Marvel: A New God's Reign

Chapter 50: The Grand Race for Sakaar

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"In this world, wherever there is light, there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winners exists, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars and hatred is born to protect love."

- Madara Uchiha, Naruto Shippuden

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<(Omniscient POV)>

"Ladies and gentlemen, the race you have all been waiting for is finally starting. Eleven contestants will be racing for the crown of Sakaar with the winner taking all. The race will consist of just one lap around the city and the one to first cross the great statue of the Grandmaster will be the undisputed champion. Are you all ready to see the greatest race of your lifetime, the race of the century?" A red-skinned Sakaarian female announcer declared, trying to build up the hype and excitement of the audience.

"YEAAAHHHHH" A huge wave of cheers pierced from all directions as the audience went crazy with excitement.

Even most of the contestants were somewhat excited as well. Despite most of them not even wanting to be there to take part in the race in the first place, they were still affected by encouraged by the cheers and stepped on their accelerators, making as intense engine sounds as possible from their racing vehicles.

"GET YOUR ENGINES READY. The race starts in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1 GO *Bang*" All the cars raced forward at their full speeds after the countdown ended, each pod accelerating faster than any car had ever operated on the planet Earth.

Atem's mini racing pod quickly utilized its superior speed and lightness, immediately passing by most of his opponents in a flash with its thrusters on fire. He might not have ever driven a racing vehicle before, but his mind's highly fast processing speeds helped him quickly master the art.

Grandmaster's 'cart' which was shaped like a Formula One racecar was no doubt the fastest car among all of Atem's competitors. It was also the only car that was able to match the speed of Atem's own pod and compete with it on equal grounds. But that was only for a limited amount of time after which Atem slowly began to overtake him as well.

"Use the flamethrowers. Burn them to the ground." Atem heard Topaz, the woman loyal to the Grandmaster yelling from behind at which the Grandmaster nodded with a small grin, seemingly agreeing to her suggestion, and pressed a small button in his car.

Dozens of hidden flamethrowers immediately rose from the ground and set their targets on Atem, fixing a red dot at him. Now, as soon as they began to throw fire at him, he could have easily moved his car away and avoided the fire in time but he didn't. He did not need to. The runes engraved on the car easily resisted the fire without even increasing a single degree in temperature. The racing pod was completely fine without a single scratch on its surface.

But that was not the end. This was just an opportunity for Atem, one that he did not want to let go of. He silently and subtly manipulated the fire from the flame throwers using his 'Ryujin Jakka' ability to make them go haywire before forcing them to attack the car of a nameless lackey of the Grandmaster. The guy's car wasn't able to bear the heat of the fire and immediately exploded, killing its driver before he could even understand what was happening.

"Oh, my. Such a beautiful and magnificently grand explosion. I knew I was right when I told them to use bigger gas tanks." The Grandmaster said with what seemed to be genuine delight in his voice, not even trying to seem sad about the death of one of his own racers. "Now, try surviving this one." He showed an evil smirk as he pressed another button on his car.