The Mandarin's gaze was cold as the sapphire ring on his ring finger pulsed faintly...
His mental energy surged outward like a tide, only to crash against an impenetrable barrier.
A dull reverberation echoed through the psychic realm. The sapphire ring, which amplified mental power, flared brightly, causing everyone in the private room to lose consciousness, their eyes glazing over as if plunged into darkness.
Tossing aside the terrified Trevor, the Mandarin's black robes billowed like a flag in the wind.
His voice boomed like thunder, "Why hide in the shadows? Don't you dare show yourself?"
The wooden door of the private room exploded open as the gemstone ring on his right middle finger manipulated the air, compressing it into a high-speed vortex that shot forward like a cannonball!
The howling wind pressure alone could crumple steel! Yet the swirling projectile collided with an invisible force field, dispersing into a violent gust!
From the shadows emerged a young man... Sean, who had been observing all along.
He was slightly surprised. He hadn't expected the tracking device secretly embedded beneath Trevor's skin to be discovered.
The legendary Ten Rings, each with its own formidable power, were indeed not to be underestimated...
"Who are you?" The Mandarin frowned deeply.
He couldn't find a single crack in the other's mental defenses. His ring-enhanced psychic assault which should have flooded in like liquid mercury was completely blocked.
The light blue gemstone on his pinky finger glowed as a freezing beam shot out, swift as lightning, aimed straight at Sean's face.
His ten rings, collectively known as the 'Rings of Power'. Each possessed unique abilities; emitting freezing rays, generating electricity, amplifying mental energy, spewing flames, and so on.
The origins of the rings were ancient. The Mandarin had discovered them in an Eastern valley, artifacts of an extraterrestrial civilization. For years, he had secluded himself in the mountains, mastering their powers in pursuit of the elusive secret of immortality.
Sean's eyebrow arched. A flash of golden flame met the freezing beam, hissing as the two forces clashed.
With a casual wave of his hand, the space around them solidified like a mirror...
Trevor and the other Ten Rings members were flung away, leaving only Sean and the Mandarin standing face to face.
"A sorcerer from Kamar-Taj? Annoying, just like those monks from K'un-Lun." The Mandarin's eyes were like frozen steel, radiating cold fury.
In his long life, he had clashed with both Kamar-Taj and the Iron Fist of K'un-Lun.
The latter, in particular... the creators of the Ten Rings were said to be closely tied to K'un-Lun's legendary Dragon. They seemed to belong to the same civilization, having visited Earth in ancient times before mysteriously vanishing, leaving behind only the dragon bones that drove the Hand to madness.
"I've been secluded too long. It's been ages since I've killed." Without further words, the Mandarin unleashed the power of the rings.
The black gemstone on his right pinky flared, creating a black hole-like force field that devoured light, plunging the room into darkness. Simultaneously, the green zigzag-patterned ring unleashed a web of lightning, while another ring erupted with molten flames, roaring like a tidal wave!
Activating three rings at once, the Mandarin was unstoppable. He had no fear of Kamar-Taj's sorcerers. Even the Iron Fist had fought him multiple times, never gaining the upper hand.
Sean smirked. The power of the Ten Rings was extraordinary. Today, he would test it thoroughly.
Golden light enveloped his body as he clenched his fist. The air trembled as if hundreds of barrels of gunpowder had detonated. A single punch unleashed a force like a cruise missile, the shockwave shaking the entire mirror dimension!
The lightning and flames were extinguished instantly, like candlelight snuffed by a hurricane.
The Mandarin's face twisted in shock. He propelled himself away with a vortex blast, barely dodging the devastating strike.
Even a steel battleship would have been obliterated by that punch!
In his centuries of life, he had never encountered such a being... someone who could unleash tens of thousands of tons of force with a casual motion, like the mythical monks who could capture dragons and hurl elephants.
"Who are you?" the Mandarin demanded again, his voice strained.
Kamar-Taj's sorcerers were skilled in combat, but none had ever displayed pure physical power like this.
Sean shrugged, "Just a passerby who's enjoying the show."
Like Tony, he had suspected that Killian's schemes had a true mastermind; perhaps the real Mandarin.
So he had used Trevor as bait. He implanted a microscopic tracker beneath his skin with the help of regeneration cradle technology, waiting to see if the Ten Rings would take the hook.
"Honestly, I'm just interested in your rings. But if I asked nicely, you'd obviously refuse." Sean's tone was light, "So why waste words? Let's fight first."
Golden flames erupted from his body, distorting the air like a supernova. Three miniature suns materialized behind him before crashing down toward the Mandarin.
The true master of the Ten Rings gritted his teeth, all ten rings flaring at once; freezing storms, lightning torrents, explosive flames, vortex blasts… Every power was unleashed simultaneously!
The collision of elements created a rainbow-hued shockwave, the sheer force shook the mirror dimension to its core. The stable pocket reality shattered like glass, the fragments dissolving into nothingness.
The residual shockwave blasted outward, reducing the antique wooden teahouse to splinters.
Outside, the crowded streets of Chinatown erupted into panic. People screamed, thinking it was a bomb or terrorist attack. Chaos spread like wildfire.
Sean stood unfazed, an indigo energy barrier absorbing the violent forces. To him, the aftermath was nothing more than a gentle breeze.
The Mandarin, however, was not so fortunate.
Half of his beard was singed away, his once-majestic face now covered in soot. His ornate black robes were in tatters, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
This was one of the few times in his long life that he had been so thoroughly defeated. The bitter taste of failure spread through him.
A wave of agony surged through his body. His arms were severed at the shoulders, and the ten rings clattered to the ground, their glow dimmed like dull pebbles.
The Mandarin's eyes which were once filled with ambition were now lifeless, like stars whose light had been extinguished.
He stared at Sean with unbridled hatred, "I–"
"No more talking." Sean waved his hand.
A ripple of indigo light enveloped the defeated Mandarin, whisking the armless, ringless warlord away to some unknown fate.
With a thought, the ten rings floated into the air, their gemstones now as dull as sand...