A Beating Helps You Grow

"What's wrong? Why aren't you moving? Are you letting me go first in the second round? I told you not to be so modest. If I make the first move, you might not get another chance at all."

Russell spoke with boundless arrogance. Of course, he knew there would be no second round. He said it only to deepen their negative emotions.

An instant defeat would not bring despair. Instead, it would leave them unconvinced and ignite a deeper fighting spirit, because they had not seen the gap between them.

Only after they had struggled and given it their all, only to discover that whether they fought or not made no difference to the outcome, would they truly despair!

The plan had worked perfectly. The X-Men had already lost their will to fight.

Of the seven, Pietro and Hank had fallen unconscious; Alex and Jean had exhausted too much stamina and could not form any combat strength for the time being; Nightcrawler Wagner was barely clothed, his face dazed from the terror of the blade, desperately in need of psychological counseling.

Only Charles and Raven were relatively unharmed, but in close combat, neither could beat one of Russell's hands, while at range, they could not break through his electromagnetic defenses. It had been a total rout.

"There won't be a second round. We lost!"

Charles looked at Erik with a bitter smile. He finally understood why his best friend had willingly fallen so low. The vast difference in strength had forced him to cast aside his dignity and humble himself to protect his family.

For his family, Erik had had no choice but to submit to that dead bald man. Charles would have done the same. For his students' safety, he was willing to make the same choice.

He was