Alex looked at Logan's regenerating wounds and opened a smile filled with genuine happiness.
For perhaps the first time in his entire life... he wouldn't have to hold back.
For the first time, Alex was going all out, and the excitement he felt was unreal.
Without wasting another second, he dashed forward and appeared directly in front of Logan before throwing a punch with all his strength, pouring enough cursed energy into it to completely destroy the still-dazed mutant's face.
A punch carrying the force of a truck slammed into Logan's face and launched him away violently.
As Alex started enjoying himself, his cursed energy radar showed him the people around him beginning to organize themselves.
So without thinking much about it, he launched a slash toward Scott, because he clearly remembered how absurdly painful Scott's lasers were, and Alex had no intention of being hit by them again.
The instant the slash was about to hit Scott, Jean reacted in time and used her powers to shove him aside.
Unfortunately, the attack still grazed his arm, which was horrifying considering it was one of Alex's slashes while fighting seriously.
Dozens of cuts instantly spread across Scott's arm as he screamed in agony.
These weren't like Alex's old attacks where he restrained himself.
Now he was fighting seriously enough to kill.
Scott's arm became a horrifying sight after the slash hit him.
It was completely covered in cuts, blood staining everything.
Even the bones were visible due to how deep the wounds were.
Scott couldn't even remain standing from the overwhelming pain shooting through his arm.
Meanwhile, Alex looked toward Jean with curiosity.
He knew she was the one who had saved Scott.
He had been observing this group for hours and had already figured out the abilities of almost everyone there.
He knew she could move things with her mind, and she was actually pretty strong.
The moment Jean felt Alex's gaze fall on her, she instinctively recoiled in fear.
She clearly remembered the dream where she had been cut apart by him.
She absolutely did not want to relive that nightmare.
Seeing her reaction, Alex only gave a mocking smile and was about to launch a slash toward her when his radar suddenly showed Logan charging back toward him, probably trying to catch him off guard.
But Alex sensed him coming long before he arrived and launched another slash, this time aimed directly at Logan's skull to split his head in half.
Yet what Alex saw surprised him even more than Logan's regeneration.
When the slash hit and spread like a disease, shredding all the flesh from Logan's face, what remained underneath was a shining metal skull that immediately started regenerating again.
"You have a steel skeleton!
You get more interesting every second."
Alex instantly appeared in front of Logan again and threw another punch toward his face.
This time Logan wasn't caught by surprise.
He quickly ducked downward, though he still took a crushing blow to the ribs powerful enough to make even his bones tremble.
Despite being hit, Logan saw an opportunity to retaliate and immediately launched an uppercut with his claws extended, trying to end the fight as quickly as possible.
Alex hadn't expected the attack from that angle and was genuinely caught off guard.
But thanks to his abnormal reflexes and monstrous body, he managed to minimize the damage and narrowly avoid a fatal hit.
Even so, Logan's claws still tore a massive gash across Alex's cheek.
Seeing the attack connect, even partially, Logan finally saw a glimpse of victory and adjusted his fighting stance to continue the battle.
Alex looked at Logan and smiled happily.
For the first time, he had been injured in battle.
For the first time, he was taking a fight seriously.
Alex tried to remember the last time he had enjoyed himself this much.
Without realizing it, Alex was beginning to awaken his true self.
The real Alex.
A being born from the fusion of two of the most formidable and battle-hungry warriors to ever exist in their worlds.
Even if he wasn't truly them, Alex had inherited absurd talent... and along with that talent came an overwhelming thirst for battle and victory.
The true Alex was finally about to emerge after being imprisoned for years beneath his worries for his family.
A smile eerily similar to Sukuna's spread across his face as Alex ripped off the upper half of his clothing, revealing his muscular body and the grotesque mouth on his stomach moving unnaturally.
The sudden change left Logan momentarily stunned.
Alex immediately launched four slashes toward Logan before turning to defend himself from Kurt, who had teleported above him in an attempt to attack.
Alex blocked the strike with one arm while grabbing Kurt's fist with another before yanking him downward into an uppercut.
But the punch missed as Kurt teleported away at the last second.
Seeing how annoying he was, Alex mentally noted that killing Kurt the next time he appeared would be a good idea.
Logan, despite taking four attacks at once, had already started recovering again, though not completely.
Some of his organs and intestines were still hanging from his body as he charged toward Alex once more.
Jean wanted to intervene, but her fear was overpowering her, so she instead focused on helping Scott, whose arm was nearly severed.
Seeing Kurt fail, Kitty emerged from the ground directly beneath Alex's feet, attempting to drag him underground into the concrete.
But the moment she surfaced, Alex had already sensed her and leaped into the air while aiming a slash directly at her neck.
Logan reacted faster and jumped toward Alex, forcing him to redirect the slash at Logan instead to stop him from getting closer.
At the same time, Alex stepped on Kitty's face to gain momentum and escape the small encirclement forming around him.
Alex's gaze then shifted toward Rogue, who had been trying to approach him stealthily for a long time now.
Yet every single time she got close, he avoided her.
She was the only person there Alex couldn't understand.
He had no idea what her power was or how dangerous it might be.
That was why she was the only one he deliberately kept his distance from.
He had even considered killing her first, but Logan kept forcing him to focus on him instead by constantly preventing Alex from killing anyone.
"Alright, I'm tired of this crap.
Let's do this instead, guys.
Since you're all having trouble beating me because of my slashes, let's make things easier.
I'll only use my body!"
The moment he finished speaking, Alex rushed toward Logan and began throwing punches like a maniac with all four arms.
Blows rained down across Logan's body so quickly he barely had time to react before Alex was already somewhere else.
Logan managed to dodge some attacks, but most of them landed, leaving him disoriented long enough for Alex to suddenly turn and slam a punch with all his strength directly into Rogue's stomach.
Rogue, completely unprepared for that attack, collapsed to her knees in agony, unable to endure the pain.
Seeing that, Kurt immediately teleported behind Alex to help, but he was greeted by a brutal kick straight to the stomach that launched him away.
This time Kitty attempted something more direct by trying to touch Alex while he attacked the others.
But the moment she reached toward him, Alex spun around and punched her directly in the face hard enough to knock her unconscious instantly.
"GOOD!
Now it's just me and you, friend."
Alex looked toward Logan, who was still recovering.
And the moment Logan looked at Alex's face, he noticed something terrifying.
Alex was healing.
The bleeding had already stopped.
The cut was still there, but it had completely ceased bleeding.
Logan immediately realized that even if he couldn't kill this monster, the four-armed man was still far too powerful for him to have any real chance of winning.
Seeing Logan hesitate, Alex decided to test something.
He wanted to see whether Logan truly was strong enough.
"Hey, I've got an interesting proposal for you. What do you think?"
Hearing that, Logan glanced around, hoping someone else from the team could still help him.
But everyone was out of combat.
No one could fight anymore.
Well... except Jean, but judging from her condition, it was unlikely she would do anything.
"What do you want?"
Alex lost his smile and answered with open mockery in his voice.
"You know, I only asked you not to mess with my territory, and you attacked me anyway.
So I want something in exchange for attacking me for no reason.
I'll let all of you leave... if you survive my strongest attack."
Logan immediately became concerned the moment he heard "strongest attack," but his regeneration and adamantium should be enough to endure it.
And honestly, this was better than letting everyone die.
"Fine. I accept... if you let everyone live."
Alex simply nodded and prepared himself.
He was about to use sixty percent of all his cursed energy for this attack.
"Dragon Scales."
The moment he spoke those words, something unexpected happened.
Instead of sixty percent, eighty percent of his cursed energy was suddenly ripped away from him completely, shocking Alex.
But he decided to continue anyway.
"Recoil."
At that moment, even Logan realized something was wrong.
The entire area began growing dark.
The sky completely closed off as thunder exploded across the heavens and even the ground started trembling lightly.
"DODGE!
Twin Meteors."
But the instant Alex finished speaking, almost all of his cursed energy was drained into the attack... and nothing happened.
The clouds dispersed.
The environment returned to normal.
And absolutely nothing seemed to occur.
Alex looked confused and irritated after wasting so much cursed energy for nothing.
But in the next instant—
Logan was sliced into more than thirty perfect cubes.
His bones were cut apart just as effortlessly.
Far away in the distance, even the clouds themselves had been severed.
And even farther beyond that... space itself had been ripped open, revealing a gigantic tear bleeding something incomprehensible from within.
And just as suddenly as it had torn apart, reality itself slowly began stitching itself back together like a wound being sewn shut.
Everyone nearby stood completely frozen after witnessing such a scene.
And Alex himself was utterly speechless and confused, because neither Sukuna nor Meruem had ever displayed even half of this level of power.
Granted... he was now completely drained, barely possessing any cursed energy at all.
Alex was completely speechless.
He looked at the remains of flesh on the ground that had once been Logan, then slowly glanced toward the teenagers standing there with him before finally snapping out of his daze and walking toward Scott, whose arm was still destroyed.
"Go.
I promised him I'd let you all leave if he survived my attack.
Take the body... and give him a proper burial."
Scott and the others heard him, but none of them reacted.
What had just happened was beyond absurd.
It was a display of power beyond anything they could have imagined.
Seeing that none of them were responding, Alex realized they needed time.
So he simply turned around and began walking back toward the dome.
The moment Alex left, everyone there remained frozen in shock and disbelief.
But soon, grief took over.
All of them gathered around what remained of Logan, pieces of flesh and metal scattered across the ground.
Jean started crying uncontrollably, though she couldn't even properly process his death while standing so close to where he had died.
Scott quickly ripped off the remaining upper half of his uniform and started gathering Logan's remains.
This wasn't the time or place to mourn their loss.
And Scott understood that better than anyone.
Logan would've done the exact same thing.
Kurt stood frozen for a moment, but eventually moved to help Scott gather Logan's remains.
Kitty cried nonstop after Logan's death, while Rogue struggled to hold back her tears as Scott and Kurt silently collected what was left of him with trembling hands.
The man who had always protected them during missions was now dead.
Something none of them had ever imagined possible.
The same Logan who endured attacks from every direction and saved countless lives as if it were effortless... had now become nothing more than a pile of flesh.
It didn't take long for them to gather all the pieces of Logan.
And once they finished, they left as quickly as their injuries allowed.
Which honestly wasn't very fast.
Meanwhile, Alex was exhausted.
Not because of the fight itself, but because of the strain from using almost all of his cursed energy in that final attack.
That single technique alone had consumed nearly ninety-five percent of his cursed energy.
The moment he entered the warehouse, he sat down on the floor and let out a long sigh of exhaustion.
Draining that much cursed energy at once was simply too much, even for him.
Alex was so tired that he barely paid attention to his allies standing nearby asking him countless questions.
And the wound on his cheek still hadn't fully healed either.
"Give me a second... I used too much cursed energy."
When Alex said that, Josh and Boris looked completely confused since nobody had explained to them what cursed energy actually was.
But Ray and Tyon understood immediately.
Daredevil and Claire had already left a long time ago, so only the people belonging to the Sanctuary were still there.
It didn't take long before Alex slowly stood up again, feeling a little better as he stretched his body before looking at everyone and speaking.
"They were trying to find our base, but I drove them away with a pretty good beating.
We're safe for now... but just in case, I'm going to reinforce the barrier."
Alex started heading toward the drawing maintaining the barrier, but while walking there, he noticed that both Josh and Boris looked completely lost.
That made Alex remember he hadn't explained anything to them yet.
"Ray, before you start annoying me asking for more information again, explain cursed energy to the newbies."
Hearing that, Ray realized Alex was right and that he hadn't explained anything to them yet, so he quickly started talking about what cursed energy was.
While Ray kept them occupied, Alex walked over to the drawing and started thinking about how to improve it.
Maybe creating multiple copies of the same design... but he quickly discarded that idea.
He didn't need identical barriers.
He needed to improve the one he already had.
Alex couldn't stop thinking of different ways to strengthen the barrier, but every idea seemed stupid or useless until suddenly something crossed his mind.
'Why don't I add pillars to the barrier?
Not real pillars... but more drawings or symbols that reinforce the barrier while also stabilizing it!'
______________________________
Alex's first true World Slash that was actually serious, and I'm really happy it finally happened because it took a while. I had to build the stage for this moment to happen, on top of the fact that Alex is finally starting to let loose, which finally happened. It only took 30 chapters lmao, but it's all good.
If possible, feel free to check out my Patreon Lordoffadd.
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And if you have any constructive criticism or anything that could help me improve, don't hesitate to say it, I always read everything.
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Good night.