"Judging from your expression, you clearly recognize me," Karl said calmly.
Clad in his golden Saint Cloth, he slowly descended from the sky and landed in front of Aldrich Killian.
"You should also know Tony's relationship with me."
"Yet you still chose to take revenge on him."
Karl's gaze was indifferent.
"Was the Mandarin your only support?"
Although Karl could tell that Killian's Extremis virus had become much stronger than in the original timeline, it was still nowhere near enough to threaten him.
Killian suddenly burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
"My hatred for Tony Stark is the reason!"
"You know what? I used to be one of Tony Stark's biggest fans."
His expression twisted with bitterness.
"One day, I met him at a party."
"I introduced him to my company… and my research project."
"At the time, he pretended to be interested."
Killian's voice became increasingly angry.
"He told me to wait for him on the rooftop."
"Do you know what happened?"
"I waited the entire night."
"But he never came."
"He tricked me."
Killian's eyes burned with hatred.
"So I swore that one day I would destroy everything he had!"
Killian suddenly laughed again.
A hysterical, manic laugh.
"I haven't lost yet!"
"So what if the Gold Saint is here?"
"I planted fifty Extremis human bombs inside Stark Tower."
"They're more than enough to destroy the entire building."
Killian glanced toward the distant skyline.
"And judging by the time…"
"It should already be happening."
BOOM—!
BOOM—!
BOOM—!
Moments later, explosions erupted across Stark Tower in New York.
The entire skyscraper began collapsing.
Fortunately, it was nighttime, and most of the offices were empty.
However, the massive explosions still damaged nearby buildings.
Karl frowned slightly.
He hadn't expected Killian to be this extreme.
Kidnapping the Vice President.
Blowing up Stark Tower.
Even cooperating with Justin Hammer and the Mandarin.
The entire situation was a complete disaster.
Karl glanced toward Tony.
When Tony heard Killian's story, something in his expression changed.
He suddenly remembered that night years ago.
The night he had slept with Maya Hansen.
And left Killian waiting on the rooftop as a joke.
Jarvis' voice sounded inside Tony's helmet.
"Sir… Stark Tower has collapsed."
"Preliminary estimates indicate hundreds of casualties in the surrounding area."
Tony fell silent.
At that moment, he fully realized how irresponsible his past behavior had been.
Karl sighed quietly.
"What a mess…"
He glanced at the silent Tony.
Then he turned back toward Killian.
Karl raised his hand.
A wave of freezing energy erupted.
Killian tried to move—
But Karl's telekinesis had already locked him in place.
When the freezing power touched Killian, the Extremis virus inside his body reacted instantly.
His body temperature skyrocketed.
Extremis attempted to resist the freezing effect.
However—
Karl had pushed the temperature of his freezing power beyond absolute zero.
Killian's resistance lasted less than two seconds.
Ice rapidly spread across his entire body.
Within moments—
He was completely frozen.
Karl extended his hand again.
Telekinetic force surged forward.
CRACK!
Killian's frozen body shattered instantly.
Fragments of ice scattered across the ground.
The creator of the Extremis virus had just been erased from existence.
By the time Karl finished dealing with Killian—
Tony had already left.
He had to deal with the aftermath of Stark Tower's destruction.
Hundreds of innocent people had died.
The guilt weighed heavily on him.
Karl didn't stop him.
Nearby, Peggy Carter escorted the Vice President away alongside Rhodes.
Natasha walked toward Karl briefly.
"See you later."
Although she was technically now one of Karl's people, Karl rarely interfered in her affairs.
Clint Barton didn't dare linger.
He quickly left with Natasha.
Karl then teleported back to the courtyard residence in the East.
May, Gwen, Raven, and the others saw him return.
But none of them asked what had happened.
They simply prepared to continue their tour of the capital.
When Karl and the others drove out of the courtyard residence, they immediately noticed something unusual.
Wherever they went—
Large numbers of security personnel surrounded them.
Earlier, Zheng Xian, the director of the Divine Spear Bureau, had been harshly criticized by his superiors.
After all, the guests invited to their country had nearly been attacked on their own soil.
And in the end—
Those very guests had resolved the crisis themselves.
It was extremely embarrassing.
The situation had even reached the highest levels of government.
Karl was currently recognized as the most powerful individual on Earth.
China had invited him as an honored guest.
Karl had accepted the invitation.
Yet his family members had been attacked while visiting.
The political consequences could have been disastrous.
Moreover, this was the first time the East was hosting the Olympic Games.
Many foreign countries still viewed the region as backward and underdeveloped.
There was significant international skepticism.
However, everything changed two days ago.
When Karl appeared wearing his Gold Cloth, the Sagittarius constellation manifested in the sky above China.
Someone had captured the moment on camera.
The image quickly spread across international networks.
Soon people began speculating:
Was the Gold Saint attending the Olympic opening ceremony?
After various investigations, wealthy elites and business magnates confirmed something shocking.
Karl was indeed currently in the East.
Even more convincing—
A diplomatic vehicle from the Eastern embassy had previously visited Karl's residence.
It was widely believed he had been invited to the Olympic ceremony.
Within days, large numbers of foreign businessmen and billionaires rushed to China.
If they could establish a relationship with Karl—
The benefits could secure their families and corporations for generations.
Because of this, the capital had entered a state of heightened security.
Police patrols operated 24 hours a day.
Later that evening, Karl and the others arrived at a lively food street.
The atmosphere was even more bustling than the street Pietro and Peter had visited the previous night.
They wandered between stalls, sampling various local snacks.
Fortunately, they had a translator with them.
Otherwise, May and Gwen would have struggled to communicate.
However, the women soon discovered something surprising.
Karl was speaking Mandarin.
And he spoke it extremely fluently—with a natural Eastern accent.
They stared at him in disbelief.
None of them had expected that Karl could speak Mandarin so well.
Karl continued guiding them through various places across the capital.
Meanwhile, news of Karl appearing in **Kyoto—the capital of China—**spread rapidly across the internet.
Even more people began traveling east.
Karl was fully aware of the situation.
But he didn't care.
At that moment, he was standing quietly with May, Black Phoenix, Raven, and the others in front of the Forbidden City.
Later, they visited the ruins of the Old Summer Palace.
When Karl saw the broken remains of the once magnificent palace—
A trace of regret flashed through his eyes.
It seemed that even in the Marvel universe, history had unfolded the same way.
The Eight-Nation Alliance had invaded.
Countless treasures had been looted.
And whatever could not be taken—
Had been burned.
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