Right as the portal vanished, Hercule reappeared in his half-transformed state. He wished for luck, and the safety of his own comrades.
Maybe he should've wished for his own.
His high level military background meant that Hercule always expected the worst in situations. Thus, before the portal vanished, he purposefully reappeared, to stop the enemies he'd been expecting from trying to spoil the party.
After kneeling, he readied himself for combat. Making sure that his weak spots had been secured, and his stance was firm, and steady.
Hercule then yelled out, "Get out, whoever you are, I know you're there!"
A man in weird, lavish, oversized golden robes appeared. The man sported the features Hercule had known for quite a long time, with several fresh, superficial cuts on various parts of his body.
"Why do you always put yourself in dangerous situations, old Herc?" King Uhuru lazily yawned, before taking the time to gaze at his old beetle from head to toe.
"Fuck off. Whatever relationship we had, ended when you plotted against Harambe." Hercule spat out with conviction.
"Come on, our relationship ain't anything that shallow." Uhuru slowly walked towards Hercule and spread his arms wide. "How about giving me one of your classic hugs?"
"Your existence disgusts me. You should know that." Hercule already had his fists on a southpaw stance, ready to send a punch at Uhuru. Their former close ties didn't matter to him anymore. Even if they go way further back, a betrayal like the one Uhuru did was something Hercule will never tolerate. He hated himself for not seeing Uhuru's rebellion coming from a mile away. "How dare you betray our brothers!"
Uhuru laughed at Hercule's crazed face, pointing at him childishly. "Your rage was unwarranted, old beetle. I didn't even kill that bastard Harambe, nor did I kill his idiot son!"
"Whoever killed whom didn't matter. There's a lot of things that have changed, you lowlife." Hercule was on edge. He knows how sly this supposed to be regal, and straightforward beast could be. "We might have been like brothers before, however all the emotion I could muster now that I saw you again, is pity, disdain, and hatred."
"Do you want to box?" Uhuru also got into a southpaw stance, which didn't even surprise Hercule one bit. "If I win, I'll beat you to near death."
"If I win, I'll beat you until I'm satisfied."
Several shadows in the background retreated like a tide, reinforcing Hercule's earlier notion that Uhuru's personal guard had been watching them all this time. In order for him to get out of this predicament, he had to defeat what was once someone closer to him than anyone else in the world.
"There's no way I'd lose, though. Since I'm a king—"
Uhuru was interrupted by Hercule leaning in for a strong jab, which was blocked easily. The second punch, with the left hand, landed square into his right cheek, disorienting him for a bit. It was followed by a traditional uppercut to the king's chin.
Hercule finished his combo by sweeping Uhuru's leg on the sides using his momentum, easily toppling him to the ground. Weirdly though, he didn't follow up on the advantage he gained.
"Damn, that was just your opening, but it's already that feisty." Uhuru licked the blood in his lips with a wide grin on his face. "Still as good as ever, aye? But you know, you should've ended it right there, you should've pummeled me while I was on the ground."
"Why? As I told you, I'll beat you until I'm satisfied." Hercule's voice was resolute. "Plus, grappling with you is a different thing entirely."
The two monstrous men circled within arms' length of each other, eyeing their opponent's next move.
Hercule knew how Uhuru fought. So, he went in aggressively, throwing out punches like a storm. The king repeatedly blocked, parried, and absorbed the blows he could with his steel-like frame. Every single fist was filled with its user's overwhelming force, herculean strength, and his unflappable, obscene rage.
But the cracking sounds of his bones, and the gushing blood on his arms, face, and abdomen, didn't faze Uhuru at all. Instead the more injuries he received, the bigger the fixed smirk on his face grew. After all, if his opponent knew how he fought, then it also worked the other way around.
Hercule— all of a sudden—ducked, and dipped his left hand on the dirt, weaved away from an instinctive knee strike from Uhuru, before spraying soil all over Uhuru's face right as he stood upright. His attack was not the conventional, straightforward move Uhuru thought, but the surprise was beaten by a simple turn in the opposite direction to evade the cheeky attack.
Uhuru maliciously grinned, then thrust a single bladed claw— that came out of nowhere— straight through Hercule's defending arms and into the middle of his sternum, cutting through his back near the spine like tofu.
Even if Hercule caught the glint of sunlight on the claw before it hit him, it was too little, too late.
That was the first blow Uhuru landed throughout the entire fight. That was also the first time he actually took the initiative to attack.
Hercule saw the claw retract and return into a single ring resting on Uhuru's middle finger before he fell backwards in a pool of blood.
"You sly… piece of work…" Hercule can't move, which is understandable if dealt an injury like that one, but he still felt something was amiss.
Could it be…?
"How'd you… get your hands on that…?" Hercule's adrenaline was the only thing keeping him awake, with the sudden loss of his shifting capabilities also stopping him from harnessing his otherworldly strength. "Those humans!"
"Half-correct." Uhuru started licking his wounds. "This is a wondrous material, so of course I need it!"
"The World Tree… will make… you… pay!"
"You know, your argument has never been valid. As I am destined for greatness." Uhuru stamped his foot even harder at Hercule's ribs in his anger, crushing the man's rib cage with the force of a beast standing almost seven feet tall. "Harambe, with his barbarian tricks, stole that destiny from me! You know it!"
"If only you'd been patient!" Hercule spat out a mouthful of blood, and gasped for air, with his extremities starting to turn violet.
"Patient? I've been patient for decades." Uhuru's smile was bitter. He truly believed his grievances were justified. "Harambe should never even have been king!"
"You… will never... deserve Ubwiza."
"Hmph, fine. I'm already bored anyway." Uhuru removed his foot and gave his opponent a farewell palm strike to the face. "I see you're already irredeemable. I'll leave you alive as a final thanks, for all the time we spent together improving ourselves. Next time I see you, that head of yours will roll."
Uhuru turned his back on the helpless Hercule. This was not the outcome he expected at all. Because after all this time, Hercule was one of the three people he always felt indebted towards in this life.
"Farewell now, my older brother."
***
All the members of the third division in the warehouse felt a horrible chill down their spine.
The de facto strongest man of their division was single handedly destroyed by King Uhuru in close quarters combat. His chest had been cut straight through, and his powers sealed by something only seen in legends.
Only a single material could seal the powers of shifters for a significant amount of time.
"Uhuru had one!" If Sata hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't believe it even in her wildest dreams. The usurper had a mythical material like that?
"A Paragon flower artifact?"