Chapter 343 — Unleashed
Tony looked across the battlefield.
Diana had defeated her Bloodthirster.
Gaius had defeated his.
Only Tony's opponent remained.
He looked back at the Bloodthirster.
It was barely standing.
Its chest was badly damaged.
One wing was almost completely gone.
Warp energy leaked from numerous wounds across its enormous body.
Tony's helmet scanned it.
"JARVIS."
"Yes, sir?"
"Put more power on it."
"How much?"
Tony looked at the Bloodthirster.
"All of it."
Nanites immediately began moving across Tony's armor.
They flowed toward his chest.
The armor around the arc reactor separated.
Layers of nanomachines gathered around the reactor, forming a larger emitter assembly.
The suit began drawing more energy directly from the arc reactor.
Power surged through the armor.
The emitter grew brighter.
Tony's flight systems compensated automatically, keeping him stable in the air as the suit redirected more and more power toward the chest weapon.
The Bloodthirster looked up.
Tony raised both hands.
"JARVIS."
"Ready."
The Bloodthirster roared and charged.
Tony fired.
A massive beam erupted from his chest.
THOOOOOOOOOM!
The laser crossed the battlefield in an instant.
It struck the injured Bloodthirster directly in the chest.
The daemon screamed.
The concentrated beam burned through the already damaged flesh.
Scorching heat spread across its body.
The sheer force of the blast drove the enormous creature backward, its hooves tearing through the earth as it tried to resist.
Warp energy erupted from the wounds.
The Bloodthirster raised its arms in a futile attempt to shield itself.
The beam punched through them.
Its roar became louder.
Then its body began to break apart.
The laser continued.
Tony held the beam on target.
His armor redirected every available unit of energy toward the emitter.
The Bloodthirster's massive frame began dissolving under the sustained attack.
Cracks spread across its chest.
Its wings disintegrated.
Its arms broke apart into streams of Warp energy.
Finally, its entire body collapsed into the Immaterium.
The beam continued for another moment.
Then Tony released it.
The massive column of energy vanished.
Smoke and heat remained over the crater.
Tony hovered in place.
The nanites immediately began returning from the chest emitter to their normal positions.
The damaged armor began repairing itself.
Tony looked down at the crater.
Nothing moved.
His helmet scanned again.
No target.
Tony nodded.
"That's better."
A few meters away, the Group Chat members had watched the entire exchange.
Naruto stared at the crater.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side."
Tony's helmet turned slightly toward him.
"You're learning."
Naruto grinned.
Diana looked at the crater.
"You weren't taking any chances."
Tony looked down again.
"I'm not leaving a daemon corpse lying around."
Gaius approached from farther across the battlefield.
"Wise."
Naruto glanced at him.
"You agree?"
Gaius looked at the crater.
"Against the Warp, certainty has value."
Naruto nodded.
"Fair enough."
Tony turned his attention toward the rest of the battlefield.
The war was still raging.
The deaths of the three Bloodthirsters had changed the battle.
The daemons were no longer moving with the same coordination.
Some had stopped.
Others had turned toward the places where their greater masters had fallen.
But they had not broken.
If anything, the remaining forces had become more violent.
Bloodletters threw themselves into the Imperial lines.
World Eaters screamed praises to the Blood God as they charged.
The daemons attacked without the same coordination as before, but their frenzy made them even harder to predict.
Tony looked over the battlefield.
"They're getting uglier."
Diana glanced toward the fighting.
"They've lost their leaders."
Gaius shook his head.
"Not their purpose."
Diana watched a group of World Eaters charge through the ruins.
"No."
She tightened her grip on her sword.
"Only their restraint."
Across the battlefield, the 11th Company continued advancing.
Titus and Metaurus were still directing the Ultramarines.
The PDF were fighting alongside them.
But the Chaos forces still outnumbered them.
Diana walked toward Tony.
Gaius approached from the opposite direction.
Tony looked between them.
"I can clear a large section of them."
Diana glanced at him.
"How?"
Tony raised a hand toward the distant formations.
"I've got something for that."
He looked toward the soldiers and Ultramarines positions.
"Not near the humans."
Diana followed his gaze.
"The formations farther out?"
Tony nodded.
"JARVIS can handle the targeting."
He paused.
"I'll keep the strike away from the Imperial lines."
Gaius studied the battlefield.
"How much can you eliminate?"
Tony checked the tactical display.
"Depends how many I can hit at once."
He looked back at the battlefield.
"But I'd say fifty to sixty percent of the exposed forces."
Diana looked toward the distant Chaos formations.
"And the rest?"
"They'll still be there."
Tony lowered his hand slightly.
"But there'll be a lot fewer of them."
Naruto tilted his head.
"So we're about to get another one of your little surprises?"
Tony looked at him.
"Something like that."
Naruto smiled.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
Diana looked toward the Imperial positions.
"Keep the attack away from the PDF."
Tony nodded.
"That's the easy part."
Gaius studied the battlefield.
The PDF were advancing behind the Ultramarines.
The World Eaters were pushing toward them.
Daemons were pouring through the gaps.
Tony's plan could destroy a massive portion of the enemy, but the distance between the Chaos formations and the Imperial lines was shrinking.
One mistake could kill the people they were trying to protect.
Gaius looked at Tony.
"Can you control the strike?"
Tony gave a short nod.
"Precisely."
"Then do it."
Tony's helmet turned toward the battlefield.
"JARVIS."
"Yes, sir?"
"Mark every friendly position."
The system immediately began identifying the Imperial formations.
Ultramarines.
PDF.
Heavy weapons.
Forward defenses.
Tony watched the tactical map fill his display.
"Exclude all of them."
"Understood."
Tony raised both hands.
The nanomachines across his armor began moving.
This time, they did not form another collection of conventional weapons.
They began building one thing.
Micro-missiles.
Tony opened his supplies through the Parcel System.
"JARVIS, start drawing the nanites."
"How much, sir?"
Tony looked across the battlefield.
"Keep pulling until I tell you to stop."
A massive stream of fresh nanites flowed from the Parcel System into his armor.
They spread across his shoulders, back, arms, hips, and legs.
Launchers began forming.
Then more.
And more.
The armor around Tony expanded as entire banks of micro-missile cells assembled around him.
The missiles themselves were built from the incoming nanites.
Tiny guidance systems.
Compact propulsion systems.
High-explosive warheads.
Every component was fabricated in real time.
Nanites continued spreading across Tony's armor, assembling launcher after launcher.
Rows of micro-missiles formed across his shoulders, back, arms, hips, and legs.
Diana stared at the growing arsenal.
"Tony."
"Yeah?"
"How many are you making?"
Tony glanced at the launchers still forming around him.
"Enough."
Diana looked at the battlefield, then back at him.
"You're still making them."
"Yep."
Another layer of launchers formed.
Naruto looked up.
"He's really not stopping."
Mindy laughed.
"Why would he?"
Tony's helmet turned slightly toward them.
"Exactly."
The Parcel System continued feeding nanites into the suit.
Dozens became hundreds.
Hundreds became thousands.
The launch assemblies continued spreading across Tony's armor.
Naruto stared upward.
"That's getting ridiculous."
Tony didn't look at him and replied to Naruto.
"I'm not done."
Naruto blinked.
"Of course you're not."
The micro-missile banks expanded again.
Tony wasn't carrying thousands of finished missiles.
He was manufacturing them as the Parcel System supplied the necessary nanite mass.
And the process could continue for as long as the supply lasted.
Saeko watched another layer of missile cells form.
"How many is that?"
Tanya glanced at the battlefield.
"I stopped counting."
Naruto looked at her.
"Already?"
"I tried."
Mindy laughed.
Tony continued working.
The launchers around him grew until the weapons surrounding his armor were several times larger than his original suit.
Yet the nanites kept everything compact and balanced around his body.
Tony finally looked toward the battlefield.
"JARVIS."
"Yes, sir?"
"Status?"
"Targeting solutions are ready."
Tony looked over the distant Chaos formations.
"Good."
The launchers opened.
Every missile locked onto a designated Chaos formation.
"Fire."
The first wave launched.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Then another.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Then hundreds.
Then thousands.
The sky filled with tiny missiles.
Naruto looked upward.
"...Okay."
Mindy glanced at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
He watched the swarm spread across the sky.
"That's just a lot of missiles."
Tanya stared at the growing swarm.
She already knew what Tony's missiles could do.
These were smaller, but that did not make the sight any less concerning.
There were simply too many of them.
"How many nanites does Tony even have stored in the Parcel System?"
Mindy watched another layer of launchers form around Tony's armor.
She remembered Stark Manor.
The mountains of materials Tony had purchased.
The endless stream of resources fed into the Fabrication Complex.
Month after month, it had transformed those materials into nanites, and other projects.
"And he keeps making more."
Tanya looked back toward the swarm filling the sky.
"...Right."
That explained a lot.
Naruto grinned.
"This is going to be loud."
Tony heard him.
"That's the idea."
Naruto pointed upward.
"See? He admits it."
Tony ignored him.
The missiles spread apart as they flew, each receiving its own trajectory from JARVIS.
They avoided the Imperial positions.
They passed over the Ultramarines.
Over the PDF.
Around friendly defensive lines.
Then they descended toward the Chaos formations.
The World Eaters looked up.
One of them raised his chainaxe.
"What is—"
The sky disappeared.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The first wave detonated.
A massive section of World Eaters vanished beneath the explosions.
The next wave followed.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
High-explosive micro-missiles struck across the formation.
Each explosion was smaller than a heavy bombardment shell, but there were so many of them that the combined effect was devastating.
The first concentration disappeared beneath overlapping explosions.
Then the missiles struck farther behind them.
The rear formations were hit.
Then the flanks.
Then another mass of daemons.
The bombardment spread across the battlefield.
Naruto watched the explosions roll across the distant battlefield.
"...That's a lot louder than I expected."
Mindy laughed.
"You were the one who said that."
"I know."
Another wave slammed into the Chaos forces.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The World Eaters were thrown through the air.
Bloodletters disappeared beneath the detonations.
Lesser daemons were torn apart.
Entire groups vanished inside the overlapping blasts.
Diana watched the missiles curve around the Imperial positions.
"They're staying clear."
Tony nodded.
"JARVIS is handling the targeting."
Another section of the battlefield disappeared beneath explosions.
Diana watched the Ultramarines advance.
"They're using the opening."
Tony looked toward the advancing Imperial forces.
"Good."
Gaius watched another series of explosions erupt.
"Their formations are collapsing."
Tony nodded.
"Exactly."
Another wave descended.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Tony didn't fire everything at one point.
JARVIS continuously calculated where each new wave would do the most damage.
The micro-missiles split into separate attack groups.
One group struck the center.
Another hit the left flank.
Another curved around and struck the rear.
Thousands of tiny explosions merged into a continuous rolling wall of fire.
Some Chaos forces tried to scatter.
Others simply charged toward the Imperial lines through the bombardment.
More missiles followed them.
Tony kept manufacturing them.
As missiles were launched, new ones formed behind them.
When launchers overheated, nanites dismantled the damaged components and rebuilt them.
The Parcel System continued feeding fresh nanites into the armor.
The supply never stopped.
Tony was effectively operating a private ammunition factory in midair.
Diana watched another massive wave descend.
"You're still making more."
Tony didn't look away from the battlefield.
"Yep."
"How many have you fired?"
Tony checked the numbers on his display.
"Enough."
Naruto laughed.
"That's becoming your favorite answer."
Tony ignored him.
Saeko watched the endless stream of missiles.
"Do you even have enough nanites for this?"
Tony glanced toward the Parcel System feed.
"That's what it's there for."
Mindy smiled.
"So you planned this."
Tony's helmet tilted slightly.
"Not exactly."
He looked toward the battlefield.
"But I'm adapting."
Another wave launched.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The missiles descended.
BOOOOOOM!
Gaius watched the Chaos formations disappear beneath the bombardment.
"It's effective."
Tony nodded.
"That's the idea."
Diana looked toward the Imperial lines.
The Ultramarines had already begun advancing.
Titus was pushing the 11th Company forward.
Metaurus was directing the right flank.
The PDF were following behind them.
The Chaos forces had lost their dense formations.
Now they were scattered across the battlefield.
Diana pointed toward the distant lines.
"They're moving."
Gaius nodded.
"Titus is taking the opportunity."
Tony watched the Ultramarines advance.
"Good."
Another barrage struck the distant formations.
The remaining Chaos forces struggled to regroup.
But the missiles kept coming.
Tony continued manufacturing them.
Then, finally, the barrage began to slow.
The last wave launched.
Thousands of micro-missiles crossed the sky.
Then they struck.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The battlefield shook.
Smoke covered the horizon.
Naruto stared at the destruction.
"...Sixty percent might've been conservative."
Mindy looked across the battlefield.
"Looks like it."
Saeko watched the scattered survivors.
"They're still standing."
Tanya nodded.
"Enough of them."
Tony lowered his hands.
The launchers around his armor began retracting.
Nanites flowed back into the suit.
Fresh nanites from the Parcel System replaced those consumed in the bombardment.
The massive weapons platform shrank back into his normal armor.
Tony's helmet displayed the updated battlefield.
"Still plenty left."
Diana looked toward the remaining Chaos forces.
"Then we keep moving."
Gaius turned toward the battlefield.
"Titus has already begun the advance."
Tony looked toward the Ultramarines.
"Then let's not keep him waiting."
Naruto looked across the scattered Chaos forces.
"...Well."
He looked at Tony.
"That certainly worked."
Tony's helmet turned toward him.
"I told you it would."
Naruto looked back at the battlefield.
"I wasn't doubting you."
Mindy laughed.
"Sure."
Naruto ignored her.
Gaius looked toward the remaining Chaos forces.
"Enough."
He turned toward the battlefield.
"Move."
Tony and the others followed.
~~~
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