Chapter Summaries

Dilos injected Charles with a serum that restored his youth, began healing his legs, and strengthened his psychic powers. As the X-Men celebrated Charles’s recovery, Jean watched Dilos with a hidden, fiery glint in her eyes.

• Dilos gave Qin Jiayin greater independence in her cultivation while keeping limits on her life potions and gravity-chamber training.
• Dilos injected Charles with a serum designed to restore his youth and mobility without weakening his mutant abilities.
• Charles’s legs regained sensation and began moving as his appearance grew younger over the following hours.
• Charles discovered that his psychic ability had grown stronger, and Dilos estimated it would continue to improve.
• Dilos joked with Logan and Ororo, prompting laughter among the gathered X-Men.
• Jean watched Dilos with an uneasy smile as a faint red glint flashed in her eyes.

Dilos discovered that a fragment of the Phoenix Force was secretly influencing Jean and weakening Charles's seal on Dark Phoenix. Unsure how to remove it safely, he questioned whether killing Jean was the only option, while the Phoenix Force continued to crack the seal as she slept.

• Dilos sensed killing intent from Jean and suspected Dark Phoenix, then used advanced soul vision to confirm that Charles's chains still restrained her consciousness.
• Dilos spotted a brief, hidden flare of Phoenix Force energy near Jean's consciousness, and Jean suddenly felt weak before Scott helped her to their bedroom.
• Dilos concluded that the Phoenix Force had caused the killing intent and worried that even Ancient One might struggle to remove it.
• Dilos revealed a powerful broadsword made from modified Venom Suit, Adamantium, and his genetic data, and wondered whether it could expel the Phoenix Force.
• While Jean slept beside Scott, the Phoenix Force appeared again and deepened cracks in the chains binding Dark Phoenix.

Dilos warned Charles that a conscious force within Jean was more dangerous than the Dark Phoenix and planned to consult a friend about containing it. When Charles revealed details of Jean’s earlier dream, Dilos recognized its predictions of the Cybertronians, the Joker, Captain America, and his new broadsword, confirming that it had shown the future.

• Dilos found Charles rejuvenated by the serum and watched him stand and walk again.
• Dilos told Charles about the hidden force inside Jean and asked him to reinforce the Dark Phoenix’s restraints while Dilos monitored the process.
• Charles agreed but said Jean needed to know that the Dark Phoenix existed, and he revealed that Jean’s powers had once gone out of control after a crack formed in the mental prison.
• Charles described Jean’s dream, which had included Dilos, a purple-lava volcano, the Joker, a man with a round shield, and a strange greatsword.
• Dilos identified the shield-bearing man as Captain America, Steve Rogers, and said he had rescued him from the ice with S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Dilos showed Charles his Refined Gold broadsword, and Charles recognized it from Jean’s dream and realized the dream had predicted the future.

Dilos and Charles learned that Jean’s prophetic dream was real and decided to prepare for Dark Phoenix before the Phoenix Force could break free. After they reinforced the prison in Jean’s mind, Dilos left to seek Ancient One’s help with the Phoenix Force.

• Dilos concluded that his unpredictable actions had disrupted the future and resolved to stay ahead of the unknown force shaping events.
• Charles regained his composure and agreed with Dilos to change the foretold outcome by addressing Jean’s condition first.
• Jean came to the academy basement, where Dilos saw that the Phoenix Force fragment had rapidly worsened the cracks in Dark Phoenix’s mental chains.
• Charles told Jean that Dark Phoenix was an alternate personality, then reinforced the mental prison while Dilos monitored it with soul vision.
• Charles scheduled a follow-up inspection for half a month later, and Dilos left to ask Ancient One for a solution to the Phoenix Force.

Dilos asked Ancient One about the difference between gods and mortals, but she refused to explain how mortals could become gods. He then told her about Jean and the Phoenix Force; Ancient One agreed to help seal the fragment and invited Dilos to study magic at Kamar-Taj.

• Ancient One praised Dilos for strengthening his body to match his soul and explained that powerful beings could sense the unusual energy around him.
• Dilos asked how mortals could become gods, but Ancient One said it was a taboo and refused to answer.
• Dilos told Ancient One about Jean and the self-aware Phoenix Force, asking if she could seal, expel, or erase it.
• Ancient One explained the Phoenix Force’s nature and said that several sorcerers could seal the fragment attached to Jean after a few days of preparation.
• Ancient One asked Dilos whether he would be willing to study magic at Kamar-Taj.

After returning to Isla Sorna, Dilos considered Ancient One’s invitation to study magic and devised a way to negotiate freedom from the sorcerers’ restrictions. He decided to build miniature artificial suns to supply energy to Earth’s Sanctums, then began work in his laboratory.

• Dilos returned to the underground base on Isla Sorna and recalled Ancient One saying he could now learn magic safely.
• Dilos worried that joining Kamar-Taj would keep him from intervening in the mundane world and pursuing his goals.
• Dilos reasoned that Earth’s three Sanctums sometimes lacked energy and that providing a new source might earn him access to advanced spells without joining the sorcerers.
• Dilos realized solar energy could power magic and that Kryptonian knowledge could let him build miniature artificial suns.
• Dilos had Dante prepare blueprints and data, then began working with Dr. Connors in his private laboratory.

Dilos arranged for Ancient One to seal the Phoenix Force fragment inside Jean, using Leech serum and a shielding device to weaken it before transporting Jean to Kamar-Taj. The seal succeeded, and Dilos destroyed the sleeping Dark Phoenix consciousness so Jean could absorb its remaining mental particles.

• Dilos finished building a small artificial sun and learned that Ancient One had prepared to seal the Phoenix Force fragment.
• Charles and Dilos told Scott and Ororo about the plan, then sent them to S.T.A.R. Labs to keep them away from Jean during the operation.
• Dilos secretly used Leech serum to suppress Jean's mutant abilities, prompting the Phoenix Force fragment to erupt and Dark Phoenix to emerge.
• Dilos knocked Jean unconscious, shrank her inside a shielding sphere, and transported her to Ancient One's rune-covered chamber at Kamar-Taj.
• Ancient One and the other mages sealed the Phoenix Force fragment, and Dilos crushed the sleeping Dark Phoenix consciousness into particles that Jean absorbed.

After sealing the Phoenix Force fragment, Dilos discovered that its black seal resembled the hidden black cave in his own brain and realized it could manipulate Jean’s genes. He concluded that the Phoenix Force was trying to develop its potential into godhood, and resolved to strengthen himself and prepare before pursuing his own path to becoming a god.

• Dilos erased Dark Phoenix’s consciousness and discovered that the Phoenix Force fragment’s black seal matched the black cave in his brain.
• Dilos realized the Phoenix Force could hide from soul vision inside the black cave and alter its host’s genes, while the mages’ golden seal restrained it.
• Dilos returned Jean to X-Mansion, explained that she was safe, and brought Cyclops and Ororo back before returning to Isla Sorna.
• Dilos reasoned that the Phoenix Force was strengthening Jean and Dark Phoenix so it could eventually take control and develop its full potential.
• Dilos recognized that he had clues about becoming a god, but decided he needed greater strength and more preparation first.

Dilos created an artificial sun and tested whether he could safely absorb its energy to improve his strength. After converting the energy into true essence and tempering his body, he began experimenting with using Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound during absorption.

• Dilos completed a five-meter artificial sun inside a specially made isolation container.
• Dilos opened the energy transmission port despite Dante warning him about the sun's dangerous energy.
• Dilos absorbed the solar energy and converted it into bioenergy, then into true essence to replenish and strengthen his body.
• Dilos realized that absorbing energy and tempering his body afterward was troublesome, and considered using Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound to temper himself while absorbing it.
• Dilos had Dante partially close the transmission port and began testing his idea with Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound.

Dilos discovered that combining his biological field, the Black King's energy absorption, and Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound allowed him to temper his body far faster than before. After days of cultivation, his strength and true essence force rose dramatically, and he continued strengthening his soul and flesh together.

• Dilos activated his biological field and the Black King's energy absorption, causing his biological energy and strength to surge as solar energy flooded into his cells.
• Dilos used Tiger-Leopard Thunder Sound and briefly expanded into a giant, balloon-like form, then stopped when he detected cell damage; his body healed and his cells grew stronger.
• Dilos adjusted the tempering intensity and trained for six hours, raising his normal one-arm strength from four thousand tons to six thousand tons.
• Dilos continued training for a day until his body could no longer use its stored energy for tempering, reaching ten thousand tons of one-arm strength and producing gaseous true essence force.
• Dilos spent another seven days tempering his body and strengthening his soul, raising his normal one-arm strength to one hundred thousand tons.

Dilos absorbed the energy of twenty thousand parasitic consciousnesses and used it to comprehensively strengthen his genes, greatly increasing his physical abilities and destructive power. He left the dark cavern unable to fix his transformation limits, but with his current bodily functions locked in place and his power approaching molecular-level attacks.

• Dilos found twenty thousand parasitic consciousnesses in the dark cavern, destroyed them with one punch, and absorbed the golden motes they became.
• Dilos spent two hours trying to make his transformations and superpowers work together, but only improved their effectiveness during Refined Gold Transformation to forty percent.
• Dilos used the remaining energy to strengthen his genes, raising his arm's normal strength output to four hundred thousand tons and improving his other physical abilities and powers.
• Dilos discovered that he could control cellular energy to produce attacks capable of damaging an opponent's genes, and he locked his balanced bodily functions in place with genetic locks.
• Dilos left the cavern and compared his growing abilities to Apocalypse's, then wondered whether the Phoenix Force could push his destructive power to the atomic or subatomic level.

Dilos reviewed the progress on his spaceship, artificial suns, and research before learning that Bruce and Betty had created a medicine that could treat many terminal illnesses. The chapter ended with the scientists naming their new medicine the Hope Solution.

• Dante told Dilos that the spaceship was over two-thirds complete and that six artificial suns would be finished in two days.
• Dante reported that the portal to parallel universes had been acquired, while the base's spatial-movement blocker could not yet stop abilities like Ancient One's.
• Dilos reviewed International Genetic Technologies' worsening finances and decided it was time to acquire the company.
• Bruce and Betty explained that their new solution had helped volunteers recover from many diseases without side effects.
• Dilos praised Bruce and Betty, and they named their medicine the Hope Solution.

Hope Solution became a popular, low-cost cure and earned Dilos enormous profits while improving public opinion of Mutants. Dilos then entered International Genetic Technologies, which was set to take the Sullivan name.

• Hope Solution spread across the United States and overseas after a month of verification, drawing widespread attention for its effectiveness, low price, and few side effects.
• Dilos kept business tycoons from raising prices, requiring them to sell each vial for no more than two thousand dollars outside the United States.
• Hope Solution sales brought Dilos a net income of one hundred and ten billion dollars in a month, while businesses, wealthy customers, and other organizations placed large orders.
• Businesses, military forces, governments, and S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to study Hope Solution, but its formula was too difficult to replicate without decades of research.
• Dilos's efforts to keep Hope Solution affordable improved public opinion of him and Mutants.
• Dilos entered International Genetic Technologies, which would henceforth bear the Sullivan name.

Dilos forced several media moguls to work for him, while Lex learned he had secured a Kansas Senate seat through Dilos’s deal with Uncle Sam. Lex told Dilos about his half-sister Lena Luthor and their growing bond, just as Lena entered the room.

• Dilos threatened media moguls into serving as his spies, and Lex warned that their treatment could draw attention from hidden enemies.
• Dilos told Lex that Uncle Sam had arranged for him to become a Kansas senator, and Lex explained his years of preparation and personal reform.
• Dilos suspected Lex’s changes were connected to a woman, and Lex admitted he had been cooking for his half-sister, Lena Luthor.
• Lex explained that he had found Lena in their father’s classified files, and that she had recently agreed to live with him and use the name Lena Luthor.
• Dilos praised Lex and raised a glass to their friendship, but Lena entered and stared at them in surprise.

Dilos met Lex's sister Lena, then returned to the Mutant Affairs Department and discussed recruiting the hacker Skye. He told Wanda about Skye's skills and past, leaving Wanda to decide whether she could pass the department's test.

• Lena excitedly recognized Dilos and overwhelmed him with questions, leaving Lex ignored and visibly upset.
• Dilos teased Lex about his single life, and Lex shoved him out of the castle.
• Dilos teleported to his office, where Wanda startled and attacked him before realizing who he was.
• Wanda warned Dilos that the department lacked staff and faced repeated attempts at infiltration, while he promised new equipment and a computer specialist.
• Dilos introduced Skye as a skilled hacker with a strong sense of justice, and Wanda agreed to consider her only if she passed a test.

Dilos and Wanda abducted Skye and brought her to the Mutant Affairs Department for questioning. Although they could tell she was telling the truth about never selling mutant information, Dilos accused her based on her connection to Miles and left her facing possible prison time.

• Dilos and Wanda used a spatial passage to reach Skye's van and transported her to an interrogation room.
• Dilos confronted Skye about hacking Sullivan Company's network, then reassured her that the intrusion had caused no harm.
• Dilos arrested Skye on suspicion of selling mutant information and threatened her with at least twenty years in prison if she could not prove her innocence.
• Skye denied selling mutant information, and Wanda sensed that she was telling the truth.
• Dilos cited Skye's relationship with Miles and said Miles had sold mutant information, arguing that Skye's past offenses gave him reason to doubt her.

Dilos exposed Miles for selling mutant information, prompting Skye to break up with him. He then offered Skye a job at the Mutant Affairs Department, including help finding her biological parents, and left her to consider the offer.

• Dilos brought the bound, sleeping Miles into the interrogation room and gave Skye documents showing evidence that he had sold mutant information.
• Skye confronted Miles with the evidence and broke up with him after he admitted his guilt through his reaction.
• Dilos and Wanda watched the confrontation, and Dilos explained that he had wanted to recruit Skye for her hacking abilities.
• Dilos fitted Miles with a surveillance bracelet that prevented him from illegally hacking electronic facilities.
• Dilos told Skye she would face no legal responsibility but would need to wear a surveillance bracelet because of her record.
• Dilos offered Skye a job with the Mutant Affairs Department and promised to help find her biological parents.

Dilos dealt with the Hydra-linked researchers and treated two people altered by their experiments, retaining and enhancing Mike Peterson’s abilities so he could join the Mutant Affairs Department. After discovering that several factions had combined his technology with the Extremis Virus and other dangerous substances, Dilos extracted the virus for his own research and decided to let AIM survive a little longer.

• Wanda and Pietro captured the people who had bought Miles’s intelligence, and Dilos ordered Wanda to hand most of them to S.H.I.E.L.D. while keeping Skye’s father’s identity secret.
• Dilos killed the woman in the floral qipao and ordered Wanda to heal the Chinese fire-based mutant with Hope Solution, then secretly remove his powers with Leech Solution.
• Dilos treated two altered humans; one returned home healthy, while Mike Peterson asked to join the Mutant Affairs Department and Dilos retained and improved his abilities.
• Dilos told Peterson that his abilities would develop over the next month and warned him against joining A.I.M., S.H.I.E.L.D., or the military because their experiments had left dangerous substances in his body.
• Dilos completed Peterson’s surgery, extracted some Extremis Virus for research, and resolved to let A.I.M. live a while longer.

Tony Stark struggled with palladium poisoning caused by his Iron Man armor, and JARVIS urged him to seek Dilos Sullivan’s help. Dilos arrived with an advanced Arc Reactor that might cure Tony, and Tony was left deciding whether to test it.

• JARVIS told Tony that the Hope Solution had reduced his blood toxicity but only treated the symptoms, while Tony admitted he had found no replacement element for palladium.
• JARVIS recommended that Tony contact Dilos, and Tony reluctantly agreed to visit him before learning that Dilos had arrived at the mansion.
• Tony greeted Dilos and learned that Dilos already knew about his poisoning and that the Hope Solution could not fix its cause.
• Dilos produced a modified Arc Reactor and offered to test it as a possible cure for Tony’s palladium problem.

Dilos explained that he had created and improved a new element for Tony’s Arc Reactor, eliminating Tony’s palladium poisoning and providing a stable power source. Before leaving Stark Mansion, Dilos urged Tony to help change the world and invited him to meet on Isla Nublar, leaving Tony to ponder his words.

• Tony examined the new element and asked Dilos how he had made it, learning that Dilos had recreated and improved it after seeing it once.
• Tony asked Dilos why he kept helping him, and Dilos said he supported people who shared his goal of making the world better.
• Dilos told Tony that changing the world required reforming its culture, laws, and beliefs rather than only responding to its problems.
• Dilos invited Tony to find him on Isla Nublar and left technical documents for an improved Arc Reactor before departing Stark Mansion.
• Tony remained behind, frowning as he thought over Dilos’s words.