That fool Mordo actually thought of himself as a melee mage.
When he encountered the enraged Hulk, who was being kited by Black Widow, he foolishly rushed in with his black metal staff to engage in close combat. Before he could even cast a spell, he took a few punches and was smashed into a pulp.
He used a forgotten spell from The Book of Vishanti to hard-control the highly intelligent Hulk.
He forcibly cast the same spell the Ancient One had once used to banish Kaalu, sending the Hulk into an outer dimension. Just as he stood in the middle of the street catching his breath, a sniper round from a soldier exploded his head.
Wong was even more unlucky.
Hearing a beeping sound from who-knows-where, he curiously walked over to check while remaining invisible. As a result, three C4 explosives detonated simultaneously, sending him off on the spot.
Fortunately, death in this trial space wasn't real death. Otherwise, dying like that... He would've been laughed at by the other Kamar-Taj sorcerers for a hundred years.
Meanwhile, Bucky was patrolling the streets as if aimlessly. But when he reached the base of a telephone pole where Pym, was hiding, he casually tossed a modified C4 from his waist.
He then dove to the side to protect his head, not even caring that he was still within the blast radius, immediately detonating the C4 bomb he had just thrown.
It was obvious he had already detected his target using the bio-scanner on his arm. The reason he deliberately walked so close, was simply because the enemy was too small, making it hard to aim with a gun.
Pym, who had been searching for another enemy, was still a bit slower due to his age. His reaction was just a fraction of a second late, but that was enough, he was instantly eliminated by the modified high-power C4.
Meanwhile, Natasha, lying on the rooftop, finally made her move.
She threw off her invisibility cloak and, as Bucky landed after the explosion, pulled the trigger.
As a HYDRA-brainwashed super soldier who had also been injected with the serum, Bucky reacted quickly. Knowing there were still enemies around, he had already raised his mechanical left arm to shield his head.
Natasha's bullet only managed to blow off his mechanical arm.
Using the recoil, Bucky dashed into a nearby building. With an automatic rifle in hand, he used the cover of the house to weave through the blind spots of the sniper's field of view.
In just over ten seconds, he closed in on Natasha's position.
At that moment, she tossed aside her sniper rifle.
As the soldier burst out of the alley and used a nearby building wall to propel himself up to the third-floor rooftop, she flipped down to the ground on the opposite side, pressing the detonator in her hand at the same time.
Determined, she crossed her arms to protect her head, doing everything she could to delay her own death.
Over ten C4 explosives and rockets detonated simultaneously.
A small mushroom cloud, spanning several dozen meters, instantly engulfed both Bucky and Natasha.
In the elimination space... Captain America clenched his fists tightly as he watched Bucky being swallowed by the explosion, his gaze locked on the screen.
He actually saw his former best friend! Bucky was still alive? Then where was he now?
Meanwhile, the female agents of SHIELD who had been eliminated earlier swallowed nervously. As colleagues, they desperately hoped that the final victor would be Natasha. After all, in just this short hour, they had witnessed firsthand how fiercely she had fought.
Even the wizards who had been eliminated and were initially dissatisfied gasped when they saw her act of self-sacrifice for victory.
This woman... she was truly ruthless!
[Final winner of this round of the Trial: Natasha Romanoff.]
As soon as the golden glowing text appeared in the sky, some people cheered, some were envious, and others sighed in regret.
Natasha's body, which had been engulfed by the explosion, slowly began to reform, her figure once again materializing at the center of the battlefield.
Looking at the eliminated participants in the trial space, Kei wanted to stimulate their motivation. After some thought, he chose three reward options, materializing them in the form of cards within the desert space for Natasha to pick blindly.
A three-choice question.
Natasha herself had no idea what the three cards represented. However, from the perspective of the eliminated contestants, who were observing from an omniscient viewpoint, they could clearly see the descriptions of each reward.
[Asgardian Bloodline]
[Grandmaster of White Magic]
The annotations on each card made the eliminated participants breathe heavily.
The Asgardian Bloodline granted an incredibly long lifespan and, upon reaching a certain level of power, had the potential to awaken divine abilities.
The Grandmaster of White Magic would instantly grant mastery over vast amounts of white magic, propelling the recipient into the ranks of top-tier arcane spellcasters.
The Demonic Path... would allow one to become a Proxy of the Dimensional Demon Gods!
Blessed by divine beings, endowed with conceptual-level abilities, immense combat power, and near-eternal life!
It wasn't just the early eliminations who were overwhelmed by these choices. Even powerhouses like Captain America, and Bruce Banner, who were already incredibly strong, couldn't remain indifferent when they saw these rewards.
Especially Wanda Maximoff, who had acted recklessly at the start, blindly venting her anger, only to be ambushed and eliminated.
She knew that once the trial ended, she would be sent back to that dark, inescapable laboratory, forced to endure painful human experiments once again.
If only... if only she hadn't been so impulsive before...
Either Grandmaster of White Magic or Demonic Path could have given her the power to escape that wretched place with her brother!
"Pick number three! Pick number three! Pick number three!"
The female SHIELD agents all shouted from the elimination space.
The Asgardian Bloodline looked incredibly powerful, after all, it was the lineage of a mythical race and seemed to have great potential. But it also carried a lot of uncertainty.
The Grandmaster of White Magic was impressive, but compared to Demonic Path, it was undoubtedly a step below!
The best choice was clearly Demonic Path. But alas, their voices couldn't reach Natasha's ears.
"I choose... this one!"
Taking a deep breath to suppress her excitement, Natasha stepped forward and placed her hand on the Asgardian Bloodline card.
She was someone who always aimed to be number one. So, in a three-choice situation, she instinctively picked the first option!
The SHIELD agents all sighed in unison, but soon, they were happy for her. After all, a legendary divine bloodline couldn't possibly be bad.
Summoned by [Divine Entertainment Competition], everyone who had been transported here quickly returned to their original locations after Natasha made her final selection.
At the same time, Kei discreetly marked Wanda, T'Challa, and Bucky with an inconspicuous spatial marker.
As for Natasha's reward... He glanced at Thor's profile, where the gold-tier trait [Bloodline of the King of Gods] was displayed. His gaze then shifted to a certain Asgardian warrior, Fandral, who was hidden among the eliminated contestants.
System, activate Trait Copy & Transfer Opportunity. Copy the [Asgardian Bloodline] from Fandral and transfer it to Natasha.
The moment he spoke in his mind, a streak of purple light shot into Fandral's body just as he was about to vanish.
The next instant, that light emerged from within him and fused into Natasha's body.
Story completed at Chapter 298!