"Is something wrong?"
Jean's voice rang out in Jovian's mind. After his psychic power had merged with her body, Jean had become extremely sensitive to his emotional shifts. She could sense any change in his mood.
"No, it's nothing serious."
Jovian steadied himself and turned his attention to absorbing the Phoenix Force.
"Screeeech!!!"
The instant he touched the Phoenix Force inside Jean, a piercing cry exploded in his mind, as if an incomparably violent sacred bird were venting all the frustration it had built up after being trapped in this psychic space for years.
"This power is incredibly chaotic…"
"The incomplete Phoenix Force doesn't possess a complete consciousness. It acts entirely on instinct. But that works perfectly for me!"
"Phoenix, come. Submit to me. In return, I'll allow you to unleash your power as you please. I will never imprison you!"
Jovian reached out to the Phoenix, extending an olive branch while making it clear that he would never seal it away inside himself the way its previous hosts had.
"Screech!"
Driven by instinct, the Phoenix Force made contact with Jovian. It seemed to be judging whether he was qualified to become its host.
After examining him for a while, the Phoenix Force circled in place, as though hesitating.
It was as if the Phoenix Force acknowledged that Jovian was worthy of wielding it, yet still didn't want to give up Jean Grey, such a perfect host.
"Stop hesitating. I'm your only true destination!"
Jovian gave the Phoenix no time to waver. He activated his power immediately and began forcibly drawing the Phoenix Force into himself.
"Screech!"
The Phoenix clearly hadn't expected that someone could absorb it without its consent. It let out a loud cry, but with its thoughts in such a chaotic state, it had no idea how to resist.
After thinking for a while and realizing it had no clue what to do, the Phoenix gave up trying to think at all and charged headfirst into Jovian's body.
"Mmm…"
Feeling that enormous power flood into him, Jovian couldn't help letting out a low sound.
"AHHH!!"
Then, with a furious roar from Jovian, the endless Phoenix Force within Jean poured rapidly into his body.
In the real world, the bodies of Jovian and Jean Grey, who had been sitting in the room, suddenly rose into the air. Endless crimson power burst out of Jean's body and was sucked into Jovian.
As Charles looked at that vast power, his body pressed tightly against the floor. Faced with a force that could casually destroy a planet, he felt overwhelming pressure in the depths of his soul. Only now, after truly seeing the Phoenix, did he understand what kind of thing it really was. It was nothing like the simple explanation Jovian had given. It was a colossal power from a higher dimension, something that existed on a completely higher plane. In front of that power, even Jovian casually destroying the moon or wiping out the solar system somehow felt insignificant.
Buzz!
Just as Charles was being worn down in body and mind by the Phoenix Force, his one true wife, Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr, waved a hand and wrapped everyone in a layer of magnetic shielding.
"Erik?!"
Charles stared at the magnetic shield covering his body in shock. He had never seen such powerful force from Erik before.
"Someone told me my power is the control of magnetism, not the control of metal."
Erik looked at Charles and smiled faintly.
"Is that so?"
Even though Erik didn't say who had told him that, Charles could still guess exactly where those words had come from.
Charles looked up at Jovian in the sky, and the worry in his eyes deepened. Jovian's true danger didn't lie only in his unfathomable power, but in how well he understood the human heart, and how thoroughly he had studied mutant abilities.
"Screech!"
While Charles was lost in thought, the transfer of the Phoenix Force between Jovian and Jean Grey finally ended with one last cry from the Phoenix.
Jovian floated slowly in the room, endless crimson flames coiling around his body with a warmth that soothed everyone who saw them. If one looked closely, the flames seemed to take the shape of a Phoenix roaring endlessly toward the whole universe.
"Is it over?" Charles asked, looking up at Jovian.
"It's over."
Hearing Charles's question, Jovian opened his eyes.
For a moment, the room, bright only a second ago, seemed to dim because of the light radiating from Jovian's eyes. His boundless, surging power brushed against the faces of everyone present. At that moment, Jovian looked more than ever like some supreme god stepping out of myth itself.
Buzz!
Jovian slowly reined in his power and sat back down in the chair. At the same time, Jean Grey drifted down from the air.
"Jean, are you okay?" Charles asked anxiously as he watched her descend.
"I'm fine. Actually, I've never felt better. It feels like my power didn't weaken after losing the Phoenix Force. It actually feels stronger?"
Jean opened her eyes and listened to the sounds around her, sensing both the macro and micro sides of the world, as if a door to an entirely new realm had opened before her.
"Uh…"
After hearing Jean's words, Charles fell silent. Even he couldn't explain how someone could become stronger after losing such a power. Confused, he could only turn to Jovian and silently ask him for an explanation.
"It's simple, because that power was always yours to begin with, Miss Jean."
Jovian sat in the chair with a faint smile on his face, clearly in an excellent mood.
"My own power?"
Jean froze after hearing him, plainly shocked. She had never imagined that her innate power could be this great.
"That's right. The reason your abilities always seemed so unstable was because you were using the vast majority of your power to suppress the Phoenix Force inside you. What you normally used was only a tiny fraction of your true strength."
"Heh. Don't let the Phoenix Force's chaotic nature fool you. It's extremely picky when it comes to choosing hosts. It doesn't think much of ordinary people. The reason it chose to reside in you, Miss Jean, is because you already possessed extraordinary talent."
Jovian explained the order of things to the others. It wasn't that Jean became gifted because she had the Phoenix Force. It was because Jean was gifted that she attracted the Phoenix Force in the first place. Someone ordinary would never catch the attention of something as selective as the Phoenix Force.
"Charles, you need to train Jean well. She'll become the next Professor X. She'll carry on your work and guide those children who might go down the wrong path because of their gifts!"
Jovian looked at Charles and spoke with complete seriousness.
"I will."
Charles's expression turned solemn. Of course he would train Jean properly. Even if Jovian hadn't said so, he would still do everything in his power to help her become someone truly worthy.
"Good."
After hearing Charles's answer, Jovian nodded and turned away.
The next second, a purple Spacetime Gate opened in front of him.
"Mr. Apocalypse, where are you going next?" Charles asked respectfully. By now, he had fully convinced himself that Jovian was a good man, so he even added an honorific.
"I'm going to build a big machine."
Jovian looked at Charles and explained what he was about to do.
"Oh, oh! A big machine, and then what? Is there anything I can help with?"
Charles nodded to show he understood, then asked whether he could offer assistance.
"Heh, then I'll use that machine to help all of humanity evolve. Don't worry, this won't be difficult for me. I can finish it in under three hours, so I won't need your help. Still, I appreciate the thought. Just your willingness to help me is rare enough."
Jovian chuckled, shook his head, and stepped into the portal.
"Charles, I'll see you in the new world!"
Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr, gave Charles one deep look, then followed Jovian into the gate.
Angel, Psylocke, and Storm went in right behind them.
Then the purple portal slowly closed in front of Charles.
"Oh, helping all of humanity evolve, creating a new world, how wonderful…"
After Jovian and the others left, Charles muttered quietly to himself, praising Jovian's lofty morality.
"Principal Charles, there's something I'm not sure whether I should say."
After watching Jovian's group leave, Jean Grey turned to Charles and spoke up.
"What is it?" Charles asked when he saw how hesitant she looked.
"Actually, just now I lost control of my power for a moment and accidentally read Angel's and Psylocke's minds, and I discovered a secret…"
Jean looked a little embarrassed. Charles had once taught her that she should never read people's thoughts without their permission. For psychics like them, that was something they absolutely had to learn. Mind-reading was deeply rude.
"Even though I know you didn't mean to, Jean, I still need to remind you, don't become dependent on telepathy. We have to learn restraint."
Charles interrupted her gently and used the moment to teach her.
"I know, Professor Charles. I know that part was my mistake. But what I'm about to say concerns all of us."
Jean sounded helpless.
"All right, let's hear it."
Charles nodded.
"After reading Angel's mind, I learned the goal of Mr. Apocalypse and Magneto Erik and the others. They want to build a giant machine, then use it to awaken the X-gene in every human body on Earth. Anyone who already has the X-gene will awaken immediately, and anyone who doesn't will have the X-gene implanted into them…"
Jean rubbed her temples, sounding utterly drained.
"WTF?!"
The moment Charles heard that, his expression collapsed.
So the same Mr. Apocalypse who had just lectured him about making sure mutants didn't stray down the wrong path was actually the one who had gone the furthest off it himself? That was absurd.
Charles was speechless. The whole thing was so surreal his poor heart almost couldn't take it.
"Jean, do you know where they went?" Charles asked, turning to her.
"I got it from the memories of those two."
Jean nodded lightly, confirming that she knew their destination.
"Good! Since we know where they are, then there's no time to waste. It's time for us to move!"
"The future of this planet, the future of humanity on this world, depends on us now!"
Charles couldn't convince himself to stand by and do nothing. He had to gather enough people immediately and go stop Jovian, even though he knew in his heart that if Jovian truly meant to do this, they probably wouldn't be able to stop him. The gap between them and Jovian was simply too great.
"O… kay."
Jean Grey sounded hesitant. From her perspective, after her mind had blended so completely with Jovian's, what he was doing didn't feel all that wrong. If mutants were constantly discriminated against and isolated because of what made them different, then why not make them no longer different? If everyone in the world became a mutant, then once the racial divide disappeared, discrimination would naturally disappear with it.
But clearly Charles didn't see it that way.
Trusting Charles, Jean Grey finally decided to follow his lead and gather everyone to face Jovian, who seemed powerful and invincible, and in truth really was powerful, so powerful that even Jean Grey genuinely felt he was impossible to match.
"Charles and the others have finally discovered Jovian's true colors. He's gathering his team now. It's time for the X-Men to move out once again!"
"Let's take a look at what that time-traveling Jovian is doing right now!"
"Holy hell, while Charles was still busy rallying his forces, Jovian had already finished building the machine that would awaken the X-gene…"
"The situation is extremely bad now. The X-Men really don't have much time left!"
The bald man floated in the air, his eyes seeming to see through the entire universe. At that moment, he was staring intently at Charles and the others on Earth, the ones cast as the heroes, and at Jovian, the great villain, who had absorbed the Phoenix Force and transformed into the despair-inducing Dark Phoenix Apocalypse. Even though the final outcome was already almost set in stone, the bald man was still hoping. It was as if he were waiting for a miracle to appear.
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