Purple Jewel's voice rang out in Su Ming's mind:
"Here's the thing. You already possess five Starcore Fragments and five Infinity Stones,
not to mention a body reforged by Ancient Gods energy.
By all rights, you should be absurdly powerful, yet right now, you can only wield the most superficial level of combat strength.
That's because you lack a way to mobilize and use that power."
"A way? What kind of way?"
Su Ming asked impatiently.
"Um...
The power you possess is far too domineering. As for exactly what method you should use to control it...
I don't know either."
"Uh..."
Su Ming, who had just glimpsed hope, froze slightly at those words.
In that moment of distraction, Thanos struck him in the abdomen with a punch.
His entire body bent like a shrimp before the immense force sent him hurtling into the sky.
"Tony—"
Seeing this, Rhodey called Tony through the communicator again.
But before he could finish, Tony forcefully cut him off:
"Wait, I'm talking first this time!
I bet you ten dollars that Su Ming is definitely fine."
Rhodey's helpless voice rang out:
"That's not what I was going to say. Watch your ba—"
"Clang!"
Before Rhodey could finish speaking, a rapidly thrown weapon struck Tony squarely in the back.
"Thud!"
He crashed to the ground in a spray of sparks.
The pain made him roll around on the ground, twitching nonstop.
"Watch your back."
Only then did Rhodey's voice drift out leisurely.
"Ah! My back...
Damn it, Rhodey, you did that on purpose, didn't you..."
"You interrupted me first, and I did warn you."
Tony: @￥*%&...*...
Looking back at Su Ming, Thanos's punch had packed quite a force.
Su Ming felt as though his internal organs had been knocked out of order, leaving him extremely uncomfortable.