In the valley, the Ten Rings Gang's camp.
Two Sentinels leaned against the rock wall, smoking poor-quality cigarettes and whispering in the local language.
The night wind blew through the valley, bringing with it the rustling sound of sand hitting the rocks. One of them looked up and suddenly froze.
"What is that?" He pointed at the night sky.
In the night sky, a "star" was moving.
No, not moving—it was falling!
Golden, dragging a long tail, getting brighter and larger...
"A meteor?" The other person also looked up.
But they soon realized something was wrong; this meteor was falling straight down, and the direction of its fall was exactly where they were!
And it was moving at an extremely fast, unnatural speed.
"It's coming towards us!" the first person shouted in terror.
Others in the camp were also alarmed; tents were thrown open, men rushed out, and they looked up at the night sky.
That golden speck of light was now the size of a fist and was still rapidly growing.
"Hide!" someone screamed.
But it was too late.
Golden flames enveloped Mavuika, his long hair trailing behind him like a ribbon of light.
He did not slow down or turn; like a true meteorite, he smashed straight into the open space in the center of the camp.
Then, the meteor landed.
"Boom—!!!"
A deafening sound and a massive tremor, like a powerful earthquake, swept across the entire desert. The ground shook violently, yellow sand flew into the sky, and the surrounding rocks shattered one after another, rolling down with a harsh, grating sound.
The golden flames, centered at the point of impact, swirled out in a spherical shape, instantly engulfing the entire camp.
Tents, vehicles, weapons, human bodies... everything was reduced to elementary particles the moment it touched the flames, leaving not even ashes behind.
The flames swept over the rock walls, melting the surface into a glassy liquid, which then cooled rapidly, leaving behind smooth, mirror-like curved surfaces.
The entire process took less than a second.
When the flames dissipated, the camp no longer existed.
In the original open space, Mavuika stood straight. The golden light around his body slowly receded, revealing his figure in casual clothes.
Everything within a fifty-meter radius had been wiped flat; only the sand, melted and then re-solidified, shimmered with an eerie, glazed luster under the moonlight.
Mavuika's gaze turned to the opening in the rock wall—the entrance to the dungeon. He could feel that Tony was inside.
Inside the dungeon, Tony and Ethan were crouching in the narrow space under the workbench.
The sudden tremor caused the entire cave to shake violently, and sand and dirt fell in rustles from the cracks in the ceiling.
Ethan instinctively pulled Tony under the table, and the two curled up together, waiting for the unknown disaster.
"An earthquake?" Ethan's voice trembled.
Tony frowned: "It doesn't feel like an earthquake..."
He whispered: "The epicenter is too concentrated; it's like... the vibration caused by a heavy object slamming into the ground..."
Before he could finish, a teeth-grinding sound of twisting metal came from the dungeon entrance.
That five-centimeter-thick iron door was torn from the outside by some unimaginable force, just like tearing a piece of paper.
Molten steel dripped onto the ground with a hissing sound, and the pungent odor of vaporized metal filled the air.
The heavy iron door was easily torn apart like paper; fragments flew and clattered onto the ground with a "clang."
Tony and Ethan were both startled by this sudden turn of events; they stopped moving, looked up, and stared toward the dungeon entrance.
Before they could recover, a familiar and gentle voice came from the doorway, clearly echoing throughout the dungeon: "Tony? Are you okay? Sorry, I'm a little late."
This voice, like music to his ears, instantly reached Tony, making him shudder. The shock on his face was instantly replaced by wild joy and relief.
He stood up abruptly, ignoring the pain in his body, pulled Ethan, and walked out from under the table, looking toward the doorway.
In the dim light, a slender and upright figure stood at the doorway. His golden-red long hair shimmered faintly in the weak light, and his whole body radiated a familiar, warm aura; it was Mavuika.
"I thought you had forgotten about me." He tried to make his voice sound relaxed, just like when they usually bickered.
"But it's good that you're here, Mavuika."
Mavuika took a few steps closer, examining Tony carefully by the light of the kerosene lamp on the rock wall.
He had known Tony for nearly a dozen years and had seen him in all sorts of states: flamboyant in a suit at press conferences, focused in overalls covered in machine oil, a mess after waking up from a hangover, sprawled on the sofa like a pile of mud... but he had never seen him like this.
His expensive suit had become rags, covered in oil, dirt, and dried blood.
There were new and old bruises on his face, and the wound at the corner of his mouth had scabbed over and cracked again.
His hair was dirty and matted, his eyes were sunken, his cheekbones protruded, and he had lost a significant amount of weight.
But the most shocking part was his chest; the device there gleamed with a cold metallic light in the dimness, and the inflamed, festering skin around it was clearly visible even in such weak light.
Mavuika's brows furrowed slightly, his tone laced with a hint of worry.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.
Tony looked down at his chest and then actually smiled, that Tony Stark-style smile, a mix of arrogance and self-mockery:
"Oh, you mean this?" He tapped his finger against the circular device on his chest that was emitting a faint blue light.
"A new look, pretty cool, isn't it?"
He feigned relaxation, but Mavuika could see the cold sweat seeping from his forehead and hear the suppressed pain in his breathing.
"Don't worry, it's not fatal." Tony added, as if he were truly comforting him.
Mavuika watched him pretend to be relaxed and sighed slightly in his heart.
He had lived on Earth for so many years and had long understood the level of human medical science.
The shrapnel in Tony's chest was deep near his heart, which was extremely dangerous. Even with this energy reactor maintaining his life and temporarily suppressing the shrapnel, with current human medical conditions, it was impossible to safely remove the shrapnel, let alone completely heal his injuries.
"If you want to be completely cured," Mavuika said softly, more as if talking to himself: "I'm afraid you'll have to die once."
Tony looked at Mavuika's grave expression, thinking he was joking, and couldn't help but laugh, his tone relaxed.
"Die once? Let's forget about that; I haven't lived enough yet. Stark Industries still needs me, and I don't want to die just like that."
Mavuika watched his smiling face, offering no explanation and saying nothing more.
He knew clearly that the Resurrection Poem would soon take shape. Once the Resurrection Poem was formed, under the protection of its rules, he could truly let Tony die once and then resurrect him.
Using the power of resurrection to clear the shrapnel from his body, repair his damaged heart, and restore his body to its best state.