The clash of steel echoed through the hallway as Hong Fei twisted his arm, driving his longsword clean through the wall beside him. With a sharp forward thrust, he threatened to bring the entire structure crashing down. A cacophony of blade strikes and panicked cries erupted from within the wall. Three steps forward, and the wall began to crackle ominously.
Hidden doors slid open, revealing rows of ninjas who leapt out to confront Hong Fei. Behind him, bodies crumpled to the floor, steam curling from the blood on his blade. "A toad marrying a frog—both ugly and wild," he muttered. The wall wasn't solid—just a hollow cavity barely sixty centimeters wide.
The so-called vanishing act was nothing more than hiding behind these concealed doors. Any magician worth their salt would've been furious at the cheap trick. Hong Fei's gaze locked onto the ninjas, his eyes narrowing as he twisted his blade slightly. The ninjas mirrored his stance, tightening their grips on their swords.
Without warning, Hong Fei reached back, pulled a grenade from his belt, yanked the pin, and hurled it into their midst. He ducked out the doorway and pressed himself flat against the wall. The explosion rocked the room. When the dust settled, he stepped back in to dispatch the survivors—those already blown to pieces didn't require his attention.
Down below, the roar of Frank's guns and cannons drew a swarm of gunmen toward Hong Fei. An unexpected stroke of luck, but Hong Fei's descent soon outpaced Frank's position. As he leapt from the spiral staircase and landed in a superhero-style crouch, a sharp click sounded behind him.
Instinct took over. He drew his blade in a flash, standing and turning just as the fastest bullets reached him. Clang! The back of his sword deflected one, sending it ricocheting away. His hands blurred as the blade danced, afterimages blooming perfectly before him. Clang! Clang! Clang!
The rapid-fire barrage sounded like a torrential downpour. Severed bullets fell to either side, shattering furniture and office equipment. Paper scraps and dust surged upward, enveloping Hong Fei completely.
"I've seen this before," Tony muttered, just arriving outside the Rand Building and observing the scene through the windows.
But this time was different. Hong Fei advanced while deflecting bullets. Eventually, the gunmen ran dry. As the first wave emptied their magazines, the hail of bullets thinned. Hong Fei continued wielding his blade with his left hand while his right slashed horizontally with the longsword.
Sword energy exploded outward. A flash of light in his eyes, and a sharp mark tore through the floor, extending all the way to the distant wall. The gunmen fell instantly. Tony stared, stunned.
The next moment, Hong Fei turned his head and waved at him. Tony smashed through the glass, charging inside at full speed. He aimed to take Hong Fei down, but Hong Fei didn't retreat. Instead, he sprinted straight toward him.
At the last second, Hong Fei leapt, stepping lightly on the back of Tony's head before landing gracefully after a somersault. The two passed each other in silence.
When he turned around, not only did the Pulse Cannon in his palm fire rapidly, but the hidden weapons in his shoulders, arm armor, and other locations all deployed and locked onto Hong Fei. Bullets could be cut with blades, but energy couldn't, and micro-missiles certainly couldn't—they would explode upon contact. But Hong Fei had other methods now.
The shield of condensed Qi materialized before him in an instant. Energy blasts and missiles detonated against the shimmering barrier, their fury contained as Hong Fei advanced unimpeded. Tony's rate of fire increased—round after round hammering the energy field—but the warrior's stride never faltered. Each step carried the weight of a prowling predator, his Qi shield repelling the onslaught as he closed the distance.
Three meters away, Hong Fei exploded into motion. He launched himself skyward, torso twisting midair as his blade carved a deadly arc downward. Tony veered sideways, repulsors flaring as he backpedaled. Then—impossible—Hong Fei released his grip. The sword became a silver streak hurtling toward Tony's chest.
No time to dodge. Tony's arc reactor flared, unleashing a concentrated beam that deflected the blade with a metallic shriek. The sword embedded itself quivering in the ceiling beams overhead. Tony's boots ignited, lifting him skyward—only for Hong Fei to match his ascent without so much as a crouch, defying physics as he pursued.
Repulsor whines filled the air as Tony fired rapid bursts. Hong Fei twisted through the barrage like a leaf caught in a storm, his aerial agility surpassing even his ground speed. The gap between them vanished. Tony aborted combat protocols, thrusters flaring as he pivoted toward the shattered windows.
"Running already?" Hong Fei's taunt preceded the impact.
Tony's world spun as something collided with his backplate—hard. Warning lights flooded his HUD as stabilizers failed. The armor tumbled uncontrolled before slamming into concrete. Through the ringing in his ears, Tony glimpsed Hong Fei descending feet-first from above, palm outstretched. A shockwave of Qi hammered him deeper into the crater.
Disoriented, Tony relinquished control. Jarvis seized the neural interface, recalibrating systems with machine precision as thrusters reignited. The armor lurched sideways—too late. Hong Fei's shadow eclipsed the ceiling lights.
The impact drove Tony through another floor. Servos screamed under the weight of Hong Fei's boots planted squarely on the armor's spine. Ceramic plating spiderwebbed beneath the pressure. Tony remained motionless—deliberately so—while Jarvis rerouted power from damaged systems.
A point-blank repulsor blast forced Hong Fei into a backward flip. Tony rolled upright, gauntlets raised defensively. Steel met energy as Hong Fei's next strike skidded against reinforced forearm plating.
"Noticeable improvement," Hong Fei remarked, disengaging. "Your digital butler's reflexes surpass yours."
Jarvis parried the next slash, locking the blade between armored wrists. Before Hong Fei could react, the chest beam seared upward along the sword's length. Hong Fei abandoned his weapon midair, retreating beyond reach.
Tony spat blood inside his helmet. "Should've guessed you'd show up wearing that ridiculous outfit."
Hong Fei landed lightly on a broken support beam. "I assumed you'd missed me. Or at least dreamed of vengeance."
Oh, Tony dreamed of it. Daily. But the Mark II anti-Hong modifications remained incomplete.
Tony thought for a moment and silently handed control over to Jarvis, keeping only vocal command. "Let's dance, then! That robe makes you look like a circus tent—perfect for wiping the floor with you!" The armor surged forward, right fist already in motion.
Hong Fei dodged, and the sturdy pillar behind him was instantly punched through, creating a large hole with gravel spraying everywhere. The armor's arm rotated, the palm emitted energy outward, and the back of The Hand rushed rapidly toward Hong Fei. Hong Fei dodged again! Tony: "You're not doing so well today!"
After Hong Fei used a forward-step Iron Mountain Lean to push the armor away, he laughed: "Jarvis, you're very smart. Any interest in learning a move or two from me?" Jarvis didn't speak and launched another fierce attack. Immediately, the incessant sound of fists and arms colliding echoed endlessly. Tony: "Jarvis, come on! You can do it!"
The artificial intelligence's analysis and judgment speed were extremely fast. Hong Fei relied on his Eyes of Death to slow down time, used Qi to enhance the power of his moves, and combined this with the combat instincts formed through his own rigorous training, which allowed him to contend with this Iron Man Armor of superior defensive capabilities.
At this moment, Hong Fei could completely use his Psychic Power to break the Iron Man Armor's weak anti-psychic attack components. As long as he controlled Tony, Jarvis would have no choice but to obey. But he didn't want to do that right now. First, he didn't want Tony to know that the so-called anti-psychic attack component was actually useless.
Showing weakness to the enemy was a way of strengthening himself in disguise, because he might need to utilize this point at some time in the future. The second reason was much simpler: he just wanted to defeat Tony and Jarvis head-on! Channeling Qi into his hands, his speed increased again. His fists flew in a series, swinging arms and throwing elbows.
The force erupted in the collisions, causing continuous explosions in the air. The Iron Man Armor chose to retreat half a step to stabilize its center during the Impact. Hong Fei instantly stepped forward, seizing the position that had just belonged to the Iron Man Armor. He stomped down, like a giant hammer shaking the earth. Cracks rapidly bloomed from under his feet and spread into the distance.
The entire floor, and even the entire room, seemed to tremble from this stomp. Around the blade embedded in the ceiling, dust fell in rustles. At the same time, Hong Fei crossed his hands, gripping the Iron Man Armor's arms from the inside and outside, and pulled them to the right.
His upper body followed the force of the armor's punch, swinging toward the rear right, but he also curled his upper body as much as possible at this moment. Under his feet, the intense reaction force was immediately fed back into his body through the soles of his feet. Power rises from the ground! The muscles in his legs bulged sequentially from bottom to top, reaching his waist.
Hong Fei released the armor's arms, and his right fist quickly retracted to his chest. As he twisted his waist to channel power, his upper body suddenly swung back! It was like a highly resilient long pole that had been bent; the speed and power brought about by its instantaneous recovery were far beyond imagination.
As his body straightened, the fist locked at his chest suddenly exploded outward at an incredible speed. The loose clothing on his arm suddenly inflated as if it had been pumped with air, seemingly turning into a tight-fitting garment. Through the stretched, taut fabric, the lines of Hong Fei's arm muscles could be clearly distinguished.
The heavy punch was thrown like a cannonball leaving the barrel; it was as if one could see a circle of invisible air waves rotating around his arm, pushing the clothing to tighten and stretch forward bit by bit! Boom! The moment Hong Fei's fist armor made contact with Tony's Iron Man Armor, the power carried by the fist itself and the Qi covering the fist erupted simultaneously!
A visible shockwave rippled outward, raw explosive power unleashed in a single devastating strike. It hit like a cannonball, a hammer blow, unstoppable and brutal. Combined with the earlier advance and pull technique, the impact was amplified tenfold.
The stomp that preceded it had shaken the ground itself—a foundation laid for the heavens, a single strike ascending to immortality. Infused with Qi, the cannon-like intent gained tangible substance, its ferocity surpassing even that of an actual cannon. The Iron Man Armor's neck joint groaned under the strain, metal twisting with a grinding screech.
The entire suit was hurled into the air, sparks erupting from its neck with a sharp crack. The lights in the armor's eyes flickered and died. A deafening clang echoed like a temple bell at dawn. The Iron Man Armor went still, only the faint glow of its chest reactor betraying any sign of life.
A deep, concave fist imprint marred the armor's neck, its cracked edges exposing severed circuits. From above, a long sword clattered down, caught effortlessly by Hong Fei. He grabbed the armor by its ankle and dragged it across the floor. Moments after he left, the ground behind him began to collapse, sections of the floor crumbling with a low rumble.
No trophy could be more imposing than Iron Man himself, battered unconscious within his own armor. Two floors below, Hong Fei encountered the S.H.I.E.L.D.—no, Hydra-S.H.I.E.L.D. squad. Crossbones, Rumlow, and their team moved with precision, their attack power formidable, their coordination seamless.
Initially held back by The Hand's defenders, Hydra-S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly gained the upper hand. Rumlow led his squad in a methodical sweep, clearing The Hand's forces with ruthless efficiency. The battle ended swiftly. Without hesitation, Rumlow signaled his team to advance, turning to charge toward the floor above. They burst through the doorway.
He and his squad—whether they were S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra-S.H.I.E.L.D.—stopped dead in their tracks. Hong Fei stood before them, dragging the limp form of Iron Man across the floor. Every eye fixed on the scene, frozen in disbelief.