"You can't escape."
Kurogai murmured, his gaze fixed on the Wakandan leaders scrambling in the distance. He knew if he wanted to freely harvest vibranium without constant interference, he had to ensure Wakanda's ruling class was firmly under his control. If they feared for their own lives, they would hesitate to act, leaving him unchallenged. With that thought, Kurogai advanced.
Upon witnessing his terrifying power, the elders and officials panicked. Some called for soldiers to hold him back, while others desperately sought to flee.
"Invader! For the honor of Wakanda—kill him!"
Several warriors roared, charging forward with vibranium spears raised high. Their bravery, however, was short-lived. With a flicker of cold light in his eyes, Kurogai's frost swallowed them whole. In seconds, they stood frozen as brittle ice sculptures, lifeless monuments in the desert sand.
"Can you really escape from me?"
Kurogai's voice carried across the battlefield, his eyes locking on the retreating elders. They had managed to put some distance between them, but it didn't matter. His freezing ability did not rely on touch—it spread through his gaze. No matter how far they ran, so long as he saw them, they were trapped.
In an instant, frost crept up from beneath their feet. The elders staggered, their faces draining of color as the numbing chill consumed them.
"No… how is this possible?" one cried, staring in horror at his legs encased in ice.
Their struggles were useless. The frost spread quickly, climbing their bodies and leaving them helpless. One after another, their cries fell silent as the cold claimed them, freezing them into stillness.
"Damn it! How could this happen?"
Prince T'Challa shouted, his heart breaking. His mother, the queen, had shoved him aside at the last moment, sacrificing herself to the frost in his place. Now she stood frozen among the rest.
"Brother, run! You're no match for him!"
Shuri's voice crackled from the communicator embedded in his Panther habit, desperation evident in her tone.
"I can't leave them! I have to save the Mother and the others!" T'Challa shouted back, refusing to abandon his family.
"Listen to me!" Shuri snapped. "He's too strong. If you stay, you'll die with them. Wakanda cannot lose you too!"
Even as she spoke, T'Challa felt the Panther habit move on its own, sprinting him away from the battlefield.
"Shuri! What did you do?!" he demanded, fury in his voice.
"I overrode the suit's control system," she admitted sharply. "I had no choice. With most of our leaders gone, you're the only one left. If you fall, Wakanda has no future."
Through her hidden failsafe, she forced the Black Panther suit to retreat against her brother's will.
Watching T'Challa's retreating figure, Kurogai chuckled darkly. "Perfect. Let him live—fear will spread faster through him than through corpses."
He had no need to kill the prince. Alive, T'Challa would become a reminder of what Wakanda stood to lose should they cross him again. With their leadership shattered and their armies frozen, Kurogai's dominance would be unquestioned.
Minutes later, silence fell over the vibranium mine. Every soldier and elder lay trapped within his icy domain. Kurogai raised his hand, calling upon his power once more. Frost thickened, encasing the frozen bodies in layer upon layer of ice, binding them together into a single massive structure.
Before long, an enormous iceberg loomed at the mine's entrance, gleaming under the desert sun. It was grotesque and magnificent—hundreds entombed within, their lives suspended in frozen stillness.
This was no accident. It was a message.
"If Wakanda dares to challenge me again, they'll have to shatter their own people to reach me," Kurogai said with a cold smile.
Satisfied, he let his doppelgänger dissolve into shadows, vanishing into the depths of the mine. Now, he could focus on what he came for: extracting every ounce of vibranium without interference.
For the first time, he felt certain—no one would dare disturb him again.
____
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