Pyro John's pupils shrank, his voice trembled, and he stared at Chen Xiao in disbelief. At this moment, the aura he exuded subtly overwhelmed Jean in her berserk state.
When Chen Xiao first appeared and instantly defeated four people, it was already quite shocking, making him a top-tier fighter among Mutants.
Little did anyone know, that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The Nightcrawler swallowed nervously, her lips trembling slightly. "I knew it... I knew he was no ordinary person. It's terrifying, truly terrifying..."
Magneto glanced at her upon hearing this, and when he turned back to look at Chen Xiao, his eyes burned even more intensely, almost to the point of boiling.
"Unexpectedly, besides Qin, there was another being hidden that surpasses even the Alpha-level."
"If he's willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with me, and with Jean Grey on the side... the new era of Mutants will be unstoppable."
Just as Magneto was overwhelmed with emotion, the Beast, Colossus, and Iceman, who were witnessing such forms for the first time, all froze on the spot, speechless with shock.
Even Storm and Wolverine, whom they had met once before, had solemn expressions and were breathing heavily.
In their perception, Chen Xiao tonight was far more powerful than he had been by the lake.
A blinding golden light cleaved through the thick night, shooting straight into the sky, finally attracting the attention of the rampaging Qin.
As if recognizing that golden hue—the very person who had interrupted her devouring Scott last time—a cold glint flashed in Qin's eyes, her killing intent chilling.
boom!
With a thought, a destructive torrent of spirit crashed down from the sky, slamming heavily onto Chen Xiao, causing the spiraling golden energy swirling around his body to collapse violently.
What appears to be a surge of golden energy is actually a highly condensed energy barrier, specifically designed to counter invisible attacks and energy impacts, possessing extremely strong defensive capabilities.
However, its protection is relatively weak against physical attacks.
In other words, before the barrier was breached, he was virtually invincible.
Just like during training at the underground base, Scott's laser beam failed to penetrate even a fraction of the space.
This time, however, the golden barrier, after its Second Awakening, shrank from three meters thick to one meter under the Qin's attack, its golden light solidifying into a tangible substance.
The moment the red and gold forces came into contact, they ignited one after another, as if they had collided with a massive powder keg.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The destructive psychic power continued to crush Chen Xiao, causing golden light around him to explode wildly. Ripples of intense energy burst forth, unleashing a scorching impact that could incinerate everything, deafeningly loud.
"So strong!"
Chen Xiao felt a chill run down his spine. The overwhelming spiritual currents pressing down from all directions felt like a massive mountain crashing down on him, determined to crush him into dust and reduce him to nothingness.
Meanwhile, the golden energy surging within him was rapidly clashing, churning, and consuming... escalating more and more intensely.
As expected of the Phoenix Force, even in its initial awakening, it is already terrifying.
With a slight thought, Chen Xiao clenched his right fist, and in an instant, an even more Berserk power exploded from his dantian, pouring all of it into his fist, and he slammed it forward!
boom!
Golden light burst forth, like the sun exploding, instantly tearing through the darkness.
An overwhelmingly powerful explosive force swept out, and the surrounding destructive psychic energy collapsed in response; the earth trembled violently, and rubble and mud flew in all directions like cannonballs, sweeping across a hundred meters.
Just as the force of the fist tore through the blockade, Chen Xiao's figure transformed into a golden rainbow tearing through the sky, but his target was not Qin.
He covered the hundred-meter distance in an instant, landing steadily on the rooftop of the half-collapsed prison, where the Blackbird was nowhere to be seen.
The instant he landed, he growled, " Kitty, run!"
Inside the cabin, Kitty, who had been guarding Scott's life pod, didn't hesitate and immediately vanished into nothingness, leaping off.
In the same instant, Chen Xiao flashed into the cabin and grabbed Scott's life pod with one hand.
boom!
The destructive psychic power swept in like a blood tide, completely engulfing the entire fighter jet.
Under the corrosive glow, the fighter jet's structure crumbled and disintegrated; the laboratory building below also collapsed and Oblivion.
In the end, only Chen Xiao, standing tall in the air, remained, his body surrounded by surging golden waves, and the life pod in his hand firmly protected by golden light.
boom!
Chen Xiao's body suddenly blazed with golden light, the air beneath his feet exploded, and the instant he landed, he transformed into a golden light that tore through the night sky, rushing straight towards Qin!
boom!
Just as he was less than ten meters away from the zither, a solid, crimson wall of psychic energy suddenly appeared, forcefully blocking his way.
The two extreme forces of gold and red collided violently, and a blinding light exploded. The earth within a range of more than ten meters cracked, and rubble and dust rose into the sky, only to be completely incinerated and vaporized by the Berserk energy ripples.
Chen Xiao looked up solemnly.
Ahead, Qin was surrounded by surging crimson energy, her long hair wildly dancing in the wind, and her face had turned completely dark and deep black;
Only those eyes, dark red like blood, were cold, violent, and filled with the most primal desire for destruction.
At this moment, she seemed to transform into a calamity goddess who would end all things, her body radiating a terrifying pressure that made one's soul tremble.
The entire Alcatraz trembled violently under the crushing force of that destructive power, the earth cracked inch by inch, and grotesque fissures hundreds and thousands of meters long exploded one after another, like rotten wood cleaved by a giant axe.
Apart from Storm and her companions who were desperately trying to escape, there was no one else alive on the island.
Even Magneto and his crew, who had already approached the opposite shore, found their retreat extremely difficult, each step being torn apart by an invisible pressure, making them stagger and on the verge of collapse.
The surrounding sea surface roared and boiled, with giant waves soaring into the sky, creating towering tsunamis tens or even hundreds of meters high, Berserk crashing and pouring down, swallowing everything in their path.
Far across the coastline, San Francisco also shook violently in the aftershocks of the Phoenix Force: the ground cracked, and deep gashes tore through the streets; skyscrapers trembled violently, and glass curtain walls shattered in pieces; screams filled the city, people fled for their lives, and vehicles went out of control and crashed erratically, with ear-piercing crashes echoing everywhere.
This is the true end of the world.
Just then, Chen Xiao suddenly shouted, "Qin! Open your eyes and see who this is!"
boom!
He abruptly held the life pod horizontally in front of his chest, facing Jean Grey directly, revealing Scott's pale and weak face inside.
The moment Qin's gaze fell upon that familiar yet haggard face, the surging destructive energy within her abruptly halted, and a flicker of struggle crossed the depths of her pupils.
But in an instant, that sliver of clarity was completely swallowed up by an even more surging ferocity and primal instinct. The oppressive power emanating from her body not only did not diminish, but became even more frenzied and deadly.
Under this terrifying power, all matter within a thirty-meter radius of Chen Xiao —rocks, air, and even space itself—was silently dissolved, and the ground beneath his feet collapsed into a void vacuum.
He hovered in mid-air, his body radiating intense golden light as if molten gold had been poured out. The golden energy constantly clashed violently with the destructive mental force pressing in from all around. Each collision exploded with blinding light, causing the void to hum and tremble.
boom!
Chen Xiao, carrying the life pod and braving the overwhelming spiritual torrent capable of Oblivion everything, stepped forward and demanded again in a stern voice, "Jin! What was Professor X's greatest concern before his death? Do you remember?"
Don't let it completely devour you!
Before she could finish speaking, struggle resurfaced in Qin's eyes, her brow furrowed, and a tearing pain appeared on her face. Meanwhile, the destructive aura surging within her grew increasingly out of control and more violent.
Clearly, Chen Xiao's words had once again pierced her bloody memory of personally killing her mentor.
"Ah!!"
She roared to the sky, seemingly insane, her screams filled with a despair that penetrated to the very marrow of her bones.
A destructive force, even more powerful and tyrannical than before, suddenly erupted, faintly condensing into a pair of crimson Phoenix wings that blotted out the sky behind her.
boom!
The moment the wings appeared, the pressure around Chen Xiao increased sharply, and the golden light around him was compressed to within half a meter. The outer shell of the life pod instantly peeled off and vaporized.
At the same time, his aura surged, his power increased from twenty times to thirty times, and then broke through the forty-times mark!
In an instant, golden flames surged from his body, condensing into a tangible substance, exuding an overbearing and domineering aura; the explosions grew increasingly dense and sharp, forcefully pushing back the overwhelming destructive mental power by several inches!
"The professor never doubted you, not even in his dying breath. He firmly believed you could tame it and defeat it!"
"But if you completely succumb today, his trust will truly become a joke."
"And Scott... do you really want to turn him into a corpse on your path of losing control as well?"
Before the low roar subsided, Chen Xiao, suspended in mid-air, faced the earth-shattering mental storm and took another step forward. The life pod in his hand disintegrated with a bang, and fragments flew everywhere.
Scott was completely exposed to the scorching heat of the Phoenix Force, his life protected only by a thin but indestructible golden barrier.
"Ah!!!"
When that pale, unconscious, and utterly helpless face came into full view, Qin's emotions overwhelmed her, and an aura of destruction surged forth like a volcanic eruption!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!
An endless stream of energy erupted, and the entire Alcatraz completely collapsed.
Tens of square kilometers of land crumbled and disintegrated in the red light, the earth collapsed, rocks crumbled, and boulders crashed into the sea, creating a thousand-foot-high curtain of water.
At this moment, the X-Men had retreated to the beach and stood atop the iceberg hastily constructed by Iceman.
Storm gritted her teeth and urged the gale to slowly move the entire iceberg; Iceman pressed his palms firmly against the ice surface, and a frigid aura surged out, creating a thick ice shield above everyone's heads, barely able to withstand the destructive aftershocks that swept by from time to time.
Wolverine, Hank, Shadowcat, and Colossus stood silently, only able to watch the catastrophe unfolding in the distance, a catastrophe they could not intervene in.
What the zither released was indeed spiritual energy, but it had surpassed common sense. Its power was too great and too extreme. Wherever it passed, whether tangible or intangible, everything was forcibly decomposed and returned to nothingness.
Even the icebergs that the Iceman created by rapidly freezing seawater collapsed, melted, and regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye; his physical strength and spirit were being depleted at an alarming rate.
And this is merely the aftermath.
On the summit of the iceberg, Wolverine witnessed firsthand that after Alcatraz collapsed, a colossal reef tens of meters high and weighing millions or even tens of millions of tons was swept by a crimson light and instantly turned into a wisp of smoke, disappearing completely.
His eye twitched violently.