[Gobi Desert]
The sun hung low, and heat shimmered across endless dunes.
Victor von Doom walked through it like a man who owned the desert. His green cloak dragged behind him, the Power Gem glowing faintly on his wrist. Every step he took left a ripple in the air, as if reality itself bent around him.
Behind him followed his team. He calls them the Superior Avengers. Elsa Bloodstone adjusted her rifle, scanning the dunes. Quicksilver walked beside her without babbling nonstop. The female version of Ghost flickered every now and then, while Doc Ock's mechanical arms clicked restlessly above his back. Killmonger and Abomination walked side by side.
Here's the thing: Victor learned magic and discovered the magic spell of dimension travel. But when he used it, he got teleported to an alternate reality, from there his real journey began. He travelled realities, found people who shared his vision, and then, years later, he found his way back to his reality.
They stopped at a ridge. Below them, half-buried ruins glowed faintly with ancient runes. It was Mandarin's base. The Ten Rings, what little remained of them, guarded the perimeter. He was actually searching for Apocalypse. On his way, he sensed the ancient power of the rings. So, he decided to take care of the years-old grudge, once and for all.
Elsa glanced down. "So that's his base? Mandarin. The one who made you run?"
Victor's gaze never left the ruins. "Yes. Once upon a time."
Killmonger smirked. "You planning to talk or burn him?"
Doom's voice was calm. "Talk first."
They descended. The guards raised their weapons as soon as they saw the group. But before they could fire, Victor flicked his fingers and their weapons melted into slag.
Mandarin walked out from the shadows. His rings glowed, ten distinct lights dancing across his fingers. His face was older, scarred, but his eyes burned with the same fury.
"I know that face. You look old. Victor von Doom," Mandarin said. "I thought you died."
Doom stopped a few feet away. "You tried, but my destiny was far beyond your imagination."
"You ruined my empire."
"I ruined nothing. Your greed destroyed your legacy."
Mandarin raised his hands, energy flaring from the rings. "Right now, none of that matters. What matters is that you came to your doom. Hope you are ready for what's coming next."
Victor lifted his wrist slightly. The Power Gem pulsed brighter. His team knew that things were going to get heated up. So, they fall back to a safe distance.
"Are you?" Doom asked.
For a heartbeat, the desert was silent. Then Mandarin unleashed his attack. Three beams of elemental force converged, tearing the ground apart. Fire, lightning, and ice collided in a storm.
Doom didn't move. A faint green shield appeared around him.
Mandarin shot it forward.
Doom's emerald barrier flared against the onslaught, absorbing the initial impact before fracturing under the combined assault. Sand turned to glass around him as the heat and kinetic force ripped through the ground.
Doom raised both hands, chanting in a low, steady rhythm. Ancient symbols flared to life in the air, spinning around him in concentric rings. A pulse of green energy burst outward, deflecting Mandarin's next blast of energy.
Mandarin smirked. "Sorcery is useless against me."
Doom's voice was calm. "We'll just see about that."
He thrust his hands forward. A surge of energy rose from the ground, forming jagged green constructs shaped like iron thorns that shot toward Mandarin. The warlord's gravity ring activated instantly. The air grew heavy, and Doom's constructs slammed into the sand, crushed under invisible weight.
Mandarin followed up with a flick of his wrist. A cyclone burst from his wind ring, tearing through the battlefield. Doom planted his feet, muttering another spell. His armor glowed crimson as he invoked the Rune of the Firmament, anchoring himself in place. The wind whipped around him but failed to move him an inch.
Then Mandarin switched tactics. His disintegration ring flared. A thin beam cut through the air, vaporizing a chunk of Doom's shoulder plate. Metal hissed and reformed instantly as Doom's magic knitted the wound back together.
"You've grown powerful," Mandarin said, "but power without discipline is nothing."
Doom raised his right hand. "You talk too much."
A storm of arcane energy erupted from his palm. Blue lightning mixed with crimson flame, each bolt laced with the Power Gem's raw force. Mandarin countered with his rings, forming a rotating barrier of light that spun like a miniature sun. The attacks collided, sending shockwaves across the dunes.
Elsa and the others watched from the ridge, shielding their eyes from the glare.
Doc Ock muttered, "If they keep this up, they'll melt the damn desert."
Down below, Mandarin closed the distance in a blur, striking with his fists. Each ring emitted a different element on impact. Doom blocked the first blow with a shimmering magical gauntlet, deflecting fire. The second hit struck his ribs, sending arcs of electricity through his armor. The third unleashed pure concussive force, blasting him backward through a dune.
Doom crashed through the sand, rolled, and rose slowly. Smoke curled from his armor. His cloak was torn.
Mandarin walked forward, surrounded by the glow of the ten rings. "You can't win, Victor. You have your tricks, but I've mastered my power for centuries."
Doom's voice deepened. "You speak of mastery while bound to trinkets."
He raised both hands, the Power Gem blazing to life. The air trembled. Sigils appeared in a vast circle around Mandarin, stretching across the desert floor. Mandarin looked down, momentarily thrown off.
"What—"
The sigils ignited. A pillar of green fire roared upward, swallowing him whole. The sky darkened. Doom's cape snapped in the sudden wind.
Mandarin burst from the flames, armor glowing molten red. The darkness ring pulsed, snuffing out the light like a dying flame. He lunged forward, his gravity ring dragging Doom to his knees.
"It's a pointless struggle," Mandarin looked down at Doom.
Doom grunted, his armor creaking under the pressure. "I forgot to mention… I am both science and sorcery."
He activated his gauntlet. A pulse of energy rippled outward, tuned to the Power Gem's frequency. The gravity field shattered. Doom rose, eyes blazing through his mask.
"Now, let me show you perfection."
He snapped his fingers. The Power Gem glowed with full intensity, and a column of pure energy exploded from his hand, striking Mandarin square in the chest. The force hurled the warlord across the dunes, tearing through rock and sand before he crashed into the ruins of his own base.
For a moment, everything went silent.
Then the ruins erupted. Mandarin emerged, half his armor melted, but he didn't look hurt. He used disintegration and matter manipulation together to nullify the direct attack, and his armor took most of the damage. The rings glowed brighter than ever, feeding on his fury. "You will bow before me!" His armor began to fix itself under the influence of the Rings.
Doom stepped forward, cloak billowing in the wind. "No. The age of men like you has ended. From what I've seen so far, you can barely draw out 20% of your Rings' power. The Rings are rejecting you, aren't they? You are barely holding onto them. So, it's meaningless to continue this any further. Playtime is over." He gathered the Power Gem's energy into his palm. "Time to face your Doom."
"That's more than enough to kill you," Mandarin yelled as he teleported using the Electro Blast Ring, right before Doom, and then he concentrated all Ten Rings' power for a single killing blow.
"Kuggg!" Mandarin stopped as he felt a piercing pain in his chest. He looked down and saw Doom's right fist plunged into his chest. He could feel Doom's fingers grabbing onto his spine.
Doom grabbed Mandarin's flesh with his left hand and tore him apart, separating his flesh and skeleton in a single motion. "That appears untrue." Blood and entrails flew around in an arc before splattering on the sands as he threw the remnants on the ground before stomping on Mandarin's skull.
He then looked back at his team.
"Erase their existence," He ordered. "There will be no Ten Rings after today." He looked at the ground and was about to grab those rings, but they shot up into the sky and flew off like multiple bullets. Doom tried to use his magic to capture them, but it was useless. Without anyone suppressing them anymore, the ancient souls of cosmic warriors residing within the rings were too powerful, even for Doom.
Within a few minutes, his team killed everyone last member of the Ten Rings.
Then, Doom opened a portal, "Let's go. Time to hunt Apocalypse."
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