After a baffling impossibility is shown, the gods are left speechless at the display. How can a human harm a god? Is he just that good? Or is it something else?

A man cannot harm a god.

That was a known fact by all deities. Even the strongest mortal weapon or technique would be completely ineffective on them, breaking like a toy.

And yet, against all odds, there was a human landing damaging blows on a god.

"H…how…how is this possible!?" Champa finally managed to yell, his eyes as wide as tennis balls. "Maybe he's just that good?" The Collector said. Champa shook his head. "No. Even if that man trained for one million years straight, he'd never be able to harm a god. It's a complete impossibility. And yet…and yet…it's happening."

"Perhaps that man is actually one of the gods who were sympathetic to humanity's plight in disguise" Sindel said while rubbing her chin, just as confused as Champa.

"I'm afraid that is not the case."

Turning their heads, the three saw a new god. An Asian woman with blue eyes and brown hair that reached her shoulders with a large white patch in the front part of her bangs. She was clad in an orange and yellow kimono and sprouting from her head were a pair of moth-like antennas.

"That man is a mortal through and through" Mothra said as she sat next to the four.

Champa then scowled. He was frustrated. Perhaps he wasn't seeing the whole picture. But what was he and his friends missing?

"Wait. I think I know what it is!" Collector said.


Shao Khan growled in a mix of pain and annoyance. While he was in pain and facing an impossibility, he knew questioning it was pointless. He had to win, and that was it.

Having said that, the onslaught of punches he was facing was making it hard. TJ came on him like a raging current, hitting him all over with powerful punches. Gritting his teeth, he launched a powerful shoulder charge into a punch. The heavy blows collide, knocking each other back. Shao Khan then ran forwards and landed a kick into TJ's chest. He then tried to continue with his advantage with an elbow to the chest, but Combo rolled under the blow and threw another power line to the back of Khan's head, knocking him to the time though, the emperor rolled out of the way of a follow-up jumping hammer punch from Combo, leaving his fist to only hit the mat with enough force to crack the supports underneath.

"So," Shao Khan said, "you're a bit more skilled than I thought. But it doesn't matter. You will fall like the others before you. Just like you."

TJ pounded his fists together to pump himself up. "If you beat them," he said, "then they were nothing like me."

Combo and Khan then threw a punch at each other. The fists collided, creating a shockwave that reached the stands, knocking several spectators out of their seats. The ring then split in half, Knocking the two into the air as debris flew up.

"The two fighters have leveled the ring! It's now airborne!" Asmodeus yelled in glee.

"So cool!" Zeno One yelled.

Leaping from rubble to rubble, the boxer tried to close the distance while the conqueror's mouth glowed green. Just as Combo was about to land a powerful punch, Shao Khan spat a ball of green fire at him, forcing the disgraced champion to swiftly change to a defensive stance. The ball exploded sending him into a huge chunk of wood and mat, shattering it like glass. Shao Khan then summoned his hammer and threw it. The maul smashed into the pugilist, sending him into the destroyed remains of the ring. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he jumped back up, tensing his muscles for a powerful uppercut.

Shao Khan's head snapped back like a whip as his helmet was knocked clean off. The two then landed, the helmet shattering when it touched the ground. Khan stood back up, just to feel a hard right to the jaw. This time though, he managed to stay sturdy and used his momentum from the blow to throw a punch of his own into TJ's chest. Combo skidded back as Khan formed several spears of green energy and threw them at the pugilist like darts, forcing him to bob and weave through the spears.

"TJ is facing a hail of spears head on! What grit! What hustle!" the lord of lust declared.

Humanity watched in amazement as Combo made his way towards the emperor while dodging the spears. They all held their breath as one grazed his cheek, leaving a bleeding mark. But aside from the gash, TJ took no serious damage. He then tensed up his arm and landed a devastating turn-punch to Shao Khan's ribs. The emperor spat out a wad of blood as he felt his ribs crack. He never saw that coming.

Neither did the boxers watching.

"Hey," Balrog said in amazement, "that was my turn-punch! How did he do it so well?"

"It seems his opponent was the only individual Combo studied," Little Mac said, "he must have studied all of us at some point, along with skills from other boxers, learning all there was to boxing."

Ippo nodded in agreement. "He is in a league of his own now" he said.

Meanwhile, with Charlie's group, Charlie was smiling. "See guys. We have this. There's nothing to worry about."

"Quite a spectacle, I must admit. Shame about the ring though" Alastor said, his trademark grin never fading. "Who cares about the ring?" Charlie exclaimed, "we're making history!"

Angel Dust leaned back. "Yeah. Maybe we are."

In the arena, Shao Khan smashed his hammer on his opponent's fist, creating a loud crack. He then followed up with a backhanded slap to TJ's jaw. He then head-butted him between the eyes. Before he could do anything else, Combo began weaving his body in an infinity pattern in a technique Ippo recognized as his famous Dempsey roll. The boxer began to move so fast it seemed that he was in two places at once. He then threw a heavy punch to Kahn's jaw, sending teeth flying. TJ then continued his roll. After two seconds, he threw ten punches.

Four seconds, fifty punches.

Ten seconds, one hundred punches.

With Khan stunned, TJ then went in for an uppercut. Charlie beamed. This was it. Humanity was going to win…

"HOLD IT!"

Everything seemed to freeze. Combo's punch was halted inches away from Shao Kahn's jaw. Zeus stepped off his stand and into the arena. "Stop everything now!" the king of Olympus shouted.

The Omni-Kings looked at Zeus in disappointment. "What is it, Zeus? We were having fun. Why would you interrupt us?"

"I have reason to believe that humanity is cheating!" Zeus bellowed.

Charlie's smile quickly turned into a look of fear. Combo glared with fury at the bearded god. "I ain't cheating!" he insisted with disgust in his voice. Zeus glared down at the man. "Don't lie! I know your gloves are a deal with a devil!"

The gods gasped in shock. A deal with a devil was a dangerous proposition. The fact that a human would be desperate enough to do something like that was not only inconceivable to them, but further proof that humanity had to be erased at once.

"What's more, Charlie not only allowed this, but encouraged her humans to do so!"

The arena went deadly silent as the gods all glared in her direction. "Welp. Nice knowing you, Chuck" Angel Dust said flatly.

The Omni-Kings looked at each other and then looked at Zeus. "So?" Zeno One said.

"We already knew about that" Zeno Two said.

"Wh-What!?" Zeus shouted in disbelief. "You knew about this all along!?"

The two nodded

"Th-then you should end this now! This is grounds for automatic disqualification! Humanity and Charlie should be erased from existence right now!" the King exclaimed.

"Well, Lucifer came to us with a good argument…"


Flashback, in Zeno's room, yesterday.

"Wow! Look at all the gods and humans on the list!"

The Zenos grinned with glee at the rosters. They were greatly interested in each side, each one wanting tomorrow to come right now.

"I hope to see the funny man with the long nose fight Maui. It sounds like a funny fight" Omni Two said.

"I hope we see Mothra fight sooner rather than later. She's really cool."

"Who do you think Yasha will fight?"

"Maybe the superhero. What was his name again?"

"Excuse me, but may I intervene?"

The two blue gods turned around to see Lucifer standing before them. "I hope I'm not interrupting, Omni-kings, but I wish to speak with you."

The Zeno's looked at Lucifer quietly. "Sure, I guess" Zeno-Two said.

"Well, it's come to my attention that humans cannot harm gods on all there own" the lord of hell said casually.

"Yes. We know" they said.

"Well. Doesn't it seem boring if humanity has no chance of victory?"

The two head gods looked at each other. They had to admit, Lucifer had a point. Why have a tournament if you knew the outcome already?

"Does this mean we'll should cancel the tournament?" Zeno-One said.

"Not at all. My daughter actually has a solution to this."

He then opened a scrying portal to Charlie's section. She was talking with TJ and a short imp with long black-and white horns wearing a black long coat, fingerless gloves with inverted crosses on them, and a wire patch on one half of his face.

"I'm not to sure about this. Feels like a chapter of my life that I'm not to proud of" Combo said. Charlie gently took his wrists in her hands. "Please TJ. It's the only way you can hurt the gods. It doesn't matter how skilled you are. Unless you can fight back, we're sunk. Besides. It won't change your skill. You won't be any better because of it. Anything you do is because of you" she reassured. TJ looked at her before sighing. "Alright. As long as it's all my skill."

Charlie smiled before turning to the imp. "So Blitz. Do you agree to make a deal with a devil to TJ?"

Blitz-O (the "O" is silent) shrugged. "Eh. Normally I don't give a shit about humans. But I have to admit, working with a guy who wants to stand on top sounds like a good deal, not to mention shoving it up those assholes in heaven sounds like a sweet gig. I'm in"

Blitz-O then produced a flaming piece of paper from nowhere, along with two pens. "Sign here, and let's get this effing party started."

Combo and Blitz-O signed there names on the paper. After they did, the imp began to change shape as his body turned into yellow light. When the light died down, Blitz-O had turned into a pair of red boxing gloves. TJ then put them on.

"Hmmm. They fit perfectly" he remarked.


"So we agreed that it will be ok if humans have deals with the devil" Zeno-One said when they got to the end of their story. Zeno-Two nodded in agreement. Zeus was speechless. The ones above all were ok with this? They were just going to let this happen?

"Uh, budy. Can you please get out? You're ruining the pacing here" Asmodeus said, his voice now lacking the usual dramatic flare it usually has. Zeus frowned, but flew back to his stand without an argument. He knew that the Omni-Kings wouldn't change their minds.

Meanwhile, Charlie practically fainted with relief. "Vaggie. Pinch me to make sure I'm not dreaming" she said. Vaggie compiled to her girlfriend's request, pinching the princess's waist. Charlie shot back up in her chair in attention, the pain proving that yes, this was really happening. "Oh, thank you dad. I know you only did that because you hate heaven more than humanity, but thank you."

"Uh, princess. I don't mean to pop your bubble, but don't you think you're still not out of the fire just yet?" Angel Dust remarked.

"What do you mean?" Vaggie said for Charlie.

"I mean that they now know that humans are fighting with a handicap, they aren't going to take them seriously. I mean less so than usual" the effeminate man explained.

Charlie shrugged. "It doesn't matter if they don't take them seriously," she said, her eyes going back to the ring, the joy now seemed to have faded away to fear.

"They just have to win this."

"Sorry for the interruption, gods and mortals," Asmodeus said with his usual flare back up again, "we're now returning to the senseless violence you came here for!"

Shao Khan then looked at TJ Combo before laughing. "So the champion is just a worm fighting with fake power. What a joke."

Combo clenched his fists even tighter than before. "I'm not faking anything. My gloves might hurt you, but it's my own skills that allow them to do so, asshole!" the pugilist replied

Shao Khan scoffed. "Bah. You're a true fool to the end of you honestly think that. But if you still insist on throwing your life away like this, then I'll be happy to oblige. In fact…"

Suddenly, the conqueror's body began to glow orange as his teeth sharpened, his muscles swelled up, his body grew taller, and his claws became wreathed in flames.

"I'll show you just how hopeless your situation truly is."

Looks like Shao Khan has a trick up his own non-existent sleeve. What could this ruthless warlord be planning? And can Combo find a way to counter it? Stay tuned to find out.