Resolved

"It's useless... hahahaha..." The Wraith Tewal's deranged laughter echoed throughout the exhibition hall.

The black mist in the hall formed into clumps.

They launched themselves at the group.

"Demons and monsters, begone-"

"Demons and monsters, begone-"

Old Man chanted calmly and steadily. He had prepared his spells and magic potions in advance.

Bottle after bottle of potion was hurled onto the floor.

They cleared patches of mist, but it was a drop in the bucket. The mist still filled the entire exhibition hall.

Old Man remained composed. Whether it was conscious or not, it was still a Wraith.

Wraiths had a true form. That almost never changed. All he had to do was find its true form in the swirling mist and seal it away.

Bang-

Coulson and Ah Xing were still shooting wherever a hazy figure appeared.

The difference was that Ah Xing's shots could disperse the black mist, while Coulson's gun had no effect whatsoever.

"Fuck."

Coulson swore, firing as he took cover. Though his shots did nothing tangible, they at least gave him an outlet for his frustration.

"Hahaha... useless... hahahahaha!" The voice in the black mist grew increasingly deranged. It even began to echo.

"Oh?"

Sitting in the antique shop drinking tea, Jiang Xiang found the Wraith's transformation strange.

It had absorbed some of the Rooster Talisman's latent demonic energy, and that had actually caused a mutation?

But on further thought, it made perfect sense.

After all, the talismans had split off from the Holy Lord's body. If they had no side effects whatsoever, that would hardly do justice to his title as the Fire Demon.

Jiang Xiang tried using the talisman in his hand to reclaim the power.

The Wraith Tewal in the museum shuddered violently, its power weakening slightly.

It looked around in confusion, then stopped worrying when its power changed no further.

Jiang Xiang breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he could reclaim the power, he had nothing to worry about.

Things hadn't spiraled out of control. Keep going!

At that moment, Alice, who had been chatting with Natasha, said she was heading back.

"Weren't you looking for Ah Xing?"

Alice gave her a playful smile.

"I already gave him the stuff."

Once again, Natasha witnessed the spatial ability that turned Alice into particles of light before she vanished.

"Useless?"

"Mr. Cheng, Mr. Ah Xing, can't you kill it?" Coulson asked hoarsely, bracing himself against the waves of mist.

Neither Ah Xing nor Old Man was in the mood to answer him.

Old Man's thoughts were grim. It seemed the Wraith had yet to use the talisman. If it activated the talisman's power, especially if it turned out to be one of the powerful offensive talismans, they would be in serious trouble.

Ah Xing, meanwhile, was completely unruffled. He even felt like laughing.

Since the talisman could reclaim its power at any moment, Ah Xing had nothing to worry about.

Old Man took a deep breath. No more holding back, no more delays. He would settle this in one go!

"Demons and monsters, begone-demons and monsters, begone-"

Old Man chanted so quickly that his words were almost impossible to make out.

While Old Man chanted, Ah Xing kept interfering with the Wraith's movements.

Until Old Man had gathered as much power as he could.

"Hey!"

Deep blue rings of light filled the dark green Dried Lizard and Dried Pufferfish.

Several jars floated behind Old Man.

Whoosh-

They unleashed the strongest offensive power Old Man currently possessed.

As the beams shot out, the air along their paths seemed to vibrate, accompanied by an audible howl. The two beams flew straight toward the Wraith Tewal as if fitted with trackers.

The Wraith had grown increasingly deranged with time. It clearly could no longer think rationally, but it had not become stupid.

It treated the two approaching magical beams with outright contempt.

Even though it could sense the immense power contained within them.

They weren't traveling particularly fast.

The Wraith instantly drifted to one side, and the two beams flew straight past where it had been.

When the Wraith had first gained consciousness, its mind had been clear. It experienced few emotional fluctuations, let alone negative emotions such as arrogance or greed.

But ever since it had absorbed a little of the Rooster Talisman's power, that power had gone to its head.

It could float.

Its spirit body had been greatly strengthened.

It did have some grounds for arrogance.

Floating in the air, the Wraith let out a strange, hissing laugh, as though mocking the mage who had overestimated himself.

Thud-

The Wraith Tewal was hit.

The two magical beams Old Man had released flew to the other side, turned around, and came back.

Both beams passed straight through the Wraith's body.

"Did it work?"

"Was it really that easy?"

Coulson watched with both delight and concern.

He considered how to mend the relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Old Man.

The Wraith was in terrible shape. It could feel the two new streams of energy inside its spirit body constantly tearing it apart.

The abnormal energy cleared its thoughts, but its consciousness was fading.

It could distinctly sense that it was losing consciousness.

"Damn it! No!"

It had to do something!

Go out and find other power to devour?

Too slow!

Where was there energy?!

At last, its gaze fixed on the shield.

Whoosh-

It threw all its soul power and consciousness into scouring the energy on the shield.

Whatever happened, it could not be worse than having its consciousness erased outright.

Amazingly, the shield actually began absorbing it!

Back in the antique shop, Jiang Xiang immediately sensed something was wrong and hurriedly took out the talisman to reclaim its power.

The black mist in the museum slowly grew transparent.

"Is it over?"

Coulson tried turning on his communicator to check whether he had a signal.

"Sir."

Nick Fury appeared on the screen.

"What's the situation?"

"It looks like it's been resolved."

Just as Nick Fury was about to order Coulson to withdraw.

"Hehehe, looks like I'm late. It really was useless, huh?"

A strange voice rang throughout the museum.

A figure wearing a brown-black fedora and a red-and-green horizontally striped sweater quietly appeared.

His right hand bore sharp metal claws, and his body was skeletal, as though he suffered from severe malnutrition.

His face was covered in burn scars, a sight that sent chills down their spines.

Ah Xing stepped forward, shielding the others behind him.

"Who are you?!"

"Hehe, take a guess. Why doesn't someone fall into the same ditch twice?"

The strange man's bizarre, irrelevant question left them exchanging looks.

"Hahahaha, because the first fall kills them!"

"Hahahaha!"

The strange man laughed theatrically, rocking back and forth. "Perhaps we'll meet again. Remember my name: Freddy. May sweet dreams accompany you to sleep."

"Hahahaha!"

Freddy vanished.

The eerie atmosphere gradually dissipated.

Within the shield, the faint power of the Rooster Talisman slowly emerged.

[Emotional Value from Coulson +120]

[Emotional Value from Nick Fury +60]

[From...]