"Wh-What?"
The surrounding priests were startled by this crazy command and immediately knelt down, pleading with trembling voices:
"Your Majesty, you absolutely cannot do this. The Heart-Shaped Herb is a sacred object bestowed upon Wakanda by the Black Panther Goddess. If it's all burned, it will anger the Black Panther Goddess…"
"That's right, having the new King drink the Heart-Shaped Herb to receive the Black Panther Goddess's power blessing is an ancient tradition that Wakanda has maintained for thousands of years!"
"If there's no Heart-Shaped Herb, won't Wakanda have no Black Panther in the future…?"
However, the priests' earnest pleas failed to change Erik Stevens's mind.
He immediately extended his hand, grabbing the neck of the female priest closest to him and lifting her entirely into the air.
Although he had not received the Black Panther Goddess's complete blessing and inheritance, at least the moment he drank the Heart-Shaped Herb, his body had already gained Black Panther's Power.
"Hmph? The new King of the future?"
Erik Stevens's face contorted into a ferocious expression as he said fiercely, "I am the current King, so just do what I tell you. Otherwise, you and your families… will be executed for treason!"
With that, he tossed the female priest in his hand aside like a dead dog.
Seeing this, the other priests had no choice but to bite the bullet and carry out the order.
A few minutes later.
Flames soared throughout the entire Holy Land, and all the Heart-Shaped Herbs were reduced to ashes.
The priests silently shed tears nearby, but no one dared to cry out loud.
Erik Stevens stood in place, looking smug, quietly enjoying the scene before him.
Since he had now gained the Black Panther's power, for him, there was no longer any need for the other Heart-Shaped Herbs to exist.
Because he had never intended for anyone else to obtain Black Panther's Power.
"Immediately notify all tribal leaders and all citizens of Wakanda! I am going to deliver a public inauguration speech!"
After personally confirming that all the Heart-Shaped Herbs had been turned to ashes by the fire, Erik Stevens finally turned and left, satisfied.
However, what he didn't know was that the Ancestral Land, from which he had been forcibly expelled earlier, was now plunged into an unprecedented crisis.
Buzz—
A huge, Deep Blue blue portal suddenly appeared out of thin air in the Ancestral Land.
The portal seemed to connect two completely different dimensions. Through the portal, one could clearly see a vibrant green landscape on the other side, where a colossal, bloated green figure was stirring something in front of a massive cauldron.
At the feet of that giant green figure, a large group of stumbling plague zombies, armed with Plague Swords, began to orderly walk into the Ancestral Land after the portal opened.
Roar, roar—
A furious roar of a Beast suddenly echoed through the dimly lit forest. Immediately after, Black Panthers, formed from the souls of Wakanda's past Black Panthers, transformed into a black torrent and charged fearlessly at these sudden, evil Invaders!
However, Nurgle, who was constantly stirring the giant cauldron, didn't even glance at the approaching panther pack. His movements paused slightly, then his gaze slowly shifted to the massive Black Panther on a distant tree trunk, as large as a small mountain.
That's right, it was the Black Panther Goddess Bast!
"Who are you, and why are you invading my dimension?"
The Black Panther Goddess bared her sharp fangs, her eyes extremely wary as she looked at the green Fat Man on the other side of the portal.
Although the other party looked harmless, she felt a powerful aura on him that only top Dimension Demons possessed.
However, what utterly confused her was that she had never seen this individual before, nor had she ever offended any Dimension Demon.
But what truly puzzled her was how this clearly ill-intentioned green Fat Man had obtained the coordinates of her small dimensional space?
And the other party also seemed to possess some powerful spatial ability, capable of crossing cosmic dimensions and directly connecting two dimensional spaces.
"Who I am is not important. What's important is… you will be a crucial chess piece in the process of completing my Boss's God-slaying plan!"
Nurgle's corpulent face showed a benevolent smile. As he spoke, he gently waved the giant ladle in his hand through the air towards the Black Panther Goddess, hundreds of meters away.
In an instant, the ladle in Nurgle's hand was like a gigantic, sky-covering net, spanning hundreds of meters. Before the Black Panther Goddess could react at all, it directly scooped her into the head of the ladle.
Then, Nurgle slightly rotated his wrist and, with a 'thud,' tossed the Black Panther Goddess into the giant cauldron in front of him, which was bubbling with green liquid.
"Ah, help… help…"
The Black Panther Goddess discovered with immense terror that no matter how hard she struggled, she could not break free from this giant cauldron.
And her Black Panther's Power was completely useless within this cauldron.
Furthermore, whether it was her illusion or not, she always felt as if this massive cauldron was constantly 'growing larger.' In the blink of an eye, it had already become an boundless ocean!
And her body was slowly sinking uncontrollably.
Before she was completely submerged, Nurgle's benevolent voice once again echoed in her ears, "Don't worry, you won't die… I will grant you new life!!!"
…
Wakanda.
The large plaza in front of the palace was bustling with people. Tens of thousands of Wakandan citizens gathered there, solely to listen to the inauguration speech of the newly appointed King.
"Hey, have you heard? The new King apparently personally killed King T'Chaka's family. Only Princess Shuri is left, imprisoned in jail!"
"No way, even if he initiated a challenge, he didn't have to go that far, did he?"
"What do you know? It's said that the new King is Prince N'Jobu's son, a true royal bloodline. He returned to Wakanda specifically to seek revenge on King T'Chaka's family!"
"Revenge? If he's truly Prince N'Jobu's son, shouldn't he be blood-related to King T'Chaka's family? Why would he seek revenge on them?"
"Ah, you wouldn't know this, but according to some gossip I heard, this seems to be related to Prince N'Jobu's true cause of death… Legend has it that Prince N'Jobu didn't die during a mission as previously stated, but rather at King T'Chaka's hand…"
"What? How is that possible? King T'Chaka had no reason to kill his own brother!"
"Normally, of course not. But I heard that when Prince N'Jobu was on a mission, he witnessed the suffering of our 'black brothers' outside. He felt a bit guilty and, out of compassion, wanted to secretly lead Wakanda to open its borders and provide Vibranium weapons to all oppressed black brothers, thereby helping them resist tyranny and oppression and gain new life…
However, this idea was strongly opposed by King T'Chaka. King T'Chaka didn't want to expose Wakanda and Vibranium to the other countries of the World, fearing it would cause more unnecessary trouble. So, the two had an extremely fierce dispute, and in the end, Prince N'Jobu was accidentally killed by King T'Chaka…"
"My goodness, I never imagined there was such a hidden secret within this…"
"Wait a minute, if Erik King truly wanted revenge, he should have just gone after King T'Chaka. Why did he also kill Prince T'Challa and Queen Ramonda?"
"Heh heh, that's another secret. It's said that our new King challenged King T'Chaka in front of a group of tribal leaders, but King T'Chaka, fearing he was too old and weak, didn't dare to accept the challenge. Instead, he sent his son, Prince T'Challa, who was in his prime, to fight in his stead. But unexpectedly, Prince T'Challa was ultimately killed by Erik King…"
"What? King T'Chaka didn't dare to fight? He's simply a coward! And he was a Black Panther? To be so timid…"
"Yes, if he doesn't even have the courage to fight, then he truly doesn't deserve to be King anymore!"
"It seems that Erik King is far more suitable than King T'Chaka to lead Wakanda to glory. At least he has the courage to challenge his father's killer… and he also has pure royal blood flowing in his veins."
Similar questions and answers were constantly playing out in every corner of the crowd.
And these 'wise ones' in the crowd, who were 'well-informed' about the entire incident, were naturally planted by Erik Stevens through the tribal leaders who had actively shown him favor.
Their purpose was simple: to use simple public opinion tactics to dismantle King T'Chaka's accumulated prestige in the hearts of the Wakandan people in the shortest possible time, thereby better controlling Wakanda.
This was the fundamental reason why Erik Stevens wanted to hold this public speech.
Soon, Erik Stevens, wearing the leopard tooth necklace symbolizing the King's authority around his neck, walked alone onto the high platform, escorted by several Dora Milaje members in red combat suits, led by Okoye, passing through the avenue lined with tribal leaders.
Gazing down at the dense crowd of Wakandan citizens below the high platform, Erik Stevens felt an undeniable surge of emotion. He then pulled the microphone in front of the podium and declared loudly:
"Perhaps you don't know, but in the land where I grew up as a child, if our black brothers and sisters, who share our skin color, dared to rise up and resist when treated unjustly, they would face treatment far more severe than mere imprisonment, often even losing their lives…"
"These innocent people, helpless against oppression, could only become slaves to those White pigs, living a life too horrible to behold. I want to ask… at that time, what was Wakanda doing?"
The previously noisy plaza instantly fell silent.
All eyes converged on the figure on the high platform.
"Someone once told me that the reason Wakanda has survived until now without being noticed by the powerful nations of the outside World is because of its forbearance and staying out of trouble. Therefore, those black brothers and sisters outside, who share our skin color, are not Wakanda's concern, and Wakanda does not need to be responsible for their lives or deaths…"
Erik Stevens took a deep breath, then roared, "But he seems to have forgotten that the World is constantly changing."
"Nowadays, the technology of countries in the outside World has advanced by leaps and bounds. Large organizations with powerful military forces, like S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hyperspace Group, are springing up like mushrooms. Therefore, the space left for Wakanda to continue hiding is getting smaller and smaller…"
"Ultimately, I personally killed the person who said that, which is Prince T'Challa, as you call him."
"Because in my opinion, he is an incorrigible coward, just like his father T'Chaka, only capable of harming his own people."
"Now that I am the new King of Wakanda, I want to say… everything changes starting today. I will infiltrate Wakanda's Agents into every corner of every country on Earth. I want you to know what those White Invaders and colonizers are thinking."
"Then I will treat them ten or a hundred times worse than they treated those innocent people who share our skin color. I will equip our Agents with the most advanced Vibranium weapons, allowing them to secretly help the oppressed people around the World…"
"This way, it won't be long before we can eliminate those rulers and oppressors, as well as those hypocrites who are not on our side!"
"Either become a conqueror or be conquered. This is the truest law of survival in this World!"
"Therefore, I want the whole World to truly witness Wakanda's true face. I want everyone to know… No, I want everyone to remember that Wakandans are the only warriors in this World. We will personally rewrite the rules of this World. We will become the Master of this World…"
At this point, Erik Stevens clenched his fist tightly, raised his right arm, and passionately roared, "I will personally build Wakanda into the 'Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets' of the new century!!!"
As his voice fell, the entire plaza was first silent, then a few 'insiders' planted in the crowd began to lead the cheers. Gradually, more and more people joined in…
Until a moment later, the plaza erupted in a thunderous roar.