T'Challa had no choice but to first subdue the three bodyguards blocking his way. Taking advantage of that brief window, Ulysses Klaue slipped away amid the chaos, attempting to escape the casino.
The casino instantly descended into turmoil. Okoye was on the second floor, while Nakia and T'Challa fought on the ground floor. Working swiftly, the three of them dealt with the remaining bodyguards—but by then, Klaue had already reached the exit.
"Ulysses Klaue!"
T'Challa roared and charged toward him.
Klaue immediately fired back, but his gun was empty. All that answered him was the hollow click of the trigger.
With an awkward grin, Klaue tossed the useless pistol aside. He knew perfectly well that he was no match for T'Challa in close combat.
"You murderer!"
T'Challa closed in, his fury almost tangible.
Klaue raised both hands, smiling at him.
"You know, I still miss the good old days."
As he spoke, Klaue's prosthetic arm suddenly transformed. A blue energy cannon unfolded from within it.
Boom!
A beam of blue energy blasted straight toward T'Challa.
T'Challa grabbed a nearby safe to block the attack—but the energy beam shattered it instantly. Banknotes rained down from the second floor as T'Challa himself was blown backward, crashing through a gambling table on the ground floor.
"Move! Get out—now!"
Klaue barked orders to his men, while Nakia and Okoye pursued them relentlessly from behind.
By the time Nakia and Okoye reached the exit, Klaue had already driven off. Okoye flicked her wrist, hurling a bead onto a nearby parked car. The bead instantly flattened and adhered to the hood.
The two women jumped into their own vehicle and sped off in pursuit of Klaue.
---
Back in Wakanda, Tony's armor had arrived.
Because Shuri had made arrangements in advance, both suits passed through without encountering any resistance.
Tony had instructed JARVIS to bring along his vibranium-based armor as well. He planned to use Wakandan technology to merge both suits into a single system, sparing himself the trouble of switching between them in the future.
"So this is that… Uru metal?"
Shuri tapped lightly on the armor.
"It looks pretty similar to vibranium."
The armor's design was based on Odin's Destroyer. Aside from the helmet, it looked nothing like Tony's usual suits—it resembled a smaller version of the Destroyer itself.
However, it lacked one crucial element: rune inscriptions. As a result, aside from absorbing and channeling magical energy, it possessed no innate offensive capabilities. All of its weapons were added afterward by Tony—high-output energy weapons.
After all, the suit could absorb magical energy and convert it into usable power. As far as Tony was concerned, that meant the weapons could be as powerful as he wanted.
"Don't underestimate that metal,"
Tony said confidently.
"Try it and you'll see."
This armor represented the pinnacle of Tony's current technology. Its energy absorption efficiency reached ninety-eight percent. With the exception of purely physical weapons, most energy-based attacks were essentially useless against it.
Tony was convinced that the future of warfare belonged to energy weapons, and that conventional firearms would inevitably be phased out. After seeing Wakanda's technology, this belief only solidified.
Wakanda's current technological level was decades ahead of the rest of the world. Its long-range weapons were already almost entirely energy-based—exactly what global military development would eventually become.
Still skeptical, Shuri raised her vibranium Panther Gauntlets and fired two energy blasts straight at the Destroyer armor.
The beams struck the suit and were instantly absorbed, with no energy dispersion whatsoever. The armor merely rocked slightly from inertia, leaving not a single mark behind.
"This…!"
Shuri's eyes widened. This suit was practically the nemesis of Wakanda's long-range weaponry. With it, more than half of Wakanda's arsenal would become ineffective.
"Well?"
Tony said smugly.
"Impressive, right? T'Challa's armor works on a similar principle, but it only absorbs kinetic energy from physical attacks. That limitation comes down to materials. With the right materials, building a suit that absorbs both kinetic and energy-based attacks would be trivial."
He looked thoroughly pleased with himself. The existence of Uru metal had elevated his understanding of armor design entirely. In the past, he had focused on how to defend against attacks. Now, he was thinking about how to convert an enemy's attacks into his own power.
In a battle of attrition, that alone could decide everything.
"This is incredible!"
Shuri immediately linked to Tony's Destroyer armor. Tony didn't stop her, and the armor's parameters instantly appeared on the display of her wrist device.
"This metal is astonishing,"
she muttered.
"It absorbs energy autonomously—and can store and release it as well. Where did it come from? It's the complete opposite of vibranium."
Shuri compared the data for Uru metal and vibranium. In terms of raw strength, the two were similar—but one was entirely focused on physical properties, while the other was oriented toward magic. They were polar opposites.
"The metal is called Uru,"
Karl said from the side.
"Like vibranium, it comes from outer space."
He had been sitting there quietly the entire time. The technical discussion was far beyond him—he didn't understand a word of it.
"How do you know vibranium came from outer space?"
Shuri asked, surprised. She had never mentioned that to anyone.
"I know a lot more than that,"
Karl shrugged.
After all, as a transmigrator, he was already familiar with Marvel's future events and settings.
"I have an idea,"
Tony said.
"What if we merge this armor with the vibranium one?"
A holographic display appeared on his wrist, showing a conceptual fusion of the two suits.
"That's still uncertain,"
Shuri replied thoughtfully.
"We need more data on Uru metal's properties. And we don't yet know whether Uru can be nanized. That's the key issue."
She split the display, isolating the material data of vibranium and the Destroyer armor, then began running fusion simulations.
This was only a preliminary experiment. The most critical step would be testing nanization after fusion—that was the real challenge.
"I've already run some tests,"
Tony added, pulling up his own data.
"Vibranium and Uru can partially fuse in small quantities."
He integrated his results into the simulation.
All that remained now was to wait.
The system would process countless data combinations, testing every possible outcome. Once the simulations finished, whether fusion was viable would become immediately clear.
This was the power of technology.
Experiments like this no longer required hands-on testing. Computers could handle everything through simulations and data modeling. Although the success rate wasn't a perfect hundred percent, it was close enough—saving enormous amounts of rare materials and avoiding unnecessary waste.
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