- In Marvel: I Start by Marrying Scarlett Witch [Complete]
- MWM Chapter 124
As Tony flew out of the exhibition hall, sixteen Iron Soldiers immediately took off from the stage to pursue him. The remaining sixteen rushed out of the hall and onto the plaza, raising their anti-aircraft guns and tracking missiles to attack Tony.
The intense firepower forced Tony to continuously rely on the agility of his Iron Man suit to evade, leaving him unable to effectively counterattack. Meanwhile, at the Hammer Industries manufacturing base, Ivan Vanko, with a toothpick in his mouth, quickly controlled the Iron Soldiers through his computer, a cat-and-mouse grin on his face.
He didn’t actually intend to kill Tony; otherwise, he wouldn’t have deliberately given Tony time to suit up on stage. In his mind, Tony was already dying from palladium poisoning, so even if he didn’t kill him, Tony wouldn’t live much longer. What Ivan was doing now was simply a way to show the world how pitiful and weak their mighty Iron Man truly was at this moment.
When Tony was cornered, Ivan planned to don his own Whiplash suit and finish Tony off, exacting revenge for what Tony’s father had done to his father.
However, as Ivan enjoyed his game, one of the army robots providing anti-air cover suddenly lost contact, causing him to frown. If it had been one or two air force robots losing contact, he could understand—it might have been due to some counterattack by Tony during his escape. But how could an army robot on the ground lose contact? Could it be the security guards or the police? Impossible—their weapons wouldn’t even scratch the robots’ defenses.
Switching the camera feed from one of the air force robots to a ground army robot, Ivan saw two people in strange outfits on the screen. “What the hell are these two?”
The toothpick fell from Ivan’s mouth, and a look of disbelief spread across his face.
On the screen, the woman in the red outfit was surrounded by a glowing red energy shield. She pointed at one of his army robots, and a red energy beam shot out. Instantly, the anti-aircraft gun on the robot’s shoulder, which had been firing continuously, transformed into a long French baguette.
Since being broken out of prison by Hammer after his attack on Tony during the Monaco Grand Prix, Ivan had been locked away in the base, focusing solely on developing the robots. As a result, he wasn’t up-to-date with recent events and was unaware of the frequent news reports about magical occurrences. As a physicist, even if he had seen such news, he would have likely dismissed it without a second thought, not believing it at all. Some deeply ingrained beliefs are hard to change unless experienced firsthand.
“Wanda, just like that, well done!”
On the plaza, Leo stood by, cheering Wanda on as she cast a Transfiguration Charm on the robots. Over the past few months, he had taken Wanda on various real-world missions, gaining a deeper understanding of her magical abilities.
Perhaps because the chaos magic within her had not yet fully awakened, Wanda could perform wandless and nonverbal magic, but the effects were often not very powerful—just at the level of an ordinary wizard, sometimes even weaker. For example, where Leo could use a Severing Charm to cut a table in half, Wanda could barely manage to slice an apple.
However, due to the inherent nature of chaos magic, which included telekinesis and reality-warping abilities, Wanda’s Levitation Charm and Transfiguration Charm were particularly strong. She didn’t have to follow Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration—she could transform things however she wanted.
For instance, the robots before them: according to Gamp’s Law, objects with inherent magic or energy couldn’t be transformed because the caster’s magic would be disrupted by the object’s own magic and energy.
Leo’s Transfiguration Charm had little effect on these robots. Although their exteriors were metal, they housed complex circuits and wires inside, and Ivan had even equipped them with simplified reactors similar to Tony’s, making them extremely powerful.
But Wanda ignored all of that; she could still cast Transfiguration Charms on the robots. However, because the robots were so large, she had to transform them one part at a time.
Take, for example, the army robot lying on the ground nearby, its headlight flickering on and off. Its anti-aircraft gun had become a long baguette, its hands had turned into plastic spatulas, its legs had become slotted spoons, and its chest had morphed into a frying pan.
Only its head, which posed no threat, remained unchanged. Even more frightening, if Wanda didn’t lift the transformation, it wouldn’t revert over time like a normal Transfiguration Charm. The transformation would be permanent, meaning the robot was now completely useless.
“Oh, it looks like we’ve been noticed.”
As Wanda transformed yet another army robot into a kitchen utensil ensemble, one of the remaining army robots suddenly stopped firing at Tony and aimed its anti-aircraft gun at Wanda.
“Blasting Curse!”
Leo pointed his Elder Wand at the robot, and a flash of magic shot out.
Boom!
With a thunderous explosion, the army robot was instantly reduced to a heap of scrap metal. He might not be able to violate Gamp’s Law, but he could deal with these robots more simply—by destroying them outright.
The Blasting Curse was a highly destructive dark magic; Peter Pettigrew had once used it to blow up half a street, killing thirteen Muggles. Although Leo couldn’t yet blow up half a street, with the power of the Elder Wand, he could easily destroy a robot.
After Leo blasted one of the army robots, the remaining thirteen robots stopped attacking Tony and turned their weapons toward Leo and Wanda. In Ivan Vanko’s eyes, if he didn’t take out these two strange individuals first, his thirteen ground robots would soon be reduced to scrap metal.
“Wanda, get behind me!”
Seeing that the enemy had realized what was happening, Leo stopped his magical instruction, letting Wanda retreat behind him as he quickly formed hand seals:
“Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!”
Wanda’s Shield Charm might hold up against bullets, but it wouldn’t stand a chance against the anti-aircraft guns and tracking missiles on these robots.
A massive torrent of water erupted from Leo’s mouth, transforming into a surging waterfall that instantly engulfed all the robots.
“Whirlwind Technique!”
He then waved his wand, casting a Tornado Charm. The raging water, instead of flooding the nearby citizens and a few daring reporters who hadn’t yet fled, was lifted by the tornado, forming a towering column of water.