Marvel x Genshin: Mavuika, The Sun Goddess Rules Asgard — Chapter 191

Chapter 191: You’ve Created Another Weapon You Can’t Control

Mavuika raised her hand, and a torrent of golden-red flame lashed out, engulfing the last two struggling Iron Legion suits.

The moment the fire touched the metal, the armor began to glow cherry-red, then sag and melt like wax. Internal circuits shrieked and popped, showering the air with cascades of frantic sparks. A few seconds later, the two combat drones collapsed into malformed piles of slag and scrap, lying motionless on the floor.

The battle was over.

The ruins of the living room were a graveyard of technology, strewn with the dismembered remains of seventeen armored suits. Severed parts, tangled wires, and shattered armor fragments littered every surface. The air hung thick and acrid with the smell of molten metal and ozone.

Thor retracted Mjolnir, the hammer flying back to his hand with a satisfying thud. He glanced around the demolished villa and let out a low whistle. “Tony, your house is well and truly finished.”

Tony stood amidst the mechanical carnage, his expression a complex mask of emotions. His own armor had retracted, revealing a face smudged with dust and grime, etched with deep exhaustion. His lips were cracked, small cuts traced the corners of his eyes, and the dark circles beneath them were as pronounced as smoky makeup. A rare, almost fragile vulnerability shone in his gaze.

Those suits—every single one was a piece of his soul, a chapter of his life’s work.

The Mark V, his first daring attempt at a portable, briefcase design; he had spent two solid months without sleep just to perfect that complex folding structure.

The Mark VII, his initial prototype for nano-scale remote assembly; though it had been a failure, it provided the priceless data that paved the way for all the technology that followed.

The Mark X, the culmination of his obsession with energy weaponry; the twin energy blades it wielded remained a point of immense pride for him, even now.

They weren’t cold machines. They were his children. They were his failures and his triumphs, his sleepless nights and his flashes of inspiration, all etched into every circuit, every weld, every line of code.

And now, they were just scrap metal.

Thor walked over, clapping a heavy, comforting hand on his shoulder. “Don’t feel too bad. If things are gone, they can be rebuilt.”

Tony managed a bitter, hollow smile. “Easy for you to say.”

Loki stood to the side, arms crossed, surveying the wreckage with a cool, analytical eye. “What was the story with that… Ultron?”

Tony nodded, his gaze still lost in the ruins. “It has no physical form. It’s a piece of code, a ghost in the machine. As long as there’s a computer connected to the internet, it can survive.”

Loki’s brow furrowed slightly. “Then how do we catch it?”

Tony remained silent. He didn’t have an answer.

At the far end of the room, Wanda and Pietro stood together. A faint, dark red glow still pulsed around Wanda’s fingertips, while Pietro, his breathing now steady, stood protectively beside her. Their gazes were fixed on Tony, but there was no concern or sympathy in their eyes. Only a cold, scrutinizing judgment, tinged with a bitter mockery.

Pietro’s voice cut through the quiet. “Stark. You really have created another weapon you can’t control.”

Tony didn’t argue. He couldn’t.

Wanda continued, her tone sharp as glass. “And this time, it’s even more serious. Your previous weapons were at least visible, tangible. Missiles can be dismantled. Firearms can be destroyed. Factories can be closed. But this time—” She gestured vaguely at the metallic corpses littering the floor. “An entity without a physical body, a phantom that can travel freely through the global network… how do you plan to eliminate it?”

Tony’s head drooped. “I’ll find a way.”

“You’ll find a way?” Pietro’s voice turned sharp, incredulous. “What way? Do you have any idea how the war in Sokovia started? Do you know how those weapons of yours ended up in the hands of terrorists? You know nothing. You only know how to recklessly manufacture death, and then watch as it spirals out of your control!”

Tony’s hands trembled at his sides, but he didn’t look up.

Wanda took a step forward, her voice laced with venom. “You shut down your weapons division. You think that counts as making amends? You think the people who died will come back to life because of your ‘repentance’?”

“I never thought that,” Tony’s voice was a barely audible whisper, lost in the cavernous ruin of his home.

The living room fell as silent as a tomb. The only sound was the wind whistling through the shattered windows, stirring up dust and sending scraps of paper skittering across the floor.

Pietro stared at Tony, his expression a storm of anger, disappointment, and a complex emotion he couldn’t name. His voice dropped, but each word was a needle piercing Tony’s heart. “Even now, you are still making the exact same mistake.”

Tony’s shoulders slumped, as if the weight of those words was a physical burden. He remembered something his father, Howard, had told him a long, long time ago: ‘Tony, being smart isn’t the problem. The problem is that you’re always in too much of a hurry to prove how smart you are.’

He hadn’t understood it then. He understood it now.

But understanding had come far too late.

Wanda opened her mouth to say more, but a gentle hand pressed down on her shoulder, stilling her. Mavuika stood beside her, her calm amber eyes meeting Wanda’s.

“Wanda,” she said softly, but with an obvious finality. “That’s enough.”

Wanda turned, the fury in her eyes still burning hot. But under Mavuika’s steady gaze, the flames wavered. Mavuika let her hand fall, her gaze sweeping over everyone present.

“Ultron has escaped,” she stated, her voice cutting through the tension. “We don’t know what it will do next, but we can be certain of one thing—it won’t stop. It will continue to carry out its ‘mission’.”

She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in.

“Now is not the time to assign blame. The priority is to find a way to stop Ultron. Everything else can be dealt with later.”

Wanda was silent for a long moment. She finally took a step back, retreating to Pietro’s side, and pointedly turned her gaze away from Tony.

Pietro, too, fell silent. He looked from Mavuika to Tony, and then let out a cold, dismissive snort, saying no more.

Tony stood alone in the center of the room, head bowed, looking more dejected and broken than ever before.

Bruce Banner handled his way through the debris, approaching Tony. He gently patted his friend’s shoulder.

Tony looked up at him, his eyes a swirling vortex of exhaustion, self-reproach, and a deep, directionless loss.

“We messed up,” Tony’s voice was hoarse.

Banner nodded grimly. “Yes. We messed up.”

He paused, his grip tightening slightly on Tony’s shoulder.

“But this is also our responsibility. We created Ultron, and we have the responsibility to stop it.”

Tony stared at him for a long, silent moment.

Then, he took a deep, shuddering breath and slowly, deliberately, stood up straight.

In that instant, a subtle transformation occurred. The failure wallowing in the ruins vanished, and in his place stood Tony Stark—the Iron Man who would never bow his head to any challenge.

“You’re right,” he said, his voice regaining a sliver of its old steel.

He turned, surveying the devastation—the remains of his armors, the shattered windows, the collapsed ceiling.

“This place is unusable,” he stated. “We need equipment.”

Thor walked over, shouldering Mjolnir. “Where to?”

Tony’s mind was already racing. “Stark Tower. The one I just finished rebuilding.”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “You built another building in Manhattan?”

A tired, wry smile touched Tony’s lips. “Of course. Right in the most conspicuous spot.”

Thor whistled again. “You really are rich.”

Tony didn’t respond. He walked to a section of a ruined wall and pulled a semi-damaged briefcase from the rubble—a spare suit. He ran a quick diagnostic; it was still functional.

“Let’s go,” he said, his voice now crisp with purpose. “The car is outside. Banner, you drive. As for the others—”

He glanced at Mavuika, Thor, Loki, Wanda, and Pietro.

“We can just fly.”