Do You Know How Much This Hurts Mutants?!

"I can tell you're in a terrible mood. Lost quite a few people in Alaska?"

Even though this was his first conversation with Magneto, Duva remained calm. He felt none of the unnecessary tension or worry.

Just from Magneto's hoarse voice, unmasked fury and resentment dripping from every word, Duva already had a good idea of what had happened.

Unlike the major organizations, he had no satellites monitoring the situation in real time, so he did not know exactly how the battle had unfolded.

But considering that Magneto had fully caught the subtle signal Duva had sent and responded so quickly...

"As far as I know, the Deviants are strong, but those things alone shouldn't have been enough to crush your Brotherhood," Duva said.

"Many Eternals joined the battle as well. Every one of them possessed powerful, practical abilities. Under any other circumstances, I could have killed every last one of them by myself! But they ran too fast!"

Magneto's tone grew slightly heavier.

For someone of Magneto's level and composure to show such obvious emotional fluctuation, the Brotherhood's losses were clearly far greater than Duva had initially estimated.

Or perhaps Magneto had failed to achieve his objective, damaging his authority?

"Also, I refuse to acknowledge that those disgusting things crawling across the ice were Deviants. Boy, no matter how much you know or where you got your intelligence, you'd better reconsider your wording!"

Only then did Magneto finally make clear the discovery he found most intolerable.

Losing men would only make Magneto angry, but what he felt now could no longer be described as mere anger.

"Being attacked by both the Eternals and the Deviants at once would inevitably cause casualties for any organization on this planet. There's no need to dwell on that."

To make the conversation easier, Duva grabbed Mystique's seemingly slender arm—every muscle fiber of which had actually been trained to perfection—and forcibly pulled her in front of him.

Mystique remained expressionless. She had witnessed countless dangerous and complicated situations, and her temperament had long been honed to its limits. The various forms of humiliation Duva subjected her to now were nothing more than a minor scene. She had already steeled herself for it.

Elektra, who had only recently entered the field, could not do the same.

"But if you intend to deny that these animal-like Deviants have anything to do with mutants in this way, there's no need," Duva said.

"So you're saying these inferior creatures are the ancestors of mutants?"

"No, of course not. Deviants are indeed closely connected to mutants, but not the Deviants that attacked you," Duva said.

Magneto fell silent for a moment. "There's more than one kind of Deviant?"

"There are many kinds. On Earth alone, two types once existed. One was the inferior creature you mentioned—you've already seen them. The other encountered an irresistible force twenty thousand years ago and went extinct."

Duva counted on his fingers. "Beyond Earth, in the vast universe, there are even more kinds of Deviants. Some have gone extinct, while others are alive and well, having built powerful civilizations far beyond Earth's level."

"That's a lot to take in. I have to suspect you've gone insane," Magneto said.

"Only madmen can walk at the front. You don't think those who follow the rules and love obeying them can become great reformers, do you?" Duva spread his hands, then slowly drew them together. "Thank you for the compliment."

For a moment, Magneto truly could not get a read on him.

A lie? Or one of those lies that mixed nine parts truth with one part falsehood?

"What about the Eternals?" Raven suddenly asked.

"The same applies. However many kinds of Deviants there are, there are just as many kinds of Eternals. That is an iron law. There are creators in this world, and they must like making things in pairs," Duva said.

"Tell me, what exactly happened twenty thousand years ago? You'd better not lie. Tell me everything you know. I naturally have ways to verify whether what you say is true..." Magneto's voice came through the communications device.

"Interesting. If I'm not mistaken, you're already making plans to defeat my forces, capture me, and torture information out of me, aren't you? You may even be considering who has telepathic abilities, so you can pull the knowledge directly from my brain?" Duva let out a low laugh.

In fact, that was exactly what Magneto intended to do. This was too important for him to rely entirely on Duva's word. After all, Duva was not like Professor X, a long-established figure whose character had been tested over many years.

Not even S.H.I.E.L.D. could protect Duva, Magneto thought.

"The moment I find out you're harboring any ill intentions, you'll get nothing. And don't underestimate my power. I have many methods I can use at critical moments. Otherwise, you'll suffer a huge loss, just as you did when the Deviants and Eternals suddenly appeared and did what they did to you," Duva said slowly.

"I captured several Deviants. I can hand them over for you to have them parasitize the animals you keep."

"Bingo! I love talking things out. That solves the problem, doesn't it? Ten Deviants per question. A fair price." Duva clapped his hands.

Magneto could not be bothered to haggle over the number with a nobody like Duva, who had been unknown until recently. Given his temperament, if he had not been so uncertain about Duva, he would have acted long ago.

Why use words to solve something that could be solved by force? But before determining Duva's true origins and source of information, he could choose to endure for a while.

"By the way, among the Deviants you captured, was there a Deviants Leader?" Duva had long had his eye on that particularly cunning and powerful leader-class Deviant.

"Ten Deviants."

"Five. Take it or leave it."

"If you mean the largest and strongest one, no. If it hadn't been for that thing, the Brotherhood wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses. In the end, it even took Juggernaut away..."

"Sorry, did you say Juggernaut? The Deviants Leader took Juggernaut?" Duva had not cared much at first, but the news made him cry out in surprise. "Is your Juggernaut a proper mutant?"

Raven suddenly spoke, mocking him. "You put on an act for so long, yet you personally lowered the quality of your performance at the one place you should never have slipped. Do you have some special feelings for that idiot Juggernaut?"

Thousands of miles away, Magneto also frowned in confusion.

Juggernaut was one of the Brotherhood's core members, Professor X's brother. He possessed an indestructible body and tremendous combat power, though he was somewhat stupid. But why would Duva be so shocked over someone like Juggernaut?

He had never interacted with Duva at close range, so he remained silent, waiting for Raven's judgment.

But before Raven could speak, Duva spoke first.

"Guys, believe it or not, if your luck is a little worse and the Juggernaut in your organization really is what I think he is... then you're in serious trouble."

Because Juggernaut possessed an unimaginably vast amount of "reserve energy," which remained unactivated in most circumstances.

And the source of that power was also a multiversal-level powerhouse...