Showdown

For the United Nations to go to such lengths to gather them together for his farewell party, Zane expressed satisfaction.

"Zane, can't you just give in for once?" Tony opened his face mask and looked at Zane sternly, his words carrying a hint of resentment.

Yet Zane responded with a brilliant smile, just as they always did when teasing each other.

"No!"

Upon hearing Zane's reply, Tony found himself smiling in the same way for some reason.

In that moment, Tony reaffirmed his choice, knowing he wouldn't hold back against Zane, believing Zane felt the same about him.

"Zane, where's Lorna?" Magneto scanned the surroundings, slightly tense when he didn't find Lorna.

"The girl is in an absolutely safe place now, so you don't need to worry," Zane replied.

Upon hearing Zane's response, Magneto breathed a sigh of relief.

It was good that Zane didn't involve Lorna.

Otherwise, if Lorna stood against him now, Magneto didn't know what he would do.

If Zane knew what Magneto was thinking, he could only chuckle.

When had Zane ever used a woman as a shield from birth until now!

With the small talk finished, it was time to get down to business.

"There are too many of you. Not every Tom, Dick, and Harry is qualified to challenge me," Zane said disdainfully.

Before the heroes below could show their indignant expressions, dozens of golden ripples had already spread around them.

Then the dozens of missiles that initially attacked Zane were ejected from [King's Treasury] with flames.

Blessed by the Treasury, these missiles had reached supersonic speeds.

Only a few people managed to dodge them with their beast-like instincts.

Most people could only watch helplessly as the missiles enlarged in their pupils.

At that moment, these people felt regret. They realized that their sense of justice couldn't feed them or save their lives.

At this critical moment, Magneto acted. The missiles that initially targeted Zane were diverted, flying straight into the sky and exploding.

In the explosion's glare, the weaker superheroes below gasped for air in unison.

If those missiles had exploded earlier, with their abilities, even if they didn't die directly, they would've been maimed.

At that moment, they realized this wasn't their usual small-scale skirmish but a real battle of life and death.

After the crisis passed, a towering anger rose within them.

All the superheroes began to unleash their abilities against Zane without hesitation.

Some used firearms, some wielded lightning, some emitted laser beams from their eyes, some manipulated objects with telekinesis, some controlled metal, and some fired energy cannons...

The attack methods were diverse.

Yet Zane faced this overwhelming assault with a calm smile. With a single teleport, he evaded all attacks while hovering in mid-air.

Before they could even be amazed at Zane's ability to teleport despite being spatially constrained, golden ripples appeared in the sky within their sight.

The dense array of portals dyed the entire sky gold. If someone were to count, there might be tens of thousands of Vault portals by now.

Zane wasn't the weakling who could only open a few thousand portals five years ago...

"Die!"

As Zane uttered those words, countless small energy cannons sprayed dazzling blue light.

Instantly, the superheroes below were submerged in an ocean of energy blasts.

And it didn't end there. After a brief recharge, another wave of attacks came.

The barrage of energy cannon blasts continued incessantly for a full ten minutes before Zane retracted the weapons.

During this time, various heroes also displayed their powers.

Some shrank their bodies to the size of ants to evade, some relied on their inhuman bodies to withstand, and some relied on their high-tech armor...

But as time passed, more and more weaker heroes were struck by the energy blasts and turned into flying ash.

After ten minutes, the place where the superheroes had stood had turned into a pit dozens of meters deep.

The bottom of the pit was filled with molten lava melted by the massive energy blasts.

Now, only about a tenth of the initial group remained alive.

Nick Fury, who had incited the trouble, was also fortunate enough to survive, though his right arm had disappeared.

This was thanks to Iron Man, who had held him close; otherwise, he would have been utterly dead during the first round of energy blasts.

Looking at the dwindling number of surviving superheroes and his empty right shoulder, Nick Fury's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Zane Sy, you will pay for this, I swear!" Nick Fury muttered to himself, his tone filled with deep-seated hatred.

All the remaining survivors were enraged.

This was just the beginning, and their comrades had died like this, accomplishing nothing and leaving no trace of their bodies.

Now they truly felt Zane's character, as Nick Fury had described it, lawless and indifferent to human life.

'A person like this must not remain on Earth!'

This thought arose spontaneously among all the remaining survivors.

And as Zane looked at the remaining twenty or so people below, he shook his head, still somewhat dissatisfied.

But now that the troublesome riffraff had been cleared, the real battle could begin.

"Zane Sy!" Tony roared, his armor's thrusters fully engaged, accelerating to supersonic speeds and breaking the sound barrier in mid-air.

As Iron Man charged toward him, Zane didn't dodge or evade. Just as Tony's iron fist was about to strike Zane's face...

A slender right hand suddenly grabbed it, and Tony Stark completed an instant transition from extreme speed to stillness.

The tremendous inertia caused Tony's blood to surge, nearly causing him to black out from a brain hemorrhage.

If it weren't for the insane level of protection in his armor, just the immense physical inertia would have killed him.

Tony, looking at Zane blocking his full-force attack with just his body, finally understood that the gap between him and Zane might be even greater than he had imagined.

But the battle had to continue. Tony focused all the energy of his armor into the chest's arc reactor.

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