Bam!
Bant's fist slammed into Tony's face, sending him hurtling through the air like a desert tumbleweed, rolling across the ground several times before he finally came to a stop.
Because Bant already knew Tony had injected himself with the Extremis virus, he'd held back to about a tenth of his strength in that punch. But even so, the force behind it was not to be taken lightly.
The Omnitrix had optimized Bant's genes, pushing his potential beyond that of every other Spider-Man.
At least in his base form, no second Spider-Man's potential could compare to Bant's. As for something like Captain Universe Spider-Man, or Leopardon, that mecha built to fight kaiju—well, that was another matter entirely.
And if you wanted to talk about outside help, Bant had the Omnitrix too.
Tony rolled across the ground in a sorry heap, and the sight instantly ignited the passion of the Sakaar spectators.
Everyone threw their arms up and cheered for Bant.
At first, when Tony had acted so familiar with Bant, they'd been worried this fight wasn't actually going to happen.
How could that be allowed?
"Hacker!!"
"Hacker!!"
"Beat him to death!!"
"..."
The cheers rose in an endless wave.
Bant responded appropriately to his subjects' enthusiasm, raising both arms and turning in a full circle to face the crowd.
Tony climbed back to his feet.
He looked absolutely livid, his entire face as red as charcoal seared in a fire—so red, in fact, that his features were completely unrecognizable.
That punch from Bant had actually blown away half his face. Even a tenth of Bant's strength was close to ten tons; the only reason Tony's skull hadn't burst on the spot was the enhancement the Extremis virus gave him.
Now, flames crawled across Tony's face, slowly knitting the flesh back together.
"Bant Parker!"
"Have you lost your mind?!"
He roared in fury.
Tony could never in his wildest dreams have imagined Bant would plant a fist right into his face. Seconds ago, he'd been overjoyed at the sight of a savior—only to find that savior had nearly killed him!
Because he trusted Bant, he hadn't even activated his exoskeleton's energy shield.
"Have I lost my mind?" Bant let his hands drop, the chains on his arms clattering to the ground as he dragged them along. "Tony Stark, this is a Champion Challenge. Don't come cozying up to me here."
With that, Bant ignored him entirely and charged, swinging the chains. He cleared dozens of meters in a single stride, and the chains in his hands cracked with a terrifying pa—startling as thunder.
Just watching was enough to make Tony's heart lurch. He scrambled into a roll to dodge the blow.
Pa!!
The chain struck the ground and actually split it open with a fearsome gash.
"Are you trying to kill me?!"
His answer was a barrage of chain strikes.
Bang, bang, bang!!!
In an instant, the ground was like a criminal being flogged—lashed full of welts and scars.
There was no need to think about it: if Bant's chain ever landed on him, a simple fracture would be the least of his worries. The immense force behind those swings was enough to make the chain cut through anything like a blade.
Tony pictured what would happen if it hit him and nearly wet himself.
His whole body would probably burst apart like a watermelon, wouldn't it?
"Wait, wait—little Bant! Stop!" he pleaded while dodging desperately. "I don't want to fight you. Now isn't the time for this—Earth is—"
"Tony Stark," Bant cut him off, "whatever happens to Earth is no concern of an insignificant nobody like me, is it? You, on the other hand—are you treating the Champion Challenge as a joke?"
Tony was instantly struck speechless. He remembered calling Bant an "insignificant nobody" back on the mothership.
"Are you really that petty?" He lunged forward, and Bant's chain whistled right over his head—the razor-sharp wind setting his scalp tingling.
Me, petty?
Just watch me teach you a proper lesson with my little whip!
"Tony Stark, when you're getting hit, you stand up straight!" Bant sneered, putting more force into the swing.
In that instant, a chain lashed out toward Tony's waist.
Clang!
A metallic roar rang out as Tony drew the double-bladed greatsword from his back, holding it before him like a shield to block Bant's attack.
"Hold on, little Bant... I apologize for what I said before, but this really isn't the time for us to fight."
He knocked Bant's chain aside with force, then spun the greatsword in a full circle, slicing away another chain on the rebound.
That was a surprise. Even without JARVIS's assistance, Tony's fighting skills were actually decent—he could even swing that unorthodox double-bladed weapon.
That kind of thing took real technique. Otherwise, a sword that spun like a bamboo dragonfly would just as easily cut its own wielder.
But by the same token, Tony could feel Bant's overwhelming strength.
He was barely holding on. His right hand had gone numb from the shock, his left metal arm was struggling too, and a sharp pain shot through the joint where his prosthetic connected at the shoulder, draining the color from his face. Still, he pressed on:
"...Ultron has gone rogue..."
Clang!!
Sparks flew.
"It's completely out of control! It's taken over the world's networks—taken over the Plumbers too! Its goal is to kill everyone!" Tony shouted.
But Bant acted as though he hadn't heard a word, attacking without the slightest mercy.
He pressed forward, driving Tony to the brink. Tony blocked and dodged, and before long found himself with no room left to retreat.
Bang!
A chain slammed into the arena wall behind Tony, leaving a gash several dozen centimeters deep.
Tony was pressed flat against the wall now, truly out of options, forced to glare at Bant—that black figure still closing in on him like the grim reaper.
He was starting to get angry.
"Can't you understand what I'm saying?! Earth is in danger!"
"This isn't the time for messing around!"
"Who's messing around?" Bant shot back. "Wasn't it you who invented Ultron, Tony Stark? The great genius who thought everyone else was an idiot. As I recall, back then everyone was against letting Ultron take over Earth, right?"
"You were the one who pushed ahead alone—and now you accuse others of messing around?"
"You turned Earth into your own private test site, and now you come here to disrupt Sakaar's Champion Challenge. Do you think the whole world revolves around you and you alone?" Bant said quietly. "You're the one messing around, aren't you?"
"Fine. I admit it. It's my fault."
The words came with difficulty. Deep down, Tony knew it perfectly well—but saying it to someone's face was another matter.
At least... only Bant knew the truth of it, he thought.
"I really am an incurable egomaniac, a self-righteous fool..."
"Enough!"
Bant brought the chains down on him again, and Tony could only raise his blade to block.
"Little Bant, this really isn't the time for this. Once Ultron is dealt with, you can do whatever you want with me..."
"I said enough, Tony Stark," Bant's voice was audibly displeased. "Don't think your business is the only thing that matters. What happens to Earth means absolutely nothing to the people of Sakaar. The Plumbers only decided to set up a branch on Earth because of me.
"You want the Plumbers' aid, want them to clean up that mess you made—and yet you don't care in the slightest about Sakaar's customs?"
"When it comes down to it, your self-righteousness hasn't changed one bit, has it?"
Tony's voice faltered. Only then did he notice that the Sakaar citizens watching him had long since been seething with rage.
This detestable man—not only wearing that revolting armor from Mount Anmoya, but entering the Champion Challenge while acting like he couldn't care less—was an insult to every past champion, and an insult to the greatest champion of them all, King Sakar!
And this kind of man wanted Sakaar's aid?
Better to let him die in the arena!
In that moment, Tony realized he'd clearly screwed up again.
Just as Bant had said, that self-centered flaw of his hadn't changed at all. Earth's danger was entirely his own doing, and had nothing to do with anyone else.
What he considered important, others might not care about at all.
He wanted help, yet showed others no respect whatsoever—he'd been rude to the Plumbers before, and even now he didn't take other people's customs seriously.
"Got it—"
He stepped forward, leveling the greatsword's blade toward Bant.
"In short, all I have to do is beat you, beat every challenger, right?"
Death Flame released—fire blazed along the blade.
"Now that's more like it. I've been wanting to beat you up for a while now." Seeing Tony finally show fighting spirit, Bant smiled at last. He swept both arms, and the black chains coiled back around him like great serpents. Then he crossed his arms, the Omnitrix flared with light, and an enormous black shadow rose behind him.
The flaming blade came slashing down. Bant neither dodged nor retreated—he simply crossed his arms upward and caught the blade head-on.
The instant blade met arm, a metallic clang rang out like stone striking steel.
Diamondhead!
"Blocked it?"
Tony froze.
He glanced down to see a green flash before his eyes. The next moment, a green crystal erupted from the ground, stabbing toward his chest like a spear.
Boom!!
The crystal spear struck Tony square in the right side of his chest, piercing straight through his body and pinning him hard against the arena wall.
"Ah!"
Tony let out an agonized wail, but the wound didn't bleed—instead it glowed with a hot, orange light.
"What kind of ability is this now?"
It felt familiar, but he had no time to think about it. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Tony slashed at the crystal with his blade and wrenched himself free of the remaining shard.
The moment he landed, the gaping hole in his chest was a shocking sight.
But under the Extremis virus's influence, it began healing at once. Tony stomped his right foot hard against the ground, and the floor beneath him shattered.
The blade lashed out at Bant once more.
Bant didn't flinch. He swung his right arm, and green crystal began to grow over his previously bare arm, solidifying in an instant into the shape of a blade.
Clang!!
Their weapons collided, sending bright sparks flying.
But Bant's strength was greater. He pushed back against the attacking Tony, whipping the blade a full one hundred and eighty degrees and hurling Tony from one end of the arena clean to the other.
"The crystal generation works fine. The crystals' hardness hasn't weakened, and my base strength hasn't weakened either. Let's try something else now."
Having confirmed Diamondhead's abilities were intact, Bant began testing the others.
This time, the shadow flashing behind him switched to XLR8.
"Dino Kid?"
Hundreds of meters away, Tony had just shed the momentum from his body and hadn't yet managed to stand when his eyes caught the silhouette flashing behind Bant.
Of all the aliens, which one did Tony Stark remember most vividly? Without a doubt, that one.
Could there be some connection between Bant and XLR8?
"Little Bant, you—"
BOOM!!!
Before Tony could finish, the next instant, he found himself slammed hard into the wall by a black blur he couldn't even make out.
In that split second, it was as if a bolt of black lightning had streaked past his eyes.
By the time he came to his senses, he'd already been struck by that lightning—the wall behind him was cracked all over from the impact, and through those black fingers, Tony could see that the monster that had crossed the distance in an instant, appearing right before him, was Bant himself.
But a Spider-Man couldn't possibly move that fast.
Unless it was that velociraptor.
"That guy's with the Plumbers too... so you really do have some connection to him..."
"Speed hasn't decreased, but strength has actually increased a little. Is that because of my own base strength?" Bant calculated and found the boost wasn't especially large—compared to his untransformed self, it was actually somewhat reduced.
But for a high-speed hero like XLR8, every bit of strength added to the base body would be amplified exponentially once enhanced by speed.
You could say the current XLR8 could no longer rely only on speed to bewilder opponents.
In this form, Bant was like a locomotive—a single light touch was enough to instantly kill enemies with weaker defenses.
Of course, that destructive power could be regulated under the combined force fields of both Spider-Man and XLR8.
"At the limit, it could probably produce a blow even stronger than Four Arms' fist, right?"
Truly fast, and strong!
But speaking of Four Arms, Bant also wanted to find out how Four Arms' abilities would perform in this form.
"Next up—Four Arms!"
"Another alien silhouette?" Tony noticed, and recognized the figure as the King Sakar who had appeared on Earth back then.
"Could Bant have invented a device that lets him borrow those aliens' powers?" Tony's eyes lit up.
But the next moment, he felt his legs seized by a tremendous force, and a terrible premonition rose in his chest.
"W-wait... little Bant..."
"You know, Tony—you've come all the way to the arena, so how could I not let you have a taste of this?" Bant flashed him a Hulk-style wicked grin, then simply hoisted Tony up and began smashing him left and right with all his might.
"AHHHH!!!"
Loki: SO satisfying!!!
/-\
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