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"Confirmation complete. Secret Technique Acquired: Nine-Star Poisonous Blessing."
Regardless of whether the host possesses a positive or negative "jinx," Tony will suffer from debuffs and a reduction in intelligence.
In gaming terms, a debuff refers to negative status effects such as slowing, weakening, stunning, and similar impairments.
Haha, just kidding.
Of course, there was no way Rimuru actually possessed some mysterious "anti-Tony secret skill."
So Tony's previous defeats really had nothing to do with her.
She hadn't even said anything—how could she possibly have cursed him?
But why were Pepper and the other four looking at her with such disbelief and quietly keeping their distance?
She had merely decided to act as a professional commentator for a while, yet the result was beyond words.
Back in the arena, both Mark and Crimson were covered in scars.
Their armor plating was battered beyond recognition, riddled with dents and ruptures. Sparks crackled across their bodies from time to time.
Together, they vividly demonstrated the brutality of war.
By this point, everyone had already formed their own judgment.
In pure close-quarters combat, Crimson clearly held the advantage.
After all, size and weight mattered.
Otherwise, why would a giant towering several meters tall only appear in NBA games as a novelty attraction on Japanese variety shows?
Everyone understood that simple truth.
When the crowd saw Ivan recover the electric whips he had previously lost, their hearts tightened.
Was the final winner about to emerge?
Everyone was both excited and nervous.
"Tony, if this is all your Mark can do, then there's no point continuing this fight."
Tony Stark slowly stood up from the ground and replied coldly,
"You're right. I've collected all the data I need. Continuing this battle really is meaningless."
His voice echoed throughout the arena through the broadcast system.
Not only the audience, but even Ivan Vanko looked puzzled.
"What do you mean by collecting data?"
"Collecting data means collecting data."
"JARVIS, maximum output."
The Mark IV armor began glowing brighter and brighter.
Energy flowed from every limb and converged toward the chest reactor.
The entire suit seemed to be charging up.
"Not good..."
Ivan's expression changed.
Without hesitation, he lashed out with his electric whip toward Mark IV.
But no matter how fast the whip was, how could it possibly be faster than a fully powered energy cannon?
BOOM!
A brilliant energy beam erupted from Tony's chest.
It struck Crimson instantly.
The enormous armored war machine was blasted away like a fallen leaf in a hurricane.
The audience froze.
Tony still had a trump card?
Then why had Mark and Crimson fought for so long?
But regardless of the reason, the sudden reversal was exhilarating.
It sent a wave of excitement through the entire arena.
The Crimson Armor crashed heavily onto the ground.
It struggled back to its feet.
Before Ivan could launch a counterattack, however, Tony fired an ablative armor-piercing missile.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion rang out.
A massive hole was blown through Crimson's chest.
The armor instantly lost all combat capability.
"Ten!"
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
The host screamed into the microphone with infectious enthusiasm.
Every shout seemed as though it could restore Crimson's strength and get it back on its feet.
Before long, countless audience members had joined in.
The entire arena echoed with the countdown.
Unlike the excited spectators, Tony simply turned and walked away without looking back.
At that moment, watching his retreating figure, people felt as if they were witnessing a lone hero.
Before him stretched a blood-red sunset.
Behind him lay the wreckage of battle.
A true hero never looks back at the explosion.
Cool.
Very cool.
When some sharp-eyed spectators noticed Tony's gaze briefly drifting toward Pepper Potts' VIP box, countless romantic scenarios immediately appeared in their minds.
Even an iron man had a gentle side.
Handsome.
At that moment, regardless of gender, countless hearts were captured by Tony Stark.
Camera shutters clicked nonstop.
Flashbulbs illuminated the arena.
Without question, Tony Stark had won the audience's applause.
As for Tony himself, he remained silent.
His expression was cold and detached, almost like an emotionless machine.
But Americans loved this kind of thing.
The crowd screamed even louder.
Watching the scene unfold, Rimuru couldn't help rolling her eyes.
This was practically the textbook definition of Hollywood-style posing.
Yet...
Why was it so effective?
Why did it make people so excited?
What Rimuru didn't know was that Tony's emotions were actually quite complicated.
During the battle, he had completed a scan of Crimson's reactor.
The results shocked him.
Its technology was remarkably similar to his own Arc Reactor design.
The performance was slightly inferior, but the principles were nearly identical.
Had this happened anywhere outside the arena, Tony would likely have torn the reactor out personally and demanded to know where Ivan Vanko had obtained the technology.
But this was a tournament.
And tournaments had rules.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Congratulations to Iron Man, Tony Stark!"
"He has won the opening match of this historic mecha tournament and successfully advances to the next round!"
The arena instantly exploded with cheers.
"TONY!"
"TONY!"
"TONY!"
Countless voices merged into a roaring wave.
Not a single person seemed to remember that only a few minutes earlier they had been chanting Ivan's name just as enthusiastically.
Tony ignored the crowd.
Piloting his battered Mark IV armor, he soared into the sky and flew directly toward his beachfront mansion in Malibu, California.
Although Tony had already left, the excitement in the arena showed no signs of fading.
Everyone was animatedly discussing the match with the people around them.
No one regretted buying a ticket.
Many spectators uploaded photos and videos to Twitter and Facebook.
Within a remarkably short time, they received unprecedented numbers of views, likes, and shares.
The attention left them thrilled.
If Tony Stark's battle had been this spectacular...
Then what would happen in the next match?
The Silver Armored War God versus Rhino.
The anticipation only grew stronger.
After all, according to current public opinion, the Silver Armored War God was widely recognized as the strongest combatant in the world.
Meanwhile, inside the arena, large groups of medical personnel and staff entered the field.
The heavily injured Ivan Vanko and his damaged Crimson Armor were loaded onto stretchers and prepared for transport.
Countless eyes remained fixed on the crimson machine.
Although it had lost, its performance had been extraordinary.
Everyone knew that the most difficult aspect of humanoid mecha technology was energy generation.
Yet this battle had proven something astonishing:
The Arc Reactor might not be exclusive to the Stark family after all.
The military.
Hydra.
Weapons manufacturers.
Energy corporations.
All of them reacted like hungry cats that had suddenly smelled fresh fish.
The meat was there.
Whoever could seize it would depend entirely on their own abilities.
Numerous people with hidden agendas watched Ivan Vanko being carried away, their eyes gleaming with calculation.
Many had initially believed Ivan would be the tournament's ultimate champion.
What no one knew, however, was that even the seemingly insignificant Rimuru had become extremely interested in Ivan Vanko as well.