Why Stop Him?

"Ron, stop Erik!"

"Why should I stop him?

"Charles, if we just follow orders, can we wash our hands of all responsibility?"

Ron had no intention of stopping him. Looking toward the Blackbird jet, he refused.

"Since they chose to overestimate themselves and attack, they should bear the consequences of attacking."

"Ron, you..."

Professor X had not expected such cold words to come from Ron's mouth. Those were thousands of lives. A powerful sense of foreboding suddenly rose in his heart.

The old Black King was dead, but could an even more terrifying new Black King be born from his corpse?

In just two or three seconds, a dense barrage of missiles screamed toward the skies above the two fleets.

"My God..."

The people aboard the fleets watched in terror.

He had no time to think further and hurriedly tried to manipulate Magneto's mind.

But feeling the all-pervasive agony caused by the radiation from the Black King's body, like torture that seeped from head to toe and from outside to within, it was already no small feat that Professor X had not passed out.

"Erik, if you kill them, you'll immediately stand against humanity."

"Charles, you're too weak now. You can't stop me at all."

His mind slightly disturbed, Magneto gritted his teeth, his face twisted. Driven by his hatred for humanity, he forcibly endured the interference and controlled the missiles.

Over a hundred missiles struck the fleets, and he laughed coldly.

"Go on, repent in hell!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Violent explosions erupted, flames shooting into the sky.

The massive warships, each weighing tens of thousands of tons, were destroyed and sank. Their ammunition detonated in sympathy, like brilliant fireworks blooming across the sea and raising enormous waves.

"No, Erik."

The weakened Professor X looked at the towering flames beyond the porthole, tears streaming from his eyes as he cried out in agony.

He grieved not only for those who had died with the fleets, but also for his friend Erik, whom he had met too late, committing an unforgivable mistake.

"Why did you do this? Do you know what consequences this will bring?"

Not only would America hate him, but so would the Soviet Union. The two poles of Earth, human society—everyone would condemn him in hatred.

Magneto would become the greatest terrorist in human history, a monster in the eyes of people around the world.

From then on, he would be beyond redemption. Human society would never accept him again.

And this might even provoke worldwide hostility toward mutants.

"Beautiful fireworks never last long."

Ron sighed.

"Ron, join me. Shaw may have deserved to die, but some of his ideas were right.

"We mutants are the New Era, the inevitable result of humanity's evolution!

"Every mutant is a unique miracle. We should take the Earth from the rotten hands of the Old Humans. It is our mission!"

Having destroyed two super fleets, Magneto wore a cold expression, as though he had merely poured boiling water over two anthills. He turned back and spoke passionately, wanting to draw Ron into his camp.

The power Ron had displayed was enough to influence the balance between mutants and humans!

"Come, Ron.

"Create a world that belongs to mutants with me!"

His gaze was sincere and fervent, as if his eyes held an incomparably beautiful vision worth striving for. He extended his hand.

"Does everyone eventually become the kind of person they once hated?"

Ron glanced at his hand.

Sure enough, after Shaw's death, Magneto had still set foot on a path similar to Shaw's.

It had nothing to do with him. Magneto would have become this way anyway; at most, under his influence, he was now perhaps a little more cold-blooded and extreme.

"Erik, you make a good point..."

Hearing that, a smile appeared at the corner of Magneto's mouth. He thought Ron would agree.

After all, Ron had just stood with him and refused Professor X's request. Their camps were so aligned.

"But I refuse!"

Ron gently shook his head.

The next second, Magneto's smile froze, and his eyes filled with astonishment.

"Refuse? Why would you refuse?"

"Erik, you're too cold-blooded and extreme. Mutants and humans can coexist perfectly well."

Ron's expression turned serious as he spoke in a low voice.

"I'm cold-blooded? But just now, you..."

"Just now was just now. Now is now."

As he spoke, he threw a punch at Magneto.

Bang!

Magneto was sent flying seven or eight meters and hurriedly controlled a sheet of iron to catch himself.

"Ron, don't tell me you share Charles's view—that humans will accept us and treat us equally as their own kind?"

He climbed to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He knew Ron had not struck seriously, but he still could not help shouting in anger.

"Think about Mystique. Think about Beast."

Mutants with abnormal appearances like theirs would absolutely be treated as monsters by humans. Even mutants who looked normal would be feared and rejected by ordinary people!

"I understand all that.

"But Charles is weak and naïve, while you are cold-blooded and extreme. Only I am the future of mutants."

Ron raised a finger and slowly pointed it at himself, speaking unhurriedly as if stating a fact.

After today, mutants would be exposed to humanity's gaze. The mutants of the world needed a leader to guide their lives after being discovered by humans and to create a future. Neither Charles nor Magneto was suitable.

"Ron, we can work together..."

Magneto's expression eased slightly. As long as Ron did not have ideas as naïve as Charles's, Ron could still be won over. He wanted to persuade him further.

"I won't walk the same path as you.

"Our ideals differ, but we can compete."

Ron waved a hand, cutting Magneto off.

"Compete? Compete at what?"

"You can hear us, can't you, Charles?"

Ron ignored him and looked toward the Blackbird jet.

"The three of us have different ideals about mutants and humans, and none of us is destined to convince the others.

"Since that's the case, let's compare through action.

"Each of us will use our own ideals and methods, and we'll see who can ultimately create true well-being and a future for mutants!"

He wanted to create a New Era on Earth and change the fate of every mutant born after it.

Although not every mutant would have a role in the story, this would include them all at once and settle the matter once and for all.

"...Hmph. He's been nagging in my head, trying to persuade you through me."

After a few seconds, Magneto pointed at his head and snorted coldly.

He knew his old friend too well. Charles had never been someone who could make a decisive choice.

"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

Ron did not care at all, nor was he interested in what Professor X had said. "It's enough that he heard it. He'll do what he thinks is right.

"The important thing is you, Erik. What do you think?"