Lord of Cinder in American Comics

"Gu Yi, if you don't give me an explanation this time, I'm really going to get angry."

Ash slammed the sword to the ground, and flames erupted from her body. The mirror space itself began to crumble under the force, melting like glass.

To prevent this power from leaking into reality, the Ancient One could only continuously reinforce the Mirror Dimension and then open portals to transfer the excess power elsewhere.

“Lord of Cinder, please withdraw your power. I have come here for the mages of Kathmandu, and I hope they will join your ranks.”

## Chapter 158: The Mission Accomplished (5k)

"What do you mean? Aren't you going to play your little game of raising the next Sorcerer Supreme?"

Ash looked at the Ancient One in front of her, but instead of directly agreeing or making any other promises, she asked and mocked the Ancient One.

After all, Strange could see 140000605 possible outcomes of their battle with Thanos. With the Time Stone in the Ancient One's hands, even occasional observation was enough to calculate any change in the trajectory of the world.

As you can see in Avengers: Endgame, the Ancient One agreed to Banner's request in just a few words.

If this were a case of someone coming to ask for your property certificate, saying, "I'm just borrowing it to stamp it, and I'll clean it up and return it when I'm done," wouldn't any normal person be furious and cursing?

However, in just a few words, Gu Yi really dared to agree. Didn't she go and observe the future of this plot?

In response to Ash's taunts, the Ancient One said nothing, formed hand seals, and opened the Eye of Agamotto on her chest.

"Lord of Cinder, this is the Time Stone. Consider it my pledge of allegiance."

Under the Ancient One's spell, the Time Stone slowly drifted towards Ashe.

Ash was completely baffled by this series of actions.

Ash was unaware of Orbeck's past conversation with the Ancient One, and was also unaware of the distortion that had occurred to the Time Stone. Orbeck, the teacher who was more inclined to action than words, also did not inform Ash of the matter.

As a result, Ash now has no idea what the Ancient One meant.

The gem floated in front of Ash, but Ash showed no intention of taking it. What if the Ancient One had solidified some strange magic on the gem?

Ash merely stared cautiously at the Ancient One, the dragon bell in her hand already beginning to condense into a sun gun.

Seeing Ash's caution, the Ancient One sighed and said, "In that case, I will find a time to formally hand over the gem to you, with Orbeck as our witness, how about that?"

Ash nodded, agreeing to the Ancient One's plan. When it came to magic, Ash always trusted her teacher, Orbeck.

According to the Ancient One's idea, the gems would be given to Ash, thus transferring the responsibility of protecting the world to Ash, allowing her to retire.

Furthermore, according to the Ancient One's own thoughts, by joining the Dark Souls world, she wouldn't have to worry about Dormammu and other creditors coming to collect debts, and she wouldn't have to worry about the Vishanti's debts if she switched to other magic.

The original plan was to find a way to get Ash to agree. With the king's approval, even if his subordinates disagreed, they would have to grit their teeth and accept it.

But Orbeck was so protective of his disciple that he didn't tell Ash about the Ancient One's plan at all, completely blocking it from his own hands.

Furthermore, since the Dragon Academy is currently under the control of Obek, there are no plans to establish exchanges with Kathmandu yet.

The Ancient One's plan completely failed due to Orbeck's caution and Ashe's vigilance.

After retrieving the gem and resealing it in the Eye of Agamotto, the Ancient One said, "In that case, Lord of Cinder, I will try to discuss this matter with Orbeck, and I hope you will agree."

“I won’t hinder Professor O’Becker’s ideas; you’ll need to discuss it with him yourself.”

Anyone can pass the buck, and Ash still passed the decision-making power to Orbeck. Moreover, given that Yulia and her sister are still in the Dragon Academy, the Ancient One won't gain any advantage in the negotiations.

"Well then, I'll take my leave now. Have a nice day, Lord of Cinder."

The portal opened behind the Ancient One, and she turned around and entered it.

With the Ancient One gone and the Mirror Dimension deactivated, this whole affair was finally over. Ash lay on the recliner, reviewing the conversation that had just taken place.

As Ash pondered the Ancient One's constant attempts to get her to agree to her demands, she increasingly sensed that something was amiss.

"Tell Mr. Orbeck about this and warn him to be careful of the Ancient One."

Ash spoke to the empty space beside her, followed by the cawing of crows.

Belga's followers were capable of traversing time and space to deliver the message to Obek.

Just as Ash put his sunglasses back on, preparing to enjoy the beautiful scenery as the sunset approached, several helicopters streaked across the distant horizon and flew towards them.

To avoid being disturbed by the noise of the helicopter, Ash even cast a soundproof spell on herself.

But the tree may wish to remain still, but the wind will not cease. Ginger, led by Agave, quickly found Ash.

Handing the tablet to Ash, and seeing Ash's helpless expression, Ginger Juice could only say in a businesslike manner, "Ash, someone claiming to be a ghost has sent a message looking for you."

Ash connected the call on the tablet and said with a poker face, "This is Ash's virtual image. Press 1 to discuss matters, dial 911 for medical assistance, or leave a message after the beep. Beep~"

Ash's words conveyed Ghost's helplessness even through his mask.

In the video, the ghost covered his face and said, "Ash, I'm connecting to a private defense network, not your private phone!"

"Really? I'm not here!"

"I've spotted you on the airborne radar!"

After Ghost finished speaking, the helicopter landed in front of Ash. A small team of armed personnel was about to disembark when Ghost stopped them.

Only Ghost disembarked from the helicopter and came to Ash.

"Ash, we're in big trouble!"

Hearing Ghost's words, Ash picked up the drink next to her, took a sip, and said, "You picked up that tone from McTavish, didn't you? Why don't you learn something better!"

"it is true!"

Ghost kept emphasizing this, but only because there was tequila and ginger juice present, he didn't say much more.

Watching the ginger juice and tequila warily, Ghost's hand never left its holster, ready to kill them at any moment.

Seeing this, Ash returned the tablet to Ginger and gestured for them to leave for a moment.

After the two left, Ghost couldn't wait to say, "The Pentagon is starting to screen the military, requiring everyone to provide a DNA sample. This order came too quickly; General Ross and General Sheffield were completely unprepared."

As soon as the ghost spoke, Ash sensed something was wrong. She hurriedly asked, "Wait, wait, what preparations do you want? What are you going to do?"

The ghost spoke in the lowest of its voices: "General Sheffield has prepared a nuclear-armed submarine, which is departing from port. General Ross has also launched all-weather combat aircraft."

"Holy crap, are these two crazy? Why are they provoking the pentagonal building at this time?"

Ash quickly took out her phone and dialed Ross's channel. Seeing Ash's actions, Ghost began to arrange for people to take charge of the defense of the area. In order to protect Ash, several people even stood around her with bulletproof shields.

As soon as the call connected, Ash asked impatiently, "General, what do you want to do?"

"The pentagonal building has begun to settle scores with us, and we cannot sit idly by and wait to be killed."

Rose's tone was very calm and low, it seemed that Rose was prepared to fight to the death.

"But this has nothing to do with us at all!"

Upon hearing Ash's words, Ross's previous coldness vanished, and he asked Ash, "What else do you know?"

"I just got back from Switzerland, all because of some alien guy..."

When Ash explained Valentine's situation to Ross, he discovered that Ross and his group had been deliberately isolated and rendered blind in terms of intelligence communication.

Perhaps it was the World Security Council's decision; they wanted to eliminate all potential threats before intelligence was widely leaked. However, this rapid investigation put Sheffield and Ross on edge.

Ross and Sheffield see this as a reckoning for them, so much so that they've taken this preventative action.

"Ash, you should have said so sooner..."

Ross sounded somewhat resentful; who would have thought it was for this reason? Ash hadn't been able to tell them right away either.

"I've flown nearly 20,000 kilometers in just half a day. Give me some time to myself, General."

Ross didn't say anything when he heard Ash's complaint, nor did he object to Ash not informing them in advance.

Ross, on the contrary, said with a hint of schadenfreude, "Then you won't be able to relax now!"

"How to say?"

“You’ve just become the head of a new department, which happens to be the department that handles these kinds of things, and you happen to be the person involved. No one is more suitable than you to investigate the ins and outs of this matter.”

Hearing Ross's analysis, Ash, who had been lounging around, sat up and said unwillingly, "But I've already solved it, haven't I? The World Security Council hasn't said anything?"

"That's because they haven't realized it yet. As long as they realize that there's a problem with their S.H.I.E.L.D., the first thing they need to do is investigate internally. But at the same time, they also need someone to assist them from the outside."

And you just happened to come into their view, and it was you who identified the problem, you who resolved the crisis. Who could be more suitable than you?

With no worries about the future, Ross gave Ash a very logical and insightful analysis.

Ash murmured softly, "But I just want to lie down..."

Perhaps having overheard Ash's words, Ross laughed heartily and said, "It's up to you now. I'll go talk to that old man in Sheffield first; this is an opportunity..."

Unable to get details about what Ross meant by "opportunity," Ash could only sigh as he looked at the fully armed personnel around him.

The sun was finally setting, the red sun preparing for its demise on the distant horizon.

Here, a team of elite armed personnel surrounded Ash to protect him, while 300 meters away, Logan, who was trying to approach, was blocked by Swag holding him by the waist.

Logan dragged Swagger closer and closer to the edge of the warning zone, and Swagger's hand was on the weapon at his waist.

When the defender gently placed his finger on the trigger, Ash finally snapped out of his reverie.

Ash dismissed them from their defensive positions and sent them onto the helicopter, leaving only Ghost by her side.

Before Logan even got there, Ash's phone rang again.

The video call connected, and it was the Security Council again. After Ross's prompting, Ash understood why he was being called.

Sure enough, the same five people were hosting the event, but there were a few other people behind them. Ash immediately spotted Pierce, who was being scolded by the five and couldn't lift his head.

Since Pierce was Nick Fury's leader, he had been subjected to endless scrutiny ever since he confirmed what happened in the Alps, which terrified him into thinking that Hydra's plan had been exposed.

But Pierce didn't expect that after simply checking whether he was human, he would be brought in for a public denunciation.

Amidst the back-and-forth criticism from the five, Pierce finally understood the reason behind the incident.

"You, Nick Fury, I was truly blind back then. How could you be even more Hydra-like than us, so eager to become the King of the World? You even cooperated with aliens!"

Hydra wasn't entirely devoid of extraterrestrial information; after all, Hydra's god originated from the Hive, an alien entity. At one time, both Hydra branches and headquarters sent personnel to the Hive via the Black Stone portal.

However, this practice has been halted in recent years by Hydra, since no one wants an additional de facto ruler above them.

But to everyone's surprise, Nick Fury actually did something like this, and almost succeeded. This left Pierce both shocked and terrified, fearing that he might have some other connection with Fury.

Upon seeing Ash join the channel, the five stopped criticizing and lecturing Pierce. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Pierce hid in a corner of the conference room.

“Ash, this time I'm sending you to investigate Nick Fury's private base…”