Faith Shattered: The Cruel Contrast Between the Old Master and the New God
squeak--
The heavy metal door slid open to one side, and the eerie blue light leaking from the crack was like a surgical Scalpel, precisely dissecting the oppressive darkness of the corridor.
Lynn emerged from the light, still carrying the distinctive, cold smell of the laboratory, a mixture of Ozone and coolant.
He didn't even look at Jean Grey kneeling on the ground right away; his unfathomable eyes merely swept indifferently over Wanda and Hela, who were frozen in place.
One of them, with her foot still awkwardly raised in mid-air, the toe of her shoe just inches from Qin's messy hair, had not yet completely lost the arrogance of a victor on her face before it was replaced by extreme astonishment and unease.
The other one, the Night Sky Sword hovering behind him, trembled slightly, and the cruel curve of his lips froze into a complex, stiff expression, a mixture of fear and scrutiny.
The air seemed to have turned into a viscous gel.
Time seemed to stretch out infinitely at that moment.
Lynn's silence carried more weight than any words. It was a silent judgment, instantly transforming the two top female powerhouses, who had just been engaging in class bullying, from hunters back into pets. Their hearts felt gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and even their breathing became cautious.
Finally, Lynn's gaze fell on the disheveled figure lying prostrate on the ground.
Jean Grey.
Covered in blood, her clothes tattered, the skin and fabric at her knees worn raw and stuck to the cold alloy floor. She was kneeling in a prostrate position, her once fiery red hair now covered in dust and blood, scattered haphazardly on the ground.
But when the door opened, and when the man's presence descended as if it were tangible, her humble, bowed head suddenly lifted!
Those emerald eyes no longer held the ferocity of Phoenix, nor the pride of Omega-Level Mutant; only a near-mad, burning devotion and yearning remained!
It's him!
Her God! Her Ruler! The only figure on the Throne of her soul!
A hiss, a sound of mixed emotion between sob and elation, escaped from Jean's throat. She ignored Wanda, who exuded a deadly aura beside her, Hela, whose eyes were as cold as Hela, and even her own body, which was on the verge of falling apart.
She started climbing.
With his hands, scorched and bloodied by the energy lock, and with his knees, which had long since lost all feeling, he struggled desperately and recklessly toward the figure that emerged from the light.
That posture... it didn't seem like a human being.
It's more like a Beast dying in the desert, finally spotting Oasis.
It's like a most devout believer, on the final stretch of the road to the temple, measuring the distance between themselves and the Deity with their bodies.
Wanda's pupils suddenly contracted, and she instinctively pulled her raised foot back.
Hela's brows furrowed deeply.
They had seen humility, they had seen submission, but they had never seen such... utter madness, abandoning all dignity and self.
Lynn simply stood there quietly, expressionless.
He watched Jean Grey crawl to his feet like a loyal dog, watched her tremble violently with excitement, watched her lift her blood-stained and tear-streaked face and gaze at him with an almost divine look.
Then, under the incredulous gazes of Wanda and Hela...
Inside the laboratory, under the gaze of those aged eyes, filled with final hope, peering through the crack in the door.
Jean Grey... slowly, she lowered her once incredibly proud head.
She trembled, then stuck out her tongue and, with a reverent solemnity, licked the tip of Lynn's dusty military boots.
The leather feels cold, but the touch is warm.
The movement was gentle, yet like the heaviest battering ram, it shattered the last world in the heart of an old man in the laboratory.
Charles Xavier.
He was sitting in that wheelchair that had been dismantled into pieces, his body firmly fixed in place by Susan's Force Field. His mind had been brutally plundered, his proud Mind Stone abilities had been sealed off by the Death Force, and his lifelong ideals had been crushed to pieces by Lynn's cruelest logic of reality.
But he did not completely despair.
Because he also has a zither.
His proudest student, the daughter he treated like his own, the girl with cosmic-level power who still maintained a kind heart. She was his last hope, the last trump card of the Mutant Race.
The distress signal he sent with his last ounce of strength was a plea for her to Ending it all and punish this demon.
He got what he was waiting for.
He waited for Qin to arrive.
But what awaited them was... the complete collapse of their own faith.
He saw it with his own eyes through the crack in the door.
Seeing Jean, whom he had taught for over a decade, telling her to stand tall, to control her power, and to become the pride of Mutants, now kneeling at the feet of that devil like the lowest slave, kissing the tips of his boots.
In that instant, Charles felt as if his soul had been ripped out.
The magnificent edifice of "peace," "coexistence," and "hope" that had sustained him throughout his life was utterly razed to the ground by this incredibly cruel scene.
"Hmm..."
A hoarse, cracking sound, like a leaky bellows, squeezed out of Charles's throat.
His once bright blue eyes, filled with wisdom and gentleness, instantly lost all their luster, becoming gray and empty, like two extinguished dead stars.
His once-proud backbone was broken.
His Mental World was utterly destroyed right before his eyes in the most cruel way.
Faith collapsed.
Outside the lab, Lynn felt the slight dampness on the toe of his boot, but his heart remained unmoved.
Everything is under control.
He finally lifted his foot, not to dodge, but casually, and stepped over Jean Grey's head.
It was as if I were stepping over an insignificant decoration.
He walked into the laboratory, went straight to Charles, and looked down at the old man who had completely lost his soul.
An era has ended.
Lynn's voice was calm and devoid of any emotion, yet it echoed in the cold laboratory like a primordial law.
"From this moment forward, I am the sole law for all Mutants."
He reached out but didn't touch Charles. Instead, he picked up the Top Secret file about Mutants around the world that Susan, Wanda, and Hela had compiled overnight on the control panel next to him.
He randomly flipped to a page, which was filled with densely packed coordinates and lists.
His gaze fell on one of the most conspicuous locations, marked as the highest threat level.
Westchester County, Xavier's School.
"A group of... unclaimed assets."
Lynn's lips curled into a cold smile, as if he were examining a list of goods about to be auctioned off.
"Now that the old master is no longer useful, it's time... to welcome a new master."