"Damn it—Ariel! Get your teleportation ready. If things go south, we're bailing!"
Quicksilver's voice was sharp over the chaos, dodging between Tony's repulsor blasts and Hulk's thunderous punches. Sweat streaked down his cheek as he shouted, "Gambit! Stop holding back! Hit them with everything you've got!"
"You wanna run?" Hulk's growl rolled across the battlefield like thunder. "Ask my fists first!"
With both palms crashing together, a shockwave erupted—cards from Gambit's hands shattered midair, spinning into useless scraps. Tony's next laser beam scorched the ground at their feet, cutting off their escape route.
Meanwhile, Mandarin—bloody, broken, and humiliated after losing several of his ten rings—had gone completely mad. His aura twisted, and dark energy surged through his veins, morphing his form into something demonic and monstrous.
"Dare to steal my rings, boy?" His voice crackled with fury. "If I don't crush you today, I'm no man!"
Ryuuto cracked his neck and grinned. "You're right about one thing—you're definitely not human."
Mandarin's arms glowed, draconic tattoos flaring alive as twin spectral dragons coiled around him. The air itself screamed under their pressure. But Ryuuto didn't flinch. His eyes burned with focus and a hint of mockery.
"The dead don't need excuses," he muttered.
He wiped his blade clean on his palm, smearing his own blood across it. In an instant, black sigils spread across his body like a curse. His skin turned ink-dark and bone-white—Hidan's Ritual activated through Shion's data link.
[Ding! Skill replication successful: "Curse of Immortal Pain" activated.]
Mandarin threw a punch infused with all his rage—
—and screamed as he was the one sent flying. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he slammed into the dirt, eyes wide in disbelief.
"What... what did you do!?"
Ryuuto walked toward him, calm and unimpressed. "Tch. You hit like a tired grandpa. Guess I'll do it myself."
He channeled chakra into his blade and, without hesitation, drove it into his own stomach. Mandarin shrieked in pain, clutching his abdomen as if the sword had pierced him instead.
"You bastard! Stop—stop it!" Mandarin howled, blood spilling between his fingers.
"Why would I listen to you?" Ryuuto tilted his head, voice ice-cold. "You lost that right the second you called me trash."
He raised his hand, chakra flaring into a blinding white sphere. "Dust Release—World Stripping Jutsu!"
The air vibrated as atoms began to unravel around Mandarin's body—until—
BOOM!
A sudden explosion ripped through the battlefield, drowning everything in smoke.
When the dust cleared, Ryuuto's eyes narrowed—Sharingan spinning. From the haze stepped a familiar smirk.
"Loki," Ryuuto growled. "Didn't expect you to crawl out of your hole so soon."
The Trickster God ignored him, kneeling beside the wounded Mandarin. "If you want to live, come with me. No time for your arrogance now."
Mandarin barely managed to nod. Loki turned to his escorts—a pack of grotesque mutants twisted by his magic. "Hold him off. Impress me, and I'll grant you power beyond your dreams."
The mutants laughed maniacally, surging toward Ryuuto like rabid dogs.
"You think these clowns can stop me?" Ryuuto sneered, chakra flaring red. "Let's see them try."
Sand roared up around him like a living storm, blocking poison darts and ice shards before slicing forward in bladed waves. Mutant bodies hit the ground one after another, headless, lifeless—blood misting in the air.
"Gods above… is that even human?" one of the last mutants gasped before being swallowed by the sand.
"Still think I'm powerless?" Ryuuto muttered, eyes glowing under the stormlight.
Meanwhile, Loki dragged Mandarin through a glowing portal, finally exhaling with a smirk. "Still as reckless as ever, Ryuuto. You never learn."
Mandarin coughed blood but laughed hoarsely. "He'll pay for this one day."
"Perhaps," Loki said, conjuring a crackling sphere of magic. "But for now… let's give him something to remember us by."
Together, they hurled a blast of chaotic energy back through the portal—
—but when they saw what was standing on the other side, both froze.
Ryuuto stood waiting, sand spiraling around him, Rasengan blooming like a small sun in his palm.
"Leaving so soon?" he said, voice dripping with disdain. "You didn't even say goodbye."
The portal trembled.