I Come on Behalf of S.P.E.A.R.

That dazzling arc held more than light and heat. Within it was a power more fundamental, more irresistible than either.

Screech!

A piercing phoenix cry echoed through the hall.

Walker's body began to disintegrate from the inside out. Cells that had been dividing rapidly stopped under the suppression of the Phoenix Force, while tissue that had been repairing itself began to char in its heat.

Her fingers vanished first, disappearing joint by joint from the tips, like a candle burning down from the top.

Then her arms disappeared, followed by her shoulders and torso. Soon, only her head remained.

"No!"

Her final scream echoed through the hall. Then her head dissolved into nothing beneath the Phoenix Force.

The D'Bari firing from the shadows also began to disappear under the Phoenix Force's indiscriminate assault, one after another like falling dominoes.

One still held a gun, only for both body and weapon to blow away in the next instant. Another stood on the stairs, frozen like a statue, before turning to ash a moment later.

Someone hid behind a pillar with only one foot exposed. That foot began vanishing from the toes, as though an eraser were rubbing it away.

The furniture disappeared too. Sofas, coffee tables, carpets, and curtains turned to ash in an instant.

The stairs, the walls, and even the entire manor were erased by the Phoenix Force. Outside, a Sentry that had detected Mutants and was charging in vanished as well.

Jean stood at the center of the ruins, her red hair drifting in the flames as golden Phoenix Fire slowly swirled around her.

She looked down at her hands. Golden plasma danced at her fingertips like fireflies flitting through the night sky. Expressionless, she rubbed her fingers together.

Jean turned and walked toward the grounds beyond the