"Do you know what's going on with Jean?"
Charles stared at Jovian with a grave look, as if hoping to read something unusual from his face.
"The Phoenix Force," Jovian said without the slightest hesitation. "One of the most powerful forces in this universe."
"Phoenix Force?!"
Charles, Erik, and Jean herself all looked stunned. This was completely outside their knowledge.
"It's one of the universe's most primordial powers. If it isn't handled carefully, it could blow away the city beneath our feet by accident. Destroying a planet would be effortless for the Phoenix Force inside Jean."
He looked at Charles and Jean as he continued, calmly explaining just how terrifying that power was.
"That's why I want Jean to voluntarily hand that power over. I'll control it in her place. And when she's truly ready to accept that power, I'll return the Phoenix Force to her."
"And what," Charles asked with a very serious expression, "do you intend to do with such a catastrophic power once you take it from Jean?"
Now that he knew how overwhelming the power inside Jean was, there was no way Charles would allow it to fall into the hands of someone reckless or cruel. And deep down, he had a feeling. A very strong feeling. The young man standing before him, the one who had healed his legs, was not some harmless good Samaritan.
"It's useless to me."
Jovian answered without even thinking.
"Useless?"
Charles's eyes widened. He clearly didn't believe that for a second. The Phoenix Force could casually destroy planets. How could something like that be useless? If it was one of the most powerful forces in the universe, then of course it had tremendous value.
Charles didn't believe him. His guard rose another level.
"If it were the complete Phoenix Force, then yes, it would be useful to me," Jovian said, speaking with half-truths and half-lies, the kind of lie that was hardest to expose. "But if it's only an incomplete fragment of the Phoenix Force, it doesn't help me that much."
"Then why do you want the Phoenix Force inside Jean?"
Charles pressed him hard, convinced his story was full of holes.
"Simple. If Jean doesn't release the Phoenix Force now, then suppressing it for too long will only make it more unstable and violent. Eventually it will begin attacking Jean's mind on its own. At that point, the Phoenix Force will take control of her, and she'll spiral completely out of control."
This was the explanation Jovian had prepared in advance. And technically, it wasn't wrong. Charles had always taught Jean to restrain herself, but what Charles didn't understand was that the more the Phoenix Force was suppressed, the more agitated it became. Once it crossed a certain threshold, that power of pure passion would completely seize the host's mind, driving them mad and turning them into someone unrecognizable.
"I…"
Charles hesitated. He had no way of knowing whether Jovian was telling the truth.
"This power is incredibly dangerous," Charles said at last, his expression heavy. "Please… please give me some time to think about it carefully."
He wanted time to consider the matter and to think about whether anyone else in the world, besides the man in front of him, could truly withstand something like the Phoenix Force.
Jovian's eye twitched ever so slightly.
Think about it, my ass, you future dead bald guy.
Outwardly, he remained perfectly calm. Inwardly, he was cursing Charles out.
"Clearly, not everything in this world goes the way the traveler between space and time imagines," the bald guy's voice sounded again, as annoying as ever. "Sometimes events arise that leave even the traveler utterly helpless…"
Bang!
Jovian grabbed the ashtray off the table and hurled it.
In everyone else's eyes, the ashtray slammed into empty air, as if it had hit something invisible, and then fell to the ground.
Erik narrowed his eyes at the sight. Magnetism was telling him that something was there in front of him, some kind of existence his level couldn't directly perceive. In the back of his mind, a vague voice seemed to whisper that this thing transcended the ordinary, something nearly divine.
Jean's reaction was even stronger.
A suspicion had already started to form in her heart.
"Dr. Charles," Jovian said as he looked at the reactions of the two Omega mutants in the room, "perhaps I should introduce myself in a more direct way."
He knew he couldn't keep dragging this out. Magneto was one thing, but Jean Grey might actually be able to sense the presence of a higher-dimensional observer through the incomplete Phoenix Force inside her.
Snap.
Jovian raised his hand and snapped his fingers in front of everyone.
Charles blinked.
That was it?
He'd said he was going to properly introduce himself, then all he did was snap his fingers?
The others in the room were just as confused. They had no idea what Jovian was trying to do.
"Did something happen?" Charles asked, looking around the room.
"I… don't think so, Doctor," Jean said, completely baffled.
She hadn't sensed anything happening within her range of awareness. Maybe she was simply too weak, she thought, so she lifted her head and looked toward the man standing opposite her—the supposedly strongest and most dangerous mutant in the world, Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr.
In truth, Erik looked even more confused than Jean did.
"So what exactly happened?" Jean muttered under her breath, clearly exasperated.
Charles had the same thought. Instead of endlessly guessing, why not just ask? Maybe Jovian really had only snapped his fingers for dramatic effect.
Then suddenly—
Footsteps.
A frantic set of running footsteps reached everyone's ears. It wasn't because the classroom's soundproofing was bad. The people in the room simply all had exceptionally sharp senses.
Bang!
The classroom door flew open, revealing a blue, beastlike face.
It was Beast—Hank McCoy.
"Charles! This is bad!"
Hank wiped the sweat off his forehead and blurted out nervously, "The moon—the moon suddenly lost half of itself!"
Only after saying it did Hank notice Magneto standing in the room.
"Erik?"
"Long time no see, Hank."
Erik gave his old friend a small nod.
"Hank, don't panic. Take it slow," Charles said gently, trying to calm him down. "Tell us exactly what happened."
"Charles, whatever I'm about to say, don't freak out." Hank stared at him, still shaken. "I was observing the solar system through the astronomical telescope when my instruments suddenly showed an anomaly with the moon. I turned the telescope toward it and… the moon was missing half of itself."
He explained what he had seen, still visibly horrified. The moment he saw an unknown force shear off half the moon, he'd dropped straight to the floor in shock and nearly knocked over the lab equipment behind him.
Silence fell over the room.
Everyone remembered the finger snap Jovian had made just moments earlier.
And suddenly, they all seemed to understand something.
"This gentleman…"
Charles's lips had gone dry. He looked at Jovian, then swept his gaze across Erik, Psylocke, and Angel standing behind him, as if piecing together some answer.
"Y-you're… Mr. Apocalypse?"
Charles let out a long breath.
"A single snap to destroy half the moon…" He sighed again. "I understand now what sort of existence you are."
Compared to someone like that, the power inside Jean seemed very small indeed.
"No," Jovian said, shaking his head. "You still have no idea what kind of existence I am."
He lifted his hand again as if preparing to snap his fingers in front of them once more.
"The sun. Mars. Jupiter. Venus. Earth. Mercury. Saturn. Neptune. Uranus…"
He recited the celestial bodies of the solar system one by one.
"What you just saw was only the surface. Now you'll get a better understanding of me."
As he finished speaking, his fingers rubbed together slightly, and it seemed as though golden energy spread outward from Jovian, sweeping through the entire solar system.
"Charles!" Hank shouted, staring at the computer on his body as it blared warning after warning. "My instruments are showing an energy storm across the entire solar system! Shit! Am I still asleep?"
"That's enough! Mr. Apocalypse, that's enough!"
Charles swallowed hard and immediately stopped him.
"So now you understand what I am?" Jovian lowered the hand that had been about to snap. His eyes turned into a sea of stars, blazing with endless points of light. "To me, this planet and the entire solar system are no different. With one snap, I could destroy half the solar system."
"I know. I know." Charles nodded over and over. "I understand."
He understood that the man before him was some overwhelmingly powerful being who could stride across the cosmos.
"So please," Jovian said, sitting with one leg crossed over the other, "leave the Phoenix Force with me. The safest thing for humanity—and for all of Earth—is for me to keep it."
"I…"
Charles still hesitated. In the end, he could only turn to Jean and let her make the decision herself.
Jean met Charles's questioning look and slowly nodded.
"This power is too much for me," she said softly. "Maybe giving it to Mr. Apocalypse really is the best option."
She had decided, willingly, to hand over the Phoenix Force inside her to Jovian.
"Thank you for your sacrifice, Jean." Jovian walked over to her and smiled faintly. "I'll reduce your power to a level you can actually bear. Everything beyond that—everything that's just a burden to you—I'll absorb it all."
"Thank you."
Feeling the good will Jovian was giving off, Jean felt genuinely grateful.
The truth was, she had been tormented by her own power for far too long.
It was time to be free of it.
"With his laughably insignificant power and his outstanding acting, the traveler between space and time has successfully fooled every mutant here," the bald guy's voice rang out again. "Jean Grey in particular. I have to say, even after leaving Game of Thrones, Jean Grey still isn't very bright. And in this crisis-ridden multiverse, not being very bright can be the deadliest weakness of all. Because of that, Jean Grey is about to pay the price here. And that price is losing her most important power—the Phoenix Force!"
"This universe will never give birth to the Dark Phoenix now. At the same time, the possibility of the White Phoenix of the Crown will also disappear from this universe. Fortune and disaster always walk hand in hand. Removing a crisis from this universe may instead create a greater crisis across the multiverse. As for what happens next, please keep watching from my perspective, because I am—"
"Ow! Hey, wait, that's my ass—"
From everyone else's point of view, Jovian suddenly stood up and began doing kicks at the empty space beside him, one, two, three, four, then two, two, three, four, in a strangely rhythmic and almost elegant sequence.
"Uh… Mr. Apocalypse?"
Charles stared at Jovian in confusion.
"I've been wondering for a while now. What exactly are you doing?"
"As you can see," Jovian said while continuing the kicks, "old-school calisthenics. We mutants may have great power, but never forget this—your body is still your foundation."
"Did you hear that?" Charles immediately slipped into lecture mode. "Even though Mr. Apocalypse is already the most powerful mutant in the world, he still hasn't forgotten to train his body. That's something we should all learn from."
"Then… when do we begin transferring the… Phoenix Force from my body?"
Jean still felt a little awkward saying the name of that terrifying power out loud.
"We can start right now."
Jovian stopped his kicking routine and extended a hand toward Jean.
"Child, take my hand."
He smiled at her kindly.
"Okay."
Jean hesitated briefly, then clasped both hands tightly around his.
"Relax your mind. Don't resist…"
Jovian's voice turned soft and soothing as he guided her, encouraging her to relax little by little. Then, taking advantage of that opening, he slipped past Jean's mental defenses and descended into the deepest part of her inner world.
What the fuck?
This power was brutal.
Even fiercer than Tiamut right after waking up.
The moment Jovian successfully entered Jean's inner world, he saw it—
A gigantic firebird, claws spread wide, shrieking at him.
That was the Phoenix Force, a power that roamed the cosmos itself.
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