To be honest, when Atreus kills enemies, he doesn't even need to use most of the red souls anymore. He's already maxed out all the skills he can enhance with them. Yet, there's still plenty of red souls left over.
The strength they are facing now is beyond what ordinary people can handle.
Even someone like Captain America, who's known for being able to single-handedly destroy a city as a [city-level] powerhouse, is only really good for dealing with small fry.
The women, though, were definitely at a point where they needed some strengthening.
One by one, Atreus took their hands and, under the pretense of transferring power, actually just pressed two buttons through the system, boosting their physical stats to 1.5 times that of a regular person.
This placed a considerable burden on them.
Adapting to the Godslayer system wasn't easy. Atreus could adjust quickly, but they couldn't.
The simplest example was that they couldn't control their newfound strength.
Catwoman, for instance, carelessly crushed a glass cup into dust, cutting herself in the process. But she quickly realized that her healing speed had also increased.
While it wasn't instant regeneration, if she focused, she could feel her wounds rapidly healing, pushing the embedded glass shards out and then closing up the cuts like stitches.
"This... This is amazing!" Black Canary exclaimed in surprise.
Atreus , sounding like a prophet, said, "It's nothing. Even Spider-Man has rapid healing abilities. In fact, I bet that so-called [Extremis Virus] isn't much different. The only catch is that the virus probably has bigger side effects. You never know, that recent explosion might be connected to it."
The women weren't too interested in the conversation anymore. They were busy getting used to their suddenly enhanced strength.
On a larger scale, they could now probably punch through a punching bag.
On a smaller scale, they needed to be careful not to crush glasses or bend forks.
Meanwhile, as expected, things went sideways for Tony.
Happy, using his less-than-professional tracking skills, had been tailing Aldrich's cocky bodyguard, Savin, and got into a scuffle. Of course, Happy got beaten up instead. Then, suddenly, the man who had been talking to Savin started glowing red.
The man's skin, even the muscles beneath it, turned translucent, with weird red pulses visibly throbbing through his veins. As the pulsation became more intense and rapid, red light shot out of his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
And then, he exploded!
"Boom—"
The explosion had the power of a C4 bomb, erupting at the amusement park.
Happy only had time to take cover behind some poor excuse for a barricade and got severely injured. He was rushed to the ICU afterward.
Following the incident, the so-called [Mandarin] appeared, taking responsibility for the attack.
Faced with a terrorist attack that injured his close friend, Tony was rarely this enraged. In front of dozens of American media outlets, Tony declared war on the [Mandarin]!
"I've been wanting to send the Mandarin a little holiday greeting."
"I'm Tony Stark, and I'm not afraid of you!"
"I know you're a coward."
"So, I've decided, pal—you're dead! I'm coming for you personally."
"This isn't about politics, or the White House—this is old-fashioned revenge. Just you and me!"
"My home address is…"
For Tony to publicly abandon his role as an idol and superhero and declare vengeance like this sent shockwaves across society.
The public was thrilled, eagerly awaiting Iron Man to unleash his power and take down the Mandarin.
After his bold statement, Tony received a call from Atreus on a secure line. Still fuming, Tony snapped, "Hey! Buddy, stay out of this."
"No, I'm just reminding you—the so-called Mandarin smells like Hydra to me. What you're dealing with is a terrorist organization that's been rooted in America for over half a century, not just some small group of thugs."
Tony hesitated for a moment, but Happy's injuries had stoked his stubbornness.
Talented people are often headstrong.
The more creative a person is, the more likely they are to resist outside help.
Through gritted teeth, Tony said, "Look, I know you mean well. But you've already saved me twice. I can't always rely on you to clean up my messes. This time, listen to me. Stay out of it! OK!?"
"OK! If it really is just between you and them, I won't intervene. But if things spiral out of control and escalate, don't blame me if I steal your victory."
"Fine! Deal!" Tony agreed, and not even half a day later, he got ambushed.
Honestly, the guy's luck was awful. First, the Stark Tower got destroyed during the Battle of New York.
Now, it was his cliffside mansion in San Diego, California, that was under attack.
To be fair, this mansion, perched on a seaside cliff, was a place Atreus had only visited once. Not only was it blessed with stunning views, but it was also Tony's largest Iron Man workshop.
By challenging the Mandarin so publicly, there was bound to be a showdown.
And guess who came out looking bad?
The answer: Tony!
To be fair, his mansion was equipped with J.A.R.V.I.S., the AI that monitored everything, so no ordinary thief could touch him. The defenses were so strong that even the Marines would struggle to break through.
Unfortunately, it was still civilian-level security.
Unlike Atreus , who had installed four military-grade radar stations and a wide-area underwater sonar system on his private island villa, replacing all his guards with retired radar and sonar specialists.
Tony's mansion didn't have military-grade radar. So when Savin and his boss's crew arrived in a 'civilian helicopter' armed with rockets, Tony was completely unprepared.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!" The rockets screamed death as they rained down on the beautiful cliffside villa, and the only thing Tony had time to do was put one of his Iron Man suits on Pepper, his love, to protect her.
In the midst of the missile barrage, Tony managed to don the incomplete, weaponless Mark 42 suit.
The intense explosions rocked the entire mansion. Despite Tony's best efforts, including using a piano to take down one of the helicopters, he ended up crashing into the ocean along with the collapsing villa.
What followed was a real trial for Tony.
His new MK42 suit was malfunctioning, but it at least saved his life. Whether out of luck or bad fortune, the severely damaged suit carried him to safety, only to run out of power shortly after. Alone, Tony now had to find the truth behind the bombing.