Against Magneto

"There's something we need to discuss about your machine." Lu Yifang crouched down and spoke to Magneto.

"And you still have the nerve to bring that up." Magneto took a deep breath and rose to his feet. It seemed he had finally calmed the power raging within him.

"You idiot, do you know what you've done? You've destroyed the future of all mutants." In his fury, Magneto stretched out a hand. Several long strips of steel flew over and tightly bound Lu Yifang.

"Actually, there's been a misunderstanding. I can explain it to you. This was the Professor's intention too." As Lu Yifang spoke, he tore the steel off himself. To him, the steel binding him was no different from noodles.

"I don't care whose intention it was. Someone has to pay the price." Magneto raised his hand, and the machine that had been damaged by Lu Yifang's reflection rose into the air and smashed toward him.

"Fuck, can you be reasonable for once? Let me finish talking!" Lu Yifang slapped the machine away and roared in irritation.

"I never reason with people, nor am I good at listening, because those are Charles's jobs. What I'm good at is making people feel pain. So some people need to pay for their mistakes." Magneto snorted.

Lu Yifang's expression changed when he heard that. As expected of Old Magneto—he could actually say something that edgy. But thinking about it, those words really did suit his style.

"Magneto, die!" Logan's furious roar rang out.

He had finally climbed onto the Statue of Liberty's torch. Without hesitation, Logan unsheathed his claws.

Over Wolverine's more than hundred years of fighting, he had dared to bare his claws at any enemy. No matter how powerful the opponent, Wolverine had never known fear. He had always believed in the six-word mantra: "Don't chicken out, just do it."

If once wasn't enough, then twice. If twice wasn't enough, then three times—until the enemy died beneath his claws. Wolverine never stopped. Over the long years, he had faithfully followed this rule.

Until he encountered his fated nemesis... Magneto!

When Logan's claws were less than a meter from Magneto, his body suddenly froze. Magneto snapped his fingers, and Logan was suspended in midair with his limbs spread wide.

"Logan, why do you never learn? Why do you always imagine yourself as the protagonist, thinking you can solve every problem?" Magneto said as he walked up to Wolverine, then glanced at the river flowing below.

"Perhaps you need to cool off." With a wave of Magneto's hand, Logan plummeted toward the river at tremendous speed.

Whoosh! A red shockwave tore through the air and shot toward Magneto.

Boom! A piece of steel beneath Magneto suddenly rose up and blocked the attack. Clearly, Magneto had long anticipated Cyclops's strike.

"Oh, let me see. Our X-Men are free now. But I think you'd be better off staying trapped." As Magneto spoke, large amounts of steel on the platform where Cyclops and the other two stood suddenly twisted, firmly pinning all three of them down.

As for Cyclops's visor, Magneto gave it special attention and crushed it.

"Now it's your turn, kid." Magneto turned his gaze toward Lu Yifang. He hovered in the air, with countless metal fragments rising behind him. This was the top of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. Most of the Statue of Liberty's structure was made of steel and copper alloy. Magneto's home-field advantage here couldn't have been more obvious.

"Your ability seems quite impressive, but as a young man, you need to suffer a little." As Magneto finished speaking, countless pieces of metal flew up and smashed toward Lu Yifang.

"I don't think that's necessary. As an orphan who spent many years in an Orphanage, I've suffered enough already." Lu Yifang abruptly bent down, tore a steel plate from beneath his feet, and used it to block all the metal fragments.

"Oh, that toy in your hand doesn't suit you." Magneto pointed, and the steel in Lu Yifang's hand softened like cloth, turning around to wrap around him.

With a cold snort, Lu Yifang's expression remained unchanged as he hurled the steel plate straight at Magneto.

Lu Yifang had put tremendous force into the throw, but using metal against Magneto was simply a fantasy. Before the steel plate came within ten meters of Magneto, it stopped and then flew back toward Lu Yifang even faster.

Boom! The steel plate embedded deeply into the Statue of Liberty's arm. Lu Yifang had already nimbly dodged aside and was rapidly advancing toward Magneto.

But halfway through his charge, the ground beneath his feet suddenly gave way. He stepped straight into a pit as Magneto manipulated the steel below him, which clamped down on his leg.

"It's over, kid." Magneto beckoned, and several massive pieces of metal flew before him before shooting toward Lu Yifang at incredible speed.

"Not necessarily." Faced with the rapidly approaching metal, Lu Yifang did not panic. Instead, he calmly extended a hand.

Whoosh! The moment the metal touched Lu Yifang's hand—

Lu Yifang used reflection to reverse the direction of the metal's velocity vector while simultaneously applying even greater force to it. The metal shot back even faster, catching Magneto almost completely off guard.

"How is that possible?" Seeing the metal less than a meter away, Magneto couldn't help wiping away a cold sweat. If he were killed by metal, it would definitely be the greatest mutant joke in history.

For that brief instant, Magneto had truly felt himself lose control over those pieces of metal.

By now, most of the anger in Magneto's heart had already been vented. Instead, Lu Yifang's ability had genuinely piqued his interest.

"Perhaps this will make you a little quieter." After Magneto spoke, the top of the Statue of Liberty began to shake. Before Lu Yifang's eyes, the Statue of Liberty's torch was dismantled piece by piece.

Under Magneto's control, the metal surrounded Lu Yifang, then rapidly joined and reassembled into a massive sphere, trapping him inside.

"Go!" Magneto waved his hand, and the enormous metal ball fell toward the river.

Boom! As the metal ball shuddered and its descent slowed, Lu Yifang understood that he had fallen into the river.

Water had already begun seeping inside. Naturally, the metal ball Magneto had created on a whim had not been made watertight. At the same time, the water pressure squeezed against the metal ball, making the haphazardly compressed metal emit faint creaks.

Faced with this situation, Lu Yifang could control the direction of all forces through vector manipulation. Even water pressure could be controlled by him.

"Open up!"

With Lu Yifang's furious roar, the river surface, whose ripples had not yet settled from the metal ball's plunge, surged violently as though it had begun to boil.

Boom! Before an inexplicable force, the river surface split open into a massive gap. Steps made of water condensed one after another, and Lu Yifang slowly walked out upon them.

Magneto, floating in the air, witnessed the entire scene. His face was filled with shock and disbelief as he unconsciously muttered to himself.

"Oh my God. Though his use of power is still very immature, with my experience, I can't be wrong. Charles actually found another Level 5 mutant!"