The Dragon Force had gone far beyond simple enhancement.
Speed.
Every aspect of Drex Valen's movement had been amplified.
Reaction speed. Combat speed. Flight speed. Processing speed.
Everything.
Endurance.
His body no longer required sleep or food in any conventional sense. He could survive for absurd lengths of time without eating or drinking. Though honestly, that benefit meant very little to him now. Ever since mastering atomic-level electromagnetic manipulation, Drex had already become effectively immortal.
Ageless.
Deathless.
Nearly indestructible.
Durability.
His body became even harder to damage than before. Bullets and blades meant even less now, and the enhancement extended beyond the physical world. His resistance to mystical forces rose dramatically as well.
Divine Power.
Drex could now convert his own energy into a higher-order form imbued with divine attributes. It carried overwhelming effectiveness against supernatural and mystical entities.
The blessings of hundreds of dragon souls surged through him simultaneously.
The increase was so absurd that Drex could feel himself crossing another threshold entirely. He had already reached the level of cosmic gods long ago, but now his strength climbed even further.
At this point, he could probably pin Odin down and beat him senseless even if the old king wore the Destroyer Armor.
"The average Iron Fist receives the blessing of a single dragon soul," the Ancient One said calmly. "You received the blessings of hundreds."
She showed no regret.
After all, she had already known this outcome was possible when she guided him toward Kunlun's power.
The title of Kunlun's strongest Iron Fist probably no longer belonged to Astra Feng.
Now it belonged to Drex Valen.
Though Kunlun itself would almost certainly refuse to acknowledge him.
Daniel had only recently inherited the mantle of Iron Fist, after all.
The fragment of the Phoenix Force sensed the dragon souls protecting Drex.
And then something changed.
Ancient instinct.
Ancient memory.
Long ago, the Phoenix Force had once been shattered by dragon souls like these.
That memory ignited immediate hostility.
The Phoenix Force abruptly abandoned caution and rushed straight into Drex's body.
If the dragon souls wanted this host, then it would claim him first.
Drex frowned slightly.
Now the Phoenix Force was inside him too.
At this rate, his body was becoming a cosmic junk drawer stuffed with absurd powers.
Oddly enough, though, the Phoenix Force and the dragon souls didn't immediately clash.
Instead, they kept their distance from each other, almost like two predators silently occupying the same territory.
"The Phoenix Force has been damaged too severely," the Ancient One explained. "It won't fight the dragon souls yet. Instead, it'll use you as a coordinate beacon to attract more fragments."
She looked at him seriously.
"If too many fragments gather inside you, you'll be in danger, Drex."
"For me, being powerless is the real danger," Drex replied calmly.
He could already feel the Phoenix Force responding to his will.
The fragment was weak, far weaker than even a single dragon soul, but it was still unimaginably valuable.
And if it truly could attract more fragments over time, then strength wouldn't remain a problem forever.
Besides, both the Dragon Force and the Phoenix Force mainly served one purpose for him:
Dealing with the mystical side of the universe.
Against most ordinary threats, he barely needed either power.
The Ancient One merely nodded.
She had already said what she came to say.
Once she confirmed Drex had stabilized the Phoenix fragment successfully, she disappeared.
Drex teleported back to Umbrella Corporation headquarters.
Compared to Umbrella, the S.W.O.R.D. headquarters barely required his attention anymore.
The floating fortress had already been completed as a joint international order commissioned for S.W.O.R.D.'s use.
It possessed full aerial, naval, and terrestrial capability.
Most of the time, it remained suspended in the sky, powered by a magnetic confinement fusion reactor capable of keeping it airborne indefinitely.
Alexander Pierce practically salivated every time he saw it.
The fortress was armed heavily enough to function as a mobile superweapon. It could descend onto land and become a giant fortress, or submerge into the ocean entirely.
Honestly, Drex had originally wanted to create something closer to the Victory Team headquarters from Ultraman.
"Maybe later," Drex muttered lazily. "Once I create Gorzan and Melba, I'll build the full Victory Team setup."
Then he opened Black Queen's database.
A holographic armor model appeared in front of him.
Kryptonian Battle Armor - 199
One hundred and ninety-eight failures had preceded it.
Kryptonian battle armor was monstrously powerful.
The films alone proved that.
General Zod and his soldiers had worn outdated prison-era combat suits after spending years trapped inside the Phantom Zone, yet they still managed to overpower Superman despite Clark spending decades absorbing yellow solar radiation on Earth.
Those Kryptonians had never absorbed sunlight themselves.
The armor alone gave them that kind of advantage.
Drex didn't personally need armor anymore. At his current level, he could rip apart every Kryptonian suit in existence barehanded.
But that didn't mean armor lacked value.
Compared to the Superman Drug, battle armor had one overwhelming advantage:
Mass production.
The Superman Drug only appeared stable because Drex personally screened candidates on the microscopic cellular level. In reality, the success rate was horrifyingly low.
Out of ten thousand people, maybe one could survive the transformation successfully.
The fact that the Hydra pretty-boy squad all succeeded honestly felt less like science and more like plot armor.
Which only made Drex more interested in narrative-significant individuals.
Back on Krypton, the armor he personally wore had been the most advanced prototype available.
That made sense. He had been a scientist specializing in weapons and materials engineering.
Unfortunately, his expertise leaned heavily toward energy weapons rather than powered armor systems.
So rebuilding the suit required years of reverse engineering and experimentation.
Kryptonian Battle Armor - 199 was the closest reproduction yet.
An ordinary human wearing it could wield over five hundred tons of force, enough to physically contend with an enraged Hulk or exchange blows with Thanos directly.
As for Drex's original suit?
That had been Krypton's true apex armor.
Reinforced with primordial Kryptonite alloys and equipped with experimental technologies that had still been undergoing laboratory testing before Krypton exploded.
Drex had worn it for one simple reason:
To survive the destruction of his world.
After another round of testing and another mountain of wasted materials, he finally sighed and left the lab.
Back in his room, he found Urd, Tifa, and Esdeath waiting for him.
A steaming pot sat on the table between them.
"You're back," Urd said immediately, taking his jacket.
"Soup?" Drex asked.
Tifa quickly handed him a bowl.
"Sea cucumber, deer antler, bull penis, rooster testicles, goji berries, and pigeon blood soup."
Drex stared silently at the bowl.
...
That was an aggressive level of nutritional encouragement.
Was this supposed to be subtle?
Then again, he had been buried under monster crises, armor development, and global power struggles lately. He really had neglected them.
And somewhere along the line, he had already started thinking of all three women as his wives.
Even if no wedding existed yet.
Even if he'd never actually said it aloud.
A flicker of guilt surfaced.
"We're going out tomorrow," Drex said suddenly.
He realized something important.
Ever since arriving in the Marvel universe, he had never truly relaxed.
Playing games didn't count.
Not really.