Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 964 Pay Attention to Temperature (Second Update)

"We need him, Constantine. Calm down, your adrenaline levels are off." Despite being pointed at with a large-caliber explosive gun, and despite knowing Constantine would actually shoot, Wanda Maximov mustered her courage and stepped forward without backing down. Wanda bypassed the still-burning Ghost Rider, but the temperature inside the laboratory was still very high, and the only ventilation shaft had now been buried under the concrete rubble.

Constantine could see the beads of sweat on her forehead.

The Royal Guard believed the sweating wasn't due to room temperature, but rather the tension of betraying the monarch. His work had instilled in him a deep suspicion of everyone except the monarch, and the Royal Guard's guns never left Wanda. Even though explosive charges could cause excessive casualties, and even though the Royal Guard, as the Immortal City's most powerful heavy infantry unit, could easily wipe out a modern army equipped with light armor and man-portable anti-tank guns, Constantine still felt his weapons might be insufficient against a fully-fledged Wanda Maximov—Constantine's assessment of Wanda Maximov's abilities was half of what the monarch had currently demonstrated, including a lack of knowledge about danger and combat experience. Even so, Constantine still considered her a formidable enemy, focusing intently on investigating everything about Wanda Maximov and trying to find a way to defeat her and incapacitate her as quickly as possible. When Wanda approached and reached out to try and calm him, Constantine immediately became wary. "Don't try to cast a spell on me, witch! Or I'll kill you on the spot," he said. "Besides, my adrenaline levels are normal; it's a physiological function given to me by my Lord."

Scarlet Witch shrugged, trying to appear as relaxed as possible.

The air here didn't smell good; the sulfurous odor and dust in the air caused particulate matter levels to be excessive. Wanda's throat itched, and she felt an urge to cough and sneeze, but she insisted on finishing her sentence to prevent the Royal Guard from taking any drastic action. However, the witch's behavior only made the Royal Guard more nervous. Constantine stared intently at Ghost Rider, fearing that Wanda's binding spell might suddenly fail. "Robbie Reyes can't control the Spirit of Vengeance yet. He lost most of his memories after becoming Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider will only follow his initial will." She wiped the sweat from her eyes, her tone urgent. "I can bring him back to his senses, and after that, he won't be hostile to you! He has a natural attraction to that spellbook; we need him! And I've already saved you once; the Quinjet outside that was transformed has been destroyed by me."

Constantine looked at her with a skeptical expression.

"You only have one chance," he said. "The monarch tolerated your failure, but I will not."

Wanda Maximov was finally able to cough. After a long while, Wanda, who had been coughing violently, straightened up and wiped away her tears. In a hoarse voice, she said, "No, you won't, because your master trusts me. He's a kind man, he understands what I'm doing. Gabe needs his brother, otherwise that boy will just starve to death in the house, you know that's a fact. If Salomon were here, he would make the same choice as me, which is that Robbie Reyes must live."

Constantine shook his head noncommittally, but he still gave Wanda Maximov enough options.

For the next six minutes, he held his heavy weapon firmly, his muscles taut, even more vigilant than before—the spirit of vengeance, once it appeared, was rarely so easily banished. Like all rituals for exorcising extradimensional spirits, the caster must engage in a conscious battle with the possessing spirit. The only difference was that banishing a spirit of vengeance was far more difficult and dangerous than banishing a wandering ghost, on par with banishing a demon. But banishing a spirit of vengeance didn't take long; it only required Robbie Reyes's own consciousness to recover. Constantine watched as the witch took out a silver ceremonial dagger engraved with tiny runes, then slit her wrist, clenched her fist, circled the Ghost Rider, and used the dripping blood and the dagger to draw a very simple magic circle on the floor.

The six-pointed star, the four directions with the god's name reversed, grant the caster power while isolating the spirit from absorbing energy from other dimensions. Wanda began the ritual before she could even stop her bleeding; she chanted the incantation as blood continued to flow from the small wound on her wrist.

Although Constantine wasn't a spellcaster, his extensive magical knowledge, stemming from the Immortal City's secret library, allowed him to discern the purpose of Wanda Maximoff's ritual. The Royal Guard remained vigilant; if the exorcism failed, the power of the vengeful spirit would fall upon Wanda, leaving them with no choice but to shoot her while she was distracted.

As the ritual commenced, Constantine reached into his magnetic belt, concealed by his crimson cloak, and gripped the weapon's hilt tightly. Even with his fingers encased in armor and mechanical structure, a chilling coldness emanated from his fingertips. The pistol he retrieved from the armory was unregistered—a weapon crafted by the Immortal City's monarch himself, intended as a backup plan for the Royal Guard against spellcasters, and now being used in this mission. However, Constantine's plans didn't end there. As part of the mission's contingency plan, a Royal Guard-owned electromagnetic accelerator cannon, used for battlefield support, was positioned above their powered armor, guided by beacons, ready to unleash a deadly attack. Even if Wanda Maximov possessed the means to escape, she would perish from this sudden, precise strike.

"What are they doing?" Fitz stared intently at the footage transmitted back by the miniature reconnaissance drone. He had found this little gadget he invented in an undamaged toolbox in the corridor, and Mike immediately decided that they would hide and use it to spy on what the people in the lab were doing. However, due to the dim lighting and extremely high image noise, Fitz and Mike didn't see the blood dripping from Wanda's hand; they only saw Wanda circling Ghost Rider, and the man in the golden power armor didn't seem to have let his guard down.

"Can we hear what they're saying?" Mike asked. "Little monkey, did you turn on the receiver?"

"I've turned it on." Fitz turned the volume knob on the control terminal to maximum, but all he heard from the drone's microphone was a piercing static. He adjusted the knob several times, changing the microphone channel and filter frequency, but the result was the same. "The microphone might be broken, or it might be clogged with dust; after all, this ventilation duct hasn't been used for years," Fitz said irritably. "I only have this one drone, and the new director has cut the entire budget..."

"Hey, little monkey. We're lucky we found a ventilation duct, stop complaining. We can see some things now." Mike leaned closer, finally taking the control terminal from Fitz's hand, zooming in on the screen while watching the drone's readings. Fitz stood on tiptoe to look. "What did you find?"

"Temperature," Mike said, frowning and pointing to the rising reading. "Watch the temperature."

They watched Wanda circle around and around, and when she turned around again, he saw a firelight in her eyes.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)