of succumbing to vacuum pressure. Please, show mercy.”

Wanda paused for a moment, startled by the unfamiliar male voice. “Isn’t Stark the one in that suit?”

Carl quickly explained, “That’s his AI assistant, Jarvis.”

Realization dawned on Wanda, but instead of relenting, her crimson glow intensified. Consumed by hatred, she had no intention of sparing Stark.

She wanted him to taste the despair of being on the brink of death—the same despair she and Pietro had experienced as children.

She vividly recalled the fear and hopelessness of watching a Stark Industries missile land mere feet away from her and her brother. They were just kids. The missile didn’t detonate, but their parents had already been killed in a prior airstrike by Stark Industries weaponry.

Fueled by these memories, Wanda’s eyes burned bright red. Her singular thought was to make Stark pay—with his life.

Carl, seeing Wanda’s intent to kill, hesitated. Should he intervene?

Before he could decide, a crackling sound interrupted the tension.

“Zzzzz…”

A golden ring of light began to form to Wanda’s left, expanding rapidly until it reached two meters in diameter.

Carl’s heartbeat quickened as he watched, a sense of unease spreading through him.

From the glowing portal stepped a bald woman clad in a monk’s robe.

She pressed her hands together in a gesture of peace and introduced herself.

“I am the Ancient One, from Kamar-Taj.”

Wanda’s expression instantly turned wary. The appearance of this unknown, bald woman made her dim the scarlet glow in her hands.

Taking advantage of the moment, Jarvis regained control of Tony’s suit, pulling him back over 20 meters and opening the suit to allow Stark to gasp for fresh air.

“Damn it, that crazy woman’s powers are terrifying. One beam and I couldn’t even fight back,” Tony muttered, shaken by how close he had come to death.

Still catching his breath, Tony eyed the bald woman who had emerged from the portal with suspicion. Today had been full of surprises. First Wanda’s magical attacks, and now this stranger stepping out of what appeared to be a portal to another place.

Peering through the still-open portal, Tony could see what looked like the interior of a library.

“Is this… spatial teleportation? Actual magic?” Tony murmured to himself. “So, sorcerers really do exist in this world?”

The Ancient One, ignoring Tony’s bewildered musings, turned her gaze to Wanda. Her expression was stern as she said:

“If you have calmed down, I ask that you spare Tony. You’ve already achieved what you sought.”

Her words carried a subtle message: Wanda had already punished Tony sufficiently—there was no need to take his life.