- In Marvel: I Start by Marrying Scarlett Witch [Complete]
- MWM Chapter 174
Later, Wenwu’s enemies came seeking revenge and killed Ying Li. Enraged, Wenwu once again donned the Ten Rings, and the terror organization known as the Ten Rings reemerged, escalating its efforts to expand its influence in order to avenge her.
Raza Hamidmi, who had kidnapped Tony, was a minor leader within the Ten Rings. He wanted Stark Industries’ missiles to bolster the power of the Ten Rings.
After creating his Iron Man suit, Tony frequently traveled around the world to combat the influence of the Ten Rings.
At first, Leo didn’t pay much attention to the Ten Rings because he had no direct conflict with them, and the Ten Rings didn’t know it was he who saved Tony by killing that minor leader.
Moreover, at the time, considering his strength, he wasn’t necessarily a match for Wenwu; the power of the Ten Rings was quite formidable.
Also, he wasn’t particularly interested in the Ten Rings themselves. Although the Ten Rings could grant immortality, one had to keep wearing them continuously.
Additionally, the origin of the Ten Rings was quite mysterious, always sending out signals to the outside world, possibly tied to some troublesome entities.
But now that they had set their sights on him and even sent an assassin, he certainly couldn’t ignore it, especially with the reward of an extra month in the smaller world.
“Have Xiao Wu take care of those who hired the Ten Rings, and then let’s have a chat with our assassin friend.”
Handing the interrogation results to Li San, Leo entered the interrogation room.
By now, the assassin had been tortured to the point of being unrecognizable, barely hanging onto life. Without some treatment, he likely wouldn’t survive much longer.
“You’ve been quite disrespectful to our guest here. Let me help you out.”
Leo pulled out his elder wand and cast a healing spell on the blood-soaked assassin.
Moments later, the assassin, who was teetering on the edge of consciousness, began to feel the pain in his body recede, and some strength returned to his limbs. With a hoarse voice, trembling, he said:
“I’ve already told you everything I know. Please, just kill me!”
“Kill you? Am I such a cruel person? No, call your superiors. Tell them I want to meet with the leader of the Ten Rings.”
Leo gestured, and Li San handed the assassin a phone.
The assassin, terrified, shook his head vehemently, refusing to take the phone.
“No, I can’t do that. Just kill me instead!”
Dying here today would be the end for him, even if he had divulged some information about the Ten Rings. But if he dared to make this call, it would be a blatant betrayal. His family members living at the Ten Rings headquarters wouldn’t survive.
“Fine, we’ll do this the hard way.”
Leo didn’t have time to waste. He immediately cast an Imperius Curse on the assassin:
“Imperio!”
Hit by the curse, the assassin’s expression changed from fear to blissful compliance. He took the phone and began dialing.
However, halfway through dialing, he suddenly snapped out of the Imperius Curse’s control, threw the phone away, and his face returned to a terrified expression:
“No, I can’t do it. He’ll kill them all. I can’t!”
This caught Leo by surprise, but he quickly understood.
While the Imperius Curse could control a person’s mind, it also had its weaknesses. If the target’s mental strength was strong enough, or if their will was sufficiently resolute, they could break free from the curse.
Moreover, repeated use of the Imperius Curse on the same person could create resistance, significantly weakening its effectiveness.
This assassin from the Ten Rings seemed to have a strong will, likely due to his deep concern for his family’s safety, allowing him to break free from the curse.
But Leo had no sympathy for an assassin who had tried to kill him just the day before. Raising his wand, he cast a Cruciatus Curse:
“Crucio!”
“Ahhhh!!!”
The assassin, struck by the Cruciatus Curse, let out a blood-curdling scream.
The Cruciatus Curse targets the soul rather than the body, making the pain it causes far more excruciating than any physical agony.
After several rounds, Leo once again cast the Imperius Curse. This time, the assassin didn’t resist and obediently dialed the number.
A strong will can be dealt with. After enough rounds of the Cruciatus Curse, his will would crumble.
“Viper, why didn’t you check in last night as scheduled? How did the mission go?”
When the call connected, a stern voice of a middle-aged man came from the other end.
Leo took the phone from the assassin:
“Oh, I’m sorry. He was here with me yesterday, so he couldn’t make contact.”
Hearing Leo’s voice, the man on the other end paused for two seconds before speaking calmly:
“Who are you?”
“I’m Leo, the target of your assassination. You don’t recognize me?”
Leo replied with a smile.
The middle-aged man seemed to have anticipated this and wasn’t too surprised:
“So, Viper not only failed but also betrayed us. He will face the organization’s harshest punishment. As for you, Mr. Leo, your death will make tomorrow’s headlines.”
“You seem confident. But let’s not talk about that. Pass a message to your leader, Xu Wenwu. Tell him I know how to bring his wife, Ying Li, back to life. We can meet if he’s interested, and he can choose the time and place.”
After saying this, Leo hung up the phone.
He knew Wenwu was a man of deep affection, someone who could abandon the power of the Ten Rings and immortality for the love of his life. If Leo claimed he could bring Wenwu’s wife back to life, Wenwu would certainly grasp at even the smallest chance, whether he believed it or not.
Of course, his statement wasn’t entirely a lie. Recently, he had been studying the forbidden jutsu of Reanimation. If he could use it in this world, it would indeed be a form of resurrection.
Reanimation, invented by the Second Hokage, is a forbidden technique that desecrates the dead. It uses the deceased’s remains as a medium and a living person as a vessel to bring them back in a unique form of resurrection.
Those resurrected with Reanimation don’t retain their full strength from when they were alive but have unlimited chakra and an immortal body.
Moreover, as long as the caster doesn’t willingly cancel the jutsu, those resurrected by Reanimation can continue to exist indefinitely without draining the caster’s chakra. It’s a truly broken jutsu.
Kabuto, for instance, used his improved version of Reanimation to bring back dozens of powerful ninjas at once, effectively holding off much of the Allied Shinobi Forces by himself.
If this technique could be used in the main world, he wouldn’t mind using the condition of reviving Wenwu’s wife to peacefully exchange for the Ten Rings and control of the Ten Rings organization.
Indeed, since he decided to act, he intended to acquire both the Ten Rings and the ancient organization with a millennium-long history.