BOOSTED EXPLOSION!

"Silver Knight!"

"Good luck!"

"Kill them!"

Fanny's performance invited ecstatic and excited cheer from the evacuating crowds.

There were not many robots on the ground, at least compared to the swarm of locusts chasing Tony in the sky.

Thus, Fanny quickly cleaned the ground. Even then, so many people were caught in the crossfire and fell into a pool of blood.

But Fanny could not afford to spare any attention for them. Tony was surrounded by a dangerously large amount of robots in the air. He might've even fallen to the ground if not for War Machine's timely assistance.

With the two of them working in tandem, the robotic swarm had been concentrated and contained.

By the way, it had been seventeen years since Fanny obtained 'Ars Magna.' Counting only the amount of time he had been able to use it, it's been a full ten years. Fanny had been relentlessly training this skill the entire time.

His proficiency had shot especially rapidly since joining Kamar-Taj and understanding why this skill was limited.

Ars Magna' might not be his current strongest ability, but it was inseparably tied to his identity. With its unfathomable upper limit and horrifying power, Fanny had wanted to master the skill no matter what.

Day after day, year after year. Fanny had trained with almost no break.

Therefore, his skill had steadily improved despite the restrictions put in place by the Three Great Sanctum and the collective power of the mages.

Fanny used Sky Dance to fly into the air, quietly standing not far from Tony and Rhodes. After a deep breath, he concentrated all the thoughts in his mind, and issued a grand order:

"With me as the center, isolate the oxygen concentration within a ten-meter radius!"

"Within this space, increase the oxygen content by ten times!"

Clouds and wind gathered around Fanny. If there was a detector nearby, it would have shown that the oxygen concentration around him had soared.

Fanny shouted right when he felt the skill take effect, "Tony, Rhodes, come to my side!"

He then started to quickly chant,

"Darker than black, darker than darkness,"

"Combine with my True Red!"

"The time for awakening has arrived."

"Descend within these boundaries,"

"And appear as intangible distortion."

Inside the War Machine armor, Rhodes was a little confused at Fanny's call. Tony, however, secretly sighed in relief. The two of them had destroyed much of the robots and exhausted most of their weapons and ammunition, but the swarm still held an overwhelming numerical advantage.

"Quick, go to his side!"

Tony brought Rhodes to Fanny without hesitation. They arrived in mere seconds thanks to the repulsor technology.

Fanny waited until the two of them entered the oxygen barrier and then turned his attention to the robots that were still chasing them. He shouted the final verses of the chant without hesitation.

"Reveal yourself!"

"[BOOSTED EXPLOSION!]"

Crimson light filled the sky, washing away all other colors.

This scene will be remembered for many years to come. All New Yorkers who recalled it would exclaim with faces full of sweat: "I felt like I was seeing the end of the world."

"Boom!"

The full power of 'Explosion Magic' was already beyond imagining, but what if it was boosted ten times over?!

It was obviously too far beyond Fanny's imagination, but it was currently right in front of his eyes.

He was flying, not by using Sky Dance, but he was thrown by the shockwave of the explosion. The pressure wave even made him exceed the speed of sound—so his dream of supersonic flight was more or less fulfilled?!

Beside him were Tony and Rhodes.

The oxygen isolation barrier had stopped the flame from burning him, but the indirect products of the magic still injured him. The shockwave was even more terrifying than a missile.

Fanny now felt pain in his internal organs.

If the indirect power was this bad, there was no question about the fate of the robots at the center of the explosion. Some of them were vaporized on the spot, leaving no residue whatsoever.

The three of them were sent flying two blocks before they could stop.

Rhodes crawled out of a wall and blankly stared at Fanny. The quick-witted man asked Tony, "He's friendly, right?"

It was a rhetorical question. Tony opened his mask, revealing a grimace. He was stunned for quite some time before he turned at Fanny and said, "The power of that move was not bad. Was that new?"

Fanny rolled his eyes and ignored Tony. He still felt pain all over his body, and the other two were probably the same.

The three of them returned to the battlefield and spent a moment of silence while looking at the wreckages and ruins on the ground.

The 'Explosion Magic' had been released up high in the sky, but its scale was simply unprecedented. The shockwave and the parts of the robots that fell from the sky destroyed a lot of things and injured many people.

At least it wasn't for naught. Most of the robots were destroyed, and there were only a handful of stragglers that still tried to attack Tony.

They were silently dealt with by several energy cannon shots.

"Their target is you. You don't need me to compensate for the damage, right?"

The scene was rather tragic, but Fanny had no regret. Without such drastic measures, the consequences might be even worse. He was never a sentimental person.

"Yeah!" Tony replied curtly. It was rare for him to not crack any joke or start any fight with Fanny.

This was Stark Building. The ruined building was his building, and most of the injured people were his employees. The perpetrator did this to exact vengeance on him. For a moment, he only felt guilt.

Rhodes, being Tony's best friend, seemed to have seen through his thoughts. He walked to his side and patted his shoulder, comforting him, "Let's wrap everything up before we get distracted. Who controlled these things?"

"Ivan Vanko!" Tony's eyes narrowed. He had not forgotten this enemy. Everything that happened today was because of that person.

However, before finding the enemy, he had to first confirm one thing. He ignored Fanny and ordered Jarvis through his armor, "Call Pepper."

"Tony, where are you? Are you all right? What was that explosion just now? I saw you, Fanny, and Rhodes disappear after the explosion," Pepper sobbed to the phone as soon as the call connected. Her worries were clear as day.

Tony's face relaxed a lot when he heard Pepper's voice. He then comforted her, "We're fine. Where are you now?"

"Natasha and I are still in the building."

Pepper was obviously not the kind of person to escape alone when others were in danger with her. Despite Tony's order to leave first, she stayed in the building to oversee the evacuation.

"Then you guys stay inside for now. Don't run around," Tony advised helplessly and hung up the phone after exchanging a few more words. He turned at Fanny and Rhodes, who were chatting on the ground, and was astonished by their nonchalance.

"Hey, the battle is not over yet. We have to find that dead bastard quickly!"

"Like you could speak. I thought you'd chat for another hour!" Fanny replied lazily. He found that Rhodes was someone with an interesting and good personality. The two of them became friends in just a short while.