The Witcher: Ascending Beyond Marvel

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"Listen, cowboy, I'm not your enemy." Wes lifted his hands in a placating gesture, his voice steady but urgent. "This fight is pointless."

Carter wasn't listening. His blood boiled at the sight of this wizard—this outsider—daring to trespass on his land. The cowboy's jaw clenched, his fingers twitching over his whip.

"Stop talking nonsense, wizard! You broke into a cowboy's home and tried to rob him blind—now pay the price for your arrogance!" Carter's voice was sharp as a blade, cutting through the cold night air.

With a swift, practiced motion, he uncoiled his whip and snapped it forward.

CRACK!

The air trembled with the force of the lash. The sound alone was enough to send shivers down most men's spines.

Wes didn't flinch. He knew that words wouldn't stop Carter. The only way to get through to him was to defeat him.

And so, the battle began.

---

Miles away, a satellite locked onto the two combatants, transmitting live footage to an approaching tactical team.

Inside a high-speed transport vehicle, Coulson watched the screen in stunned silence. The feed showed a man wreathed in hellfire facing off against a wizard.

"Sir, we've confirmed Wes Irwin is the wizard," one of the agents reported. "But...what exactly is he fighting?"

Back in New York, inside the Triskelion headquarters, Nick Fury glared at his monitor. The sight of the flaming skeletal cowboy sent a wave of frustration crashing through him.

"Motherfu—!" Fury slammed his fist on the desk. "How the hell should I know?!"

The room went silent.

Fury's single eye burned with fury as he turned to his agents.

"Why are there more goddamn freaks on Earth every day?!" He jabbed a finger at the screen. "There's a flaming skeleton cowboy riding around the U.S., and we knew nothing about it?! What the hell do I pay you for?"

"Sir," Coulson interjected carefully, "the name 'Flaming Skeleton Cowboy' is a bit long—"

"You wanna go clean toilets, Phil?!"

Coulson coughed. "Of course not, sir."

"Then keep your eyes on them. And if there's an opening, make contact."

"Yes, sir!"

---

The battle raged on.

Carter's whip lashed through the air, slicing toward Wes's shoulder. But the wizard was faster—he flicked his wrist, transmuting the nearby weeds into chains that coiled around Carter and his warhorse.

For a brief moment, Wes thought he had the upper hand.

Then the flames ignited.

The chains, instead of restraining Carter, began glowing red-hot, their iron sizzling and warping under the Ghost Rider's infernal fire. In mere moments, they were no longer a trap but a weapon in Carter's hands.

Wes barely had time to react before an unsettling presence slithered into his senses. His blood ran cold.

An unnatural wind stirred. A pungent sulfuric stench tainted the air.

Carter stiffened. "Devil," he muttered. His skull-like visage turned toward the horizon. "I can smell it."

Wes's fingers twitched toward his wand. He knew Carter wasn't bluffing. The air was thick with an evil magic so vile it made his skin crawl.

"Wizard," Carter growled, his fiery eyes locking onto Wes, "release me. The devil is coming."

Wes hesitated. Then, without another word, he lifted the transfiguration.

Carter swung onto his warhorse and positioned himself beside Wes.

Wes uncorked a potion and downed it in one gulp. Magic surged back into his veins, refreshing his depleted strength.

They had been enemies mere moments ago. Now, they stood as allies against a greater threat.

A chilling wind howled through the night.

They had arrived.

A black gust of wind slammed into the ground.

Carter fired his shotgun, the blast scattering the dark mist. From the dissipating fog, a pale, gaunt man emerged. His greasy hair hung in limp strands around his face, and his lips curled into a sinister smile.

"Hand over the Saint Venganza Contract," he rasped, his voice like the scraping of rusted metal, "and you may yet receive a merciful death."

The earth trembled.

The ground erupted as a massive figure clawed its way out of the soil. His body was cracked and jagged, his form blending seamlessly into the land itself.

The nearby river churned violently, rising up as though alive. The water twisted and condensed, shaping itself into a man whose entire form dripped and sloshed as he stepped forward.

The three demons formed a tight triangle, boxing Wes and Carter in.

Wind. Earth. Water.

They were lesser demons—minions of the underworld—but even lesser demons were no joke.

Carter cocked his shotgun. "Go back to hell, you sons of bitches."

He fired at the Earth Demon, the bullet slamming into its chest. The creature barely flinched.

The Water Demon lashed out with his whip, striking at Carter, but a surge of flame erupted between them, scorching the air.

"You'll have to do better than that," Wes said coldly.

With a flick of his wand, he conjured a massive fire dragon, its glowing maw snapping toward the Water Demon.

The Water Demon hissed, sending a wave to smother the flames, but Wes was already casting again.

"Sectumsempra!"

A blade of invisible magic sliced through the air toward the Wind Demon. But the creature reacted with inhuman speed, summoning a whirlwind to deflect the attack.

"Pathetic," the Wind Demon sneered. "Be grateful that this world weakens us. If we had our full strength, you would already be dead."

Wes raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then it sounds like the Supreme Sorcerer's barrier isn't as useless as I thought."

The Wind Demon flinched. For a brief moment, fear flickered in his dark, empty eyes.

So the Supreme Sorcerer's magic had forced them to weaken themselves just to cross into this world.

Good.

"You will suffer for that remark," the demon spat. He lifted his hands, summoning a hurricane of blades, each razor-sharp wind current honed to shred flesh from bone.

The sky howled as the attack came hurtling toward Wes.

"Protego!"

A shimmering barrier snapped into place around him just as the blades struck. Sparks and flashes of magic crackled in the air as the spells clashed violently.

But before Wes could counter, a sudden pillar of water smashed into him from the side, shoving him backward. His shield flickered under the force of the impact.

The Water Demon grinned, closing in.

Wes gritted his teeth.

One above. One below. He was pinned.

"Let's see you handle this," the Wind Demon snarled.

A storm of destruction was about to rain down.

And Wes knew he only had seconds to act.