Chapter 58: Adamantine Alloy Grenade

Demonbane Stone, a mysterious mineral imbued with the magical energy of the Seventh Apostle, Anton. Originating from the world of DNF.

Adamantium Alloy, an artificially synthesized metal known on Earth for possessing the highest density. From the Marvel universe.

Demonbane Stone and Adamantium Alloy—Luke had long awaited this combination, dreaming of it countless times.

"From now on, I’ll never have to waste Demonbane Stone by grinding it into powder again. As expected from Tony—his research findings clearly illustrate how to unleash this kind of energy. Although the process appears extremely complicated, at last, the true potential of Demonbane Stone can be harnessed."

While examining Tony's research data, Luke found much of it indecipherable, but fortunately, Christina was there to help him analyze. Mimicking the process shouldn’t be too difficult.

"Master, Tony Stark’s research results indicate that the key element in this mineral possesses four major characteristics."

"And what are those four?"

Tony referred to the key element that comprises Demonbane Stone as ‘Beta Element.’

Luke knew this was, in fact, magical energy.

Christina explained, "One of the main features of this element is its extraordinary stability and extreme inertness. To release its internal energy, a steady and sustained excitation process is required."

"Oh? And the second feature?"

"Once the excitation process is achieved, the energy release is explosive. It rapidly discharges all its internal energy in an extremely brief span. According to Tony Stark’s data, the energy spike is highly transient, reaching a massive peak, and then immediately stabilizing—the element itself reverts to its inert state."

"So that's the case. It really does resemble the magic energy in the game!" Luke mused.

Indeed, this mirrored the activation of magic energy in the archaic and sacred weapons in DNF. There, triggering magic energy also required a charging period. Once charged, the energy would burst forth briefly, after which all accumulated power would be spent and need to be recharged again.

Luke thought he should have anticipated this; once magical energy entered reality, it would likely inherit this explosive trait.

For him, this was good news.

"This trait is perfect—absolutely ideal for creating explosions," Luke immediately thought of the art of detonation.

He nodded. "Go on."

Christina continued, "The third feature is that, due to the extremely brief energy burst, the affected area is highly localized. In Tony Stark’s experiments, most of the energy is concentrated at a single point."

"In other words, its area of effect isn’t large?"

"You could say that."

"And the fourth feature?"

"The fourth feature is that during the energy burst, an incredibly high temperature is generated instantaneously. Tony Stark’s data indicates that the temperature produced by each magical energy burst never falls below three million degrees Celsius. According to Jarvis’s simulations, the energy released can practically melt any known metal instantly."

Luke immediately asked, concerned, "What about Adamantium Alloy?"

"In Tony Stark’s experiments, only two metals remained unmelted."

"I see."

Luke was relieved. So Adamantium Alloy was safe.

After a moment’s contemplation to organize his thoughts, Luke nodded solemnly. "Then, assistant, let’s begin."

With Tony's precise parameters at hand, Christina could now run simulations.

What Luke wanted Christina to simulate was the kinetic energy generated in Adamantium Alloy fragments by magical energy explosions.

He’d already entertained the idea of making grenades out of Adamantium or Vibranium.

Now that he finally possessed Adamantium Alloy, he was eager to realize that long-held vision.

"Master, did you know that the invention of the grenade can be traced back to China?"

"I think I’ve heard that before."

"In the Song Dynasty, a weapon called the ‘fireball’ was invented, with gunpowder as its core, wrapped inside layers of paper and cloth to form an inner shell, which was then coated with tar, pine resin, yellow wax, and other flammable, moisture-proof agents. Once ignited and either hurled by hand or launched by cannon, the sphere would explode, generating fierce flames. By altering the explosive contents—adding caltrops, poison, and so forth—it could deliver toxins, create barriers, produce smoke, or even make noise."

Luke was astonished. "That’s practically the prototype of a multifunctional grenade."

"Yes. By the thirteenth century, this had evolved into the ‘Thunderclap Bomb.’"

"Thunderclap Bomb?"

"The Thunderclap Bomb had a cast iron shell shaped like a jar, much like those primitive grenades you first made, master. Gunpowder was packed inside, and when ignited, the gunpowder would combust in the sealed iron shell, generating high-pressure gas that shattered the casing and produced lethal shrapnel."

"Indeed, that was my approach as well."

"In Europe, it wasn’t until after the seventeenth century that they began packing gunpowder and lead balls or metal fragments into iron tubes. Only then did the backward Europeans finally have iron-cased grenades."

"But they’re the true ancestors of modern grenades," Luke remarked with a tinge of melancholy.

Christina said, "Iron-cased grenades contained sharp metal fragments and ball bearings. When they exploded, these would be scattered, causing more lethal injuries. However, all fragmentation grenades share a fatal flaw."

"A fatal flaw? What is it?"

"They’re not very effective against targets or structures behind cover."

Luke nodded. "True."

The main reason for this flaw was twofold: the kinetic energy of the fragments, and the fragment material itself.

Either the fragments lacked the kinetic energy to penetrate cover, or the fragment material was weaker than the cover.

Both scenarios rendered the fragments ineffective.

That was precisely the focus of the simulations he’d tasked Christina with.

Find a way to increase the fragments’ kinetic energy, and a way to enhance their material strength—solve these two fundamental issues and the grenade’s lethality would be dramatically improved.

Magical energy and Adamantium Alloy corresponded to these two points.

Luke was confident the problem wasn’t difficult to solve—it was just a matter of degree.

Christina’s calculations were swift—she tapped into the computational power of Harvard and MIT’s supercomputers to complete the project rapidly.

She smiled, "Congratulations, master. The energy released by magical energy is more than enough to accelerate Adamantium Alloy shrapnel inside a grenade to an extraordinary velocity. The kinetic energy is immense. The lethality is truly immense."

"To what extent?" Luke asked, filled with anticipation.

"We need to make two comparisons, master. During World War II, there was a fragmentation grenade nicknamed the ‘Lemon’—the F-1. It had a cast-iron shell, but was too heavy, weighing 600 grams. Its throwing range was short and it contained few fragments. Moreover, the fragments were inconsistent in quality and sometimes fused together, so its effective kill radius was only thirty meters, though sometimes fragments would fly out as far as a hundred meters, causing unintended casualties."

For Christina, acquiring such information was effortless.

She cheerfully explained to Luke, "The M26A1, the current U.S. Army grenade, weighs 454 grams, has a steel casing, contains steel fragments, and uses Type B TNT. It’s lethal within fifteen to twenty meters, but lethality drops sharply beyond twenty-five meters. It can penetrate plaster walls."

She presented Luke with a simulated schematic of the Adamantium Alloy grenade.

"An Adamantium Alloy grenade is expected to weigh 2,700 grams, has a steel shell, contains Adamantium Alloy fragments, and uses a purified Demonbane Stone mixture as the explosive. It’s estimated to have an effective kill radius of 1,000 meters, with lethality gradually waning by 2,000 meters. It can penetrate any material except Adamantium Alloy and Vibranium."

"What about its penetration capabilities?"

"Incredibly high. In one hundred thousand simulations, within one kilometer, Adamantium Alloy fragments penetrated everything except themselves and Vibranium with a 100% success rate. So, within the blast zone, no cover is safe—not even for the person who threw it."

Luke’s jaw dropped in astonishment. "A true weapon of mass destruction…"

If such a device were ever made, no other means of defense would stand a chance!

Adamantium Alloy shrapnel—enough to take down even the Hulk.

For Iron Man, a close-range hit would have him meeting his maker for sure.

"The only problem is the cost. It’s so extravagant, so decadent…"

Christina’s simulations indicated that to achieve such coverage, each grenade would need five kilograms of Adamantium Alloy fragments.

It sounded like a lot, but it really wasn’t—Adamantium Alloy was simply that dense. Five kilograms didn’t amount to much.

He had only managed to obtain fifty kilograms in total this time. That meant he could produce just ten grenades…

And he’d planned to make other things as well.

Fury had only given him fifty kilograms, of which a mere ten kilograms was pure Adamantium Alloy. The remaining forty kilograms were secondary-grade.

In truth, even ten kilograms of pure Adamantium Alloy was more than Luke had expected. He’d only counted on around five.

Clearly, Fury valued him highly.

But for now, this amount of material was far from enough for his purposes.

"What I’m tossing isn’t just a grenade—it’s a Lamborghini…"

Despite the grumbling, possessing such a weapon of mass destruction still filled Luke with considerable satisfaction.

Delight—

"I’ll start by making one or two as trump cards, to deal with especially tough adversaries. The rest should go into the G-0 War Lord project."

As for making a suit of personal armor out of Adamantium Alloy?

Don’t be ridiculous!

It would crush him under its own weight.

Better wait until he could get his hands on Vibranium. It’s two-thirds lighter than iron. Luke was quite envious of Black Panther’s suit.

He smiled at the thought, another idea flashing through his mind:

"Tony should be close to success on his end by now… Consider it a little bonus for him!"

Meanwhile.

In the top-floor laboratory of Stark Tower, Tony was preparing for a new experiment.

"Jarvis, execute the Wallbreaker Protocol."

"Sir, what is the Wallbreaker Protocol?"

"…" He’d forgotten that all data Jarvis had on Demonbane Stone had been deleted. "Never mind, forget it. Come assist me—I want to synthesize a new element."

…

Ps:
1. This chapter is extended.
2. X-Men only make cameo appearances; they won’t feature directly.
3. Could you call me ‘boss,’ even if you don’t mean it?