Chapter 547

It was strangely beautiful, in a way.

The large energy shield should not have acted that way under mundane means. But it was quite literally torn apart by the Metaphysical Divine Authority of mine on a conceptual level.

Heat, light, energy, fire.

Those were the concepts that my Authority from Hanuman could contest properly. The story of Hanuman ‘stealing the sun’ out of the sky, either playfully or because he thought it was a fruit. It gave the Authority the ability to ‘steal’ things within that same breadth.

And all the humans here saw it.

The barrier they had such confidence in was torn asunder right before their eyes. The ‘pieces’ that weren’t quite literally ripped apart, they surged and seemingly dissipated as if the power behind it was cut off and the remnants retracted back to the source.

My shadow of Hanuman retracted, it’s job completed, leaving an utterly silent world in its wake.

It’s funny; despite being a devil, I rarely, if ever, played the role of the villain.

Yet I took particular glee watching the realization and fear in the eyes of the many people in front of me as they now understood that they were defenseless.

The irony was rather comical as well, the fact that I was not the one in the wrong.

Regardless, their morale was very visibly taking a downward turn.

Though, I had a strange feeling as the barrier broke down.

I felt like I was being watched, but I couldn’t pinpoint it. Which was strange, because my instincts were usually spot on.

And it’s not like being watched from a camera or from a satellite, which isn’t something I can really discover. It’s more like I was being directly watched, but just out of grasp from my own senses.

It was very strange.

“Yibambe!” The cat man at the front suddenly shouted. It traveled rather far under the palpable silence that followed my ‘attack.’

Huh, my devil nature could understand it rather easily. It apparently translates to something like ‘Hold Fast’ or ‘Stand your ground.’

“Yibambe!” A flurry of shouts followed in chorus, vibranium weapons sending out a strange echo as they hit the ground in unison.

“Yibambe!”

“Yibambe!”

Oh yes, they were slowly regaining their courage.

And I let them.

I wanted to crush it, their pride and their hope. 

“Wakanda has never been conquered!” The cat man king declared, shouting for everyone to hear. “Wakanda will never be conquered. Wakanda will never bow! Wakanda forever!”

“Wakanda forever!”

The combined shouts did grate a bit on my ears.

I caught the silent signal the king gave off, and like that, a great many blasts of energy came right at me.

Curiously, they weren’t all the same. It seems they developed their weapons enough that there were different varieties of attacks.

I would have loved to inspect them, to see how they work, the thoughts behind their designs, in any other circumstance.

In this moment, I merely activated my Semblance.

The barrage of blasts of different energies all went right through me, quite literally. Various parts of my body had turned into lightning as they connected, and I merely took casual steps forward.

I’m sure it must have looked terrifying.

Their high-tech weapons simply passed through me harmlessly, me a very visible ‘demon’ by any reasonable standard of look. And I continued towards them with steps unabated.

The funny thing is, their metal would work wonders if I was ‘merely’ a magician, but I was using both Divinity and Aura—my semblance.

Not that I was unconfident in my magic in the face of their metal; simply, I didn’t want to give them any reason to be hopeful.

I think they’re learning that using an army against an individual may not be as easy as it would appear on paper. Having to order and maneuver a large group of people can be cumbersome, especially if the singular individual is beyond human means.

Similar aircraft to the ones I destroyed with my ship had appeared overhead. About a dozen of them; these ones looked a bit different, though.

More...military in design? Less athletics, more oomph at first glance.

And the revealing of weapons confirmed my suspicions.

Rotary guns that began to unleash a barrage of energy blasts at impressive speeds. 

I could understand why the Ancient One said they were the most advanced on the planet—technology-wise.

Combined with the energy shields and this kind of firepower from a singular ship, they could take on dozens of ‘regular’ aircraft by themselves if put to the test.

Though, if they were smart, they would have shifted to some type of ordinance. Bombs, missiles, or anything of that nature that would cause an explosion. Yet, it seems like all their means sort of… started and stopped at simply being some type of energy blasts, if of different flavors.

I didn’t have the patience to sit there and take it this time.

With my Divine Sword in hand, I pointed it upward and gathered my Divine Lightning before slashing.

The aircraft immediately began to fall from the sky as the lightning tore through the metal hulls. Unsurprisingly, the entire ship isn’t made of vibranium, because I’m sure they don’t have that much.

They hit the ground, some parts exploding, others catching fire, and smoke wafting off the remains.

Through the smoke, I heard a strange noise, and something came barreling towards me, followed by several war cries.

A big chunk of metal was knocked to the side as a man riding a Rhino charged me down.

I just….couldn’t even understand what the fuck I was looking at.

Why was a normal human chagrin at me on a Rhino??

Sure, it was wearing armor—presumably Vibranium—but Jesus Christ, why?

They have fucking laser technology, aircraft, and energy shields. Why am I getting charged at by a…a battle rhino?

I grabbed its horn as it rammed into me, and my feet dug into the ground as I stopped its charge. The massive creature finally stopped after the ground was torn up a few feet, and the man on top of it tried to stab me with his spear. I grabbed it, pulled it from his grasp, and used it to knock him off the Rhino. 

Before he could get up, I grabbed him by the collar and threw him off into the distance, uncaring of where he landed.

The rhino seemed to want to start another charge, but I quickly put a hand on his head and forced him to sleep, giving him a gentle pat.

I didn’t want to hurt the poor thing.

Unfortunately, there were quite a few more where that came from.

Despite the situation and my anger at the riders, I allowed myself to calm down and focused on this specifically.

I cast several spells in quick succession, the ground beneath the Rhinos quickly turning into pits of mud and they were abrupt forced to a stop in their rampaging around. Several of the riders were flung off, the sudden momentum sending them hurtling off and hitting the ground.

The Rhinos were okay, though, and I returned the ground beneath them back to normal, making them stuck for the time being.

They could easily get freed later.

Well, that’s certainly a weakness I didn’t know I had until now. Someone is sending an endangered species at me so I’m forced to be gentle with them.

How ridiculous.

But I couldn’t help it; I wasn’t one to harm animals without a very good reason.

Through the continued smoke and flames, something flashed out from above, leaping across the wreckage.

A clawed hand went for my throat, but I caught it easily enough.

“Hoooh?” I was surprised as Cat Man was standing in front of me, struggling in my grasp. He seemed surprised that I could stop him. “Those are some normal human movements.”

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought he was using Touki with the way he moved.

It certainly spoke of confidence and experience, not someone who randomly got their hands on some sort of power.

He didn’t stay still either; when he realized I had him tightly in my grasp, he jerked his whole body, swinging it around to kick me in the side of the head.

I let go to duck under it, letting him throw out a flurry of attacks. His hands carrying vibranium claws, various bits of the suit he was wearing had certain sharp edges that appeared to be vibranium as well.

In fact, was his entire suit made of vibranium?

That would be most impressive.

Admittedly, each of his attacks carried a force far beyond a normal human’s power.

At the very least, it was like a Magus who was using Reinforcement on their entire body, perhaps a degree higher.

I decided to take a page out of Rin’s book. Not that I haven't used this ‘technique’ before, but I essentially copied it after seeing her use it. I would freely admit that Rin is better at intertwining her aura into her martial arts than I was.

I gathered my Aura onto my palm and gracefully slid ever so slightly to the side to avoid his clawed hand swiping at my face and gently placed my palm onto his chest.

There was the briefest moment where he looked down, and while he was masked, I could feel his confusion.

With a twist of my palm, my Aura was released in a shockwave.

His body arched backward, his feet lifted up off the ground, and he went flying backward with the flames and smoke distorted by the aftershock.

The remaining warriors saw their cat-king defeated, slumped on the ground, and then believed the proper course of action was to charge me despite their weapons clearly being ineffective not minutes ago.

I stomped on the ground, utilizing my Divine Power over wind, and thousands upon thousands of them were flung into the air from where they once touched the earth.

Like a hurricane, the winds answered my call again, sweeping around my sword, and I swung it at the floating Wakandas.

Scattered was probably an apt way to describe them as they hit the ground. Like being punched by a burst of air right into the gut and falling to the ground a dozen or so feet up.

Without any more resistance, I found the cat king on the ground gasping, looking a little bit ragged.

Huh, but I don’t think he was in that bad of shape. 

In fact, he stood up like he was ready for another round.

Vibranium disperses kinetic energy, doesn’t it?

How interesting; a full suit of it is certainly a wondrous piece of technology. Combined with superhuman prowess, it was a fairly good piece of equipment.

He attacked me again, a lot less… focused this time. His swings were haphazard, erratic, and tired.

He tried to swing his whole body to kick at me, and I instead hit his butt at the right moment to send him skidding across the grass a few feet.

Before he could get up, I grabbed him, and curiously, I pulled the mask off.

Old

He was an old man; I should have expected that.

I wonder how much stronger he would have been at his prime.

However, I found myself smiling. “I see now; I was wondering why you felt familiar.” I raised my sword up to his widening eyes and stabbed him in the chest.

He gasped, expecting pain, but no blood spilled.

What I stabbed wasn’t his flesh or body.

I went deeper.

My Divine Sword also cuts magic, curses, and the spiritual.

That is to say, what I was targeting was the Divine Blessings he housed in his soul.

There was nothing at first, but then the sensation of being stared at intensified, and the earth beneath us began to tremble.

Accompanying it, the sound of a roar reverberated. 

Like a lion, perhaps, maybe different.

But the answer to who it belonged to was given quickly as the King’s eyes glowed and a black shadow wrapped around him before darting off and shooting up from the ground.

It started with two glowing eyes before the shadows formed into a towering figure that loomed over the entire battlefield.

It was a cat, a very large black cat.

A panther.

“Bast.” The first whisper was heard.

Many more followed.

“Bast!”

“Panther Goddess!”

“Bast protects us!”

Shock, reverence, awe.

The ones who could, they bowed. They called out the name, the divine name of the god that just appeared.

The god who blessed the man who I had at my mercy.

I knew the name Bast, or Bastet, the Egyptian goddess.

She wasn’t truly here, more like a projection, smoke and mirrors, but I knew for a fact that she could bring her full self here at the snap of the fingers if she wanted.

And she was by no means weak; my Campione instincts told me that much.

I met Thor at his full power not long ago, and I don’t know if he would win against her.

Even T’chaka had hope and awe reignited in his eyes.

I don’t know why an Egyptian goddess was worshipped by a tribe this far away from the Nile, but frankly, I wasn’t in the mood to care.

“Have you come to fight me, Goddess?” I asked, not raising my voice, though it carried nonetheless.

The large cat’s glowing eyes fell down on me. It lasted for a moment before she looked up at the sky, seeing my storms, looking around, and seeing everything else before landing back down on me.

“Why do you wield Divine Power, Demon?” The voice of the Goddess was odd, almost like an echo, as if she were talking from a room across the house.

I smiled. “Because I killed the gods it belonged to and usurped their Divine Authority.”

The world stilled unnaturally.

The claws of the Panther Goddess seemed to become more material; the ground gave way as they dug into the earth. Her entire body tensed up, like she were ready to pounce.

Fine, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get!

“You want to fight? How about we have a little bit of myth reenactment!” I dropped the Spear of Longinus right into the dirt in front of me. Wielding it with my devil features out and about was a bad idea—I learned that a while ago. But throwing it out in front of her face to incite anger, well, I could do that. “I believe you’re familiar, right? Though it’s only polite to do introductions. Bast, meet Yahweh.” 

Saying his name with the spear out made my mouth dry.

Annoying.

I’m sure she could sense it, though, the piece of Big G in the spear.

No, I didn’t need to guess; her reaction said it all.

Oh my, was that fear.

It seems Bast remembers when Big G went to Egypt.

“.....Why are you here?” The Goddess kept her tone even, addressing me a bit more politely.

I held my hand out, pulling the earth up and reforming it into a chair as I sat down, crossing my legs. “Why don’t you ask your blessed?” I gestured, and he floated up a few feet, and I flung him closer to the Goddess. “He’s the one who initiated everything.”

The King, battered and beaten, looked up as the Goddess he worshiped stared down at him.

“T’Chaka, mantle of the Black Panther.” The Goddess intoned. “Why is there a demon on your doorstep?”

I don’t know if it was because he was giving a bit of a beating or because he simply lost his voice when he met his presumed Goddess of worship. Regardless, it seems he was having trouble finding his voice.

“Allow me to regale you with a story.” I offered, though it was rhetorical. I was going to speak, and they were going to listen. “You see, I came to the borders of this country, even polite enough to not trespass. I made contact with the locals. Still polite, I requested either a meeting or a chance to barter and/or purchase some Vibranium for a project I was working on. I did not threaten; I did not strong-arm. Just a simple request. They shot at me in response.” 

I paused there, giving a moment for her to digest my words.

“You – “

“I’m not done.” I cut off the Goddess, rudely, but intentionally so. I lost all inclinations of decorum at this moment. “I was annoyed, but I brushed myself off and returned the insult with one of my own. A petty little thing, admittedly, erecting a few statues on the other side of the border. If you look at the direction behind me, I’m sure you’ll see my handiwork.”

The Goddess’s gaze turned outwards; I assume she could see what I was talking about.

“I left it at that. It’s not like they’re the only ones with Vibranium in existence. Hell, I got some from the ocean, but I’m getting to it. So, I go about on my merry way, but they don’t seem content to leave me alone. Stalking is perhaps a rather proper description of it. But still, I ignore them, very patiently so. That brings us to the straw that broke the camel's back. I went on a nice little boat ride with someone very dear to me. We went out into the ocean where we could scavenge up a piece of vibranium that had been sitting on the ocean’s floor for thousands of years. Can you guess what happened?” I looked at the Goddess.

The Goddess in turn looked down at T’Chaka.

T’Chaka in turn paled.

“Don’t worry; you don’t need to guess. They tried to attack me; they shot at my boat.” I said rather bluntly.

“You claim to have been wronged.” The Goddess stated.

I twitched a little because of the wording. “Yes, I claim to have been wronged. But don’t take my word for it; why don’t you ask the Princess of Asgard who was on the boat with me earlier today?”

The goddess stiffened again.

Ah, so she at least recognizes Asgard enough to react to that.

“Yup, that’s right. On top of everything, they attacked the Princess of Asgard. I wonder how they'll respond when they hear. Should I mention that a few Asgardians are on the other side of the world at the moment? And Thor Odinson was just down here but earlier today due to an incident. Let’s invite him over; I’m sure he can properly articulate all the reasons your people have fucked up.”

There was a very loud beat of silence that passed.

I’m sure the humans here had no idea what I was talking about, but every word must have sounded threatening to Bast.

If there was one thing I knew, it was that conflicts between godly pantheons were…delicate to handle at the best of times.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she just up and wiped her hands of Wakanda entirely to avoid the mess they caused.

“How do I know what you claim is true?” The Goddess asked, regaining her earlier presence. She was a goddess; I expected nothing less than for her to project herself highly despite me being in the right here.

Ah, was she thinking I was bluffing about Thor and Jeanne being princesses?

I don’t really know much about her, to be honest, nor her pantheon’s relationship with Asgard. For all I know, what I had thrown out could have sounded like utter bullshit, and she’s calling me out on it.

“Here’s the thing.” I stood up, cracking my neck. “Believe it or don’t. Either way, I’m pissed off, and that’s now your problem if you get in my way.”

I felt it, the image of Bast became….fuller. It was as if the Goddess was well and truly standing there now.

In response, the storm above thundered and crackled unexpectedly, waiting for her to make a move.

“I believe I can vouch for him.” Another voice reached our ears, and a rather familiar portal opened up nearby, the Ancient One walking through. The thing is, it wasn’t just King T’chaka, myself, and Bast; there were plenty of Wakandas trying to pretend like they weren’t between a devil and a goddess about to throw hands. And now, another person just randomly showed up who most certainly shouldn’t know about what was going on. “I am the Ancient One, the current Sorcerer Supreme and leader of Kamar-Taj.”

Bast seemed to recognize the titles. “I know of you.” The Goddess acknowledged her. “The ancient agreements are remembered.”

“Ah yes.” She smiled. “Kamar-Taj also remembers the agreements with the Ennead of the Celestial Heliopolis.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Celestial Heliopolis?”

“The Gods of Egypt, that you are more familiar with no doubt.” She answered good-naturedly. 

Ah, like how the Norse are Asgard, the Egyptians are the Celestial Heliopolis, it seems.

“The ancient agreements state that the Sorcerers of Geb do not trespass amongst these lands.” The Goddess's eyes flickered to me. “And they do not side with demons.”

The Ancient One kept her good-natured expression. “Ah, if you would recall, there was a clause about ‘trespassing,’ as you say, when performing official duties. And it is best you not assume certain things about our friend here.”

“I’m half human.” I said firmly. “If you want me to prove that to you too, I can call Izanami-no-Mikoto over here to verify that I was born on the lands she personally raised from the ocean.”

Huh, did Bast recognize that name too? Because there seemed to be a hint of recognition.

If the Ancient One hadn’t popped up when she did, I would not have continued this talk like we were.

But she had been very kind and accommodating to me, so I was more than willing to play nice for her sake.

But I was losing my patience.

“You speak on his behalf.” Bast looked at the Ancient One.

Did she have that much of a status in the eyes of the Goddess? There was still much about this world that I was ignorant of.

“I can verify that he has spoken the truth. Both about the events that transpired and about the Princess of Asgard being present when it happened. However, I do not intend to interfere; I am here on…a more personal level, if you will. I would request that you both not come to blows, as the consequences would be noticeable around the world. Unfortunately, my duties and the ancient agreements, as you said, do prohibit me to a certain extent from interfering with you, Goddess Bast.”

That’s right, the ‘demon’ is here on the moral high ground.

Her eyes flicked down to the spear again.

And I think, regardless of her feelings, whether she is reasonable enough to converse like this or not, that the spear’s presence was at a minimum, keeping her in check.

That, or she knows very well that fighting me would be a bad idea. 

“What do you want?” The Goddess voiced out.

Oh, well, that’s certainly amusing.

Watching a deity have to swallow their pride.

But I guess she wouldn’t be a goddess if she didn’t know when she was deep in a hole, even if she wasn’t the one who dug it.

Ignoring me and everything about me, she probably doesn’t want to get on Asgard’s bad side for something so….insignificant.

“Remove the blessings you gave the king here.” I looked down at King T’Chaka. “I don’t believe he deserves it any longer.”

Petty? Yes.

It didn’t matter to me if he was blessed by her or not, but my current thought was—fuck him.

“Very well.” She replied without hesitation.

She didn’t do it immediately, but I didn’t think she was going to lie about it, so after the fact was probably a given. Perhaps she wanted to have her own personal talk with him to tell him that he fucked up.

Whatever.

“10,000 kilograms of vibranium,” I finally said. “I’ll accept that as an apology and put this matter to rest, as long as it’s not repeated. And I’ll make sure Asgard doesn’t come knocking either.”

The Ancient One blinked and looked at me in shock.

What, was it too much? You told me that they had a literal mountain of it.

“Agreed.” Bast answered. “T’Chaka, son of T’Chanda. You will make amends for your errors and supply him with what he demands.”

The king looked up at his goddess; his expression was hard to discern because there was so much going on.

“Goddess Bast… we cannot—“

The Goddess’s large paw hit the ground abruptly, causing a small quake in the earth. “T’Chaka, King of Wakanda.” She addressed him like a parent calling out their child’s full name. “If your next words are not orders to bring forth the items demanded, your line no longer needs to rule.”

I admit to taking an inordinate amount of pleasure watching this unfold.

I sat back in my chair.

T’Chaka got up and started ordering his people—the ones who could stand, who could move; they began to use those communication devices of theirs, and things started to happen.

Oh, and I certainly received my share of glares, but no one dared to voice any opposition to their literal Goddess sending her own glares at them.

It is always a reminder when I see people reacting this way when the deity they worship is present. I could see it clearly, how much T’chaka wanted to shout and argue, but the mere presence of Bast cowed him into compliance.

When he was so ready to most likely die to me, he was now leading the effort to hand over Vibranium to me in hopes that I would leave without further problems.

I sat there silently, unmoving, as the vibranium arrived.

Ships came flying over, different ships, not the same combat ones; I could tell that much at a glance.

They started piling it up.

The Ancient One stood there too, watching silently as it happened.

I wasn’t keeping track, an hour? Maybe a little bit longer, but eventually, the pile reached up high enough that one could make a guess if it was 10,000 kilograms or not.

Why specifically 10,000 kilograms? Honestly, it didn’t matter. I just threw out a large number to make it hurt.

Throughout all of this, Bast too stood there, an impassive figure looking down upon her worshippers with each kilogram of Vibranium that was added to the pile.

Eventually, they stopped.

Eventually, it appeared they deemed it enough.

Bast didn’t immediately tell me to take it and fuck off. She was being polite; she was being careful.

She was smart.

King T’Chaka stood there as well; he wasn’t looking the picture of health, but he wasn’t kneeling over out of breath.

No, all eyes now turned to me, the palpable silence returned, and it was as if they were all waiting to see what I would do next.

I stood up, and I grasped out towards it. The ground shook and cracked; the stacked metal shook as the earth began to part. It would have been annoying to use magic on the metal itself, so I forced the chunk of earth underneath it out of the ground.

I met T’Chaka’s hateful gaze.

His army lay routed.

His vaunted technology was found wanting.

And the vibranium he held so dear that they were willing to attack and ‘arrest’ me? I gestured and threw it to the side.

The thousands of kilograms of vibranium went tumbling off, tossed aside like it were trash.

I remember the first conversation I had with one of their people. Being called a ‘colonizer’ and that I was there to steal their vibranium.

So, I wanted him to know it was never about the vibranium.

I could get Vibranium elsewhere.

I opened up a portal back to Kamar-Taj and just before I stepped through, I swung my Divine Sword up one last time, and I destroyed the illusionary barrier they had over their city-state.

Then I left.

@****@

A/N

I was debating this: would he take the Vibranium or not? And I think Wilhelm would throw it to the ground just to send a message. Especially since he could probably find more elsewhere if he really wanted to. Otherwise, Wakanda is now fully revealed, with their pride thoroughly crushed. And now, T’chaka has to explain himself to an annoyed goddess.

Sorry for the late release, if you want to blame someone, blame my discord for distracting me. I take absolutely no blame whatsoever :p. But seriously, sorry it took so long, honestly, I was just having trouble writing it, sometimes my brain is just moving slowly so it’s a slog.