Tony and I spent the next few hours sketching a rough outline of what our combined suit would look like. It was going to be considerably less mechanical than the traditional Iron Man prototype, relying instead on runes to perform key functions — flight, light and heavy weaponry, physical enhancement, and crisis management.
I also planned to replace the standard oxygen scrubbers and temperature regulators with a series of well-designed runic constructs.
"Remind me again," Tony asked, brow raised, "why do you need me for this?"
"To be the front man, of course," I laughed. "And to handle the aspects that magic can't replace — navigation, comms, the AI."
Though, I was certain even that would change with enough time.
Tony took a slow sip, his expression thoughtful.
"Think about how effective the pilot would be," I continued. "They'd have the powers of several Alpha-level mutants, backed by the strategic processing of an AI."
"It's a fantastic idea in theory," Tony admitted, "but I'm not exactly sure how you get tech to recognize magic and communicate with it. Otherwise, the AI's just dead weight."
"I've got a solution for that," I assured him.
He gave me a skeptical look. "Don't tell me it's another magic rune."
I just grinned.
Tony sighed, rolling his eyes. "I'll believe it when I see it."
We went back and forth for another hour, dissecting every detail of the suit — arguing, refining, and eventually hitting a wall. My current level of rune crafting simply wasn't advanced enough to make any concrete plans.
"I'll be back in a few hours," I told him, standing up. "I'm sure I'd have figured it all out by then."
"That easy, huh?" Tony said, half amused. "You're about to pioneer an entirely new field of rune crafting, and you'll just be back in a few hours?"
I could've told him the truth — that I planned to slow relative time inside my personal dimension and grind away until I found the answers — but messing with Tony was more entertaining.
I shrugged. "Hey, some of us are just built different. You know what I'm talking about. Half the stuff you come up with on the spot would take decades for other engineers."
"A bit of an exaggeration," Tony muttered, though he was clearly pleased, "but I get your point. Still, what are your plans for the armor?"
I paused, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, come on," he waved. "I've been around you long enough to know nothing you do is ever a whim."
He wasn't wrong. I could've lied, downplayed it, or laid everything bare. He'd been reasonable so far, so I went the last option.
"We need to storm the demon world and rescue the trapped mutants and humans before the demons find their feet," I said. "And while I can handle myself, I can't say the same for everyone who wants to tag along."
Tony nodded slowly. "I imagine that list's a little shorter after your fallout with Fury?"
"You'd think so. If anything, it's probably longer," I said. "Captain Marvel's as straight an arrow as they come, and I know Cap will want in, regardless of what's going on between me and Fury. The point is, we'll need reliable protection."
"And after the mission?" Tony asked, leaning forward.
"I'm hoping to loan a few governments high-powered versions of the suits — with a ton of safety guards built in — for end-of-the-world-type events. Seems like those happen every few months now. And after all the backlash, I'm not keen on globe-trotting anymore."
Tony leaned back, contemplative. "Those suits are city-breakers. If they fall into the wrong hands…"
"They won't," I said firmly. "I'll build them with failsafes. Remote-triggered self-destructs. Multiple redundancies."
Tony didn't look convinced. "Still… this could change the face of warfare forever."
"It's already changed," I countered. "Captain Marvel's offering SHIELD space-age weapons and interstellar tech. Mutants are growing bolder — the good and the bad. And don't get me started on humans. In some ways, they're the most dangerous of all. Hate groups, power-hungry billionaires — no offense."
"None taken," Tony hummed. "I get why this is necessary. I'm just not thrilled about handing governments another superweapon."
"Neither am I," I admitted. "Part of me worries it'll discourage new heroes or X-Men from stepping up, but we can't let SHIELD hold all the cards either."
Tony sighed, finishing his drink. "Look at us — playing god."
"Haven't we always been?" I replied.
It took about a week of feverish study to reach the answers I was looking for — and in the process, I upgraded Advanced Arcanesmithing to Master-tier, evolving it into something else entirely.
(L) Ancient Rune Magic — Master Tier
Eva's download was a condensed compendium of runic knowledge she'd gathered from her own universe, Sparda's, and this one. The material spanned runes governing Time, Space, Gravity, Force, Darkness, Light, and everything in between.
The catch?
There were countless contradictions and dangerous overlaps. Combining multiple reality-breaking systems was a gamble — you were just as likely to blow yourself up as to strike gold.
Luckily, my class allowed me to navigate the dangers with confidence, integrating runic schools with precision.
Both (L) Decode and Forge and (L) Arcane Lexicon got a serious workout.
By the end of the week-long binge, I'd streamlined most of my runes, improved efficiency, reduced cost, and learned enough about layering enchantments and creating runic arrays to realize that my Twilight Sentinel armor was only in one-piece because of the absurd durability of Twilight Adamantium and the Evolving scales enchantment I added onto it using Devourer blood.
My first true test came in designing a comprehensive physical enhancement array for the armor.
Ancient Enhancement Array
Consists of Ancient Strength, Speed, Reflex, Durability, and multiple Energy Storage runes — providing all-around physical enhancement to those strong enough to withstand it.
Ancient Strength — Draws on Force, Telekinesis, Gravity, and Density runes from three schools of magic.
Range: Min 20 STR – Max 1000 STR
Energy Requirement: 1–100 per second.
Ancient Speed — Draws on Velocity, Telekinesis, Time, Density, and Space runes from three schools.
Range: Min 20 AGI – Max 1000 AGI
Energy Requirement: 1–100 per second.
Ancient Reflex — Draws on Velocity, Time, Space, and Mind runes from three schools.
Range: Min 20 AGI – Max 1000 AGI
Energy Requirement: 1–100 per second.
Ancient Durability — Draws on Force, Density, Gravity, and Telekinesis runes from three schools.
Range: Min 40 DEF – Max 4000 DEF
Energy Requirement: 2–200 per second.
5x Ancient Energy Storage — Draws on Energy Transference and Space runes from three schools.
Capacity: 3000 DE / 3000 AE per rune.
I was high off my achievement by the time I finished and almost started forging a plate-mail prototype to test the effective before a stray thought stopped me.
What if I went with leather?
There was still a mountain of Gamma-infused monster corpses preserved in stasis from the Devourer fights. The memory of those battles was still sharp — and an idea took shape.
What kind of armor could I make from creatures like that? Could I forge equipment capable of absorbing energy, stealing abilities, even developing new skills?
The possibilities were intoxicating.