"Sweetheart, wait here for me. I'll be back soon."
After walking his wife and daughter home, the middle-aged man bent down and kissed his daughter on the forehead. His eyes were so gentle they seemed to ripple.
"Dad, where are you going?" the little girl asked softly, clutching his hand. "You're not going to leave me, are you?"
"No." He smiled and rubbed her head. "How could I ever leave you? I love you more than anything. Dad just has something he needs to do. Be good, listen to your mom, and don't run around."
He kissed her forehead one more time, then rose and looked at the plain-featured woman he loved with all his heart.
"I'm going. The kid's in your hands."
He turned to leave.
"Honey…"
The woman looked at his retreating back and called out softly.
"Hm?"
He turned around.
"Be careful."
She clasped her hands together and prayed as she watched the man who was bound to leave.
He only smiled faintly, leaving his daughter and his wife with the image of a strong, unshakable back.
"Mr. Jovian, I have to remind you of something. This is Magneto's fated ordeal. Only by losing something can he learn to cherish it. What you're doing now is interfering with Magneto's destiny, and it could cause the entire universe to collapse…"
The mysterious bald guy appeared beside Jovian again, brows tightly furrowed as he warned him.
"Shut it, Baldy." Jovian clapped a hand over the man's mouth and spoke seriously. "From the moment I showed up here, everyone's fate was already shattered."
"Mmph…"
"But I still have to remind you," the bald guy insisted in front of Jovian, repeatedly emphasizing one word. "Whether it's people or worlds, everything eventually walks toward death. I said Death. You know what I mean, right? She had a pretty good impression of you before, but after this, that score's definitely dropping…"
Jovian understood exactly what he meant.
He fell silent for a moment, then decided he needed to move faster. He was still too weak. At the very least, he needed power above the single-target tier before he could carry even a little weight on the game board those real heavy hitters were using.
"For now, I'll clean up what's right in front of me."
Jovian shook his head and decided not to think about the schemes of the big players just yet.
While Jovian was talking to the bald guy, Psylocke and Angel were staring with wide eyes.
What were they looking at?
Their boss was talking to thin air.
WTF?
Had he developed split personalities or something?
"I'm done here."
Just as Psylocke and Angel were still quietly losing their minds, the bearded middle-aged man walked up to them.
"Welcome to the team, the great Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr."
Jovian extended a hand toward him. Magneto was one of the talents Jovian valued most: intelligence, ambition, and that deep sense of responsibility toward his people. All of it was exactly the kind of person Jovian needed.
"Like I said before, you saved my family. I'll work for you."
Erik Lehnsherr spoke with absolute seriousness.
"What do we do next?"
"Find your good friend, Professor X, Charles Francis Xavier."
Jovian patted Erik on the shoulder and answered softly.
"Find Charles? Why?"
The moment he heard that Charles was the target, Erik's emotions flared.
"Easy, Erik. I don't mean him any harm." Jovian shook his head. "I just have something I want to discuss with Charles."
"What?"
Erik still sounded uneasy.
"The future of this planet."
Jovian looked at Erik and smiled.
"Erik, don't you think human evolution has been moving far too slowly? Let's give them a push. Let's evolve every human on Earth into a mutant."
"Turn every human in the world into a mutant?"
Erik's eyes widened. What kind of insane idea was that?
"The reason mutants are persecuted, the reason humans fear them, comes down to jealousy."
"It's jealousy that makes people raise the knife against the mutants beside them. All we have to do is throw fuel on the fire and erase that jealousy."
Jovian stood before Erik Lehnsherr, Angel, Psylocke, and Storm, speaking with blazing intensity.
There were things he didn't say.
In Jovian's view, jealousy was only part of why ordinary humans feared mutants. The bigger issue was how unstable mutant powers could be. To him, mutants below Beta-level, Level 4, were failed evolutions. Epsilon-level, Level 1, or Delta-level, Level 2, mutants were one thing. Ugly, maybe, but not especially powerful. Once they awakened, the problems usually weren't too serious. Ordinary people could deal with them, and some awakened without ever even realizing they had powers, while the people around them never noticed either.
The real disaster was Gamma-level, Level 3, mutants: people with immense power and no control. Once they awakened, it often meant total destruction. At worst, an entire street. At minimum, everyone they came into contact with. Their out-of-control abilities could wipe everything out.
That was the real reason ordinary humans came to hate mutants so deeply.
But that wasn't what mattered right now.
What mattered was making these people feel empathy.
"That's right! Jealousy is the original sin. We're the more highly evolved species. We should be the rulers of this planet."
Erik clenched his fists. The moment he thought about the persecution his people had suffered, anger surged in his chest.
"You're right."
Jovian waved a hand. Purple light suddenly flared around them, and in the next second, everyone appeared in the concentration camp where Erik had first been imprisoned.
"This is…"
Erik stared at everything around him. Countless images flashed through his mind: his mother's death, the cruelty he had endured, the humiliation, the pain. All of it fused into a roaring fire of fury in his heart.
"Now it's time to let this planet witness a real spectacle."
As Jovian spoke, golden light poured from his body, drawing out Erik Lehnsherr's power.
"Ahhh!!"
Erik roared. In an instant, countless ways of using magnetism flooded his mind. Jovian had to make one thing clear to Erik:
He controlled magnetism, not metal.
"This obsession with your people, this fury toward those who inflicted suffering on them, will keep guiding you to become stronger."
Jovian's voice led Erik onward, pushing him to develop his overwhelming power to its fullest extent.
Boom!
Under Jovian's guidance, every building around Erik ripped free from the ground and floated into the sky. Countless pieces of metal rose, spun, and danced in the air.
"My God…"
Standing nearby, Angel and Psylocke stared with eyes wide open at the apocalyptic scene. Compared to that, Jovian's fine-tuned displays looked subtle.
"Welcome back, Magneto."
As Jovian spoke, he swept out both hands, and Magneto's iconic helmet appeared in them.
"Thank you."
Erik thanked him, took the helmet, and put it on.
The instant it settled on his head, the legendary Magneto had truly returned.
"Let's fix the wardrobe too."
Jovian glanced at everyone's ragged state and waved his hand again. Instantly, ornate suits of armor appeared on them, transforming them from worn-down fugitives into valiant knights.
"Amazing!"
They looked at the armor on their bodies in astonishment.
"Now," Jovian said, clearly pleased as he looked at Erik Lehnsherr, captain of the demolition crew, and the rest of them in their perfectly fitted outfits, "it's time to have a proper talk with Charles."
A thought crossed his mind, and a portal slowly opened beside them.
"Let's move."
Jovian stepped through first.
"Let's go!"
The others followed without hesitation.
Only after Jovian and the rest had left did the bald guy start speaking again, as if narrating to some unseen audience.
"At last, the traveler between space and time has gathered his four knights. Now he will lead them into a desperate clash with the protagonists of this world, and we will continue watching it unfold through my eyes…"
Who exactly he was telling this story to, nobody knew.
Whoosh!
Thunk…
Just as the bald guy was muttering dramatically, a soda can came flying back out of the portal and smacked him right on the shiny scalp.
The bald guy: "..."
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters…
"The strength of one's power depends on one's heart. What we need to do is believe in ourselves."
Inside the vast old mansion, a handsome middle-aged man with flowing hair sat in a wheelchair, teaching his students.
The man opened his mouth and immediately started with idealistic philosophy.
Then, just as the man in the wheelchair was about to continue that line of thought, a purple portal appeared in the open space inside the classroom. In the next second, several figures stepped out without warning.
"Erik?!"
The middle-aged man's expression changed the instant he saw the familiar face among the five newcomers.
"Charles."
Erik Lehnsherr gave the handsome middle-aged man a slight nod.
"And they are…?"
Charles could sense something off in the air, especially seeing that all of them were fully armed, and even more so because of the subtle but unmistakable danger now radiating from Erik. It was stronger than ever before.
"First things first, Dr. Charles, stand up before you talk."
Jovian was the first to speak.
Charles's face fell on the spot.
He looked at the wheelchair beneath him, then at the tall man in front of him who was completely serious while telling him to stand up and talk.
He had only one thought:
Are you actually serious?
"Stand up, my boy!"
"You can do it!"
Golden light flared around Jovian as he struck the pose of a faith healer.
"I…"
Charles, who had just felt personally attacked, suddenly sensed feeling return to his legs, which had long since gone numb. He could feel them again.
He could stand?
Thinking that, he carefully pushed himself up from his seat. Excitement spread across his face.
"I… I'm standing?"
He bounced in place several times, overjoyed like a man in his thirties or forties who had suddenly become a kid again.
"Please, let me thank you—my friend Erik brought you here, and you've helped me stand again. I can't believe it. I never thought there would come a day when I'd get out of that damned thing."
Charles grabbed Jovian's hand, visibly overcome with gratitude.
"No need to thank me. I came to talk about something."
Jovian shook his head, then casually pulled over a chair and sat down.
"Uh…"
Charles looked at Jovian, then at Erik. Seeing the seriousness on both their faces, he finally let out a sigh.
"That will be all for today, everyone. Class is dismissed."
"Yes, Headmaster Xavier."
The students filed out one after another, though there was visible anxiety on their faces. It seemed they had recognized Erik's identity: the man who once caused chaos at the White House and nearly killed the President of the United States, the most dangerous mutant in the world—Magneto.
"Wait. You stay."
Just as a beautiful red-haired girl with slightly broad shoulders and the unmistakable look of someone who wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed was about to leave, Jovian stopped her.
"What do you want with Jean Grey?"
The moment Charles saw Jovian stop Jean, his expression darkened. He suspected Jovian already knew about her power.
"That power is too much for a young girl to carry, isn't it?"
"I'm going to help free her from it completely."
"I'll let her be like the ordinary girls among mutants—able to happily chase the life she wants, without constantly fearing that her own power will swallow her whole."
Jovian sat there with one leg crossed over the other, making it sound as though every word was for Jean's own good.
As for the fact that he planned to absorb the Phoenix Force for himself, he kept his mouth firmly shut.
Jovian's words left Charles and Jean staring at each other in shock.
They saw the same disbelief in each other's eyes.
Jovian knew Jean extremely well.
Possibly better than either Jean or Charles knew her themselves.
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