Marvel: Ned the Master of Mystic Arts

"Follower of Vishanti, your journey ends here!"

Just as Ned was about to continue asking for directions, a figure cloaked entirely in black suddenly appeared midair, blocking his path.

"What the—?"

"Ah!"

Before Ned could react, the figure vanished instantly. The next moment, he felt a force like a speeding car slam into his back, sending him plummeting from the sky.

"Boom!"

Ned crashed heavily onto the ground. The black-cloaked figure appeared beside him, planting a foot on his back. In their hand, a spear glowing with an eerie, ghostly light materialized, poised to pierce the back of Ned's head.

"Slash!"

A portal suddenly opened beneath Ned, and he fell through it. The black-cloaked figure reacted quickly, leaping into the air the moment Ned disappeared.

"Whatever you are, you've officially pissed me off," Ned said coldly, descending slowly through another portal high above. His hands crossed in front of him, conjuring two magical shields.

Ned didn't believe for a second that he had fallen behind earlier because of a lack of power. That was clearly the result of the cloaked figure's sneak attack—a cheap shot against someone who, until recently, weighed over 300 pounds.

Now that he was prepared, he was confident he could take the figure down with a few well-placed portal cuts. After all, he wasn't just any novice magician—he was Kamar-Taj's finest below the rank of Master. There was no way he'd lose to some coward hiding behind a cloak.

"Ha…"

The cloaked figure let out a disdainful chuckle and vanished into thin air once more.

Ned held his breath, gripping his shields tightly. It didn't matter whether the figure was using teleportation or some other trick; Ned was sure they'd have to reveal themselves when they attacked. And as soon as they did, he'd teach them a lesson they wouldn't forget.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, a spear materialized in front of Ned, thrusting toward him.

"Hmph!"

Ned smirked, shifting slightly to the side to avoid the strike. With a swing of his shield, he struck the spear, reducing it to a cloud of black mist.

"Too easy."

The cloaked figure, observing this from their hidden vantage point, raised an eyebrow in surprise. Crossing their arms in front of their chest, they suddenly spread them wide.

"Whoosh!"

One by one, more black-cloaked figures appeared in the air, each holding a spear, surrounding Ned from all sides. The formation looked eerily similar to Kamar-Taj's Ekern Circle.

"Ha! You dare show off this petty trick in front of me?" Ned sneered. Crossing his arms over his chest, he spread them wide. A series of pain-masked duplicates of himself emerged, each charging at the spear-wielding clones.

"Oh?"

The cloaked figure, still hidden, was slightly taken aback. As far as they knew, this spell was a high-level magic of the Vishanti's followers. They had assumed Ned was just a runaway amateur magician, but now it seemed he was a bigger catch than expected.

"No matter—big fish or small fish, they all taste the same," the cloaked figure muttered, their killing intent palpable.

In the next instant, dozens of cloaked figures swarmed toward Ned.

Ned's duplicates met the charge head-on, shields raised. The clash of magic users filled the air with thunderous noise. If it weren't for the fact that Ned had deliberately sought out deserted, crime-prone areas to search for his target, the chaos would have drawn curious New Yorkers to watch what appeared to be a battle between two factions of cosplayers armed with strange weapons.

Amid the chaos, Ned scanned the battlefield, observing each cloaked figure locked in combat with his duplicates. To his dismay, none of them seemed to be the real enemy.

The cloaked figure, meanwhile, kept their gaze fixed on Ned, waiting for him to let his guard down. As soon as that happened, they planned to strike with a fatal blow.

Seeing Ned distracted by the clones, the figure smirked and dissolved into a cloud of black mist.

"Shh!"

Suddenly, they reappeared behind Ned, their spear thrusting toward his side with lightning speed.

But they failed to notice the sly grin forming at the corner of Ned's mouth.

"Clang!"

To the cloaked figure's shock, Ned, without even turning around, swung his right arm back and blocked the spear with his magical shield.

"Gotta hand it to you—you're a sneaky one," Ned said mockingly. "But did you really think I'd be that easy to take down?"

"I'm Ned Leeds, the most magically gifted sorcerer on Earth. There's no way you'd catch me off guard so easily."

"And seriously, of all places, you went for my kidney? I may not have hung out with Loki much, but as someone who's watched plenty of Marvel movies, did you really think I wouldn't guard against a stab to the back?"

Ned's voice was dripping with sarcasm. However—

"Crack!"

A sudden, ominous sound came from behind him.

"Huh?"

Ned froze, a sinking feeling washing over him. He glanced down stiffly and saw, to his horror, a crack forming in his magical shield where the spear had struck.

"Shatter!"

With the cloaked figure's cold laughter ringing in his ears, the shield broke apart, fragments falling toward the ground before dissolving into golden specks of light.

Ned was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected the cloaked figure's spear to shatter his shield. His face twisted in alarm as he rapidly retreated, chanting under his breath and activating a phasing spell.

"Ding!"

Even as Ned phased his body to avoid the spear, it still grazed his right hand. To his shock, the weapon seemed to have magical properties that bypassed his phasing spell entirely.

Fortunately, Ned had equipped his right hand with the Infinity Gauntlet, crafted by the Dwarf King himself. Though the Mind Stone embedded in it was inactive in this universe, the gauntlet itself was a legendary artifact.

The mysterious spear that could shatter shields and bypass phasing left no mark on the Infinity Gauntlet.

"That was close! What kind of weapon ignores phasing?" Ned thought, his heart pounding.

--------------

T/N:

Access 30 Chapters in Advance on my 

P@treon: [email protected]/PokePals