Ron, Quickly Stop Erik

Halfway through the air, Ron slipped his hand into his pocket.

"I've prepared a secret weapon just for you."

"Oh? What are you planning to pull out of that pocket? A nuclear bomb with a massive yield, or a planet-destroying cannon from some sci-fi novel?"

As he attacked, the Black King let out a dismissive chuckle, paying it no mind. That tiny pocket looked like it could barely hold a fountain pen.

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

Dodging the Nuclear Ray that scorched the air and could obliterate anything on Earth, Ron pulled out a long, pen-shaped object from his chest pocket.

"Mr. Shaw, look here."

Whoosh!

As the friendly words fell, a blindingly intense light erupted from the top of the silver pen-like object.

"Ah... my eyes!"

Like a white sun rising before his eyes, the searing glare left the Black King completely blind. He instinctively shut his eyes and raised a hand to shield himself, tears streaming down his face from the irritation.

"A flash strong enough to blind a man—it'll only leave you sightless for a moment, but that's enough."

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

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

Caught off guard and losing his helmet, the Black King roared, spinning around and sweeping a Nuclear Ray behind him. It carved a kilometer-long arc through the air, but Ron easily dodged it.

"You can control some pretty powerful energy, but in every other way, you're barely better than an ordinary man."

That was why, despite the Black King's offensive power rivaling Homelander's, his ability cost only 120,000 Ability Points, while Homelander required several hundred thousand.

His voice dripped with contempt as he bid farewell to the ambitious warmonger who had failed to ignite a global conflict.

"Goodbye, Black King."

The helmet on the Black King's head was crafted by the Soviet Union using special materials and technology, rendering it immune to all Psionic Ability intrusions. Even the most powerful psychic on Earth could do nothing against him.

But now, things were different.

"No..."

Opening his eyes to nothing but white, the Black King roared in defiance, as if sensing what was coming.

Professor X, who had been waiting, immediately invaded his mind. The Black King froze mid-air, no longer radiating intense heat or radiation, turning into a statue as he plummeted toward the sea.

"Shaw, this is what you asked for!"

Another man who had been waiting—Magneto—shouted his enemy's name with hatred. A coin minted by the Nazis appeared in his palm and shot forward at supersonic speed.

When he was a child, the Black King had ordered him to move that coin or he would kill his mother. Having just awakened his powers, he failed, and his mother died. Now, he would fulfill the Black King's wish and "move" that coin he couldn't move over a decade ago—to kill him.

But he was too late.

Sizzle. A crimson Laser Eyes beam swept through, severing the Black King's head from his body.

Only then did the coin pierce through the Black King's skull.

His corpse fell into the sea.

The Black King's ability wasn't passive—it was active. Though maintaining it wasn't taxing, it required constant awareness to sustain. Once the ability was withdrawn, he was just an ordinary man.

"Mother, I've avenged you."

Kneeling on the metal surface, Magneto let a single tear slip from the corner of his eye, whispering silently. After more than a decade, the man who killed his mother was finally dead.

Though he hadn't killed Shaw with his own hands and was a step too late, deep regret lingered. The anger and hatred that had festered in his heart for so long couldn't be fully released in one go. Still, he knew he couldn't blame Ron—the Black King was too powerful, and killing him immediately was the only choice.

"Ahhh...!"

Inside the Blackbird jet, Professor X let out a bloodcurdling scream as he collapsed to the floor. Invading the Black King's mind, he experienced everything the Black King felt in his final moments. First came the agony of radiation, then the decapitation by Laser Eyes, followed by the coin piercing his brain... The cascade of immense pain nearly broke him.

"Charles, what's wrong?!"

Moira rushed to hold the pale-faced Professor X, shouting in worry.

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

Drenched in cold sweat from the pain, he slumped weakly into her arms, forcing a faint smile.

He offered no explanation, only a relieved smile that the crisis had finally ended and World War III had been averted.

"Ron saved the world. It's over."

On the other side, Raven, who had been worrying about Ron, broke into a relieved smile and let out a heavy sigh.

"No. It's not over."

But before anyone else could catch their breath, Hank, piloting the Blackbird jet, wore a grim expression and spoke with a heavy tone.

Reflected in the cockpit glass, countless warships weighing tens of thousands of tons swiveled their massive gun turrets.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

After a deafening volley, dense missiles trailing thin white exhaust streaked through the air at astonishing speed, hurtling toward them.

The ones firing those missiles were the very two super fleets Ron and the others had just gone all out to save!

Hundreds of missiles—enough to easily level a medium-sized island.

A few targeted Alex and the other person on the island, a dozen locked onto the Blackbird jet, and the vast majority aimed straight at Ron and Magneto—especially Ron, whose power had filled them with terror.

Ron watched expressionlessly, showing no surprise, slowly putting on the Black King's helmet and stepping back beside Magneto.

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

Standing on a thick sheet of iron, Magneto's eyes blazed with barely restrained killing intent and fury as he recalled his past conversation with Professor X.

The emotions he'd suppressed for years, unable to find release, now seemed to have found an outlet—erupting against the two fleets and humanity.

"Now you see. I was right.

When faced with the unknown and the uncontrollable, humanity's first instinct is fear and destruction!"

"Brilliant. Just moments ago, they were at each other's throats, ready to annihilate each other and each other's homelands. Now they've united with perfect synergy."

Hovering in midair, ignoring the missiles as if they were mere air, Ron clapped coldly, staring at the two fleets a few miles away.

Though he'd known this might happen, seeing it for real still made him marvel at these people's audacity and stupidity.

Forget the power he'd shown—hadn't they just seen Magneto drag a nuclear submarine out of the ocean?

Or were their missiles made of plastic out of foresight?

"The disparity of humanity... truly incomprehensible."

"Stop."

The next second, Magneto spoke lowly, extending his hand like an unignorable command.

All the missiles were effortlessly restrained midair by a powerful electromagnetic force.

"Stupid, rotten Old Humans—they deserve destruction!"

He shouted, his eyes cold, as he reversed the missiles' trajectory and sent them speeding back toward their origin—the two fleets.

"Old Humans?"

Hearing that, Ron raised an eyebrow.

Not getting to take his revenge personally had clearly affected Magneto.

Originally, though he was a mutant supremacist, he'd at most called ordinary humans Neanderthals—destined to be naturally eliminated.

Now it was different. He directly called them Old Humans, fit for destruction.

"No, Erik. The people on those fleets—they're just following orders."

Professor X, helped up by Moira, quickly pleaded through the loudspeaker, urgently trying to persuade Magneto, then turned to Ron.

"Ron, stop Erik!"