Chapter 10: There is a Kind of Spell Called the "Drawing Circles" Curse on You

After dinner, taking advantage of the window while Melinda was out shopping with Annie, Coulson hurried to the S.H.I.E.L.D. SUV to report to Nick Fury via the emergency device. However, he noticed that the Director's face on the communication video didn't look particularly good.

At this moment, Director Nick Fury was sitting in a bathtub with an unfriendly expression, his dark upper body and head covered in soap suds, his one remaining intact eye staring sharply at the communicator.

"Coulson, do you know? Lately, I have been very dissatisfied with your performance... extremely dissatisfied!"

Nick Fury had finally managed to find some time to take a bath after work. He was just getting comfortable soaking in the tub when, unexpectedly, the emergency communicator rang. By the time he scrambled to turn it on without even bothering to get dressed, he found that the person on the other end was that guy, Coulson, again!

This bastard! Is he specifically following him around just to make his life difficult? Or has something truly urgent happened? Did that little girl burn down the city? Or blow up the Earth? Otherwise, why use the emergency line?

"Uh, Director! There are some matters I'd like to report. Without your consent, it would be difficult for me to handle them," Coulson said, wiping a bit of cold sweat from his forehead. He knew the Director's fury was on the verge of an explosion.

"Speak!"

Nick Fury decided not to waste any more words on this bastard. His anger had clouded his judgment; if this wasn't something important, he was going to make the man pay!

"Well, it's like this... right after we finished dinner, we made a suggestion to Annie. We hope she can attend school so she can integrate normally into human life. Although she seems quite willing, this matter still requires your approval!"

"Fine! I agree. But! If any uncontrollable accidents occur, it will be your responsibility. That's it."

*Click!* With a sharp snap, Nick Fury slammed the communicator shut and stood up from the bathtub with a dark expression!

He was no longer in the mood for a bath! He was growing increasingly annoyed with Coulson. Did he really need to ask permission for every little triviality? More importantly, it was always right when he was off the clock!

Wait. Just as Nick Fury was about to reach for a towel, he froze.

Did Coulson just say they were sending that little girl, Annie, to school? And he had already agreed? Had he conducted a risk assessment? What if—just what if—that little girl suddenly lost control and hurt someone or destroyed a school?

Nick Fury hurried back to the communication device, but stopped just as he was about to redial.

He thought about it carefully. Since he had already given his word, to maintain the authority of a wise and decisive Director, he shouldn't go back on his decision. Besides, he had already said that if anything happened, it was Coulson's responsibility. So be it! What did he care if the little girl burned down a school? The Director was a very busy man!

"..." Looking at the screen showing the disconnected call, Coulson was momentarily speechless. He had prepared a massive pile of assessment reports, yet before he could say a single word, the Director had already agreed?

"What's wrong?" Melinda, who had just returned from shopping with Annie, was tossing bags of shopping into the car while looking at Coulson curiously. Most of these items were clothes and daily necessities prepared for Annie.

"I just reported to the Director. He agreed to Annie going to school."

"That's good! Come on, Annie, quick, get in the car over here!" After sitting in the driver's seat, Melinda ignored Coulson and opened the passenger door to call Annie over. As for the rule about not letting children sit in the front seat, she had long since forgotten it! This was a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle; even if the police had ten times the courage, would they dare to inspect it?

"Wow!! The ocean! The beach!! Tibers! Let's go play together!"

Having just stepped out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle, Annie was overjoyed to see the silvery-white sand and the vast, endless blue ocean. She dashed out of the car, kicked off her shoes, and ran toward the beach! This was her first time at the seaside.

(Tibers did not respond to Annie's master, asking it to come out and play in the sea. Not a chance! It was a Shadow Bear, infused with fire, naturally incompatible with water. It certainly wouldn't come out to play in the ocean with this little girl. Absolutely not!)

"Whoa~! A beach villa? Looks like the Director really pulled out all the stops."

Driving into the open garage, Melinda and Coulson got out of the car. Melinda leaned against the car door with her arms crossed, watching Annie frolicking on the beach while eyeing the villa.

It was a seaside villa on the outskirts of New York, a three-story wooden structure with a red roof, white walls, a backyard, a swimming pool, three garages, and a large stretch of private beach. Oh! And a yacht moored at a small private pier on the beach!

"In fact, the beach for five miles around here belongs to it," Coulson said, putting away his car keys and standing beside Melinda.

"What corrupt bureaucrats," Melinda muttered dissatisfiedly.

"At least we are the ones enjoying it now, aren't we?" Coulson smiled triumphantly. Only now did he feel that this temporary babysitting job wasn't too bad after all.

"I feel like we're the ones benefiting from Annie's presence," Melinda said, slightly annoyed by Coulson's attitude.

"Does it make a difference?" Coulson asked, turning back as he prepared to open the villa door.

Melinda shook her head helplessly at him and turned to call out to Annie, who was still playing on the beach. "Annie! Come back quickly and see your new home! It's almost getting dark!"

"Oh~! Coming~!" Annie scooped up a handful of seawater and tasted it. *Ptooey!* It was salty, bitter, and astringent! She had originally planned to run into the sea to play, but remembering she couldn't swim, she decided against it. She would go check out her new home first!

Annie was quite satisfied with this place. After all, in the Bayou, there wasn't much to do besides swamps, toxic mists, beasts, and all sorts of insects and crawlers.

As the three of them were about to enter through the main door of the villa, they found the entire space suddenly warping. No matter how hard they pushed, the villa door wouldn't budge. Looking up, they saw an identical beach villa appearing in the sky above them, but it was upside down! It was as if a giant mirror had been placed across the sky, reflecting the villa, the beach, and the ocean.

"Annie! Please don't use that strange magic recklessly!" Melinda and Coulson instinctively felt that this must be Annie's doing!

"It wasn't me!!" Annie glared at them crossly!

Annie would never use mirror-space magic recklessly. Although she knew how, it was very dangerous! Without profound mastery of spatial magic, using such dangerous spells could easily cause one to get lost in the mirror dimension, never to return to the physical world!

In the Bayou, those bearded old men generally only used mirror dimensions when conducting dangerous magical or alchemical experiments to prevent those terrifying experiments from causing irreversible damage to the material world.

Clearly, in this situation, another mage had targeted Annie, but their technique was too amateur and crude! It made Annie very unhappy! How did they dare use such a dangerous spell on her so casually? Annie decided she had to teach them a lesson!

Thus, Annie extended her finger, condensed her mana, and lightly tapped the air. A ripple of magical energy spread out like water. *Counter-magic: Shatter Mirror! Lock Space!*

As the visible magical fluctuations dissipated, the entire mirror dimension immediately shattered like broken glass and vanished. The world returned to the scenery of blue skies and white clouds by the sea.

"They did this!"

Annie pointed toward the highway outside the villa, where five hooded figures in long robes were standing. Their faces were hidden in the shadows of their hoods, making it impossible to see their features. All five were dressed similarly and held wooden sticks of unknown purpose.

Regardless, Annie had sensed the magical fluctuations from them just now, even if they were very, very weak compared to her! They were likely at the level of apprentices in those gray organizations. Since when did a group of apprentices become so bold? They even dared to use mirror dimensions recklessly?

Without a word, Melinda and Coulson turned and drew their pistols, gripping them firmly and pointing them at the five people on the road.

"Who are you? Stop right there! Or we will fire!"

"Heh!"

The leader of the group did not stop; he merely gave a light chuckle. At the same time, two hooded men beside him stepped forward. With a flick of their wooden sticks, the sticks transformed into long whips glowing with flame. While the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were stunned, the men gave a gentle flick, and the guns were snatched from Coulson and Melinda's hands.

"Oh! Damn it!"

Coulson stepped back, clutching his wrist; clearly, it had been dislocated. Melinda's arm had also been grazed, leaving a bloody mark, but she stepped forward instead, drawing a baton from her waist and glaring hatefully at the newcomers.

Annie frowned as she watched the five strange men approaching in large strides. Tibers had told her that these people meant her harm! However, the little bear Tibers had no intention of coming out. After all, these people were far too weak—so weak that Annie could burn them all away with a single finger!

However, this was the entrance to Annie's new home, and she liked it very much. Under the premise of not burning anything down, she had to think carefully about what magic to use to deal with them. Generally speaking, besides small fireballs, big fireballs, and huge fireballs, it seemed Annie didn't have much else she was good at for fighting enemies? Oh dear! Annie felt that fighting at her own doorstep was truly annoying! She really wanted to just blow them up and burn them, but she was afraid of destroying these beautiful flowers and plants!

"Take them down!" the leader said, pulling back his hood to reveal a middle-aged Black man with an unfamiliar face.

As soon as he spoke, his four subordinates spread out to flank them from both sides. With a flick of their long sticks, they transformed into glowing whips and lashed toward the three of them, seemingly intending to capture them alive.

"Hmph!" Annie gave a small snort! With a wave of her small hand, a transparent shield of flame enclosed her, Coulson, and Melinda! The four whips struck the transparent shield and were deflected.

Seeing the attack was ineffective, the Black leader stepped forward. He held out one hand while the other began drawing circles in the air toward Annie and the others. Seeing this, the four attackers turned their whips back into wooden sticks and tucked them behind their backs. They then spread out to surround the three, mimicking their leader by drawing circles toward the magical shield.

Huh?

Annie was stunned! What were they doing? They were about to fight, and yet they were drawing circles? Were they trying to curse her with circles? It looked quite impressive! Was this some new type of curse spell? She was actually a bit expectant... should she wait and see?

While Annie was wondering, she saw that the opponents had each finished drawing five circles. Then, they all jumped into the circles simultaneously, instantly appearing inside Annie's magical shield. Two of them lunged at Coulson; caught off guard, he was kicked in the lower back, falling face-down to the ground and being immediately subdued by the two!

The other two each planted a foot on the back of Melinda's calf, forcing her to her knees, and twisted her hands behind her back. The Black leader appeared behind Annie at the same time, his right hand striking downward toward the back of her neck; it seemed he intended to knock her unconscious.

"Annie hates you!"

Sensing the movement behind her, Annie clenched her small hand into a fist. A burst of flame erupted from her body, followed by a violent, scorching blast of air that sent the five attackers flying into the sky. Melinda and Coulson, however, were unaffected by the blast because one was lying on the ground and the other was kneeling.

Watching the five people lose their balance as they were blown into the sky, Annie did not stop. She reached her right hand out toward the five in the sky and grabbed: five flaming ropes appeared out of thin air, binding the five men together! Then, with another wave of her hand, she slammed the bound men onto the beach, where they landed face-first in the sand.

Dealing with them so easily, Annie curled her lip in disdain.

They were clearly mages, even if they were very weak, so why were they playing like melee warriors? The mages of this world were truly strange!

And another thing! Their teleportation spells actually required drawing circles to open a spatial channel? That really gave her a fright at first! She had been quite expectant, only for the result to be like this! What happened to the circle-drawing curse?

If it was short-distance teleportation, couldn't they just use an instant blink? Why the circles?

Little Annie declared that if they actually fought seriously, she would have enough time to burn them a hundred times before they even finished drawing their circles! No, at least a thousand times!

"Hey! Director? We might need some backup here..." Having just scrambled up, Coulson once again pulled out his phone and dialed the number for S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury.