The emergence of a monster was bound to cause panic, especially in a country like Japan. But the moment the monster appeared, a mecha showed up as well — and the tokusatsu fans among the populace hit peak euphoria almost instantly. Of course, they all understood that the arrival of an unknown monster inevitably spelled disaster, but that didn't dampen the fanatical fervor the tokusatsu otaku felt about it.
Yes — everyone is an Ultraman at heart!
Coulson, trembling, began contacting the authorities. Civilian evacuation was absolutely critical. After all, by Zod's calculations, the goal was to kill the monster on land, minimizing the disaster footprint to the greatest extent possible. This stretch of coastline had to be cordoned off no matter what. Otherwise, whether from contact with the monster's blood or other toxic substances, the residents could very easily die as a result.
In the distance, Axe-Head, churning up wave after wave, gradually surfaced and closed in on the beach at extreme speed. The portion visible above the water alone was the size of an aircraft carrier.
Bearing towering, crashing surf, the gargantuan Axe-Head monster launched itself high into the air and lunged at Stark. Its colossal body, now fully clear of the water, nearly blotted out the sun.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Stark's five-meter-tall symbiote armor — anyone looking at it would call it a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
The Americans had Atlantis and Wakanda, plus a whole roster of superheroes holding things down, which was why Stark had felt comfortable enough to rush over to Japan. Now he was discovering that he alone might not be able to handle this.
That a monster weighing thousands of tons could leap to such a height was, honestly, utterly jaw-dropping. Zod mused that these Kaiju were on a completely different level from their movie depictions.
Beam cannons fired in rapid bursts. The roaring Axe-Head monster crashed down like a meteor. The bombardment pierced the monster's hardened outer carapace, carving out hideous, horrifying wounds. Foul-smelling blue monster blood sprayed into the air — yet none of this caused the creature to deviate in the slightest from its trajectory.
Axe-Head was still crashing straight down on top of the symbiote armor. A multi-thousand-ton monster slamming down — could symbiote armor not made of vibranium possibly withstand it?
Guided by JARVIS's combat system, the symbiote armor began shifting laterally. Its head tilted slightly as its extended iron claws latched onto the monster's thick, powerful arm.
The full thrust of every thruster flared, coordinated with a twisting waist motion to swing the armor's center of gravity sideways and throw Axe-Head's body off course. The monster's form was completely alien compared to a human, but anti-personnel techniques could still be applied, in principle, to a monster.
Using subtle redirection, the symbiote armor flipped the plummeting monster onto the ground. The enormous body, accelerated by gravity, smashed viciously into a cluster of buildings. The structures collapsed as if made of foam, crushed effortlessly into debris. The blue blood spilling from the monster's wounds contaminated the entire area, turning it into a death zone that humans would be wise never to set foot in.
Fortunately, the residents in this sector had either already evacuated in orderly fashion or were in the process of doing so. No one was caught in the calamity of the monster's fall.
A three-meter-long blade assembled at the wrist of the symbiote armor's left arm. Without a moment's hesitation, the right hand pressed down on Axe-Head's skull. The symbiote armor swung its high-frequency vibrating particle shortsword, piling on follow-up attacks against the monster struggling to rise.
Pinpointing the monster's skeletal structure, the silver-white symbiote armor moved like a peerless assassin. The high-frequency vibrating particle shortsword executed a backstab and bone-carving strike in the very next instant. At the same time, cannon barrels extended from the armor's shoulder pauldrons — the new element arc reactor charging rapidly.
A white beam of light tore through Axe-Head's body, leaving behind a horrific wound with a radius of a full meter. Abnormally vivid blue blood splashed ceaselessly onto the armor, staining its silver-white paint job an eerie shade of blue.
Though the symbiote armor's right arm kept the monster's head pinned down, it couldn't restrain Axe-Head's flailing, thrashing limbs as it struggled. The ground fractured under the sheer monstrous force.
When a kicking, stamping leg struck the mecha, the symbiote armor was sent reeling backward. The gap in size and raw strength was ultimately too vast. The symbiote armor had agility and an arsenal of weaponry on its side, but when it came to a head-on collision —
It was still at a disadvantage.
That a five-meter-tall mecha could even trade blows with a multi-thousand-ton monster at all was already the result of a double multiplier: Stark's transcendent genius and Zod's contributions in materials science.
Without liquid sub-kryptonite — if it were still just gold-titanium alloy — the Kaiju Axe-Head could have flattened him simply by sitting on him.
And without the new element arc reactor providing power, the symbiote armor wouldn't have had nearly enough thrust to go toe-to-toe with Axe-Head in the first place.
Though, at this point, the situation had devolved into the rather pitiful state of the symbiote armor being pinned to the ground and ground into the dirt by Axe-Head.
"Stark. You're not dead yet, are you?"
Just then, a voice rang out inside Stark's symbiote armor systems.
"You bastard. Were you just watching the show the whole time?"
Stark recognized Zod's voice and made a mental note to have JARVIS upgrade the firewall once he got back. To have been infiltrated by Zod without a single sound — was the technology gap really that big?
"Not exactly. I was just powering up a weapon I had prepared. Next — you might want to dodge."
Zod's voice was laced with amusement.
"What weapon?"
Stark was utterly bewildered.
Don't tell me it's the "Lance of Longinus"?
You bastard!
Stark scrambled and crawled, breaking free of Axe-Head's clutches, just about to flee — when he saw a brilliant aurora light up the sky.
A crimson death ray descended from the heavens and struck Axe-Head directly. In Stark's expression of sheer disbelief, Axe-Head was simply vaporized by that light of annihilation.
"My new weapon. Satellite orbital cannon — the Sword of Damocles!"
You could probably file this under psychological trauma at this point.
Tony Stark was, in most situations, a self-centered playboy. If Tokiomi embodied elegance, then Tony embodied pride.
Of course, you could flip that around and call it tsundere without much issue. But even though Tony often acted like an egomaniac, he had a remarkably clear sense of his own limits — especially after being dealt several crushing blows in succession, to the point where he now carried more than a few lingering shadows.
The main thing was, after seeing Zod's satellite orbital cannon, he suddenly had this feeling that he was still playing with models while someone else had already moved on to actual construction projects.
Given enough time, Stark was confident he could develop a satellite orbital cannon of his own. But the issue here was one of vision!
Zod Heath always seemed to have a vision that was several steps ahead of everyone else. Whether it was developing transcendent weapons like the War Machine armor, the Lance of Longinus that rewrote the history of nuclear weapons —
Or this latest feat of turning a satellite into an even deadlier weapon. His gaze was profoundly farsighted. So farsighted that Tony Stark felt a deep, gnawing sense of frustration.
"The next shot requires a barrel change. Buy them some time."
Zod's voice rang out once more.
/-\
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