The desert’s temperature dropped drastically after sunset, and by now darkness had settled over the entire region.
Outside the cave, several members of the Ten Rings sat around a campfire, warming themselves against the cold.
Kez Merlin watched them from a nearby slope, his gaze moving between the cave entrance below and the armed men guarding it.
He had no intention of charging in blindly.
For all the unusual advantages at his disposal, he was still only a sorcerer’s apprentice and a Sequence 9 Seer.
Kez slipped the silver chain from beneath his left cuff, allowing the citrine pendulum at its end to hang freely.
‘Rescuing Tony Stark this time will not place my life in danger.’
He silently repeated the statement seven times.
The citrine began rotating clockwise.
Kez nodded, but rather than rely on a single divination, he closed his eyes and sent his consciousness above the gray fog.
Once seated within Sefirah Castle, he performed the divination again.
With Sefirah Castle strengthening the result, the second divination was far clearer.
This time, actual images surfaced within his mind.
He saw the number of guards currently stationed throughout the cave.
Thirty.
Most of the Ten Rings hadn’t remained here in force.
There were no supernatural powers among the guards and no unexpected variables waiting inside.
Once he was certain the situation was safe, Kez withdrew his spirituality from above the gray fog and returned to reality.
He looked down at the Ten Rings guards one last time before climbing onto the back of the enormous steel eagle.
“All right. Full assault.”
The metallic eagle spread its wings and swept down the slope with Kez aboard, while the seven giant wolves broke into a run below.
Around the campfire, the Ten Rings members were still talking among themselves.
“Once Stark finishes building the missile for us, we’ll have the most advanced weapons in the world,” one of them said excitedly.
“Those damn Americans will die under our own bombardment.”
Another laughed.
“Why stop there? We could launch a counterattack and take even more territory.”
They were still happily imagining their future victories when one of the men suddenly noticed movement in the darkness.
“What the hell? Wolves! Get—”
He never finished.
A giant wolf launched itself through the air, slammed him to the ground, and sank its jaws toward his throat.
Screams erupted around the camp.
“AAAH!”
“AAAH!”
“AAAH!”
Then came the rapid crack of assault rifles.
Rat-tat-tat!
Rat-tat-tat!
Inside the cave, eight guards who had been playing cards near the surveillance equipment immediately grabbed their weapons.
“What happened?”
“Are we under attack?”
One of them rushed to the monitors.
The surveillance system didn’t merely cover Tony Stark’s holding area; several cameras also watched the entrance outside.
“It’s wolves. A pack of wolves!”
The others visibly relaxed.
One of the guards scoffed, “The idiots outside actually let themselves get ambushed by wolves? What are those rifles for, decoration?”
Five men headed toward the cave entrance with assault rifles in hand.
The gunfire had also awakened more than a dozen Ten Rings members resting deeper inside the cave.
They quickly armed themselves and emerged from their quarters to find out what was happening.
Farther inside, Tony Stark was still fabricating components for his armor, hammering away at a piece of metal when Yinsen suddenly stood.
“There’s gunfire outside.”
Tony stopped working and listened carefully.
Then the corner of his mouth lifted.
“My ride’s here.”
Apparently, the mysterious Fool’s Blessed had finally arrived.
Tony couldn’t help wondering how this person compared to Captain America, the legendary super-soldier from the last century.
More importantly, he was genuinely curious about what sort of supernatural abilities the Fool’s servant possessed.
Yinsen looked at him in surprise.
“The U.S. military?”
“Or did one of your private security teams come storming in?”
Tony shook his head.
“Probably neither.”
He gave Yinsen a meaningful look.
“You’ll see soon enough. Just try not to be too surprised.”
Yinsen was even more curious now, but he still glanced toward the entrance cautiously.
“Either way, we should stay out of sight. Hopefully these freedom fighters don’t decide to shoot us before whoever’s out there reaches us.”
Tony nodded.
His armor was still nowhere near completion, so fighting his way out himself wasn’t an option yet.
The two men moved behind a position that offered some cover and crouched down to wait.
…
Outside the cave, all seven of the giant wolves Kez had manifested were eventually shot down.
They had taken ten Ten Rings guards with them.
The steel eagle had contributed as well, and ordinary bullets had proven completely useless against its metal body.
As for the loss of the wolves themselves, Kez didn’t care in the slightest.
They were constructs manifested from a photograph.
Beyond the magical energy required to summon them, he had lost nothing.
By then, Kez had already entered the cave.
The steel eagle remained outside because its enormous frame couldn’t fit through the tunnels.
Kez took out the enchanted gourd he had prepared in advance and fastened it to his waist.
The moment he removed the stopper, water poured from its mouth and began circling his body, spreading into a continuous curtain around him.
A Ten Rings soldier suddenly rushed around a corner and immediately opened fire.
Rat-tat-tat!
Muzzle flashes burst from the rifle as bullets tore toward Kez.
They entered the water and simply vanished, as though the liquid concealed another space behind its surface.
The principle behind the spell was fairly simple.
Whether it was glass or water didn’t matter.
As long as the surface could produce a reflection, Kez could use it to create a mirror world.
People could be trapped inside it, while incoming attacks could be swallowed by the reflective surface and redirected into that separate space.
It resembled Kamar-Taj’s Mirror Dimension in function, though the underlying magical principles were completely different.
“Go.”
Kez flicked his hand.
A section of the water curtain shot forward and engulfed the Ten Rings soldier completely.
A moment later, the water collapsed onto the ground as an ordinary puddle, while the man himself had disappeared into the mirror world.
More water immediately flowed from the enchanted gourd at Kez’s waist, replacing what had been lost and restoring the protective curtain around him.
With that single spell, Kez advanced relentlessly through the cave.
None of the Ten Rings guards he encountered ever got a second chance to fire.
“Twenty-seven… twenty-eight.”
Kez continued counting as he walked.
“Two left.”
Those final two were still in the surveillance area.
One of them was a minor commander.
After watching Kez’s bizarre and terrifying advance through the security cameras, neither man was stupid enough to grab a rifle and confront him directly.
Instead, they ran toward the chamber holding Tony Stark.
“Move! That monster has to be here for Stark. There’s no other reason someone like that would come after us!”
They reached the heavy door outside Tony’s workshop.
“Open it! Now!”
The subordinate hurriedly produced the key and unlocked the door.
As soon as the metal door swung open, the commander shouted into the room.
“Get out here! Now, or we shoot!”
Rat-tat!
Two bullets struck the ground beside Tony and Yinsen.
Neither man was armed, and Tony’s armor was nowhere near ready.
Yinsen raised his voice.
“Don’t shoot. We’re coming out.”
He lifted both hands and slowly stood.
“No tricks!” the commander barked.
Tony and Yinsen were forced forward and quickly surrounded.
The two Ten Rings members positioned themselves behind their prisoners, using Tony and Yinsen as human shields while keeping their weapons pressed close enough to fire at the slightest movement.
By the time Kez Merlin reached Tony’s holding area, that was the scene waiting for him.
The commander shouted at him from behind Tony.
“Let us go, or I’ll kill Tony Stark right now! You’re here for him, aren’t you?”
With rifles pressed against their backs and their hands raised, neither Tony nor Yinsen dared make a sudden movement.
Both knew that one twitch from the nervous men behind them could be enough to pull a trigger.
Kez frowned.
“What the hell are they babbling about?”
Unfortunately, whatever language the two Ten Rings members were speaking was one Kez had never learned.