Gawain was still locked in confrontation with the Molten-Blood Demon when Tony’s Unibeam struck him squarely in the back before he could dodge.
Fortunately, the instant the beam connected, Gawain used the force of the impact to twist his body and throw himself sideways.
Even so, the armor across his back shattered beneath the Unibeam.
For the first time since being summoned, Gawain bled.
“Hahahaha! Nice work, flying insect! You finally did something useful!” The Molten-Blood Demon burst into laughter and actually praised Tony.
That only made Tony’s temper explode.
“You son of a bitch! Die!” Tony roared and fired his Unibeam again, this time straight at the Molten-Blood Demon.
Having just witnessed how powerful the attack was, the demon had no intention of taking it head on.
It launched itself aside in a tremendous leap.
But that leap gave Gawain the opening he needed.
“This sword is the embodiment of the sun, the final light that remains upon the earth!”
Golden radiance surged along his blade.
“EXCALIBUR GALATINE!”
Gawain rapidly released his Noble Phantasm and brought the sword down upon the Molten-Blood Demon.
“Damn you! Treacherous human!”
The Molten-Blood Demon immediately tried to transform its body into magma.
It was a fraction too slow.
Gawain’s attack struck its entire upper body.
The overwhelming power of the blow cleaved the Molten-Blood Demon’s body in two.
Its upper half was instantly reduced to ash.
Even the enormous Magma Barrier shattered completely beneath the strike.
Without the Molten-Blood Demon’s power supporting it, the broken barrier lost all cohesion.
Magma began raining down from above.
The Hammer Industries production facility, already battered beyond recognition, suffered yet another round of devastation.
“Gawain! How bad is it?”
Tony fired two Repulsor Blasts overhead, blowing apart the streams of magma about to fall onto Gawain, then quickly flew down beside him.
Gawain ignored him.
Instead, he stared toward the spot where the Molten-Blood Demon had just been cut apart.
“I know you’re not dead. Come out!”
The magma in that area began bubbling violently.
A moment later, it gathered together and reconstructed the Molten-Blood Demon’s body.
This time, however, the demon looked far worse for wear.
Its entire body was several sizes smaller than before, and its presence had weakened considerably.
“Remember this, humans! I will return!” The Molten-Blood Demon roared as its body dissolved back into molten rock.
It plunged into one of the magma pools created by the Magma Pillars and swiftly retreated.
The moment it was gone, Gawain’s stoic expression collapsed.
He sucked in a sharp breath from the pain and slowly turned toward Tony.
“I have to admit… that attack of yours really is powerful.”
Tony finally relaxed.
If Gawain was still clear headed enough to make a comment like that, his injuries probably weren’t life threatening.
But when Tony saw his back, guilt immediately welled up inside him.
The armor there had been completely shattered.
Fragments of metal were embedded amid torn flesh and blood.
Worse, Gawain’s powerful regenerative ability had already begun healing the wounds.
Fresh tissue was growing around some of the broken pieces of armor, fusing flesh and metal together.
His entire back looked horrific.
“Yeah… I think you need a doctor.”
Tony found a large sheet of metal and had Gawain lie facedown on it.
Then he lifted the makeshift stretcher and flew toward the nearest hospital.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
With the main combatants gone, a large number of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived to seal off the scene.
Unfortunately, because the battle had taken place within New York, public opinion was impossible to contain after footage began spreading across the internet.
The major media outlets chose to keep quiet under pressure from S.H.I.E.L.D., but countless videos filmed at the scene still circulated through other channels.
Those videos would continue supplying Evan Mercer with a steady stream of Emotion Points.
Even General Ross was dissatisfied with how powerless the military had appeared during the incident.
S.H.I.E.L.D., meanwhile, located the escaping Ivan Vanko and politely “invited” him into their custody.
The only party to suffer truly catastrophic losses was Hammer Industries.
Once S.H.I.E.L.D. made the first move, the company’s remaining assets were immediately carved up by various interested parties.
Justin Hammer was placed on the wanted list.
For all practical purposes, Hammer Industries had ceased to exist.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Over in Queens, Evan Mercer hadn’t stopped smiling for days.
Emotion Points from the Blackheart incident had been pouring in continuously.
And now the Molten-Blood Demon had created another enormous spectacle.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine how much more he would earn over the next few days.
Just thinking about it made Evan feel like his heart might soar straight out of his chest.
“System. Emotion Points.”
[Current Emotion Points: 1,264,321.7]
“Good. Good. Very good.”
Evan paced around his home with a broad grin.
“Those two incidents earned me this much? Looks like the real heavy hitters are finally starting to pay attention to disaster-prone New York.”
He walked back and forth, mentally reviewing the upcoming events of the Marvel Universe.
“The Hulk and Captain America haven’t appeared yet. If I remember correctly, it isn’t long after the Whiplash incident that Hulk and Abomination tear up New York.”
“Then comes Thor… Hmm.” Evan rubbed his chin repeatedly.
“I need to plan this properly.”
After thinking for a long while, he finally spoke.
“System, another Earth-Tier (𝐈𝐈𝐈) Chest.”
[Congratulations, Host. You have obtained: 5 Star Card ×2, 4 Star Card ×2.]
━━━━━ 🃏 Card ━━━━━
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ All-Life Gene Bank
A biological gene bank containing the genetic information of every living species from an entire universe.
Used properly, it may even allow powerful creatures from that universe to reappear.
(Fusible)
━━━
Originating from a Cultivation World.
Nine Ageless Fruits grow upon this tree.
Any living creature that consumes one can return to its youth and extend its lifespan by tens of thousands of years.
Most importantly, its effects are not restricted by the user’s level of strength.
Any being below Skyfather Tier (𝐕) who consumes one can have their life energy detonated at the Host’s command.
Even a Skyfather Tier (𝐕) being would suffer severe injuries.
Before the Host triggers the effect, there is no known method of detecting it.
━━━
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Myriad-Sword Spirit Body
A special constitution originating from a Cultivation World.
Its bearer possesses extraordinary talent in the way of the sword.
When paired with a suitable cultivation technique, breaking through to higher realms becomes remarkably easy.
Its combat potential is immense, even allowing its bearer to temporarily fight opponents above their own level.
(Fusible)
━━━
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Corrupted Prophet’s Soul
Originating from a strange and sinister world.
This was once the soul of a great prophet of extraordinary talent and vast knowledge of both ancient and modern times.
After gazing upon certain forbidden existences, however, the prophet’s soul became corrupted.
Best fused together with corruption-aligned materials.
(Fusible)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
“Whoa. Two 5 Star Cards.” Evan’s eyes lit up.
“This Ageless Tree has potential. I could use it as the centerpiece of a major event.”
“System, list all available cards.”
━━━━━ SYSTEM ━━━━━
Combatant Cards:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Yellow Wind Sage (High Skyfather Tier | 𝐕)
⭐⭐⭐ Fallen Dragon Necromancer (Surface Tier | 𝐈𝐈𝐈)
⭐⭐⭐ Gawain, Knight of the Sun (Surface Tier | 𝐈𝐈𝐈)
⭐⭐ Molten-Blood Demon (Low Surface Tier | 𝐈𝐈𝐈)
━━━
Item Cards:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ageless Tree
⭐⭐⭐ Crimson Mystic Sword
⭐⭐ Dreamscape Bubble Machine
━━━
Material Cards: Shattered Death World (5 Star), All-Life Gene Bank (5 Star), Fragment of Cthulhu’s Tentacle (4 Star), Mystic Sword Flame-Control Divine Art (4 Star), Remains of the Bear God (4 Star), Thunder Crystal (4 Star), Power of the Lich King (4 Star), Myriad-Sword Spirit Body (4 Star), Corrupted Prophet’s Soul (4 Star), Berserker Heart (3 Star)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
“Without even realizing it, I’ve accumulated this many Material Cards.”
Evan looked over the list.
“For what I’m planning next… I can afford to fuse a few of them.”
With that, Evan summoned the System Furnace.
At his command, the Shattered Death World and Power of the Lich King cards flew into the furnace…