Juggernaut hesitated only for a moment before giving Kurogai his answer. To him, the deal wasn't a burden. He lived for battle, and if it meant a proper fight, then submitting to a stronger man afterward was no disgrace. Among warriors, strength decided respect.
"Good," Kurogai said evenly. "We'll fight, but not here. This place has already drawn too much attention. Every second we waste, more people come sniffing around."
He was right. When Kurogai had summoned that meteorite earlier, dozens of eyes across the globe had turned toward the event. The scale of the feat was impossible to hide. Even now, aircraft and strike teams were moving toward the site. Kurogai had no fear of them, but he had no interest in endless, trivial interruptions either.
Before Juggernaut could respond, Wade Wilson limped up beside them, his body now fully restored. "Hey, hey, hold up! Don't think I forgot—Ajax was mine! You owe me a fresh Ajax, Blackwood!"
Juggernaut cracked a grin. "Want me to rip his jaw off so he shuts up? I'm good at that."
Wade stepped back quickly. "Whoa, easy there, Beef Mountain. I was talking to him, not you."
Kurogai exhaled slowly. "You're relentless, Wade. Fine. I'll give you your chance."
Wade blinked in shock. "Wait… really?"
Kurogai's eyes shifted, glowing gold. Within the pupils, faint dials rotated, their needles ticking across invisible scales of time. A pistol materialized in his hand, and without ceremony, he aimed it at Ajax's corpse and pulled the trigger.
The bullet struck Ajax's body, and reality seemed to ripple. His chest rose with a shallow breath, his skin regaining color. Time itself bent back to the instant before his death.
"Four Bullets: Rewind," Kurogai murmured.
Ajax gasped, consciousness barely returning, when Wade pounced like a starving wolf. Twin katanas flashed, piercing Ajax's heart before he could even cry out. Wade twisted the blades savagely, then swung once, cleanly severing Ajax's head.
The villain who had haunted Wade's nightmares died again—this time without delay, without games, without escape.
"YES!" Wade roared triumphantly. "Twice the death, twice the satisfaction! God, that felt good!" He danced in place, dripping in Ajax's blood, his laughter manic but genuine.
Turning back, he shouted, "Kurogai, you're officially my favorite god-tier freak! I love you, man!"
But when Wade spun around for more praise, Kurogai was gone. Juggernaut too. The battleground was empty except for Wade, Ajax's ruined corpse, and silence.
"...Seriously? Again?" Wade groaned, dropping his swords. "He ditched me last time in Canada, and now in Florida? You know how long it takes to get back to New York without a ride?!"
He stomped his foot like a child denied ice cream. "Unbelievable. I need a damn Uber for supervillain sidekicks."
…
Far away, Kurogai and Juggernaut arrived in a barren desert. The land was scarred and broken, massive craters marking where giants had once clashed. This was where Kurogai had battled Hulk, and it was the perfect arena—remote, uninhabited, and far from meddling eyes.
Juggernaut's grin widened as he scanned the wasteland. "Now this… this is a real battlefield. No one to interrupt. No one to hold back for."
He jabbed a massive thumb toward Kurogai. "But listen—no tricks this time. No meteorites, no time rewinds, no freaky eye nonsense. Fight me head-on. Win that way, and I'll serve you without complaint."
Kurogai's expression didn't shift. "The words I give, I keep. But don't beg for mercy when you realize what you've agreed to."
Juggernaut's laugh boomed across the desert. "Mercy? I don't even know what that word means."
Kurogai's lips twitched into the faintest smirk. In truth, he welcomed this. After so many evolutions of his power, his body itself had transformed. He no longer knew the limits of his own strength. Testing it against Juggernaut—the unstoppable force—was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
"Then come," he said.
Juggernaut roared, charging forward with earth-shaking force. The desert quaked under his steps, his momentum like an avalanche. Dust rose, rocks split, the air trembled.
Kurogai stood his ground, every muscle coiled, every sense focused.
Their battle began with the collision of two overwhelming forces, echoing like thunder across the wasteland.