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*****
"How could it be him!"
Looking at the property information, Sitwell never expected this to be Fini's home. He immediately understood why Nick Fury had come here.
But understanding was one thing; figuring out what to do next was the priority.
However, just as he was agonizing over the situation, the incredibly swift Ava Starr had already arrived at Fini's house using the address.
"Hmm!?"
At the exact same time, Fini—who was still nursing a headache over Nick Fury's refusal to leave—noticed the uninvited guest phasing through the wall almost the instant she entered.
"She's here!"
Following Fini's gaze, Nick Fury's expression drastically changed upon seeing Ava Starr. Although he had absolute faith in Fini's strength, he didn't dare completely entrust his own safety to him.
So, ignoring his injuries, he rolled over and ducked behind the sofa, leaving Fini momentarily stunned at the sight.
Silently marveling at the healing potion's excellent efficacy, Fini stood up and turned his attention to Ava Starr, who was completely encased in her suit and marching straight toward Nick Fury.
"Ma'am, breaking into someone else's home isn't very polite!"
Fini blocked her path, opting for a diplomatic warning before resorting to force.
But Ava Starr completely ignored him. She continued walking without a word, showing zero intention of stopping even as she was about to collide with him.
Fini sighed helplessly. He had to admit, Ava Starr was the most arrogant opponent he had encountered in years.
Watching her march straight toward him, Fini knew that in her current physical state, she planned to simply phase right through his body, which explained her total lack of concern.
But Fini had no intention of letting her pass through him. With a flick of his wrist, a portal sparking with golden energy opened directly in front of him. Looking at Ava Starr, who was finally forced to stop in her tracks, he provoked her:
"Bring it on, keep walking!"
Ava Starr's body could ignore solid matter, but she couldn't bypass spatial magic. She couldn't simply phase through a portal the way she phased through walls or people.
Because of the portal, Ava Starr finally shifted her gaze toward Fini.
Although portals were standard issue for Kamar-Taj, in the eyes of the public, this was recognized as one of the exclusive abilities of Fini, the 'Silver Knight'.
Therefore, the moment Ava Starr saw the portal, she somewhat guessed Fini's identity.
Yet, she still didn't utter a single word. She swiftly dodged away from the portal, pulled out her weapon, and launched an attack on him.
Ava Starr only wanted to cure her condition. Right now, her only hope lay with S.H.I.E.L.D.—or rather, Hydra—so she couldn't refuse Hydra's orders.
"Incursio!"
Not wanting to risk any unexpected mishaps, Fini didn't get cocky. He immediately summoned and equipped the 'Incursio' Demon Armor.
The silver-white armor undoubtedly confirmed Fini's identity, but since Ava Starr had already guessed it, she wasn't surprised. She calmly and methodically continued to fire.
However, the bullets struck the heavily defensive 'Incursio' without so much as leaving a spark.
Seeing this, Ava Starr tossed her handgun and sprinted forward, preparing to rely on her phasing abilities to fight him.
Watching her charge at him, Fini didn't act rashly. After all, they were in his house; if anything got smashed, he'd be the one footing the bill.
Ava Starr had been taken by Hydra since childhood. After years of agent training, her close-quarters combat skills were absolutely top-tier, but against Fini, they still fell short.
While her body had mutated due to the quantum tunnel explosion, aside from alternating between intangible and solid states, her actual strength and agility remained at the level of a normal human.
Therefore, facing the charging Ava Starr, Fini easily dodged all of her strikes relying purely on his overwhelming physical attributes.
After all, he had once fought the Hulk without taking a single hit, let alone a regular human like Ava Starr.
After fighting for a few minutes and realizing she still couldn't touch a single hair on Fini's head, Ava Starr finally understood the massive gap in their strength.
Furthermore, Fini hadn't struck back even once during their exchange, which meant her phasing abilities had been rendered completely useless.
Realizing this, Ava Starr decided to abandon the fight with Fini and opted to go straight after Nick Fury. However, after the delay, Nick Fury had long since hidden himself away.
Consequently, Ava Starr activated her invisibility and began violently phasing through walls to search the house. At this point, Fini could no longer remain passive.
Watching her figure flicker in and out of existence, Fini abandoned his curiosity about studying her abilities and immediately took action.
"Mirror Dimension!"
To deal with someone who was physically just an ordinary human, Fini didn't waste his energy unsealing the Wicked Lord's True Eye. Instead, he opened the Mirror Dimension.
Because of his status as a Dimension Lord, the toll of using the Mirror Dimension was far lower for him than for any sorcerer in Kamar-Taj, allowing his mastery of the spell to progress incredibly fast.
As the surrounding space shifted, Ava Starr instantly sensed the change.
She attempted to flee, but no matter what methods she tried, she could not escape the Mirror Dimension.
This was precisely why the Mirror Dimension was classified as one of Kamar-Taj's most difficult and dangerous mystic arts. At least on Earth, unless one possessed innate spatial abilities or wielded a Sling Ring, being trapped inside was virtually an unsolvable dilemma.
"Where is this?"
Finally, Ava Starr spoke her first words since their encounter began.
"My territory!"
Hearing her low, raspy voice, Fini replied flatly, then asked, "Who sent you?"
Right after asking, Fini felt the question was a bit stupid. Under these circumstances, it couldn't be anyone other than Hydra, specifically Alexander Pierce.
So he immediately added, "Never mind, I don't care about that anymore. Tell me about your physical condition instead!"
Truthfully, Fini was deeply fascinated by Ava Starr's body—specifically her ability to freely transition between reality and intangibility. As for her actual figure, even Wanda couldn't tempt him, let alone a mere Ava.
Ava Starr, naturally, wasn't going to cooperate obediently. Hearing Fini's words, she activated her suit's stealth function to turn invisible, planning to vanish from his sight and wait for an opportunity to ambush him.
In her mind, as long as the spellcaster died, she would be able to escape regardless of where she was trapped.
Watching the invisible Ava Starr, Fini smirked, inexplicably reminded of Karnilla back in Nornheim.
Playing hide-and-seek with invisibility in front of him was truly overestimating her own capabilities.
However, Fini didn't use the same method he had used on Karnilla to deal with Ava Starr.
Instead, in a rare move, he activated the invisibility mode of 'Incursio', similarly vanishing from Ava Starr's line of sight.
(End of Chapter)