Five minutes passed.
When T'Chaka, wearing the Black Panther suit, leaped from a Wakandan jet and landed in front of Axel, the battlefield had already turned into a nightmare.
Nearly eight hundred warriors of the Antelope Tribe lay scattered around Axel.
Some were dead.
Others writhed on the ground, crying out in pain.
The air was filled with blood and dust.
T'Chaka slowly looked across the battlefield. His mask trembled slightly.
Then he spoke, each word heavy with fury.
"This will be a blood feud."
"I know, I know," Axel interrupted impatiently, rubbing his head in frustration.
"Honestly, I didn't want it to end like this, buddy."
He gestured casually toward the wounded warriors around them.
"Look at them. Half are dead, the other half are barely breathing. I even tried to hold back."
Axel snorted.
"But a blood feud is a blood feud, right?"
"If I steal your vibranium, that's a blood feud. If I rob your vibranium, that's also a blood feud."
"So if I kill some of you first and then take the vibranium, I guess I still come out ahead."
Axel sneered as he walked toward T'Chaka.
T'Chaka inhaled deeply.
Then he lunged forward like a hunting leopard.
His vibranium claws slashed directly toward Axel's face.
Axel did not move.
He simply let the claws strike him.
Screech!
The sound of metal scraping against stone rang out.
Sparks burst across Axel's face as the claws dragged across his skin.
T'Chaka froze.
"Impossible!"
Even pure vibranium could not cut him.
Vibranium was Wakanda's most valuable resource, and the royal family strictly controlled its use.
Only the royal family possessed full vibranium armor.
Even tribal elders typically carried weapons made from vibranium alloy rather than pure vibranium.
That was why the Antelope Tribe elder had been left so vulnerable earlier. His robes exposed much of his body.
The Wakandan monarchy often praised this as a symbol of warrior tradition.
But standing before Axel, T'Chaka suddenly realized something terrifying.
Axel's skin was as hard as vibranium.
"You..."
Before he could continue, Axel grabbed him by the throat.
At that moment, a Wakandan jet in the distance prepared to fire.
Axel glanced at it.
Then he grinned.
He lifted T'Chaka and threw him like a spear.
Boom!
T'Chaka crashed straight into the aircraft.
The impact sent the jet spinning backward before it slammed into a distant hillside and exploded.
The explosion shook the approaching Wakandan forces.
Thousands of warriors who had been rushing to reinforce the battlefield suddenly felt their hearts sink.
Still, they kept advancing.
Axel casually picked up a fallen spear.
He lifted the smooth spearhead and examined his reflection in it.
"Tsk."
After a moment, he nodded with satisfaction.
He aimed the spear like a javelin toward the distant army.
Then he threw it.
Whoosh!
The spear tore through the air.
Axel chuckled.
"I didn't realize until today that my skin tone looks this good."
Then he burst forward.
Like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep, Axel crashed into the warriors of Wakanda.
Bodies flew in every direction.
The battlefield turned chaotic.
Royal guards dressed in red were thrown through the air one after another.
From the palace, Queen Ramonda watched the scene through surveillance screens.
Her voice trembled with despair.
"How can someone this powerful exist?"
Beside her, several royal guards urgently spoke.
"Your Majesty, there is no time. We must destroy the Heart-Shaped Herb."
Ramonda nodded grimly and began moving with the guards while holding Shuri in her arms.
Shuri bit her lip nervously.
"Why do we have to destroy it?" she asked.
"If every Wakandan had the power of the Black Panther, even if we still lost, we would be stronger than we are now."
Ramonda shook her head.
"This is Wakanda's tradition."
"If the Heart-Shaped Herb were widely used, too many superhumans would cause endless internal conflict."
"In a crisis like this, we must destroy it and seal the vibranium mines. Wakanda's core resources cannot fall into enemy hands."
"But that makes no sense!" Shuri protested.
"Are we supposed to survive by hiding every time someone attacks us?"
"Why can't we become stronger?"
"If our people were stronger, that man would not be slaughtering our soldiers right now!"
"We must follow Wakandan tradition," Ramonda replied bitterly.
She carried Shuri into the sacred temple where the Heart-Shaped Herb was cultivated.
The elder responsible for the garden had already begun burning the plants.
Flames spread across the sacred herbs.
The elder spoke calmly.
"As long as even one Heart-Shaped Herb survives, Wakanda will rise again."
"But if every Wakandan had used the herb from the beginning, we might not be losing today!" Shuri shouted.
"Why must we talk about rebuilding later? We should be thriving now!"
Furious, Shuri jumped out of her mother's arms.
She raised her head defiantly.
"And I already know how to stop this war!"
Before Ramonda could react, Shuri ran.
Ramonda immediately ordered guards to chase after her while she stayed behind to help destroy the remaining herbs.
Meanwhile, Shuri sprinted through the palace halls.
Several guards chased after her.
She pressed a button on her shoes.
Small thrusters ignited.
Shuri shot forward, leaving the guards far behind.
She reached her bedroom and quickly searched through a drawer.
From inside, she pulled out a pair of small gauntlets she had built herself.
Even at eleven years old, Shuri was already a brilliant inventor.
By the time the guards burst into the room, Shuri had smashed the window and flown away with a flight pack strapped to her back.
She raced toward the battlefield.
Back on the Wakandan border, Axel caught T'Chaka again as the king charged him.
Axel slammed a brutal punch into his chest.
The impact launched T'Chaka hundreds of meters through the air.
As he flew backward, T'Chaka suddenly saw something unbelievable.
His daughter.
"Wait... am I seeing things?"
He forced his body upright in midair.
But even as he landed and rushed forward again, Shuri was already flying faster than he could run.
Moments later, Axel casually ripped a Wakandan warrior in half.
Then he turned around suddenly, preparing to block an attack from behind.
Instead, he caught something small flying straight toward him.
It was Shuri.
Axel grabbed her effortlessly.
He blinked in surprise.
Then he grabbed the back of her neck and looked at the Wakandan warriors around him.
"Buddies," he said impatiently.
"Are you idiots running out of soldiers? Now you're sending kids?"
"Axel!"
Shuri shouted, tears filling her eyes.
"Please stop this fight!"
"Oh really?"
Axel flicked her forehead, leaving a smear of blood.
Then he patted her head roughly.
"You think I stop just because you asked nicely?"
"Go play somewhere else. I don't like kids seeing blood."
"Relax. Wakanda isn't going anywhere."
"I'm just helping you people with a little reform."
He prepared to throw her away.
But Shuri suddenly grabbed his arm.
"I am the daughter of Wakanda's king!"
"My brother is studying in America, which makes me the only royal heir here."
"If you take me hostage, my people will negotiate with you."
"You can talk to my father using me."
"Please stop this war."
Tears streamed down her face as she clung to Axel's arm.
Axel laughed.
Then he shook her off.
At the same time, a Wakandan warrior thrust a spear toward him.
Axel casually lifted Shuri and used her body as a shield.
The warrior panicked and quickly pulled his spear aside.
Axel grinned at the surrounding soldiers.
"Alright, buddies."
"Thanks to your princess, my robbery just turned into a kidnapping."
He laughed loudly.
"Where's T'Chaka? Is he still alive?"
"If he is, come talk to me."
"I don't want much."
"Just a few tons of vibranium."
"And the price is your princess."
Axel paused.
Then he added with a grin,
"And maybe your entire damn country."
At that moment, he noticed T'Chaka rushing back toward him from the distance.
Axel casually tossed Shuri in his direction.
===
Look up "_Zeph" on Patreon to get access to chapters in advance.