Marvel: A Portal to the World of Swallowed Star

Ratatatatatat!

In an aging estate located on the outskirts of Miami…

Two to three dozen soldiers in tactical armor, glowing with an eerie orange hue, raised their AKs and unleashed a storm of bullets at an intruder in the sky.

But the bullets halted mid-air, caught in an invisible field of force.

Hovering above them, Rowan glanced at the weathered estate below and chuckled quietly. This had to be Killian's stronghold.

In the original timeline, this was where Killian housed the fake "Mandarin."

Beneath this manor was a lab dedicated to the Extremis virus, overseen by Maya Hansen.

Rowan's eyes sharpened as he studied the copper-jacketed bullets floating around him, immobilized by his telekinetic force.

With a mere flick of his will, the bullets suddenly reversed direction and shot downward.

Bang bang bang bang!

The ground exploded under the rain of bullets.

Some struck the soldiers' armored chests, sparking on impact. Others penetrated their limbs and skulls.

A few unlucky ones had their heads completely blown apart.

"No time to play with you," Rowan muttered, eyes cold.

With a thought, his Kroluminum dagger flashed out of its sheath.

The deep-blue blade transformed into a streak of light, slicing toward the ground.

Like a deadly game of connect-the-dots, the dagger danced through the air in elegant arcs, threading through the Extremis-enhanced soldiers with lethal precision.

In less than two breaths, every soldier had collapsed.

Each of their skulls had been obliterated by the dagger.

Even as molten-red tissue bubbled at their wounds, trying in vain to regenerate, it was too late. Their brains had been destroyed no regeneration could save them now.

Years of Killian's efforts in cultivating his Extremis warriors wiped out in an instant.

Rowan hovered downward atop his floating shield and made his way into the manor.

Inside, he extended his telepathic sense throughout the building. Within moments, he located the underground lab.

Before he could act, the reinforced door of the basement suddenly exploded outward.

Killian burst forth, armored and helmeted, wielding a long red-hot blade.

Rowan took one look at his getup and raised an eyebrow.

Killian's armor had a distinct modern design, resembling the combat suits worn by fighters in the Swallowed Star world. Still, it borrowed heavily from classical plate armor.

"Rowan!" Killian bellowed, eyes blazing with fury and confusion. The anger in his voice was palpable, but beneath it lay fear and disbelief.

He couldn't comprehend how Rowan possessed such overwhelming power.

To a man like Killian who had dedicated his life to scientific enhancement Rowan's supernatural might felt like a cruel joke.

He'd seen the footage: Rowan annihilating his enhanced soldiers with a single thought.

The sheer disparity terrified him and filled him with seething rage, the same kind of humiliation he once suffered under Tony Stark's dismissive gaze.

"Enough," Rowan said flatly. "Save that look. You brought this on yourself by standing in my way."

"Die!" Killian roared. Flames surged across his body, turning his blade and armor into molten metal as he charged.

Rowan smirked with disdain.

Foolish.

Floating just above ground, Rowan reached out and clenched his fist.

Instantly, Killian's armor was seized by invisible psychic force.

Screeeech!

Killian froze mid-charge.

His body was yanked upward, suspended thirty centimeters off the floor. The very armor meant to protect him now began crushing him from every angle.

"Aaaahhhh!"

Thousands of pounds of pressure closed in. Killian's body lit up in magma-like hues as he screamed in agony.

He thrashed wildly, trying to break free. But suspended in the air, with no leverage and only the strength of a high-level dojo trainee, there was nothing he could do.

Rowan's mental power at the level of a junior warlord was far beyond what Killian could endure.

Crack crack crack!

Bones shattered one after another. His organs twisted and collapsed under the relentless compression.

His body radiated terrifying heat. The Extremis virus inside him frantically tried to repair the damage.

But it wasn't enough. Not even close.

The rate of destruction far outpaced any healing.

Killian's face contorted in pain, his eyes bulging.

"You really thought you could show up in front of me wearing antique armor and walk away?" Rowan said with a chuckle.

Killian's suit was nothing like Ivan Vanko's.

Vanko's exosuit was engineered for extreme conditions even deep-sea pressure. It was a marvel of tech.

Killian's, by contrast, lacked mechanical reinforcement. It was just plated steel held together with straps.

Against telekinesis, it was practically a death trap.

Like Wolverine facing Magneto, it only made things worse.

"Time to end this."

With a thought, Rowan tightened his grip.

Boom!

Killian's body exploded, torn apart from the inside.

The searing heat within him erupted all at once, igniting a massive blast.

A shockwave ripped through the entire estate.

Rowan summoned nearby sheets of metal to form a barrier around himself, shielding against the heat and force of the explosion.

At his current level a mid-tier warrior the residual heat only caused slight discomfort.

As the blast faded, the grand hall lay in ruins. Not a single item remained intact.

Rowan lowered his shield, stepped through the smoldering wreckage, and made his way toward the basement.

Despite the smoke and dust, the underground lab remained structurally intact.

Scanning the room, he spotted rows of high-tech equipment and glowing monitors.

Cowering under a desk was a woman in her thirties, long brown hair, attractive features, trembling in fear.

"You must be Maya Hansen?" Rowan asked, walking toward her.

"I… Yes. And you are…?"

Maya looked up, startled. Seeing Rowan young, sharp-featured, and commanding she was both fearful and puzzled.

The explosion had rattled her, and the dagger hovering protectively around Rowan only deepened her dread.

"I'm Rowan. CEO of Krolon Industries."

"H-hello," Maya stammered, sneaking a glance toward the door. Sensing no immediate threat, she hesitantly stepped out from under the table and bowed slightly in greeting.

She'd heard of Krolon. Killian had mentioned the company often. She knew Rowan was destined to become a powerful industrial figure.

"Did you invent the Extremis virus?"

Rowan didn't waste time.

"Uh… yes."

Maya's voice quivered with unease. She feared she might be held accountable for Killian's actions.

"No need to worry. Killian's dead. I'd like to understand the principles behind Extremis. If your answer satisfies me, I'm willing to offer you a high-paying position and protection."

Rowan extended his offer.

"Dead?" Maya was stunned.

Just a minute ago, Killian had stormed out of the lab. And now… he was gone?

But she dared not ask further. She feared Rowan might end her too.

"Sir, the Extremis virus is a technology I developed using encoded DNA programming. The concept involves infiltrating the body's genetic operating system and restructuring the neural regions responsible for regeneration…"

Under the weight of Rowan's intense gaze, Maya explained the virus's mechanisms in concise terms.

Rowan's eyes lit up.

He grasped the essence of it.

According to Maya, all organisms possess latent biological potential that remains dormant. By rewriting the genetic code responsible for healing, she artificially accelerated evolution, unlocking a self-repair mechanism akin to that of planetary-level warriors.

In essence, Maya had granted ordinary humans a version of the regenerative abilities possessed by high-tier beings.

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