Hatred

"Give me regeneration."

Wade frantically activated his healing ability. A moment later, he rose beside the flames, though he had not fully recovered and could only barely maintain a human shape.

Fortunately, Romulus was no longer interested in Wade. He looked at Psylocke flying through the air on her skateboard and said with a grin, "Isn’t this our big star? To be honest, I once wanted to have a child with you, but you were too far away, so I couldn’t be bothered to come over."

"Wade, who’s this guy whose healing ability and perversion are both worse than yours?"

Psylocke frowned as she asked. Her instincts told her that the man before her was extremely dangerous.

Wade shouted, "He’s Wolverine’s ancestor. Be careful, he has incredibly powerful regeneration and close-combat skills. Uh, wait, how am I perverted?"

"Is that so?"

Psylocke leaped off her skateboard, then drew the Adamantium Longsword at her waist. "Then let’s see just how strong his close-combat skills really are."

"Such admirable spirit. I’ll capture you and make you bear our child. I’m sure he’ll be even more outstanding than Wolverine."

Romulus grinned and charged at Psylocke like lightning. Psylocke swiftly swung her Adamantium Longsword, sending streak after streak of purple blade light flying toward Romulus.

Romulus nimbly dodged left and right, and not a single blade light struck him. Soon, he reached Psylocke, his right claws leaving afterimages as they slashed for her neck.

Psylocke twisted aside and swung her blade back at Romulus’s arm. At that moment, Romulus suddenly withdrew his claws and kicked at her waist from an unbelievable angle.

Psylocke hurriedly raised the Adamantium blade to block at her side. With a bang, she was kicked flying, and her right hand holding the sword trembled slightly. This guy was unbelievably strong.

Romulus laughed loudly and kept attacking Psylocke. He was so fast that it seemed as if two people were attacking her at once.

Psylocke, who had always excelled at offense, was forced into a defensive stance beneath Romulus’s terrifying assault. She had no chance to make use of her sword’s sharpness.

As the saying went, prolonged defense inevitably led to failure. Psylocke let her guard down for an instant, and Romulus smashed a fist into her shoulder, knocking her back again and again.

Fortunately, Psylocke activated her psychic armor in time and was not injured, though a clear crack appeared in her armor.

"This guy is far stronger than Wolverine, both in strength and combat technique."

Psylocke took a deep breath and summoned a complete set of armor. Romulus whistled and said, "You’re even more captivating like this. I’ll shatter that armor completely and make you obediently submit at my feet."

With that, Romulus attacked again. He was simply too fast and too strong. Even Psylocke was completely at a disadvantage. If not for her psychic armor, she would have lost long ago.

"This won’t do. Psylocke is no match for him. She can’t use her abilities properly at all."

Wade frowned inwardly. After hesitating, he decided to recover first before going up to help—against Romulus, a severely wounded body was meaningless.

Wade had a good plan, but Romulus was perverted, not stupid. How could he not know that time was not on his side?

From the very beginning, Romulus had intended to end the battle quickly. Seeing Psylocke’s psychic armor, a cold gleam flashed through his eyes as he activated his Berserk Ability.

The Berserk Ability was a special ability Romulus had created over his long life. Its principle was somewhat similar to Yuriko’s Life and Death. Put simply, it squeezed the body for greater strength and faster speed.

If anyone else used it, they would fall into a weakened state afterward. But Romulus would not, because he possessed overwhelming regenerative abilities.

The moment the Berserk Ability activated, both Romulus’s speed and strength surged. Psylocke could not hold him off at all. Her body was struck repeatedly, and the cracks in her armor multiplied, threatening to shatter at any moment.

"If this continues, I’ll definitely lose."

Psylocke gritted her teeth and abandoned defense. Purple light blazed from the longsword in her hand, and then dozens of blade lights burst from it, slashing densely toward Romulus.

Romulus did not dodge. Avoiding only vital points, he drove his fists through the blade lights and struck Psylocke’s body again and again. With a bang, Psylocke’s armor shattered. Then she cried out and was sent flying, falling to her knees and coughing up blood.

On the surface, Romulus seemed more badly injured. More than a dozen massive wounds covered his body, and one had nearly split him in two.

Unfortunately, that was only on the surface.

"What sharp blade light. Unfortunately, you can’t kill me, because I’m immortal."

Romulus laughed loudly, and the wounds on his body healed at an astonishing rate. Then, his regenerative ability suddenly malfunctioned. His wounds stopped healing. He lowered his head in disbelief and discovered that a syringe had somehow been plunged into his waist.

Romulus shouted in alarm, "Leech?"

Psylocke rose from the ground, wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, and said, "Old man, times have changed. So what if you can regenerate? Once Leech is used, no matter what powers you have, you’ll turn back into an ordinary person."

"Wow, Psylocke, you’re so cool."

Wade cheered from the side. He had just thought Psylocke was done for, but then he remembered something and asked, "Wait, why do you have Leech while I don’t? I’m the BOSS’s most loyal subordinate."

Psylocke mocked, "Who would feel safe giving Leech to a lunatic?"

"Hey, Psylocke, we may be friends, but if you keep talking nonsense, I’ll still sue you for slander."

Wade was deeply dissatisfied. Having successfully defeated Romulus, both of them were delighted. Just then, a figure suddenly appeared in front of Psylocke, seized her by the throat, and lifted her high into the air.

Psylocke and Wade were horrified. Looking closely, they saw that the figure was Romulus. The wounds on his body had begun healing once more.

"Don’t underestimate your enemies. Since Apocalypse knew you had Leech, how could he possibly fail to prepare? We have all received his blessing, allowing us to become immune to Leech’s effects for a period of time."

Romulus said with a smile, "That one is a god."

Psylocke’s face flushed crimson as she struggled to raise her arm and slash Romulus. Romulus sneered, grabbed Psylocke’s arm, and prepared to crush it.

At that moment, two red beams blasted fiercely into Romulus’s arm. His right arm was burned off on the spot. Psylocke took the opportunity to kick Romulus in the chest, launching herself backward with the recoil. She landed on the ground and began coughing violently.

Romulus did not pursue Psylocke. As he regrew his arm, he turned to Wade and sneered, "Grandson, do you know that interrupting your ancestor’s fun has serious consequences?"

Wade cursed, "You’re the grandson. Your whole family is my grandson. Uh, if we count it that way, wouldn’t Wolverine be my great-great-great… grandson?"

"I like the way your mind works."

Romulus laughed. By then, his arm had already recovered. He waved his hand and said, "I enjoy the fun you bring me. Please keep trying and give me even more pleasure."

Wade took a deep breath and shouted to Psylocke, "Psylocke, let’s team up and kill this guy."

Psylocke threw Romulus’s severed hand to the ground and said bitterly, "I’d be delighted."

Just then, a figure descended from the sky and landed on one knee with a bang, smashing a huge crater into the ground.

Then the figure stood and said coldly, "I’ll deal with him. You go deal with Magneto. The X-Men can’t handle him."

"Big Sister Yuriko, you’re so cool."

Wade shouted exaggeratedly, then added, "This guy is strong. I should stay behind. Psylocke, you go help deal with Magneto."

"No need. I’m enough on my own."

Yuriko rolled her neck and said, "The BOSS won’t let me kill Wolverine, so I’ll kill Wolverine’s ancestor to get revenge."

Wade was about to say something else when Psylocke jumped onto her skateboard and said, "Let’s go. Yuriko can handle him."

"Fine, then."

Wade jumped onto the skateboard, and he and Psylocke vanished together.

Romulus looked at Yuriko and shook his head. "This is no good. I just found some fun."

"It’s all right. I’ll give you even more fun."

Yuriko gave a savage grin and charged fiercely at Romulus. Romulus bared his teeth and said, "I hope you mean that. Otherwise, I’ll make you regret being born into this world."

Leaving the battle here aside for now, on Liberty Island, the X-Men, Mutant Guardians, and Security Company were entangled by Magneto’s supporters and a large number of Red-Eye Mutants, unable to break free for a long time.

The Red-Eye Mutants were innocent civilians under control. Everyone held back and did not dare use their full strength. Combined with the formidable power of Magneto’s supporters, it was only natural that they were being pinned down.

"Rick, how did you become so powerful?"

Shockwave asked a mutant he had known before. Rick’s ability was to fire bones from his body. In the past, he had been like a pistol, but now he had become a submachine gun, with bones constantly shooting out from his body.

"This is the power God bestowed upon us. With God on our side, we’re guaranteed to win."

Rick shouted fervently. Magneto’s other supporters were the same. Apocalypse was not only powerful, but could also enhance their strength. In their hearts, Apocalypse held the same status as Magneto.

"God? You have Apocalypse on your side, but we have Iron Man on ours."

Shockwave snorted. He brought his hands together, sending a circular laser slicing toward Rick. Rick barely dodged it, then shouted as massive amounts of conical bone erupted from all over his body and fired densely at Shockwave.

Shockwave’s expression changed. He dodged while releasing shockwaves to destroy the bones.

"This won’t work."

Storm looked at the Statue of Liberty, which was already nearing Manhattan Island, gritted her teeth, and said, "Mutant Guardians and Security Company, fall back to Steel Bridge. Don’t let them cross. Kurt, take us to Manhattan to stop Magneto."

"We absolutely cannot let Magneto succeed. His Mutant Transformation Device has an extremely low success rate. Those who fail will die on the spot."

Hank’s furious voice sounded in everyone’s earpieces. By analyzing the earlier footage, he had already learned what Magneto intended to do.

That damned bastard wanted to wipe out all ordinary humans.

What Magneto was doing was no different from the Human Supremacy Organization, only the targets were different.

"Mutant Transformation Device? No wonder there are so many new mutants."

Everyone suddenly understood. It was worth noting that the X-Men had not all been deployed this time. The Professor, Cyclops, and Jean had not come, but Iceman and Shadowcat had. The two of them were considered reserve X-Men.

"We will definitely stop him."

Soon, the X-Men gathered, and Kurt teleported them to the edge of Manhattan Island.

At this moment, the Statue of Liberty was nearly at Manhattan Island. The light from its torch illuminated the edge of the island. Ordinary humans caught in the light immediately screamed and collapsed, beginning to evolve.

Fortunately, the police had evacuated most people beforehand, leaving relatively few humans behind.

Also, it was worth noting that even if you hid inside a building, you could not avoid the Light of Freedom, because the energy released by the Mutant Transformation Device could penetrate buildings.

"Hahaha, Magneto, you’ve done wonderfully. The more people die, the stronger I become. God, you can’t hold me back much longer."

In Hell, Original Sin laughed wildly. "Once I break free, I’ll definitely tear Iron Man to pieces."

"Humans always kill each other. No matter what I do, I cannot cleanse them of their sins. That is why Original Sin can corrupt me."

God sighed inwardly. In His eyes, mutants were also human. To Him, the Battle of New York was no different from the Civil War of humanity’s past.

"My brethren, welcome to your birth."

Magneto was laughing as well. Just then, a figure raced up to the rooftop of a skyscraper at astonishing speed and roared at Magneto, "Old man, do you know what you’re doing? You’re courting death. You’ve killed so many people. Iron Man will never spare you again."

"I never asked him to spare me."

Magneto roared, "Nor do I need his mercy. I am Magneto, the leader of mutants. Leading mutants to destroy humanity is my mission."

"What mutants need isn’t war, but peace."

Quicksilver shouted, "Old man, why can’t you just retire quietly? You have a son and a daughter. Wouldn’t it be nice to let us take care of you in your old age?"

Magneto almost rolled his eyes. A son rebelling against him and a rebellious daughter—if he stayed with them, he would probably lose at least ten years off his life. What peaceful retirement?

"Because I am Magneto."

Magneto took a deep breath and said, "Humanity persecuted mutants for decades and killed countless mutants, including my family. And now, with one casual sentence, they want everything to end? Why? Tell me, why? Is an apology enough after murder? Hatred can only be washed away with blood. I know you all call me a monster. That’s right, I am a monster—a monster raised by humanity’s hatred.

"I have lived my entire life for only one thing: to give mutants dignity."

Quicksilver and the X-Men who had rushed over fell somewhat silent. Before Iron Man appeared, they knew exactly how miserable mutants’ lives had been. That was also why they loved Mutant Academy so deeply.

At that time, Mutant Academy had been the only Heaven. Everywhere else had been Hell.

There were quite a few mutants like Magneto whose families had been destroyed by humans. Magneto was their representative, the embodiment of hatred.

Quicksilver pleaded, "Old man, if you keep this up, you’ll really die."

"Then let me die. I have no regrets. Pietro, leave. Otherwise, don’t blame me for being merciless. I will not let anyone stand in my way, including my son."

Magneto said coldly. At the same time, the Statue of Liberty continued forward, and the Light of Freedom gradually encroached upon Manhattan. More and more people turned into mutants.