A brilliant silver sword light swept across Iron Monger's head.
The arm originally swinging toward Tony Stark seemed to instantly lose power. Under inertia's effect, it lightly struck the helmet, producing slight vibration that was completely offset by the suit's defensive system, bringing Tony no sensation.
Clearly under that sword light, the impact hammer had lost power and could no longer exert its previous powerful impact force.
The other steel arm that had firmly restrained him also powerlessly dropped. Tony hurriedly rushed forward several steps, then quickly turned to look at Iron Monger behind him.
He saw Iron Monger's massive body standing quietly in place. The original head position had been cleanly severed. The cut on the armor below was smooth as a mirror. Some severed cables exposed in the cut still occasionally sparked. The entire armor had completely lost combat capability.
Under Tony's gaze, Iron Monger's massive headless body slowly toppled backward. Its heavy weight shook the ground as it fell.
In the dust kicked up by Iron Monger's fall, a tall, imposing black figure slowly walked out, coming before Tony. In his right hand he gripped a silver two-handed knight's greatsword over a meter long—obviously it had struck the devastating silver sword light Tony Stark just saw.
Full-body black armor, silver two-handed knight's longsword—although he hadn't personally seen them before, Tony Stark was extremely familiar with these. As a child, he'd heard his father Howard describe Chen Mo's equipment and appearance many times. He knew like the back of his hand the origin and performance of each weapon and piece of equipment.
The Adamantium alloy armored combat suit Chen Mo personally designed—密ly defended and indestructible. The legendary King Arthur's sword, the invincible Sword of Kings. The world's only original Adamantium alloy shield, capable of nullifying all attacks.
These legendary weapons and equipment he was so familiar with now appeared before him.
So although he hadn't seen the face of the person before him, Tony Stark could be certain this was his godfather, Commander Chen Mo.
Once again escaping death, rescued by Chen Mo from despair, Tony Stark hurriedly opened his suit's faceplate and excitedly shouted toward the tall figure before him.
"Dad!"
Actually, before the two flew toward high altitude, Chen Mo had already arrived at Stark Industries and witnessed the entire battle process.
But for the purpose of tempering his godson Tony Stark, Chen Mo hadn't rushed to act.
Only when he discovered Tony had fallen into danger did Chen Mo draw the longsword from his back, burst forth at full speed, and rapidly rush toward the two.
When approaching behind Iron Monger, Chen Mo exerted force with his feet and leaped up from the ground. The incomparably sharp Sword of Kings in his hand directly slashed horizontally, completely severing Iron Monger's head. Iron Monger also lost control and heavily fell to the ground.
Having eliminated Iron Monger with one sword strike and resolved Tony Stark's danger, Chen Mo sheathed the Sword of Kings on his back, strode before Tony, and looked at him with stern eyes, saying in a deep voice.
"Before confirming the enemy's death, the battle isn't over!"
Under Chen Mo's stern gaze, recalling his previous carelessness, Tony also felt extremely ashamed. Facing Chen Mo's instruction, he seriously nodded.
"I'll remember, Dad."
This was already the third time Chen Mo had rescued him from danger. Looking at Chen Mo's tall, imposing figure, Tony's heart couldn't help but surge with filial affection.
"Having a dad feels so good!"
...
"Achoo!!!"
In S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret underground base not too far from Stark Industries.
Howard Stark, conducting experiments in the laboratory, suddenly sneezed uncontrollably again. His hand holding tools inevitably shook, accompanied by crackling sounds and large amounts of electrical sparks. The components on the experimental table before him were completely ruined.
"Fuck! Damn it! What's going on? Been sneezing constantly lately. Could it be that brat Tony thinking about me?"
Looking at the smoking experimental components before him, Howard irritably rubbed his nose.
He naturally also knew about Tony being kidnapped by terrorists initially. But because Chen Mo was there, he wasn't worried about Tony's safety and confidently left it to Chen Mo to resolve.
Since faking his death, he'd never interfered much with Stark Industries affairs.
Howard treated these as tempering for Tony. He didn't want Tony to always remain under his secret protection, becoming a child who never grew up. To truly grow, one had to experience setbacks. He himself had been on the battlefield with Chen Mo back then. His son also had to be a real man.
Previously, he'd been somewhat worried about Tony—after all, no matter how you looked at him, he was an unreliable playboy. Fortunately now Chen Mo had returned. With him by Tony's side constantly instructing, Howard believed Tony would definitely improve greatly.
Thinking of the people brought out under Chen Mo—Steve, Huang Quan, Han Qing, Luo Zhen, Wang Kun—not one was a coward. Every single one was an outstanding man. Leaving Tony to Chen Mo, Howard was one hundred percent confident.
...
Inside Stark Industries campus, Chen Mo looked at Tony Stark gazing at him with excitement and filial affection, somewhat helplessly shaking his head.
Seeing Chen Mo shake his head, Tony looked at Chen Mo somewhat puzzled.
"What's wrong, Dad?"
Chen Mo glanced at Tony, his voice stern as he asked.
"What did I just say?!"
Hearing this, although Tony didn't quite understand why Chen Mo was angry, he still answered with a serious face.
"Before confirming the enemy's death, the battle isn't over!"
Under Chen Mo's gaze, after finishing, Tony finally reacted and turned to look at Iron Monger lying on the ground.
Only then did he realize that although Iron Monger had just been beheaded by Chen Mo, lost control and fallen to the ground, only sparking severed cables appeared on its cut surface—no bleeding, no white brain matter. In other words, Obadiah wasn't dead yet!
Not understanding Iron Monger's design layout, plus just being rescued by Chen Mo in the crisis, Tony Stark had instinctively thought being beheaded meant the battle was over, completely overlooking these details.
Only now did he react. Iron Monger's massive size meant its internal layout differed from Mark II—it wasn't completely form-fitting. Obadiah's position was lower, inside Iron Monger's torso. Severing the head only destroyed Iron Monger's control system without harming Obadiah.
Under Tony's gaze, Iron Monger's body lying on the ground emitted mechanical exhaust sounds. Accompanied by several streams of white airflow jetting from the chest armor, amid mechanical operation sounds, Iron Monger's chest armor completely opened. Obadiah stood up from inside with a savage expression.
Looking back at the beheaded Iron Monger behind him, Obadiah turned his head back, looking viciously at Chen Mo and saying with hate-filled voice.
"Who exactly are you?!"
After Iron Monger's head was severed just now, the deeply calculating Obadiah had wanted to hide inside the armor waiting for opportunity, then emerge to ambush Tony when he wasn't paying attention. Who knew he'd be discovered by this mysteriously appearing person who saw through it with one sentence.
Chen Mo looked coldly at Obadiah with no intention of acknowledging him.
However, when his gaze swept across Obadiah's body, Chen Mo's eyes suddenly paused.
Seeing Chen Mo ignore his question, Obadiah's already savage face showed even more fury. But strangely, he showed no panic or fear at all from losing his greatest reliance after Iron Monger was destroyed, seemingly not afraid of Chen Mo who'd eliminated Iron Monger in one strike, or Tony Stark still wearing the Iron Man suit.
Under Chen Mo's unusual gaze, Obadiah viciously raised his left hand. His left hand that should have been severed by Crossbones Brock Rumlow actually looked completely intact. But careful observation would reveal this hand's movements were very stiff.
Obadiah raised his left hand, palm facing Chen Mo and Tony Stark. Then under their gazes, this hand split open from between the middle and ring fingers. Both sides of the palm opened along this crack, spreading to both sides. From the middle extended a highly futuristic silver gun barrel.
A satisfied smile appeared on Obadiah's face. A string of light blue illumination began lighting up from the gun barrel's base, rapidly spreading toward the muzzle.
When the entire barrel lit up with blue light, as if energy accumulation was complete, accompanied by a somewhat piercing whistle, a hazy light blue sphere shot from the muzzle, flying toward Chen Mo and Tony at extremely high speed.
When discovering the abnormality of Obadiah's left hand, Chen Mo had already become vigilant. Now seeing this hand's transformation, unusual light flashed through Chen Mo's eyes. Looking at the rapidly approaching hazy sphere, the shield on Chen Mo's back instantly disappeared, then directly appeared in Chen Mo's hand, blocking before the sphere.
The hazy light blue sphere contacted the shield but didn't shatter Chen Mo and the shield into fragments as Obadiah imagined. Instead, like smoke hitting a wall, it only rippled faintly before directly dissipating into the air without even making a sound.
"How is this possible?! How could the sonic cannon be blocked so easily?"
Originally confident of victory, seeing his attack easily offset and nullified, Obadiah's face showed complete disbelief.
He'd personally tested this weapon on his left hand. Even an armored vehicle would disintegrate under one strike. How could it be easily blocked by one person directly using a shield!
Suddenly, Obadiah seemed to recall something and carefully examined Chen Mo who'd just lowered his shield. Upon this examination, Obadiah's expression greatly changed.
Full-body black alloy armor, circular shield capable of resisting powerful attacks, silver two-handed knight's longsword that severed Iron Monger's head in one strike, cutting through iron like mud—connecting all these things together, a legendary figure's name surfaced in his mind.
Connecting that legendary figure's relationship with Howard Stark, Obadiah became even more certain of his guess. But his gaze toward Chen Mo was filled with disbelief.
"You're the Special Forces Commander from back then?!!!"