Marvel's Hogwarts Professor

Night, New York, Rand Plaza.

The crowd roared as Johnny Blaze completed his death-defying 400-foot jump. The stunt had marked the grand finale of the opening ceremony, leaving the square echoing with cheers. In a nearby open-air parking lot, however, two SHIELD agents sat in a dimly lit car, their eyes fixed on a laptop screen.

"Can you believe Johnny Blaze is actually the Flaming Skull?" Randy said, shaking his head as he replayed footage of Johnny's daring leap.

Jenny, his partner, glanced at him coolly. "In our line of work, anything's possible. Captain America was dead for seventy years, and now he's back. If that's possible, anything is."

Randy let out a low whistle, the excitement in his eyes betraying a sense of anticipation. "I have a feeling tonight might be a big night for us. Flaming Skull sightings have been cropping up every evening. Tonight shouldn't be any different."

Jenny nodded, maintaining her composure as she scanned the surveillance screens in front of her. Coulson had assigned them to keep a close watch on Johnny Blaze's movements, especially if he ventured near Bolen Street in Queens.

Early Morning, Queens.

The roar of a motorcycle shattered the quiet streets as Johnny Blaze sped through the city. Dressed in his leather jacket and helmet, he felt the familiar pull of the open road beneath him, though tonight there was a different energy thrumming through his veins. He knew the spirit within him was growing impatient.

"It's time. Let me out. Mephisto is close—I can feel it."

The voice of Zarathos rumbled inside him, a dark urgency pushing Johnny to quicken his pace. He gritted his teeth, maintaining control. He needed Zarathos's power, but he knew what would happen if he lost control. "We're getting close," he muttered under his breath, trying to placate the demon. "Just hang on a little longer."

The spirit of Zarathos simmered, radiating a wave of heat through Johnny's chest. For all the power Zarathos granted him, the spirit's obsession with vengeance on Mephisto often pushed him to the edge. Yet, without this demon, Johnny's soul would have long been lost.

At last, Johnny slowed his motorcycle as he approached the intersection of Bolen Street. The street was quiet, almost unnaturally so. Although this part of Queens wasn't bustling, there should have been a few people around even at this hour. But tonight, the street was deserted, every storefront closed, every window dark.

He frowned, his senses heightened. Pulling on the brakes, he paused, listening. The silence was thick, unnatural, and as he scanned the shadows, he noticed faint ripples hanging in the air above the street. They looked like heat waves, only instead of rising, they spread out horizontally, like a strange, shimmering fog.

A chill ran through him. A spell.

He closed his eyes, focusing his energy inward. He knew what needed to be done. In an instant, flames erupted around him, transforming him from flesh and bone into a burning skeleton, the power of Zarathos fully unleashed. His leather jacket, now cloaked in hellfire, flared as the motorcycle beneath him morphed into a flaming vehicle of vengeance.

With the Eye of Judgment, Johnny could see the faint shimmer in the air—a magical barrier meant to ward off unwanted visitors. Sensing an unseen force pushing him back, Johnny reached for his shotgun, now wrapped in hellfire. With a swift pull of the trigger, he fired a round of searing flames at the barrier.

The blast shattered the invisible wall, and the street rippled as though awakened from a trance. Ghost Rider revved his engine, his eyes narrowing as the empty street stretched out before him. Hellfire dripped from his tires, spreading across the pavement in an unholy carpet of flame that ignited the entire street, casting a blue glow over the deserted neighborhood.

But still, nothing happened. The supposed "destination" remained elusive, and frustration built within him.

"You worthless mortal!" Zarathos seethed, filling Johnny with a new surge of rage. He could feel the demon straining against him, eager to unleash his wrath.

Johnny clenched his fists, his bones creaking under the tension. As the flames around him intensified, his hellfire shifted from a fierce orange to a furious blue, a rare transformation signaling Zarathos's full, unbridled anger. With an enraged roar, he slammed his fist into the ground, causing the surrounding flames to coalesce and surge.

From within the fire, a blue gateway began to take shape, a portal into another realm. Johnny's face, locked in its skeletal form, showed nothing but a dark determination as he steered his motorcycle into the portal, entering the eerie, flickering glow.

On the other side, Ghost Rider found himself in an open plaza bathed in a soft, unnatural light. He scanned his surroundings, his gaze resting on a tiny figure hovering nearby.

"Hello, welcome to Vientiane World," chirped an ethereal, figure—a guide elf named Shana. "Unfortunately, our business hours are from 5 am to 10 pm. You're currently outside of that range. Please wait until—"

Ghost Rider's hollow eyes bore into her, cutting off her explanation. "Tell me where Mephisto is," he rasped, his voice filled with a dangerous, gravelly edge.

Shana's mechanical programming kicked in, and she responded with practiced calm. "I'm sorry, but there is no record of anyone by that name in Vientiane World."

The demon within him seethed, his impatience boiling over. Ghost Rider reached up, locking his gaze with the elf's blank eyes. "Look into my eyes," he intoned, voice reverberating with the fury of the Penance Stare. "Let me judge your sins."

But as he gazed into her unblinking eyes, he realized there was nothing—no soul, no fear. Just the hollow emptiness of an artificial creature. For a moment, Zarathos's power faltered, the realization settling uneasily in his mind.

Shana's polite voice broke the silence. "Sir, please release me or this will be considered a threat of force, and Vientiane World has protocols to respond accordingly."

Without hesitation, Ghost Rider tightened his grip, ignoring Johnny's inner protests. Flames erupted from his hands, engulfing the elf in hellfire. Shana's form twisted, her wings turning molten as the fire consumed her, reshaping her into a burning puppet.

When the flames subsided, the transformed Shana stood at his side, now a minion of hellfire, her wings and limbs twisted into a nightmarish figure.

"Go," Ghost Rider commanded, his voice low and commanding. "Find Mephisto."

Shana's eyes flared with a crimson light as she took to the air, her flame-wrapped form vanishing into the shadows. But as she flew away, the square began to shift, as though some hidden alarm had been triggered.

A booming voice filled the air, calm yet foreboding. "Warning: Unauthorized entity detected in Teleportation Square. Initiating containment protocol."

Golden light blazed along the edges of the square, forming a cage that shimmered with an unbreakable, magical energy. Ghost Rider's fiery gaze traced the outline of the cage, his jaw tightening as the magic pulled tighter, enclosing him in an indestructible barrier.

Around him, robotic soldiers emerged from hidden compartments, weapons drawn, each armed with weapons charged with a strange, arcane energy. As they advanced, they opened fire, sending a hail of bullets and magical blasts toward him.

Ghost Rider raised his arms, unleashing a wall of hellfire that incinerated the bullets before they could reach him. But as the robots switched tactics, firing concentrated beams of magical energy, he felt a slight impact, the lasers briefly disturbing the flames around him.

With a growl, Ghost Rider ignited his chains, spinning them into a fiery disk. He hurled it at the cage, sending a torrent of blue hellfire crashing into the barrier. The golden light wavered, cracks splintering across its surface. But as quickly as they appeared, the cracks healed, the cage glowing even brighter.

Deep within his fiery skull, Johnny could sense Zarathos's fury, building to an uncontrollable peak. In a final act of rage, the spirit of Zarathos summoned all his power, filling the square with an inferno. Hellfire surged across the ground, engulfing the robotic soldiers and bending them to his will. Within seconds, the mechanical creatures were ablaze, transformed into twisted minions of hellfire.

Yet despite his efforts, the golden cage held firm.

Suddenly, a strange, menacing hiss echoed from beyond the cage. Ghost Rider's fiery eyes narrowed as he turned, his gaze locking onto a colossal figure slithering out from the shadows. As the creature approached, its enormous scales glinted in the flickering light, its yellow eyes locking onto him with a deadly, unblinking stare.

It was a basilisk, its monstrous form coiling as it slid closer, its massive, scaled body filling the space with a dreadful presence. The hissing grew louder, reverberating through the square like a sinister warning.

==============================================

Support me at p@treon.com/goldengaruda and check out more chapter of this FANFIC or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.

==============================================