Skadi's figure turned into a streak of white lightning, charging straight toward the oncoming wall of sand and roaring engines. The Ten Rings' reinforcements clearly hadn't expected such an unconventional interception. The driver in the lead vehicle stared in shock at the girl with the greatsword running straight at them without dodging, then viciously slammed the gas pedal to the floor, trying to turn her into roadkill.
However, in the face of absolute strength, a steel beast was nothing but a fragile toy.
Right at the moment when the truck's front bumper was about to hit, Skadi twisted her body to the side, pushed off the ground, her waist coiling as she swung. The greatsword in her hands whipped upward from below in a lightning-fast rising slash.
"SKRRAA—BOOM!!"
A shrill, tearing screech of metal exploded in the air. The edge of the greatsword cut through the solid hood and chassis as easily as a hot knife through butter. The entire armed pickup was cleaved from the middle, split nearly in half. The mangled vehicle, still carried by its own massive momentum, was flung upward, tumbling into the air. The fuel tank ruptured, sparks lit the gasoline—
"KA-THOOM!!"
A huge fireball blossomed in midair, and the flaming wreckage scattered in all directions like a rain of falling meteors.
The horrifying sight scared the souls right out of the drivers in the following vehicles, but it was already too late for them to brake or swerve. Skadi never stopped moving. Facing another pickup that tried to ram her from the side, she didn't even bother to use her sword. She simply lifted her leg and casually kicked the truck in the side.
"BANG!!"
With a deafening boom like an ancient bell being struck, the two-ton pickup might as well have been hit by a speeding locomotive. It instantly tipped and rolled, spinning dozens of meters away, plowing a deep trench into the sand as parts flew everywhere. Whether the people inside were alive or dead no one could say.
On the third vehicle, the machine gunner opened fire in a frenzy, but his bullets could only chase helplessly after Skadi's ghostlike silhouette, kicking up lines of smoke in the sand. She closed the distance in an instant. The greatsword swept horizontally, a crimson arc of light flashing by. The entire truck, along with the gunner on top, was sliced cleanly in two. The exposed cross-section was smooth as a mirror.
"Mother of—…" Tony, crouched behind cover at the cave entrance, watched Skadi toy with the modern armored convoy like some titan from myth and couldn't help rubbing his forehead in disbelief. "Takao! This lady you summoned… is she a T-Rex reincarnated or something?! This kind of strength makes no sense at all!"
Takao's blood was boiling as well, but he still held onto his reason. Seeing that Skadi was about to turn every last vehicle into scrap metal, he shouted in a hurry, "Skadi! Leave one! We need something that still runs!"
Skadi's movements paused immediately. She had just ripped the hood off a jeep with her bare hands and was about to drag out the terrified driver inside. Hearing Takao's shout, her crimson eyes blinked once, and she changed her mind on the spot.
She abandoned any further destruction of that jeep and instead turned toward another pickup that was trying to turn around and flee. She bent her knees slightly, the sand beneath her feet erupting in a shallow crater with a boom, and shot forward like a cannon shell, overtaking the vehicle in an instant.
In the horrified gaze of the terrorists in the truck, Skadi reached out with both hands, her ten fingers digging into the metal tailgate like steel claws. Then she braced her core and planted her feet firmly into the ground—
"SKREEEECH—!!"
A grating scream of metal and sand tore across the desert. The accelerating pickup was forcibly brought to a stop by her raw strength alone. The momentum was so great that the front end of the truck reared up into the air before slamming back onto the ground with a heavy crash.
Expressionless, Skadi walked to the driver's side. As the driver shrieked in terror, she grabbed the warped door and gave it a casual yank. The entire door tore away like a sheet of paper. She leaned in, seized the driver by the collar, and tossed him out as if she were throwing out the trash.
"Aaaah—!"
The unlucky man traced a long arc through the air and flew dozens of meters before crashing down onto a sand dune, going limp and silent.
The whole sequence flowed as smoothly as water—brutal and efficient.
"We have a vehicle," Skadi said, dusting off her hands even though there was no dust on them, and called out to Takao.
Takao and Tony stared at the pickup, its engine still rumbling, but with its doors missing and the rear gate twisted out of shape, and found themselves at a temporary loss for words.
"…All right, the look is a bit… unique, but as long as it moves, it'll do." Tony was the first to recover. He ran back into the cave and quickly rushed out again, holding a crude timer in his hand. "I left our lovely 'neighbors' a little parting gift. I hope they enjoy it."
He jumped into the passenger seat. Takao and Skadi climbed aboard as well (Skadi sat in the back, cradling her greatsword).
"Go! The gift is about to be delivered!" Tony urged.
Takao immediately shifted gears and stomped on the gas—fortunately, the key was still in the ignition. The battered pickup let out a hoarse roar and carried the three of them away from the blood-soaked battlefield, racing off into the vast sea of desert.
Less than a minute after they left, a string of earth-shaking explosions erupted from the cave base behind them. Huge fireballs blasted into the sky, black smoke billowed out, and the shockwaves chased after their vehicle, rattling the pickup hard. The improvised bombs Tony had made successfully detonated the munitions depot, completely reducing this Ten Rings stronghold to rubble.
"Yes! Bullseye!" Tony whooped and pumped his fist.
The vehicle bumped along through the endless yellow sands. Tony quickly calmed down again. Using a satellite phone he'd found in the truck, he deftly dialed a number.
"It's me, Tony Stark… Yeah, I'm still alive. It's a long story… Location? Hell if I know which godforsaken patch of Gobi this is… I'll send you the coordinates… Get your ass over here, Rhode, I'm dying of thirst, and I've had it with this junk heap and this damned sand!"
After hanging up, Tony let out a long sigh of relief and said to Takao, "Done. My best friend, Colonel James Rhodes, he'll bring the fastest, slickest piece of hardware the U.S. military's got to pick us up." He glanced at the rearview mirror, at Skadi sitting calmly in the back, holding her sword and never taking her eyes off Takao, then added, "Of course, I'm pretty sure he's going to be very interested in our… uh, 'super bodyguard' here."
The setting sun dyed the desert gold and red. The battered pickup left a long trail of dust as it drove toward an unknown but hopeful future. Behind them, the ruins burned, marking the beginning of a destiny that had been completely altered.
(End of Chapter)
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