Chapter 49: Come On — Enjoy Yourself in Hell
Tony Stark — billionaire, genius, inventor, professional spotlight magnet — was used to being the center of attention. In every business meeting, every tech conference, every glittering Manhattan party, his every movement made waves.
But in this particular moment, he was being completely ignored, and he found it extremely irritating.
Of course, Tony was sharp enough to notice that Ethan was on edge. Ethan, who never seemed rattled by anything, was visibly wary of the elderly man in front of them. Which meant the old man was very much not someone to underestimate.
Definitely an enemy, then.
Tony slid the helmet of his suit back into place and silently spoke to JARVIS. Run a scan on this guy. Tell me who he is.
His voice was tight with focus.
Ethan, meanwhile, was wondering why exactly Magneto had bothered to come for him personally.
He looked at the Master of Magnetism and spoke quietly. "Sorry. I have no interest in your Brotherhood. Magneto."
The words were calm, but the certainty behind them was absolute.
The air in the street seemed to solidify. The tension between Ethan and Magneto cranked tight.
But before Magneto himself could respond to the rejection, Pyro decided to take matters into his own hands.
"The boss extended you an invitation. If you don't know how to accept generosity—"
A roaring wave of flame surged forward, the heat washing over the street like a furnace door swinging open.
Tony reacted before the fire reached Ethan. He launched into the air, neatly arcing around Pyro's attack. As he moved, his right gauntlet shifted form, hardware reconfiguring into a weapon, and a focused energy beam lanced down from above.
The beam tore straight through Pyro's flame stream and snuffed it out completely.
Pyro froze. He hadn't expected the armored figure to have firepower like that. The mechanical suit was a lot more dangerous than he'd assumed.
Tony touched down with a faint metallic thump and muttered to himself: "Going to need to add a fire-suppression system to the suit. JARVIS, write that down."
On the other side, Blink had been observing Tony and quickly recognized that he was a real threat. She blinked into existence directly in front of him — a teleportation so clean it bordered on the supernatural — and didn't waste motion on theatrics. She just kicked him in the chest.
The Iron Man armor was strong, but Tony hadn't seen the attack coming. He went sailing backward through the air.
Ethan stayed exactly where he was, watching the fight with mild interest.
He didn't intervene. Two reasons: first, he needed to keep his eyes on Magneto. Second, he didn't think Tony was actually going to lose.
Pyro and Blink worked well together — one ranged, one melee, attacks layered on top of each other. Tony was getting pushed hard. This was, after all, his first real fight in the suit.
But Tony — being Tony — didn't panic. He had decades of intellectual training and JARVIS feeding him real-time tactical analysis. He kept hunting for openings, methodically picking apart his opponents' patterns.
Pyro's flames were powerful but predictable. His attack patterns repeated. Blink was agile and unpredictable, but her physical strength was limited.
Tony processed every detail through his suit's HUD, drawing on every fight he'd ever simulated, looking for the seam in their combined defense.
Under Ethan's watchful eye, Tony slowly figured it out.
He used the suit's reaction speed to weather Pyro's flames and exploited Blink's strength deficit to overpower her in close quarters. As the fight progressed, both Brotherhood mutants started losing ground.
That was when Magneto finally moved.
He'd been watching the fight with growing displeasure. He had no intention of losing Pyro or Blink. They were valuable.
His expression darkened. He felt the threat now — clearly.
His hand twitched, and a wave of magnetic force surged out of him, slamming toward Tony like an avalanche of pure invisible pressure.
Ethan — who'd been keeping his attention locked on Magneto the entire time — moved.
His right hand came up, and a streak of red energy shot out, intercepting Magneto's magnetic surge and dispersing it.
"Old man," Ethan said with a faint smile, "ambushing the kid is beneath you. I'm your opponent."
Tony, on the other side, felt the danger and immediately disengaged, retreating back to Ethan's position.
"Let me handle the old guy," Tony said, voice tight. "He had the gall to ambush me."
"Yeah, I'm going to have to step in here." Ethan looked at the suit with open skepticism. "You're not in his league. With that armor, going in against him would be assisted suicide. He'd crumple it like a soda can with one hand."
Ethan walked forward.
Tony, on some level, knew Ethan was right. He was painfully aware that the old man across from them was the Magneto — and Magneto was, mechanically speaking, the worst possible matchup for a guy in metal armor.
"...Definitely going to need to design an anti-Magneto suit when I get home," Tony muttered, half to himself.
Magneto remained relaxed, watching Ethan approach. He didn't seem worried about whatever powers Ethan might bring to bear.
"Your abilities may not actually do much against me, young man." His tone was almost playful.
"Who said I was going to use my abilities?" Ethan's voice carried a hint of mystery.
His left hand reached behind him and produced a belt, which he fastened around his waist.
His right hand pulled out a small device that looked like a USB stick, marked clearly with a single letter: E.
"Eternal."
He pressed the button on the device. It spoke in its own voice — a synthetic, theatrical announcement.
He slotted it into the belt.
Ethan's voice rang out, firm and clear:
"Henshin!"
A blinding wave of light erupted from him, swallowing his entire body. The light pulsed with raw, almost overwhelming power.
When it faded, a new figure stood in Ethan's place.
Armored. White and blue plates of high-tech battle gear. A white face mask. A long black cape that caught the night wind and flowed behind him. Power radiated from every inch of him.
The cape billowed in the breeze like a banner of glory.
Tony, Pyro, Blink, and even Magneto's eyes widened. None of them had expected Ethan to transform into something else entirely.
The mysterious knight standing before them was an unforgettable image.
Tony was already muttering to himself: "Should I add a cape to my suit? It actually looks pretty cool. And how does the equipment have its own sound effects..."
Magneto himself was visibly impressed — and even, perhaps, a little pleased. This young man was full of surprises.
The transformed Ethan straightened his shoulders and let his masked gaze sweep across his enemies. He flicked his cape to one side with a single dramatic motion, then spoke the iconic catchphrase of Kamen Rider Eternal:
"Come on then. Enjoy yourself in hell."
Meanwhile, in another world entirely.
A man with a magenta camera slung around his neck was elegantly sipping coffee at a small café. Suddenly, he paused — as if sensing something distant. A wicked smile spread across his face.
"Oh? How interesting. It seems... another world has just given birth to its first Kamen Rider."
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