S.H.I.E.L.D.’s investigation was not going to end just because of a few honest statements from Amakusa.
They still had no idea about Lancelot’s background.
Until they had mapped out the situation and confirmed that Lancelot posed no threat—especially to Tony—they would not stop.
However, that did not affect Amakusa in the slightest.
The pastor’s daily routine continued as usual: delivering Bible sermons to the residents of the surrounding community at the church, checking in every day to collect Saint Quartz, and occasionally going outside to ramble on about persuading people to become medicine sellers.
However, over the past few days, the changes taking place across the United States could only be described as drastic.
“Listen to me, Tony Stark has gone crazy!
If you want to save your assets, then sell!
That’s right, sell!
Sell!
Sell!”
On television, every major news outlet was going absolutely wild with reports about Stark Industries.
On the first day after returning from Afghanistan, Tony immediately held a press conference.
While eating a burger, he told the reporters: I’m going to shut down the weapons division.
The stock market exploded instantly.
Stark Industries’ stock, along with the stocks of its suppliers throughout the supply chain—as long as they were publicly listed—plummeted wildly.
People everywhere were frantically dumping and selling their shares.
Many financial program hosts advised the public on television to sell their Stark Industries stock as quickly as possible and move their investments into other industries.
Meanwhile, the center of attention in all these news reports, Tony Stark, was actually at home conducting new research.
His new research project was none other than the armor project he had worked on inside the cave earlier.
The moment he halted research in the weapons division, he immediately began developing a new weapon of his own.
“Jarvis, save this design draft on my personal server.
Don’t put it on the Stark Industries server.”
“Sir, do you mean this is a confidential document?”
“Exactly.
We still don’t know who’s really pulling the strings behind the scenes.
How did Stark Industries weapons end up in the hands of terrorists?
So for the time being, we can’t trust the people on the board of directors.”
“Understood, sir.
It has been saved to your personal server.”
“Then let’s think about how to perfect this design.
Jarvis, display the three-dimensional model.”
Standing beside the display platform, Tony gave Jarvis the command.
In response to Tony’s order, Jarvis obediently complied and immediately displayed a three-dimensional image of the armor above the platform.
At the same time, however, he also felt a slight sense of curiosity.
“Sir, could you tell me why you’re still researching something like this after shutting down the weapons division?”
“The business in Afghanistan isn’t over yet.
A terrorist had Stark Industries weapons in his possession, so there’s no guarantee that other terrorists don’t have them too.
I have to go find out what’s really going on.
And more importantly, when I meet that bastard again, I’m going to beat him until his teeth fall out with my own hands!”
At first, Tony spoke with an expression of complete seriousness, but by the time he reached the final sentence, all that remained on his face was blazing fury—as though he harbored an incredibly deep grudge.
“No, no, no!
Not someone I knew before!
I mean that purple-haired bastard in armor you found in the news back then!”
“Is this the person?”
A photograph of Lancelot appeared on the monitor—the photograph taken when he had appeared in the news in New York some time ago.
“Yeah, that bastard!”
“I swear, when I meet him again, I’m going to crush him with my new armor!”
“That bastard thinks he’s so great just because he wears this iron armor.
I’m going to show him what real armor is!”
Yes, the biggest reason Tony was still insisting on researching armor was not because of anything else, but because of the final words Lancelot had spoken before disappearing: Tony’s armor was completely useless against Lancelot!
That was why Tony had immediately cursed at the time and sworn to build a new suit of armor so he could beat Lancelot senseless the next time they met.
“But, Mr.
Stark, this armor of yours really is completely useless against me.”
“God!!”
Tony, who had been delivering his furious tirade, suddenly shouted in shock at the voice coming from behind him.
Before he could even turn around, he immediately started cursing.
“Damn it, you again!
How many times have I told you, don’t suddenly appear behind people!
Wait, how did you get in?!”
The person who had arrived was none other than Lancelot—Lancelot, who was exceptionally skilled at suddenly appearing behind people and then speaking in a way that made them jump.
“Sir, he did not enter through the door.
I detected no human movement anywhere within the house.”
Jarvis’s notification echoed through the room.
“Should I call the police, sir?”
“No!
No, don’t bother.
I almost forgot that it’s unclear whether this guy is even human or a ghost.
A door like that obviously can’t stop him.”
“Then, sir, is there anything I should do?
Is he dangerous?”
“No, don’t do anything.
This bastard hasn’t shown any signs of being dangerous up to this point.”
“Understood, sir.”
Jarvis fell silent once again.
Lancelot looked with great interest at Tony, who was speaking to Jarvis by himself.
From his perspective, Tony was talking to empty air.
“Who are you talking to?”
“My electronic butler, Jarvis.”
Tony introduced him with great pride, while also slipping in a hint of disdain.
“Someone like you has probably never seen anything like this before.”
“Then what does this bastard who keeps asking to be beaten want, suddenly showing up in my house?
What do you want?”
“I came to see whether Mr.
Stark needed my assistance.”
Of course, that was not really the case.
Amakusa had sent him here, but he had not come to see whether Tony needed help.
He had come to deliver something to Tony.
“Help?
What kind of help?
What do you know, anyway?
Do you understand armor design?
Besides, I designed this armor specifically to beat you up.
Are you seriously going to help me beat yourself up?!”
“Of course not!”
Lancelot shook his head with an extremely serious expression.
“Well, then, that settles it!
You came here just to scare the hell out of me, didn’t you?!
Just to give me a heart attack!”
Tony glared at him, preparing to vent his anger.
As for Lancelot—the mysterious figure whose nature as either human or ghost remained unclear and who appeared and disappeared whenever he pleased—Tony did not actually harbor any deep hostility toward him, because Lancelot had indeed helped him before; he was simply annoyed with him.
“I don’t understand armor design.
However, when I saw your armor back then, especially the object emitting light from your chest, it reminded me of an armor design I encountered a long time ago.”
Lancelot did not rush.
Instead, he began reaching for something from behind his armor.
“What?
You’re saying you’ve encountered an armor design like this before?”
Tony was somewhat surprised.
He had only come up with this armor design spontaneously inside the cave after seeing the full-body armor Lancelot was wearing; no one had ever created a design like this before.
“Yes.
That person was once my enemy.
He used this thing to defeat me, so I thought it might be able to help you.”
Lancelot lied without changing his expression in the slightest as he handed several sheets of blueprints to Tony.
Tony took the blueprints and examined them carefully.
The more he read, the more shocked he became, until his expression gradually transformed into one of utter astonishment.
“Quantum Realm?
Particle Engine…
something like this…
it’s truly unimaginable!”
The blueprint depicted a metal giant with blue and white coloring covering its entire body, a green circular energy core mounted in its chest, a massive sword attached to its right arm, and a white V-shaped antenna on top of its head.
In the upper-right corner were a series of English letters: GN-001 GUNDAM EXIA.