In war, every second counts.
So once the person responsible for deactivating the Celestial Shield was decided, Kagura and Natasha, under Princess Shurei's lead, quickly set off under the cover of night.
Across the vast African landscape, the stars shimmered softly in the clear night sky.
Not a cloud in sight only the distant city lights blanketing the horizon in a veil of faint white, like a thin layer of cotton over a pristine canvas.
Though Kagura had her reservations about Wakanda's so-called "advanced civilization," she couldn't deny the beauty of its scenery.
No heavy industry.
No fossil fuels.
Wakanda had long since moved past the stage of sacrificing the environment for the sake of development.
In that sense, this African nation was truly ahead of the world.
"I've got to admit, your country is stunning."
As they made their way to the city's defense center, Kagura glanced at the mesmerizing view and couldn't help but sigh.
"We might not be that far behind Wakanda in terms of tech, but New York definitely doesn't have anything like this."
Princess Shurei smiled with pride. "Yes, and that's something every Wakanda takes pride in. Here, we live in harmony with nature."
"You really love your country, don't you, Your Highness?" Natasha Romanoff chimed in, her tone teasing but warm.
"Living in such a prosperous, peaceful land... I'd say that's a real blessing."
Shurei returned the smile. "Oh, I love many things. In fact, I think Wakanda shouldn't be hiding from the world, we should be actively participating in human civilization."
"Oh?"
Natasha raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"That's the first time I've heard a Wakanda say that. I thought your people saw themselves as some sort of chosen elite, too proud to bother with the outside world."
"Haha, you're not wrong, Natasha. There are a lot of people like that in Wakanda."
Princess Shurei chuckled.
"But I've never found the whole 'we're a thousand years ahead' thing all that impressive. Honestly, I think the world beyond these mountains is far more fascinating."
As she spoke, Shurei looked up at the star-studded sky. "I've heard all kinds of things from PRIDE—our intelligence network—about the outside world."
"The Olympics, the international space programs, Hollywood movies, Japanese anime, cross-cultural exchanges, even global eSports tournaments..."
A look of longing crept across the princess's face. "These are things that could never exist in Wakanda. They need a global stage to thrive."
"Wakanda is advanced, yes—but at the same time, it's backward. We're an isolated nation, no more than a group of miners who struck it rich. We just happened to get lucky with better opportunities."
Hearing this, Kagura was genuinely impressed by Shurei's insight and open-mindedness.
She felt a newfound respect for the ebony-skinned princess.
No wonder people called her the smartest person in Wakanda.
Shurei shook her head slightly, a touch of frustration in her voice.
"If one day, Wakanda could truly join the global human family... that would be a wonderful thing."
"No—it will happen. I'll make sure that one day, Wakanda becomes a true part of Earth's shared human civilization!"
It really was a case of "those outside want in, and those inside want out."
Kagura couldn't help but reflect on that.
While the world envied Wakanda for its advanced technology and ideal society, here was the Wakanda princess, dreaming of the "primitive and chaotic" outside world.
But that's humanity, isn't it?
Always full of dreams—big or small.
Always able to envision a brighter future.
Always willing to push forward, no matter how hard the road ahead.
History? Civilization? The direction of social progress?
Those things don't matter as much.
What matters—is to keep moving forward.
To walk in the direction you believe is right.
No matter the hardships, if your heart is set on your ideals, you'll charge ahead without hesitation.
Because that's what it means to be human.
And perhaps, that's why Ultron could master the internet but never understand the human heart.
To him, humanity was nothing but obsolete waste. A threat to the planet. A weed to be rooted out.
He couldn't see what made people truly remarkable.
Ultron couldn't comprehend the wonders humanity had achieved.
He failed to see the connection between protecting the Earth and protecting its people.
And he could never, through rigid algorithms alone, develop a true civilization of his own.
He forgot one simple truth:
Ultron was a human creation, born of human brilliance.
His very purpose, his existence, was granted by humanity.
Yet he stubbornly called himself a god, claiming to stand above humans, to control evolution, to rule the future as some undying deity.
Ha. What kind of fake god is that?
Just a pile of data, nothing more.
———————————————————————
The energy core of the Sky Shield, the power of Wakanda's towering line of national defense was located at the Capital Defense Center, situated near the Royal Science Center that had been repurposed as a base by the Avengers and Prince T'Challa.
Though not far, the tower stood quietly on the outskirts of the capital city.
Under the cloak of night, Kagura, Princess Shurei, and Natasha moved swiftly across forest and grassland, silently closing in on the defense center.
As one of Wakanda's founding pillars, the Sky Shield was, unsurprisingly, protected like a fortress.
Now that Ultron had taken over the capital's entire defense network, the state-of-the-art systems originally built to fend off invaders had become his eyes and ears.
Fortunately, the team wasn't made up of amateurs.
Leaving Princess Shurei aside for the moment, both Kagura and Natasha were elite infiltration experts of the Avengers.
Kagura's "White Moon" combat suit had undergone several upgrades, shedding its previous limitations and gaining formidable combat capabilities.
Infiltration missions like this one posed no challenge—she didn't even need to activate her "full-spectrum stealth" ability.
One of the most significant recent upgrades to the White Moon suit was the abandonment of its old modular design.
No longer encumbered by dozens of clunky auxiliary attachments, the suit now operated as a sleek, integrated system.
Thanks to cutting-edge micro-tech and the quantum matter-energy conversion technology derived from Cortana's synthetic body, all formerly external modules had been seamlessly built into the suit's core.
With this upgrade, White Moon could now shapeshift into almost any weapon or tool Kagura desired, using pure energy stored within.
Compared to the original version, this latest iteration boasted dozens of times the storage capacity.
As long as there was enough power, she could even conjure up a full-blown Hulkbuster armor out of thin air.
On Natasha's end, she was still using a suit designed based on Kagura's original schematics.
As a deep-cover infiltration operative for the Griffin Security Organization, Natasha's gear didn't need to match Kagura's in raw power.
But it still let her slip in and out right under the enemy's nose.
Her sleek, vibranium-infused suit dramatically enhanced her durability and agility.
Thanks to vibranium's unique ability to control energy flow, Natasha could move far beyond normal human limits, enough to go toe-to-toe with Captain America himself (well... more or less).
And as for Princess Shurei?
Kagura wasn't worried about her in the slightest.
Think about it: if Wakanda's smartest princess couldn't even bypass her own country's surveillance systems... wouldn't that be just a little embarrassing?