Legion launched himself forward, ignoring the water slowing his steps. Kofie, recovering his stance, timed it perfectly and delivered a front kick that connected squarely with the young man's stomach.
The blow was sharp and violent, making Legion spit blood, but to the warrior's surprise, he didn't step back.
With one motion, the hero trapped Kofie's leg against his side. Without showing any pain, he launched a low kick at the giant's supporting ankle, throwing him off balance and sending him crashing backwards into the river.
The young man didn't waste a second and threw himself on top of him, unleashing a series of punches. Kofie crossed his arms in front of his face, enduring the blows and waiting for the right moment. Noticing his opponent repeating the same attack, the warrior seized an opening, twisted with a wrestling maneuver and managed to end up on top, trapping Legion's arm in a lock.
Kofie applied constant pressure, stretching the joint to its limit.
"Give up!" he shouted through his teeth, increasing the force. "I'm going to break your arm!"
Legion, far from screaming, let out a laugh that unsettled the warrior.
Instead of resisting the lock, he twisted his body sharply, allowing the bone to slip out of place with a crack.
The pressure vanished instantly. Kofie, thrown off, rolled back and got to his feet quickly, watching as Legion rose with his left arm hanging completely dislocated.
"Have you lost your mind?"
Legion shook his head, a smile spreading across his blood-stained face.
"Crazy? No. I'm clearer-headed than ever... In fact, this is a great day for me."
Without taking his eyes off Kofie, he grabbed his own arm and, with a sharp movement and a snap, put the bone back in place. He rotated it a couple of times to make sure he could move it properly.
"It's the first time I've gone out to play without a leash," he continued, narrowing his eyes beneath the sun. "I have to enjoy the time while I can. To feel the sun, the pain... it's quite an experience and I intend to make the most of it."
Kofie couldn't make sense of anything the foreigner was saying. The only thing he could think was that one of his blows had caused serious damage to the boy's head. He spat to one side, fed up with the situation.
"That's enough," he declared, regaining his composure. "I'm going to put you down right now and get that head of yours checked out. I won't allow my first great ritual to end with a stain because of some dirty foreigner."
He threw a right hand loaded with his full body weight that connected squarely with Legion's jaw.
The crack echoed throughout the entire arena and the boy's head whipped violently to one side, but his feet didn't move. Instead of falling, Legion slowly brought his gaze back, fixing his eyes on Kofie with a disturbing steadiness.
Before the warrior could pull his fist back, Legion lunged at him.
There was no technique. There was no guard. Legion simply crashed into Kofie's chest, digging his nails into his shoulders while trying to bite any part of his neck.
The Wakandan, disgusted and surprised, drove a brutal knee into his stomach that knocked the air out of him, followed by a downward elbow that split his eyebrow open. Legion took both blows head-on, but didn't release his grip — on the contrary, he used the closeness to deliver a headbutt that made Kofie's nose bleed again.
The border warrior stepped back, trying to recover his personal space, but Legion wouldn't allow it.
He advanced erratically, moving through the river rocks with agility.
Kofie threw a three-hit combination — jab, hook, and a roundhouse kick that connected with Legion's ribs. Another dry crack was heard, but Legion didn't react, launching himself forward again with open hands, trying to tear at skin.
The giant felt a chill.
It wasn't just the resistance to pain — it was the feeling that he was no longer fighting the foreigner who had arrived in Wakanda. He felt as though he had something else in front of him, something disturbing that looked at him not as a rival, but as a source of entertainment, eager to tear a piece of his flesh.
"You're behaving like an animal!" he shouted, throwing a desperate blow that Legion didn't even attempt to dodge. "If you keep this up, you're going to die right here. Your body won't hold out."
The hero took the punch full in the face, letting his own blood stain his teeth.
"Isn't this what you wanted?" he asked. "Death can't claim me — I don't fear HER. You wanted a fight, so I'm going to give you one."
Legion lunged at Kofie's throat once more. The warrior tried to block him, but the boy simply slipped under his guard, catching his forearm and sinking his teeth in with such ferocity that the muscle seemed to give way under the pressure.
Kofie growled in pain and began driving his closed fist into Legion's back.
Once.
Twice.
Three times, trying to shake him off.
But Legion wouldn't let go. The harder Kofie hit him, the harder he clenched his jaw, savoring the metallic taste flooding his mouth.
Kofie finally managed to throw him against a rock, separating them at last.
The warrior was panting, staring in horror at the teeth marks on his arm and the strips of skin Legion was spitting into the water without ever breaking his gaze.
====
King T'Chaka, who moments before had risen to his feet to stop the fight, stood motionless, watching the carnage in the river. What had begun as a lesson in discipline delivered by his warrior had transformed into a spectacle of violence that was difficult to process.
Ramonda moved closer to him, wrapping his arm with trembling hands as she watched Legion throw himself again and again at Kofie, ignoring broken bones and deep cuts.
"T'Chaka, please," the queen pleaded in a whisper heavy with anguish. "You have to call an end to the fight. This is no longer a trial — it's a mutual execution."
The King stayed silent, his gaze fixed on the foreigner who spat blood and smiled. After a few seconds that felt like an eternity, he let out a sigh and shook his head.
"No," he replied with a firm voice. "I thought the boy would no longer be able to get up, but he did. I told you before, Ramonda — no one can interfere. We can only wait for this to end on its own terms. Stopping it now would be an insult to the will that boy is showing, however terrifying it may be."
The queen stepped back, pressing her lips together, forced to watch as the river water turned a deeper and deeper shade of red.
Nearby, Shuri and T'Challa could not hide their shock.
The princess, who always had a technical answer or a sarcastic comment, was speechless, her eyes wide at Legion's transformation.
T'Challa exchanged a quick glance with his sister. In the prince's eyes there was a deep concern that went far beyond royal protocol. Without taking his eyes off the fighters, T'Challa brought a hand to his ear, activating his communicator with a subtle gesture.
"Prepare all medical resources immediately," he ordered in a low voice. "I want stabilization teams and trauma rooms ready in the palace. When this is over, they're going to have a lot of work."
Down below, amid the roar of water and blows, the battle continued. Kofie threw a desperate punch that Legion met with his forehead, only to use that same momentum to launch himself forward again.
Legion managed to bring Kofie down with a strike charged with a disproportionate force.
The warrior fell backwards into the river and raised his arms to cover his face, but Legion threw himself on top of him, sinking his nails into the flesh of his forearms. Through the cloth of the bandana covering his opponent's eyes, Kofie thought he could see something — a faint, icy violet glow.
The warrior, driven by an instinct he couldn't rationalize, gasped as he tried to break free.
"Who... who are you?" he managed to ask.
Legion widened his smile, showing teeth stained red. Kofie felt a sharp pain as Legion's nails seemed to lengthen a few centimeters, sinking even deeper into his skin.
"Weren't you so sure of yourself before?" Legion murmured, bringing his face close to the warrior's. "What happened to that grand entrance — the body paint and the chin held high?"
Kofie tried to push him off, but froze. Legion's body, which moments ago had been lean and light, now felt as though it weighed a ton, crushing him against the rocks of the riverbed.
"You wanted to show off your skills, didn't you?" he continued. "Seems like it wasn't all that impressive."
The violet glow behind the cloth intensified, growing sharper. Legion brought his lips to Kofie's ear, whose breathing was becoming increasingly erratic.
"You were so full of yourself... You think you're superior when you're just a human," he whispered in a tone that chilled the blood. "You want to know who I am? I am what you fear when you look into the darkness. What you cannot see, but know is there, waiting."
Kofie felt an icy cold run down his spine. He tried to look away, but an invisible force held him fixed, trapped by the presence emanating from the boy.
"And now here I am, right in front of you. Look back at me, Kofie. Look at me."
The warrior didn't fully understand his words, but the sense of danger was so real that goosebumps rose across his skin.
Even though the bandana hid Legion's eyes, that violet glow burned into his vision, making him feel that, for the first time in his life, he was facing something that did not belong to this world.
===
LEGION'S POV
My heart pounds against my chest with a force that deafens me, marking the rhythm of my every movement.
In front of me, pinned against the rocks and the water, is her.
She's taller than me, but that doesn't matter anymore. Hatred runs through my veins like acid, giving me a strength I didn't know I had.
I grab her by the shoulders and drive her down into the ground.
She doesn't close her fists, doesn't try to hit me to save herself. Instead, she reaches out a trembling hand and grazes my cheek with her fingertips, searching for my eyes with a look filled with a tenderness that turns my stomach.
"I love you, son..." she whispers, ignoring the blood running down her face. "You are my life. Come with me. You don't need to bring your brother — your father filled your head with lies."
I knock her hand away and land a blow on her cheekbone that snaps her head to the side.
"Liar!" I scream, the rage burning in my throat. "He never needed to lie to me. I WAS THERE!"
She tries again, wrapping her arms around my neck in an attempt at an embrace, trying to pull me to her chest as if I were a small child.
I catch the perfume she always used to wear and it only makes the fire inside me grow. I push her, slamming her back against the riverbed.
"I always treated you well..." she says, her voice broken by the water. "I always gave you everything I could."
"You gave me beatings!" I answer, throwing a punch that lands just beside her head. "You gave me screaming, insults, NIGHTMARES!"
The woman tries to stroke my hair, her eyes full of tears that look to me like the purest poison in the world.
Her hand moves up to the back of my neck, trying to calm me, but I grab her wrist and squeeze until I hear a crack.
"Even the times you cheated on him..." I spit, getting so close that her breath touches my face. "Did you think I forgot because I was a child? I remember... every moment."
She shakes her head, trying to kiss my forehead, searching for that connection I tore from my soul years ago.
"You don't know what you're saying, little one... I took care of you before you were even born."
I return a headbutt that cuts off the sentence and splits her lip. The metallic taste of blood fills the air.
"I was your hostage!" I scream inches from her face. "You used me so he wouldn't leave you!"
I hate her.
I hate every fiber of her being.
I loathe every single memory I have of her.
I spit on her memory because everything she was — every fake caress and every "sweet" word — was nothing but pain for all of us.
She tries to say something more, stretching her fingers to touch my chest, right over my heart, but I catch her hand and drive it into the mud.
"I don't believe a single word you say," I whisper, as the violet glow in my vision becomes almost blinding. "NOTHING!"
I throw another punch, ignoring the pain in my own knuckles.
I don't want her love.
I don't want her touch.
I just want her to be quiet, to disappear once and for all.
===
The silence grew heavy, almost suffocating. The elders, who at first had been enjoying the spectacle with laughter and arrogant commentary, now watched the scene with clasped hands and pale faces.
It was no longer a show of strength to demonstrate Wakanda's superiority — it was a massacre.
Kofie, his breathing ragged and his vision blurred by sweat and blood, managed to catch Legion's arm in a desperate move. He extended it sharply and delivered a clean strike that broke the bone with a snap.
Despite the severity of the injury, Legion didn't let out a single sound. Almost immediately, he launched a blow with his other fist. His knuckles were destroyed, the flesh raw and tendons exposed, but he kept hitting.
The border warrior stumbled back. His own body was in no better shape — the ritual paint had disappeared beneath a layer of blood seeping from bite marks, scratches, and deep bruises.
Both fighters were at their limit, but Legion's wounds were alarming. He had broken bones and open cuts that would have left anyone else unconscious, yet he kept moving forward.
"This... this is inconceivable," one of the elders murmured. "How is it possible that a human being remains standing with injuries like those?"
"I've read some articles about him," mentioned an elder woman beside him, not taking her eyes off the scene. "They say he might be an alien with a human appearance. Seeing this... perhaps that's true."
Shuri looked at T'Challa. The prince could no longer maintain his stoic composure — his features reflected an evident disgust at the unnecessary brutality of the encounter.
He moved closer to his father and, in a low voice, tried to reason with him.
"Father, this has escalated too far. No ritual combat has ever reached this point. We must stop them now."
T'Chaka didn't move. His eyes remained fixed on the two young men tearing each other apart in the water.
"No. Both warriors still wish to fight."
"Father," T'Challa pressed. "This is a combat to demonstrate honor — the death of the other is not permitted."
T'Chaka turned his head slightly to look at his son.
"Do you remember what I said before the ritual began?"
"You said they must fight as if their lives depended on it," T'Challa replied immediately. "But also that the combat would stop if one could no longer continue or surrendered."
"You are mistaken," his father corrected him. "This trial is to demonstrate a warrior's determination. To see how far they are willing to go to achieve victory. And if the death of their opponent is the price... so be it."
T'Challa stood speechless, staring at his father in surprise.
"Father... they are still children," he whispered.
"No," T'Chaka declared, turning his gaze back to the front. "They are warriors, and very possibly we will be embroiled in a war very soon. We do not have the luxury of sentimental excuses."
T'Challa fell silent, feeling a pressure in his chest as he watched Legion and Kofie throw themselves at each other with blind ferocity.
For the first time, he questioned how far his father was willing to go — and how sound it was to uphold customs that seemed to have lost all humanity in favor of a merciless determination.
===
KOFIE'S POV
I feel my lungs burning as if I swallowed hot coals.
I can't believe what's happening. I landed a blow to the back of his head — an impact that should have knocked him unconscious instantly — but the foreigner spun around with a terrifying speed.
Before I could react, he was on top of me.
He climbed onto my chest with a strength that doesn't match his size and began driving both fists into my face. I tried to shake him off, struck his sides, searched for any pressure point, but he absorbed every impact as if he felt nothing.
My arms gave out from exhaustion and I ended up falling backwards into the river.
I feel his hands close around my head. They are cold and push with absolute determination. My face is driven into the icy water.
Panic fires through me.
I try to strike his abdomen with everything I have, but my movements are clumsy beneath the current. My fingers dig into his skin, I try to push him, to get him away, but his grip is firm.
The water forces its way into my nose and in the chaos of bubbles and desperation, I hear his voice.
It's strange, because I'm underwater, but his words resonate directly inside my head — clear and distorted at the same time.
"I've had a great time," he says, and I can feel the vibration of his voice in my own bones as I fight for air. "This is a first for me, so I thank you for all of this."
My lungs demand oxygen, my movements grow erratic.
My blows against his stomach have no force left — they're barely weak shoves from someone surrendering to the weight of the water.
Suddenly, he yanks me to the surface. I manage to gasp a desperate breath of air, but before I can fill my chest, he drives me back under with violence.
"You know, Bast must get along well with you all," he murmurs, and his voice keeps resonating inside my skull. "Since you're such good friends, I'll send you to her."
He pulls me up again just long enough for me to see the light for a second before pushing me back down. The water hits my face and the panic clouds my judgment.
"Listen... you'd better get ready and start saying your prayers... or whatever it is you people say."
The pressure of his hands doesn't give.
My arms fall to my sides, heavy as lead. The water no longer feels cold...
I'm drowning.
====
LEGION'S POV
I press my hands against her face with all my strength, driving her into the cold water.
She doesn't fight back, doesn't try to hit me to save herself. Instead, she stretches her fingers and grazes my cheeks, tracing my skin with a sickening gentleness.
I hate her touch. Every caress feels like being burned and that only makes me push down harder, wanting to erase her from my sight.
Even underwater, she looks at me and smiles. She holds my gaze with a fake love that drives me to desperation, that burns me from the inside.
"Why are you smiling?" I scream, and my voice breaks with rage. "WHY ARE YOU SMILING?!"
I dig my fingers into her flesh, pressing harder, feeling the water splashing against my arms.
"This is your fault! Everything is your fault! Everything that happened, all this time... so much pain. You destroyed the family! What for?! FOR WHAT?! For a damn ring?! For more money?! Why?! TELL ME WHY!"
But she doesn't answer — she just stays there, smiling at me with tenderness.
I press harder... harder and harder, wanting that damned expression on her face to disappear forever.
Suddenly, in the distance, I hear something... a whisper.
"Legion..."
I furrow my brow, confused.
That voice isn't my mother's. It's distant, but grows stronger with every second.
"LEGION!"
"What...?" I manage to say, releasing some of the pressure without realizing it.
"LEGION!"
The shout rings out so clearly that my world shifts in the blink of an eye.
The place, my mother's face, and the hatred disappear as if they never existed.
In an instant, I'm in a combat arena, with the river water hitting my knees. I look up and see Shuri, screaming my name from a distance.
I look down and my heart stops.
I'm holding Kofie's head underwater, driving him under with my shattered hands.
The shock loosens my fingers and I freeze, staring at my bloodied hands and the warrior's body beneath the river.
"What... what the hell?" I whisper, completely disoriented.
I have no time to process anything more.
Suddenly, Kofie wrenches his head out of the water with a violent movement, gasping in a desperate breath of air.
Before I can react, his fist connects directly with my face with the full force of his desperation.
I feel the explosion of pain, the taste of blood, and then, immediately, the lights go out.
=====
HEYYYY, HOW'S EVERYONE DOING? HOPE YOU'RE ALL WELL!
THIS IS AS FAR AS WE GO WITH TODAY'S CHAPTER. I'M SURPRISED THAT IN THE PREVIOUS ONE NOBODY MENTIONED WHAT WAS HAPPENING — I READ SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS HERE AND THERE, SO I HOPE THIS CLEARS THINGS UP A LITTLE.
LEGION FINALLY COMES BACK TO HIS SENSES JUST IN TIME TO AVOID A SERIOUS MISTAKE, AND THE PRINCE OF WAKANDA IS LEFT SURPRISED BY HIS FATHER'S WORDS.
WE ALSO GOT TO DISCOVER SOMETHING ABOUT THE PROTAGONIST'S PAST... OR DID WE? I WONDER WHO THOSE MEMORIES BELONG TO?
THE FIGHT HAS ENDED AND UNFORTUNATELY LEGION CAME OUT ON THE LOSING SIDE. I WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER? PHEW, THINGS ARE GETTING COMPLICATED!
AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND YOUR SUPPORT.
TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES, A BIG KISS 😘