Don't be fooled by Obadiah's pathetic whimpers; Tony isn't completely winning this fight. The Nanometal Repair requires an enormous amount of energy. Even Tony's latest Mini Arc Reactor is struggling to keep up, let alone this older one that's nearly depleted.
Only Tony knows how awkward he must look behind his mask right now.
"Sir, energy levels are at 8%. I recommend halting the repair work," Jarvis's timely warning made Tony's face even grimmer. He hadn't expected the energy to drain so quickly, so fast that he could barely sustain it.
He was worried that if this continued, Obadiah might notice a weakness. He knew very well that once his energy ran out, the Mark I would be nothing more than a slightly tougher walnut. If Obadiah had the patience, his Iron Monger suit could definitely crack that shell. At that point, he would be completely defeated.
Just as he was growing anxious, Jarvis's voice rang out again.
"Sir, there's an incoming external communication from Mr. Zhou Yi."
"Patch him through, Jarvis."
Jarvis carried out Tony's order with precision, and soon Zhou Yi's voice was in his ear.
"Tony, you can't keep this up. You've caused enough chaos already."
"What do you mean by that, pal?" Tony asked, his temper frayed by the dire situation.
"Bring Obadiah up to the sky and settle your grievances there. This place is chaotic enough because of you. If you don't want me to intervene, just go up there and fight properly!"
"Damn it, what if he can't fly?"
"Then use your brain and lure him to a secluded place. Do you want me to step in and throw you all up there?" Zhou Yi's tone turned harsh. He hated cleaning up after others, especially when it was such a mess.
Not wanting Zhou Yi to intervene, Tony gritted his teeth and shouted at Obadiah.
"Obadiah, you call yourself a strongman? Is this all you've got? It's pathetic!"
Already caught in a dilemma, Obadiah heard the taunting voice, and the circuit of reason in his mind snapped. He glared ferociously at Tony, clenching his fists. To the outside world, the Iron Monger looked like a berserk beast, slamming his hands against the ground before him.
The immense force gouged deep craters and cracked the hardened earth. Tony immediately knew his provocation had worked.
"If you're still a man, face me in a real duel and settle this feud between you and Stark."
With that challenge hanging in the air, Tony immediately soared into the sky. He was gambling, betting on whether Obadiah would fly and, more importantly, whether he would pursue. In his mind, Obadiah was both proud and patient. He couldn't be sure if Obadiah would follow his plan, but he had to take the risk. After all, without taking a gamble, there was no hope of winning.
In truth, after his initial outburst of rage, Obadiah's mind had begun to clear. As he watched the Mark I grow smaller and smaller, a sudden urge to escape struck him. If he could get away, he could use his energy reserves to survive. Even if the U.S. government put out a warrant for his arrest, he could rely on his allies abroad to continue his life.
For a moment, he seriously considered this idea. He even began searching for a way to escape. But before he could take a step, a discovery shattered all his previous thoughts.
He saw Zhou Yi, in a place only he could perceive. Zhou Yi stood there, and a layer of pitch-black armor rapidly covered his body. Witnessing this transformation, Obadiah abandoned all his previous plans and ideas.
*In the face of absolute power, everything else is merely an illusion.* This was the core tenet of Obadiah's power-worshipping ideology. Now, he was forced to confront this brutal reality.
He knew exactly what the Dawn Knight represented: a force capable of withstanding natural disasters, a legendary hero. In such a presence, escape was futile. He didn't believe he could escape a Dawn Knight, especially one who was Zhou Yi.
So, in that moment, only one choice remained. Forced to make it, Obadiah gritted his teeth, channeling all his bitterness and hatred onto Tony.
In his eyes, this was all Tony's fault. Even Zhou Yi blocking his escape route was just a contingency Tony had set up to force him into a final battle. As for the reason, he could easily guess: to avenge his father and himself.
"Since you're so eager for revenge, then come. Tony, let's see what you've got. Let's see if you can defeat me head-on." Men have their pride, especially ruthless power brokers like Obadiah. With no hope of survival, he resolutely chose to fight. To him, it was a dead end either way; he might as well go out with a bang.
With this mindset, he roared and activated the Iron Monger's thrusters. The powerful thrust sent him soaring upward like a rocket, accelerating rapidly toward Tony in the sky. Just as Tony had predicted, the Iron Monger would fly, and their final battle would take place in the heavens.
"Sir, our enemy can fly and is closing the distance at high speed."
Jarvis reported the situation to Tony, who couldn't help but exhale in relief. The plan was finally unfolding as he'd envisioned.
"What's our remaining distance? And how much power do we have left?"
"Distance remaining: 1400 meters, but it's closing rapidly. Energy levels at 6%."
A peculiar smile spread across Tony's face at Jarvis's report. Those who knew him well recognized this as his usual expression just before he lost his mind.
When his respect for Obadiah Stane had curdled into bone-deep hatred, when the full truth lay bare before him, Tony Stark had a realization: he had to eliminate Obadiah Stane himself, to bring everything for himself and the Stark family to a final, decisive end.
But the current situation was insufficient to fulfill this resolve. The energy-depleted Mark I stood no chance against the Iron Monger, and after today, his opportunity would be gone forever. This briefly plunged him into despair and frustration, but his intellect quickly devised a solution—a mad one.
Though this method was insane, Tony saw it as his highest chance of success. Unwilling to rely on others, he was willing to take this risk, to gamble on this insane plan, as long as it meant eliminating Obadiah.
"Jarvis, transfer all energy to the thrusters and hand-mounted launchers."
"Sir, I must remind you that we are at an altitude of sixteen kilometers. Doing so will rapidly drain your energy reserves, causing you to fall."
"Do as I say, Jarvis. I know exactly what I'm doing!"
As an artificial intelligence, Jarvis had no right to refuse Tony's orders. He had no choice but to obey. Soon, all the Mark I's energy was mobilized. At that moment, Tony turned around resolutely, leveled his arms, and plummeted downward in a controlled dive. He intended to collide head-on with Obadiah's Iron Monger in mid-air.
"Is this what you want, Tony? Very well, I'll give it to you!" Obadiah clearly saw through Tony's plan, and it suited him perfectly. *Since I'm doomed anyway,* he thought, *if I can take Tony, that genius, down with me, it will at least make Zhou Yi suffer.*
With this thought, he immediately increased his thruster power and charged straight at Tony's Mark I.
Under their frenzied acceleration, the 1,400 meters vanished in an instant. The moment their steel bodies collided, Tony suddenly shouted,
"Now, Jarvis!"
All remaining energy surged into the high-energy beam emitter in his hand. The beam, operating far beyond its normal capacity, produced an unexpected effect. It tore through the Iron Monger's outer shell like a piercing arrow. Though the beam dissipated immediately after breaching the armor, it was all Tony needed.
Because the true killing blow was yet to come—his own impact.
"No!" Obadiah's final roar echoed as the Mark I, following the path of the beam's tear, slammed into the Iron Monger's battered frame at supersonic speed. The catastrophic kinetic energy from the collision instantly twisted the Iron Monger's body into an unrecognizable heap of aerial debris.
Obadiah, being at the heart of the impact, could not possibly have survived. This was made clear by the blood seeping from the countless twisted metal fragments.
Obadiah was completely destroyed, but Tony was far from unscathed. The violent collision had far exceeded his expectations and the Mark I's structural integrity. As previously mentioned, nanometal has its limits, and this impact had clearly pushed it beyond its breaking point.
Large chunks of the Mark I's metallic shell peeled off like dust. Inside the exposed armor, one could even see the twisted and deformed structure of the exoskeleton. If the Mark I was in such a state, Tony's condition was naturally even worse.
His arm was completely twisted, and multiple areas of his body were deformed. The most critical problem was that he had lost consciousness, and at an altitude of over ten thousand meters. The Mark I's energy had been completely depleted, and even if some power remained, its current state made a safe landing impossible.
Tony had unknowingly fallen into a dire crisis, now plummeting freely from an altitude of ten thousand meters. As he drew closer to the ground, the onlookers could no longer stand idly by.
A figure materialized in the air and caught the falling Tony. He glanced at the Iron Monger's mangled remains, which were also plummeting, and his eyes immediately blazed with a bright beam. A heat ray far more terrifying than Tony's high-energy beam reduced the Iron Monger's wreckage to ashes in an instant.
Zhou Yi didn't want such technology falling into the wrong hands, so destroying it on the spot was the best option.
After completing this task, Zhou Yi vanished into the sky with Tony. As a friend, he couldn't just watch and do nothing. *That Tony guy really knows how to cause trouble.*
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