Hong Fei turned around. Rhodes took the opportunity to fly in front of Pepper and shield her behind him. After landing, Rhodes noticed his HUD displaying errors, and before he could make sense of it, sparks burst from War Machine's left arm with a bang. A piece of armor fell off under the force of gravity. Immediately, more armor plates shattered away like dominoes.
Amidst the clattering sounds, Rhodes' entire left arm was quickly exposed; he stared at the parts on the ground in shock, then lifted his arm and stared at his palm, completely unable to believe what had just happened. Hong Fei's mask moved slightly, likely in a smile. "No! FK! No!" "Replay! Quick! Three times... no, five times slow motion!"
The host roared, shaking the viewers in front of their TVs back to their senses; everyone sat up straight, eyes wide, waiting for the replay, each of them desperately wanting to know what exactly had just happened. Dr.
Helen Cho pulled off her blanket, her shapely legs in black stockings curled to one side, the camisole clinging tightly to her thighs; she pulled a robe over her back and leaned over the end of the bed to stare at the TV. A moment later, the slow-motion footage appeared on the screen. Who knows how many people held their breath at that moment.
Even though the footage from the helicopter was blurry and shaky, the general movements could still be made out. "Bullet time! My god! Bullet time in real life!" "Look at his blade, his movements; he used the blade to dismantle War Machine's arm!" "Wait!" "That blade... that blade, my god, do you remember? In reports from over half a month ago, this blade appeared in Tony Stark's hands!"
"Without a doubt, it has a new Master now, but I think it has found its true Master; if it were in Tony Stark's hands, it would never have become so brilliant, nor would it have performed such a breathtaking sequence for us!" "Let's return to reality; everyone can see that Colonel Rhodes is completely stunned!" That's right, Rhodes was stunned, and not only that, he was almost losing his mind!
The cold wind blew across the island, and feeling the chill on his exposed arm, the hair all over his body stood on end. "To... Tony, I might need some help." In the sky, Tony, with both arms entangled by long whips, roared: "Me too!" Same here. Under the mask, Hong Fei asked Ivan: "Are you still good to go?" "Of course."
Ivan suddenly increased his energy output, and Tony's armor was instantly enveloped in a layer of extremely dense electric current, as if it had suddenly turned into a bright full moon. Hong Fei looked up, feeling that this scene was familiar, and a sense of unease suddenly welled up in his heart. Jarvis: "Sir, energy has reached 150%."
Tony paused for half a second, then the reactor on his chest glowed brightly, and the Pulse Cannon fired abruptly! With a rumbling sound, Ivan was hit head-on, the long whip in his hand snapped, and he was sent flying into the ocean along with his armor. Splash! As the waves splashed, Hong Fei looked up and touched his forehead. Why is there always someone charging Tony up?
Why is Tony always able to get charged? Who exactly is the plug and who is the socket?! Clang! A standard superhero three-point landing. Rhodes stood behind Tony and said excitedly: "Tony, you're here!" Tony ignored him, hurriedly turned around to help Pepper up, and asked with concern: "Pepper, are you okay?" "I'm fine, my god, it's crazy; who was that just now?"
Tony was also confused: "I don't know, but he said he has a grudge against me." "Then what about him?" Pepper pointed at Hong Fei, "Why is he always looking for trouble with you?" "I... I don't know either." Turning back, Tony blocked Pepper behind him with one hand and reached out with the other: "Who exactly are you?"
Hong Fei advanced with the Cross-blade, forcing all three opponents back in unison. Tony's palm lit up as he barked, "Freeze!"
"Relax," Hong Fei said, tilting his head. "We just had a perfectly civil exchange. Why the sudden hostility? It's putting me off."
Tony's expression darkened. "You're the one who started this."
Hong Fei paused. "Ah. Right." He shrugged. "But that's irrelevant now. I'm just hired help."
Tony frowned. "What the hell is happening?"
"Not my place to explain," Hong Fei said, spinning the blade. "Ask yourself who you've pissed off."
Tony racked his brain, replaying Ivan's words. He couldn't recall making enemies like this—let alone whether his father had left behind some blood feud.
Suddenly, Hong Fei leveled the Cross-blade at Tony's throat. "Well? Are we fighting or not?"
Tony glanced skyward. "Stand down. Police choppers are inbound—you're not getting away. Since you helped me earlier, I'll put in a word for leniency."
"You're hilarious." Hong Fei's arm snapped forward, sending the blade whirling through the air. Tony yanked Pepper aside just in time, but Rhodes wasn't as lucky—the razor edge split his faceplate, making his eye twitch violently.
Seizing the opening, Hong Fei lunged. His trailing foot cracked the stone pavement, sending shards flying. He moved like a stallion at full gallop, each step shaking the ground. By the time Tony turned, Hong Fei was already three meters away and closing fast.
No time to think. Tony's repulsors flared, preparing for liftoff—
Hong Fei stomped down. The pavement exploded upward as he launched himself like a human missile, intercepting Tony mid-air.
Tony barely registered the figure above him—Hong Fei's knees bent like a diving hawk, his entire body slamming into the armor with crushing force.
CRACK.
Hong Fei's legs locked around Tony's shoulders, his insteps braced against the chest plate. The impact reversed Tony's ascent, driving them both earthward like a meteor.
To bystanders, it looked like Hong Fei had simply jumped up and kicked a flying tank back to the ground.
The armor cratered into the Statue of Liberty's base. Tony gasped as his ribs compressed, his heart seizing like a fist had closed around it. Pepper screamed. Rhodes charged into the dust cloud—
BOOM.
Rhodes hurtled backward, the Cross-blade embedded in his chest. Tony's armor tumbled out next, scorched and sparking. Finally, Hong Fei strolled into view.
He planted a boot on Rhodes' cracked faceplate and yanked the blade free. Blood dripped from the tip.
Tony was moving before he realized it. Hong Fei kicked Rhodes aside, forcing Tony to catch him. "Rhodes! Talk to me!"
Rhodes wheezed. "What's it... look like?"
Tony's vision went red. Gently setting Rhodes down, he marched toward Hong Fei, palm cannons blazing.
Hong Fei dodged several times, took advantage of a gap to rush forward suddenly—his blade sheared through Tony's forearm plating before stabbing toward the exposed wiring. Tony barely twisted away, repulsors flaring as he stabilized mid-air.
"You—again?" Tony snarled.
Hong Fei flicked blood off his blade. "That? Just a love tap."
The gap in the armor's abdomen was pierced by the blade, with bloodstains underneath. The life-support system stopped the bleeding, adrenaline was injected, and Tony gritted his teeth, rushed up again, every move and style deliberate. Hong Fei fought with the blade, cold light gleaming, and in the blink of an eye, Tony could only passively parry.
Fortunately, his armor had astonishing defense, and Hong Fei's blade couldn't easily break through the armor's defense every time. Not to mention with Jarvis's assistance, it wasn't that easy to stick the blade in. The blade light flashed rapidly, and the outside of the armor was quickly covered with crisscrossing cut marks.
The Police helicopter gradually approached, Hong Fei sheathed the blade behind his back, swung his shoulders into Tony's embrace, and his fists struck rapidly within a small range, bringing up a series of afterimages. Tony retreated repeatedly under the pounding blows, while Hong Fei stayed close to him.
Until he saw the Pulse Cannon on the armor's chest light up, Hong Fei suddenly swung his leg in a sweeping kick, the armor lost its balance and fell sideways, and Hong Fei delivered a straight kick directly into the armor's face. Tony rolled back to Pepper's feet again. "Drop your weapons, put your hands on your head..." came the shouting of the Police from the helicopter.
At this moment, the sea surface suddenly exploded, Ivan's armor flew up, he rushed towards Hong Fei with a clear target, and Hong Fei also took the opportunity to lift his hand and grab the armor's ankle. Both of them took off into the air simultaneously. At the moment of departure, Hong Fei took out a detonator from his pocket and waved it at Tony, who was lying on the ground.
Instantly, Tony's pupils shrank; he could no longer care about playing dead and quickly gathered Pepper into his arms and flew up. "Rhodes, run, there's a bomb!!!" Rhodes, who was lying on the side contemplating life, also flew up immediately. However, before they could successfully escape, Hong Fei had already pressed the detonator.
The ground of the island instantly bulged, chunks of soil and stone slabs broke free from gravity and flew out, and extremely violent flames burst out of the earth's cage, the yellow-white firelight seemingly igniting the air in an instant, causing a deflagration in a split second. Boom!!
Tony and Rhodes were caught by the shockwave just as they flew halfway, their flight paths thrown into disarray by the Impact. The goddess's base was pushed open from bottom to top by the fiercely roaring shockwave, and just as she was tilting, another wave of explosions was triggered from within the goddess, and the alloy-cast body was cruelly torn into countless fragments. Boom! Boom! Boom!
The continuous sounds rolled back and forth among the city's high-rise buildings, and the entire city seemed to have welcomed a massive tremor. Wave after wave of flames were pushed up into the high sky by the continuously erupting after-flames. The helicopter was tossed left and right by the shockwave, as if it were about to crash the next moment.
The ninety-three-meter goddess could not withstand such destruction and was swallowed up by the flames in the blink of an eye. Giant craters appeared one after another on the island, and finally, it was simply torn apart completely.
Waves on the sea surface chased each other, and after overlapping, they looked like ferocious beasts rushing toward the shore; after a booming collision, they splashed waves more than ten meters high. The explosion ceased, flames soared into the sky, and amidst the leaping firelight, gray smoke quickly rose hundreds of meters into the air.
The scorching heatwave and the cold seawater hit people's cheeks at the same time, and the still-cold moonlight reflected eyes that seemed to have lost their Souls. Three thousand words without a break in chapters; I really love you all.