Ron, Stop Erik

In midair, Ron slipped his hand into his pocket.

"I prepared a secret weapon especially for you."

"Oh? What are you planning to pull out of that pocket of yours?

A high-yield nuclear bomb, or some planet-destroying cannon from a space sci-fi novel?"

Attacking as he spoke, the Black King gave a disdainful laugh, paying it no mind.

That tiny pocket looked like it could hold, at most, a pen.

"It can't even pierce a sheet of paper, but it's more than enough to deal with you."

Turning aside to evade the Nuclear Ray, whose heat could burn through the air and destroy anything in the world, Ron pulled a long, pen-shaped object from his coat.

"Mr. Shaw, look over here."

Whoosh!

As his friendly words fell, a fierce burst of light erupted from the top of the silver pen, bright enough to blind anyone.

"Ah... my eyes."

It was like a white sun rising before him. Under that blinding light, the Black King suddenly could see nothing. He instinctively shut his eyes and raised a hand to shield himself, tears streaming from the irritation.

"Light strong enough to blind someone outright can only blind you for a moment, but that's enough."

In an instant, Ron flew behind the temporarily blinded Black King and yanked off his helmet.

"Give it back! Give me back my helmet!"

Caught off guard and stripped of his helmet, the Black King roared. He turned and swept Nuclear Rays behind him, cutting across a thousand meters, but Ron easily dodged them.

"You can control immense energy, but in every other respect, you're only a little stronger than an ordinary person."

That was why the Black King's frontal offensive power was nearly on par with Homelander's, yet his ability required only 120,000 Ability Points, while Homelander required hundreds of thousands.

His voice filled with contempt as he bid farewell to the ambitious schemer before him, who had tried and failed to ignite a hot war.

"Goodbye, Black King."

The helmet on the Black King's head had been made for him by the Soviet Union using special materials and techniques. It could block the intrusion of all Psionic Abilities.

Even the strongest psionic user on Earth could do nothing to him.

But now, things were different.

"No..."

Opening his eyes to see only an expanse of white, the Black King seemed to realize what was about to happen and shouted unwillingly.

Professor X, who had been waiting for this moment, immediately invaded his mind. The Black King suddenly froze in midair. He no longer emitted terrifying heat or radiation, becoming like a stone statue as he fell toward the sea.

"Shaw, this is what you wanted!"

Someone else had also waited a long time. Magneto shouted his enemy's name in hatred, and a coin issued by the Nazis appeared in his palm, shooting forward at supersonic speed.

When he was a child, the Black King had told him to move this coin or his mother would be killed. Having only just awakened his ability, he failed, and his mother died.

Now, he would grant the Black King's wish and "move" the coin he had failed to move more than a decade ago, using it to kill the Black King!

Unfortunately, he was one step too late.

Screech! A scarlet Laser Eyes beam swept through, separating the Black King's head from his body.

Only then did the coin pass through the Black King's head.

His corpse fell into the sea.

The Black King's ability was not passive, but active. Maintaining it took little effort, yet he had to remain conscious at all times.

Once he withdrew his ability, he was just an ordinary man.

"Mother, I avenged you."

Kneeling on one knee atop the iron plating, Magneto let a tear fall from the corner of his eye and murmured soundlessly. More than a decade later, the enemy who had killed his mother was finally dead.

Though he had not killed Shaw himself and had been one step too late, he felt deep regret. The anger and hatred that had built up in his heart for so many years had not been released all at once.

Still, he knew Ron could not be blamed. The Black King had been too powerful; they had to kill him at the first opportunity.

"Ahhh...!"

Inside the Blackbird jet, Professor X let out a piercing scream and collapsed to the floor. Having invaded the Black King's mind, he experienced exactly what the Black King felt in his final moments before death.

First came the agony of radiation, then the decapitation by Laser Eyes, then the coin piercing his brain...

The successive waves of excruciating pain nearly broke him.

"Charles, what's wrong?"

Moira hurriedly held the pale-faced Professor X and shouted anxiously.

"It's okay. It's over. It's all over."

His entire body was soaked in cold sweat from the pain. Lying weakly in her arms, Professor X gave a faint smile.

He offered no explanation. The crisis had finally ended, and World War Three had not begun. A relieved smile appeared on his face.

"Ron saved the world. He ended everything."

On the other side, Raven, who had been worrying about Ron, showed joy on her face and let out a relieved breath.

"No, it isn't over yet."

Before anyone else could catch their breath, Hank, piloting the aircraft in the cockpit, spoke with an ugly expression and a grave tone.

Reflected in the cockpit glass, warships weighing tens of thousands of tons each turned their heavy gun barrels.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

After deafening cannon fire, densely packed missiles, trailing thin white exhaust, streaked through the sky at astonishing speed.

The ones launching the missiles were the two super fleets Ron and the others had just struggled so hard to save!

Over a hundred missiles were enough to easily flatten a medium-sized island.

A few targeted Alex and the other person on the island, more than a dozen targeted the Blackbird jet, and the rest—most of them—were all aimed at Ron and Magneto, especially Ron, whose power had filled them with fear.

Ron watched expressionlessly, utterly unsurprised. He slowly put on the Black King's helmet and retreated to Magneto's side.

"Ron, I once told Charles that even if we saved the world, in their eyes, we would be no different from Shaw."

Standing on the heavy iron plating, Magneto's eyes brimmed with barely restrained killing intent and fury as he recalled a conversation he had once had with Professor X.

The emotions he had failed to release earlier, after years of suppression, seemed to have suddenly found an outlet, erupting toward the two fleets and humanity.

"Now you see it. I was right.

Humanity's first instinct toward what it does not understand and cannot control is fear and destruction!"

"How wonderful. Just moments ago, the two sides were at each other's throats, ready to destroy one another and each other's homelands, yet now they've joined forces with remarkable coordination."

Hovering in midair, treating the missiles as though they were nothing but air, Ron coldly watched the two fleets several miles away and applauded.

Though he had long known this might happen, seeing it for real still made the people's audacity and stupidity astonishing.

Setting aside the power he had displayed, had they not seen Magneto drag a nuclear submarine out of the seabed?

Or had their missiles been made of plastic with remarkable foresight?

"Humanity's disparities really are incomprehensible."

"Stop."

The next second, Magneto spoke in a low voice and extended his palm as if issuing an order that could not be disobeyed.

All the missiles were effortlessly restrained and halted in midair by powerful electromagnetic force.

"The foolish, decaying Old Humans... deserve to be destroyed!"

He shouted, his eyes chilling, and controlled the missiles as they turned around, aiming back toward where they had come from—the two fleets—and shot away at high speed.

"Old Humans?"

Hearing those words, Ron raised an eyebrow.

Not being able to take revenge with his own hands had indeed affected Magneto.

Though he had always been a mutant supremacist, at most he had called ordinary humans Neanderthals destined to be eliminated by nature.

Now, however, things were different. He was directly calling them Old Humans who deserved to be destroyed.

"No, Erik. The people on those fleets are only following orders."

Supported as he rose by Moira, Professor X hurriedly tried to persuade Magneto through the loudspeaker, then turned to Ron.

"Ron, stop Erik!"