Marvel: Ned the Master of Mystic Arts

Clang!

"Ugh…"

Drops of blood trickled down as Ned slumped to the ground, exhausted. Looking up at the black-robed man with a gaping hole in his left chest, Ned revealed a relieved smile.

"You… you… how… is this… possible?"

Even with his left chest pierced and his heart obliterated, the black-robed man, perhaps due to his powerful cultivation, still managed to hold on to a breath, unwilling to accept his fate as he glared at Ned.

Indeed, from start to finish, Ned had been acting. While the black mist magic was undeniably powerful—it was a spell cast by the black-robed man at the cost of his own life—it was, at its core, merely an illusion.

The magic used illusions and ominous sounds to disrupt the target's mind, causing confusion, rendering them unable to fight back, or even driving them insane.

But let's not forget—Ned's Mask of Agony was immune to all illusion-based magic!

So, Ned wasn't affected by the black mist at all.

He pretended to struggle because the black-robed man was just too tricky to deal with. Without luring him into an attack and catching him off guard, Ned probably wouldn't have been able to take him down.

The black-robed man, overconfident in his forbidden technique, didn't suspect anything when he saw Ned close his eyes in apparent defeat. He immediately lunged forward with his spear for the kill.

Fearing that Ned might pull off another miracle like before, the black-robed man didn't hold back at all. He poured every ounce of his strength and magical energy into the thrust, leaving no room for retreat, determined to deliver a fatal blow.

Though Ned appeared powerless, his senses were sharp, waiting for the black-robed man's true body to strike. He was fully prepared to counter the attack.

With a calculated move against an unprepared opponent, Ned caught the black-robed man off guard, blasting a magical beam straight through his left chest.

That said, the black-robed man's desperate attack wasn't without merit. Despite Ned's efforts to dodge while retaliating, the spear still managed to strike his shoulder.

Ned, though skilled in magic, was still flesh and blood. The black-robed man's all-out strike obliterated Ned's left shoulder entirely. With no shoulder to connect it, his arm naturally fell lifelessly to the ground.

Suppressing the searing pain, Ned glanced at his missing left arm. A fleeting sense of despair arose but quickly dissipated. It's just an arm, after all. In a miraculous world like Marvel's, it wasn't impossible to grow it back.

On the bright side, the sheer force of the black-robed man's attack spared Ned the trouble of stopping the bleeding.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Ugh…"

Though the black-robed man's heart was gone and his protective barrier dissipated, countless spears suspended in the sky rained down upon Ned, hitting him and transforming into bursts of black mist.

"Heh…"

Seeing this, the black-robed man finally closed his eyes and passed on to the afterlife.

With his death, the spears lost their magical support and vanished, leaving behind only the black-robed man's weapon, which continued to glow with an eerie black light.

Splurt!

In just a few breaths, numerous spears had struck Ned. Though he endured silently, the attacks were far from painless.

Now that the crisis was over, Ned let out a sigh of relief before coughing up a mouthful of blood.

"Ugh…"

His internal organs were all affected to varying degrees by the spears, and the pain from his missing shoulder drained him of the strength to even stand.

Struggling to reach his severed arm, Ned removed the magic ring from its finger and placed it on his right hand. Using the last ounce of his energy, he waved his hand to open a portal before collapsing into it.

In Chinatown, a young Chinese girl was walking home when a burst of sparks suddenly appeared ahead. With a crackling sound, a portal began to open, glowing with fire.

From the portal, a cloaked, battered, one-armed figure tumbled out before the gateway closed on its own, as if it had never existed.

Thud!

Face down, Ned hit the ground hard. Thankfully, the Mask of Agony prevented any damage to his face.

"Mister?"

The young girl cautiously approached the mysterious cloaked figure and called out.

"Mister?"

After several calls with no response, the girl bit her lip and tried to lift Ned's remaining arm over her shoulder, attempting to drag him.

"Ahh!"

With a loud cry, she gave it her all but couldn't move him an inch. Frustrated, she plopped down on the ground.

Though Ned had reduced his body fat using the Reality Stone, he had gained muscle instead. His weight hadn't decreased significantly, so it wasn't surprising that the girl couldn't carry him.

"Huh?"

Just as she was feeling helpless, Ned's body suddenly floated up. Startled, the girl called out softly, "Mister?"

Still no response, but the floating cloak behind him flapped a few times.

"Cloak?"

The cloak's upper corner bent slightly in what seemed like a nod.

"Then… Cloak Mister, are you going to help me bring this mysterious man to my house?"

The girl guessed that Ned must have nowhere to go and needed a place to rest, so she offered.

The cloak nodded more enthusiastically.

"Thank you, Cloak Mister!"

Although the girl wasn't sure if this was the man who had saved her earlier—since he no longer had the metal gauntlet—she felt they were likely connected based on their similar attire. Helping the friend of her savior made her happy.

She led the cloak back to her home, showing it to the guest room. She even tried feeding Ned some water—not through anything weird, just using a small spoon.

When it came time to remove the mask, she struggled. No matter how hard she pulled, the Mask of Agony wouldn't budge. In the end, the cloak stepped in and smacked the mask off with one slap.

Of course, it would've been better if that hadn't left a red mark on Ned's face.

After all, the cloak wasn't human, so it couldn't control its movements perfectly. Let's cut it some slack, right? … Right?

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