Deep underground, far below any place meant for human survival, the pressure alone could crush solid steel flat.
And yet—
Noah Vale walked through it like it was nothing.
Molten rock, heated to thousands of degrees, pressed against his bare skin. It clung to him, flowing sluggishly as he moved forward—but it couldn't burn him.
Instead, it parted.
Forced aside by the sheer strength of his body.
Behind him, the path he carved didn't last. The earth closed in immediately, swallowing any trace of his passage.
He kept moving.
Deeper.
Stronger.
With every step, his body adapted at an absurd pace. Each day, the version of himself from the day before would have stood no chance.
Day one.
Day three.
Day five.
Day ten.
The pressure climbed relentlessly—thousands of tons… tens of thousands… far beyond what any normal structure on Earth could endure.
To keep up, Noah had to push deeper at intervals, making sure the strain matched his growth.
By the time ten days had passed, he finally stopped.
His eyes, closed the entire time, slowly opened.
That should do it.
He glanced at the faint interface in his vision, reviewing the results.
His strength, endurance, and mental resilience had all surged far beyond where they'd been before. The improvement exceeded even his own expectations.
He'd planned for a several-fold increase.
What he got was far more.
Even now, the growth had been controlled—deliberately restrained.
If he had focused entirely on raw strength, ignoring balance, his power would have skyrocketed even further. But that wasn't an option.
If one aspect of his abilities pulled too far ahead, the imbalance would only get worse.
And at this level—
Even a small gap would spiral into something uncontrollable.
Noah exhaled slowly.
This should be enough.
Then again…
He frowned slightly.
Is it?
The thought lingered.
The administrator wasn't weak. According to the chatroom's system, they were on roughly the same level.
If the fight went wrong—
If the target escaped—
That would be a problem.
Noah tilted his head slightly, considering.
Another ten days… I could push this even further.
Half a million tons of force. That kind of margin would remove uncertainty entirely.
He hesitated.
Then shook his head.
"No," he muttered.
Too much delay.
If necessary, there were other options.
He didn't have to handle everything personally.
And if things really went sideways—
He still had reserves he hadn't touched yet.
That was enough.
Decision made, Noah's body shifted.
He phased partially out of sync with the surrounding matter—then slammed his foot against the invisible boundary of his own spatial field.
The result—
A violent shockwave.
The earth around him exploded outward as he launched upward.
His body tore through layers of rock and magma at terrifying speed, leaving behind a tunnel that collapsed almost instantly in his wake.
In moments—
He broke through.
At a U.S. military base in Afghanistan—
Tony Stark paced back and forth inside a secured room.
He'd arrived a day early, just to be safe.
And now—
Nothing.
No message.
No sign.
"…Seriously?" he muttered. "Ten days means ten days, right?"
The silence was starting to get to him.
Over the past week, he'd dug into everything he could find about Noah Vale. Between his own resources and JARVIS, he'd pieced together a rough profile.
And the conclusion wasn't comforting.
Noah didn't think like a normal person.
Power, influence, control—he approached everything with a mindset shaped by the worst parts of organized crime.
Tony ran a hand through his hair.
And then there was the other issue.
The internet.
What people were calling a "witch hunt."
Except it wasn't aimed at Noah.
It was carried out by him.
Anyone who publicly attacked him online… found themselves targeted.
Harassed. Beaten. Intimidated.
Sometimes across borders.
From London to the Vatican, reports kept popping up—people being confronted, assaulted, silenced.
Everyone knew who was behind it.
But no one could prove it.
And no one in power seemed eager to push the issue.
Not yet.
Tony let out a breath.
"This guy's a walking disaster…"
He was about to continue when—
The ground shook.
At first, it was subtle.
Then—
Not subtle.
The entire base trembled like it had been hit by a moderate earthquake. Equipment rattled. Dust fell from the ceiling. Cracks began spreading across the walls and floor.
Alarms blared.
Personnel rushed into motion.
"What the hell—?"
Tony grabbed onto the edge of a table as the shaking intensified.
Then—
It stopped.
Just like that.
Silence.
The tremors vanished as suddenly as they had started.
Tony exhaled.
"…Okay. That's new."
"Not really."
The voice came from behind him.
Tony flinched and spun around.
Noah Vale stood there casually, fully dressed, as if he'd been there the whole time.
"…You ever think about announcing yourself?" Tony snapped.
Noah tilted his head slightly. "I figured the entrance was noticeable enough."
Tony frowned.
"What entrance—"
Then he saw it.
Behind Noah—
A hole.
Not a crack.
Not damage.
A perfectly formed shaft, dropping straight down into darkness, so deep it swallowed the light.
Tony stared.
"…That wasn't there a second ago."
Noah glanced at it. "I was in a bit of a hurry."
Tony looked back at him slowly.
"…You caused that quake."
"I slowed down before I reached the surface," Noah said with a small shrug. "Otherwise, this building wouldn't still be standing."
Tony opened his mouth—
Then closed it.
For once, he didn't have a comeback.