Boom—!
A deafening boom shattered eardrums as that massive steel Beast, like a meteorite cast down from the clouds by a god, smashed heavily through the glass dome atop Stark Tower, embedding itself deep into the helipad below and sending a cloud of dust billowing into the sky!
The entire tower shook violently under the force of the terrifying impact.
Tony Stark lay in the messy crater on the ground, his armor covered in hideous scratches and bullet holes. The violent impact and continuous fighting had long since drained him dry; every rise and fall of his chest sent waves of agonizing pain through his entire body.
In the faceplate's communication channel, there was only the silent sizzle of static.
Just then, two completely different voices, sounding almost simultaneously, pierced the dead silence and reached his ears.
"Tony! Are you okay?"
It was Pepper's voice, filled with unmistakable panic and concern.
"Tony, now's the time! A good chance!"
It was Lin Huai's voice—weak and hoarse, yet like a shot of adrenaline, it pierced precisely into his fading consciousness!
Tony gritted his teeth as his muscles screamed in protest, but he forced his battered armor to move, struggling to push himself up from the ground.
His gaze pierced through the swirling dust, locking onto the iron monger as it climbed out of the rubble nearby.
Now!
Stumbling a few steps, he leaned down to pick up the ruggedly designed tungsten steel warhammer he had discarded earlier.
The touch of the cold metal handle instantly cleared his muddled mind.
Tony gripped the handle with both hands, slowly raising it above his head. The arc reactor in his chest surged with blue light, pouring its last reserves of energy into this primitive weapon of destruction.
"Goodbye, Uncle!"
Tony let out a Beast-like roar, a sound filled with anger, sorrow, and a sense of resolute liberation.
In an instant, countless images flashed through his mind.
He remembered Yinsen, the friend who had sacrificed his life in an Afghanistan cave to buy him time. He remembered the nostalgic and gentle light in Yinsen's eyes as he spoke of his hometown and family before he died.
He remembered the engineer named Bob, who had knelt before him in a deep-sea submarine, weeping and making a desperate plea for his critically ill daughter.
He remembered the three months he spent in captivity in Afghanistan, seeing those cold Stark Industries weapons and the names he had signed himself on the crates.
He remembered the countless faces of those displaced and broken by the name "Stark."
These were the original sins he tried to forget, yet his conscience branded them into the depths of his soul over and over again.
All the guilt, all the anger, all the regret—at this moment, it all transformed into a force in Tony's arms capable of tearing everything apart.
The power reached its peak!
"Hah—!"
That strike, carrying the heavy shackles a genius had borne for half a lifetime and a newly budding heroic resolve, turned into an air-tearing afterimage. It slammed squarely and accurately into the iron monger's chest, which had just been blown open by a Rocket, exposing its reactor!
Clang—!!!
This wasn't the sound of metal clashing.
This was the dull, desperate wail of something being utterly destroyed from its core!
The iron monger's massive frame shuddered violently. The reactor in its chest flickered out instantly, and the entire chest plate caved in, twisted, and deformed around the point of impact!
Obadiah didn't even have the chance to scream before the terrifying force sent him flying backward.
The roof behind him, already weakened by Rocket fire, could no longer withstand this immense force and shattered with a roar!
The iron monger—that steel coffin embodying Obadiah's lifelong ambition—tumbled under the pull of gravity, falling into the bottomless Earths core crater at the top of the tower, reserved for the main arc reactor!
"A mortal body as the heavy hammer... star crystal, it's time..."
On the street, Lin Huai, protected in the car by Coulson, watched this scene through the screen, a weak smile appearing on his lips.
In the control room, Pepper Potts stared intently at the surveillance screen. Watching the steel Beast fall into the Abyss and seeing Tony's swaying figure, her entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Did they win?!
No, not yet!
Her gaze snapped toward the main console, landing on the red emergency button that emitted an ominous aura.
Lin Huai's words echoed wildly in her mind.
"That is the choice of the Lovers."
"At the most critical moment, the moment that makes you feel most desperate, open it and press it."
Is it now? Is this that moment?
If she pressed it, Obadiah would die, but the energy core of the entire Stark Tower would also be destroyed, and it might even affect Tony on the roof... Fear gripped her heart like a giant hand, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
But when her gaze fell back on the screen and saw that scarred yet stubbornly standing figure, all her hesitation and fear were swept away in an instant.
All the unease and hesitation in her eyes faded, coalescing into an unprecedented, firm love and resolve.
For Tony.
She reached out and flipped open the protective cover over the red button.
On the street, inside the black SUV.
Lin Huai slowly closed his eyes and, in his heart, sent a final prayer to the existence Above the Gray Fog.
"Your faithful servant hereby offers the final drama."
"With the Wrath Falling from the Sky as the anvil, the Mortal Pseudo-Heart as the furnace, and a mortal's resolute will as the hammer..."
"...Forge a new star!"
In the control room, Pepper pressed down with all her might!
In an instant, all the lights in Stark Tower went out, plunging it into absolute Darkness.
Immediately after, a torrent of energy so pure it distorted space-time was drained from the main reactor beneath the tower, gathering in the massive Earths core crater on the roof and erupting upward!
Boom—!!!
A pillar of blue light, connecting heaven and earth, shot into the sky with unstoppable momentum, lighting up the entire New York night sky as bright as day!
The moment he saw this light, a memory that didn't belong here suddenly flashed through Lin Huai's mind.
It was an ancient city named Tingen. Under the blood-colored moonlight, countless distorted Monsters roared, desperate citizens wailed, and the Nighthawks burned their lives away to finally bring an end to the disaster.
He seemed to hear that young transmigrator again, after everything was over, exhausted and wounded, giving a low and hoarse report to that Captain.
"Captain, we saved Tingen."
At this moment, the same scene overlapped before his eyes.
The chaotic streets of New York, the wounded hero, and this purifying light that also symbolized ending and protection.
"Mr. Fool..."
Lin Huai whispered in his heart, as if completing some kind of handover across time and space.
"I seem to understand something, as if I've experienced it myself. It's wonderful."
At the core of that light pillar, the iron monger didn't even last a second. Along with Obadiah Stane inside, it was instantly decomposed and vaporized into basic particles amidst the extreme heat and energy impact.
The dust settled.
As the blue light illuminating the sky slowly dissipated, only a dead silence remained over the ruins of the helipad.
In the very center of that crater, which had been scorched into glass, a soft beam of starlight was quietly blooming.
A fist-sized mysterious crystal, seemingly condensing the stars of the entire Universe, floated in mid-air, rotating slowly and emitting a dreamlike glow.
The ritual was a success.
"Cough, cough..."
Lin Huai coughed violently, a trace of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. Leaning against the car seat, he felt as if every bone in his body was about to fall apart.
He slowly turned his head to look at Coulson, whose expression was incredibly complex.
"Agent Coulson..." His voice was as faint as a thread, but every word he spoke was clear.
"I'll trade you... a piece of intelligence that your S.H.I.E.L.D., or rather, your boss, needs very, very much."
Coulson's pupils constricted slightly.
Lin Huai's gaze fell upon the few yellowed cards in Coulson's suit pocket, which he treated like treasures.
"Intelligence about Captain America."
"I imagine you admire him quite a bit, don't you?"
The professional expression on Coulson's face crumbled instantly, replaced by nothing but unbelievable shock.
Lin Huai ignored his reaction and used his last bit of strength to state his demand.
"Now, send someone to take me over there immediately."
His gaze turned toward Stark Tower in the distance, which had just undergone a mythic battle.
"Take me to Stark."