The process of awakening the Allspark felt strange to Senju Haruto.
This power wasn't chakra-based ninjutsu, nor the sorcery of Kamar-Taj, and certainly not the unleashed soul force of a Zanpakutō. It was something else entirely—rooted in science, yet far beyond anything science had ever achieved.
As the Allspark's energy spread outward, the weapons in the hands of the Ten Rings members began to tremble, as if trying to break free from restraint.
They couldn't understand what was happening, but their instincts screamed a familiar warning.
Danger.
In this war-torn land, survival was the privilege of only the most hardened. Every man here had a strong heart and a sharp nose for peril.
Yet when they raised their rifles, aiming at Haruto, Stark, and Dr. Yinsen, no matter how frantically they pulled their triggers, not a single bullet left the black muzzles.
Crouched behind cover, Stark waited for the sound of gunfire. None came.
Confused, he peeked out from his hiding place—only to see the rifles in the Ten Rings members' hands wriggle like slippery eels, slip free from their grasp, and clatter onto the ground.
But that was only the beginning.
The weapons Stark recognized so well began to shudder, parts shifting out of place, then reassembling into something new.
His mind went completely blank.
Was this… Haruto's magic?
If not, then how the hell did those submachine guns sprout arms, legs, and even heads?
Stark glanced back at his Mark I suit, half-expecting it to transform as well. But his armor remained intact and unchanged.
Still, the things being born around him—mechanical lifeforms—stood barely over a meter tall, only reaching the height of the Ten Rings soldiers' waists.
Yet the fear they stirred was immense.
Because in that instant, every Ten Rings fighter was disarmed—reduced to nothing more than unarmed men.
Meanwhile, the mechanical lifeforms Haruto had created came into existence with built-in arsenals, their very bodies weapons.
And they could evolve those weapons—reshaping, upgrading, amplifying their destructive power.
Once the machines adjusted to their new forms, they all raised their arms. Metal shifted, transforming into gun barrels.
Ratatatatat!
Bang-bang-bang!
Boom!
A storm of bullets tore through the cave. Explosions shook the ground.
Ten Rings fighters were shredded apart, or blown into the air like broken kites before crashing lifelessly back to the earth. Others were simply reduced to bloody pulp.
This wasn't a battle.
It was a one-sided massacre.
A dimensional collapse of power.
The survivors had no choice but to retreat in terror, stumbling out of the cave as fast as their legs could carry them.
Stark and Yinsen were frozen in shock, speechless.
For years, robotics had been considered the cutting edge of human science. Drones, AI, automatons—governments and corporations alike poured billions into research and development.
As the head and soul of Stark Industries, Tony Stark was no stranger to the field.
Yet even he had believed breakthroughs would take decades.
Now reality was slapping him in the face.
Hard.
Mechanical lifeforms… were real.
Not powered by electricity or fuel, but by another energy entirely—something humanity hadn't even recognized existed.
Magic.
Stark swallowed hard, throat suddenly dry. For the first time since his kidnapping, he found himself thinking: maybe this wasn't such a bad turn of fate. Without it, he would never have witnessed such power.
"That… that was you?" Yinsen's voice shook as he turned to Haruto.
If Stark was shaken, Yinsen was utterly overwhelmed. A doctor and engineer, he had saved Stark's life with his own two hands. But compared to Stark's brilliance, he was still ordinary.
And yet here before him was something humanity wouldn't achieve in three to five hundred years—maybe longer.
But it was happening. Right now. Before his very eyes.
A miracle.
The ceiling humanity had never even touched—let alone seen—had been shattered effortlessly by Senju Haruto.
But Yinsen's thoughts twisted further. This world had laws. Conservation of energy. Mass could not appear out of nowhere.
So how did these ordinary guns transform into full mechanical beings?
It was… inconceivable.
He rubbed his eyes hard, wondering if it was all a hallucination. Maybe there was no Haruto. No mechanical beings. Maybe not even Stark.
Maybe he was still alone, still just a prisoner of the Ten Rings.
Beep-beep!
Just then, the Mark I's terminal chimed. The computer had finished uploading all data into the suit.
"We need to get the hell out of here," Stark said, not hesitating for a second as he climbed into the armor.
The Mark I, crude and bulky, was only a prototype built under desperate circumstances. It was clumsy, heavy, but Stark trusted its defensive strength.
"Uh—oh, right. Yes." Yinsen blinked rapidly, snapping out of his daze. It wasn't a dream. It was terrifying, but real. He nodded quickly, his eyes flicking toward Haruto.
"Stay behind me!" Stark shouted at him.
To Stark, Haruto needed no protection. With power like that, the Ten Rings couldn't even scratch him. Yinsen, however, was fragile. Stark's priority was to keep him safe—to get him home.
"Understood," Yinsen murmured, though his thoughts were a tangled mess.
He had been prepared to die, knowing the upload process would take time. His family was already gone. He had nothing left to live for.
But the turn of events had thrown all his calculations off.
Now, survival seemed possible.
Neither he nor Stark expected what came next.
Because while they were making preparations, more objects inside the cave began to transform into mechanical beings.
Including—
The very computer Stark had just used to upload his data.
Within moments, it too awakened, reshaping into a towering two-meter mechanical lifeform.
It stormed out of the room with heavy, thunderous steps.
But that wasn't all.
The instant Haruto had unleashed the Allspark, its power had spread through the entire Ten Rings compound.
Which meant—
Every single weapon here…
Had been reborn as a mechanical lifeform.