The Creator of a New Era

Though his mind was full of questions, Red Devil was destined never to get the answers. His vision went dark, and he completely lost consciousness.

Thud!

Only then did Rorschach flick his hand and toss Red Devil's corpse onto the ground as if he were throwing away a dead dog.

"Rorschach actually... killed that terrifying guy?"

"No way, right? This has to be fake!"

Mystique, Hank, Darwin, and the other mutants who had been worried for Rorschach were all dumbfounded.

One second ago, Rorschach had been facing the desperate crisis of being thrown into the sky, yet the next second, he had turned the tables and instantly taken his opponent out?

The reversal had been so enormous that no one could quite process it.

"Azazel!"

Black King was stunned as well. Only then did he let out a shocked, pained cry.

He was shocked because he had never imagined that Red Devil, such a powerful mutant who could handle countless difficult missions with ease, would die on such a simple assignment.

At the hands of someone so young.

And naturally, it pained him because Red Devil had been one of Black King's rare and trusted right-hand men.

Once dead, he would be difficult to replace.

But right afterward, Black King's eyes began to gleam with fervor as he looked at Rorschach.

This young man was the mutant with the greatest potential he had ever encountered!

He had to bring him under his command!

If he could do that, then losing Red Devil would be nothing.

Poor Red Devil. If he had known that his master would cast him aside the instant he died, who knew what he would have thought.

But that was Black King.

A cold-blooded executioner who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

"You killed Azazel!"

Riptide's eyes widened as well, filled with deep shock.

With a flip of his hand, a swirling vortex appeared in his palm.

Whoosh!

But before Riptide could launch the vortex, Rorschach suddenly snapped his hand forward and fired at him.

A dagger flew from his hand, turning into a flash of cold light.

Where had the dagger come from?

Naturally, Rorschach had specifically gone to prepare it when he "disappeared" after Charles, Erik, and the others left.

Propelled by Rorschach's strength of more than ten tons, the dagger became a streak of light and shot explosively toward Riptide.

If a force of more than ten tons acted horizontally on an object, accelerating it from rest, how long would it take to travel twenty meters?

Only the time it took to blink.

Splat!

Riptide's vision blurred. Before he could react, his body shuddered violently, and he was sent flying backward.

He slammed heavily into the ground with a bang.

Rorschach's dagger had struck Riptide squarely in the chest, piercing straight through the entire right side of his chest.

"You... you..."

Riptide only managed to utter those two indistinct sounds before his head lolled to the side and he went completely still.

For a moment, the scene was deathly silent. Everyone stared blankly at Riptide's corpse on the ground, feeling as if it were unreal.

This was a mutant who could easily create tornadoes and effortlessly destroy even a massive structure like the Mutant Growth Accelerator.

A group of agents could not stir up the slightest trouble before him. With a wave of his hand, he could wipe them all out in the blink of an eye.

To everyone there, Red Devil was terrifying, but Riptide's destructive power was even greater.

Yet such a powerful mutant had died so easily?

But to Rorschach, this was nothing strange. Many mutants were like this: high offense, low defense.

The most typical example was Magneto.

There was no questioning Magneto's power. In Days of Future Past, he had overturned an entire stadium in a fit of rage. How domineering was that?

He was far more powerful than Riptide at this stage.

Yet hadn't Mystique still taken him down with one tiny bullet?

Professor X was actually the same.

If he wore that helmet that could block his abilities, then anyone with a gun, or even a knife, could kill Professor X.

Of course, that referred to Professor X before he began using a wheelchair.

So for Rorschach, although Riptide was powerful, he had an extremely fatal weakness: his abilities could not be activated instantly, or rather, they could not hit Rorschach immediately.

After all, a tornado needed time to move.

And Riptide himself was not skilled at close combat.

Since that was the case, why would Rorschach foolishly compete with him in abilities?

Had water gotten into his brain?

Taking the chance to kill him quickly was the proper way.

"As expected of Rorschach!"

"That was so cool!"

After their shock, the mutants began to grow excited again.

Of the original three mutants, Rorschach had killed two in the blink of an eye. The crisis had been greatly reduced!

With Rorschach around, everyone felt inexplicably reassured.

Their eyes were full of admiration as they looked at Rorschach. Their reverence for him had reached the extreme.

When danger arrived, just look at their performance, then look at Rorschach's. The difference had been far too great.

Clap, clap, clap!

Applause rang out. Black King was actually clapping for Rorschach with a face full of approval.

It was as if the two who had died were not his trusted subordinates, but two irrelevant passersby.

"Truly astonishing!"

Black King made no effort to hide the praise on his face. He strode toward the group, though his gaze remained fixed on Rorschach.

"Do you know what those two were capable of? Do you know how capable they were? Yet you ended both of them. I have to say, I never expected this."

"You did not even blink!"

"A talent like you should not be buried in a place like this. Come with me! A new era is about to arrive, and it will be our era!"

Black King sincerely extended an invitation to Rorschach.

"You're right. A new era will indeed arrive." Rorschach nodded.

The corner of Black King's mouth curled into a smile, a deeply satisfied smile.

He was increasingly pleased with Rorschach. The young man was teachable indeed.

"But I'm quite certain that the new era we're talking about is not the same thing." Rorschach then shook his head and said seriously, "And the creator of that new era will not be you!"

"Not me? Then who will it be?" Black King raised an eyebrow and sneered. "Don't tell me it'll be you?"

With the Homelander template and knowledge of how certain major events would unfold, if there really was anyone in the world capable of creating a new era...

Then Rorschach's chances truly were the greatest.

But Rorschach could not be bothered to argue about such things with Black King. He was a transmigrator; naturally, he knew how foolish it was to stand around talking nonsense in front of a villain.