32ND FINALS: BLACK PANTHER VS. SWORDSMAN

The place of battle for this match was that of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, where there was a specially made platform with two teleportation pads sat in the middle the vast sandy landscape, with a Reg Bot standing by. Moments later, two flashes of light occur on the pads and soon materialize into the combatants, the Black Panther and the Swordsman.

Thanks to the Ref Bot's camera, many people around the world saw the two heroes arrival at their destination, including the people of Brinin Zana, the capital city of Wakanda, where many of the residents watched their King's arrival in Kalahari via a large screen that floated on top of the giant Panther statue in front of the Wakanda Royal Palace, and thus cheered upon seeing him.

For Swordsman, he looked around the vast landscape and admired it. "Ah, such a lovely locale," said Swordsman, who then turned his attention to the Panther, smirking behind his faceplate. "Such a shame to lose here, don't you think? Given that this is your home continent."

In response, the Panther only shook his head at his sword-wielding opponent in disgust. "I think that just like your teammates who fell before you, you are dangerously overconfident." As he continued, the Panther held up his left hand to show his claws. "Perhaps I should give you a lesson in humility."

With his smirk now turned into a scowl after hearing the Panther's reply, the Swordsman used his right hand to reach behind his back, then pulled out his sword and got in a fencing posture. "You're welcome to try."

Suddenly, the Ref Bot floated in between the two combatants and with the announcer's face on the screen. "All right gentlemen, I'm hoping that I don't have to remind you that you are to use your bladed weapons to either disarm your opponent or strike his belt buckle? After all, we don't want to repeat the mistakes with Silver Samurai."

The Swordsman rolled his eyes behind his faceplate before addressing the announcer. "Well, I can assure you that as a sportsman, I know I can," said the Thunderbolt, then turned straight ahead at the Panther and allowed a cocky smirk to appear on his face. "What about you, Your Highness?"

"Of course," the Panther replied, still in his fighting stance. "After all, I've been trained on how to hold bladed weapons...as I will show you!"

Seeing that things between the two proud combatants were getting heated, a worried announcer decided to get things underway. "Well then, look's like we're all set..." With a mental command, the Ref Bot floated up high above the platform and into the air, as well as say the word in which the Panther, Swordsman, and the rest of the world was waiting for. "BEGIN!"

Swordsman, not wanting to waste another second, is the first to attack by thrusting the tip of his sword forward, aiming for the Panther's belt buckle.

Luckily for the Panther though, he sidestepped to the left to avoid the attack and allowed Swordsman to pass right by him. The Wakandan King then concentrated and with the help of the circuitry in his suit, generated and manipulated the vibranium to form a glowing purple staff. With weapon now in hand, the Panther twirled his staff and charged the sword-wielding Thunderbolt.

As for Swordsman, he managed to stop himself just in time, and as he turned around, he saw the Panther running towards him and attacking by thrusting the right end of his energy staff towards his belt buckle. As such, Swordsman took his sword and managed to parry the attack and push the end of the Panther's staff to the right side. After deflecting the Panther's strike, Swordsman held his sword over his head and tried to slice his royal enemy's belt-buckle in two.

Fortunately for Panther, he held his staff over his head in a horizontal fashion and used the base of the staff to block the blade. He then counter-attacked by using his right foot to kick Swordsman in the chest, causing him to stumble backward. Knowing that he has the Thunderbolt on the ropes, the Panther swung his staff and aimed for Swordsman's right leg, intending to trip him.

Swordsman, however, saw this and darted his blade in front of his left leg, blocking the strike. Afterward, he pulled his sword back and thrusts it again.

The Panther blocked this attack as well, an easy feat given his years of training in hand-to-hand combat as a way to be strong both mentally and physically to bear the title as King of Wakanda. However, little did the Panther know, he and Swordsman were not the only ones in the desert, as an agent was watching the match, wearing a light bending body suit that made him invisible. Afterward, he put his hand over his right ear to activate his com-link. "Sir," the agent whispered. "I am in position, sir."

Back in the Garden, it was revealed that the Wakandan man was talking to the Iron Patriot, who replied via the intercom system in his helmet. "Good, be prepared to act, but don't until I tell you to."

Meanwhile, back in the Kalahari desert, the match between the Panther and Swordsman continued to heat up. As Panther used the bottom end of one end of his staff to block Swordsman's slash attack to his leg, he pushed the blade away from his person in a circular motion, all the while using the other end to strike Swordsman's head, but with the intensity of the vibranium set at a level which would knock him out cold and not kill him.

However, Swordsman anticipated this and thus held up his black to block the blow. Even after stopping the attack, the blade-wielding Thunderbolt finds out that he's not out of danger yet, for he saw that the Wakandan King brought up the lower end of his staff for another head shot, causing Swordsman himself to duck and avoid the strike.

Even after missing his mark, Panther continued his assault by taking the same bottom end of his staff and brought it back, with his target being the back of Swordsman's skull.

Sadly though, Swordsman saw this thought the corner of his eye and acted by turning, held his sword over his head and with the blade pointing straight down and protecting the back of his skull, successfully blocking the staff strike.

The Panther, on the other hand, does not give up and thus turned and tried to strike Swordsman's orange faceplate with the other end of his staff, only to have the attack thwarted when the Thunderbolt brought down and held his body, using the blade to block the staff attack. In one last attempt to trip him, the Panther spun around and tried to use the bottom end of his staff to try and strike the Swordsman's right knee.

As for Swordsman, he managed to spot this attack coming and thus jumped up and flipped backward to sweep attempt. After landing on his feet, Swordsman fell back into a fencing stance, while the Panther twirled his staff and got back into a defensive posture. From then on, the Thunderbolt made his move by thrusting the tip of his sword forward, aiming for the Panther's buckle, only for the Wakandan King to use his staff to swat the blade to the left side with the end of his staff. However, even with the attack deflected, the Swordsman kept hold of his sword, and in the process, secretly pressed a small button built in the handle. Moments later, his blade soon glowed bright purple, the same color as the Panther's staff. With this new development, Swordsman held the blade up and went for an overhead slash.

Though shocked at what just happened to the Thunderbolt's sword, the Panther nonetheless held his staff up over his head and away from his body to block the attack. But what was surprising of all, when both glowing blade and the base of the staff collided, the blade managed to cut the staff in two. Shocked to see his weapon broken, the Panther barely managed to back away to avoid the slash, but in the process, is forced to let go of the two purple sticks that once made up his staff, causing them to disappear. Though weaponless, the Panther remained vigilant as he got in a fighting stance and seemed fascinated as well as confused as he looked at Swordsman's now bright glowing purple blade, all in which made the brave King of Wakanda came to this conclusion. "Vibranium? I'm assuming Osborn gave that to you?"

"Smart boy!" Swordsman replied with a smug tone, then returned into his fencing stance. "But don't hold your breath if I choose not to tell you how he got it!" With that said, Swordsman thrusts his glowing blade forward once more, with the intent of bringing the Panther down and winning this match.

Fortunately for Panther, he put his agility to good use by dashing to the left side and narrowly dodged the Swordsman's attack. He then secretly generated a vibranium from his left hand, threw it, and hit the hilt of Swordsman's sword, causing the Thunderbolt to drop it. "I can uncover that information later," said the Panther as he got back into an unarmed fighting stance. "For now, I'm curious to see how well you fight without that sword of yours!"

To answer the question, the now weaponless Swordsman quickly got into a Wushu fighting stance. "Well, come at me and find out for yourself!"

Panther wasted no time in taking up Swordsman's offer, and thus dashed in and jumped like his namesake pouncing its prey.

Though this method is successful in tackling the Swordsman to the floor, Swordsman to the floor, the Thunderbolt himself countered by grabbing the Panther's shoulders as he went down, then placed his right foot on the Wakandan King's abdomen, giving him a stomach throw.

The Panther recovered by rolling forward and landing in a kneeling position. And as the Wakandan King stood up and turned around, he noticed the Swordsman popping back up on his feet, then spinning around and ran towards him a full force, throwing a right jab once he got close enough. Acting fast, the Panther used his left hand to block the jab and pushed downward on the inside, then goes to counterattack by throwing a spinning back-fist.

Swordsman, however, saw this attack coming and thus ducked underneath the blow to avoid it. As he popped back up, Swordsman attempted to fight back by throwing a left hook.

Fortunately for Panther, he is quick enough to hold up his left arm to block the incoming blow, then responded with a right jab to his faceplate, crackling it and leaving the Thunderbolt stunned. This gives the Wakandan King the opening he needed to run in, jump up in the air and gave Swordsman a left legged round kick, which shattered his faceplate to reveal the face of Andreas Von Strucker as he landed hard on the floor.

As Andreas rolled onto his back in a daze, the Panther walked off to the fallen Thunderbolt, with the intent of destroying his belt with a punch and win the match for himself and his fellow Avengers.

However, the camouflaged agent was still in position watching the match, and waiting for the order to intervene. Finally, he got the message he was waiting for when he heard the Patriot's voice in his com-link.

"Well," said the Patriot on the other end. "Looks like Von Strucker could use a hand."

"Understood," replied the undercover agent, then acted by pulling a small mirror from out of his pocket, then used it to reflect light from the sun, and flashed it in the Panther's eyes, momentarily blinding the Wakandan King and causing him to take two steps away from Andreas.

As for Andreas, once he saw the Panther blinded and deducing that one of the undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agents is behind this, he quickly pressed a small button in his right gauntlet then pointed it at his swords. It was revealed that Andreas had a small magnet built in the gauntlet, causing the sword to come to his open hand. Once he caught the sword's handle, Andreas quickly sat up in a kneeling position and thrust the tip of his blade into the Panther's buckle, which surprised the Wakandan King, and caused yellow energy to surround him and froze him in place.

The whole world saw this happen, including the people in Wakanda, who all stood in shock and total silence, as they could not believe that their great and brave King fall. And to make matters worse, lost to an opponent who ended up using his weapon when the Panther was beating him hand to hand and proving to be his physical superior.

Nevertheless, the Ref Bot floated over to Andreas, as he was twirling his sword back into the sheath on his back, all so the announcer can announce him as the winner. "Ladies and gentlemen, here is your winner...Swordsman!"

Andreas could hear the cheering Thunderbolts fans back in the Garden through the Ref Bot's screen, and it brought a smile to his face. Not out of appreciation for the people who saw him as a favored hero, but rather, he found the cheering of the American 'sheep' to be amusing. The smirking Andreas then turned his attention to the panther, who was still frozen in place. "Teach me humility?" asked Andreas in an arrogant tone. "Well, you're clearly in no position to do that...not that you ever were anyway."

WINNER: SWORDSMAN