NOVEL NEXT Chapter 230: The Battle
Tony stepped onto the case, instantly unlocking it. He gripped the arm connectors that popped up, pulling them toward himself as the armor assembly began.
Within seconds, the suit had locked into place, and Iron Man officially made his appearance.
Seeing Tony's method of suiting up — the entire armor compressed into a briefcase — Ivan Vanko instantly recognized the depth of Tony's technological research. Compared to this, his own suit was several generations behind.
Even so, Ivan brimmed with confidence. This would be a fair fight between him and Tony, and he intended to make it spectacular — to showcase the pride of the Vanko family.
From the stands, the crowd gasped at Tony's transformation. Everyone knew he was far ahead in suit technology.
With both men ready, the battle was on the verge of erupting.
Ivan charged forward, his arms whipping out twin cables connected to each forearm. Electric current instantly surged through them.
"Zzzzz!"
Seeing the weapons, Tony's expression turned serious.
Ivan cracked one whip, sparks and lightning flashing as it struck the ground, leaving a scorched mark.
…
Pepper Potts, watching Ivan face off against Tony, turned to Bulma.
"Bulma, you're sure you didn't design that?"
Bulma shook her head.
"No. He made it himself. From what Smith told me, Ivan's father was one of the co-creators of the Arc Reactor."
Pepper glanced at Smith Dole, and when he nodded in confirmation, she was stunned.
It was surprising enough that the Arc Reactor had other original contributors. Even more unbelievable was that the man's son had also managed to miniaturize the reactor just like Tony.
And now that Ivan had joined Capsule Corporation and established Vanko Industries, Pepper thought it might be time to reconsider some aspects of Stark Industries.
…
Ivan swung his whips, plasma energy crackling across them. Tony dodged while counterattacking.
John Wick and Happy both noticed that Ivan's combat style showed no signs of formal training. His technique was simple — relying entirely on the two special whips.
Yet despite its simplicity, the attacks were deadly. Tony tried taking one hit directly, but his HUD lit up with multiple fault warnings, the suit's defense almost breached.
Of course, Tony wasn't to be underestimated. Even without extra weapons, a single repulsor blast was enough to knock Ivan to the ground, lighting up his systems with fault alerts of his own.
Ivan advanced, whips cutting the air, plasma arcs colliding above.
"Zzzt! Crack! Snap!"
"Boom!"
A whip strike missed and slammed into the ground, leaving a deep scorch mark. Thankfully, the track was already cleared — otherwise, any car caught in that attack would have been destroyed.
Tony fired another repulsor blast, but Ivan deflected it midair with his whips, taking no damage.
Closing the gap, Ivan snared one of Tony's arms with a whip and wrapped the other around his neck. With a sharp pull, he dragged Tony toward him and slammed him to the ground — then hurled him in the opposite direction.
Grinning at the apparent advantage, Ivan felt sure of victory.
Tony, kneeling on one knee, glanced at the fault codes filling his display — and got an idea. He grabbed the whip around his neck, wrapping it around his own body, and began advancing step by step.
Ivan tried lashing with the other whip to hold him back, but it didn't work.
Soon, Tony was right in front of him. Without hesitation, he launched a flurry of punches. This was still a friendly match, but Tony had no intention of losing — he had already shown Smith Dole enough courtesy. Now it was his turn to go on the offensive.
After several blows, Tony used Ivan's own tactic against him, slamming him into the ground.
Spotting the flaw in Ivan's partial armor coverage, Tony went in for a move he'd learned from Smith — a barehanded armor dismantle.
Within moments, Ivan's suit was in pieces. Jarvis scanned the Arc Reactor on Ivan's chest and reported that it was multiple versions behind Tony's design — and his suit lacked any flight capability.
Tony removed the whip from himself, stepped over to the downed Ivan, and hauled him up.
"Looks like I win this one, pal."
Ivan's eyes were vacant. He hadn't expected Tony to beat him without using missiles. Clearly, he still had work to do.
"I lost, hahaha! But I won't give up. When I upgrade my suit, we'll fight again."
Tony didn't mock him.
"I'll be waiting."
Then he called out,
"Announcer, give us the result."
The host shouted,
"The winner of this match — Iron Man, Tony Stark! And let's give our thanks to Whiplash, Ivan Vanko, for an outstanding performance!"
The audience rose to their feet, applauding loudly for both fighters.
Backstage, Tony removed his armor, while Ivan stripped off the Whiplash suit.
Tony, after a moment's thought, said,
"Your Arc Reactor design's not bad, but the RPM is too low — the output per second isn't enough. Double the rotation speed and use a plasma channel to focus the energy. You'll get much better results."
Ivan considered the advice.
"Thanks. But I'm more curious — how did you deal with the palladium poisoning after using it for so long?"
Tony replied,
"Chlorophyll helps slow it down. But Smith Dole has a better solution — you should ask him."
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[Thank You For Your Support!]