The Fiendfyre vortex collapsed into Sebastian’s wand. He flicked it toward the charging War Machine, conjuring an orange flame that bloomed into a Kamar-Taj portal. The suit plunged through, crashing hard onto the ground below.

With War Machine temporarily grounded, only Zack remained. Sebastian surged forward, reversing the chase. Zack’s armor, built for speed and agility, darted swiftly, but Sebastian didn’t hesitate. Channeling his full magical strength, he cast Apparition, his body twisting into a vortex and vanishing, reappearing beside Zack. Before Zack could react, Sebastian aimed his dragon heartstring wand.

Confringo!

Boom!

The Blasting Curse, far more potent than Reducto, unleashed missile-like devastation. If Reducto was a grenade, Confringo could level a street with enough magic. A dim flame streaked from the wand, striking Zack’s armor. The explosion sent him plummeting, crashing through a building’s roof.

Sebastian apparated, landing before Zack as he hit the ground. Another Confringo flared, blasting Zack through a wall, hurling him backward.

Zack, shielded by his armor, finally reacted. His thrusters roared, stabilizing him mid-air. But Sebastian pressed the attack, apparating beside him and firing another Confringo. Without waiting to see the result, he vanished again, reappearing from a new angle to unleash yet another Blasting Curse.

Dim yellow flames flickered as Sebastian teleported rapidly, bombarding Zack from all directions. Even Zack’s advanced armor began to fracture under the relentless explosions.

After five or six Confringo spells, Zack knew he was losing. Amid the chaos, he spotted a collapsed wall, its exposed steel rebar glinting. Desperate, he unleashed his suit’s full power. Arcs crackled as a massive electromagnetic field surged, shattering nearby walls. Steel rebar and concrete chunks flew under his control, forming a barrier around him, blocking Sebastian’s Confringo spells from direct hits.

Though shielded, Zack couldn’t counterattack effectively. His armor’s diagnostics flashed warnings—Sebastian’s barrage had inflicted severe damage. The electromagnetic system still functioned, but if the onslaught continued, his suit would fail, and his fate would be sealed.

Damn it, Zack thought. This guy’s far stronger than my father’s intel suggested. I wouldn’t be in this mess if the data was accurate.

He realized he had to go all-in, energy costs be damned. If he could outlast Sebastian, victory was possible. Without hesitation, Zack hurled the rebar and concrete outward, aiming to disrupt Sebastian’s relentless assault.

Zack, momentarily shielded by his electromagnetic barrier, rallied all his suit’s energy. His body twisted sharply, and seven orange-yellow cluster cannons fired from the rectangular arc reactors on his chest, shoulders, hands, and knees.

The beams, staggered by Zack’s precise movements, swept outward, carving devastation through the building. Walls crumbled, and debris rained down, the structure scarred and teetering.

Sebastian dodged the relentless cluster cannons, weaving through the chaos. Evading seven beams was no easy feat—Zack’s slight adjustments sent energy sweeping across wide areas, nearly impossible to escape.

Fresh from an Apparition, Sebastian materialized on the far side, only for a beam to track him. Thinking fast, he slipped his left hand into his coat, donning his sling ring. With his right hand, he waved his dragon heartstring wand, conjuring a Kamar-Taj portal before him. The orange beam plunged into it.

Simultaneously, Sebastian flicked his left hand, opening another portal behind Zack. The beam shot out, striking Zack’s back. Caught off-guard, his misaligned cannons tangled, triggering a chain of explosions that blasted him through a wall and out of the building.

The blast destabilized the structure, and it collapsed in a roar of dust and rubble.

Before the debris could settle, Sebastian stepped forward, twisting into an Apparition vortex and reappearing outside, near Zack.

Zack’s armor was heavily damaged, barely intact. Sebastian advanced, intent on finishing him. He’d let Obadiah escape once, leading to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s interference and this mess. He wouldn’t repeat that mistake—Zack needed to be dealt with permanently.

But as Sebastian raised his wand, a prickling instinct warned him. He dissolved into black smoke, darting away just as a small missile struck his former position, exploding on impact.

Obadiah’s third-generation Iron Monger landed heavily, its weapons—mounted on arms and back—whirring to life. His mask hid a scowl as he surveyed Zack’s battered form, then turned, advancing slowly toward Sebastian, ready to strike.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Whoosh… Boom!

Bullets and rockets rained down, relentlessly bombarding Sebastian.

Obadiah’s third-generation Iron Monger traded speed for overwhelming firepower. Unlike Zack’s multi-reactor suit, it bristled with external weapons and ammunition, a walking arsenal that pinned Sebastian under a storm of projectiles.

Shhh…

Sebastian darted around Obadiah with Apparition, seeking an opening, but the barrage of gunfire and explosives stifled any quick counterattack.

Whoosh!

He materialized in a parking lot, ducking behind a large truck. Within seconds, bullets and rockets homed in, explosions and screeching metal closing in fast.

Glancing at nearby cars, Sebastian raised his dragon heartstring wand and cast a Transfiguration Charm. A car morphed into a cluster of steel spears. With a wave, he paired it with Depulso, launching the spears skyward. They arced downward, raining toward the advancing Obadiah.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The spears struck, embedding in the ground. Forged from ordinary car steel, they couldn’t pierce the Iron Monger’s advanced armor. At best, they caused minor impacts, leaving faint scratches on the suit.

“Hahaha!” Obadiah’s voice boomed. “Is that all you’ve got? Tickling me?”

Mocking Sebastian, Obadiah analyzed the spears’ trajectory, cross-referencing data from their prior clash. He pinpointed Sebastian’s likely hiding spot and fired three rockets from his left arm’s launcher, engulfing the area in a fiery blast.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flames surged, scorching the air. The explosion’s heat could incinerate anyone caught within, leaving nothing but ash.

But as the blast spread, Sebastian apparated to the far side of the lot. He waved his wand, casting another Transfiguration Charm on three cars, reshaping them into steel spears. With Depulso, he hurled them at Obadiah, some grazing his armor, others slamming into the ground nearby.

Obadiah laughed, dripping with scorn. “Stupid! You keep trying what doesn’t work. Pathetic!”

Sebastian ignored the taunts, his lips curling into a slight smirk. Unfazed, he repeated the Transfiguration Charm and Depulso, launching more steel spears at Obadiah, who stood atop a pile of debris.

Sebastian’s silence spurred Obadiah to act swiftly. Vanko had just reported that their temporary base—where they maintained armor and controlled the steel soldiers—was under cyberattack. An expert hacker was rapidly decrypting their systems. If delayed, control of the steel soldiers and War Machine could slip away, ruining their chance to kill Tony.

Obadiah needed to eliminate Sebastian, Tony’s magical ally, and rendezvous with Vanko. Zack’s defeat had heightened the stakes—without him, Obadiah’s margin for error was razor-thin.

As Sebastian apparated from Obadiah’s left to his right, Obadiah pivoted, raising his arms to fire. He knew Sebastian’s magic wasn’t limitless; relentless suppression could exhaust him, securing victory.

But as he aimed, Obadiah’s Iron Monger suit seized up. His arms and torso struggled against an unseen restraint. Glancing down, he saw the steel spears Sebastian had launched earlier, now interwoven into a makeshift cage around him. Unnoticed in the chaos, they restricted his movement.

The cage wouldn’t hold long—Obadiah could break free with a burst of strength—but in combat, a moment’s delay was enough to shift the tide.

Sebastian seized the opportunity. Raising his dragon heartstring wand, he unleashed a volley of Confringo spells, dim yellow flames erupting toward the Iron Monger.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Blasting Curses hammered the suit, jolting Obadiah. He tore free from the steel cage, ignoring the Confringo impacts, and fired back at Sebastian’s position.

But a car suddenly dropped from above, smashing onto Obadiah’s helmet. The suit’s shock absorbers cushioned the blow, but the surprise staggered him. Looking up, he saw sparkling Kamar-Taj portals overhead, teleporting cars into the air to rain down on him.

“Damn it!” Obadiah roared, priming his thrusters to escape.

But the ground beneath him softened, transformed by a Transfiguration Charm into quicksand-like earth. It swallowed his legs, and two massive stone hands erupted from the soil, clamping his torso, anchoring him in place.

Obadiah unleashed his full arsenal, desperate to blast free. But the brief restraint was enough. Cars plummeted one after another, battering him. A heavy truck delivered the final blow, burying Obadiah under a pile of wreckage, his Iron Monger vanishing beneath the debris.

Sebastian glanced at the pile of wrecked cars, then turned to leave.

A sudden tremor in the ground stopped him. He spun around just as a massive orange beam blasted through the stacked vehicles, shattering the explosion’s flames. It carved a molten trench across the earth, roaring toward him.

In a flash, Sebastian recalled Tony’s warning about the high-energy weapon on Obadiah’s Iron Monger. Obadiah hadn’t used it earlier, lulling Sebastian into overlooking the threat. His successful trap and intent to aid Tony had dulled his caution, inviting Obadiah’s devastating counterstrike.

The beam closed in, mere moments away.

Sebastian cursed his carelessness. Years of peace had softened his battlefield instincts. Without constant danger, even his vigilance had slipped.

Kamar-Taj portals required preparation, and even Apparition wasn’t instantaneous—its brief pause left him vulnerable. He’d dodged bullets and rockets before, their speed too slow to exploit the delay. But this beam was different. Gambling on Apparition could work, but failure would be fatal against his mortal frame.

Between heartbeats, Sebastian chose defense. Blocking the beam for a split second would buy time to escape.

Raising his dragon heartstring wand with his right hand, he formed a one-handed Kamar-Taj seal with his left. As the beam reached him, he cast his strongest defenses simultaneously: Protego Maxima and the Shield of the Seraphim.

A white light shield and a fiery magic circle materialized, merging under immense pressure into an amber-hued, semi-ethereal energy barrier. Intricate runes pulsed within, its power surpassing the sum of its parts, amplified geometrically.

In Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One’s eyes snapped open, sensing Sebastian’s feat. Above him, clouds briefly formed a tiger’s head, gazing down, then dissipated as if never there.

Sebastian, consumed by the fused magic, missed the signs. The novel power—neither pure Kamar-Taj nor Hogwarts magic—captivated him.

Boom!

The beam struck, dissipating against the shield, which shattered into light fragments. They flowed into Sebastian’s wand, then his body, imprinting a new spell in his mind: Seraphim Shield Armor, a unique magic born of his will and Obadiah’s attack. Unlike prior spells, it held a trace of authority, unusable without his consent—a hallmark of near-divine power.

A new research path opened, but Sebastian refocused on Obadiah, emerging from the explosion’s flames. A sleek, black cannon on Obadiah’s right shoulder, powered by six dim arc reactors, revealed the beam’s costly toll.

“You blocked that?” Obadiah growled. “Who are you? Why side with Tony? Whatever he offered, I’ll double it!”

Obadiah’s quick shift to bargaining showed his cunning, but his promises were hollow, his wealth tied to unachieved plans.

Black smoke swirled around Sebastian, coalescing into a cloak-like shroud, heightening his menacing aura. With a subtle Transfiguration Charm to deepen his voice, he spoke, low and edged with suppressed fury. “Obadiah, I know your game. To build these suits, you allied with Vanko and groveled under that fool Hammer. Your promises are as empty as a mirage.”

Obadiah glanced at a flickering display in his HUD, pressing on. “I have a plan. Kill Tony and Hammer, and we’ll seize Stark Industries and Hammer Industries. We’ll be the richest, most powerful men alive. Join me, and I’ll give you half.”

Sebastian’s magic surged, and he let out a chilling laugh. “Tempting. Worth considering.”

“Exactly,” Obadiah said, seizing the moment. “Let me explain—”

His HUD hit a critical threshold. A cruel smirk crossed his face as he raised his arms, his left shoulder’s mortar whirring. A barrage of ammunition erupted toward Sebastian.

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you’re enjoying the story so far. If you’re loving the journey, please consider leaving a review on Webnovel. Your feedback means the world to me and helps other readers discover this story. It also motivates me to keep writing and improving! Just a quick moment to share your thoughts can make a huge difference. Thank you for your support!

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