Bab 37: Killed
The last video taken by the Ten Rings was filmed by a terrorist hiding in a residential area. It was shot after the battle was nearly over and primarily focused on Tony's Iron Man suit. As for Blake, he was only in the last two or three seconds, where he was seen smashing a tank. Unfortunately, Obadiah stopped watching the video before this part, so he never saw it.
Blake's punch nearly made Obadiah's jaw drop inside the Iron Monger.
"This can't be..."
Obadiah had just activated his invincible Iron Monger with the arc reactor he obtained and had defeated Tony Stark's suit, feeling unbeatable. He couldn't believe that someone, especially someone who looked so weak, could block his punch.
"This is impossible!!!"
Doubting the authenticity of the previous punch, Obadiah channeled full power from the arc reactor into his next punch and aimed it at Blake. This punch was so massive it could cover half of Blake's body.
"Come on, bastard!" Blake shouted, throwing a punch of his own.
Tony, lying on the ground, widened his eyes. He knew the power of the Iron Monger and couldn't believe Blake was standing up to a punch that was clearly twice as powerful as the last one.
It was clear that Tony underestimated Blake's cunning. Blake's punch, seemingly aimed directly at Obadiah's, veered off at the last moment, causing him to dodge the Iron Monger's punch entirely.
"Boom!"
The Iron Monger's punch smashed into the rooftop, creating a hole. Blake, with a sly smile on his face, produced a knife handle from somewhere. With a flick of his wrist, a black Tang Dao Sword gleaming with a cold light appeared in his hand. He gripped the sword with both hands and swung it down hard.
With a flash of the blade, the sword sliced through the Iron Monger's right arm at the elbow.
"F**k!"
Obadiah was at a loss for words to describe his shock.
Blake wasn't an idiot. The first punch was to save Tony, appearing to match the Iron Monger's strength. But it left his right hand slightly numb, although his quick recovery minimized this. Facing the second punch, which was clearly more powerful than the first, he wisely chose not to clash head-on.
With most of its weapon systems destroyed by Tony, the Iron Monger was left with just the Gatling gun on its right arm, which Blake promptly cut off with one swing of his sword.
"Idiot!" Blake spat out.
Although the Gatling gun posed no threat to Blake, having a weapon and not using it was foolish.
"Tony, watch me turn this guy into pincushion!" he quipped over his shoulder to Tony.
He noticed the Iron Monger's legs emitting huge flames and thick smoke. Realizing Obadiah was trying to flee after being disarmed and outmatched, Blake laughed as the heavy Iron Monger slowly began to lift off the ground.
"Hey! Leaving without saying goodbye? Look at your thrusters. We're both using armor, but yours is so not eco-friendly! Come on down!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Blake swung his blade, slashing diagonally twice. The Iron Monger's thick metal legs were severed from its body. The flames from the thrusters continued, causing the torso to rise about ten meters into the air before spinning and crashing heavily onto the rooftop.
Blake stepped forward, raising his sword again, and severed the Iron Monger's left arm. What was once an imposing and mighty suit of armor was reduced to a limbless torso with a few swift strikes.
Glancing at Tony, Blake jumped onto the Iron Monger's hulking body. Finding a connection point, he realized it would be easier to just stab directly since the suit wasn't made of special alloy. Just as he raised his Tang sword, he heard Tony's shout from behind.
"Blake!"
Tony's call was clear without further explanation. Blake looked at Tony and, after a long silence, spoke.
"Do you... remember how many graves there were next to Yinsen?"
This single sentence made Tony turn his face away. The massacre in the Middle East was certainly the work of the Ten Rings terrorists. However, whether it was providing weapons or the revenge on Yinsen that followed Tony's kidnapping, Obadiah bore part of this heavy blood debt.
Tony turned away, and this time Blake didn't hesitate. He swung his sword down. Obadiah let out a muffled grunt inside the Iron Monger. Blake pulled the sword out, moved to another spot, and struck again, then shook off the blood and sheathed the sword.
"He said he bought an island to retire on and talked to me about all the things he had figured out. What a pity," Tony muttered quietly.
"Alright, I know you feel a bit of pity, but even if he bought an island, it wouldn't change anything. There's a saying, 'What goes around, comes around.' Debts must be repaid," Blake said, sitting down next to Tony.
"By the way, why didn't you answer your phone?"
"I was in the shower. I only saw the call afterward. Jarvis told me, so I came right away. Can you get up?"
"I can, but I might need your help getting the armor off."
The armor couldn't detach automatically yet. The two struggled for a while, removing the armor piece by piece. Tony looked at the Iron Monger in front of him and, after a moment of silence, said,
"This thing can't be left here, and neither can that big guy downstairs. What happened tonight will be known by everyone. We must destroy both of them."
Tony was referring to the large arc reactor prototype below. After the exposure of Tony's mini arc reactor and armor, the large reactor would undoubtedly attract many forces. Although everyone knew they weren't Tony Stark and couldn't miniaturize it easily, they would still try.
The allure of the Iron Man suit was just too great.
"How do we destroy it? Do we need to push this big guy off?" Blake pointed at the Iron Monger.
"No need! Let's go find Pepper and watch the fireworks together!"
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