Tony Stark’s mind had already drifted far away from the nightmare.
He could practically taste it—the burger from his favorite New York joint.
That crisp lettuce crunching between his teeth.
The melted cheese stretching like golden strings.
The perfectly seasoned beef patty, juicy and packed with flavor.
All of it felt like a distant dream, something he might never get to experience again after this hellish month.
But now, it seemed Lady Luck still had a soft spot for him.
A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth despite everything.
Then the sound of heavy, hurried footsteps echoed through the tunnel outside.
The moment of fragile peace shattered instantly.
Reality came crashing back hard.
Tony snapped back to full alert, his bloodshot eyes narrowing.
He knew exactly what was coming.
Those terrorists weren’t about to let them sit around chatting like old friends.
But there was no doubt in his mind.
None at all.
The guy standing in front of him could handle those thugs without even breaking a sweat.
After all, this kid had just plummeted from the sky at speeds Tony’s brain could barely comprehend.
No weapon on Earth should be able to touch him.
Nothing with mass was supposed to travel at or exceed the speed of light, yet here he was, looking completely unfazed.
Whatever trick he’d pulled off was light-years beyond anything current Earth tech could dream of.
Even the most advanced missiles or explosives would be useless against him.
These poor bastards with their AKs didn’t stand a chance.
Even if his raw offensive power wasn’t overwhelming, he could still mop the floor with a few armed militants.
But that wasn’t the case for Tony.
He was still just a normal man underneath all the genius and sarcasm.
A stray bullet.
A random explosion.
A bad tumble.
Any of it could end him right here in this dusty cave.
His survival instincts screamed at him to move.
He stepped forward quickly, extending a hand toward Eric.
His expression stayed serious, the kind of look that came from a man who’d stared death in the face one too many times.
His tone carried real urgency.
“Hey.
My name is Tony Stark.
And that guy over there is Yinsen.
He’s my friend.”
Tony took a quick breath, keeping his cool as best he could.
“If you can get us out of here, I can promise you anything in my power.
Money, resources, connections.
You name it.”
Eric raised an eyebrow, arms crossed casually over his chest.
He didn’t seem all that impressed by the billionaire’s offer, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“Eric William,” he replied simply.
“Anyway, I’m heading to New York.
Just wait here.
I just got back—I need a moment to adjust.”
As the words left his mouth, Eric’s perception quietly expanded outward.
It stretched far beyond the rough stone walls of the cave, sweeping across the entire planet in a silent wave.
In that instant, everything unfolded before him.
The massive Celestial slumbering deep within Earth’s core, its ancient energy pulsing like a hidden heartbeat.
The mystical barriers of Kamar-Taj, tucked away in the snow-capped Himalayas, shimmering with protective spells.
None of it escaped his notice.
Meanwhile, Yinsen and Tony scrambled for whatever cover they could find.
Yinsen moved fast, slipping behind a bulky old furnace in the corner.
It wasn’t perfect, but it gave him some solid metal between him and the door.
Tony had a harder time of it.
He scanned the cave frantically.
Every decent angle left him exposed to the entrance.
The impact from Eric’s arrival had wrecked most of the bigger debris anyway.
With no better options, he spotted a narrow crack in the cave wall—barely a gap at all.
He wedged himself in, squeezing his body into a space that could barely fit a child, let alone a full-grown man like him.
He ended up completely upside down.
Legs kicking awkwardly in the air.
His backside hanging out in full view like some kind of ridiculous target.
Great.
Just great, Tony thought, already imagining the headlines if a bullet found its mark there.
Billionaire genius dies with his ass in the breeze.
Seeing Tony’s utterly helpless and undignified position, Eric nearly burst out laughing.
This was the famous Tony Stark?.
He bit it back though, shaking his head with a smirk.
To Eric, this whole situation barely registered as a low-level dungeon clear.
Those terrorists wouldn’t even make it through the door.
From behind his sorry excuse for cover, Tony’s voice rang out with that trademark arrogance, slightly muffled by the tight squeeze.
“Don’t worry, kid.
I guarantee it.
You can pick anyone in Hollywood for your first time.
Man or woman, doesn’t matter.”
He barely managed to squeeze the words out while still trying to force more of his body into the impossible gap.
Eric’s face twitched in annoyance.
This annoying bastard.
Some things never changed, no matter the universe.
Tony Stark’s mouth was apparently one of those eternal constants.
He ignored the offer for now, letting it slide off him like water.
There were more important things on his mind anyway.
After a full year in that brutal other world—endless wars where life and death flipped on a coin toss—the only thing he truly wanted was to go home.
To see his mother again.
To taste something normal, like her cooking or just the quiet of his old room.
The ache of missing her sat heavy in his chest.
Beside him, Yinsen stayed quiet, watching everything unfold with sharp eyes.
He’d learned to read situations fast after losing his family.
Then Eric spoke again.
His voice had shifted completely.
Colder now.
It carried a weight that had nothing to do with how loud it was.
The air in the cave seemed to thicken around the words.
Yinsen felt it immediately.
Something tightened in his chest, an instinct screaming at him to squeeze his eyes shut.
It came out of nowhere, sudden and primal.
He fought against it hard.
He had lost everything once already.
Seen the absolute worst humanity could offer.
His will wasn’t weak.
He kept his eyes open.
“Berru.”
Just the name.
That was all it took.
A strange shiver ran down Yinsen’s spine, cold and unsettling.
“Go kill those guys.
Make it quick.”
The command was calm.
Completely calm, like Eric was ordering coffee instead of violence.
Before his reincarnation, Eric had been ordinary.
Even after, he’d grown up in a peaceful country with a solid family.
Fighting, killing—these were concepts he’d only seen in movies or games.
But that Solo Leveling world had reshaped him completely.
Wars on a massive scale.
Near-death experiences every single day.
Scraping by on luck and growing power.
Killing these men felt no different than cutting down monsters in a dungeon.
Even if they had been innocent, it wouldn’t have shifted his resolve much.
That harsh world had drilled a simple, brutal truth into him: kindness was a luxury only the powerful could afford.
And in this Marvel universe, he wasn’t at the top yet.
“Will they join us?” Berru’s voice echoed back, laced with a strange note of anticipation that sent another chill through the cave.
“No.
They’d just be an eyesore.
Go crazy.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
There was a hint of disappointment in the shadow soldier’s tone at first, quickly replaced by clear excitement.
Eric’s expression stayed steady.
“Don’t worry.
There are plenty of strong beings in this world.
You’ll get your chance later.”
Berru’s shadowy form seemed to swell with loyalty.
His king was always looking out for him, even in the middle of orders like this.
To Yinsen, though, there was nothing warm or kind about the exchange.
He heard the same words and felt only something cold slithering under his skin.
He kept watching, uneasy, trying to process the sheer casual power on display.
Before he could spiral deeper into those thoughts, the metal doors at the entrance burst open with a violent clang.
More than ten armed men poured into the cave.
AK-47s raised high, voices shouting rapid commands in Arabic.
Their faces were tense, battle-hardened, ready for trouble.
A shadow flashed across the space—faster than eyes could track.
Before any of them could react, pull a trigger, or even fully register the threat, their bodies were sliced cleanly into three pieces each.
Clean, surgical cuts that defied normal physics.
Before the blood could scatter wildly.
Before the severed corpses could hit the dusty floor.
A powerful gust of wind generated by the creature’s blinding speed swept the remains toward the cave entrance.
Wet splashing sounds filled the air for a brief, gruesome moment.
Then silence fell.
Where ten men had stood just seconds ago, there was only a red mess staining the ground.
One soldier had been lagging behind.
He came running in last, trying to catch up to the group.
He stepped through the shattered doorway and froze dead in his tracks.
He took in the sight, and it seared itself into his mind forever.
A towering shadow creature loomed there—at least two meters tall.
Standing upright like a man, but wrong in every detail.
Limbs far too long, ending in claws still dripping fresh blood.
An ant’s head atop a body wrapped in dark, gleaming exoskeleton that looked impenetrable.
He could guarantee he would not forget this scene.
Because deep down, he already knew he was going to die.
His heart hammered so violently he didn’t know a human body was capable of beating that fast.
It felt like it might burst out of his chest.
The ant creature looked directly at him.
His brain simply stopped working.
He raised his weapon with shaking hands.
His finger found the trigger.
The world spun wildly.
He caught one final, horrifying glimpse of his own headless body collapsing before the darkness closed in completely.
Berru turned and moved toward the cave entrance without slowing down.