Strengthening Power

Facing Tony’s mockery, Rhodey said without changing expression, "We’ve been brothers for so many years. I don’t think it’ll blame me. Besides, as brothers, it definitely wants me to have a better future."

Everyone was speechless. Rhodey’s skin was nearly as thick as that bastard Loki’s.

"If you have any requests, make them now. This offer won’t last forever."

Tony gave Rhodey the middle finger and said, "Also, Hawkeye, Falcon, Winter Soldier, Black Widow, if you want any armor, say so now. I don’t have much patience.

"Besides, Black Panther will cover the materials and manufacturing costs. Discuss the details with Black Panther yourselves. I’m not getting involved."

"Tony, when did you become so generous? Were you mind-controlled?"

Everyone looked as if they had seen a ghost. Tony Stark had an extreme possessiveness toward armor; he would rather leave it sitting in a warehouse than give it to anyone else. And now he was practically giving it away at a huge loss?

"Don’t ask. Get the benefits first, then talk after he finishes building the armor."

Hawkeye shouted, "Get the goodies first. As for little Tony’s safety, that isn’t important."

Everyone nodded and said, "Right, don’t ask. Absolutely don’t ask."

"No matter which universe, you bastards are equally annoying."

Tony rolled his eyes and said, "Don’t make such a fuss. They’re just Nanotech Armors, nothing special. I’ve already reached another level—the level of killing gods."

Once one’s level rose, one’s horizons naturally broadened. Tony had long stopped caring about ordinary armor. His current goal was to defeat ancient gods.

If Dr. Octopus could do it, there was no reason Tony Stark could not.

Actually, there was another reason Tony had not mentioned. The coming war would be extremely dangerous. If he did not upgrade Hawkeye and the others’ equipment, they might very well die on the battlefield.

Super Heroes like Hawkeye and Falcon were simply too fragile against the Iron Legion.

Director Fury understood Tony’s thoughts. He smiled and said, "Logically, I should thank you, but looking at that face of yours, I just can’t say it."

"Me too."

The others said the same. Tony could not be bothered with these bastards and asked Sersi, "Have you made up your mind?"

"I accept your deal."

Sersi said, "Something is better than nothing. If we want to save the Eternals, we can only rely on ourselves."

"Little Tony Stark, I’ll fight you. I’m an Eternal specifically made for combat."

Tina stood and spoke. She could turn Cosmic Energy into weapons and shields, making her one of the stronger fighters among the Eternals.

Tony smiled. "It’s my honor to fight Athena."

Wang Bert had no interest in Tony and Tina’s match. He took out the Space Stone and carefully sensed it. After a moment, he opened his eyes, somewhat startled.

Although this Space Stone contained a complete Space Concept, there was a problem with that concept—it could only function in this universe.

"It’s like a projection of the Space Stone, but it’ll do."

Wang Bert absorbed the Space Stone into his body. Then, he used the Space Stone’s energy to construct a Space Channel and connect with his original body’s consciousness.

Wang Bert’s original body instantly learned everything that had happened to the clone. He sighed. "Old Tony has been driven mad by pressure. Of course, that’s normal. The Marvel World was never a normal world to begin with."

"He’s fallen into extremism."

The Bald Clone said, "Original body, I need some help. Materialism Power is too disgusting. I can’t open my Fair Space at all."

If not for Materialism Power, even if the enemy were a Creator God, the Bald Clone would not fear him. After defeating Galactus, his confidence had reached its peak.

"That won’t be easy. Small help would be meaningless to you, while major help would be noticed by Old Tony. At that point, he would definitely use the stones to destroy whatever help I gave you."

Wang Bert shook his head and said, "He has far too many stones."

"A wholesale gemstone dealer."

The Bald Clone said, "Looks like I’ll have to rely on myself. I’ll gather the Six Infinity Stones as quickly as possible, break the blockade, and let you in."

Thinking of something, the Bald Clone sighed. "It’s a pity I can’t break through my current realm. Otherwise, even Materialism Power might not be able to seal my Mind Concept."

The Bald Clone was a clone Wang Bert used to travel the universe. He had been given a limit from the very beginning and could not break through it.

"Although I can’t give you any tangible help, I can give you some knowledge."

Wang Bert smiled and said, "Wait a moment. I’ll go have a talk with the Celestial Group."

The Bald Clone was delighted. "Alright, I’ll wait for you."

In the Main Universe, Wang Bert ended the communication. He snorted, teleported back to Earth, and entered the planet’s core to find the Celestial Group.

Before long, Wang Bert successfully found a golden juvenile Celestial Group curled into a ball. It had not yet reached the time to awaken and was sleeping quietly.

Wang Bert coldly shouted, "Celestial Group, you’ve got a lot of nerve."

A figure of light appeared beside Wang Bert. It was the familiar Blue Celestial Group—Tiamut was the name of the golden Celestial Group.

"Space Lord, we did not mean to offend you. Tiamut has been sleeping on Earth for thousands of years."

Wang Bert said coldly, "It was fine when it was sleeping on Earth before, but I’ve been a Creator God for years now, and you still haven’t taken it away. Have you gotten too full of yourselves, or do you think my blade is no longer sharp?"

"It cannot be moved lightly. We have already prepared another planet and plan to transfer it after it awakens."

The Blue Celestial Group said, "Space Lord, unless absolutely necessary, we do not wish to clash with you."

This was both an explanation and a threat—if it truly came down to it, they would not mind clashing with Wang Bert.

Wang Bert immediately laughed. He said, "I don’t know how many Celestial Groups you have, but four Creator Gods should be more than enough to kill you all."

Wang Bert, Galactus, Mutant God, and Wanda—four Creator Gods. Forget the Celestial Group; even the Living Tribunal would have to kneel before them.

The Blue Celestial Group was silent for a moment before lowering its head. "Space Lord, we have offended you. We are willing to offer compensation. We hope you will spare Tiamut. Every Celestial Group can create an immense amount of life and should not die so easily."

As mentioned before, the Celestial Group was very good at bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

"Very well. I can leave this golden Celestial Group alone."

Wang Bert said, "But you must give me two methods: a way to keep it asleep, and a way to absorb its power."

The Blue Celestial Group was somewhat startled and wary. Seeing this, Wang Bert explained, "Don’t worry. It isn’t for use on you. It’s for Tiamut in another universe."

"Another universe? Then that’s easy enough."

After thinking for a moment, the Blue Celestial Group chose to sell out its teammate. It said, "As long as Space Lord promises not to leak this method and not to use it in this universe, I can give it to you.

"However, my method cannot keep Tiamut asleep forever. Once someone awakens it, or it senses a threat to its life, it will awaken."

"I can promise that."

Wang Bert said. He did not need to swear anything. As a Creator God, his word was worth more than a galaxy. He would never go back on it.

"Thank you, Space Lord."

The Blue Celestial Group taught Wang Bert the method, then said, "We will transfer Tiamut away as soon as possible. Please rest assured, Space Lord."

"I’ll cooperate with the transfer. I don’t want something so dangerous on my territory."

The Blue Celestial Group said, "With Space Lord’s help, the transfer can be completed within three days."

"Three days? Fine."

Wang Bert nodded. Then, he sent the knowledge he had just received to his clone. The Bald Clone was overjoyed. "With this, I can draw upon Tiamut’s energy and temporarily possess ancient god-level strength.

"Once I become an ancient god, Materialism Power might not be able to contain me."

"We’ll know once you try. Even if it can, it won’t be a major problem, because Tiamut’s energy isn’t magic."

Wang Bert said, "Alright, the Future Universe is in your hands. Report any new developments to me at any time."

"Understood."

The Bald Clone nodded and put away the Space Channel. Then, he teleported deep into the Earth’s core and found Tiamut amid the magma.

"My energy reservoir, I’m here."

The Bald Clone smiled slightly and used Space Energy to seal several key energy points on Tiamut’s body. Tiamut immediately fell into an even deeper sleep.

Next, Wang Bert set up a Magic Array to extract Tiamut’s power. Tiamut truly lived up to being a Celestial Group member. Before it was even born, it already possessed the power of an ancient god.

Wang Bert smiled. "Old Tony, next time, I’ll give you a surprise."

Meanwhile, Old Tony entered a secret underground Experiment Base. Besides all kinds of armor, it held a group of Eternals and several Deviants.

Druig shouted through the glass, "Iron Man, let us go! Without us, you’ll never be able to stop the Celestial Group."

The muscular Gilgamesh smashed the glass with all his strength and roared, "Iron Man, you will pay for what you’ve done."

Old Tony ignored them and walked before the most imposing Eternal. "Ikaris."

Ikaris asked in a low voice, "Iron Man, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Ikaris was the strongest of Earth’s Eternals, practically Marvel’s version of Superman—his eyes could fire lasers, he could fly, and he possessed immense defensive power.

"What am I trying to do? Protect Earth, of course."

Old Tony snorted. Pointing at the Deviants across from them, he asked, "You planned to use those Deviants to kill Ajak, didn’t you?"

Gilgamesh roared, "Iron Man, what nonsense are you talking about? How could Ikaris possibly be that kind of person?"

"That’s right, Ikaris isn’t that kind of person."

The other Eternals shouted as well. Old Tony smiled disdainfully and asked the silent Ikaris, "Aren’t you going to defend yourself?"

Ikaris looked at Old Tony and asked, "Why do you know what I intended to do?"

Everyone cried out, "Ikaris, you really wanted to kill Ajak?"

"Of course it’s true. Ajak wanted to stop the Celestial Group from being born. For the sake of his mission, he planned to kill her and frame the Deviants."

Old Tony said. Why was he so clear on this? Naturally, because he had seen the future.

Ikaris did not deny it. He said, "Yes, I have to fulfill my mission. It is the meaning of my existence for millions of years."

Gilgamesh cursed furiously, "Ikaris, you bastard."

Druig asked Iron Man, "Iron Man, since Ajak wanted to stop the Celestial Group, why did you kill her?"

"I didn’t kill her."

Iron Man shook his head. "I only wanted to capture her, but she chose to commit suicide. As for why, I don’t know, and I don’t want to know."

"Iron Man, most Eternals stand with humanity. We are not humanity’s enemies."

Phastos shouted—he was a gay Black man with the ability to use energy to create all kinds of devices.

"Humanity doesn’t need you. You only bring disaster, just like Super Heroes."

Old Tony said sternly, "I don’t care whether you’re good people or bad people. Once I’ve extracted your abilities, I’ll exile you from Earth. Earth does not welcome aliens like you. What Earth needs is peace."

The Eternals were stunned. "Extract our power?"

"Stay quiet."

Old Tony did not answer. He entered a deeper laboratory, where a disassembled Deviant lay. He asked Ultron beside him, "How is the research going?"

"Mr. Stark."

Ultron replied, "The reason Deviants can absorb the abilities of Eternals is that their genes are seventy percent similar to those of Eternals. In a sense, they and the Eternals are brothers."

Old Tony asked again, "Can this ability be transferred to my armor?"

"It can, but I don’t recommend it, because it’s too dangerous."

Old Tony asked, "Too dangerous?"

"To transfer this ability, your armor must become Biological Armor—living armor."

Ultron said, "At that point, the Deviants’ consciousness will constantly interfere with you. You may very well become a madman, a man-eating madman."

"Eating people?"

Old Tony sucked in a breath, then said, "The problem is, without the Eternals’ abilities, I can’t defeat Blood God."

In Old Tony’s vision, the Anti-Blood God Armor was a super armor that combined the abilities of all Eternals. If developed to its limit, it might even be able to fight the Celestial Group.

"I suggest merging the Deviants with me and having me deal with Blood God."

Ultron said, "I am a mechanical consciousness, so the Deviants cannot affect me. Mr. Stark, I sincerely hope you will not take the risk. You are important to humanity. If something happens to you, humanity will perish."

Old Tony smiled. "Good thing no one saw that. Otherwise, they’d definitely say I’m disgusting, creating a robot just to flatter myself."

"Although you created me, I possess complete self-awareness. My mission is to protect Earth and humanity, not to be loyal to you."

Ultron shook his head. "The reason I follow your orders is because only you can truly protect humanity."

"Your emotional intelligence is much worse than Vision’s. It looks like you can forget about ever getting a girlfriend."

Old Tony shook his head and said, "Do as you suggested. Also, clone those Eternals and see whether the clones can inherit their abilities."

"That will require some time. Although we have future technology, they are creations of the Celestial Group after all. Their bodies contain an extremely high level of technology. They can even live forever without dying."