"What is that?"
Thanos was not the only one who noticed Tony taking out the Stone. The surrounding Avengers noticed it too. The Reality Stone was quite conspicuous, and Tony even slapped it onto his chest, making it visible to anyone with working eyes.
They just could not be sure whether it was what they thought it was.
"That's right. It's what you're thinking."
The Avengers had already retreated a certain distance, and Ethan, holding the six Infinity Stones in his hand, also walked back. The Avengers looked down at the Stones in Ethan's hand, confirming that none were missing.
"Why does Tony have the Reality Stone?"
Steve went straight to the point, asking the question everyone wanted answered.
"In that world, the Power Stone is with Thor, Strange holds the Time Stone, and the Reality Stone is under Tony's safekeeping."
"What about the Tesseract and the Mind Stone?"
"The Space Stone has been in my hands for a long time, and the Mind Stone is in Loki's hands."
"Loki? The Loki we know?"
Not all the Avengers had talked to Ethan about the Asgard of a parallel universe. Given some of the things Loki had done, many people did not think well of him.
"Yes, that Loki. In my universe, he's been helping Thor manage Asgard."
"Indeed, it's a completely different world."
They chatted for a few sentences, and Tony had already put on his armor. Everyone noticed a clear difference between this armor and the armor of this world. The Iron Man armor in this universe was a purely technological product, with a strong sense of technology.
But what was going on with this Tony's armor from the parallel universe? It also looked very advanced, but why were there so many complicated and clearly unscientific patterns on it?
They noticed that there were no thruster flames erupting from this Tony's back or feet, yet the seemingly heavy Iron Man armor floated lightly in midair.
"Ethan!"
While everyone was examining Tony's armor, Tony, staring at Thanos, suddenly called out to Ethan.
"Play some music. I know you can handle it."
"No problem. What song do you want?"
"You know my taste."
Ethan nodded. The Iron Man Tony Stark from the movie universe was a huge fan of the rock band AC/DC. With a slight lift of his hand, he did not create a speaker or any similar device out of thin air. Music simply started playing from nowhere.
The Avengers involuntarily looked up at the empty sky. The feeling of music playing out of nowhere was strange, and everyone wanted to complain but did not know what to say.
"Excellent!"
Tony was very satisfied after hearing the music. He raised his hands, and the patterns on his arm armor emitted bursts of blue light, finally condensing spherical energy balls filled with mysterious symbols in each hand.
Immediately after, the Stone on his chest burst out with brilliant light, and the energy in Tony's hands was tinged with red. As he slightly raised his hands, the surrounding plants gradually changed shape under the wrapping of the red energy.
"What the hell is this?"
Rhodey was the person most familiar with Tony, but seeing this scene, he felt a sense of unfamiliarity. This person was indeed not the Tony Stark he knew. The Tony Stark he knew would not have this strange ability... or would he?
He glanced uncertainly at the Tony Stark next to him, who immediately guessed what his good friend was thinking.
"Stop looking. I can't do that. That must be the power of the Reality Stone... By the way, why can I use the Reality Stone? Was this armor specifically developed for the Stones?"
He had many questions he wanted to ask the other Tony. This whole time, the other Tony had been asking about his situation. Although he had asked some questions in return, they were about the other Tony's life, completely neglecting the skills the other Tony possessed. He had habitually assumed the other Tony's abilities were similar to his own.
In their astonishment, countless crops were twisted into missiles by the power of the Reality Stone, then flew toward Thanos in an overwhelming barrage.
Thanos had already charged forward when Tony floated up. Even as a barrage of missiles flew toward him, he did not hesitate for a moment. The continuous rumbling explosions, accompanied by the shockwaves they generated and the large plumes of smoke they kicked up, obscured the view for the onlookers.
And Thanos used the cover of the smoke to close in on Tony.
"Is that all you've got?"
A fist larger than a human head smashed toward Tony, but Tony did not panic at all. He did not even make a defensive move, because an energy shield suddenly appeared in front of him.
Bang!
The heavy punch smashed into the energy shield. Thanos's attack had no effect on Tony. After a moment of surprise, the energy shield suddenly turned into chains, one end wrapping around Thanos's arm, the other connecting to the ground and continuously dragging his hand downward.
Such immense strength came from who knew where. Thanos had never expected Tony to have such a move. Before he could figure out what was happening, the armor on Tony's hands had transformed into two large cannons, aimed at Thanos's head at close range.
"Bye-bye!"
Beams of light erupted from the cannons on his hands, instantly obliterating everything directly in front of Tony, including the wooden hut Thanos had built and the mountain behind it, into dust.
"..."
The onlookers, seeing a mountain obliterated by a single shot from Tony Stark, wanted to say something but did not know what. At that moment, only profanity could clearly express everyone's feelings.
Everyone turned their gaze back to Tony Stark, their eyes filled with, "You're that powerful? What have you been doing all this time?"
Tony Stark felt particularly wronged. He really was not that powerful. What kind of weapon was this guy using? Why was its power so great?
None of the Avengers recognized what this Tony was using. Only Ethan did.
"Antimatter cannon?"
He had not expected Tony to grasp the Space Knight technology so quickly and integrate it into his armor, but that question could wait, because Thanos was not dead.
"You aimed too high."
Tony had aimed at Thanos's head, but the close distance had actually given Thanos a chance to dodge. He only had to duck to avoid the shot.
Grabbing the chain with both his left and right hands, he tore it apart with a yank. Thanos looked in surprise at the long trench Tony had blasted, then looked at the chain in his hand that was slowly dissipating.
"I didn't expect the parallel universe version of you to learn these... Did you become a Guardian in another world?"
"Not really. I just learn anything I find interesting."
The cannons on Tony's hands disappeared, reverting to their gauntlet state. Several new devices extended from his back. At the same time, formed devices continuously detached from the armor, floating one by one around Tony.
Possessing storage space, Tony carried sufficient supplies, so he did not need to worry about running out of nanites. Even if he did, he could gather materials on the spot and use the Reality Stone to twist other objects. Using the Reality Stone to twist reality required extra energy, meaning Tony would need to expend his own magic and arc reactor energy, converting them into the nanite materials he needed.
This meant Tony had a massive supply of ammunition, mastery of both technology and magic, and a powerful weapon like the antimatter cannon. Thanos had no chance of winning.
Tony showcased his various abilities, and soon Thanos fell before him. Tony did not even need to use the antimatter cannon again.
"It's over!"
Thanos looked at Tony before him. He knew he had failed but said no words of complaint, nor did he show any indignation. He calmly accepted the outcome, quietly awaiting his second death.
Tony did not hold back. After killing Thanos, he retrieved the hundreds of small combat devices he had released, converting them back into nanite material and storing them in his storage space.
Looking at Thanos's corpse, Tony thought for a moment, then used the power of the Reality Stone to destroy his body, erasing all traces of Thanos's existence to prevent anyone from using special abilities to resurrect him and threaten this universe again.
"How does it feel?"
The music had stopped during the battle, but Ethan did not speak until Tony had finished everything.
"I just feel like I did what needed to be done."
He glanced at his counterpart from this universe. Others might not have noticed, but Ethan certainly had. He knew Tony did all this because he wanted his counterpart in this world to have a relatively better ending, to enjoy a quiet retirement with his wife and daughter instead of dying in the final battle.
After a moment to process everything, the Avengers finally recovered, accepting the fact that Tony Stark from the parallel universe was incredibly powerful.
For the Avengers, there was a more important question awaiting them. Snapping their fingers to bring back everyone Thanos had killed.
"Let's go back to Earth first."
Looking around, they would not come back to this planet, but even decades later, they would not be able to forget everything they had experienced here.
Opening a portal, they returned to the Avengers Compound one after another. The Avengers began discussing who should make the snap.
This was not something just anyone could do. Many ordinary people could not even withstand the power of one Infinity Stone. For example, the volatile Power Stone could tear someone apart with its raw energy if touched.
And the combined energy of six Stones activating at once was definitely something beyond what an average person could endure.
"Of course, I'll do it!"
Thor, having regained his peak strength, felt this task had to be completed by him. He felt it was his responsibility and obligation, and none of the other Avengers members had a physique superior to his.
If it had been the fat version of Thor, everyone would have tried to stop him, but now...
"Tony, could you make a gauntlet that can hold all six Stones, and then I..." Thor turned to point at the Stones in Ethan's hand, but as everyone turned around, they saw Ethan, holding the six Stones, casually snap his fingers.
"The dead have already been revived. No need to thank me."
"..."
(To be continued.)