Liam stood there, his arms raised to show he meant no harm. Despite a knife being pressed against his back, he knew he could easily get rid of her if she decided to push her weapon further and go into his skin.
The moment she chose to do so, he would be able to tell by the change in her intent, subtle movements, and multiple other indicators.
"I don't mean any harm," Liam said calmly. "I've come here because I need to discuss something very important and urgent with your king."
"Leave now. The king does not allow audiences with outsiders," the Dora Milaje guard responded.
"I'm sorry, I can't do that," Liam replied, simply and calmly.
"It was not a request," the Dora Milaje guard said, pushing her knife forward slightly. "This is not a place for your kind."
"Alright, alright," Liam responded, feeling the pressure of the knife behind him weaken. "I'll leave."
'I've done part one of the plan,' Liam thought, walking away while the guard followed him from a distance. 'Now, I have to show a little bit for her to report this back immediately.'
Without wasting another second, Liam turned a corner, slipping between two buildings. The Dora Milaje guard noticed and sped up, turning into the alleyway a few seconds after Liam did.
Turning the corner, the Dora Milaje member was left stunned. The outsider had disappeared, leaving only a sizzling orange circle behind in the air. She cautiously approached it, taking out a tiny metal ball from her pocket.
Tapping a button on the side of the metal ball, a red light turned on.
Liam noticed her getting closer from the other end of the portal and made a hand signal, letting the portal close slowly just before she could reach it.
'Done,' Liam thought, smiling. 'Now the only thing left is to show up again.'
He knew the Wakandans would want to capture him since they took security breaches very seriously and would see portals like that as a problem—not to mention his defiance of an order to leave.
'And with the right words at that time, I can get them to bring me inside the real Wakanda,' Liam thought. 'From what I remember in the movies, all cases involving national security are brought before the king.'
'And what could be a bigger threat to your security than someone who can create portals.'
While waiting, Liam practiced making more constructs float in the air at the same time. He sat down for three hours with multiple swords flying around him, following his thoughts on where to go.
Opening his eyes, the sword constructs in the air slowly turned into particles. After all the constructs disappeared, Liam stood up, created another portal in front of him, and stepped through it. On the other side were the same two houses he had vanished between earlier.
'They should have had plenty of time to increase the number of guards here,' Liam thought, turning into the same dirt path between rows of clay houses and stalls. 'Even then, they try anything the minute I'm spotted.'
'Common sense when dealing with someone who can practically disappear through unknown means would be to ask for more reinforcements,' he thought, already feeling some gazes on him.
Liam continued walking through the village, occasionally stopping to look at some of the local products. Despite the effort and long process, Liam wanted to do this properly.
'These people will be really important, after all,' Liam thought, sensing people tailing him. 'No place in the world has their resources, technology, and overall combat strength. Now imagine what would happen if people from here joined my organization and learned magic.'
Thirty minutes passed quickly when he felt a change in the people following him. They had started approaching at greater speeds.
He counted 15 people closing in from all sides. After narrowing the distance, they slowed down significantly, moving forward cautiously.
Out of the 15 people he detected, Liam saw one group of six women approach him from the front.
This group was organized and structured, with one woman in the back holding the same kind of beads he had seen before. In front of her were four women with spears, led by someone he was familiar with—Okoye.
"Halt," Okoye commanded, stopping Liam from walking any further.
"Surrender yourself," Okoye ordered again, staring coldly at him.
"Why?" Liam asked.
"You were warned," Liam heard someone say from behind him. "You were told to leave and never come back."
"Yet here you stand, defying that direct order," the same woman continued.
The Wakandans weren't stupid. They clearly realized that Liam knew a lot about how they operated from the way he had spoken to the guard earlier.
"Like I said before," Liam spoke, loud and clear. "I'm here to meet with your king, T'Chaka."
Liam paused, giving the Dora Milaje members time to process his words. Upon hearing the king's name, all of them tensed, ready to attack at any moment.
"And whether that is here or in the real Wakanda," Liam continued, "I couldn't care less."
Okoye narrowed her eyes, observing Liam carefully. The other Dora Milaje members, however, immediately pointed their spears at him the moment he mentioned the real Wakanda.
"The king is not someone you can just see," Okoye responded, pointing her spear toward Liam. "You will surrender yourself now, outsider."
Liam stared at Okoye, who looked at him coldly and unimpressed by what he had said.
Before Okoye could continue, the member holding the beads in the back of her group walked up to her and whispered something in her ear. After hearing it, Okoye lowered her spear slightly.
She gestured for all the other Dora Milaje members to lower their weapons but remain on guard.
"You all had a change of heart?" Liam asked, smiling.
"Silence, outsider," Okoye said coldly. "The king has agreed to your request for an audience. But it will be highly guarded. Don't even think about making a wrong move."
Liam nodded.
"I'm not here to cause harm," he repeated once more, trying to reassure them, but received no response except for a cold glare.
'That was unexpected,' Liam thought. His original plan had been for them to escort him for questioning and bring him before the king that way. 'But it seems he was watching this.'
'It seems like the bead I saw wasn't only for recording and analyzing.' Liam noted.