15: The Knights of Peace

On the highway, Iron Monger smashed Iron Man's head with his fists and laughed heartily, "Tony, thank you for giving me the last golden egg. I'll use your golden egg to become the richest man in the world."

"Can't you have some higher aspirations? As a villain, you're quite the failure."

A dizzy and groggy Tony continued with his usual sarcasm while quietly activating a device on his suit, preparing to take Iron Monger into the sky. If his guess was right, Iron Monger hadn't made any anti-freezing preparations.

Iron Monger snorted coldly, and a missile launcher popped out from his back, ready to finish Tony off once and for all. At that moment, a black figure rushed in from the distance at high speed, crashing into Iron Monger with a bang. Iron Monger was sent flying, tumbling across the ground.

The black figure was a mighty suit of armor with a dove emblem on its chest. The figure looked at Tony, who had fallen to the ground, with disdain and said, "You're the worst Stark I've ever seen!"

"Who are you? Do I know you?"

Tony was quite displeased. Then, he noticed the arc reactor on the chest of the black armor and angrily cursed, "Another thief."

"I didn't steal your stuff. Also, my reactor is more advanced and more powerful than yours."

Howard snorted coldly, pulling out the axe from his back, ready to kill the now-recovering Obadiah. That bald-headed fool dared to bully his son? He was asking for death.

Just then, Trask's voice echoed in Howard's mind: "Hey, have you forgotten your job?"

"Killing Obadiah can also save people."

Howard Stark mumbled something and shouted toward Obadiah and Tony, "We, The Knights of Peace, are here to save people. You two keep fighting, don't mind us."

After saying this, he rushed to the side of a bus and sliced it open with his axe. Soon, several human-sized robots flew in from a distance, clumsily helping to rescue the people trapped inside the bus.

Due to time constraints, these robots were quite simple, consisting only of a skeleton frame and a layer of steel plating, but it was enough for the job.

"The Knights of Peace?"

Tony and Obadiah were both dumbfounded. What was this nonsense? Obadiah, even more frustrated, cursed in his mind, thinking, Why did you hit me while rescuing people?

Obadiah hesitated for a moment, then activated his machine gun and fired at Tony again. Tony immediately took to the sky, and this time, Obadiah fell for it. His feet emitted thick black smoke as he aggressively chased after Tony.

Howard looked at him with disdain, "So much black smoke—obviously a knockoff."

At the same time, several robots stormed the battlefield, rescuing seriously injured soldiers on the ground and contractors inside the building. Both sides, friend and foe alike, were stunned by this.

One of the black-and-white armored figures seemed to be doing something when Trask, who was controlling a massive robot, coldly spoke to him, "We are pacifists, here specifically to save people."

With that, Trask raised his hand, and a laser shot out from his index finger, carving a deep crack into the ground.

The black-and-white armored figures were startled and quickly decided to ignore the robots, focusing instead on eliminating S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the military forces.

The ghost-like robots wasted no time, swiftly evacuating the soldiers on the ground. However, surprisingly, they didn't rescue all of the wounded.

One of the injured soldiers, dissatisfied, shouted at a passing robot, "Why aren't you saving me? My leg is broken!"

"Because you've already given up on yourself," Trask coldly replied, leading the robots to transfer the contractors to a safe location. Those who were saved cried tears of joy. Though they didn't understand the situation, the fact that they had been rescued was all that mattered.

While the robots were busy, Wind Demon turned into a gust of wind and entered the burning building, rescuing several contractors. It had to be said that his ability was incredibly useful.

"What's going on?" Coulson was completely bewildered. It was strange enough that a group of pacifists had suddenly appeared to save people, but even stranger was that they were selectively rescuing individuals. Was someone playing a prank?

"Though it's odd, it seems to be a good thing," Coulson muttered as he took out his communicator and quietly asked, "Rhodey, when will the jets arrive?"

Colonel Rhodes, Iron Man's friend, responded through the communicator, "They've already taken off. They'll be there soon."

"Very well."

Coulson put down his communicator, his expression somewhat complex. This time, he had underestimated the power of the armored suits. The future world would belong to the Iron Man suits.

Trask reported to Andrew, "Boss, five Raptor jets will arrive in three minutes."

"It seems it's almost over. Get the contractors to a safe place as soon as possible."

Andrew nodded to himselfr.

The American jets might not be able to handle Iron Monger or Iron Man, but dealing with the black-and-white suits wouldn't be too difficult—their performance and defense were far inferior to the real Iron Man suits.

At that moment, the previously arrogant black-and-white armored figures suddenly collapsed to the ground, their chest arc reactors sparking wildly. The pilots inside were instantly electrocuted by the out-of-control currents, killing them on the spot.

Only one person escaped this fate: Iron Monger. Iron Man had taken him high into the sky, and his body was now frozen, allowing him to narrowly avoid this disaster.

"Boss, this is bad. The arc reactor Obadiah made has a flaw—it overheats and could explode," Howard quickly reported to Andrew. "The arc reactor contains immense energy. If it explodes, everything around it will be reduced to rubble."

Trask added, "It will explode in no more than thirty seconds."

Tony also realized this, but with only thirty seconds left, there wasn't enough time to remove all the black-and-white suits. Gritting his teeth, he had J.A.R.V.I.S. search for Pepper's location. Now, all he could do was save Pepper.

Tony was in deep pain and guilt. These people were all caught up in this because of him.

"Bad? Why do I think it's quite the opposite?" Andrew's eyes lit up as he immediately pulled most of the people around Stark Tower into a hallucination—except for Tony Stark, Coulson, and those who had previously entered the illusion. However, Pepper Potts was included in the hallucination.

Inside the illusion, Kira (Andrew's hell lord form) explained the situation about the imminent explosion of the arc reactor and then said, "Two minutes. Sign the contract, and I will save you. Otherwise, you will die here."

It's worth noting that the two minutes inside the illusion only equated to two seconds outside.

Those pulled into the illusion looked at each other, unable to speak or discuss the situation. They could only ponder silently.

Pepper's eyes flickered, but she didn't sign the contract. The explosion of the black-and-white suits was no trivial matter. This so-called "god" wanted to save them, but he would need to remove the black-and-white suits to do so. This meant that even if they didn't sign the contract, they could still be saved—unless no one signed at all.

But that was highly unlikely. People were afraid of death, and the "god's" offer was quite tempting.

"No wonder he wouldn't let anyone talk."

As Pepper expected, about five hundred people chose to sign the contract. Kira profited handsomely once again.

"Obadiah is truly a generous man, delivering so many souls to me."

Andrew whistled, and the Harley Davidson motorcycle in the garage started up on its own, roaring as it sped from underground to the entrance of the Rebirth Tower.

Andrew jumped from the building, landing perfectly on the motorcycle.

Immediately after, pitch-black flames erupted from Andrew's body, quickly spreading to the Harley. The motorcycle transformed rapidly, resembling a ferocious, roaring beast.

This black hellfire was a new flame that Andrew had evolved after consuming the Spirit of Vengeance, far more powerful than Johnny Blaze's red fire.