Capítulo 96: Unexpected Rewards
Avengers underground base....New York.
Ever since Tony arrived, he hadn't left Pepper's side, who was still in danger, even though her life was no longer at risk.
"Tony, from what little I could discover in the mind of our friend, The Rings, they have bases spread all over the world, but they originate from somewhere in China."
"They are led by a man who calls himself "The Mandarin", our friend doesn't seem to know where their main base is, but without a doubt it is somewhere in China, in fact they seem to have links with a group called AIM, the The leader of this organization seems to hate playboy Tony Stark a lot, to the point that he asked the Mandarin for help to get rid of you."
" Hehehe...it helped a lot, we don't have to look all over the world, just in the 3rd country in the world, one that doesn't really like Americans... As for AIM, I have no idea who they are."
The sarcasm in Tony's voice was almost palpable, this attack completely freaked him out, to the point that Asher really didn't want to take him along, He may be one of the smartest men in the world, but in the current situation it was very likely that he did something stupid.
Unfortunately for Asher, unless he got Tony into a hospital bed, it would be impossible to leave him behind.
So after a few more moments of watching Pepper, Tony and Asher teleported to Tony's mansion, wearing their armor Tony, was ready for Revenge.
"Last thing Tony, the guy who runs AIM, and hates you, seems to be called Aldrich Killian, and seems to be a scientist researching biological modification, and you better be careful, there's a chance we'll find something strange along the way."
After finishing the preparations, Asher teleported them once again, this time the albo was a mountain range in northern China, it was not possible to recover the exact location of the Ten Rings' main base, but Asher still managed to get the approximate location of the base, then it would be thousands of kilometers away, but without a doubt it was better than nothing.
As soon as they arrived, Asher began to exert his psionic energy, looking for any abnormalities, it didn't take long for two energy signatures to appear in his mind, they were faint as if they were under a veil, probably some kind of psychic camouflage, but still detectable, if you knew what to look for.
"Hmm, I understand."
"Asher, whatever it was has already found their trail."
Tony was visibly impatient, Asher on the contrary was calm, at the current level he was at it wasn't really a challenge to deal with Madarim and Killian.
"Tony, I detected two energy signatures, I don't know exactly what they are but they are definitely not ordinary humans, be careful, I'll try to make sure we go unnoticed, we'll see what to do."
Asher then covered them with a psychic illusion, making them invisible to anyone who looked, then the two flew directly to the location that was supposed to be the enemy's hidden base, which by the way was very well camouflaged at the foot of a mountain, basically embedded in the rock.
Arriving at the base, Tony ordered Jarvis to take control of the security system, completing this part Asher and Tony invaded the base without any problems, since there were no alarms and the patrol guards ended up falling asleep under the influence of Asher's mental power.
After walking for some time, they arrived at what should have been the place's command room, it would be very easy to go in and carry out a suppressed attack, but knowing Iron Man, that was certainly not his style of doing things.
It was time for a dignified entrance, so the next moment the two burst through the doors without any subtlety, finding themselves in front of two men, one was obviously of Asian descent, was sitting on a chair similar to a throne and had ten metal rings attached to his ankles. arms, the man maintained a stoic expression as if everything around him was inferior to him, while the other man looked like he was American, wore a gray suit and seemed completely surprised by the explosion.
"Uninvited guests, I am pleased to welcome you to my home."
Strangely the man, who Asher deduced was The Mandarin, focused his gaze on him as he spoke.
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"You must be the Saint… very interesting, we meet again."
"Once again... To what do you owe this unexpected visit?"
"Nothing much, we were passing through so we decided to pay a visit, since you sent quite a gift to my friend's house, and of course to return the gift."
"Um...I see, before this continues, I have to admit even now I feel your power, so I have a proposal for you Saint, instead of a fight because we don't have a good conversation and maybe an alliance."
The Mandarin's voice echoed throughout the space, but as soon as he finished his words, a deadly silence took over the place...
"I don't think I have anything to talk about hang out with you."
Looking at the Mandarin's astonished appearance at his denial, Asher smiled mischievously.
During the trip to the base, Asher revisited his memory, trying to remember the story of the Mandarin, but all he could remember was that the Madarim was an oriental man, apparently immortal and also the true leader of the Ten Rings, and of course was the bearer of his organization's mystical artifact of the same name.
"I have to say, for someone who has lived this long your sense of naming is terrible."
Asher pointed at the Mandarin and continued - "Do you have an artifact made up of Ten Rings?" And then you name your organization the Ten Rings? What a lack of creativity."
"..."
Madarim himself had been in the world for hundreds of years, and it could be said that it was the first time since he gained his powers that someone had dared to insult him in this way, which caused his expression to completely change from stoic serenity to icy fury. instantly.
"It is truly a shame, we could have joined forces and with our powers combined, this world would have been ours to command..."
"But it seems... That the only thing you're looking for is death!"
As soon as the words ended, Asher saw one of the rings attached to the Mandarin's arm shine, and then...
"Boom!"
Immediately after that, the shadow behind him instantly began to expand, after a few moments, it completely enveloped Asher, leaving behind Tony and Killian, who had remained silent until now.
"Um... This place is very similar to the subspace created by Mephisto."
Expanding his perception Asher detected a very familiar feeling.
"What did the great Mandarin expect when he pulled me here... You want to hide the beating you're going to get, so as not to lose the respect of your men, right?"
"Hmph!"
After hearing Asher's words, the Mandarin snorted coldly - "Even trapped in my shadow space, you still dare to say such things... Saint, your arrogance will be the cause of your defeat!"
With those words, he extended his left hand.
"Buzz!"
A blue ring began to flash, gathering energy...
"Woohoo!"
An overwhelming blizzard began to form covering the entire space, the extreme cold caused even the gloomy ground to freeze.
"Ice storm!"
The Mandarin said confidently.
In fact, as a person who spent most of his time in retreat to explore the secrets of the Ten Rings, Xu Wenwu rarely cared about the world's news - In his eyes, they were all things that could be easily destroyed at will, therefore they were not worth your concern.
Then, when Tony Stark's assassination attempt failed, he learned about the Saint's reputation.
He heard how great the Saint's achievements were and how famous his reputation was among mortals.
However, he still didn't care!
It doesn't matter if this man, has the title of Saint, if he is the strongest superhero - under the power of the Ten Rings, in possession of him, they were all nothing more than stray dogs and chickens!
His confidence was absolute, especially after seeing that Asher was directly swallowed by the ice storm, at this moment with satisfaction, the Mandarin smiled.
But then...
"... Seriously? Attacked me with Ice? What kind of second-rate villain doesn't know the abilities of the enemy he's going to face?"
With a disdainful voice, Asher stared deeply at the Mandarin, who ended up widening his eyes in surprise.
The ice storm shattered and dissipated as if it had been destroyed from within, while Asher found himself completely unharmed and untouched.
Behind him, a plate very similar to stone or marble, emitted a soft blue light.
"You..."
Xu Wenwu was naturally shocked and speechless, but before he could recover, he discovered that Asher's figure had disappeared from his field of vision.
Soon, a sense of crisis arose in his mind.
"Gravity Barrier!"
As he was unable to detect the enemy's approach, the Mandarin went completely into defensive mode, his arrogance being extinguished the moment one of his most powerful attacks hit the enemy without causing the slightest damage.
"Boom!"
With the activation of yet another ring, the gravitational force around the Mandarin instantly increased, to the point of generating ripples in the surrounding space!
In his heart the Mandarin felt secretly relieved - the gravitational force around his body was now more than 10 times that of Earth.
Under the sudden increase in gravity, even an enhanced individual like Captain America or even Iron Man's battle armor would find it difficult to move, let alone attack.
But...
"Boom!"
A punch strong enough to break concrete hit the Mandarin square in the face, the force was so well calibrated that some of his teeth threatened to come loose.
The Mandarin's body flew like a feather in the wind, the poor guy was completely confused .
''What the hell is going on with this guy?''
It was the only thought on his mind.
The Saint was slowly becoming a dark shadow in his heart.
Just as the Mandarin disdained him at first, Asher in fact never considered him a real opponent.
He could clearly see that this guy was just an ordinary person with a bit of power, and although his body contained a substantial amount of Vital energy, which should be Chi, it still didn't pose any danger to him - he was basically on the same level as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, perhaps superior due to the versatility demonstrated by the Ten Rings.
But just as the four fell without resistance... The Mandarin also failed to give him a decent battle.
Subspace creation, mind control, cryomancy, gravity manipulation, and probably even revived abilities like energy manipulation, life extension, and a few others that Asher couldn't deduce...
"Without a doubt, even if the Ten Rings weren't absurdly powerful, they were certainly very interesting."
To the point that Asher became increasingly curious about the origin of these artifacts and how they ended up in the hands of the Mandarin.
As a traveler, who knows very little about the Marvel Universe, especially considering the infinity of possible alternative universes, Asher struggled to remember any relevant information about the origin of these rings - finally he managed to recover a memory of the end. From his mind's eye, the rings appeared to have been recovered in a pocket dimension, called Ta-Lo, where the Mandarin's late wife originated from.
However, this information was still confusing, as Asher's memories of the MCU were not very clear, he remembered the main events and some famous stories from the comics, as for the parallel plots, he barely had any memories.
"I'm very interested in your rings, how about you give them to me, and we avoid an unnecessary beating?"
After hearing Asher's words, anger filled the Mandarin's heart!
"Arrogant!"
The Mabdarim roared furiously, and then the rings on his left arm and right arm glowed at the same time.
"Boom!"
The wind howled, the thunder roared – in this gloomy space, a small tornado wrapped in thunder and lightning formed.
"Feel all my power... Damn."
While the Mandarin was completely out of control, overcome with anger.
Asher moved, in the blink of an eye before the Mandarin even realized it, a hand had him firmly trapped by the neck.
"...Don't be surprised – I'm a little bored, so let's hurry things up a bit, shall we."
Asher calmly looked at the Mandarin, and then...
"Boom!"
Asher began to perform, what would be known in the original storyline, as the Weak God Crush, applied to Loki by the Hulk. Amidst the extreme violence, Xu Wenwu only felt his head sink, and then his consciousness began to fade.
In the second blow he completely lost consciousness, the only thought he had at that moment was...
"What kind of evil did I do, to find such a monster."
After he fell into a coma, Asher looked at the poor guy lying on the floor, and then waved his hand gently.
"Buzz!"
With his wave of his hand, the Ten Rings detached themselves from the Mandarin's body, and began to slowly float around Asher.
[Congratulations to the host for defeating the enemy ''The Mandarin'', the host receives 1000 system points.]
[The special artifact ''Ten Rings'' has been detected in the host's possession. The host can choose to exchange them for 5,000 system points.]
[The item contains a trace of extradimensional energy, can be transformed into the special item ''Fragment of Another Dimension'', The host can spend 40,000 system points to summon the Legendary Pokémon ''Giratina''.]
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[Note: Guys, this chapter ended up being longer than the others due to the author forgetting to post what would be chapter 91 of the original material, jumping from chapter 90 directly to 92, as I couldn't find the raw material for chapter 91... I ended up writing the first half of this chapter, alone to try to fill in the gaps, so there may be some differences in the writing style, among other things... I hope it doesn't bother you too much and please overlook the bad writing...]
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