Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Even as the weapon lost its durability, Zatan kept pulling the trigger until he realized what was happening.

With a long sigh of relief, looking at the corridor that had been reduced to ruins, Zatan picked up the weapons on the ground and prepared to walk outside.

However, a shuriken slid in a smooth arc and pierced Zatan's shoulder.

Zatan turned around and saw only the corridor he had blown open with his gun, and the sky outside the building.

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Chapter 362: The Eiffel Tower Has Fallen Asleep

The White Ghost's shuriken flew around the building before precisely finding Zatan; such exquisite throwing skills could only be accomplished by a ninja from another world.

Zatan removed the shuriken from his shoulder, and his increasingly blurred vision and dizzy mind told him that the shuriken had been poisoned.

Stumbling, Zatan found a corner and injected himself with a vial of medicine; the antidote had been prepared beforehand. He understood what he had done; guarding against Ghost's sneak attacks and assassinations was something he had always been prepared for.

Feeling a bit better, Zatan opened the weapon case, took out a nanoweapon, and attached it to the launcher.

Instead of finding a fixed target, Zatan hoisted the launcher onto his shoulder and aimed it directly at the distant sky.

Once the bomb explodes, the nanobots inside will disperse in all directions. The higher the explosion altitude, the larger the initial coverage area, and the less time is needed to cause destruction.

However, a flash of white light appeared, and the front of the transmitter was cut off by the snake eye that appeared next to him. The white ghost also appeared behind Zatan and put the blade to his neck.

Ghost kicked Zatan to the ground, pointed his weapon at his back, and said, "This is how you killed your master, and this will end your life..."

Zatan was pinned to the ground by the White Ghost. He peeked at the weapons not far away and burst into laughter.

Zatan's actions were quite effective; at least before his death, he attracted the attention of Ghost and Snake Eyes.

Snake Eyes' voice was somewhat hoarse as he asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Zatan didn't answer until the White Ghost's weapon pierced the skin in his back, then he slowly said, "That weapon can devour metal, so it's placed inside a plexiglass container. Also, to ensure effective firing, the inside of the container was specially modified; it's not very sturdy, it can even be shattered..."

When Zatan got to this point, Ghost and Snake Eyes realized what was happening. The launcher that had just been cut off caused the warhead to fall directly to the ground.

Looking at the weapon, wisps of smoke were slowly escaping from the green bullet, and the snake-eyed enhanced suit closest to it was beginning to be consumed...

And the bullet met its final end; cracks spread along the bullet, and finally the whole thing turned into tiny fragments.

Green smoke began to spread, and like living things, it quickly approached the nearest snake eye, attempting to devour his enhanced suit.

The unleashed nanoweapon engulfed the surrounding area, and White Ghost watched helplessly as his weapon turned into gnawed bones before gradually disappearing.

In that short time, Zatan got up. Even without his weapon, he could still put up a fight. Moreover, with Snake Eyes devoured, White Ghost had no intention of fighting him.

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the weapons, Zatan escaped again.

Zatan, carrying his weapons case, watched as Paris began to panic, snorted coldly, and prepared to leave in the plane sent by Cobra.

Stroking the weapon case, Zatan thought to himself how close he had come to disaster. If the weapon case hadn't been specially modified to be completely sealed and without any metal material on the outside, the outbreak might have destroyed all the remaining weapons.

Now, the goal has been achieved, but it just needs a little startup time.

Cobra's goal was to attack major cities, incite unrest, and thus launch its plan to threaten the entire world.

Each warhead has a unique stopper that can terminate everything it causes. However, it has now been taken to the Arctic by Zatan.

Cobra leader McCullen was waiting for Paris to be completely destroyed so he could come up with the only antidote.

Ghost and Snake Eyes emerged somewhat awkwardly from the corner. Snake Eyes' enhanced suit had been completely devoured by the nanomachines, and even the protective suit he was wearing underneath had been eaten away.

Snake Eyes can only cover his genitals with White Ghost's shirt, while White Ghost, who has lost his metal belt, can only hold onto his pants. The two of them sneakily search for the location of the special forces.

The attack of devouring metal didn't seem very aggressive on these two.

But when you look at a city, aren't all the pipes, bridges, communication facilities, cars, and the internal framework of buildings made of metal?

Starting from Zatan, the pipeline was lost, and natural gas and methane escaped into the air. Car accidents were accompanied by the collapse of precarious buildings and the destruction of bridges.

The apocalyptic vision is gradually spreading outwards, and panicked crowds and occasional explosions have become the main sounds in Paris at this moment.

The green smoke, like the Grim Reaper, relentlessly devoured the metal to replenish itself, then spread outwards. In just a few short minutes, it had already crossed the Arc de Triomphe and was marching towards the distant Eiffel Tower...

As the green smoke drew ever closer, Ash used the last remaining communication opportunity to call and urge Stark on.

"If you don't come soon, Paris will truly become history!"

Stark gritted his teeth, enduring the G-forces from the acceleration, and said, "I'm already at maximum speed!"

Hearing this, Ash felt embarrassed to urge him further and said, "Remember not to get any of that green smoke; that's nanoweapons that devour metal..."

"What did you say? Don't get it on anything?"

Stark was still questioning Ashe when he discovered that the communication had been cut off at some point.

Ash looked at the phone in her hand, which was gradually emitting green smoke, and threw it into the street some distance away.

'We need to find another place. Stark should have heard what I said, right? Probably…'

Ash is preparing to leave this place. It can devour metal, but who knows if it can also consume Dark Soul's weapon? If it gets eaten, Ash will suffer a huge loss.

Meanwhile, Stark finally arrived at the outskirts of Paris. Looking at the riots in the city and the green smoke spreading everywhere, Stark involuntarily increased his flight altitude.

"Jarvis, calculate the impact area, find the best placement location... There it is! How did the Eiffel Tower end up lying on the ground?"

"Sir, calculations show we should have ascended at least another 1,000 meters to avoid contact with these nanoweapons. Furthermore, according to the data, the Eiffel Tower was always upright; its collapse is related to this attack. Also, inanimate objects don't 'sleep'..."

"I know! You're really boring. I should upgrade your emotional module, otherwise telling these lame jokes will make the other AI look down on you..."

"Sir. My module was designed by you. I didn't install the joke program. Would you like me to download a joke database?"

"Shut up! Listen to me, increase altitude and prepare to deploy the suppression weapons!"

Stark began his descent into the sky, but his weapon-equipped companion armor seemed to malfunction, wobbling and veering off course...

"Sir, Carrier 1 has been damaged, the damage level is 12%...13%..."

"Eject the weapon, I'll activate it manually!"

The back of the companion armor opened, and a cylindrical metal rod was ejected. Stark quickly flew over and caught it accurately in his hand.

"Sir, we do not recommend manually activating it. Being hit by an EMP attack at close range will cause your Warframe to lose its circuitry, and you will fall from the sky..."

"Jarvis! I am your creator! Now listen to me!"

With that, Stark turned the rotary handle in his hand, and an electromagnetic pulse, invisible to the naked eye, spread from his location throughout the entire city of Paris…

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Chapter 363: The Change of Thrones

When Stark woke up again, he found Ashe squatting in front of him, tapping on the casing of the EMP bomb. It was that clanging sound that woke him up.

Without Jarvis's assistance, Stark, burdened by heavy armor, no longer had the strength to even reach out and remove his own visor.

"Ash! Ash!"

A deep voice came from inside the armor, which made Ash turn around and look at Stark in front of her.

Ash ripped off Stark's visor, and Stark took a deep breath, saying, "Hurry up and release me from the armor. Luckily, after being hammered last time, I modified my inner armor to enhance its cushioning. Otherwise, I probably would have been finished this time. Looks like I'll have to add analog circuitry control next time; EMP attacks have too much of an impact on the armor..."

The talkative Stark was preoccupied with his own thoughts. When he turned his head to ask Ash why she hadn't released him yet, he saw Ash holding a cell phone and filming him.

"How come you still have electronic devices working? This EMP attack should have destroyed everything in the Paris area... Oh! I forgot about your magic backpack..."

Suddenly, Stark realized what was happening and screamed, "Wait! Who are you filming!"

Ash turned the phone screen around, and on the other side was Pepper's anxious face.

"Listen to me, Pepper! Wait..."

Without giving Stark a chance, Ash turned the phone to Pepper and said, "See? Stark never learns his lesson..."

After hanging up the phone, Ash released the lifeless Stark from his armor.

Ash patted Stark on the shoulder and said, "Three hours left. Think carefully about what to say. Pepper specifically took a transport plane from the Bureau of Control's support forces. Stark, you're finished..."

Stark. I advised you not to take everything on yourself. You're my friend, and I don't want to see you charging into battle with nuclear weapons one day…

After saying that, Ash left. He needed to find a suitable location as soon as possible for the Bureau of Control's support troops to land. Paris was now a riot zone, and the zero-dollar shopping and occupation of Paris operations had begun again. Paris was not safe.

Park Bagatl on the west side of Paris has been designated a military control zone, serving as a landing site and refueling point for support troops of the Control Bureau.

In reality, there are other military bases around Paris, but this incident prompted the Paris government to initiate an internal review, prioritizing the integrity of the military, which made it difficult for the control agency to obtain an effective base.

However, for Ash, since this mission was a joint operation with special forces and they would be heading to the Arctic soon anyway, the location of their current base was not important.

The important thing now is to watch Pepper give Stark his earnest advice.

To deal with the disobedient Stark, simply unleash the Noble Phantasm called Pepper, and you can enjoy Stark's constant sycophantic remarks with a fawning smile.

In the command center, Hawke quickly devised an offensive strategy for the Arctic. Although the overall strategy was weaker than Sheffield's, Hawke was still very adept at this kind of small-scale combat.

After a brief rest and replenishment of supplies and fuel, the control bureau took off again, as the battle in the Arctic was of utmost urgency.

On the plane, Ash looked at Stark, who had come along, and asked, "Pepper let you come along without your armor?"

Stark said, "I'm just observing. I want to see how far the war has progressed. Anyway, with you around, I shouldn't die, right?"

No one could calm Stark down. Having witnessed true power and the world's transformation, he was forcing himself to move forward, even without any armor, he wanted to stand on the front lines.

Ash could only silently give him a buff so that he wouldn't die from unknown stray bullets.

The Cobra base's location in the Arctic has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is its concealment; after all, there are few satellites monitoring the Arctic, allowing it to maintain its stealth as much as possible.

The downside is that transporting supplies is extremely resource-intensive, and once discovered, the unknown heat sources can be easily located by satellites due to the cold background of the Arctic.

Now, it has become a special battle.

Modern warfare is all about who is bigger and tougher, and the thick ice sheet of the Arctic has become an excellent defense for the Cobra, which is difficult to shake even by bunker buster bombs.

Thus, this battle was divided into two parts: the special forces used wolf pack tactics from below the ice sheet using single-person submarines, while the control bureau attacked from above the ice sheet, like cheese sandwiched between two sides.

In fact, the best strategy against Cobra's nanoweapons is to prevent them from being launched.

The power of nanoweapons comes from their vast size and rapid absorption once they are formed, but when they are weak, the high temperature generated by an explosion can easily destroy those seemingly powerful nanomachines.

Therefore, the control bureau immediately launched most of its explosives, destroying all suspected buildings on the ground to prevent Cobra from having a chance to fire its weapons.

This maneuver alarmed McCallum inside the base; the enemy's response was far too swift.