After slaying T'Challa, the Black Panther King, Senju Haruto had no intention of stopping there.
Even though T'Challa was dead, Bast still lingered before him. Yet without her chosen host, she could only manifest in a spirit form.
Fear began to fester within her heart.
Haruto's power was far beyond anything she had imagined.
It was no exaggeration to say that in Bast's eyes, his strength even eclipsed that of the Ancient One herself.
Still, that fear and despair did not strip her of reason. She remained painfully clear-headed.
Haruto had no reason to spare her—and no intention to do so.
The barrier severing his connection with the Vishanti would only hold for two more minutes.
That meant only two choices remained: fight with everything she had in a final gamble to kill Haruto… or wait quietly for death.
Recognizing this truth, Bast's body began to shift.
She rose slowly from the ground, her towering feline form shrinking at a visible pace.
Her thick muscles softened into graceful curves.
Her hind legs reshaped into human ones, her front claws lengthened into arms.
The fur atop her head grew wildly, and the panther's muzzle transformed into the features of a woman.
After all, Bast, among the Egyptian gods, was a goddess.
"Die!"
With a guttural roar, Bast burned her soul, converting it into raw power.
This was her last resort—her ultimate strike.
The earth cracked and wailed beneath the strain.
Elements drifting across heaven and earth converged violently behind her.
The ground beneath Haruto's feet heaved upward, rising like a pillar.
At the same time, crushing gravity plummeted from above, threatening to bind him where he stood.
And the sky—far beyond the ominous whirlpools of the Wakandan plains—a catastrophic spectacle unfolded overhead.
Winds howled. Thunder rolled.
It was as if the end of days had come.
"If you had gone all in from the start, you might have stood a chance," Haruto said from above, looking down at Bast.
The force she unleashed was indeed staggering.
In the world of Avengers: Infinity War, this level of might would have left even Thanos shaken.
But to Haruto, even if Bast burned her entire soul, she could never become his equal.
"Still," he murmured, eyes narrowing, "this power… it surpasses even Chthon's avatars."
His gaze shifted to the two colossal masses forming behind her.
The elements swirling across the land fused into twin spheres.
One blazed with radiant, milky-white light.
The other was a void, like the maw of a black hole.
Two utterly opposing forces—two contradictory truths.
This was Bast's paradox, and her ultimate strength.
For she was both goddess of war and goddess of the home.
One aspect born of slaughter, a harbinger of death.
The other a guardian, a witness to births, a nurturer of new life.
Thus Bast's power embodied both creation and destruction—life and death.
One sphere gleamed with hope and light.
The other smoldered with despair and darkness.
Both floated behind her, monumental and terrible.
"Ahhhhhh!"
With a thunderous cry, Bast hurled the two forces forward, crashing them down upon Haruto.
"This power," Haruto said calmly, "is worth my taking seriously—just a little."
He stared into the approaching storm of magic.
With his arsenal, evading it would have been trivial.
He could have opened the Eight Gates, breaking free of gravity's hold with ease.
Or called upon the Sling Ring's portals.
Or let the Cloak of Levitation carry him away.
Any of these would have sufficed.
But Haruto chose none of them.
Instead, his eyes shifted—Byakugan evolving instantly into Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Chakra roared from his body, condensing in an instant into armor and flesh.
The Perfect Susanoo—
manifested!
Then Haruto clapped his hands together.
"Sage Art: Wood Release—True Thousand Hands!"
From beneath his feet, the colossal Thousand-Armed Buddha erupted, cloaked in Susanoo like a warrior sheathed in divine armor.
And in every one of those countless hands, a chakra blade materialized.
"And now… the Hands of Chakra!"
The fusion of Susanoo and the Thousand Hands was not his final form.
From Haruto's back, golden chakra arms burst forth, multiplying endlessly.
It was the very technique Naruto once wielded after reconciling with Kurama, the power of a perfect jinchūriki.
But Haruto, host of the Ten Tails, could wield it with ease.
And his beast was far more fearsome than Naruto's Nine Tails.
In mere breaths, the golden hands clasped the chakra blades.
Upon each blade, a Tailed Beast Bomb materialized, fusing seamlessly into the edge.
This was Haruto's own creation—
a brand-new technique.
"Multi-Tailed Beast Bomb Rasenshuriken!"
With a guttural roar, countless Buddha hands flung the Rasenshuriken outward, hurling them into Bast's ultimate magic.
Bast could not comprehend what she was witnessing.
All she could do was watch as her most desperate attack—her soul poured into destruction—was shattered piece by piece beneath Haruto's storm of Rasenshuriken.
In just a few breaths, the earth ceased its wailing.
The skies cleared.
The elements that had roamed Wakanda—and her magic itself—vanished completely.
She was left with nothing but defeat.
Haruto, meanwhile, still stood encased in his Susanoo, unshaken.
He hadn't even unleashed his full power.
He had merely tested a new technique of ordinary strength.
He hadn't burned much chakra at all.
Bast hadn't even forced him to draw on the natural energy of the world.
"You've lost, Bast."
Haruto's voice was low, final.
And Bast knew it.
Regret gnawed at her.
Why had she only burned two-thirds of her soul?
Why hadn't she given it all?
If she had chosen to sacrifice herself completely, perhaps—just perhaps—she could have altered Wakanda's fate.
No…
Her lips trembled as she raised her head again and shook it.
Could she really have changed anything?
No.
The gap between her and Haruto was a chasm.
Uncrossable. Unchallengeable.
His power surpassed every Sorcerer Supreme—even the Ancient One herself.
Perhaps even…
"Agamotto… the First Sorcerer Supreme…" Bast whispered hoarsely, voice breaking on the legendary name.
And in that moment, Haruto moved—
casual, unhurried.
His blade fell.
...
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