Mordo, that idiot, must've really thought he was a melee mage.
When he ran into an enraged Hulk being toyed with by Black Widow, he actually charged in wielding a darksteel arcane staff, trying to brawl with the guy. He didn't even get a single spell off—just a few punches in, and he got smashed into paste.
Kaecilius had to step in, using a Forgetfulness Spell from The Book of the Vishanti to mentally freeze the not-so-bright Hulk. Then he forcefully cast the "Outer Space Banishment Spell"—the same one the Ancient One had once used to exile her close friend Kael—trying to eliminate him by throwing him into another dimension.
But just as Hulk was catching his breath in the middle of the street after getting banished, he took a sniper round to the head from the Winter Soldier.
Wong wasn't any luckier.
He'd been keeping himself hidden, staying cloaked in invisibility. But when he heard a faint beeping sound from who knows where, curiosity got the better of him and he went to investigate.
Boom. Three C4 charges went off simultaneously, blowing him to bits on the spot.
Thankfully, this was the Trial Realm—death here wasn't permanent.
Still, going out like that...
The other sorcerers in Kamar-Taj would be laughing about it for the next hundred years.
...
The Winter Soldier, Bucky, wandered the streets like he was patrolling aimlessly. But when he reached a power pole where the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, was hiding, he suddenly pulled a modified C4 charge from his belt and hurled it.
He dove to the side and shielded his head, detonating the bomb even though he was still well within the blast radius.
Clearly, his biometric scanner had already detected Pym. The reason he got so close?
Pym was just too damn small to shoot accurately from a distance.
Boom!
Hank Pym, still scanning for the location of another enemy, was just a hair too slow to react.
That split-second delay was all it took. The upgraded C4 exploded right under him, blasting the aging scientist straight out of the trial.
...
On the rooftop, Natasha Romanoff finally made her move.
She flung off her stealth cloak, took aim at Bucky—who had just landed from the explosion—and squeezed the trigger.
As a super-soldier brainwashed by HYDRA, Bucky's reaction speed was top-tier. He'd already suspected another opponent was nearby, so he raised his metal arm to shield his head.
Natasha's bullet shattered his prosthetic arm, but Bucky used the recoil to dive into a nearby house. With an assault rifle in hand, he weaved through the blind spots of the sniper's line of sight, moving quickly from cover to cover.
In barely ten seconds, he was already close to Natasha's position.
Natasha ditched her sniper rifle and bolted.
As Bucky burst from the alley and launched himself off a wall to leap onto the third-story rooftop, Natasha flipped over the opposite edge and hit the detonator in her hand.
"Even if I only live 0.1 seconds longer... I win!"
With determination in her eyes, she wrapped her arms around her head, trying to survive just a fraction longer.
BOOM!
More than a dozen C4 charges and rockets detonated at once.
A mushroom cloud, dozens of meters wide, swallowed both the Winter Soldier and Black Widow.
...
Inside the Elimination Space—
Captain America, Steve Rogers, stared at the image on-screen, fists clenched tight as he watched Bucky get engulfed by the blast.
He'd just seen his old friend—alive?
So... where had Bucky been all this time?
Over in the corner, several SHIELD agents who'd already been eliminated—Maria Hill, Dr. Helen Cho, Dr. Wu Jiaqi, and others—were all nervously swallowing hard. They were rooting for Natasha with all their hearts.
After all, in just over an hour, they'd seen how far she'd gone to win.
Even the previously eliminated sorcerers, who had been a little salty about their defeats, couldn't help but gasp at her final move.
This woman... was ruthless.
(Final Winner: Natasha Romanoff.)
As that golden text shimmered in the sky, cheers erupted from some, sighs of envy from others, and silent regret from a few.
Natasha's blown-apart body began slowly reconstructing itself at the center of the battlefield.
...
Watching from within the Elimination Space, Yamanaka Shinno glanced at the gathered participants. To boost their motivation, he conjured up three rewards in the form of glowing cards and displayed them in the desert trial arena for Natasha to choose from.
A three-card blind draw.
Natasha, unaware of the actual contents, could only make her selection based on instinct. But the eliminated contestants, seeing from a god's-eye perspective, could clearly see what each card represented:
Asgardian Bloodline.
Master of White Magic.
Demonic God's Proxy.
Each description sent a wave of excitement through the onlookers.
Asgardian Bloodline – Long lifespan, and upon reaching sufficient strength, a chance to awaken divine power!
Master of White Magic – Instant mastery over large amounts of white magic, vaulting the user into the top tier of arcane casters.
Demonic God's Proxy – Serves as an avatar for the dimensional god. Blessed by divinity, granted conceptual-level abilities, immense combat power, and near-immortal life!
Even Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner—already powerhouses in their own right—couldn't stay calm seeing these options.
And Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, who'd been eliminated earlier after a reckless outburst, was practically trembling.
She knew the moment the trial ended, she'd be dragged back to that nightmarish lab for more horrific experiments.
If only... if only she hadn't been so impulsive...
Either Master of White Magic or Demonic God's Proxy could've helped her and her brother escape that hell.
"Pick number three! Pick number three!!" Hill, Dr. Helen Cho, and Dr. Wu shouted in unison from the Elimination Space.
The Asgardian bloodline sounded strong, being descended from mythic gods and all. But it clearly came with unknowns.
Master of White Magic was decent too... but compared to Demonic God's Proxy?
There was no contest.
But their shouts couldn't reach Natasha.
"I choose... this one."
Natasha took a deep breath, suppressing her excitement, and firmly placed her hand on the first card—Asgardian Bloodline.
She was the type who always aimed to be first.
Faced with a choice like this, it was only natural she'd gravitate toward the first option.
The SHIELD agents all sighed in unison... but quickly cheered up again.
The legendary god-bloodline couldn't be bad, no matter what.
...
Buzz~
As the effect of the trait [Game of the Gods] came to a close, all summoned participants returned to their original locations.
Meanwhile, Shinno quietly placed subtle spatial markers on Wanda, T'Challa, Bucky, and several others.
As for Natasha's reward...
Shinno glanced at Thor's system panel. There, glittering gold, was the trait [Bloodline of the King of Gods].
Then he looked toward one of the lesser-known Asgardian warriors hidden among the eliminated—Fandral.
"System," Shinno ordered, "use a Purple Trait Gift to copy the [Asgardian Bloodline] from Fandral and transfer it to Natasha."
As he spoke, a purple light shot into Fandral's fading body—just before he disappeared—then immediately zipped into Natasha's chest.