Roosevelt Island Bridge.
It was another peaceful night. The distant city lights flickered, traffic flowed steadily beneath the night sky, and everything was as ordinary and reassuring as it had been for thousands of nights before.
"Look! What's that?"
Someone screamed. On one side of the bridge's center, the air suddenly split open into a purple void. Then, a group of strange people emerged from it.
Most of them looked like teenagers. Several wore bizarre yellow-and-black uniforms and looked exceptionally disheveled, staggering about as soon as they landed as though they had just run a marathon.
"...Mutants?"
Some passersby noticed the unusual appearances of several people among them, realized something, and instinctively pulled out their phones to call the police.
But before they could get any closer, the air in front of them shattered as well!
Another purple spatial rift appeared out of nowhere before the strange group. It did not resemble fire, yet it gave off an eerie glow, as though space itself had been sliced open into a wound flowing with nightmares.
"Hiss—!!"
Cars hurriedly slammed on their brakes at the sight, not daring to approach.
"Beep, beep, beep..."
The cars behind could not see what was happening ahead and frantically laid on their horns. Within seconds, traffic on the bridge had become completely jammed, while screams and curses rang out without end.
Yet at the center of the chaos, the area around the spatial rift was eerily silent.
A tall gray figure stepped out of the portal. The instant he appeared, the oppressive force of his terrifying telekinesis seemed to freeze the air across the entire bridge. Whoever saw him felt instinctive terror and awe rise from the depths of their soul.
Behind him came a masked woman in uniform, followed by a series of arrogant Mutant warriors...
Finally, a vast Chimera Legion with grotesque faces began pouring endlessly from the portal and onto the bridge!
"Oh my God! What are those things?!"
"Run! Back up!"
Panic spread like a plague.
The screech of brakes, frantic horns, and terrified screams instantly replaced everything from before. The orderly stream of traffic had turned into an impenetrable wall of vehicles. Cars collided and scraped against each other as drivers wildly spun their steering wheels, only to find there was nowhere left to retreat.
The panicked crowd scattered in every direction, instinctively fleeing for their lives and leaving behind an open, wreck-strewn battlefield for the coming fight.
Meanwhile, at ATHENA headquarters.
The shrill alarm echoed throughout the entire building from the command room.
"Warning! Warning! Target detected! Location: Roosevelt Island Bridge!"
Ms. Ritts stared intently at the warning message on the large screen and slowly smiled.
"You finally came, Obadiah..."
"Madeleine, what's wrong?"
At the center of the battlefield, Miles noticed something was wrong with Madeleine and grabbed her arm.
"Miles..." Madeleine's voice was hoarse and pained. "I don't know... I... I can hear a voice in my heart telling me that person is my enemy. I... have to kill him..."
"Enemy?" Miles instinctively looked toward "Obadiah Apocalypse," then froze when he noticed the "♠" symbol on the other man's forehead.
What was that?
"Ah!!"
Before Miles could look away, golden-red flames erupted from Madeleine's body in the next instant, violently throwing him aside!
Then, the raging Phoenix Force lifted her up. Like a burning meteor, Madeleine charged fearlessly toward Obadiah!
She needed no reason. The moment she saw Obadiah, Madeleine understood... he was the person she had to kill!
This was her mission!
"Aurora, where are you?!" Miles shouted desperately into the X Terminal as he watched Madeleine's retreating figure.
"We're in the Rocky Mountains of Montana..."
Montana?
Miles gritted his teeth. Montana was in the northwestern United States, while New York, where they were now, was on the eastern coast! Even at the Blackbird's speed, that distance could take an hour to fly!
"Why did you go so far away? Is Charles there?!"
Almost as soon as Miles finished speaking, Charles's familiar yet weary voice sounded in his mind. "Miles, it's good that you're all right... Wait, Apocalypse is over there too?!"
As the world's most powerful telepath, Charles's Telepathy range was terrifyingly vast. At full power, even without Cerebro, he could cover more than half of the United States!
"That's right! We need help!" Miles hurriedly said.
"Sorry... we need a little more time here. Logan and the others are carrying out a special mission."
"What mission?"
"Rescuing Erik."
Miles froze for a moment.
"Eliminate them."
On the ground, Ms. Reyes's cold voice came through her tactical mask without a trace of emotion.
She waved an arm, and the Chimera Legion behind her, fused with various Mutant abilities, surged forward like a tide and charged Miles and the others!
"Fight!"
Warpath Prosta let out a deep battle roar. His massive body was like a moving fortress as he became the first to meet the torrent of enemies. His arm muscles bulged as he grabbed a charging Collision Chimera and roared, hurling it aside!
"Watch over my body!" Wraith Charlotte retreated a few steps, shouted, then left her body in spirit form and entered a Night Demon. The Night Demon's previously muddled eyes suddenly became clear. In a flash, he appeared beside Warpath Prosta and slashed the fallen Collision Chimera's throat with his claws!
"Hm?"
Prosta instinctively threw a punch at the Night Demon. The Night Demon under Charlotte's control hurriedly explained, "Wait, don't attack! We're allies! Allies!"
"...All right." Prosta nodded. Though he did not quite understand the ability, having someone to help was always good.
"Ugh..." At the same time, Moonstar Dani, who was casting a Mind Illusion, suddenly felt a sharp pain in her head. Only then did she realize that someone had launched a Psychic Invasion against her!
Before her, the clone White Queen slowly approached with a smile and drew a long blade.
But after taking only a few steps, Cannonball Sam slammed into her head-on!
"Crack, crack..." The clone White Queen could only crystallize herself for defense. She blocked Sam's impact and staggered back several steps, releasing her Psychic Invasion against Dani at the same time. Yet in the next moment, a sweeping vine suddenly wrapped around her ankle.
"Get over here!" Rebecca yanked the vine with one hand and violently pulled the clone White Queen to the ground!
"Roberto!" Miles shouted.
"You didn't need to tell me!"
As he spoke, Sunspot Roberto Costa, his entire body blackened, unleashed a torrent of thermal energy that swallowed the clone White Queen amid a scream!
Diamond was not particularly heat-resistant.
Having just dealt with a troublesome enemy, Miles hurried to Clarice's side and anxiously asked, "Clarice, can you open a portal to Montana?"
"No!" Clarice shook her head nervously. "I can only travel to places I've seen!"
"Places she's seen..." Miles's expression changed as another possibility suddenly came to mind!
He immediately contacted Charles remotely through Telepathy again. "Charles, can you hear me? I need your help!"
"There's a very special Mutant here named Clarice. She can open portals to different locations, but she needs to have personally seen the destination..."
High in the sky, the battle between Madeleine and Obadiah had already erupted!
Golden-red Phoenix flames scorched the heavens, and heat waves distorted the air. Even the bridge's steel groaned in agony. Every wave of Madeleine's hand sent a torrent of energy capable of melting a city roaring toward Obadiah.
Facing Madeleine's attack again, Obadiah seemed far calmer than before. He raised a Telekinetic Barrier with one hand, and as purple light flashed around him, his invisible telekinesis gradually solidified into a purple Psionic Barrier!
This was the ability of the Mutant Psylocke—condensing psychic power into Psionic Weapons!
Obadiah held up a Psionic Shield with one hand, allowing it to melt beneath the waterfall-like onslaught of Phoenix flames. Then he suddenly reached out and grabbed at empty air with his other hand!
The air seemed to tighten in his grasp. Invisible telekinesis instantly gathered, compressed, and took shape, becoming a Psionic spear formed from blue-purple psychic power!
He hurled it with all his might. The spear tore through the air, tracing a vicious arc as it shot precisely toward Madeleine's heart from the side!
"Argh!"
Madeleine instinctively gathered a mass of crimson flame in her hand and smashed the energy spear apart!
But Obadiah used the opportunity to tear open a portal before him. He stepped through and appeared in front of Madeleine, then reached for her throat!
Facing Obadiah's attack, Madeleine, controlled by the Phoenix Force and fighting purely on instinct, had no time to react before Obadiah seized her by the throat!
"Urgh!"
She let out a low roar as the Phoenix Force exploded from within her. Crimson flames formed a gigantic firebird that instantly engulfed Obadiah at point-blank range!
Yet although Obadiah still showed pain this time, he did not lose his ability to move!
The Phoenix Force was doing less damage to him!
By fusing Madeleine's genes, Obadiah had not directly gained the same Phoenix Force, but he had indeed increased his resistance to it!
Madeleine, still ruled by instinct, did not understand what had happened before Obadiah grabbed her throat again!
Then, Obadiah's battered figure formed another Psionic blade from thin air with his other hand. Without the slightest hesitation, he drove it into Madeleine's abdomen!
Squelch!
Madeleine's entire body shuddered violently.
Agonizing pain surged through her body like an electric current, making her mouth fall open stiffly.
Her blood-red eyes, burning with flames, abruptly contracted at that moment, finally recovering a trace of clarity.
What... happened to me?
Thud, thud, thud...
Heavy footsteps blended together as even more Chimeras emerged from the enormous portal, seeming endless. Before long, this section of Roosevelt Island Bridge was nearly packed solid with those monsters!
Warpath Prosta was besieged by several Chimera Mutants. He had just knocked down one Night Demon when a suddenly appearing Stalker caught both his arms!
"Ugh!" He let out a pained growl. Even as his strength was drained away, he used all his power to fling the Stalker aside. But before he could catch his breath, a massive shadow fell over him.
Beneath that familiar metal helmet was merciless killing intent.
Two enormous fists struck Prosta squarely in the face without any flourish!
Boom!
Prosta's vision went dark. He flew away like a cannonball and slammed heavily into the bridge's steel framework with a teeth-grinding thud.
"Roaaar!"
At that moment, a roar rang out. The Collision Chimera controlled by Charlotte crashed fiercely into Juggernaut, finally knocking the giant back a few steps and buying Prosta a brief chance to recover.
"Damn it..."
The Collision Chimera controlled by Charlotte growled, braced his hands against Juggernaut's, and the two colossal figures instantly fell into a contest of strength. The bridge deck trembled faintly beneath their feet.
But in the next instant, sharp whistling split the air!
Two Barrage Chimeras attacked at once. Countless bone spikes flew over like a torrential rain, striking Collision's back and exploding one after another!
Boom! Boom! Boom...
"Urgh!!"
On the other side of the battlefield, Charlotte, who had been lying motionless on the ground, suddenly opened her eyes and curled up in agony.
When his spirit consciousness suffered a fatal injury, it instinctively returned to his body. That meant... in that instant, he had truly died once!
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
At the same time, Sunspot Roberto flew through the air, exchanging fire with a Seraph. But just as he gained the upper hand, he was struck by laser beams from several other Seraphs, screamed, and fell from the sky.
"Stop... right now!!"
Ivy Rebecca spread her hands, the veins on her forehead bulging!
Several vines shot out together, wrapping around the feet of several charging Chimera Mutants and tripping them to the ground.
However... as they fell, even more Chimera Mutants charged over their bodies!
There were too many!
"Mr. Miles..." Joshua withdrew his hands from Miles's body. In the brief time just now, he had done everything he could to restore Miles's condition. But as a telepath, mental exhaustion was ultimately not so easy to compensate for.
But it was all right... this was far from Miles's first time experiencing this feeling!
As the torrent of more than a hundred Chimera Mutants rapidly closed in, Miles pressed a finger against his temple and forced out a cold smile.
In the next instant, invisible will erupted explosively from him!
Mind Control!
Free from the suppression of the Psychic Shielding Zone, Miles's psychic power surged like a burst dam and instantly enveloped the entire battlefield! More than fifty Chimera Mutants stiffened abruptly, then roared as they turned their claws and fangs toward their own kind!
"Roar!!"
The battered Warpath Prosta had just been lifted by a Chimera Collision and was about to be thrown away when, in the next moment, he was gently placed back on the ground.
Then, that Collision turned its head and pounced on its nearby comrades!
In that instant, the entire battlefield seemed to have been paused, only to resume in a far more chaotic and bloody manner!
The charging formation instantly collapsed, and a savage spectacle of mutual slaughter began!
"Damn it!"
Not far away, Reyes's expression changed as she had just trapped several Mutants, including Gideon, inside a force-field shield!
In the next moment, a clone Wolverine charged toward her, extending alloy claws from his hands and forcing her back!
"So powerful..." Dani felt Miles's psychic power enveloping the battlefield. She could sense that although there was not much difference between her psychic strength and Miles's, their wills were separated by a gulf as vast as heaven and earth!
At the same time, controlling so many targets for the first time brought a violent mental impact that instantly bloodshot Miles's eyes. His head hurt as though it were about to explode!
It's really... been a while since it hurt this much...
That old bald guy could control tens of thousands of people or even more all by himself... How did he do it?!
"Roar!!"
As the situation remained deadlocked, the rampaging clone Juggernaut Chimera terrifyingly broke through the line!
It endured the siege of three controlled Chimera Mutants head-on. Like an out-of-control heavy truck, it smashed them so hard their bones shattered, then stomped the head of one of its own kind beneath its feet before charging unstoppably toward Miles! The asphalt beneath it cracked inch by inch, and every step shook the entire bridge deck!
Not good!
Miles, distracted under the intense mental strain, had only just regained his senses when he realized Juggernaut had already reached him!
At that critical moment, a purple ring of light opened from thin air before Juggernaut.
It was a portal with energy sparks flickering around its edges!
The Juggernaut clone's simple mind could not comprehend such an absurd scene, much less stop his berserk charge. He plunged headfirst into it, and his massive body vanished in an instant.
At the same time, an identical ring of light flashed a hundred meters above the bridge. Juggernaut's figure tumbled out of it and, roaring unwillingly, fell straight toward the East River below like a meteor!
Splash!!
With a tremendous crash, the river's surface exploded in a spray of water.
"Mr. Miles, are you all right?" Clarice asked as she closed the portal. "You look terrible!"
"It's nothing. Thanks." Miles held his head and shook it. "Don't worry about me. This is how we've always fought."
"Also, I have a plan. I need your help..."
Boom—!!!
Just as Miles finished speaking, a horrifying explosion powerful enough to rupture eardrums erupted directly above the bridge!
Everyone looked up in unison.
That was Obadiah and Madeleine's battlefield. Now... the residual energy was rapidly dissipating, and the blinding flames had already faded.
The victor had been decided.
Madeleine's figure fell helplessly from the billowing smoke.
"Madeleine!!!"
Miles's eyes widened. Ignoring everything else, he rushed to the edge of the bridge and leaped over it!
The wind howled past his ears as he plummeted faster than ever before, tightly catching the girl in midair. Her entire body was scorching hot, and her life force was rapidly fading.
"Miles... I'm sorry..." Blood spilled from Madeleine's mouth, and her expression was wan. "I lost..."
"Don't... don't die..."
The two clung to each other as they fell rapidly toward the frigid East River like kites with severed strings.
Just as the river surface loomed before them, a violet ring of light appeared out of nowhere beneath them!
A portal!
Their powerful momentum hurled them out of the portal and back onto the bridge, where Prosta, already waiting there, caught them in one sweep of his arm. Even he could not help taking two steps back from the immense force.
"Miss Madeleine!"
Joshua hurried forward, pressed his hand against Madeleine's wound, and began healing her injuries.
"No... the Phoenix Force has become even more terrifying!!" Joshua said in horror as he treated Madeleine. "At this rate, she won't live much longer!"
"...Has it already reached this point?"
Miles gritted his teeth. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Obadiah drop down not far away. His flesh and blood had melted away until almost nothing but a skeleton remained, and he descended with a terrifying aura as immense as a mountain!
Thud!
With a dull impact, the bridge deck nearby sank, and spiderweb cracks spread outward.
As the "♠" mark on Obadiah's forehead gradually faded away, his terrifying regenerative ability took effect once more. The wounds inflicted when the Phoenix Force had annihilated him slowly began to heal. It was visibly much faster than before, and a scarlet glow even flickered faintly amid his regenerating flesh.
This feeling...
Miles carefully sensed Obadiah's mental presence and suddenly thought of a possibility!
"He fused with... Madeleine's genes..."
As the wielder of the Apocalypse Body, Obadiah's most terrifying trait was not merely his strength, but his potential to continuously enhance himself through the genes of other Mutants!
The Phoenix Force itself was not a Mutant ability and could not be gained through genetic fusion. Yet Obadiah could obtain some degree of Phoenix Force compatibility by fusing with Madeleine's genes!
Even a tiny fraction was enough to bring about a qualitative transformation!
And Madeleine's Phoenix Force was still far from mature. With one side rising as the other declined, the outcome had already been rewritten.
This time... not even the Phoenix Force could defeat him.
Buzz—!!
The instant Obadiah appeared, an overwhelmingly powerful psychic force, far beyond Miles's own, swept across the entire battlefield!
"Urgh!"
Miles groaned, feeling as if his brain had been struck by a massive hammer. The intense pain he had temporarily suppressed in his agitation erupted with even greater ferocity, and blood gushed from his nose again.
The more than fifty Chimera Mutants under his control, who had been fighting among themselves, all froze at the same moment.
They stiffly stopped tearing at one another. Then, more than a hundred heads instinctively turned toward Obadiah.
As though soldiers were offering their loyalty to their king.
Despair.
Prosta, who had just been healed by Joshua, instinctively halted his charge.
"Sunspot" Roberto lay on the ground, watching that dreadful figure slowly approach. The hands braced against the pavement could not stop trembling.
"Damn it... damn it..."
Charlotte's teeth chattered as she desperately tried to leave her body again, but under Obadiah's terrifying mental pressure, she simply could not do it!
"Is there really no way left..."
Miles swallowed hard and forced himself back to his feet.
His fingers slowly pressed against his temple as he prepared to forcibly invade "Obadiah Apocalypse" with his psychic power for one final gamble!
But at that moment, Charles's voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
"Miles, we found Erik!"
"Are you ready?"
"..." Miles froze.
In that instant, the despair on his face transformed into wild joy!
"They're finally here!"
As he spoke, Miles's psychic power instantly connected to the mind of "Blink" Clarice!
"Clarice, are you ready?"
"...No problem!"
Clarice looked at "Obadiah Apocalypse" slowly approaching from nearby, took a deep breath, and stretched out her trembling hand.
The next moment, an unfamiliar scene appeared in Clarice's mind. It was the Rocky Mountains in Montana, on the other side of the United States...
It was not a still image, but a complete, flowing psychic sensation filled with sound and texture!
She could "see" the wind whistling through abandoned metal, could "smell" the stale scent of rust in the air. The sky, the earth, the wild grass—every sensation felt as though she were experiencing it herself!
This was Miles's plan. Through the remote psychic link between himself and Charles, Charles's terrifyingly wide-ranging psychic power, combined with Miles's identical abilities acting as a "psychic relay," would receive the "mental sensation" Charles transmitted through Telepathy, then directly project it into Clarice's mind through Mind Control!
From the perspective of "Blink" Clarice, at this moment, it was as though she truly stood upon the ground of the Rocky Mountains in Montana!
Before her, several unfamiliar figures were also looking at her. Then... the tall figure nearest to her, wearing a metal helmet, gave her a gentle nod.
It has to work...
It has to work!!!
"Right... here!!"
Clarice's gaze sharpened. Then she clenched her teeth and tore her hands forward with all her strength.
A violet fissure appeared out of thin air in the center of the battlefield!
It was no longer the small, stable portal from before, but an enormous, wildly irregular breach with edges crazily flickering with Electro! Violent spatial energy surged from it, forming a visible hurricane that sent the surrounding Chimera soldiers reeling in every direction!
The battlefield fell into silence once again.
Everyone stopped what they were doing. Whether X-Men or Chimera Legion, they all instinctively looked toward the enormous violet gate radiating an ominous aura.
On the other side of the gate, several figures slowly emerged.
"Obadiah Apocalypse" narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the suddenly appearing enemy reinforcements. His gaze eventually settled on the two people walking at the front.
Professor X, Charles Xavier.
Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr.
Before you continue