Chapter 71. After the Battle

When the wind subsided, the street fell silent. The sounds of explosions and crackling flames disappeared—the fire had been extinguished by the tornado, leaving buildings and cars in its path torn to shreds. "Those things were already smashed by Abomination, so it's not my fault," Noah thought, surveying the devastated street.

When superheroes battle villains, buildings and property inevitably suffer, and naturally, only the heroes are held accountable for the damage. If they didn't assume the blame, they would face public backlash and moral pressure.

But he wasn't going to fall for that trick. "If I hadn't come, you wouldn't even be alive, and you still want me to pay for this?" he thought, picturing himself charging them for protection.

With a sweeping motion, he sent his long blade slicing through the air and returned it to its nanomaterial form, which merged seamlessly with his armor. He opened his personal mission menu and claimed the reward.

[Mission Completed. Summoner receives 1500 units of essence.] [Current essence count: 4700.]

"For a level B mission, that's quite a lot," he noted with satisfaction. While the mission wasn't particularly difficult, it was essentially two level B missions since he had two targets: Hulk and Abomination.

Closing the menu, Noah noticed Iron Man slowly descending from the sky and approaching him.

"That move was pretty awesome. Was that your magic?" Tony asked, glancing at Noah's white hair. "Are those your real hair?"

"It was a sword technique, wind style. You can consider it magic. And the hair—it's a wig," Noah replied, looking around. Two helicopters circled above, and the aftermath of the battle was visible on the ground. Because he arrived in time, no one had died this time.

Meanwhile, soldiers and police were approaching, and the sound of numerous helicopters could be heard in the distance. He decided it was time to leave.

"Magic? That's interesting. And where's Dr. Banner now?" Tony asked, shifting to a more pressing topic.

"Dr. Banner is probably in that helicopter with his father-in-law, General Ross."

"What? Does that mean we need to rescue him?" Tony looked at the helicopter, wondering if they had failed their mission.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Dr. Banner will get out himself," Noah was confident about Banner—or rather, the Hulk. Since Banner hadn't transformed during the battle and had observed from the helicopter, he would simply be taken to General Ross. But Noah had a feeling he'd soon turn into the Hulk and escape.

If not, there were other options: either S.H.I.E.L.D. would step in, or Noah would intervene himself. But he suspected S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be able to handle it since General Ross was resolutely focused on Hulk.

"Okay, I'm leaving too. It's getting too crowded here," Noah said as people began to gather around.

With a nod of farewell from Tony, he activated his propulsion systems (magnetic levitation hadn't been installed yet) and soared into the sky. As he ascended, he heard a shout from the side.

"Storm Swordsman! Over here, look this way!"

Noah turned and saw the helicopter broadcasting live. Apparently, the broadcast was still ongoing. Noah glanced at the badge of the reporter. Emily, The Daily Bugle? That sounded familiar.

Emily, seeing that Noah had stopped, was ecstatic. She immediately instructed the cameraman to focus on him, though he didn't need a reminder—he was already filming Noah with all his might, holding a camera in one hand and a photo camera in the other. Noah thought the cameraman was unusually enthusiastic about his job.

"Hello, Mr. Storm Swordsman! We're from The Daily Bugle, and we're live right now. May I ask you a few questions?" the reporter asked hopefully, taking the chance to name-drop her newspaper. This made other American media outlets envious, as they hadn't been so lucky.

"What's your question?" Noah asked, hovering by the helicopter, and slightly altered his voice.

"What is your true identity? Do you plan to reveal it like Tony Stark did? Are you also a super-wealthy genius like him?"

"Uh, no comment," Noah said, stumbling over the rapid stream of questions from the journalist.

"Mr. Storm Swordsman, your recent tornado was incredible! Was that magic?" she asked, implying something supernatural, though she likely thought it was advanced technology.

"Think of it as magic," Noah answered evasively, feeling it was time to leave. "I have business to attend to."

Saying this with a cool edge, he increased the power of his engines and shot into the sky. A second later, the boom of breaking the sound barrier echoed.

"How amazing!" the reporter exclaimed, watching him leave, involuntarily clutching her legs.

Meanwhile, the live broadcast was buzzing with comments in various languages, discussing the new superhero—Storm Swordsman.

On one of the high mountains of the Himalayas, in an ancient temple complex hidden from the world, lay Kamar-Taj, the ancient order. In one of its temples, the Ancient One watched the screen and smiled.

"A mysterious young man, it's time we had a talk."

Back on the street where Noah fought Abomination, the military had temporarily taken over. General Ross ordered his soldiers to search for remnants of the monster, hoping to use them to create super-soldiers, his ultimate goal.

"General, we found something!" reported one of the soldiers, running up to Ross.

"Show me."

General Ross followed the soldier to a spot where several troops stood around massive bones that Abomination had cut from himself. The flesh had been destroyed by the sword's energy, leaving only the sturdy bones.

General Ross nodded with satisfaction—this could be useful.

"Take it," he ordered.

"You can't take that," came a voice Ross detested.

The general turned to see a group of people in black suits led by a bald, one-eyed man in a black coat.

"Nick Fury," Ross said, narrowing his eyes, realizing he was in trouble.

"General Ross, this matter is now fully under S.H.I.E.L.D. jurisdiction. You cannot take anything from here, including these bones," Fury said.

"Nick Fury!" the general clenched his teeth and asked an officer for confirmation. The officer confirmed, and Ross nearly burst with rage.

With the order coming from above, he could do nothing, knowing he couldn't oppose S.H.I.E.L.D. The only consolation was that he still had Hulk in custody.

"And you'll need to release Dr. Banner," Fury added.

"Don't even think about it, Nick Fury," Ross responded, storming away with his soldiers. He had no intention of letting Banner go.

Nick Fury watched the departing general. The matter of Banner needed further discussion, as Ross made it clear he wouldn't let him go.

"Nick, you finally made it," Tony said, approaching Fury and looking at the massive green bones.

They began discussing the remains left by Abomination.