Sanctimonious Hypocrites

Scott glared at Kino with an unfriendly expression. Although his arm had been broken, his pride would not allow him to admit defeat. If the academy's safety had not been at stake, he definitely would have fired another blast of optic beams.

Kino had no time to care about his pride. He grabbed Scott's broken arm directly, and white Phoenix Flame surged over it—

Wrapped in the flames, the bones, flesh, and Meridians of the severed arm began regenerating at a rapid pace.

Everyone aboard the ship was dumbfounded!

Scott included.

Of course, he was currently both in pain and ecstatic.

He was "ecstatic" because he would not have to become a one-armed hero. Though the severed arm could have been reattached, it certainly would not have been as nimble as before. Fortunately, he was not a Mutant who relied on his hands, or he would have been crippled.

He was in "pain" because—this was fucking unbearable!

Blood vessels, nerves, Meridians, bones, flesh, and skin were rapidly growing back bit by bit. That torment was no less agonizing than being sliced apart a thousand times.

Kino heard the sound of teeth cracking and thought to himself that Cyclops was a real man. He had crushed his teeth from clenching them, yet he had not cried out in pain.

A moment later, a fresh, living arm had grown back.

Scott had long since slumped weakly against a tree, drenched in sweat.

"Well then... I'll be taking my leave first."

Kino pulled Maria Hill and Rogue over, then opened a Portal. Before leaving, he turned back to glance at Phoenix Jean.

"My earlier offer still stands. If you've made up your mind, you're welcome to come find me anytime."

Then he left, leaving Nick Fury alone to blink stupidly.

Fuck, he had been left behind... left behind... behind... ind...

Cyclops had not heard what Kino said before leaving. He merely stared blankly at the bloody severed arm beside him.

Uh?

His arm had grown back, so what was he supposed to do with this severed one?

If it had not grown back, it could still have been saved. But now?

Bury it? Burn it? Or deep-fry it and eat it?

Uh, no matter what, it all felt incredibly wrong!

Whose arm was that on the ground?

Looking at his new arm, he somehow felt that the one on the ground was not his. Emmmm...

Wolverine Logan had already awakened. His healing factor was extremely strong. Although his internal organs had not fully healed, they were much better already. Seeing Cyclops agonizing over the matter, he walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Buddy, why not roast it and eat it? It was part of your body, after all! I heard that some people take their foreskins home after getting circumcised, and then..."

Then he merely shrugged.

Cyclops angrily shook off Wolverine's hand, walked over, picked up his "severed arm," and prepared to bury it in the backyard.

Eat it? He could not bring himself to do that!

Perhaps because he had learned the answer that had troubled him for so long, Wolverine was in an excellent mood and did not care at all that Kino had injured him. Getting hurt had long become routine for him anyway. As long as he did not turn into a loot box upon landing, he would not die!

"Hey, Cyclops, remember to carve 'Scott's Severed Arm's Grave' on the tombstone! Hahahaha!"

Scott furiously turned around and fired a blast of optic beams.

"Oh, shit!" Luckily, Wolverine dodged quickly.

Nick Fury's face darkened further. That bastard Kino had actually left him behind?

I came here to clean up your mess!

What the fuck!

"Professor Charles, the repair expenses will be transferred over later."

"No need!"

Nick Fury did not insist. That would save him a huge sum of money, and he did not want to clean up Kino's mess for real.

"Fine! Contact me anytime if you need anything!"

With that, he started the car and drove away.

Honestly, facing these Mutants alone did make him a little uneasy, though he knew perfectly well that Professor X would not do anything to him.

"Jean! Jean—"

"..." Jean Grey had been staring blankly at the empty spot in the courtyard. Hearing someone call her, she quickly composed herself. "Professor? What is it?"

"Are you all right?" Professor X asked with concern.

"No, it's nothing. I... I'm going to check on Scott." With that, Jean hurried away.

Her heart was in turmoil!

She did not know why, but ever since Kino had appeared, her gaze had remained fixed on him without leaving him for even a moment. It was a strange feeling. Kino carried an oddly familiar aura, almost as though he were family.

Though she desperately wanted to deny it, perhaps because of that confused illusion, she had been drawn to Kino!

But that feeling was truly awful!

Watching Jean's departing back, Professor X gradually frowned. "..."

--

The spatial portal did not resemble the orange "cutters" used by The Ancient One and the other mages. Instead, it was closer to Thanos's "dense fog." Once enveloped by that "dense fog," both women felt intensely nauseated and took quite a while to recover. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves already back in the three-story building.

Kino smiled and patted their shoulders. "It's always like this the first time. You'll get used to it."

These two were already doing quite well.

He still remembered the first time he had invited Ace to try his portal after mastering it in One Piece. Ace had doubled over and vomited violently, even throwing up the previous night's meal. No matter what, he refused to ride Kino's portal again.

Maria Hill recovered first. After all, she was an extensively trained agent. As for Rogue, she was already bent over nearby and vomiting. Her physical condition had never been as good as Hill's, and Kino had taken away her Mutant ability, so she vomited her guts out.

After helping Rogue into the washroom, Maria Hill turned and walked back. "What did you mean by 'your earlier offer'?"

"Uh..."

Kino was somewhat stunned. He had thought Hill would reprimand him, or at the very least roll her eyes and lecture him a little. He had not expected her to ask about that!

Earlier offer...

What?

What else could it be? A fuck buddy.

"I think she's pretty good. She has that mature-woman charm, so I'm planning to develop her into a long-term fuck buddy." Kino took a bottle of BLK from the refrigerator and spoke as he drank.

Well, Maria Hill finally rolled her eyes at him. "You really are something! Don't you know she and 'Cyclops' Scott are a couple?"

"I know. So what?"

From the moment he appeared until he broke one of Scott's arms, Jean Grey had shown no hostility toward him.

That was quite interesting!

"..." Maria Hill rolled her eyes again and stopped paying attention to Kino, turning to head back to her room.

"Hey, wait!"

"What is it?"

Kino thought to himself, Aren't you, my personal Watcher, being far too negligent?

"I really want to know why that Blackhead, Nick Fury, hates The Ancient One. No! I should say, why does he hate mages?"

Kino could tell that Blackhead's hatred was directed at the entire mage community, not merely The Ancient One herself.

Maria Hill hesitated briefly but did not refuse. She told him everything she knew, because if Kino truly wanted to know... she could not keep secrets from him anyway.

"The director was originally an ordinary soldier. During World War II, his left eye was injured by a grenade during a mission!"

"I know that."

Maria Hill shot him a glance, thinking, Just as I thought.

"But that isn't true. Or rather, it isn't the whole truth!"

"Oh?"

"What I know is limited! His injury was indeed caused by a grenade, but... years later, during an accidental discovery, he found signs that mages had been involved in that battle, though one of them had defected from the mage organization. In addition, another group of mages had been pursuing that traitor. The director was still an ordinary soldier at the time, and his superior had once asked those mages for help, but they refused."

"Some of the director's comrades died because of that. According to him, if they had been rescued in time... they could have survived."

"So that's how it was!" Kino nodded.

No wonder Nick Fury had cursed The Ancient One and those mages as sanctimonious hypocrites.