Under the gaze of the crowd, Aurelius Viremont remained indifferent to the thoughts of others. He shook his palm and flexed his fingers, a trace of regret in his voice.
"As expected, the skill level is still too low. I can't release Black Flash with 100% certainty, and the current success rate is incredibly low..."
However, having anticipated this, Aurelius Viremont didn't dwell on it. He shifted his gaze from his palm to the Iron Monger in front of him. He picked at his ear and said casually:
"It's been long enough. Time to end this battle. Otherwise, Tony Stark might not be satisfied with my service."
Then, Aurelius Viremont extended his hand toward the front, his face a mixture of pleasure and cruelty.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue—Maximum Output!"
Obadiah sensed something was wrong the moment Aurelius Viremont reached out. He instantly fired every weapon in his arsenal. The resulting explosions were powerful enough to level an entire street, but they were all sucked into a brilliant azure singularity, vanishing without a trace.
The missiles Obadiah had placed his hopes on were neutralized so easily!
"No, this is impossible!"
Under Obadiah's incredulous gaze, Aurelius Viremont grinned and pushed the azure black hole toward him.
With his missiles rendered useless, Obadiah immediately attempted to flee. His thrusters roared at full power, instantly pushing him ten meters away. Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, he realized the Iron Monger had stopped moving. Despite setting the thrusters to maximum output, he was slowly being pulled backward.
And behind him sat that terrifying azure singularity that seemed ready to devour everything!
"No!"
Obadiah forcibly overclocked his thrusters, pushing them beyond their mechanical limits. Even as the devices turned glowing red and began to melt, they couldn't stop him from drifting toward the azure black hole. In fact, his speed toward it was only increasing!
Finally, under Tony Stark's complex gaze, the solemn watch of Agent Coulson, and the stunned eyes of the civilians, the once-arrogant Iron Monger was swallowed by the terrifying azure singularity.
Ten-centimeter-thick titanium alloy was completely helpless against the absolute gravitational force. First the feet, then the torso, and finally the head—the suit twisted and buckled before vanishing into the blue void.
The creator of this destruction—the man everyone had just doubted—merely yawned and stepped out from the dust kicked up by the explosion. His pristine white hoodie wasn't even stained with soot; only his hair looked a bit messy.
The White Demon had once again informed the world through terrifying pressure and absolute dominance: He was the strongest!
After dealing with the Iron Monger, Aurelius Viremont walked slowly toward Tony Stark. He made a slight grasping motion behind him, and a glowing white object was pulled by gravity into his hand. It was the Iron Monger's power source—the Arc Reactor.
As he gripped the reactor, Aurelius Viremont immediately felt the vast energy within. The precision of the Six Eyes and his Energy Absorption worked in tandem at full capacity. After topping off his internal energy reserves to their limit, the system absorbed the excess and funneled it into the 'Satoru Gojo' template.
Even though the difficulty of increasing integration had risen after reaching 30%, it still progressed steadily, not much slower than before. Based on previous patterns, he would unlock a new skill at 40%. He was looking forward to it. What would the new skill be? Would it be Cursed Technique Reversal: Red? Its minimum power was twice as high as Blue's maximum!
As Aurelius Viremont arrived at Tony Stark's side, a system notification popped up:
[Template Integration: 31%]
Tony Stark was currently in a sorry state. His helmet was gone, and one of his gauntlets had disappeared. The Arc Reactor in his chest was flickering—a sign that his power was nearly depleted.
Seeing Aurelius Viremont approach, Phil Coulson instinctively took a step back. It was the primal reaction of a human facing a supreme predator. Especially since Aurelius Viremont was more terrifying than any natural predator.
Tony Stark, however, showed no signs of fear. He looked Aurelius Viremont up and down with eyes full of intense curiosity.
"How did you do that? Some kind of mysterious future tech? Is that strange defense a form of spatial technology?"
Coulson also looked on curiously, hoping to gather more intelligence on the White Demon.
Hearing Tony's questions, Aurelius Viremont smiled and explained: "It's my ability."
Tony Stark muttered to himself, "A mutant... truly incredible."
Aurelius Viremont neither confirmed nor denied it. Aside from Energy Absorption, everything else came from the system panel and had nothing to do with mutants. However, he let the assumption stand. There were many technologies in the Marvel world designed specifically to counter mutants; if anyone tried to use them against him in the future, he'd have a nice surprise for them.
Suddenly, Tony Stark felt a pang of pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw that his Arc Reactor was completely dead. He immediately looked at the reactor in Aurelius Viremont's hand.
"Can you give that Arc Reactor back to me? I need it to keep the shrapnel away from my heart."
Aurelius Viremont naturally didn't want the hero he liked in his past life to die like this. He tossed the reactor to Tony.
"You now owe me two Arc Reactors."
"What? This reactor was mine to begin with!"
"But it belongs to me now."
"That... Well, fine."
Considering the man had just saved his life, Tony figured giving him an extra reactor wasn't a big deal. It definitely wasn't because the White Demon was too strong. Definitely not.
Watching this, Agent Coulson silently noted that the White Demon had a need for Arc Reactors, which likely related to his powers. He then produced his ID and spoke to Aurelius Viremont.
"Hello, sir. I am Agent Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. I have a few questions I'd like to discuss with you."
Aurelius Viremont stared at Coulson's thinning hairline until the agent felt deeply offended, then finally withdrew his gaze.
"Hmm. It seems your daily work is quite exhausting."
"Oh, yes..." Coulson replied instinctively before catching himself. He continued, "I was wondering if you would be interested in joining us as an Avenger?"
Aurelius Viremont wasn't surprised by the invitation. Nick Fury was currently assembling the team; it was only natural to invite someone of his caliber.
Aurelius Viremont was about to refuse, but then he thought of the Space Stone sitting in S.H.I.E.L.D. 's base and the Mind Stone that would soon be delivered by "express mail" (Loki). He smiled and said:
"Of course. I'd be delighted!"
Looking at the white-haired man's nonchalant, flippant smile, Coulson—for reasons he couldn't name—felt a sudden, ominous premonition.