The Aftermath

"Leo? That kid?"

"Yes, Leo might have a way to stop those two lunatics."

Pepper recalled the image of Leo descending from the sky back then. He always seemed so full of confidence.

"Go find him. He's in the guest room on the second floor. I'll evacuate the guests."

Happy did not hesitate and immediately turned toward the guest rooms.

But everyone seemed delighted to watch the two of them fight. They all stood outside on the balcony, watching the commotion inside.

No matter how Pepper tried to persuade them, they would not leave. Looking at the two still fighting inside, she could only hope that Leo's arrival would bring the situation under control.

Leo had been sitting cross-legged in his room, training since noon, seemingly having forgotten the passage of time. The four tons of Titanium Gold Alloy around him had all dimmed.

Even the two Arc Reactors in his hands had become incomparably dim, as though they would go out at any moment.

All the remaining Golden Light surged into his bones, sinking into the bright red bone marrow.

It dyed it all gold. The Golden Light slowly faded away, yet a faint golden glow continued to emanate from the red bone marrow.

At the same time, Iron Bones' enhancement level rose to 50%.

The door suddenly flew open, and a chubby figure stumbled inside.

"Leo? Leo?"

Leo opened his eyes. At the same time, the room's light switch was automatically pressed down, and warm white light filled the room.

"Happy, what is it? Has the birthday party started?"

"Tony and Rhodey are fighting. Pepper sent me to find you."

Happy looked at the bare-chested boy before him and spoke anxiously.

Hearing that, Leo turned to look out the window. It was already pitch-black outside.

He could not help frowning.

What's going on? Why is my sense of time getting worse and worse? I thought only two hours had passed.

His eyes lit up, and he immediately spotted the two figures in the hall trading punches.

"Honestly, perfectly good Iron Man Armor, being used as protective shields."

He got up and picked up his clothes.

"Happy, go clear away the people nearby. I'll deal with them."

Then he followed Happy downstairs.

Several consecutive punches to the face made the drunken Tony furious. He grabbed Mark II by the head and slammed it straight into the marble bar counter nearby, shattering it into pieces.

That blow left Rhodey somewhat dazed as well, and he failed to get back up right away.

Tony turned to look at the circle of onlookers outside. Every face wore either a mocking expression or the look of someone enjoying a show, and a nameless rage rose in his heart.

He took a step forward, crushing the floor tiles beneath his feet into fragments, then let out an angry roar through Mark IV's amplification system.

Everyone was frightened by Mark IV's stance and scattered at once, no longer in the mood to keep watching.

Mark II got to his feet, lifted a huge slab of marble, and swung it at Mark IV.

It smashed Mark IV into the fireplace, burying his entire upper body in the flames.

Although it did not harm Tony in the slightest, he looked at the dazzling firelight before him, raised his head and smashed through the wall above the fireplace, then turned and raised his right hand.

Seeing this, Rhodey raised his right hand as well. "Put your hand down."

"You think you have what it takes to be Iron Man?"

"We don't have to keep fighting, Tony," Rhodey said.

"You want to be War Machine? Then fire!"

"Put it down!"

"You want to fire?" Mark IV's Pulse Cannon was already charging.

"Put it down, Tony!"

"No!"

The Pulse Cannons in both their palms began gathering energy at the same time.

At that moment, a figure rushed over and moved between them.

"You two, put your hands—"

Before Leo could finish, the two fully charged Pulse Cannons fired, converging directly in front of him.

The Energy Convergence Point rapidly expanded, forming a huge energy sphere in less than a second.

"You two should calm down properly."

Leo stretched out both hands, pinning both suits of armor in place. A layer of light also appeared around him.

The energy sphere swelled to its limit, then exploded. The immense force blasted everything around it away.

From afar, a massive ball of smoke and dust could be seen erupting from the entire mansion.

As the smoke slowly dispersed, Leo stood at the center of the explosion, completely unharmed as he looked at the two men facing him.

The massive shockwave had even caused the Iron Man Armor systems to crash, only recovering several seconds later.

The two men struck by the shockwave ached all over as well. Even with their armor protecting them, they remained dizzy for quite a while before recovering.

Leo looked at the two men before him and reached out, yanking Mark II into the air from a distance.

He flung it away. "Off you go!"

Mark II flew several thousand meters away before firing its thrusters to stabilize itself. Rhodey looked back at Tony in disappointment, then turned and left.

Tony, meanwhile, lay on the ground with his faceplate open, revealing a somewhat weary face as he looked at the mess around him.

Then the faceplate closed again.

"Leo, I'm going to sleep. Don't disturb me."

Mark IV simply lay amid the ruins of the villa, completely motionless.

Leo walked outside. Pepper and Happy, the last ones still remaining, stood at the entrance and saw the figure in the middle.

Not knowing the truth, Pepper was angry as well. She turned and left. "Happy, we're going to the company. Let him lie there by himself."

The two of them drove away as well.

Only Leo remained, along with Tony, who had shut himself inside Mark IV to sleep.

Leo looked at Tony lying on the ground and sighed.

"You left the company to Pepper and handed the Iron Man Armor over to Rhodey, but you always like carrying everything by yourself."

"Even if a nuclear bomb came, you'd still try to take it head-on. What an idiot."

Looking at the chaotic mess around him, Leo floated into the air. Several metal reinforcing bars flew over to his side.

They transformed into more than a dozen Metal Wires, which flew into every corner of the rooms, wrapping around all the wreckage and dragging it outside.

In just over ten minutes, a small mountain of junk had piled up outside the house, while the scattered debris inside every room had been cleared away.

Was I being treated like a nanny?

Leo stood before Mark IV and reached out, completely dismantling it. Tony dropped to the ground and woke with a start.

"Is it morning already?" Tony said, rubbing his eyes.

Leo recalled what he had sensed when his Mental Power had swept over Tony's body just now. It seemed something else had appeared.

As he looked directly at the faint Golden Light on his own bones, it seemed to be under his control as well.

He extended one finger and pressed it between Tony's ribs.

Tiny points of Golden Light flowed up from the bones all over his body.

A distinct golden line appeared along Leo's bare arm, traveling down that finger and entering Tony's body.