Describing the direction of the battle was almost impossible. Chaos stretched across the battlefield as every combatant unleashed their powers at once, all of them focused on a single target—Ethan Cole. Within a radius of nearly two kilometers, thunder roared endlessly across the sky. Storm and Magneto had combined their abilities to such a degree that the entire area looked like the center of a supernatural storm, as if someone were undergoing a heavenly tribulation.
The battlefield in the sky was even more chaotic. Explosions flared like fireworks while arcs of electricity crackled through the air. Fire, smoke, and debris filled the sky, turning the entire region into a war zone. At the center of it all floated Ethan, surrounded on every side by enemies.
The number of opponents wasn't enormous, but every single one of them was a top-tier powerhouse.
Magneto and Storm alone were enough to dominate most battlefields. Both were Omega-level mutants whose abilities could influence entire regions with a single move. When they attacked, the scale of destruction alone was terrifying.
Cyclops stood just below them in terms of raw devastation. The laser beams shooting from his eyes could punch straight through Magneto's magnetic barriers. The heat was so intense it could melt diamond, which spoke volumes about the destructive force he wielded.
Then there were the brutal close-quarters fighters.
Wolverine charged fearlessly into battle again and again, fighting like a man who didn't understand the concept of death. Among mutants, few could rival him in melee combat.
Nightcrawler flickered through space, teleporting unpredictably across the battlefield. Shadowcat phased through attacks and terrain alike, making her movements impossible to track.
And from farther away, Tony Stark hovered in the air, his armor blazing with thrusters as he provided relentless fire support from the distance.
This lineup alone was terrifying. If these people banded together to wage war against a nation, even a major power would have to take them seriously.
Yet Ethan faced all of them alone.
And he had been doing so for over ten minutes.
Magneto and the others were already pushing themselves to their limits. Their attacks came in endless waves, each more destructive than the last. Any ordinary opponent would have been crushed within seconds under such a barrage.
But Ethan floated calmly in the middle of the storm, unmoved.
Even Magneto knew that if he himself were on the receiving end of such combined attacks, he would be forced to surrender within minutes.
Ethan, however, looked completely relaxed.
Nearly half an hour passed.
By the time the fighting slowed, Ethan remained as calm and composed as ever. His breathing was steady, his expression relaxed.
The others were in a very different state.
Tony had nearly emptied his weapons reserves. Several of the mutants were drenched in sweat, their bodies visibly exhausted from pushing their powers so hard.
Storm was gasping for breath. The clouds she had summoned above them had thickened into an enormous dark vortex that blanketed the sky. Lightning continuously flashed inside the massive storm, crackling endlessly as though the sky itself had been electrified.
Magneto's condition wasn't much better. His face looked worn and aged from the strain. His outstretched hands trembled slightly as he maintained control over the swirling liquid metal surrounding him.
The metal floated around his body like a living shield, constantly reshaping itself. Strands of lightning wrapped around it, flashing violently in the storm.
Ethan looked at all of this with calm indifference.
He smiled faintly.
"I've been playing with you for almost half an hour," he said casually. "Honestly, I'm disappointed. You're supposed to be the leaders of mutantkind, and the elite among humanity. But after all this time, none of you have even managed to touch the corner of my clothes."
His eyes swept across the battlefield.
"It seems the end of this world is inevitable."
"Enough!"
Magneto's voice rang out heavily.
His tone matched his mood perfectly—heavy, solemn, and filled with suppressed frustration.
As the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants, Magneto had always been a radical figure. Overthrowing the rule of ordinary humans had always been his goal. Ruthless action was second nature to him.
But standing in front of Ethan, none of that seemed to matter.
Magneto understood something deep down in his heart.
He couldn't do anything to Ethan.
Not even the slightest bit.
That realization made him feel deeply unwilling to accept the situation. After all, Ethan had already captured him once before.
The only reason Magneto had joined forces with the X-Men and even cooperated with the U.S. government was because Ethan's plans were far more extreme.
Magneto wanted to overthrow humanity's rule.
Ethan wanted to destroy the entire structure of human society.
He intended to drag the world back into chaos.
He might even wipe out humanity altogether.
Compared to that, Magneto's ambitions suddenly felt almost mild.
Facing Ethan now, Magneto felt like a schoolboy standing in front of an unstoppable final boss. The power gap made him deeply uncomfortable.
Even worse, despite their temporary alliance, he and the X-Men were all beginning to share the same terrifying realization.
Ethan Cole was something far beyond anything they had imagined.
"Forget it."
Ethan shook his head lightly, his voice cold.
"I shouldn't have expected anything from you. Even when you're united, you're still a group that doesn't think very much. You've wasted enough of my time."
His gaze swept over them.
"You might as well play with my subordinates instead."
The moment he finished speaking, his figure vanished.
It happened so suddenly that no one present could even see how he disappeared.
The battlefield fell silent for a brief moment.
Everyone looked at each other.
Magneto sighed heavily before speaking. "Let's retreat for now. He's too difficult to deal with. We need to go back and plan our next move."
No one objected.
They all knew the truth.
Ethan was simply too strong.
A deep sense of helplessness lingered in everyone's hearts.
Just as they prepared to withdraw, Magneto and Storm suddenly turned their heads in the same direction. Their expressions tightened as a strange sense of unease rose in their chests.
The others noticed their reaction and quickly followed their gaze.
In the distance stood the towering sword-shaped building.
At that moment, dozens of tiny black dots appeared in the sky above it, rapidly flying toward them.
"Careful," Tony said urgently. "I'm detecting fifty heat signatures approaching. Estimated contact in twenty-seven seconds."
Everyone's hearts tightened.
They had already guessed what was coming.
Moments later, the approaching figures became visible.
Bright silver robots with sleek, streamlined bodies flew through the sky like missiles.
Tony's voice rang out immediately.
"They're the robots Ethan built! Everyone be careful—these things can suppress mutant abilities!"
He didn't even need to warn them.
The dangers of these machines had already been proven before, and no one present would dare underestimate them.
The fifty robotic soldiers didn't slow down.
They rushed straight into the battlefield.
Each one immediately locked onto a target and launched an attack.
The situation descended into chaos once again.
Earlier, everyone had joined forces against Ethan alone.
Now they were facing an army of machines roughly equal to their own numbers.
And they held no advantage.
The two sides collided violently.
Within less than a minute, casualties appeared on Magneto's side.
Logically, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents should have been the first to fall.
But that wasn't what happened.
Instead, the Brotherhood of Mutants suffered the first injuries and deaths.
Compared to the highly coordinated S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who fought with disciplined teamwork, the Brotherhood members were clearly far less experienced in organized combat.
.....
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