At the same time, inside the council chamber, the tribal leaders and council members all turned pale almost at once.
As Wakanda's upper echelon, they were the foremost beneficiaries of its technology and wealth. The shattering of the energy shield directly threatened the very foundation of their survival.
"No way…"
"How could an attack come from underground?"
"I don't think it was an earthquake. Could it be that Shuri created some kind of uncontrollable weapon herself, caused this whole crisis, and is now trying to dump the blame?"
Amid the hushed chatter, T'Chaka, furious, slammed a hand against his throne. The vast chamber fell silent in an instant.
"Okoye. Go and investigate this thoroughly."
With a cold snort, T'Chaka began issuing orders in quick succession, each one measured and precise. "Activate the backup shield. Conceal Wakanda's existence. Cancel the external alerts. Do not let our people remain in panic any longer."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
A young woman with long, lean limbs stepped out from behind T'Chaka, her face set with determination.
Okoye was a rising star within the Dora Milaje, and the one T'Chaka had placed the greatest hopes on as the next captain of the royal guard. With her handling this matter, he could rest easy.
"My apologies for letting the two of you see this."
Once he had finished giving orders, the severity on T'Chaka's face melted away as though it were snow under the sun, and a polite smile returned.
"T'Challa will soon bring back the people you asked for. Please wait a little longer."
Meanwhile, deep within the hollow heart of Mount Bashenga, Scott watched helplessly as a familiar streak of blue light shot up from far below the earth, effortlessly severing several of Wakanda's vibranium transport rails. Then it sliced straight through the mountain itself and slammed heavily into the energy shield that was nearly invisible on ordinary days.
The two forces only contended for less than a second. After letting out something like a mournful cry, the shield exploded apart once more, leaving behind a massive breach at the point of impact.
"Fenris, sneaking down there to steal some rocks was one thing, but did you really have to tear down their whole house too...?"
Scott knew that blazing power contained in the axe-light far too well. He kept craning his neck to look downward, muttering anxiously under his breath, desperately hoping Fenris would appear as soon as possible.
"An attack made of high-energy particle flow could not possibly have formed out of thin air!"
Just as Scott was pacing back and forth, a rapid set of footsteps suddenly rang out behind him, accompanied by a young woman's voice.
"It's her?"
Scott recognized the newcomer almost immediately. He quickly slipped aside and gave her room to pass.
The princess of Wakanda. Back in the council chamber, she had been seated behind King T'Chaka the entire time.
Fortunately, with Magneto's cover in place, Shuri did not notice Scott's presence. She strode right past him and began setting up several pieces of sophisticated equipment nearby.
"The drone we sent down was destroyed in the blast, but the high-energy radiation readings were real. How could nature possibly produce radiation on this level?"
"Those two outsiders were acting suspicious from the start, and their whereabouts are still unknown. They haven't shown themselves once."
"There's no one else in all of Wakanda who could have done something like this."
"Just wait. I'll find the evidence on you two yet!"
Scott quietly edged closer and watched as Shuri used a Kimoyo bead to project the image of that blue axe-light, replaying it over and over.
A soft hum rose from the instruments. Hearing the girl speak with such absolute certainty, Scott suddenly felt guilty and instinctively backed farther away from her.
"What are you sneaking around for?"
A hand suddenly landed on Scott's shoulder, and a teasing voice sounded beside his ear. His whole body jolted, and he reflexively reached for his ruby-quartz visor.
"Easy, easy. It's me."
Fenris grinned and gave a light tug, pulling Scott straight into the Mirror Dimension.
"Fenris?"
The moment he saw that familiar figure, Scott quickly looked him over from head to toe, then finally let out a breath of relief. "What exactly did you do down there? How did you make such a huge mess?!"
"Was it really that bad?"
Fenris scratched his head and blinked. "I was just testing out my new weapon deep underground. Did I really affect the outside world?"
"In less than a day, you caused two earthquakes and almost shaved their sacred mountain flat..."
Seeing how utterly unaware Fenris looked, Scott rolled his eyes in speechless disbelief. "You even blasted a giant hole through the energy shield over their capital. And you're asking whether it was a big deal?"
"Hiss..."
Fenris sucked in a breath.
With a casual wave of his hand, the space around them shifted rapidly. Scott's vision blurred, and in the next instant, the two of them had moved straight from inside the mountain to high in the sky.
"What insane power. Though I guess I really didn't control it very well..."
Fenris looked up at the enormous gash in the energy shield overhead, and embarrassment immediately spread across his face. "I'll have to find a way to make it up to them later..."
At the same time, though, he now had a much clearer understanding of just how powerful the battle-axe really was.
As expected of a weapon produced by the Titan Encyclopedia. After merging with his own power, it not only possessed all kinds of miraculous functions, but could even absorb the power of Atomic Breath and release it in another form.
Atomic Breath was already overwhelming to begin with, containing extreme heat, intense radiation, and devastating impact force. At this stage, it was already more than enough to easily cleave through the newest Sentinels developed by Bolivar.
But once that power was added to the battle-axe, it caused the already razor-sharp weapon's destructive force to surge even further for a period of time. The axe-light it unleashed also carried properties completely different from the breath itself.
Most importantly, after obtaining this axe, the Titan Encyclopedia deep within Fenris's consciousness had not gone dormant again. The third page, which had remained utterly motionless until now, was finally beginning to show signs of opening.
"This trip to Wakanda really wasn't a waste."
At that thought, satisfaction spread all across Fenris's face.
"Fenris, that thing in your hand is...?"
On the way back, Scott quickly noticed the exquisitely crafted battle-axe Fenris had been idly turning over in his hand the whole time.
"My new weapon. What do you think?"
Fenris showed it off to Scott with obvious delight.
"What's the point of such a tiny axe? And since when do you even need a weapon?"
Scott thought of Fenris's terrifying claws, then gestured at the small axe from a distance. "That thing's probably not even as long as one of your fingernails. Can those claws of yours even hold it?"
"Why don't you feel it for yourself?"
Fenris casually handed the axe over to Scott.
"It's actually this heavy?"
The moment Scott took it, his wrist dropped sharply. The little axe was shockingly heavy in his hand.
Scott cried out in alarm. His strength simply wasn't enough to hold such a massive weapon. Before his fingers could even close around it, the axe had already slipped free and plunged toward the ground.
"Don't underestimate it. Once we get back, I'll show you properly what it can do."
Fenris lifted a hand in a small beckoning motion, and the falling axe rose back into the air on its own before dropping neatly into his palm again. "If possible, I want to borrow your power and Jean's for another experiment."
"It's that miraculous?"
The bizarre sight left Scott staring in astonishment. "What kind of experiment?"
Fenris fixed his gaze on the faint blue glow along the face of the axe, his eyes flickering with thought.
Since the battle-axe could so easily absorb the power of his Atomic Breath, could it also absorb Scott's nearly inexhaustible power... or even Jean's Phoenix Force?
(End of Chapter)
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