Although sorcerers prefer peace,
Kamar-Taj is absolutely an organization with enormous potential for war.
During the final battle, Doctor Strange gathered tens of thousands of sorcerers to join the fight in an extremely short time.
That alone showed how fast Kamar-Taj could mobilize.
This time was the same.
Within just a few minutes after the alarm bell rang, more than a thousand combat-capable sorcerers were already ready.
Naturally, that included Aldrich.
"Sensei, you're going to fight too?"
Karl stopped Aldrich, who was hurrying out.
Karl had been in Kamar-Taj for nearly four years now since transmigrating here.
So he knew that once the alarm bell rang, everyone went to war.
This mystical artifact was something the legendary Master Sorcerer Merlin had left behind in history.
It was said to be something King Arthur used back then to rally his army—older even than the Ancient One.
Later it ended up in Kamar-Taj, becoming an extremely important artifact that could even contact sorcerers in other dimensional realms.
Once this thing rang, all sorcerers had to return to Kamar-Taj and join the battle.
But Karl was very curious—what exactly had happened?
"Of course I'm going. I'm a battle sorcerer too."
Aldrich spoke with smug pride.
"What happened that you have to go to the battlefield too?"
Karl ignored Aldrich's smugness and asked directly.
In Karl's eyes, Aldrich was basically just someone who taught students—someone like that had to go to war?
What on earth had happened?
He didn't remember anything like this happening.
"Hey, who knows? I heard New York City got invaded by aliens, and we have to protect the Sanctum."
"But don't worry. I'll be inside the Sanctum, so nothing dangerous will happen."
Aldrich spoke as if he wasn't nervous at all.
Karl: ???
So the Battle of New York was happening already?
When Karl thought about it, it made sense.
The year he transmigrated here was 2009, when Iron Man was making waves.
Three years later, the Battle of New York really would happen.
As for the Hulk situation, that was normal too.
Who knew what kind of butterfly effect his transmigration had triggered?
During the Battle of New York, the Ancient One was still up on a rooftop watching the big aircraft—and yet right now Karl still hadn't even met that legendary figure.
But…
The Battle of New York was pretty dangerous!
With Aldrich's scrawny build, going up there wouldn't he be doomed?
After all,
It was in this battle that Hulk went berserk and smashed a starship that had to weigh at least ten thousand tons with a single punch.
It wasn't that Karl looked down on anyone.
But with Aldrich's little frame, if he got caught in the slightest collateral damage, it would be straight to "heh-heh."
"Aldrich-sensei, I'll go with you."
Karl said.
Aldrich had treated him very well—Karl couldn't just watch Aldrich go die, right?
"No. You're a probationary sorcerer—how could you…"
Halfway through, Aldrich stopped.
He looked at Karl.
This kid wasn't an ordinary probationary sorcerer at all!
This kid's strength probably already matched a Master Sorcerer's, didn't it?
With that kind of strength, he might even survive longer on the battlefield than Aldrich would.
"Ahem. You brat—come with me."
"This time we're following Kaecilius-sama to support the New York City Sanctum."
"You'd better perform well. Kaecilius-sama is the Ancient One's disciple, and lately he's been the talk of Kamar-Taj!"
Aldrich said with a face full of envy.
Karl grumbled inwardly.
He knew Kaecilius—and he also knew this guy would betray Kamar-Taj in the future.
After thinking a bit,
the two of them went straight into the main group.
After Kaecilius said a few words up front, he opened a Portal.
Dozens of sorcerers walked in.
Karl didn't even have time to get a good look at Kaecilius.
Passing through the Portal,
Karl arrived in a city block—surrounding him were ruined buildings and all kinds of blown-up cars.
"Sensei, this doesn't look like the inside of the Sanctum."
Karl muttered.
Aldrich was just about to speak,
when Kaecilius's voice had already sounded from the front.
"The Tesseract interfered with the Portal. We're at the center of the battlefield—prepare for combat!"
As soon as Kaecilius finished speaking,
Karl looked up.
A blue pillar of light shot into the sky. In the heavens was a massive circular rift, and Chitauri kept flying out of it.
Good grief!
Karl glanced at Kaecilius.
That teleport was wildly off—this was straight to Stark Tower. This was more than ten blocks away from the Sanctum.
They'd arrived right in the very center of the battlefield!
Karl couldn't help sighing. Why was he so unlucky? He didn't want to come to a place like this!
Reality was different from the movies.
The Chitauri had energy weapons—things that could melt steel!
And those gigantic whale-like warships were equipped with main cannons; they weren't the useless landing craft shown in movies at all.
Why did the World Security Council launch a nuclear weapon?
Did people really think they were idiots?
It was because the military was getting crushed, and the situation was completely out of control!
And now he'd been teleported into a place this dangerous!
But, luckily,
there were plenty of sorcerers around him.
The sorcerers' combat discipline was extremely high.
At Kaecilius's order, they were already ready to fight.
Clang-clang!
The sounds of Tao Mandalas being cast rang out without end.
Seeing the other sorcerers act, Karl acted too.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
Twenty Tao Mandalas appeared one after another around Karl,
sealing him up tight from every direction.
In an instant,
Karl became the most eye-catching kid among the sorcerers.
After all,
with twenty golden shields flying around his body, it was impossible not to draw attention.
Even Kaecilius—whose eyes were shadowed and whose face showed no expression—couldn't help twitching the corner of his mouth when he saw Karl.
These are Tao Mandalas?
Had he been away from Kamar-Taj too long?
How was it that after only a few days, Tao Mandalas could be done like this now?
Not only were there twenty-four, they could fly too??
What is this, acrobatics?
Kaecilius took a deep breath.
He was a Master Sorcerer, so he knew how difficult this kind of control was.
A full twenty-four Tao Mandalas—maintaining the same energy structure, the same energy intensity, keeping them from interfering with each other, keeping them from collapsing.
That level of difficulty!
This wasn't something an ordinary sorcerer could pull off!
Kaecilius felt he could barely manage it—
but there was no way it would be this smooth.
At the same time,
if he tried to maintain that many protective shields, he wouldn't even be able to do anything else. Just maintaining them would already be hard enough.
This kid…
What kind of freak was he?
"Who is that?"
Kaecilius asked.
"That's Karl, a probationary sorcerer."
A veteran sorcerer beside him answered.
Kaecilius: ???
A probationary sorcerer?
Kamar-Taj's probationary sorcerers were already at this level now?
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = 1 Extra Chapter]
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