Nightcrawler's heart tightened further. Just as I thought! My intuition has never been wrong. A terrifying power lay dormant inside that boy.
In their team, Juggernaut had always stood at the pinnacle of combat strength. Once he unleashed his full power, steel and iron were like paper before him, and no one could stop his devastating charge.
Yet now... he had ended up like this.
Even the muscles at the corners of Magneto's eyes twitched slightly. Then he held his breath and focused, abruptly exerting his will. With a sharp crack, the helmet on Juggernaut's head shattered, its pieces flying in all directions.
Beneath the helmet was a face that looked as though he had just awakened from a dream: a crooked nose, bruised eyes, and split corners of his mouth. His whole face said, "Who am I? Where am I? What happened?"
Magneto was inwardly shaken, but his expression remained unchanged. He merely raised an eyebrow. "Can you still move?"
Juggernaut slowly shook his head, his throat so dry that he could not utter a word.
"If you can move, let's go."
Magneto lingered no longer, turning to lead his people away.
On the roof of a distant villa, Chen Xiao stood quietly, watching until Magneto and his companions disappeared completely down the highway beyond town. Only then did he dart away, speeding toward Jean Grey's home.
A few bounds later, he stood before the ruined villa.
He flashed inside. Wolverine and Storm stood at the room's entrance, their shoulders slightly slumped and their expressions bleak. Their vacant gazes rested on the solitary wheelchair in the middle of the room, and neither spoke for a long time.
Bewilderment and disbelief rose across Chen Xiao's face. His voice trembled. "Ms. Ororo... where's the professor?!"
Storm's lips moved, but in the end she merely shook her head gently, too choked up to say a word.
After a moment of silence, Wolverine spoke in a low, hoarse voice. "The professor... died at Jean's hands."
"What?!" Chen Xiao's pupils contracted sharply. Anger surged through him, and he clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, his entire body taut as a bowstring. "Jean... actually attacked the professor!"
After a long while, Storm bent down without a word, picked up the empty wheelchair, and walked outside. Wolverine let out a long sigh and silently followed.
The three stepped out of the villa and looked around. Nearly half the town lay in ruins: collapsed walls, rubble everywhere, and scorch marks crisscrossing the ground. Traces of rampaging power were everywhere, showing just how brutal the battle had been.
Looking at the ruins before her, then at Chen Xiao's bare feet, torn trouser legs, and dust-covered body, the faint reproach Storm had felt over his late arrival quietly faded.
Indeed, Vitas had had no idea the situation would take such a sudden turn for the worse.
At the time, he had been locked in combat with a terrifyingly powerful mutant, unable to break away. How could he have spared any attention for them?
The three silently walked toward the sedan they had arrived in, one of the handful of undamaged vehicles in town. Its engine roared, and the car jolted as it slowly drove away through the rubble and cracks.
Behind them, only shattered walls and ruins remained.
That afternoon, a piece of news struck the mutant academy like a thunderbolt.
Their respected headmaster, their spiritual beacon, their mentor in life, Professor X, was dead.
The news broke, shaking the entire school.
Students rushed outside the professor's office, their faces filled with panic and disbelief. Some cried out, some stood frozen, and others demanded over and over, "Impossible!" "You must have made a mistake!" "How could anything have happened to the professor?!"
But no matter how they shouted or questioned it, reality remained as cold and unyielding as iron. They could only look up at the X-Men standing solemnly outside the door, hoping they would deny it-even with a single sentence.
Then Storm spoke, her voice low but clear. "This morning, Jean suddenly woke up and lost control... we accompanied the professor to the town..."
Starting with their departure, she recounted everything exactly as it had happened:
After arriving, they had encountered Magneto's group outside the villa where Jean was staying; the professor had ordered them to remain outside.
Before long, telekinetic power had suddenly erupted inside. They had tried to force their way in, only to become embroiled in a fierce battle with Magneto's subordinates.
The moment they broke through the door, the terrifying psychic pressure released by Jean's loss of control had pinned them down, leaving them unable to move.
Only after the professor died and the telekinetic power abruptly dissipated had they regained the ability to move.
She made a point of emphasizing that, during that moment of chaos, Chen Xiao had been fiercely battling one of Magneto's powerful fighters. The shock waves from their fight had swept through the town, nearly overturning the entire place.
Those words were mainly meant for Iceman, Shadowcat, and the others.
She did not want them privately questioning why Chen Xiao had managed to rescue Scott from Jean last time, yet failed to protect the professor this time.
While grief shrouded the mutant academy, Magneto's side was quietly adjusting its entire strategy following Jean's arrival.
Inside the underground base, Magneto sat in discussion with more than a dozen core mutants.
His tone was steady. "Starting today, the Brotherhood has gained a truly top-tier combatant. Her power far exceeds anything any of us imagined."
"Humanity is no longer a threat to us."
"Our next target is the source of the 'mutant suppressant'-the crucial test subject capable of suppressing mutant abilities..."
By evening, the town where the Grey family lived was packed with firefighters, police officers, insurance surveyors, and teams of construction workers.
Many residents crowded around the officials in agitation, loudly denouncing everything that had happened yesterday and asking only for justice.
Even if those mutants were not held accountable, they at least deserved an answer regarding their houses, livelihoods, and homes.
The uniformed personnel nodded repeatedly, making vague promises in response to the residents' demands while discreetly drawing out details and recording key information.
Before long, all the clues had been gathered before a Black man standing outside the villa.
He was powerfully built, with a gleaming bald head and a black patch over his left eye. Nick Fury spoke in a low voice. "In other words, Charles wasn't among the last people to leave."
Beside him, Phil Coulson nodded in confirmation. "That's right."
"According to the townspeople's recollections, combined with the evidence left at the scene, the first to emerge were Magneto, Jean Grey-back from the dead-Nightcrawler, Arclight, and Quill."
"They went straight to the edge of town, found the mutant Juggernaut, who had been knocked down by the black-haired boy, and then left."
"Not long afterward, Storm came out carrying an empty wheelchair, with Wolverine right behind her. That black-haired boy also emerged from the house, and the three drove away."
"The black-haired boy!"
Nick raised an eyebrow. "According to his file, this Juggernaut can charge straight through an entire skyscraper. Even armor-piercing rounds barely tickle him."
"His other metrics also put him firmly above the vast majority of mutants, yet he actually lost to a black-haired boy."
"Who exactly is this guy? When did someone this formidable turn up at the mutant academy?"
Phil's tone was grave. "His name is Vitas Chen. He joined the X-Men just last week. When Charles reported it to the Department of Defense, I reviewed his entire file."
"A Mexican of Chinese descent. His abilities first manifested a little over a month ago..."
"Last week, he took part in the operation to destroy the Chris Research Institute in Coro City, Mexico. His performance was outstanding, and Charles personally recruited him into the X-Men."
"His registered primary ability falls under physical enhancement. The only notes are 'exceptional strength and extreme speed.'"
"His secondary ability is Energy Berserk. By overdrawing his stamina, he can force himself into a berserk state, greatly increasing his combat power for a short time."
"But judging from today's fight at noon, he had no trouble overpowering Juggernaut head-on. We estimate his instantaneous force output has already exceeded the thousand-ton level."
"He moved too fast for the naked eye to follow, leaving only an afterimage streaking past. The data analysis team calculated his top speed at two hundred meters per second."
"His overall rating is Alpha-level, and he ranks among the very best within that level."
Nick's lone eye suddenly narrowed. "Another top-tier Alpha-level?"
Phil nodded. "Exactly. His threat level is extremely high. His overall combat power clearly exceeds that of veteran X-Men such as Cyclops and Storm."
Nick waved a hand. "Set the word 'threat' aside for now. He is, after all, a member of the X-Men."
"As long as he hasn't betrayed humanity or gotten mixed up with the Brotherhood of Mutants, we're on the same side."
He paused briefly, then said in a low voice, "Still... I really never expected Charles to die here."
Phil also sighed softly. "Who could have foreseen it? A mutant leader who held the entire world in awe for decades, only to fall at the hands of his own student."
As the American agency responsible for extraordinary affairs, S.H.I.E.L.D. possessed the world's most highly classified intelligence network. Mutant-related information was naturally well within its reach.
Phil's expression grew even more solemn. "Director, Cyclops was unexpectedly gravely injured a few days ago and still hasn't regained consciousness. Now Charles has suddenly passed away as well. The X-Men's combat strength has fallen to an all-time low. I'm afraid they'll struggle to stand against the Brotherhood."
"Magneto will never stand by and do nothing about that cure from Worthington Labs. He's already secretly gathering a large number of mutants, waiting for the right moment to strike."
"Should we intervene next?"
Nick nodded slightly. "Under the agreement, Charles's death renders that old binding accord null and void. We now have sufficient grounds to intervene."
"But from what I know of Charles, he shouldn't have fallen so easily."
He fell silent for a moment before continuing. "Still, Phil, your concerns are valid. Charles's death may very well cause the entire X-Men structure to collapse in an instant."
"So we need to prepare our defenses in advance. When we get back, notify Trask Industries to go on standby immediately."
"If the situation starts sliding toward the brink of losing control, the Sentry forces must move in ahead of time. It'll also be a chance to test the results they've accumulated over the years."
"Understood."
"Also, keep a close eye on that Vitas Chen."
"Roger."
The next day, everyone solemnly held Professor X's funeral on the hill behind the mutant school.
During the memorial service, Storm spoke in a low voice, recounting the professor's half a lifetime of tireless work and steadfast dedication, paying her deepest respects to his wholehearted efforts for mutant rights.
After the remembrance ended, many people remained standing there, unwilling to leave for a long time.
Sunlight fell across the roof of the five-story dormitory building. Chen Xiao stood quietly at the edge of the rooftop with his arms folded, his gaze sweeping over the despondent students below.
Perhaps even Professor X himself had never expected that the sudden extinguishing of this spiritual beacon would leave such deep fractures in the hearts of the younger generation.