Battle Against the Enchantress

The magic circle inside the warehouse suddenly erupted with a blinding ghostly green light, as if an abyss had opened its greedy eye, bathing the entire warehouse in a hellish glow. Amora's phantom form solidified within the light. Her green robe fluttered without wind, outlining elegant yet dangerous curves that seemed to contain the power of destruction.

She looked down at the three figures in the shadows, a mocking smile curling across her lips. The smile was like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, full of contempt and disdain. "Little ones, hiding isn't what heroes do."

Before her words had faded, her slender fingers traced strange runes through the air. In an instant, several dark green magic chains shot forth like serpents leaving their nests, tearing through the air with piercing shrieks as they flew toward the trio. The faint light flowing across the chains resembled dark whirlpools ready to devour everything.

Li reacted almost the instant the magic chains launched. His pupils contracted sharply as the smart material of his Protective Suit flowed like a living thing, rapidly spreading into a silver-blue electromagnetic barrier before him. Corrosive power and electromagnetic force collided violently, producing a teeth-grinding hiss. Ripples spread over the barrier's surface like a lake in a storm, as though it could be torn apart at any moment.

"Gwen, the jammer! The magical fluctuations are strongest at three o'clock!" he shouted, his voice hoarse with tension and urgency as he rapidly calculated the chains' trajectories, his mind racing like a precision computer. He skillfully pulled two Palm Thunders from his waist and hurled them with force. They traced arcs through the air toward the amplification devices at the edge of the magic circle. Every movement had been honed through countless rounds of training and simulation, all for this moment—for a precise strike on the target.

Gwen had already adjusted the jammer to maximum power. Half-kneeling on the ground, she drove her knee hard into the rough concrete. Pain shot through it, but she forcibly ignored it. Her fingertips flew over the modified control panel as though playing an impassioned war song, every keystroke carrying the resolve to stake everything on one throw.

Pale purple energy waves spread outward from her in a fan shape. Wherever they passed, the magical particles in the air began vibrating violently, producing a low hum. "EMP ready! Wanda, wait for my signal!" Her voice was steady and resolute, though it could not fully conceal her tension. The jammer successfully disrupted the magical energy field. The instant Amora's chains froze in midair, Wanda raised both hands high, her hair whipping wildly under the force of magic like burning flames. Scarlet magic surged out like a raging tide and condensed into an enormous hand of energy in the air. With the momentum to destroy everything, it slammed viciously toward Amora. The air twisted along its path, releasing a piercing shriek.

Yet Amora's dark green shield was impregnable. The energy hand exploded with a thunderous blast, and brilliant light filled the warehouse as if the sun had descended at that very moment.

The intense light made it impossible to open their eyes. The shockwave swept over them like a hurricane, forcing all three to stagger back again and again.

Within the blinding light, Amora lightly tapped with her fingertip. The ground suddenly shook violently, as if some colossal beast had awakened beneath it, and the roar was deafening. Countless thorn-covered magical vines wrapped in black mist burst from the earth. Like living monsters, they lunged at the trio with claws and fangs bared. The thorns glimmered with eerie light, while the ground corroded wherever the black mist reached, sending up plumes of white smoke. Gwen reacted quickly, rolling away from a vine curling around her ankle with agile precision. Arcs from her stun device reduced the approaching vines to charred husks, and the air filled with the smell of burning.

But strangely, fresh vines began growing wildly from the blackened remnants, incredibly fast, as though they could never be destroyed. Li's Protective Suit's flamethrower let out a shriek, and blue-white fire formed a wall of flames in an attempt to halt the vines' assault. But the vines secreted a flame-retardant slime under the intense heat. The fire gradually died beneath the slime's effect, its flickering tongues struggling before they were finally swallowed by darkness.

"She's countering our standard attack patterns!" Li said urgently through the tactical earpiece. The Protective Suit's scanning system shared battlefield data in real time across the retinal displays of all three. Sweat covered his forehead and ran down his cheeks. His heart pounded like a drum, yet he remained calm in his analysis.

His mind raced as he searched for a way to break the deadlock, every cell in his body screaming to defeat the enemy before them. Wanda's pupils glowed an eerie scarlet as she precisely caught a node in Amora's magical fluctuations amid the mass of vines. Excitement and tension flashed in her eyes. "There's a gap in the shield at the southeast corner! Gwen, interfere with it—I'll keep her occupied!" Her hands danced as she chanted under her breath, ancient and mysterious spells echoing through the warehouse. Six rotating magic circles appeared in the air, each radiating powerful waves of energy. Scarlet beams poured down like a barrage, forcing Amora to divert her attention to maintaining her shield. Every beam that struck it unleashed a deafening boom. Deep cracks spread across the warehouse walls, dust raining down as though the entire building were trembling beneath the overwhelming force.

Seizing the opportunity, Gwen switched the jammer to frequency resonance mode. Her hands trembled slightly from prolonged operation, but her gaze remained incomparably firm. The pale purple energy waves formed a strange resonance with Wanda's magic, and the whole warehouse seemed to become a giant resonance chamber, emitting a deafening hum. The metal supports in the ceiling began to twist and shake, groaning under the strain as though they might collapse at any moment. Cracks finally appeared in Amora's composure. She shouted furiously, "A bunch of irritating flies!" Raising a hand, she gathered a sphere of dark green energy. It kept swelling, radiating a suffocating pressure as if it could devour the entire world the next second. The light flowing across its surface resembled a miniature black hole, drawing everything around it in.

At that critical moment, a black figure swept through the damaged ventilation duct like a ghost. Natasha's twin guns fired specially made rounds, and the moment the bullets struck the magical energy sphere, they unleashed an EMP pulse. The powerful electromagnetic pulse spread outward like ripples across water, disabling electronic devices wherever it reached. "Now!" Her voice came through the hidden communications channel in Li's Protective Suit, carrying unquestionable decisiveness like a ray of light in the darkness. At the same time, the concussion grenade she threw struck the magic circle's core device with pinpoint accuracy. The force of the explosion shook the entire warehouse violently, like a powerful earthquake. Dust and debris rained down as smoke filled the air, rapidly reducing visibility.

Li immediately seized the fleeting opportunity and emergency-overclocked his Protective Suit. Blinding white light spread across the smart material's surface, while a dazzling aura of energy surrounded his body, making him seem like a tiny sun. Like a silver meteor, he burst through the shield amid the EMP disruption, moving so fast that he left a long afterimage in the air.

His concussion gauntlet collided with Amora's magic barrier, and the resulting shockwave shattered every pane of glass in the warehouse. Fragments sprayed like rain, gleaming dangerously in the ghostly green light. Gwen took the chance to embed an electromagnetic pulse bomb into the magic circle's core. Completely focused, the veins on her forehead bulged as she pressed both hands firmly against the bomb to keep the magical force from knocking her away. Her teeth ground together, her body trembling slightly with effort. Only one thought remained in her mind: complete the mission. Wanda, meanwhile, wove Chaos Magic into a cage that trapped Amora. The scarlet magical prison kept contracting as Amora struggled madly inside, roaring in fury. Her magic battered the cage again and again as she tried to escape. Ripples spread across its surface, but it never broke.

When the blue light of the electromagnetic pulse bomb's explosion swallowed the entire warehouse, the intense glare made it impossible to open their eyes. The enormous blast was like thunder, leaving their eardrums aching. A powerful wave of air swept over them and threw the three to the ground. As the smoke gradually cleared, Natasha emerged from the shadows. Her hair was somewhat disheveled and dust clung to her body, but her eyes remained sharp as a hawk's. Faint gunpowder smoke still curled around her fingertips as she casually tossed out a smart chip flashing with encrypted data from Hydra's transaction with Amora. "Director Fury said you'd need this." She swept a glance over the three of them, her tone carrying both a trace of approval and a measure of warning. "Next time, don't leave your backs completely exposed to the enemy."

The three slumped on the ground, gasping for breath. Their bodies were covered in wounds and dust, every injury telling of the battle's brutality. Their pounding hearts took a long time to settle. They knew this had only been Amora's projection. Only a crazed Wanda could defeat Amora herself, but that was not the outcome they wanted.

Looking at the chip in his hand, Li knew that an even greater crisis had only just begun—and that his long-shelved plan should begin again.