Chapter Ninety-Seven: An Unexpected Interloper Appears Along the Way

The High Elder placed the wooden black panther mask upon T'Challa. With a blade in his left hand and a shield in his right, he stood ready.

M'Baku donned a wooden white ape mask and hefted a long-handled hammer, facing T'Challa without a trace of fear.

"Jabari, take your positions!" M'Baku shouted. Seven Jabari warriors, spears in hand, spread out on his right.

"Dora Milaje, advance!" T'Challa roared. Seven royal female guards stepped into a straight line, spears at the ready.

The Jabari guards and the Dora Milaje encircled the two challengers, spears leveled at them. Their ring of encirclement would grow smaller with time, until the two combatants were driven to the cliff edge.

"The royal challenge begins now!" the High Elder declared.

M'Baku raised his hammer and lunged at T'Challa. T'Challa lifted his shield to block the blow, then swung his blade back at M'Baku's leg, only for M'Baku to evade it.

Again and again M'Baku hammered at T'Challa, who could only defend with his shield. Then M'Baku seized an opening and struck T'Challa to the ground.

Ah...

The Wakandans watching around them cried out in alarm at T'Challa's fall, and the queen and Shuri were especially worried for him.

"Get up!" M'Baku bellowed at the fallen T'Challa as the ring of combat tightened.

T'Challa staggered to his feet and slashed at M'Baku with his blade, but M'Baku slipped aside.

At the right moment, T'Challa launched a flying kick that caught M'Baku in the chest and knocked him down.

"Come on!" T'Challa shouted back.

M'Baku rose and brought the heavy hammer crashing down, but T'Challa dodged nimbly.

Hammer after hammer came at him; T'Challa could only evade in frustration, until one blow sent him sprawling and his weapon flew from his hand.

Forced to fight bare-handed, T'Challa seized the hammer shaft at the right instant and kicked M'Baku in the head.

The ring had shrunk to a very small space now, and the hammer's reach was growing less and less useful. T'Challa slipped past another attack and drove his fists into M'Baku's ribs in quick succession, stunning him.

Seizing the chance, T'Challa landed several more blows to M'Baku's head and knocked him to the ground.

Yes! Yes...

The crowd around them erupted when they saw M'Baku driven down.

Then M'Baku suddenly sprang up, wrapped his arms around T'Challa, and rammed his head into T'Challa's. Blood streamed from T'Challa's nose at once.

M'Baku kept driving his head into T'Challa's, giving him no chance to escape.

Under the relentless blows, T'Challa reeled, dazed and half-lost to himself. Then he heard his mother's voice: "T'Challa, strike back! Let him see who you are!"

"Ah!"

With all his strength, T'Challa slammed his elbow into M'Baku's head, shattering the mask and drawing blood from M'Baku's nose as well. In the same instant, M'Baku thrust the butt end of his hammer into T'Challa's body.

Everyone watched in horror. T'Challa grabbed the hammer shaft, ripped it free, and kicked M'Baku down. He rushed in, looped one leg around M'Baku's neck, and trapped M'Baku's arm with his hands.

"Submit! Don't make me kill you!" T'Challa roared. They were already at the edge of the waterfall, with a sheer abyss yawning below.

"T'Challa... T'Challa... T'Challa..."

All the Wakandans shouted as one.

M'Baku could no longer breathe beneath T'Challa's leg lock, yet he still fought on.

"You came here for honor. Submit! Your people need you. Submit, brother!" T'Challa shouted at him.

M'Baku looked toward the Jabari gathered around them. Yes—if he died, what would become of his people?

At last, M'Baku raised his hand in surrender. T'Challa had won the challenge.

The Wakandans erupted in cheers, celebrating T'Challa's victory. The Jabari guards helped M'Baku to his feet and led him away to rest.

T'Challa looked at the cheering crowd and smiled with joy. He had done it. He had won the throne.

"I now declare T'Challa the rightful heir to the throne! The Black Panther!" the High Elder announced, lifting a necklace made of black panther teeth.

Just as he was about to place it around T'Challa's neck, a man appeared by the pool and shouted, "Wait! I still challenge T'Challa!"

The cheers died at once. No one had expected the stranger.

Everyone stared at him in confusion. Who was he? Which tribe dared come here and cause trouble? Did he think anyone could take part in the king's challenge?

He was also a black man, bearded and long-haired, wearing clothes not of Wakanda.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before. On what grounds do you challenge the throne? Only the heads of the great tribes or those of royal blood may take part in the challenge!" said the High Elder, Zuri. T'Challa also looked at the stranger in surprise.

"I am N'Jadaka, son of Prince N'Jobu!" the man roared.

Everyone was stunned. Prince N'Jobu had been the old king's own brother, and yet his son still lived and stood before them now!

"When my father died, there was a panther claw mark on his chest! You're no prince's son. You're the son of a murderer!" the man, Erik, said as he pointed at T'Challa.

The crowd began to murmur. Had Prince N'Jobu been killed by the old king? Impossible.

"Absurd!" The queen could no longer stay silent and stepped forward to denounce Erik.

"Look at this!" Erik produced a golden necklace bearing a black vibranium ring. It belonged to Prince N'Jobu.

All the tribal leaders recognized it. A guard took the necklace from him and presented it to the queen, while several elders gathered to inspect it.

"Now I exercise the right of my royal lineage and challenge Prince T'Challa! I challenge the Black Panther!" Erik declared before everyone.

The heads of the great tribes and the queen fell silent. At this point there was no turning back. In the royal succession ceremony, if T'Challa wished to become king and Black Panther, he had to accept the challenge of any duly qualified claimant. Not even they could stop it.

The High Elder looked at Erik with a complicated expression. Erik's father had been killed because he tried to shoot the old king, and Erik himself had been left behind in America instead of being brought back to Wakanda.

"I accept your challenge," T'Challa said, looking at Erik.

"No! T'Challa, you have no strength left to fight!" the queen cried.

"Brother, no! You can't beat him like this," Princess Shuri said. Everyone watched T'Challa with deep concern.

"I can grant him two hours to rest. Once he has recovered his strength, we'll begin the challenge. That way you won't say I took advantage of the situation," Erik said loudly.

"I only need half an hour!" T'Challa replied, looking at Erik.

"The challenge is suspended for two hours. It will resume after two hours!" the High Elder declared.

The royal guards took T'Challa away to have his wounds treated, and the High Elder went with him. Erik stepped aside, found a place to sit, and waited for the challenge to begin.

The Wakandans around them whispered among themselves, studying the suddenly appeared son of Prince N'Jobu.

Shuri took T'Challa aboard the ship and used vibranium technology to treat his injuries. They could infuse vibranium into the body's molecules to rapidly heal wounds.

Meanwhile, the High Elder told the queen and T'Challa the secret of what had happened years ago: Erik's father had left Wakanda and sold vibranium to Ulysses. The old king had killed his own brother with his own hand, yet had left his son behind instead of bringing him back to Wakanda. After hearing this, T'Challa sighed that his father had been wrong.

If he had killed his uncle, he should at least have brought the man's son back to Wakanda. He was innocent. A child not yet ten years old should never have been cast aside and abandoned.

Once a wrong is done, retribution follows. T'Challa only wanted the chance to face Erik with all his strength and defeat him.

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