Alex was now at his usual park.
He had just finished his morning exercises, something he hadn't done since running away from home.
He wasn't even wearing a disguise anymore; it didn't matter at this point anyway.
Without thinking much about it, Alex headed toward the place Ray had said was his territory, but something immediately caught his attention.
Some kind of jet started landing using the worst camouflage imaginable in a spot far away from the crowded area.
Curious about what kind of idiot would use such terrible camouflage to come to New York, Alex ran toward the landing site to find out who was doing something so stupid.
Alex quickly started moving with his incredible speed, but since he didn't want to alarm the people who had landed, he slowed himself down and paid more attention to the noise he made, trying his best to stay as stealthy as possible.
At first, Alex struggled a lot because of his massive body, but he slowly adapted and started moving far more stealthily, controlling his speed and strength to an absurd level without even leaving footprints on the ground.
It didn't take long for Alex to arrive, and when he did, he found a group of people wearing very strange uniforms that always had an X marked somewhere on them.
The more Alex looked at their clothes, the more he realized whoever designed them was a complete pervert, because everything was either a bodysuit or extremely tight clothing that revealed way too much of their bodies, and Alex wasn't even paying attention to that kind of thing.
But after observing them for a few seconds, Alex easily recognized them.
They were the same people who had been after him months ago.
They might have changed their appearance, but Alex never forgot a face.
Alex stayed on top of a tree watching them from above, curious about what they had come here to do.
If it was revenge, Alex knew it would be better to exterminate them, but if it wasn't, then maybe a more peaceful strategy would be the better option.
It wasn't just about him anymore.
Alex now carried the weight of everyone living inside the base, along with many other people in the future.
He needed to think like a leader.
He couldn't just throw away the lives of the people who trusted him and say screw it.
So after considering his options, Alex decided to simply observe them for a while, and if necessary, he would reveal himself.
And today, Alex was going to use Nen instead of cursed energy.
There were several reasons for that, but the main one was because of the dream he had after seeing those hundreds of arrows piercing through Meruem's palace.
If he could learn how to do things like that, then he truly wouldn't fear almost anything anymore.
The problem was that Meruem had barely taught him anything about Nen, meaning Alex would have to learn everything from scratch.
It would be great if there were more people around who could use Nen, because then he could actually run some experiments.
For now, Alex ignored that thought and infused his entire body with Nen to analyze what they were doing.
_________________________________________
When the X-Men arrived at the same landing site as before, they immediately began organizing themselves and talking about the places they had searched previously and where that man could possibly be hiding.
As soon as Jean stepped out, she expanded her powers to try and identify anyone nearby, but she found nothing.
As everyone started getting off the jet, Logan began organizing the teenagers so they could discuss how to move forward with the plan, describing what the mysterious man looked like and where they had already searched so they could continue from there.
Jean ignored all of it, because she could still feel that monstrous presence coming from the destroyed part of the city.
Every moment, it felt as if countless voices were whispering things like, "Bow before the king." or "Do not approach the king."
If it had only been one or two voices, she could have endured it, but there were hundreds of them.
And they kept repeating nonstop like a broken record, giving her an intense headache every second.
Still, through sheer willpower, she managed to endure the pain.
"Jean, did you hear me?"
Jean was pulled from her thoughts by Logan, who had been explaining the plan, but she had completely lost focus and heard none of it.
"Yeah, you definitely didn't hear me. I'll repeat it."
Logan quickly realized it when she looked at him with a confused expression.
Jean stayed quiet, trying to ignore the voices while listening to what Logan had to say.
"Alright, we'll focus most of our efforts near the place where we found that man, and we'll gradually expand the search radius around it until we find another clue and continue from there, okay?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, even Jean.
She sighed in relief after hearing they wouldn't get too close to the place she had been sensing.
It was near it, but not right beside it.
Seeing everyone agree, Logan started guiding the group toward the place where the man had last been seen.
Of course, they weren't going around dressed in their uniforms.
Everyone activated devices that altered their appearance and clothes so they could blend into the crowd.
With the press of a button, all of them instantly changed their appearance and clothing as if by magic before leaving the park.
Logan still had a serious expression, but the rest of the group talked among themselves, trying to distract themselves from the heavy atmosphere that had followed them ever since they entered the Blackbird.
The only one who wasn't interacting was Jean, who was still trying to block out the voices, but it was practically impossible.
And that didn't go unnoticed by Scott, who saw how bad she looked and went to talk to her.
"Are you okay, Jean? You look like you're in pain. Are you sure it was a good idea for you to come on this mission? You barely recovered."
Hearing Scott's concern, Jean looked at him and smiled softly while trying to calm the voices before answering.
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I just have a bit of a headache, that's all."
"Alright, but if you start feeling worse, just say something and I'll help you."
Jean smiled at Scott's concern and simply nodded at the kind gesture her friend was showing her.
The trip to the location went smoothly.
The real problem started when they arrived at the place, which looked exactly the same as the last time Jean and the group had been there.
The issue was that there were no more clues.
It had been far too long since the fight happened, and only the traces of the battle still remained.
Everyone searched, but they found nothing, which Logan had expected.
So they quickly began searching the surrounding area, but even after four hours, they still found absolutely nothing.
Logan hadn't expected to fail to find even a single clue after searching so thoroughly, and he started worrying that they had wasted too much time and lost every possible lead.
But as he thought that, his eyes stopped on Jean, who looked even more nervous and unwell than before when she had been inside the Blackbird.
And suddenly, something clicked in his mind.
"Jean, come here."
Jean looked at Logan in confusion and walked toward him with some difficulty.
And when she got close enough, Logan's question made her shiver.
"Jean... where is that presence coming from?"
Jean was terrified when Logan said that, because until now she had been hiding the fact that every time they got close to the destroyed part of the city, it felt as though the end of the world itself was approaching.
But Logan had known her long enough to recognize that she only stayed this quiet when something was wrong, especially when her powers started acting up.
Hearing Logan's words, Jean stayed silent.
There was absolutely no way she wanted to get close to that place.
The entire area felt like it was sending a warning that if they approached, they would die.
Logan easily noticed the fear stamped across Jean's face, and with a gentleness he rarely showed, he placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke.
"Jean, calm down. Everything's fine. We've got the best people from the mansion, and I'm here too. There's no way this goes wrong."
Of course, what Logan said was only half true.
Anything could go wrong during a mission.
But Jean was one of the strongest members of the group, and calming her down was extremely important right now.
Knowing the harsh reality wasn't necessary at the moment.
Jean slowly calmed down after hearing Logan's words because, honestly, he was right.
It was difficult to imagine them losing.
They were strong and had trained nonstop for years.
So Jean turned around and pointed toward the place they never expected they would have to visit: the destroyed part of the city.
Seeing where she pointed, Logan simply nodded before gathering everyone together and discussing the plan.
"Everyone, we're heading to the destroyed section of the city. Jean sensed something there that we should investigate."
The moment they heard that, everyone looked toward Jean and immediately began asking if she was alright.
Feeling things in her current state had been absolutely horrible recently, at least from what they had seen.
Jean simply said she was fine, but one question caught her slightly off guard even if it was perfectly normal to ask.
"What did you feel, Jean?"
The moment Kurt asked that, the voices inside Jean's head suddenly became louder.
They screamed at her not to go there while others repeated things about bowing before a king with increasing frenzy.
For a brief second, she couldn't endure it anymore and collapsed to her knees, causing everyone to rush toward her in panic.
Her head felt like it was about to explode, but suddenly everything calmed down far quicker than usual, which was strange because the pain normally lasted much longer.
Still, Jean ignored that detail.
Getting better was preferable to getting worse.
So she quickly stood back up and spoke.
"It's like hundreds of people suffering and begging me to run away... while others tell me to kneel before some king.
And it feels like they're trying to tear my head apart from the inside every second.
I always feel it coming from there."
She pointed toward a specific area inside the destroyed part of the city and shivered the moment she did, because she could still feel that monstrous presence coming from there.
When everyone heard that, they felt awful for their friend and tried comforting her, but Jean insisted she was fine and dismissed their worries before continuing forward.
As always, Logan moved ahead of the group and led them toward the destroyed area of the city.
But above all else, the moment they stepped even slightly deeper into that ruined section, every detector they carried suddenly started showing energy readings far beyond normal levels.
That alone was already a victory.
But the readings kept increasing nonstop, which shocked all of them.
The energy itself seemed to be concentrating in this specific area of the city.
Not the entire city, but a huge portion of it.
Jean was confused because the moment she stepped into this part of the city, everything vanished.
The headaches, the pressure, even the terrifying sensation, all disappeared as though they had never existed.
She could still sense where the presence was coming from, but it no longer felt nearly as monstrous as before.
But they were too close to answers now.
They couldn't simply return empty-handed.
So without hesitation, everyone continued moving toward the place Jean had pointed out earlier.
As they walked, Logan felt something strange.
Not with himself exactly, but his heightened instincts had been acting strangely ever since they left the Blackbird.
Even though he constantly watched their surroundings, he still hadn't noticed anything unusual.
And the closer they got to the place Jean had sensed, the louder his instincts screamed at him.
The problem was that Logan couldn't tell whether it was because of the strange energy or because of something else entirely.
Honestly, he would've preferred turning back, but it would be better to return with at least some kind of explanation.
Besides, Logan wasn't afraid of the kids getting hurt.
Scott could pilot the Blackbird perfectly fine.
If things went wrong, Logan would simply sacrifice himself so the others could escape.
It wasn't like he could die easily anyway.
He had survived a nuclear bomb once.
There was no way something in New York could kill him.
After walking for a short while longer, they finally came across an enormous pile of rubble covering nearly two entire city blocks.
An absurd amount of energy poured out from it, so much that it overloaded and destroyed the devices Hank had built.
"What the hell is this? How can a pile of rubble contain this much energy?"
Everyone was confused except Jean, who could clearly see a massive dome hidden behind the illusion of debris.
Inside the transparent, glass-like dome stood what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.
"Alright... I can't let you go any further than this."
Before anyone could react, a voice suddenly came from behind the group, startling all of them as they instantly turned around in fighting stances.
The man didn't move at all as he spoke.
"I'm giving you this act of goodwill only once. Leave... or I'll kill you."
When they looked at the man properly, every single one of them froze completely.
A man over two meters tall stood before them with four arms, four eyes, and tattoos covering his entire body.
But it wasn't his appearance that made the X-Men stop moving.
It was the aura overflowing from him.
It felt as though they were standing before a titan thousands of kilometers tall.
Terror invaded all of them, almost as if their bodies had been trapped inside quicksand.
But one person collapsed to the ground in complete panic because the man standing before her was the exact monster she had dreamed about before.
Nothing had changed.
The arms, the eyes, the overwhelming aura around him that felt like it carried an endless ocean of corpses.
Logan was the first to react.
He still felt as though a mountain was crushing him, but he spoke anyway.
"W-Who are you?"
There was no fear in his voice, only absolute discomfort and concern for the younger members behind him.
But the answer he received was the last thing he wanted to hear.
"That's none of your business, friend. Leave. This is my last friendly warning."
The moment Logan heard that, only one thought crossed his mind: attack.
The man in front of him was unquestionably an enemy.
His aura and attitude alone said enough.
Without thinking twice, Logan lunged toward the man with his claws already extended, aiming directly for his neck.
But... just as Logan seemed about to strike him, he was suddenly blasted backward with a massive slash across his throat that wouldn't stop bleeding.
And beyond that, dozens of additional cuts rapidly spread across Logan's neck, climbing toward his face and shoulders at an absurd speed.
But the moment the damage was done, the wounds immediately began regenerating at a speed comparable to the cuts themselves, leaving the man genuinely surprised by Logan's regeneration.
But more than surprised... he looked excited.
"You are going to be very good training."
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What's up, everyone? So, we finally have a real fight. And I'll say this right now: this is going to be interesting, especially because of Wolverine, since it'll definitely be fun to see who wins between unstoppable destruction and near-cosmic-level regeneration.
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Good night.