"You seem to be in a hurry. Where are you going?"
Kurogai's voice was calm but edged with curiosity as he watched Ajax and his assistant grow restless. Their nerves weren't hard to read. They had just witnessed him summon a meteorite and crush Juggernaut into the ground, and instead of fleeing outright, they stubbornly clung to Wade. That insistence made them suspicious.
If they feared him so much, why didn't they run? Why was Wade Wilson, the loud-mouthed mercenary, so important to them?
Ajax's expression flickered between fear and calculation. "No… no, we have nothing—just die!" he barked, masking his unease with a sudden attack. A weapon appeared in his hand, and he swung, hoping to catch Kurogai off guard.
But when Ajax's gaze met Kurogai's eyes, he froze. Those violet rings, cold and unblinking, stripped him of defiance. Before he realized what had happened, Kurogai's hand clamped around his skull, pinning him in place like prey under a predator's grip.
"You didn't want to answer my question," Kurogai said flatly. "So I'll take the answer myself."
His voice carried no malice, only certainty. His fingers tightened, and power surged through him.
"Human Path: Soul Dive."
Ajax's body stiffened, horror flickering across his face. To him, it was as if a shadow loomed behind Kurogai—a spectral figure that reached out, grasped his tongue, and began dragging his very essence forward. His muscles strained, but he couldn't move. His mind and soul were exposed, pulled apart, memories ripped from him.
Within moments, Kurogai saw what Ajax had been hiding.
"TNG-15," Kurogai muttered under his breath. "An experimental extract. Enhanced with Carbonadium… designed to amplify its properties tenfold. A weapon meant to suppress Wade's healing factor. But still, only a possibility."
The truth unfolded quickly. Wade had originally been one of their test subjects. The experiments twisted his body into something beyond control, giving him his grotesque but powerful regenerative ability. Ajax and his team hadn't abandoned him out of mercy—they wanted to perfect their work.
They had tried to weaponize Carbonadium, a rare alloy known to interfere with healing factors. Ajax believed it might hold Wade down long enough to experiment further. But Kurogai could tell it was unstable, unrefined. Wade's healing was too vast, too unnatural. The chances of suppressing it permanently were slim at best.
Still, one detail drew Kurogai's interest: Ajax hadn't found Carbonadium in any mine. It wasn't of earthly origin at all. He had scavenged a fragment from a meteorite, studied it, and barely survived the fallout. A piece the size of a house still existed somewhere out there.
Kurogai's thoughts sharpened. Vibranium had once been the same—a fallen star that became the lifeblood of Wakanda. Carbonadium's source was similar. If fragments of such alloys lay hidden beyond the stars, perhaps the next step for his pupil-ring… perhaps the true path forward… was in the universe itself.
Ajax's body slumped, lifeless. The dive had burned through him completely, leaving nothing behind. His assistant screamed in fury.
"You killed Ajax! I'll tear you apart!" she roared, abandoning Wade and charging forward.
She was no ordinary lackey—her body rippled with muscle, her frame towering and brutal, built like a weapon. She struck like a bull, aiming to crush him with raw strength.
A black staff materialized in Kurogai's grip with a low hum. When she closed the distance, he thrust once, precise and merciless.
The staff pierced her chest, sliding through flesh and bone as if they were paper. Her body froze mid-charge, eyes wide in disbelief.
Kurogai's voice remained steady. "I had no intention of killing you. But you made your choice."
She staggered, her strength collapsing as her blood stained the floor. The six-layered power woven into his staff ensured there was no hope of survival. She crumpled at his feet, lifeless.
Kurogai stepped past her without looking back, his focus already on Wade. Ajax's plans had collapsed, their secrets spilled. Before they could ever put their scheme into motion, everything had ended here, in his hands.