Is there anything else?

Knock, knock, knock!

"Sorry, I'm really sorry, I messed everything up. Raven, are you okay? Can you open the door and let me see you, Raven!"

The next morning, in the castle, Hank stood outside Raven's door, pounding on it anxiously.

"I never thought the Serum would turn out like this. I tested it so many times."

He spoke with guilt and regret.

He had already changed—his whole body covered in blue fur, like a beast.

Last night, Hank had used the Serum. At first, his oversized feet did shrink back to normal, but it didn't last a few seconds before a more violent mutation took hold.

It turned him into a complete monster and knocked him unconscious.

When Hank woke up and saw his own horrifying form in agony, his first thought was to find Raven, worried about how she had fared after using the same Serum.

Alex, woken by the knocking echoing through the castle, came out of his room a few doors down, scratching his head. He jumped at the sight of Hank, instantly alert.

"Hank? Is that you, Hank? Shit, what the hell are you playing at? Are you trying to be a Blue-Furred Bigfoot?"

He recognized Hank from the shredded strips of clothing hanging off him.

"Alex, shut your mouth and get lost!"

Facing Alex, who always spoke recklessly without thinking, Hank snapped back like a beast, uncharacteristically aggressive.

Then he turned back, still knocking and calling out in worry.

"Raven..."

"Go away. Hank, go away. I don't blame you. Just leave me alone!"

From inside the room came Raven's hoarse shout, laced with sorrow and pain.

Injecting the Serum had been her own choice; she couldn't blame Hank.

But she didn't want to see anyone right now.

"Do you want to call everyone here?!"

Hank stopped knocking, opened his mouth, still wanting to comfort her.

But Raven's warning came too late—others had already arrived, drawn by the noise.

"What's going on? Hank, how did you end up like this?"

Professor X, Magneto, and the others came over, stunned at the sight of Hank, barely recognizable.

Ron appeared from around the corner of the hallway, walking over.

Guiltily glancing at Ron, Hank recounted his story in pain.

"I developed a Serum. I thought it could remove the mutated appearances of Raven and myself. But I messed up. It overstimulated the cells..."

"You mean, Raven too?"

Professor X, Mystique's adoptive brother, turned pale. Magneto and Moira exchanged a look, their hearts sinking.

If the Serum had turned Hank, who only had deformed feet, into this, then what had it done to Raven, whose entire body was already completely different from an ordinary person?

"So the Serum failed after all."

It seemed that, despite his arrival, there was no butterfly effect on the Serum. Ron disappeared behind the others.

"Let me go see my Mystique. She must need comfort right now."

Bang~

Using his ability, he left the stunned and worried group behind and arrived at Raven's room.

Inside was chaos—chairs and tables knocked over, the blanket nearly shredded, as if someone had writhed in agony on the bed.

A figure huddled in despair in the corner behind the bed, pressed tightly against the wall, clutching her head, sobbing in pain.

Hearing the sound, Raven looked up and saw Ron. She tried to grab the blanket, her voice trembling, wanting to hide under the bed.

"No, Ron, don't look at me!"

"Raven, it's okay."

Kneeling down, Ron pulled her close and spoke softly, his eyes scanning her up and down.

Perhaps because Mystique's mutation was already more extensive, the change wasn't as drastic as Hank's. Aside from her skin, the most noticeable additions were on her head and behind her.

A few centimeters of Blue Horns had sprouted from her head, and a blue tail, similar to Red Devil's, had emerged behind her.

"Ron, am I even more of a monster now? More like a demon that deserves to be dragged to the stake and burned?"

Raven's face was streaked with tears, her expression full of pain.

Her hopes were dashed, and instead of improving, the situation worsened, nearly driving her to utter despair.

Could Ron still accept her, now that she had become like this?

"Raven, in my eyes, you're more complete, more beautiful."

Ron's soft, earnest words eased the near-despair weighing on her heart.

"More beautiful" wasn't just empty talk—Mystique's face truly was more stunning, as if subtly refined. The uneven, scaly patches on her skin had vanished, leaving it smooth and flawless.

She'd probably been too terrified by the horns and tail on her head to take a good look in the mirror.

Compared to the old Raven, who looked like an incomplete demon, now she had horns and a tail, resembling a beautiful she-demon.

"What? Complete? Beautiful?"

Raven lifted her head, stunned.

Could Ron really accept her like this?

"The 1960s—people's tastes just weren't open-minded enough back then."

He sighed slightly, then shifted the topic.

"Are your abilities still there, Raven?"

"Yes... yes."

The person she liked not only accepted her current form but seemed to like it even more. Raven's mood improved significantly as she felt her body, hesitating.

"And... it seems I've gained other abilities."

"Like what?"

"Like this."

Tears still clinging to her face, she looked pitifully into his eyes, a mysterious blue light flickering in her gaze.

Seeing that blue light, Ron's eyes went vacant, as if he'd fallen into a controlled, sleepwalking state.

She was about to speak, using her newfound ability to make Ron give her a comforting kiss.

But after just a second, his survival instinct kicked in fast. With his evolved brain, Ron broke free from the eerie control, his eyes clearing as his brow furrowed instantly.

"What just happened to me?"

"Sorry, Ron, I... I was just trying to joke around."

"It's fine. You've awakened a mind-control ability?"

Looking at the nervous Raven, Ron relaxed his brow and asked softly, offering a word of comfort.

With his survival instinct, he already had strong resistance to Psionic Ability users.

What mattered more to him was the help Mystique could bring.

"The Serum seems to have unlocked another side of her potential."

In the comics, in ancient times before the modern era, mutants were divided into two major tribes: the demon type and the angel type.

The angels and demons of the Bible evolved from them.

Mystique's appearance clearly marked her as the demon type—perhaps she had tapped into the latent abilities of a demon-type mutant.

In the comics, Red Devil was a demon-type mutant. Besides being able to shapeshift like Mystique, he could also manipulate minds and possessed various other abilities.

Mind-control Psionic Ability was nice, but... it didn't seem related to Sentinel abilities.

A bit disappointed, he asked, "Anything else?"