Chapter 19: Outworld Finals, Part II

"I challenge Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat." Izuku growled.

Shang Tsung looked at Shao Khan, his expression betraying his sudden nervousness.

"Fail me again, sorcerer, and I will make sure that whatever punishment your traitorous creation suffers will be a lovetap compared to what I will do to you." Shao Khan replied, glaring at his advisor.

Shang Tsung nodded. He turned to face the vigilante.

"Aw, what's wrong, snake? Did your boss finally realize that you're nothing more than a has-been con artist?" Izuku asked.

"Ever since you arrived to fight in my tournaments, you have derailed every plan I had. Outworld's defeat, Blade's escape, Ermac's destruction. Worst of all… you turned one of my creations against me. For all your insults, I will ensure that your soul will know nothing but torment, Izuku Midoriya. But do not worry. Mileena will join you in your prison soon enough."

Izuku chuckled. "You failed to kill me using every trick in your trade, you failed to defeat Earthrealm, and you failed to try to make someone a living weapon that would only obey you. Do you know what we call people like you where I come from? A slave to the whims of the strong, unable to ever succeed?"

Seeing Shang Tsung's glare growing more intense at his words, Izuku smiled.

"Deku. A useless, wooden puppet. Fits, doesn't it?"

A Flaming Skull was thrown towards Izuku, Izuku, without missing a beat, destroyed the projectile with one shot of his pistol.

As the skull was destroyed, Izuku could see Shang Tsung waving his hand. Feeling the ground beneath him heat up, Izuku barely dodged the skulls that erupted from the ground. As he dodged, Izuku fired a few more shots at the sorcerer. Shang Tsung quickly erected a green barrier to deflect his opponent's bullets. However, when Shang Tsung deactivated the barrier, Izuku hit the sorcerer square in the jaw with a double dropkick, forcing both kombatants to land on the ground.

Before Shang Tsung had any chance to recover, Izuku leaped on top of him, throwing punch after punch at his head.

One.

Two.

Three.

Just as Izuku was about to throw a fourth punch, Shang Tsung grabbed Izuku's right hand, before punching him in the sternum and throwing him off. As soon as Izuku was thrown to the side, Shang Tsung tried to get up on his feet, but Izuku immediately spun on the ground with a sweeping kick and hit Shang Tsung's left leg. Shang Tsung fell again, and was greeted by the sight of Izuku carrying his momentum in another sweep kick, this time aimed at his head instead of his leg. Shang Tsung once again rolled across the sand of the Coliseum.

After his momentum came to a halt, Shang Tsung groaned. He got up, shaking his head, before glaring at his opponent. He threw his hands forward, before pulling them back. In a flash of green light, Izuku was face to face in front of a spitting image of himself.

Izuku ran in with a flying punch. Shang Tsung spun away from the punch, countering with an elbow strike. Izuku blocked his strike and tried to counter with another punch. For the next few moments, the two kombatants were stuck trying to land a blow on each other, throwing strikes and kicks that both would continuously either block or dodge. The audience tried to follow the spectacle, unsure of who was who in the struggle. After throwing an elbow strike, one Izuku blocked, before interlocking his and his opponent's arms and flipping the other Izuku onto the ground.

As the Izuku on the ground tried to get up, the other Izuku took out his gun from his jacket, intending to fire it. The Izuku that had fallen to the ground immediately threw a forearm block onto the other Izuku's wrist, forcing their shot to miss. Before the other Izuku could react, his firing arm was wrapped in a grab and he was hit square in the face with a head-butt. As the man sagged to the ground, the shape-shift fell apart, revealing that the one who had attempted to fire the gun was Shang Tsung.

Shang Tsung had been dazed from Izuku's head-butt. The vigilante, with his arm still wrapped around Shang Tsung's in a tight grab, punched his opponent in the face three more times. As Izuku was about to throw a fourth, Shang Tsung hit him in the groin. Izuku grunted in pain as he instinctively let go of his opponent. In the corner of his vision, he could see Shang Tsung preparing another spell. Not willing to find out what nasty surprise the sorcerer was preparing to throw at him, Izuku immediately ran forward towards Shang Tsung and hit him square in the head with a flying punch.

Shang Tsung hit the ground hard, his head bouncing off the surface. Just before the sorcerer's head was about to hit the ground again, Izuku threw a flying knee at Shang Tsung's jaw, forcing his opponent into the air. Izuku quickly grabbed Shang Tsung by his belt and slammed him into the ground, head-first, again.

Spitting blood, Shang Tsung desperately threw a flash of light at his opponent, hoping to blind him. As Izuku covered his eyes by reflex, the sorcerer kicked Izuku away from his prone body, finally allowing him to recover from the onslaught of blows. Shang Tsung groaned, putting a hand up to his head.

"That fool…what did he do to me? My head…" Shang Tsung thought. It was like a fog had surrounded his brain. He tried to create another Flaming Skull, only for the magic to sputter. Shang Tsung cursed. His magic must've been affected by all the blows to his head!

"Looks like he's finally concussed!" Izuku thought. "Time for step two."

"You don't look so good, Jiji! Need to take a nap? I can wait!" Izuku asked.

"Insolent child!" Shang Tsung exclaimed, slowly rising from the ground. "You will pay for your insults!"

"Is boring me to death the way you're going to do it? When I challenged you, I was expecting a fight! Weren't you the First Champion of Earthrealm? Or was that just another lie you spun to make yourself better in Khan's eyes?"

"You know nothing!" Shang Tsung hissed.

Jackpot!

"I know enough. Let me guess, you got crowned as the Champion of Earthrealm, and the whole realm loved you, right? But you realized that all they'd give you was their love, not money, not blind loyalty, not…"

As Izuku raked his eyes up Shang Tsung's revitalized form, a lightbulb went off in his head.

"Not immortality! That's it, isn't it?! The whole reason you turned on your realm! You probably begged on your hands and knees to the Elder Gods to make you immortal at the first sign of your hair going grey, and they told you to get lost. Am I right?"

The clenching of Shang Tsung's jaw was answer enough for the vigilante. Izuku stared at him for a moment.

A snort came out of Izuku's mouth. Another snort, which gave way to hysterical laughter.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Wow! WOW! I knew you were pathetic, sorcerer, but THIS! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Izuku doubled over, putting one hand on his chest and his other hand pointing a finger at Shang Tsung. Shang Tsung's fists began to clench.

The child knew nothing! He had sacrificed everything for those wretches! He had trained until his bones cracked, just so that he could achieve victory for Earthrealm! And yet, the moment he tried to ask the gods just for one favor, they refused! And when he had taken matters into his own hands and had resorted to dark magic to retain his youth?

They dared to curse him! HIM! Their CHAMPION!

Shang Tsung's breathing began to get heavy, as he remembered the events that caused him to side with Outworld over his home realm.

And the child in front of him, who knew nothing of his struggles and sacrifices…

Would.

Not!

Stop!

LAUGHING!

With a roar of rage, Shang Tsung ran up to strike his still-laughing opponent.

As soon as Shang Tsung was about to land his punch, Izuku blocked it, before kicking the sorcerer square in the groin. As his opponent fell to his knees, Izuku immediately activated the switchblade in his hand that he'd taken out of his jacket while he'd been busy laughing at the sorcerer. Shang Tsung's eyes were only able to widen briefly at Izuku's trap before Izuku's knife plunged into his throat.

"Shine." Izuku growled, before grabbing Shang Tsung's neck and dragging the knife across. Blood spilled across the Coliseum sands, and Shang Tsung fell back, desperately clutching his throat.

At that moment, an object hit Izuku's back. Izuku, high on adrenaline, instantly turned around to see…

The audience, who were enthusiastically booing him for his victory. Looking downward, Izuku saw the pebble that had hit his back. Seeing the pebble, Izuku scoffed and flipped the bird towards the jeering audience. At that moment, Izuku heard the sound of flames behind him. He dodged to the side, only to see nothing.

With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Izuku quickly got up and turned around…

Only to see that Shang Tsung had disappeared from the arena.

Izuku's teeth grinded together. "Fucking snake!" He hissed.

As Izuku stewed in his frustration, the next challenge could be heard across the Coliseum, issued by none other than Johnny Cage.

"I challenge Goro in Mortal Kombat."