61: Chapter 61: The Reincarnators' Melee - The Final Protagonist Appears

Backstage at the convention center, Matsushita Koji watched Tony on the exhibition stage with a playful gaze, a group of restless Reincarnators standing behind him.

He was the temporary leader of this team of solo players.

They had formed a team for only one reason—

Killing Tony Stark provided a massive amount of points.

"The greater the risk, the greater the reward." Matsushita Koji stared at the live broadcast of the press conference, his eyes gleaming with a fierce light.

A hundred people.

This was the total manpower he could gather within a week. As Reincarnators familiar with the plot, they understood the rules perfectly: to survive in this world, one must learn to leverage momentum.

Relying on brute force would only trigger a backlash from local powers, and they would eventually be taught a hard lesson.

Based on past experience, Matsushita Koji and the others knew that to successfully take down Tony, they had to use the villains in the story to reduce resistance.

Thus, they chose the Obadiah Stane faction.

But what left them completely bewildered was that this major villain, who was destined to rebel in the original story, hadn't followed the script at all!

They waited and waited, but not only did Obadiah not move against Tony, he remained firmly seated as the second-in-command of Stark Industries without the slightest sign of action.

Even more ridiculous was that Whiplash, Ivan Vanko, who wasn't supposed to appear until the second installment, had actually shown up early!

He had even developed a set of Iron Man Armor with performance far exceeding the original, and had taken the lead to become the new iron man in the public's eyes!

To make matters even more chaotic, the villain Ivan was holding a press conference while the actual protagonist, Tony, had become the one crashing the party.

"Has this world gone completely mad?"

Just as Matsushita Koji cursed in his mind, a bright red mission prompt suddenly popped up on his retinal system panel.

[Triggered Temporary Side Mission: Kill Tony Stark]

[Mission Reward: 1500 General Points, Random B-rank Equipment/Skill ×1]

[System Supplemental Note: This world line's deviation rate exceeds 98%. The target character's importance rating has been significantly upgraded. Mission rewards are temporarily doubled.]

Looking at the doubled rewards, every Reincarnator present was tempted.

A Reincarnator with a cigarette in his mouth sneered and stubbed it out. "This mission is easy. There's only one Tony. Let's strike together!"

"Coordinate with Ivan, kill Tony, and take the rewards!"

The hundred-plus Reincarnators lurking in the audience, backstage, and at safety exits moved instantly, surrounding the entire stage in the blink of an eye until it was impenetrable.

In the center of the stage, Tony was about to raise his hand to fire another shot when j.a.r.v.i.s.'s warning exploded in his ear:

"Sir! We are completely surrounded! Please evacuate immediately!"

Tony looked up in surprise, finding himself encircled by a crowd, every single one of them looking at him with ill intent.

They wore varied clothing and carried a hodgepodge of weapons; some held blades, some aimed guns, and some had hands glowing with eerie light.

"Just a bunch of thugs." Tony spoke with disdain, but his feet instantly ignited as the armor's engines started at full power, preparing to soar into the sky.

Too late.

Facing Tony, who was a walking treasure chest, how could the greedy Reincarnators let him go?

"Stop him! Don't let him escape!"

A thunderous roar completely ignited the flames of war.

An Ice-type Esper waved his hand, and the glass dome at the top of the venue was instantly sealed by a thick layer of ice, blocking all aerial escape routes.

A Telekinetic User controlled chains that burst from the rubble, tightly binding Tony's legs.

A Gravity-type Esper suddenly clenched his fist, and a ten-fold gravity field instantly enveloped the stage, pinning Tony firmly to the ground, unable to move.

In the blink of an eye, the Tony who had been so high-spirited just a moment ago became a grounded chicken.

"Fuck! A bunch of rats hiding in the gutters, and all you can do is rely on numbers?"

Tony roared through gritted teeth as the repulsor in his chest forced a charge. Two beams of light blasted out, directly knocking the two Reincarnators in the lead flying.

Just as he was about to strike again, more attacks rained down upon him like an overwhelming tide.

The outer shell of the Mark 5 Armor continuously dented, the alarms grew more urgent, and the damage rate skyrocketed.

Two fists are no match for four hands, let alone a hundred.

"Enough." Ivan raised his hand to stop the Reincarnators who wanted to swarm forward and tear Tony to pieces.

Vengeance had to be taken personally.

Ivan stepped on Tony, opened his faceplate, and looked down at him with a face full of mockery. "Tony, oh Tony. How does it feel to lie at my feet like a dead dog?"

"Wait until I get up. The first thing I'll do is blow up that piece-of-shit tin coffin of yours." Tony refused to back down in the verbal sparring.

Ivan raised his hand to activate the armor's recording function, shoving the lens into Tony's wretched face. "Look closely. The whole world will know that your so-called iron man is just a loser who hides behind his father's shadow."

"I will ruin your reputation and let you watch as everything you own is personally taken away by me."

Having finished the video, Ivan lifted his foot to release Tony and turned to leave.

But someone wasn't happy with that.

Boom!

A searing blast of fire roared in from the side, hitting Ivan squarely in the back.

The silver armor instantly erupted in a large cloud of black smoke, and he was sent flying like a broken sack, smashing hard into the rubble ten meters away.

A massive figure stepped out from the shadows.

It was the modified and upgraded Iron Monger 2.0, a steel beast over three meters tall, with smoke still rising from the cannon on its shoulder.

"Obadiah! You dare backstab me?!" Ivan was furious.

Obadiah opened his helmet, revealing a face brimming with triumph.

He had to admit that his ally, who called himself the Hive City Governor, was right to remind him to perfect the fire control system—just look at how satisfying that shot was.

Obadiah looked at Tony pinned to the ground, then at Ivan struggling in the rubble, and smiled.

"Trash is trash. You're even sluggish when it comes to killing someone!"

"If you had just killed Tony, I might have spared your life and pinned all the blame on you, taking over Stark Industries as a matter of course."

"But you're too useless. Now, I can only send the two of you on your way together."

"Once I kill Tony and then kill you, I can still throw all the dirt on you just the same."

He turned to look at Tony on the ground, the greed in his eyes almost overflowing. "Tony, from today on, Stark Industries gets a new owner!"

Ivan struggled to lift his head, looking at the mercenaries surrounding them.

That group of people had their arms crossed, faces full of amusement as if watching a play, with no intention of helping at all.

What Ivan didn't know was that the Reincarnators' factions were chosen early on and were difficult to change mid-way.

Furthermore, the Reincarnators' mission was only to kill Tony. Protecting Ivan?

That certainly wasn't included.

Obadiah raised his cannon muzzle. Just as it was about to charge, an arrow whistled through the air, accurately hitting Obadiah's targeting sensor.

Boom!

The sensor exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere.

Obadiah turned back in a rage. "Who?!"

A lithe figure leaped down from a height, landing on the edge of the stage.

Hawkeye, Clint Barton.

Immediately after, another figure flashed into view: Black Widow Natasha Romanoff.

Behind them, dozens of fully armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents filed in, instantly occupying advantageous terrain.

Even more bizarre was that among these agents were a large number of people with strange auras.

Matsushita Koji's pupils constricted suddenly.

The aura emanating from those people was exactly the same as theirs.

"Reincarnators!"

"How is that possible?!" Matsushita Koji blurted out. "When did they link up with S.H.I.E.L.D.?!"

A blonde man stepped out from the agent team; it was Lawrence.

He looked at Matsushita Koji, a mocking smile curling on his lips.

"A bunch of idiots." Lawrence sneered. "How many points do you get for killing a low-health Tony? Helping S.H.I.E.L.D. win this melee gives ten times the rewards. Besides, with the alien tech in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands, any random side mission is fatter than this!"

He tilted his chin, and the guild elites behind him instantly raised their weapons—all of them C-rank or higher.

Matsushita Koji's face instantly turned the color of pig liver as he cursed loudly, "Who the hell changed the plot? None of this crap happened in the original! Damn white pigs, how dare you ruin my plans!"

"Brothers, take them down! Killing them gives points too!"

The solo Reincarnators instantly raised their weapons, and a grand battle was on the verge of erupting.

No one noticed that the sky outside the window had darkened.

Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dozens of black shadows descended from the sky, crashing heavily around the stage.

They were steel giants nearly three meters tall.

The sharp-edged ceramite armor gleamed coldly under the spotlights, the impact of their landing cracking the ground and sending concrete shards flying.

They shouldered hellguns and held Heavy Stubbers, instantly surrounding the entire stage until it was completely blocked.

Matsushita Koji was stunned.

Lawrence was stunned.

Hawkeye and Black Widow simultaneously took a step back, assuming combat stances.

Obadiah's cannon muzzle froze in mid-air.

Tony was quite annoyed. "Is Powered Armor just a common street item now?"

"Hey, new guy, are you here to steal my kill too? I guess I'm pretty popular."

j.a.r.v.i.s. corrected him: "Sir, detections show these are Power Exoskeleton Armors. They..."

Tony wasn't in the mood to listen to j.a.r.v.i.s.'s correction because yet another black shadow was slowly descending.

Its build was even larger than the surrounding Men of Iron, and it was the only armor with decorative gold trim.

The faceplate flipped up, revealing a young and handsome face.

It was Fu Haoran.

Fu Haoran's gaze swept across the chaotic crowd as if he were looking at a pack of brawling stray dogs.

He first looked at Tony, who was being stepped on, then glanced at Ivan, whose armor was half-destroyed, and spoke flatly: "Old friend, it seems your operation here isn't going very smoothly."

"However, I have a more important project that requires your help."

"Now... give me a moment to deal with these redundant people."

An imperceptible smile curled at the corner of Fu Haoran's mouth as his gaze swept the area, as if looking at a group of prey waiting to be slaughtered.

"Since I changed the plot, I naturally have to be the one to wrap it up."

"The points from this group of Reincarnators added together are quite a fat piece of meat."

"Not to mention, this melee contains the final two pieces of the puzzle for my plan."

Fu Haoran's gaze finally landed on Tony Stark and Ivan Vanko.

The Reincarnators within the encirclement finally reacted.

Looking at the seemingly endless steel army before them and the armor on Fu Haoran that far exceeded this world's technological level, everyone's expression instantly turned ugly.

Matsushita Koji and Lawrence exchanged a look, both seeing the wariness toward the steel army in each other's eyes.

"We must eliminate this third-party Reincarnator first, otherwise no one is getting out of here today!"