Chaos Magic's sneak attack, the shura field spreads to the surface battlefield

"Buzz--"

A barely audible tremor.

The Scarlet Rune on Wanda's fingertip disappeared.

It didn't transform into a beam of light, nor did it tear through space; it simply vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed.

But within Lynn's all-encompassing Psychic Network, he clearly "saw" its trajectory.

It was a pure malice that was more microscopic than Quantum Foam and faster than a thought.

It disregarded physical distance and carried out an outrageously precise "delivery" directly at the conceptual Dimension.

From the Negative Zone beneath the Baxter Building to the streets of Manhattan, hundreds of meters away.

In an instant.

Manhattan, on that street plowed into ruins by Laser Beam.

Jean Grey was basking in the ultimate ecstasy of being recognized by her master.

She could feel the warm, intoxicating aura emanating from the Dark Gold Throne Brand deep within her soul.

This is the honor she deserves.

She completed her master's instructions with perfect grace, eliminating all distractions.

Her cold gaze swept over her former companions, whose eyes were vacant and who stood by like puppets.

Wolverine, Storm, Shadowcat...

These "heroes" who once fought alongside her are now nothing more than sacrifices she offers to her master, tools she uses to prove her own worth.

Scott Summers, pinned to the ground by Four Night Sky Swords, was the ultimate tool, the utter waste of space.

It's a disgrace that you have to personally use the owner's mark to clean up even a few mice.

Jean Grey's thoughts had barely crossed her mind when her brow suddenly furrowed.

Something's not right.

Something... has gone out of control.

Her Mind Link, like the most intricate spider web, tightly bound every Mutants present. She could sense their most subtle emotional fluctuations and control their every heartbeat.

But at that moment, on that perfect spiderweb, the thread connecting Scott Summers suddenly emitted an extremely strange, non-heroic "noise."

It was a kind of... chaotic, disordered, yet carrying a certain subversive power.

It's like inserting a crazy, illogical noise into a solemn hymn!

"Who?!"

Jean Grey's face instantly darkened, and a flash of murderous intent crossed her Dark Gold eyes.

Her first thought was of the two women in the prison!

Is she that Asgard bitch, or that mad Witch who plays the red magic trick?

How dare they... how dare they sabotage me while I'm presenting my spoils to my master?!

They were provoking him! Provoking the authority of the newly appointed Warden! And showing utter disrespect to their master!

Jean Grey's anger, mixed with the humiliation of having her authority challenged, ignited instantly in her chest.

The Phoenix Force began to surge uncontrollably, preparing to burn the source of the disturbance to ashes along the Mind Link!

However, it was too late.

That wisp of Chaos Magic from Wanda, compressed to the extreme, was not intended to engage in a power struggle with her.

It is a key.

A key forged from malice and jealousy, specifically designed to open Pandora's Box.

"Boom!"

The Chaos Magic was precisely injected into Scott Summers's nearly depleted sea of consciousness, which was being suppressed by the Phoenix Mark.

It didn't attack the Phoenix Mark, as that would be tantamount to throwing an egg against a rock.

It merely... gently triggered a miniature "reality distortion" within Scott Summers's original core consciousness.

It forcibly "activated" and "amplified" by billions of times all the fragments of emotion that Scott Summers still Phoenix Force —his love for Jean, his respect for Professor Charles Xavier, his sense of responsibility to the X-Men —that had been covered and suppressed by the Phoenix Force!

The control of the Phoenix Force is based on the absolute suppression of "order".

Chaos Magic, however, brings only pure "chaos".

When extreme chaos erupts within a closed space ruled by absolute order—

The result was a massive explosion on a psychological level!

"Ugh--!"

Scott Summers Summers, pinned to the ground, his body which Jean Gurri had already deemed "unconscious," twitched violently.

His bloodshot eyes, forced open, suddenly snapped open!

But this time, there was no numbness or emptiness in his eyes, no trace of being manipulated.

Instead, there was a... brief clarity, a clarity that emerged from an endless Abyss.

Jean Grey's unbreakable chain of mind control over him, at this moment, because of Wanda's treachery, showed a... fatal crack.

Scott Summers regained consciousness.

Stimulated by the Chaos Magic, he briefly... regained consciousness.

Then he saw it.

I saw the ground Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..

He saw his former comrades, Wolverine and Storm, standing behind the Red-haired Woman like soulless puppets.

He saw himself, pinned to the scorched ground by four jet-black longswords exuding Aura of Death, his limbs severed.

Finally, he saw his hands, covered in an unknown, viscous liquid...

His mind went completely blank.

who I am?

Where am I?

What... did I do?

Endless confusion, excruciating pain, and fear surged forth like a tide, instantly overwhelming his newly regained consciousness.

He opened his mouth, but only a hoarse, creaking sound, like that of an old bellows, could be heard from his throat.

Just then, a strong, nauseating smell of burning, mixed with the stench of blood, assaulted his nostrils.

What does it taste like?

Scott Summers struggled to move his eyes, his gaze passing over his own body and landing on a charred, unrecognizable corpse not far away...

Fragments of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Strike team tactical vest remained on the body.

A thought, a terrifying truth he absolutely refused to believe, exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.

Did I do all of this?