At Mileena's hideout in the Golden Desert, Goro rallies the Red Dragon troops, telling them that Mavado has reported Kotal is on his way to the temple... alone. Goro vows that he will kill Kotal like he did his father, as Mileena and Reiko watch. Reiko informs Mileena that after he kills Kotal, Goro plans to kill Mileena as well and take the title of Kahn for himself. Mileena is infuriated at this, and tells Reiko how he is the only one she trusts. Reiko tells her to let Goro battle Kotal alone, and he promises to kill whoever survives the battle himself.
Goro, Rain, and the Red Dragon troops prepare themselves for Kotal's arrival, believing the emperor to have gone completely mad and to be of little danger to them. As Kotal approaches on his T-Rex steed, Goro orders Rain to blot out the sun. Rain complies and summons some storm clouds, and Kotal cuts himself with his blade and invokes his blood magicks in response. A beam of sunlight pierces Rain's clouds and sets him aflame, leaving him horribly burned in a crater. (and it's also made pretty clear that he's alive, never trust out-of-context panels) Goro orders the Red Dragon to attack Kotal, but he leaps off of his steed and easily cuts his way through them, demanding that Goro face him in kombat.
Deciding to comply, Goro tells the Red Dragon to stand back and confronts Kotal, telling him how Shao Kahn would have never allowed an Osh-Tekk to rule Outworld and treated him better than a servant. Declaring that Shokans are conquerors and not servants, Goro blasts Kotal and begins pummelling him, talking of how he should have killed all of Kotal's people those many years ago. Goro grabs Kotal by the throat and begins choking him, but when he mentions Kotal's father, Kotal becomes enraged and rips Goro's very arm off before reaching for his sword. Kotal then methodically slices off the rest of Goro's arms, leaving the crippled Shokan Prince on his knees.
Kotal then gives a signal to Reptile, who had been keeping himself, D'Vorah, Ferra, and Torr all invisible... until now. The four begin slaughtering the rest of the Red Dragon as Goro begs Kotal to finish him, but Kotal believes this would be an act of kindness and refuses, leaving Goro to wallow in misery. Sometime later, as Mileena's hideout burns, Reptile informs Kotal that while Goro will be sent back to Kuatan, Mileena and Reiko have escaped. D'Vorah is concerned about what Kotal risked in using his blood magicks, and Kotal responds that he will need to rest, when a bullet suddenly flies into his stomach! As D'Vorah rushes to Kotal's side, Sonya makes her entrance alongside several cloaked figures, and demands to know where her daughter is!