From Today On, Only I May Stand Above

Cairo!

Inside the giant pyramid, a reincarnation ceremony is underway. As a metal hexahedron rises into the air, golden lines begin to flow through every corner of the room.

Apocalypse and Charles lay side by side on the slate bed, but not on the same one.

As a villainous boss who considers himself a god, Apocalypse is very competent in abstaining from men and women. He kills a perfect woman like Mystique without hesitation, which is similar to Russell, who is also not interested in men.

Golden lines spread to the stone bed beneath Charles, and the nameless substance carrying the spiritual power of the Apocalypse began its all-encompassing invasion.

It failed!

Apocalypse tried twice, but failed to erase Charles's mental will. The strange situation puzzled him greatly.

While both Apocalypse and Charles are Mind Stone, their abilities differ greatly. Charles can read other people's thoughts and remotely control their minds, while Apocalypse focuses on the invasion and defense of minds.

In attack mode, Apocalypse is invincible in one-on-one combat, but in group battles, Charles leaves Star Destroyers far behind.

This time, he also lost in the one-on-one fight!

Apocalypse was shocked. After several checks, it finally found the reason for the failed intrusion.

Within Charles's mind resides another powerful spiritual energy, identical in nature to Charles's, but far surpassing Charles in both quality and quantity.

What surprised Apocalypse the most was that this spiritual energy could perfectly merge with Charles, and even when they were mixed together, they could be completely indistinguishable.

Each time Apocalypse reincarnates, it is split into two streams because its mind cannot be directed and confirmed, ultimately preventing it from taking over Charles's body.

"That's interesting!"

Apocalypse was very curious about who the owner of this power was. His reincarnation ritual had never failed, and judging from the other party's performance, it seemed that they had specifically studied his abilities before making targeted arrangements.

Mind Stone intrusion occurred, Apocalypse explored along the mental connections, discovering countless transparent humanoid figures of light and shadow within a pitch-black world of aggregated mental entities.

The opponent dispersed its spiritual energy into hundreds of millions of parts, making it impossible for him to locate it, and the search operation failed once again.

Apocalypse opened his eyes with a cold face and added the mysterious man to his kill list. He had gone through tens of thousands of years to evolve from a human to a god by means of the ability of reincarnation. Now that this ability had been restrained, he could not rest easy until he killed the mysterious man.

Apocalypse is overthinking it. Professor X can't control his abilities; he was able to save Charles because they are the same person. Apocalypse will choose another Mutants to reincarnate with, and even with Professor X's extensive experience, he won't be able to withstand his overwhelming power.

Even though the reincarnation failed, Apocalypse was not in a hurry. At least on the surface, he remained calm and composed, sitting on his throne with his eyes closed, resting.

Apocalypse was waiting for Russell; he wanted to defeat Russell in front of the whole world and declare to the world that he was the only God. To this end, during the construction of the pyramids, he specifically left behind Cairo Television for live broadcasts.

The initial live broadcasts, like the nuclear launch, utilized Charles's abilities to control the signal operators of all the television stations. After that, it was no longer necessary; local television stations spontaneously contacted Cairo, requesting live rebroadcasts.

Price is negotiable!

Advertising space on Cairo TV was suddenly sold for exorbitant prices.

Is it really appropriate to be advertising during the apocalypse?

Don't ask, the answer is simple: I need to make a living!

The end of the world is still several hours away... Besides, what if it doesn't end?

With a global live stream, this advertising campaign is a guaranteed money-maker!

The Cairo TV station director hesitated for 0.01 seconds, then accepted all the offers. He knew the money was bad, but it was tempting!

The whole world is paying attention to Russell, who has been repeatedly mentioned by Apocalypse. Apocalypse calls himself a god and refers to Russell as an "Old Gods," which makes people speculate about their relationship.

Online, there have been more than a dozen versions of speculation about Russell's identity.

After a thorough online search revealed no such person and it was confirmed that Russell had never left any record on Earth, netizens around the world went wild, with the story circulating a hundredfold. Experts from all walks of life joined forces to bestow one halos upon Russell's head after another.

Although their identities vary, they all basically mean the same thing: this guy is not human!

It's God!

The whole operation was as fierce as a tiger, but the ending was exactly the same as the beginning. However, the audience still loved watching it and even thought that what the experts said made a lot of sense.

Apocalypse saw this and laughed to himself. This was the result he wanted: to forcefully kill Russell in front of the whole world, shatter the illusions of believers, and establish his supreme Divine Authority and power in one fell swoop.

Apocalypse never even considered the possibility of shooting himself in the foot. He had fought Russell once before, and Russell's strength was nothing special; he could be killed with a single slap.

How do you lose a game where you're completely dominating?

"From this day forward, only I can stand in the heavens!"

Apocalypse even prepared his post-victory lines, and the lights and cameras were all in place. Everything was ready except for the second male lead.

Ten minutes later, Apocalypse slowly opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the layers of void, sensing Russell's location.

"Old Gods, you have not disappointed me..." Apocalypse said, slowly rising from his throne. A purple light enveloped him, and he began to Teleportation.

"You three, keep an eye on Charles, don't let anyone take him away," Apocalypse instructed before leaving.

"My master, please rest assured!"

Three figures knelt on one knee to see Apocalypse off. They were the three knights Apocalypse had recently recruited. They might not be as outstanding as Storm Ororo in terms of potential, but they were all top-notch fighters in actual combat.

In the skies above Egypt, aircraft sped through the airspace blockades of various countries, and Russell and his entourage were among them.

Because Beast Hank got a good beating from Russell, and the Blackheart guy didn't even offer to cast a spell of healing, Hank, despite quickly modifying his aircraft, missed the battle due to his injuries.

This is a good thing. With Hank absent, Russell, Ace Driver as the Russell pilot, easily broke through the high-altitude blockade.

Apocalypse's arrogant and domineering behavior angered several Superpowers. Although they did not put aside their past grievances and join forces, they maintained a tacit understanding in private and launched a massive army march into Cairo to besiege it.

Egypt: Brothers, this... isn't appropriate?

Five-man group: Get lost!

For example, when the aircraft leaps over the blockade line, the X-Men can see countless tiny dots moving on the ground, including tanks, missiles, cannons, and so on, in all sorts of numbers, creating the impression of a joint military exercise.

That's all you can see. In places you can't see, like the Mediterranean Sea, who knows how many iron turtles are lurking in the water.

On the plane, Russell hummed a tune and chatted with Deadpool. Apart from these two heartless guys, everyone else looked like they were going to their deaths.

"Mr. Russell, what is your battle plan?" Mystique asked. With Professor X absent, she was the temporary team leader.

"I'll fight Apocalypse one-on-one, Nightcrawler will use Teleportation to take the others to the pyramids and rescue Charles," Russell said. He'd even come up with a name for the plan: Saving the Great... Saving Charles's Follicles.

"Isn't this too simplistic, like playing around?"

"Simplicity is key to success; the more complex something is, the more prone it is to errors." Russell shrugged. Plans are subject to change, so it doesn't really matter whether you have them or not.

"No, you misunderstood. What I meant was, don't you need to leave two people to help you deal with Apocalypse?"

"I appreciate your kindness, but while I can offer my support in spirit, you absolutely cannot leave anyone behind. The score between me and Apocalypse was already 50/50, but with you guys involved, it immediately becomes 20/80, and I'm... uh, Apocalypse is 80!"

"..."

Raven's face darkened after hearing this. Feeling awkward, she simply stopped talking. Professor X had chosen to believe Russell again, so she would just follow suit.

The aircraft drew closer to Cairo, soaring over several pyramids high in the sky. The Apocalypse's lair shone brightly in the setting sun.

Just then, at the foot of the pyramid, a small blue dot rapidly enlarged. Apocalypse manipulated its own molecules, growing into a towering blue giant.

Deadpool covered his face and exclaimed repeatedly, "Russell, look! That guy can actually grow bigger!"

Aren't you the same?

"That's true."

Upon hearing this, Deadpool immediately lost interest. It's just about growing to a gigantic size; who doesn't do that?

"Nightcrawler, take everyone and teleport into the pyramid." Russell said calmly, "Raven, be careful, watch out for Apocalypse's Four Horsemen. Apocalypse calls himself a god, and he is always accompanied by the Four Horsemen whenever he appears."

"I see!"

Russell added, "By the way, there's one thing we must be careful about: I suspect there are actually five Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Don't let the last one trick you."

"..."

Confused and worried about getting too close and being infected by the "Silly Bird Virus," Raven quickly placed her hand on Nightcrawler's shoulder and disappeared into the cabin.

And so, one by one, the superheroes and Silly Bird on the plane disappeared, until only Russell remained.

With no more constraints around him, Russell could finally act recklessly. He suddenly increased the engine speed and piloted the aircraft, crashing headlong into Apocalypse's massive face.

Boom!!!

The spacecraft crashed into the field defense shield and exploded in mid-air a thousand meters away from Apocalypse. This scene was witnessed by thousands of households in front of their televisions, and everyone was immediately stunned.

How should we evaluate this suicidal behavior? Is it bravery or Silly Bird?

Three seconds later, these dumbfounded people rubbed their eyes in disbelief, standing there frozen like statues.

Within the exploding fireball, a pair of holy Wings of Light extended, rapidly expanding to an exaggerated degree that blotted out the sky.

A figure with its back to the setting sun grows larger along with the Wings of Light, like a newborn sun, its radiance shining between heaven and earth.

The giant was slightly shorter than Apocalypse, but that wasn't the point. The point was that the Wings of Light on its back stirred up a whirlwind, allowing it to float slowly in the sky without its feet touching the ground.

The blazing white light swept away the last rays of the setting sun, and the giant's entire body shone with light. His arms and face were so blurred by the intense light that only an outline could be seen.

"My God!"

The world fell silent, finally understanding the meaning of the Old Gods spoken of by Apocalypse.