Chapter 142: Kyle vs. Black Panther

"Long live His Majesty the King!"

"Show them the might of the king! Let the foreign invaders witness the true power of Wakanda's protector!"

"Shout and cheer for our king—the Black Panther!"

The royal tribesmen upon the cliff, and even the native citizens gathered below, cheered with passionate excitement. Countless pairs of loyal and trusting eyes focused entirely on the Black Panther.

To them, the Black Panther wielded the guardian power passed down unbroken for thousands of years, making him the supreme ruler of the nation of Wakanda, as well as the mightiest warrior of this advanced yet wild land.

There was no way the Black Panther King could lose to a war hero from the outside world! Almost all of the native Wakandans believed this with absolute and unwavering certainty.

"Kyle, show them your true strength! Let these natives witness the pinnacle of combat power from beyond this isolated nation!" Howard stood at the cave entrance, sweating nervously, though his heart remained calm and steady.

How could the local natives possibly understand? He was the undefeated symbol of peace, a legend draped in glorious achievements. No matter where he was, he simply had no reason to lose!

Against the backdrop of the waterfall cliff, the Black Panther prepared for battle, calmly raising his hands as vibranium-forged claws slid out with an icy glint.

His entire body was covered in dark vibranium, resembling a humanoid panther. Radiating royal presence, wild, solitary, and majestic, his overbearing aura spilled forth.

This tiny movement by the Black Panther instantly triggered another wave of ecstatic cheers from the countless surrounding natives.

"Venom, full-coverage mode, claw form," Kyle whispered. The Venom suit clung tightly to his tall physique, the black liquid rapidly shifting and flowing to cover him like a primitive, resilient biological keratin membrane. It surged up to his neck, forming a dark hood that concealed his face and hair.

Dark talons extended from Kyle's fists, and a pair of elongated eyes glowed with a crimson light. Through a flat-mouthed, ferocious grin, he seemed to transform into a demonic monster emerging from the dark abyss.

Cruel, tyrannical, savage, and murderous—words like these seemed to have been invented solely to describe this very appearance.

Born purely for battle and tempered through countless military campaigns, this fully-covered form transformed instantly under the sunlight. It caused the native citizens, who had been shouting for the Black Panther just moments before, to fall collectively silent. They could only gasp in intake of breath, gazing in dread at the aggressive humanoid monster standing upon the stone platform.

"Shall we begin?" Kyle smiled, his chilling and overbearing gaze locked onto the Black Panther.

"Of course." The Black Panther nodded slightly.

The next instant, both figures moved simultaneously, kicking up a flurry of white splashes from the ground where they had stood.

Two black figures, moving at an astonishing speed several times greater than that of ordinary humans, blurred into fleeting afterimages. Accompanied by howling winds and spraying water, they crashed violently into one another.

*Boom!*

With the two of them at the center, the standing water beneath their feet burst outward in powerful ripples.

"Such terrifying strength." The Black Panther was secretly startled. Meeting Kyle's dual talons with his own hands, he braced his feet firmly and held his ground, taking the direct impact without retreating half a step.

Had he not been protected by his vibranium suit, which absorbed the vast majority of the kinetic force, he would have been blasted away by Kyle in a single exchange. It certainly wouldn't have looked like the evenly-matched fight it was now.

Kyle, meanwhile, frowned slightly. The vibranium property's suppression of close-quarters physical strikes was far too severe.

"Again!"

Kyle did not give up on physical attacks at all, persisting with rapid punches coordinated with talon thrusts. Landing on the Black Panther's vibranium suit, they struggled to pierce the surface defense, yet tons of punching force still forced the Black Panther back a step.

"Come on then!" The Black Panther refused to be outdone. His weathered voice was full of vigor, and instead of retreating, he stepped forward, plunging into the battle with undiminished youthful fighting spirit.

Relying on their superhuman physiques combined with their extraordinary suits, Kyle and Black Panther locked into another fierce grappling match. Amidst the splashing water droplets, they traded blows in a fierce contest of strength and technique.

Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and the comprehensive defense of their respective suits—offsetting and amplifying one another—kept their close-quarters combat going nonstop for over five minutes.

The watching native citizens widened their eyes in disbelief. They never expected this outsider to possess combat power on par with the Black Panther. After all, the Black Panther was the strongest king who ruled and protected this land!

"The King? Heh. You lot probably have no idea what a legendary hero truly is! In the realm of combat, Kyle is a god!" Howard smiled happily.

He knew that this seemingly deadlocked battle was practically drawing to a close—after all, the man he knew best always loved to keep his trump cards hidden.

Amidst the fierce and heated battle on the platform, the vibranium claws scraped across Kyle's guarding vibranium bracers, leaving five faint white marks and emitting a sharp, grating, and eerie sound.

"Whip form!"

Kyle muttered inwardly, and his left hand's talons rapidly transformed into a black whip. Lashing out with supersonic speed, the whip struck solidly against a black shadow whose speed had been pushed to the absolute limit.

The Black Panther's movements stalled as he tumbled into the water, but he quickly stood up, panting heavily. His majestic and cold gaze pierced through the vibranium beast-shaped mask, fixing squarely on Kyle.

"Don't you understand yet? As long as I wear this integrated, full-coverage vibranium suit, there is simply no possibility of me losing this fight," the Black Panther said confidently and deeply.

"Fine. I must concede one fact—you are even more durable than Steve." Kyle shrugged, glancing at his chest where the Venom suit had been slightly torn by the vibranium talons, beads of blood oozing out from the skin beneath.

Though his regenerative ability was temporarily suppressed on the surface, Venom possessed its own hyper-regeneration, quickly repairing the damage to the shifted suit.

After five minutes, he had sustained minor injuries, yet the Black Panther's vibranium suit showed no signs of damage at all.

"Durable?" The Black Panther shook his head, unconvinced.

"Haven't you noticed yet? Just now, I only used three combat techniques against you," Kyle stated coldly, revealing a fact.

"Three? What are you talking about?" The Black Panther frowned, a sense of unease stirring within him. Weren't three combat techniques normal?

Kyle did not answer. He smiled mysteriously and said, "The vibranium suit is inherently undefeated, right? I truly hope you can withstand the upcoming onslaught, old king—"

As his voice fell, he kicked off the ground, charging aggressively and directly toward the Black Panther.

The Black Panther tensed his body, raising his arm to initiate a claw strike, but Kyle seemed to have anticipated his movement in advance, effortlessly raising his right hand to block the talons with his vibranium bracer.

"An illusion?"

The Black Panther was astonished, but what followed left him so shocked that he was completely speechless.

Every combat move he considered skilled and effective was intercepted and seen through by his opponent before he could even execute it, neutralized well in advance with simple techniques.

Once or twice could be chalked up to luck, but every single time? The old Black Panther king was so frustrated he felt like vomiting blood.