"As expected of you, Stark."
In the distance, the Ancient One watched Tony make the decisive choice to attack. Not only was she not angry, there was even a hint of appreciation in her eyes.
"Master, you knew he would attack?"
Mordo froze.
"I didn't know. But I understand him. He was always going to act for Fenris's sake."
The Ancient One chuckled. "Unfortunately, Fenris has already reached this point. Forget Tony Stark. Even I can no longer stop him."
On the other side, Tony quickly turned his hostility toward her. Bright white light began gathering in the palm of his armor as he aimed at the Ancient One from afar. "I don't care who you two are. You have to let Fenris go!"
"Now. Immediately!"
"Stark."
Seeing Tony's hardline stance, Connors and Peter exchanged a glance, then charged at the Ancient One and Mordo without hesitation.
A large clump of webbing flew forward. Right behind it came a pair of enormous claws gleaming with cold light.
"You don't know what's good for you."
Mordo shook his head and was about to act, only for the Ancient One to gently stop him.
She merely waved a hand casually, and the space in front of the two of them began folding and reorganizing wildly.
In that instant, heaven and earth lost their boundaries. The vast laboratory began stretching endlessly into the distance.
Rotation, translation, distortion...
Peter only felt everything around him undergo a world-shattering change in the blink of an eye. Before he could adapt to the dizzying transformation, a violent sense of weightlessness suddenly hit him.
His sensitive spider-sense had only just warned him of danger when, in the next instant, Peter began falling like mad.
As the surrounding space twisted and shifted, the webbing he had personally fired split into thousands of strands in the blink of an eye, then folded back in a way that completely defied common sense.
While he was still dizzy and disoriented, Peter's whole body went tight. He was shocked to discover that, at some unknown point, he had been thoroughly tied up by his own webbing.
"Child, at your age, you should be studying mathematics properly, not running around fighting people."
A gentle voice sounded beside his ear. When everything around him stopped moving, Peter finally discovered that the webbing binding him stretched repeatedly through space, forming a standard geometric spiral.
"An Archimedean spiral. Does it look familiar, child?"
The Ancient One closed the folding fan in her hand and lightly tapped Peter on the forehead with it. Smiling, she said, "Mathematics is actually quite cool. Cooler than magic, and cooler than blindly trying to be a superhero."
"..."
The face beneath Peter's mask instantly fell.
"Roar!"
On the other side, because the space before him had been infinitely extended, Connors had only now managed to reach the Ancient One's back.
He raised his right claw high and was just about to slash down heavily when he saw that the Ancient One had already vanished.
Silently and without warning, a folding fan had already come to rest on his shoulder.
The Ancient One hovered in midair behind Connors. Her right hand pressed down only lightly, but he felt a powerful force suddenly pour into his body.
Enormous power surged through him, carrying irresistible pressure. Connors did not even have time to resist before he slammed down hard onto the floor with a thud.
The next moment, all the strange phenomena vanished, and the two of them reappeared inside the laboratory.
From beginning to end, less than half a minute had passed. They did not even know what had happened. Their minds were still foggy, yet they had already been effortlessly subdued and stripped of the ability to resist.
"Do you believe me now?"
The Ancient One raised her head and looked at Tony Stark in the air. Her face still carried that calm smile, as though she had not been the one who had just acted.
"I do!"
"I believe you, I believe you!"
Tony looked at Peter, who had been tied up and hung from the ceiling, then at Connors, who was lying flat on the ground and seemed unwilling to move even a finger. The corners of his eyes twitched wildly.
He hurriedly cut off the energy supply to his palm. As the white light gradually dimmed, he dropped to the floor with a thud.
With the strength she had just displayed, even Fenris probably would not be able to get much of an advantage against her, let alone an ordinary superhuman like him.
If someone this powerful wanted to deal with them, it would really only take the movement of a finger. Why would she go to the trouble of inventing some elaborate lie to deceive him?
"I told you earlier, but you refused to believe me. You had to suffer for nothing."
Mordo had watched the whole thing from the side with obvious satisfaction. Seeing the three people who had just been so unruly instantly become obedient, he let out a low, amused laugh.
The Ancient One only smiled without speaking.
"..."
Tony helped Connors up from the side. He could only brace himself and pretend he had not heard anything, silently staring at the massive fireball deep within the laboratory as it grew dimmer and dimmer.
"Whoosh..."
In the silence, time passed second by second.
Just as Tony was starting to feel a little bored, a sudden howl of wind rang out from deep within the laboratory without warning.
Tony, Connors, and Peter all stiffened, then raised their heads at the same time.
The artificial sun, more than ten meters across and already calm, suddenly began churning violently. Its surface, which had almost gone completely dim moments earlier, blazed bright in an instant.
"Fenris?"
At the sight, even the Ancient One folded away her fan and stared ahead without blinking.
"Roar!"
An incomparably powerful roar exploded.
For a moment, the experimental building, which had already been left on the verge of collapse after several rounds of battle, began shaking visibly.
Countless motes of dust fell in sheets, then rose high again. Even the specially reinforced doors and windows in the walls rattled loudly.
Caught off guard, Tony felt a sudden sting in his ears. Even the Green Goblin Jr., who had been sleeping soundly nearby, frowned in his sleep as if he had seen something frightening.
A moment later, with one final burst of light, that miniature sun seemed to complete its historical mission. Under everyone's gaze, it dimmed completely.
At the same time, its volume began shrinking wildly. In the blink of an eye, it was replaced by a curled-up black shadow.
"So... good!"
Everyone heard a long, comfortable groan. The next instant, a familiar voice reached their ears.
"The kind of energy that could easily trigger a tsunami if thrown into the Pacific, and this guy actually absorbed all of it..."
Tony stared in disbelief as Fenris squirmed a few times on the ground. He looked like someone who had just been dragged out of a hot spring. Only after a moment did he reluctantly climb to his feet.
At this moment, Fenris's entire body was flickering with bright purple light, while the dorsal spines along his back blazed with blue radiance. The moment he appeared, he lit the entire laboratory as brightly as day.
"Boom!"
He took only one casual step, yet it produced a heavy, muffled impact.
When Fenris gently straightened his body, he discovered that before he could even use any force, the ceiling he had previously only been able to barely reach while standing had been punched straight through by his head. For a moment, broken stone flew everywhere, and the building shook without stopping.
Fenris lowered his head and looked. To his shock, the ceiling now only reached the height of his thigh.
"I actually grew this much this time."
Fenris shook his head, which felt no pain at all.
"Sir, it appears Fenris has grown slightly larger again."
JARVIS spoke at exactly the right moment.
Tony made a brief comparison and realized he was barely taller than Fenris's ankle. He could not help muttering darkly, "Thank you, JARVIS. If you hadn't said anything, I might never have noticed."
(End of Chapter)
[Get +30 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Zaelum"]
[Every 300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]