With a single slash, T'Challa ripped through one man's throat. He lunged again, and before the next victim could even react, deep gashes opened across his neck. One strike—instant death.
Gunfire echoed nonstop. Muzzle flashes flickered wildly in the darkness as T'Challa, like a black specter, harvested life after life. Aside from his glowing golden eyes and the gleam of the fang-shaped necklace on his chest, his entire form was swallowed by the night.
"Your Highness, two unidentified aerial objects are approaching at high speed. Should we shoot them down?"
Aboard the aircraft, Okoye monitored the situation closely. Two red dots were racing toward the area from afar. In Wakanda, only their own aircraft could move at such speeds—but she hadn't called for reinforcements. Without the king's or prince's authorization, no one could pilot a ship. That made these intruders enemies by default.
"No need," T'Challa replied calmly. "Activate full cloaking. I want to see who they really are."
With a vicious strike, he crushed the leader's chest and tossed the corpse aside like a rag doll.
Those two red dots were none other than Lucas and Tony.
They had chased the signal for over ten kilometers before finally locating the aircraft. Even JARVIS had been unable to lock onto it.
JARVIS relied on radar reflection—just like every tracking system in the world. No matter how advanced stealth technology was, it couldn't completely absorb or deflect all radar waves; there would always be some reflection. Conventional systems simply couldn't detect it.
But JARVIS could capture even a one-percent return.
Yet T'Challa's ship reflected nothing at all—as if it were invisible at the physical level itself. In the dead of night, finding such a craft was like searching for a needle in the ocean.
Lucas and Tony had circled a ten-kilometer radius, nearly resorting to firing blindly and hoping for a lucky hit, before finally finding this place.
By now, Tony had gained a rough sense of Wakanda's technological level. Just this cloaking system alone put them fifty—perhaps a hundred—years ahead of the rest of the world. Even for Tony Stark, such technology still existed only in theory.
The two arrived overhead.
T'Challa did not hide. He raised his head and looked up at Lucas and Tony.
Beside him stood a dark-skinned woman aiming a gun directly at them.
It was Nakia—the woman who had nearly become the future queen.
"T'Challa, why are you here?" she snapped. "You ruined my mission!"
She hadn't been kidnapped at all. She had infiltrated the human traffickers to dismantle the operation from within. T'Challa's sudden intervention had destroyed every lead.
Her gun remained trained on Lucas and Tony, and she showed no respect whatsoever to the prince.
"I—uh—I thought you'd been captured by traffickers, so I—"
T'Challa faltered. He had completely misjudged the situation.
"Hey," Tony called out cheerfully as he landed in his armor with a trademark superhero pose. "Isn't this a bit late for a date?"
Onion fluttered down beside him, carrying Lucas, its small wings beating softly.
T'Challa glanced at Tony's armor. Compared to his own Black Panther suit, it looked laughably inferior. His claws could tear through that flashy metal shell with ease.
Lucas, on the other hand, remained relaxed. He simply nodded at T'Challa in greeting. After all, this was Wakanda's future king—best to stay civil if possible.
"Who are you?" T'Challa demanded. "This is Wakandan territory. Entry without permission is forbidden."
Wakanda's secrets could not yet be revealed, and these two arriving in the middle of the night clearly meant trouble.
With a flick of his wrists, vibranium claws extended, gleaming coldly in the darkness.
"Hey, take it easy," Tony said quickly. "We're not the bad guys. We saw some fighting and came to check it out. Don't you recognize me? I'm Iron Man."
He patted his armor confidently. Surely no one on Earth didn't know Iron Man.
T'Challa, living in a highly advanced society, naturally knew of Tony Stark.
"So you're Tony Stark," T'Challa said coolly. "Good. Since you're here, you might as well stay."
Without warning, he moved.
Like a true panther, T'Challa lunged forward. Tony barely had time to raise his hand before T'Challa was already in front of him. One clawed strike ripped open the chest armor. The ultra-strong alloy tore apart, exposing the arc reactor beneath.
"Sir," JARVIS warned instantly, "armor integrity has fallen below seventy percent. You are fully exposed. I strongly recommend immediate retreat."
All power rerouted to the thrusters, ready to launch Tony away at maximum speed.
Tony panicked.
If only he'd brought the vibranium armor.
"This is such a scam," he cursed inwardly. "If I ever develop portable armor again, I'm a dog!"
"JARVIS, delete all research data on portable armor!"
He knew its flaws well. Aside from mobility, it was useless—fine for emergencies, but completely inadequate for real combat.
"Sir," JARVIS replied calmly, "satellite lock confirmed. Backup armor can be deployed immediately."
A Stark Industries satellite—launched solely for armor deployment—locked onto Tony's position.
Pure capitalist madness.
Lucas was equally startled. He hadn't expected T'Challa to strike without warning—no warning, no conversation, straight to lethal force.
That was beyond dishonorable.
Lucas instantly teleported in front of T'Challa, placing himself between him and Tony.
"We have no hostile intent," Lucas said firmly. "There's no need for this."
As he spoke, Judicator appeared in his hand. He didn't realize that T'Challa hadn't yet consumed the heart-shaped herb—at this stage, Judicator wouldn't do much to him anyway.
The moment Lucas drew his weapon, Nakia snapped her gun toward him.
"Put it down!"
The barrel was nearly pressed against Lucas's head.
At the same time, Okoye dropped from above, slamming into Tony. Her spear shortened instantly into a dagger, which she drove straight into the back of Tony's neck.
That was the final straw.
Lucas's expression darkened.
So now you're really asking for it.
Boom—!
A violent wave of heat exploded outward from Lucas's body. The invisible shockwave blasted everyone away. Nakia and Okoye were flung through the air like leaves in a storm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you enjoyed Marvel Manifestor, please give it a Power Stone and leave a review! Your support means everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~