As the first to rush into the church, who else but Witch Heart Demon could claim the black gourd?
But when he eagerly pressed the gourd's opening to his lips and inhaled, his triumphant expression froze: I've been tricked! Only five souls—and they're the weakest, most pathetic wraiths!
Truthfully, Li Feng had already agonized for several seconds over letting Witch Heart Demon devour even these five wraiths. Most of his wraiths had been dispatched into S.H.I.E.L.D., possessing agents at every level.
The five wraiths in the black gourd were his last remaining ones.
If they hadn't been so pathetically weak and utterly worthless to cultivate, would someone as stingy as Li Feng have let Witch Heart Demon eat them? They were supposed to be the Dementors' future snacks!
Just as Witch Heart Demon, enraged, hurled the black gourd to the ground, Li Feng—wearing his skull mask—rushed into the church and quickly beckoned the gourd back. This was his tool for storing wraiths. If Witch Heart Demon broke it, he'd have to painstakingly gather materials to craft a new one.Moreover, he had recently spent money to resolve a crisis, leaving most of his materials behind in the 'Mask' world. Without the necessary materials to craft a gourd, the pitch-black gourd in his possession was now extremely precious to Li Feng, who was practically penniless.
As the gourd floated into his hand, Li Feng sighed in relief and tucked it into his shoulder bag, grinning as he said, "Pretty boy, I'm being generous here—giving you five free wraiths."
With that, Li Feng turned to Johnny Blaze, who had just entered the church, and added, "Earlier, this guy had no soul inside him, so your Penance Stare had no effect. But now, wraiths can possess a body. Once they finish possessing him, this pretty boy will have a soul inside him. Then you can use whatever pose you want to judge him."
Li Feng's words made Witch Heart Demon's face stiffen as he inwardly cursed his bad luck.
Meanwhile, Johnny Blaze, unable to bear the sunlight, clutched his face in agony and madness, transforming on the spot with the clear intent of sending Witch Heart Demon straight back to hell.
Scratching his brow, Li Feng took a few steps back while preparing a time-stopping spell, adopting the stance of a support character who wasn't interested in stealing the kill.
To be fair, Witch Heart Demon was having a rough day. Earlier, he had been beaten half-senseless by Melinda, left with no idea who to even seek revenge against.
Now, thanks to his unlucky greed, he had swallowed five weak wraiths, effectively turning himself into a prime target for the Ghost Rider.
If it were just him and the Ghost Rider, it wouldn't be so bad. He could simply avoid eye contact—after all, Johnny Blaze's mastery of the Ghost Rider's abilities was questionable at best.
And if things got really bad, he could always run. He doubted the Ghost Rider could catch him in broad daylight.
But the problem was, there were three people here—especially that damn support mage lurking in the distance. He was downright devilishly annoying.
That mage kept hurling some kind of water orb at his face, disrupting his focus and making it impossible to properly duel the Ghost Rider.
Several times, Witch Heart Demon had been on the verge of extinguishing the Ghost Rider's Hellfire and forcing him back into human form, only for the mage's spells to interrupt him at the last moment.
Then there were the Skeleton Monsters surrounding the church. No need to ask—they were clearly the disgusting minions of that disgusting mage.
These minions made sure that whenever he, now with a soul, tried to flee toward the door, they would snatch his soul away, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. This allowed the Ghost Rider to drag him back into the church with his chains.
And to make matters worse, most of his attacks were useless against these minions. How infuriating was that?
Still, the presence of these clearly evil-aligned creatures made one thing clear to Witch Heart Demon: this mage was definitely not from Kamar-Taj. After all, the noble and righteous Kamar-Taj would never employ evil creatures.
But evil understood evil. He knew all too well that most dark mages were experts in torture—just like himself. There was no method they couldn't devise, no cruelty beyond their imagination. Now, seeing no way out, Witch Heart Demon couldn't help but entertain the thought of simply letting Ghost Rider judge him.
After all, being judged would only mean being sent back to hell. Moreover, if he was careful enough, perhaps Mephisto would pretend nothing had happened and let him continue his comfortable princely life of indulgence.
But what would be the consequences of being captured by a mage—especially one inclined toward darkness?
For Witch Heart Demon, who had never suffered much hardship and had grown up in luxury, the mere thought was enough to send shivers down his spine.
With a long sigh in his heart, Witch Heart Demon bravely faced Ghost Rider and roared, "Come on, judge me then!"
To be honest, Witch Heart Demon's sudden shift in demeanor—acting fierce and reckless—caught Ghost Rider off guard. What's going on? Did this kid miss his meds? Problem is, I don't have any...
Nearby, Li Feng more or less guessed what Witch Heart Demon was scheming. With a disdainful smirk, he quietly summoned a ball of Fierce Fire in his palm.
Back when Li Feng had watched the movie, he remembered that after being judged by Ghost Rider, Witch Heart Demon had taken advantage of Mephisto's appearance to distract Ghost Rider, ultimately turning into black mist and slipping back into hell.
Now, Li Feng had no intention of letting Witch Heart Demon return to hell. So when Witch Heart Demon, who was desperate to go back to hell, was captured by Ghost Rider and brought before him for judgment, Li Feng seized the opportunity and immediately smeared Fierce Fire all over Witch Heart Demon.
However, while casting the Fierce Fire, whether Li Feng forgot its properties or did it on purpose, some small flames splattered onto Ghost Rider after the Fierce Fire exploded on Witch Heart Demon.
At first, neither Witch Heart Demon nor Ghost Rider paid any attention to the Fierce Fire.
Ghost Rider himself was the master of fire, wielding Hellfire at that. A mere human mage's little flames were nothing in his eyes.
Witch Heart Demon was the same. He could withstand Hellfire for a while—why would he fear some random flame?
Besides, his home was in hell, where flames were everywhere at the entrance. Who knows, he might even jump into the fire one day to disinfect himself or get rid of fleas and lice. Trying to burn him to death? What a joke.
Unfortunately, neither of them expected that Fierce Fire, aside from burning flesh and soul like Hellfire, also had strong adhesive properties—once it stuck, no amount of blowing would put it out.
By the time Ghost Rider finished judging Witch Heart Demon and tried to revert to Johnny Blaze, he realized he was in big trouble. In his human form, he could feel pain, and the agony of being burned alive wasn't something an ordinary person could endure.
Helpless, Johnny Blaze, feeling like he was about to be roasted alive, immediately transformed back into Ghost Rider to suppress the Fierce Fire, shouting, "Damn mage, put out the fire already!"
Li Feng shrugged innocently, waving his hand to recall the Fierce Fire from Ghost Rider while also collecting some of Johnny Blaze's Hellfire.
The reason for collecting the Hellfire was simple: Li Feng just wanted to see if there was any difference between Johnny Blaze's Hellfire and Carter Slade's.
The moment the Fierce Fire was withdrawn, Ghost Rider could no longer withstand the increasingly bright sunlight. After giving Li Feng a thoughtful look, he panted heavily and relinquished control of the body back to Johnny Blaze.
As for Li Feng, he completely ignored the panting Johnny Blaze, recalling the Dementor while walking over to Witch Heart Demon, who was still burning with Fierce Fire.
After opening a mirror dimension, Li Feng didn't hesitate to plunge the Scythe into Witch Heart Demon's chest. Watching as Cat Sith devoured his body, Li Feng grinned and said, "I'm not like Johnny Blaze. I've killed Devils before—the kind where they're completely erased. So I know what it really looks like when a Devil disappears."
Li Feng's words made Witch Heart Demon's eyelids twitch, but between Cat Sith's voracious devouring and the Fierce Fire's burning, all he could manage was a slight flicker of his eyelids—he couldn't even focus enough to return to hell. Seeing this, Li Feng crouched halfway in front of the Witch Heart Demon, grinning as he said, "You're in the Mirror Dimension now, completely cut off from Hell. You'd better give up any thoughts of returning."
While the Witch Heart Demon endured the combined beating from Li Feng and Johnny Blaze, Coulson and the others noticed Rosie outside the church. She kept peering anxiously toward the building one moment, then shivered as if wearing only a thin shirt in the middle of a snowstorm, rubbing her hands and stomping her feet to keep warm.
Such obvious abnormal behavior made Coulson frown. After observing for a while, he turned to the three researchers and asked, "What do you make of the sudden frost forming around the church?"
Before the researchers stationed at their instruments could respond, Kreacher timidly spoke up, "Mr. Coulson, that's caused by the boss's Dementors. They're naturally invisible and come with a frost aura."
"Dementors?" Coulson asked, puzzled. "What are those?"
Kreacher tilted his head in thought, recalling that Li Feng didn't seem to mind others knowing about the Dementors' existence. "They're the boss's army. Only those with energy inside them can see them," he explained. Then, as if remembering something, he added, "Mr. Stark could see them too when he had the arc reactor in his chest. But now that he's removed it, he probably can't anymore."
Coulson couldn't care less about whether Stark could see Dementors. His attention was entirely focused on Kreacher's use of the word "army." Did this mean Li Feng wasn't just a lone master with a servant, as the records suggested, but a mage commanding a vast force?
Nearby, Melinda seemed to realize something. She approached Coulson and whispered, "The Mummy's Abomination."
Yes, Austin could even revive the dead.
Now, Coulson couldn't help but suspect that Li Feng had even more hidden subordinates.
It wasn't just Coulson and Melinda who heard Kreacher's explanation about the Dementors—the researchers collecting energy readings did too.
The three researchers exchanged glances before quickly operating their instruments. Soon, one of them approached Coulson and reported, "By tracking the Dementors' natural ability to create frost, we've detected over 300 moving low-temperature points in the air around the church."
Then, staring at the monitor in confusion, he muttered, "Why are they suddenly decreasing? No—wait, the energy sources have completely vanished?!"
Kreacher paused for a moment before breaking into a delighted smile. "The boss must have recalled the Dementors into the Scythe," he said, blinking his large eyes at Coulson. "Mr. Coulson, doesn't that mean the boss's fight is over?"
Coulson glanced at Melinda, nodding slightly at Kreacher in confirmation before turning to the tactical team. "Check your weapons. We're moving closer to the church."