"Buzz!" As Tony Stark launched an attack, General Bart naturally had a reaction, instantly releasing a dark force from his body, nearly identical to the dark force Robert knew before.
Tony had just launched his attack when a mass of darkness swallowed him up before it could even reach General Bart...
Dark Space! A power previously used by Batman and the Joker, creating an absolute home field advantage in the dark space, where, besides one's own extraordinary and dark powers, no other powers could be utilized.
Of course, the power of technology should still be usable, but the connection between Tony Stark and Jarvis might be severed.
"Dark space, huh? Well, at least it won't cause too much commotion!" Robert, seeing this, didn't immediately intervene but started to contact Constantine and Clark.
"The upcoming fight, you won't be able to see, but don't worry, I'll be backing Tony up..."
"Clark, another mask has appeared, I'm going into the dark space to check it out, don't worry..."
With normal and telepathic conversations happening one after another, Robert, though he couldn't see targets through all barriers like Clark, had enough presence to sense across the planet, especially Clark's familiar presence.
Therefore, contacting Clark was just a matter of moments, telepathy was no less effective than magical sound transmission.
"Who cares about Iron Man anyway!" Clark didn't respond, but Constantine, who was watching the battle, was the first to reply, seemingly having completely forgotten that Tony had just helped him deal with the Dark Bat.
"Cough, I was speaking for you..." Constantine noticed the strange looks from Claire and others, coughed twice, and gave a brief explanation.
Meanwhile, Robert, after finishing his words, didn't wait for a response from either side, concerned that Tony might not adapt to the extraordinary power and would fare poorly in the dark space.
"Crackle!" In an instant, Robert's soul power burst out, piercing through the surrounding darkness and finding Tony Stark and General Bart.
At that moment, General Bart had just knocked a somewhat distracted Tony flying, and suddenly found his dark space torn from the outside. This left General Bart momentarily baffled, then his masked face looked at Robert with surprise, hesitant to continue attacking Tony.
"You! Who exactly are you?" General Bart, no stranger to strong opponents, knew that someone capable of tearing through dark space from the outside was not someone he could easily handle.
"Oh, I'm just here to watch, go ahead," Robert said with a smile, gesturing lightly.
"Saiyan, where are we? I've completely lost contact with Jarvis..." Seeing Robert enter, Tony Stark, looking wary, quietly asked about General Bart.
Tony had just realized another flaw in his mecha: in such situations, the mecha's integrated AI system is drastically weakened. Previously, Jarvis could provide a lot of assistance, but once disconnected, relying solely on the mecha's internal AI, it becomes difficult to handle certain combat situations...
"You can think of this as a subspace, completely isolated from the outside environment. You either have to forcefully tear through the space to leave, or defeat him; otherwise, you can't leave this place..." Robert glanced at the still hesitant General Bart and explained with a smile.
This space wasn't quite like the Mirror Dimension known to Doctor Strange, which serves a similar purpose in providing a home field advantage, but it's simpler to call it subspace.
"You really won't make a move?" Seeing that Robert seemed genuinely uninterested in attacking, General Bart's expression darkened slightly. His yellow-black mask looked even more ferocious now. If not for his uncertainty about Robert's strength and his cautiousness towards him, General Bart might have already attacked.
"Your opponent is me!" Tony Stark, his expression solemn, was here to gain experience from fighting in the supernatural world. Despite repeatedly having his understanding shattered, he was not one to rest on his laurels. Even without Jarvis's assistance, he felt no fear.
"Whiz!" Apart from losing Jarvis's support, Tony Stark's mecha was not weakened in any way by the dark space; its structural integrity and the energy levels of the chest reactor remained high. With another palm cannon blast, the battle between Tony Stark and General Bart reignited.
Earlier, when Robert had just arrived, he saw Tony being flung by General Bart because Tony had lost contact with Jarvis and was in an entirely unfamiliar place, not fully focused on the battle.
But now, with Tony serious, his combat effectiveness was impressive. Despite the palm cannon being countered by General Bart, Tony chose to engage in close combat—not because he particularly favored melee, but because his triple nuclear-level attacks were hard to land on General Bart. Tony needed to create his own opportunities.
Moreover, if Tony continued to use energy-based attacks like the palm cannon against General Bart, not only would it be insufficient to threaten General Bart, but the continual energy drain would also reduce the
power and frequency of Tony's nuclear-level attacks.
Therefore, the best strategy was to engage General Bart in close combat, looking for a chance to unleash his finishing move. After all, Tony had tested it before: General Bart's attacks weren't powerful enough to completely destroy Tony's mecha in a short time.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
As Tony Stark engaged General Bart in combat, thuds resounded in the dark space. Robert was unsure what material Tony's mecha was made of—it didn't seem to be vibranium—but its defense and shock absorption were exceptionally good.
Moreover, once fully equipped, the mecha seemed like a single cohesive unit, making it difficult for an enemy's force to penetrate the gaps in the mecha and directly harm Tony Stark. Thus, General Bart didn't dismantle the mecha on the spot as Robert once did.
Of course, Robert seriously suspected that after witnessing his mecha being dismantled several times, Tony had specifically improved this aspect to prevent his mecha from being dismantled again!
"As far as the material of the mecha and the defense provided by the black technology behind it are concerned, it indeed qualifies as demon lord level, but the attack still falls short..." Watching the battle between Tony Stark and General Bart, Robert's gaze flickered slightly as he analyzed Tony's current combat level.
"Whether it's the previous palm cannon or the current melee techniques, they are strong, but they can't really threaten the opponent!"
"So, is Tony worried his attacks won't hit the target and is waiting for an opportunity? But his hand-to-hand combat skills aren't that skilled; he can't gain the upper hand in the fight..."
Without Jarvis's system support, relying solely on the mecha's built-in system assistance made it hard for Tony Stark to be a master of combat, especially when his attack speed and strength were weaker than his opponent's.
Therefore, to a Robert who was not very familiar with mechas, it was almost impossible to see where Tony's chances of victory lay in this battle, even though Tony still had nuclear-level attacks at his disposal.
"Buzz!" Just as Robert was pondering, not only had he figured out Tony's strength, but General Bart, in the midst of the battle, had also assessed Tony's capabilities. The entire dark space suddenly underwent a dramatic change, with a layer of dark barrier blocking Robert out, as if another layer of dark space had been added within the dark space.
Dark space, unlike the Mirror Dimension, doesn't involve complex changes but does provide essential home field advantages. Otherwise, what would be the point of trapping the enemy in one's own territory to fight without causing external damage?
So, to prevent Robert from forcibly intervening in his battle against Tony Stark, General Bart isolated Robert on the outside. Even though General Bart knew this isolation method couldn't completely stop Robert, it could delay him for a moment, giving him a chance to deal with Tony Stark.
As for Robert, after dealing with Tony Stark, General Bart planned to test Robert's strength. If he couldn't beat him, then escaping would be the next best option.
"Buzz!" In front of General Bart, Tony Stark's mecha seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, its components straining to operate, but still unable to break free and regain freedom.
This was the weakness Robert and General Bart both recognized in Tony Stark's mecha: although the mecha had powerful destructive capabilities, its own power output wasn't impressive compared to adversaries at this level. With sufficient restraining force, Tony Stark's mecha was just a target.
And with Tony Stark trapped inside the mecha, he was just a regular human. Even with his extraordinary intelligence, without other cards to play, no amount of cleverness could bridge the absolute gap in power.
"Hmm?!" Realizing this, Tony Stark's pupils dilated sharply as he sensed a crisis. Trusting in his reaction skills, Tony Stark released all the power of the chest arc reactor in a single burst, not holding back at all.
That meant Tony Stark unleashed all three nuclear-level attacks at once, maximizing their power because he believed that if he didn't do this, he might not be able to withstand the opponent's fatal attack.
"Boom!" As the power from Tony Stark's chest arc reactor released an extreme force, a pure energy shockwave collided with a dark energy burst, shaking the entire dark space. At that moment, Robert shattered the dark barrier in front of him just in time to see the two energies explode.
In the explosion, General Bart's body was blasted apart, turning into swirls of black smoke that merged back into the dark space. Tony Stark fared even worse; the exterior of his mecha, although made of extremely tough metal, was instantly shattered, and his body, mangled and bleeding, was flung out, his consciousness beginning to fade.
"Buzz!" Shaking his head, Robert enveloped Tony Stark with the power of a healing spell, his BUG-level ability pulling Tony
back from the brink of death once again.
"I'm not dead?" Faced with that level of impact, Tony Stark had already resigned himself to death, even seeing the gates of hell opening towards him. Suddenly, his consciousness and body recovered, with pain yet to even register in his brain.
Now Tony understood why Happy had repeatedly felt everything was just an illusion, because the drastic changes in perception were too quick, too much like a dream. Even Tony needed a moment to gradually come to his senses.
"You're not dead, but you've lost all combat capability. Not to mention your mecha, even your energy device has been destroyed..." Robert watched as Tony Stark gradually regained his senses and spoke softly.
"The enemy? Where's that demon lord?" Tony's gaze sharpened as he quickly looked around, eager to know whether he had won or lost. If the opponent was also dead, a mutual destruction wasn't a loss. Moreover, killing a demon lord-level opponent was a significant improvement from his previous self.
___________________
(Support with power stones, comments or reviews)
If you guys enjoy this story, In support me on Patreon and get access to +200 advance Chapters
Read Ahead
Patreon.com/INNIT