Preparing for the Attack

"Steve, Yelena is telling the truth. Those female agents aren’t much weaker than I am."

Natasha added, "This time, S.W.O.R.D. only deployed around three hundred people. That’s clearly not enough."

"Not much weaker than you?"

Yelena sneered. "Forget the fact that we’ve been demonized. Even without that, we’re stronger than you. We’ve all been injected with Human Enhancement Potions."

"Enhanced Humans are only basic troops."

Natasha spoke calmly. The agents beside her, who were not even Enhanced Humans, secretly rolled their eyes. So we weren’t even basic troops?

"Don’t worry, I won’t be careless. Tony will bring Drone Armor to make up for the lack of manpower. Jarvis and Dr. Banner will be coming too."

Steve smiled. "Also, Doom contacted me earlier. He said he’d send reinforcements. He and Kaecilius don’t get along at all."

"It’s still not enough. S.W.O.R.D. should have more strength than this, right?"

Yelena called out. The stronger S.W.O.R.D. was, the more female agents would survive—only strength would let them hold back.

"There isn’t enough time to assemble more troops. Don’t worry, I don’t fight battles I’m not sure of winning."

Steve shook his head. Skye had taken many agents with her when she left on her mission, and S.W.O.R.D. was currently stretched thin.

Yelena wanted to say more, but the three portals suddenly merged into one and became a giant portal. Then Jarvis’s enormous body came rumbling out of it.

Yelena stared in astonishment. Where had this giant robot come from? And was its shell made of Vibranium? As a top agent, Yelena’s eyesight was naturally excellent.

"Director, Jarvis reporting for duty."

Jarvis saluted theatrically. Steve returned the salute with a smile and said, "Jarvis, see if you can hack into the Sky Base’s network."

Jarvis nodded, vast amounts of data flickering in his eyes. "Understood."

"Natasha, S.W.O.R.D. actually has such a huge robot?"

Yelena was clearly very interested in Jarvis. She asked curiously, "By the way, don’t you think he looks like the Iron Superman toy we had as kids?"

"The Iron Superman toy that you’d cry over nonstop if I wouldn’t give it to you, and even hugged to sleep at night?"

Natasha glanced up at him and shook her head. "Not alike at all. This Jarvis feels sleazy. Just like Tony, he’s a bastard."

"I think he looks just like it."

Yelena huffed, her eyes practically glowing as she stared at Jarvis.

At that moment, noisy rock music sounded from the other side of the portal. Then Tony flew out in his Mark Armor, leading over a hundred suits of Drone Armor.

Tony floated in the air and said frivolously, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Relax, with me here, victory is guaranteed today."

"Turn off the music. Your bgm is way worse than Bert’s."

Steve mocked him. "And stop talking big. Bert once said that you’re either getting slapped in the face or on your way to getting slapped in the face."

Everyone burst out laughing. Tony shut off the music with a dark expression and snorted. "We’ll see who gets slapped in the face today. I’ll show you who the real protagonist is."

"Everyone knows the protagonist of this world is the Blood God."

Human Torch laughed. "As for you, boss, you’re probably the comic-relief supporting character."

Everyone laughed again. Tony glared at Human Torch and decided he would terminate that guy’s contract as soon as they got back.

A moment later, Dr. Banner and Mindy stepped out of a newly opened portal. Dr. Banner shivered as he said, "It’s really cold here. I should’ve worn more layers."

Everyone was speechless. A guy who was naked all year round was afraid of the cold?

Dr. Banner saw what they were thinking and spread his hands. "Hulk doesn’t wear clothes. Banner does."

"You and Betty didn’t wear any last night."

Dr. Banner’s face turned green. Hulk said contemptuously, and Banner rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

"I hope there’s a good show today."

Mindy’s eyes darted around. How could such a grand scene not include Hit-Girl? She had debuted even earlier than Iron Man.

Tony asked impatiently, "Steve, everyone’s here. When do we move?"

"Mordo and Ant-Man have gone to scout ahead. We’ll wait until they return."

Steve said, "Also, Doom’s reinforcements haven’t arrived yet."

"That Iron Mask Man is actually later than me?"

Tony curled his lip unhappily. He had no good feelings toward Doom, because that bastard was proficient in both magic and technology.

Before Tony could finish speaking, a huge portal suddenly appeared in the canyon. Then an enormous Hydra flew out of the portal and hovered above everyone, blocking out all the sunlight.

"Hydra!"

The S.W.O.R.D. members were startled and hurriedly raised their weapons in readiness. At that moment, Doom’s voice rang out. "Don’t panic. This is the reinforcement I’m sending you: a Hydra puppet. Strange, you will control it."

As Doom spoke, a golden light flew toward Strange. Strange hurriedly caught it. It was a short metal staff.

Strange sensed the staff’s function, then looked up at Hydra and could not help drawing in a cold breath. That bastard Doom could even turn gods and demons into puppets. Did he still have a chance to take revenge? Maybe he should just let bygones be bygones with a smile?

"A Hydra puppet?"

Steve’s mouth twitched. He asked, "Doom, can you change it for something else? Or come personally?"

"Kaecilius is beneath my notice. He isn’t worthy of me acting personally. A puppet is enough."

Doom spoke indifferently. Then the portal rapidly shrank and soon disappeared.

Seeing Doom leave, Steve became even more helpless. He looked at the Hydra in the sky, feeling an unbearable ache in his teeth. That bastard Doom had done this on purpose, hadn’t he?

Dr. Banner laughed dumbly. Doom was quite a nasty piece of work.

"S.W.O.R.D. paired with Hydra. A perfect match."

Tony scanned Hydra while laughing loudly. "I didn’t expect Iron Mask Man’s artistic taste to be almost as good as mine."

"Shut up."

Steve said irritably. Coulson had even forgotten to shake his head. Frowning, he said, "Director, we’re not really going to bring Hydra to attack the Sky Base, are we? We’ll be laughed to death if word gets out."

"Leave Hydra here. Don’t use it unless absolutely necessary."

Steve said through gritted teeth. He could accept any other monster, but not Hydra—he had spent more than half his life fighting Hydra, for goodness’ sake. "I completely agree."

Coulson nodded repeatedly. Strange flew over and said, "Hydra has an immortal body. I think Hydra should lead the charge. That would reduce casualties."

"I agree with the mage. How can pride be more important than lives?"

Tony added, his voice filled with gloating. He clearly wanted to watch a good show.

Coulson shook his head firmly. "I’d rather die than use Hydra. I believe everyone else feels the same."

The S.W.O.R.D. agents all shouted, "That’s right! We’d rather die than use Hydra!"

"Did you hear that?"

Coulson said, "Forcing Hydra into use will only crush morale. It isn’t worth it."

"Stubborn idiots."

Tony cursed. He had wanted to upload the footage to Twitter afterward and thoroughly mock Captain America—those bastards talked every day about him being abused at home. Was that abuse? That was proof of love!

At that moment, Mordo flew back with Ant-Man sitting on his shoulder.

Steve hurriedly asked, "Mordo, how is the situation?"

Mordo shook his head. "Not good. That bastard Kaecilius set up a Magic Array around the Sky Base. We can’t infiltrate it."

Ant-Man returned to normal size and said, "Not only is there a Magic Array, they also have an energy shield activated all the time."

"Looks like our luck is bad. A storm is probably coming, so they activated the Defense Shield to withstand it."

Yelena said regretfully. Energy shields consumed enormous amounts of power and were generally not activated.

"It’s fine. I can shut down the Defense Shield."

Jarvis lowered his head and said, "I’ve already taken control of the Sky Base’s systems. I can shut down the Defense Shield at any time."

"You can control the base?"

Everyone’s eyes lit up. Tony asked, "Jarvis, can you make the Sky Base land?"

Jarvis answered confidently, "Yes."

Coulson said excitedly, "If that’s the case, I suggest changing tactics. Turn the air battle into a ground battle. Air combat is too dangerous. If you fall from up there, you’ll definitely die."

"Agreed."

Danny and Daredevil nodded repeatedly. Honestly, just hearing about fighting ten thousand meters in the air made their legs shake.

"Actually, there’s no need to make things so complicated. Doom told me that you have an imitation Bifrost."

Mordo said, "The Bifrost is incredibly powerful. Destroying the Sky Base wouldn’t be a problem. That would settle everything at once, and no one would get hurt."

Yelena immediately objected. "No. The female agents inside are innocent."

"I’ve seen their files. Every one of them has blood on her hands. They aren’t innocent."

Natasha shouted, "They were being controlled. Mage, they deserve a second chance."

Mordo wanted to say more, but Steve said, "Mordo, S.W.O.R.D. isn’t accustomed to casually sacrificing others. Besides, with our current strength, there’s no need to sacrifice those female agents."

"Pedantic. Fine, do as you wish."

Mordo shook his head. Strange and Wong could not help looking at him. Mordo had changed so much. In the past, he would never have made such a suggestion.

Steve thought for a moment and said, "How about this? Mages handle mages, agents handle agents. Strange, Mordo, Wong, you go up and challenge Kaecilius, draw him out of the Sky Base.

"Then, Jarvis, take control of the base and make it descend rapidly. Try to knock them unconscious, but don’t kill them.

"Finally, we’ll storm the base and clear it out."

Jarvis nodded. "No problem. I’ll calculate the descent speed based on Yelena’s model."

The three mages nodded as well. Strange remembered something and said, "Right, the Blood God said he left a Space Stone Tablet with you. I need it to help seal off this place."

"No problem."

Steve was a little embarrassed. After the previous battle, Bert had not mentioned it, and he had "forgotten" about it too.

Tony said boldly, "I like this tactic. Leave the mages to us mages."

Everyone looked at Tony speechlessly. Strange mocked, "Are you wearing a magic robe?"

A dazzling light lit up around Tony’s body. He said proudly, "This is called Magic Suit. Also, I know magic: Flash Spell."

Wong mocked, "By that logic, the whole world is made up of mages."

Mordo glanced at Tony and said, "Let him come with us. The three of us are mages. We need a meat shield."

"That’s true."

Strange hesitated, then nodded. Iron Man was indeed useful as a meat shield, considering he came with max-level taunt.

Tony snorted inwardly. Meat shield? Hmph. I’ll show you what I’m capable of soon enough.

Next, everyone began making preparations and selecting the site for the final battle.

At the Sky Base, the power of darkness grew ever denser. Kaecilius, who looked completely unapproachable, suddenly opened his eyes. The surrounding space had been sealed off.

"Has Mordo come?"

Kaecilius immediately summoned several mages. At that moment, a fully armed female agent called out, "Master, four people are flying this way."

Kaecilius looked toward the screen and saw Strange, Mordo, Wong, and Tony flying rapidly toward them—Strange was using the Cloak of Levitation, while Mordo and Wong were using flying carpets.

That was right, flying carpets. Sponsored by Mindy, on the condition that they took her along whenever there was something fun in the future.

"Mordo, Strange! You came at the perfect time. We’ll settle old and new grudges together. Come with me and destroy them."

Kaecilius said viciously. The several mages all nodded. Their strength had increased greatly during this time, and they had been eager to test themselves against those so-called geniuses.

At that moment, the Darkhold at Kaecilius’s waist suddenly spoke. "Looks like I’ll have a new owner again. Say, if you die, I won’t have to give funeral money, right?"

"What do you mean? And why can you speak on your own?"

Kaecilius asked with a frown. He had always thought that as long as he did not open this damned book, it would not torment him.

It seemed he had still been too young.

"I’m a book spirit. Of course I can speak whenever I want."

The Darkhold said matter-of-factly, "As for what I mean, heh, if you go out there, you’ll become corpses. You are doomed to lose this battle."

"I’ll lose to Strange and Mordo?"

Kaecilius said disdainfully. The power of darkness had severely affected his intelligence, especially since he had never had much to begin with.

"You will."

The Darkhold said, "You should know that the Darkhold never lies."

Kaecilius fell silent. After thinking for a moment, he placed the Darkhold on the table and asked, "Why will I lose?"

"Because not only have they come, S.W.O.R.D. has come too, and they brought many powerful fighters."

The Darkhold said, "They include the robot Jarvis, Hulk the God of Anger, and the Hydra puppet. Jarvis is close to god-tier, Hulk can become god-tier, and Hydra itself is god-tier. Once the battle starts, you will definitely die."

"God-tier? Where did they get so many god-tier beings?"

Kaecilius asked in disbelief. Though his intelligence had been affected, he still understood what god-tier meant.

"Poor Kaecilius. You’ve been living in a well, completely unaware of how quickly the world has developed."

The Darkhold said, "Under the Blood God’s leadership, Earth’s strength has advanced by leaps and bounds. In the future, even without Kamar-Taj, they will be able to protect themselves."

"These foolish mortals don’t deserve freedom. They should be ruled by us, and by the great Lord of the Dark Dimension."

Kaecilius smashed the table resentfully. He asked, "Darkhold, how can I win this war?"