Scarlet Chains wiped out the field and stunned the old sorcerer!
"It's Senior Ren!"
"Kamar-Taj's greatest prodigy!"
"That was insane! He's even fiercer than a Master!"
The Medical Apprentices shouted with excitement, as if they'd found a lifeline.
Ren rubbed his chin and gave a dry cough. "Everyone, calm down. I'm just an ordinary sorcerer."
The others looked at the alien corpses littering the ground, each neatly cut in two, and rolled their eyes.
He sliced monsters up like vegetables, and he called himself ordinary?
Ren had followed the main group into the Mirror Dimension, but when he took a head count, he realized the medical team hadn't made it. Fearing the worst, he'd torn through the barrier between spaces and rushed over just in time to save Master Carter's life.
"Master Carter, the safe passage is right there. Why did you insist on opening a Portal?" Ren asked helplessly.
The old sorcerer's face flushed crimson. After a long pause, she finally muttered, "There was a line for the passage..."
Getting the team into trouble and then needing a student to rescue her was embarrassing.
Deep down, though, Carter was delighted.
See that? I trained this absolute monster!
"All right, stay close."
Ren didn't bother calling her out. He turned and led the way. Carter had taught him, so protecting her was only right.
The group raced toward the Sanctum.
Countless Chitauri grunts charged at them along the way.
Ren didn't even need advanced magic. With a casual flick of both hands, he sent several basic Magic Chains whistling through the air.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Golden lashes whipped wildly. Every alien monster they struck burst into a bloody mist, leaving not even an intact corpse.
The apprentices behind him kept crying out in surprise until their voices were nearly hoarse.
"Senior Ren is invincible!"
"Our savior! A walking meat grinder!"
At the front of the group, Ren listened to their praise and secretly enjoyed every word.
Still, no matter how strong he was, he had to keep a level head. When it was time to be modest, he couldn't let it go to his head.
Ren cleared the way as he led the charge toward the New York Sanctum.
With his overwhelming strength, he crushed every Chitauri who dared block their path.
The farther they ran, the denser the alien forces became.
Stark Tower was only a stone's throw away. They were heading straight into the heart of the alien assault.
The main Avengers force was fighting desperately here.
Before long, Ren spotted someone he knew.
Captain America, Steve.
The World War II veteran's Super-Soldier Serum had given him peak human physical abilities and punches with several tons of force behind them.
One on one, he could crush an alien grunt with ease.
But this was no one-on-one fight.
Dozens of Chitauri soldiers swarmed Steve like frenzied worker ants, hemming him in from every side.
With numbers on their side, the aliens had abandoned their Laser Guns and piled in to fight hand to hand.
By the time Ren reached the street corner, Steve was nearly buried beneath them.
"Who's that? His hand-to-hand combat is incredible!" Carter exclaimed, eyes widening.
She had always thought everyone on Earth outside Kamar-Taj was an ordinary person.
Yet this blond young man she'd happened upon fought more fiercely in close quarters than many combat sorcerers in the Sanctum.
"Captain America, from the Avengers," Ren explained casually.
"So that's who he is." Carter nodded. Kamar-Taj's intelligence network had files on them.
"We're all fighting to protect Earth. Let's help him," the old sorcerer suggested.
Ren didn't answer. His gaze sharpened, and he spoke a few quiet syllables.
"Scarlet Contract Chains!"
Boom!
Over a hundred translucent, blood-red Magic Chains burst from his body.
Like living venomous snakes, they thrashed through the air and plunged straight into the alien mob.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
Each chain pierced an enemy with perfect precision.
In the blink of an eye, every one of the hundred or so Chitauri mobbing Captain America had been skewered like fruit on sticks!
The entire crowd fell to a single move.
"Ding!"
"Scarlet Contract Chains have been nourished by a large quantity of blood and are highly excited!"
"Skill power has received a temporary boost!"
Ren heard the System Notifications, and the corners of his mouth lifted.
Behind him, the others were stunned speechless.
"Wh-what kind of magic is that?" The apprentices felt their scalps prickle.
Even the well-traveled Carter looked as though she'd seen a ghost.
She knew Kamar-Taj's theories inside out and recognized the Scarlet Chains at the heart of what he'd done.
But Scarlet Chains were supposed to be made of pure energy!
They burned opponents with Divine Power.
So why were Ren's chains as solid as steel? Since when could magic inflict physical puncture wounds?
It overturned everything the old sorcerer knew.
Carter barely managed to keep her composure. The Medical Apprentices were close to breaking down.
They were all studying magic, so why could his Spell work like a giant cleaver while theirs could barely produce a few sparks?
Before they could recover, an even more shocking sight unfolded.
Ren drove a blood-dripping chain straight into Steve's chest!
Captain America had been battered by hundreds of enemies. Gravely wounded, he'd collapsed in a pool of blood and lost consciousness.
Was Ren planning to kill an ally too?
"Ding!"
"Scarlet Contract Chains resist treating this target."
"Healing efficiency has dropped significantly."
Ren frowned and cursed inwardly. This skill has quite the attitude.
The Medical Apprentices nearly jumped out of their skins.
"Senior Ren! Why are you killing him?"
Carter panicked too and scrambled forward. "Ren! Stop! Even if he isn't one of us, you can't kill an ordinary human!"
"It's an ironclad rule of Kamar-Taj. If you kill an ordinary human, the Sorcerer Supreme will strip you of your powers!"
Sweat poured down the old sorcerer's face. She was terrified that her most gifted student was about to get himself killed.
Seeing Carter about to lunge at him and seize control of his magic, Ren quickly stepped back. "Stop! Master, what are you imagining? I'm healing him!"
"Nonsense! You call stabbing someone healing?" Carter stamped her foot in fury.
Ren pointed at Steve on the ground. "Look at his face."
The old sorcerer lowered her head skeptically.
Steve was still unconscious, but color was visibly returning to his deathly pale face.
His wounds, deep enough to expose bone, were rapidly closing and scabbing over. His breathing had grown steady and strong.
Carter froze on the spot.
"He... he really is saving him?"
The old sorcerer's head was spinning.
Since transferring to the support team, she had studied countless forms of White Magic and healing arts.
But in all her years, she had never heard of saving someone with a weapon of mass destruction!
One moment, it killed over a hundred alien monsters. The next, it pierced an ally to bring him back from the brink?
How was that supposed to make sense?
Was there no basic law of magic anymore?
The apprentices stood with their mouths hanging open, their understanding of magic shattering piece by piece.
On one side stood Ancient One's unquestioned authority. On the other was the impossible reality of what Ren had just done.
They stood frozen in the wind, almost forgetting how to breathe.
"Roar!"
Just as they began to question everything, a furious roar exploded through the air.
The sound wave shattered the windows of the nearby buildings.
The apprentices jolted and whipped around.
At the far end of the street, a green Demon God over three meters tall, his muscles bulging, charged toward them with enough fury to destroy everything in his path!