Magic Battle!

"Stark?"

Zhang Ye paused, staring strangely at the two figures clad in armor.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the Iron Suit in the classic red-and-gold color scheme had to be Iron Man, Tony Stark. As for the silver metal armor beside him, it was most likely War Machine, Rhodey.

"Getting familiar with me won’t help you survive, Francesco. Put down your weapon and surrender with your hands raised," Iron Man said coldly.

"If you were really Stark, I might have been interested in talking to you. But unfortunately, you aren’t him. I advise you to give up, Shadow King. Toying with these heroes’ souls will only make me hit you harder."

While keeping his guard up against the X-Men surrounding him, Zhang Ye glared darkly at Iron Man and War Machine across from him.

Tony Stark and Rhodey’s constantly burning faces looked genuinely intimidating, but Zhang Ye knew they were not real. Iron Man had died at the Avengers base, while Rhodey had died in Las Vegas. Their deaths had been separated by a great distance in time, so how could they possibly have appeared here together?

This was probably the power of Abstract Magic. Not only could Shadow King control the souls of the dead, but it could also create illusionary entities with a semblance of consciousness based on how others remembered them.

That reminded Zhang Ye of the costumed-hero battles he had watched in his previous life.

Phantoms created through consciousness… It seems Shadow King must have seen how the heroes died through the memories of Hydra soldiers back then. That’s why it can recreate such convincing images.

Zhang Ye quickly identified his opponent’s method. Then he looked coldly at Kitty and spoke.

"These illusions can’t affect my mind."

"But they can kill your body!"

Kitty laughed madly.

"Fine. Bring it on!"

Zhang Ye formed a hand seal with his left hand and tightly gripped the Black Umbrella with his right. His fingers trembled slightly—not from fear or nervousness, but from overwhelming excitement.

The next instant, the heroes’ expressions twisted.

Each of those heroes frozen in their final moments stiffly twisted their bodies, terrifying smiles on their faces. Their eyes, fixed on Zhang Ye, brimmed with grotesque desire.

Then Beast let out a roar and leaped high into the air, pouncing directly at Zhang Ye. His movement was like the sounding of an attack horn, and the remaining heroes all sprang into action, rushing at Zhang Ye one after another.

"Good."

A deep crimson glow shone through the lenses of the Bird-Beak Mask. Zhang Ye slapped his left hand through the air, and red iron chains abruptly appeared around Beast.

Cyttorak Crimson Bands!

Holding nothing back, the magical chains born from the Crimson Dimension immediately coiled around Beast’s neck. His charging body jerked to a halt, and he was then hoisted straight into the air.

"I’ll kill you!" Nightcrawler suddenly teleported behind Zhang Ye.

But just as he raised his claws toward the back of Zhang Ye’s head, a burst of blinding white light erupted. The immense repulsive force gave Nightcrawler no time to react, and he was blasted away by the holy radiance.

Not only that, even Cyclops, who had been preparing to attack, was affected by the light. He could not open his eyes for a moment, and with his eyes squeezed shut, he wailed continuously. It seemed he would not be able to fire his optic beams again anytime soon.

"You should keep quiet when you’re trying to sneak attack someone."

Pure white feathers drifted gently down, accompanied by Zhang Ye’s mocking words.

At the same time, Iron Man and War Machine closed in from the other side. A barrage of bullets came flying at him, but Zhang Ye did not even look. The Black Umbrella immediately opened, blocking every attack from the firepower-focused War Machine.

If it had been the old black umbrella, even after Penguin’s modifications, blocking such an attack would not have been easy. But as a wizard, crafting a few magical tools by hand was hardly difficult.

Thus, the Bulgarian Black Umbrella was no longer an ordinary item. Several equation-like magic circles gleamed across its black canopy, blocking every attack outside.

As if he had foreseen this, blue energy burst from the thrusters beneath Iron Man’s feet. His momentum did not lessen as he circled around and swooped in from Zhang Ye’s side.

Zhang Ye tilted his head back to evade the red laser. Then, as Iron Man rushed past him, he released the umbrella handle and sharply twisted his body, crossing paths with Iron Man in an exceptionally dangerous near miss.

In that impossibly brief instant, as Zhang Ye spun at high speed, his left hand lightly tapped Iron Man’s armor. Then his right hand suddenly caught the umbrella handle before it could fall, returning him to his previous stance.

When Iron Man prepared to turn around and launch another attack, snow-white mist burst forth. At the spot Zhang Ye had touched moments earlier, massive amounts of frost rapidly spread, wrapping around half of Iron Man’s body in the blink of an eye.

"Seraphim Shield and Ikkatalon’s Icy Touch? Impossible! How can you use those spells!?"

In the distance, Shadowcat Kitty, who had not joined the battle, revealed a stunned expression. She could not understand it. All Magic Dimensions had clearly been driven away, so why could this wizard still so skillfully wield magical energy from different dimensions?

"Surprised?"

The hand seal in Zhang Ye’s hand shifted, and one glittering crystal after another soon appeared around War Machine. They trapped him firmly within, and even bombardment from his cannons could not leave the slightest mark on them.

These were Cinderyll Crystals. Like the spells he had cast earlier, they were all powers drawn from other dimensions.

After doing all this, Zhang Ye looked back at Shadowcat Kitty. "As an astral energy entity, you should understand that magic from any dimension is, in the end, nothing more than the application of energy. As long as one can imitate similar magical energy, pirating a few spells is nothing remarkable."

Zhang Ye’s words were calm, but to Kitty’s ears, they were like thunder. Kitty—or rather, Shadow King—looked at Zhang Ye with eyes now filled with terror.

"You possess the power to convert energy!?"

Although Zhang Ye had made it sound simple, anyone with even a slight understanding of magic should have known just how fantastical energy conversion was in reality.

And if his opponent truly possessed such immense power, then as an Abstract Magic entity composed of astral energy, it would be the most exquisite delicacy in his eyes.