Magneto’s Downfall

"What a prank by the Goddess of Fate!"

After Charles and Erik shared their information with each other, they could not help sighing in amazement.

Erik had planned to kill Zhan Liu because Zhan Liu could create Artificial Superhumans, but Zhan Liu could create not only Artificial Superhumans, but also Mutants.

Originally, this news should have been discovered by Mystique Raven and then relayed to Erik. However, Erik had previously sent Raven to deliver a declaration of war, and Zhan Liu had sent her back to the Brotherhood of Mutants, causing her to miss the news.

Under normal circumstances, Raven would have learned of this after reporting back and then returned to the Martial Arts School. However, because Raven had raised the question of the "Path of the Martial God," Erik had placed her under house arrest.

Charles actually had a way to notify Erik of this news as well, but because he knew Raven was infiltrating the Martial Arts School, he saw no need to do so. Moreover, Charles had deduced that Raven’s information had come from Erik’s confrontation outside New York, which in turn traced back to Erik’s plan to enter New York and kill Zhan Liu.

After all these twists and turns, Erik and Zhan Liu’s duel was never canceled, ultimately resulting in Erik being turned into a "Human Stick" Warrior.

Charles looked awkwardly at his old buddy, unsure how to comfort him.

He had now completely abandoned the idea of avenging his old buddy.

On one hand, Zhan Liu’s martial arts were absurdly powerful. Even Magneto had been defeated in an instant, and unless Charles launched a direct psychic attack, he probably would not be able to defeat him either.

On the other hand, Zhan Liu’s existence was extremely important to the Mutant community.

Although the total number of Mutants had been increasing over the years, their population was pitifully small compared with humanity’s billions. Moreover, neither the Mutants nor the human governments had yet found a way to transform humans and Mutants into each other.

Zhan Liu’s Ultimate Limit Qigong, however, could unilaterally transform humans into Mutants without causing them to lose control.

This was extremely important.

To put it bluntly, Zhan Liu was now more important than the troublemaking Magneto.

Humans and Mutants were now both studying under Zhan Liu at his Martial Arts School. Charles had also learned through certain channels that some people in the military had been trying every possible means to pressure Zhan Liu into driving all the Mutants out.

Under these circumstances, if he helped Erik take revenge, it would ultimately push Zhan Liu and his Martial Arts School over to the side of the human government.

Charles understood this, and Erik naturally understood it as well. He let out a bitter laugh and said:

"I’m already in this state, so whether I take revenge or not doesn’t matter anymore. I’m tired too. I might as well retire like this. As for the Brotherhood of Mutants, leave it to Raven. She wants to try walking a third path for the Mutants, so let her try."

"I took the wrong path with my Magnetic Field Path. Maybe having her lead the Mutants down the Path of the Martial God really can change everything."

Seeing Erik say this, Charles let out a long breath of relief and sighed, "Erik, if you can look at things this way, then that’s better than anything. The Mutants need Zhan Liu and his Martial Arts School right now. We can’t push him over to the side of our enemies."

"Stay here in seclusion from now on. We can chat and reminisce when we have nothing else to do, and enjoy some peaceful days."

"I still need to call my people and explain everything. Otherwise, she probably won’t be able to take over the Brotherhood smoothly," Erik said with a sigh.

At this point, whether he could accept it or not was no longer important. A crippled Magneto could not possibly continue serving as the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants.

Jean took out her phone and, following Erik’s instructions, made the call. To Erik’s surprise, he learned that Raven had already escaped. Not only had she fled on her own, she had also taken some of the less capable children with her.

Neither Erik nor Charles was surprised that Raven had escaped from confinement. Raven was a top-tier infiltrator, so she naturally had considerable talent when it came to escaping as well.

However, the fact that she had fled the Brotherhood and taken some burdens with her was extremely surprising to both of them.

"Looks like our little sister has finally developed ideas of her own!" Charles sighed with a smile.

Erik, however, let out an angry snort. Raven’s defection was a tremendous blow to his theories. Even his closest little sister had betrayed him. It was easy to imagine how unpopular he must have been.

Erik stopped his subordinates from pursuing Raven and announced that Raven and the defectors would all be expelled from the Brotherhood.

Then, over the phone, he told his subordinates that he was retiring and giving up the position of Brotherhood leader, leaving them to select a new leader among themselves.

After that, he washed his hands of the matter.

The Brotherhood itself operated according to the law of the jungle, where the capable rose and the mediocre fell. If Raven rose to power, given his relationship with her and her years of experience, taking control of the Brotherhood of Mutants would not be difficult.

But since Raven had already made up her mind to walk a new path, it would be better to let those unruly warriors decide for themselves who their new leader would be than for him to appoint someone and trigger an internal conflict.

As for Raven, once she discovered that the people pursuing her had withdrawn, she knew Erik must have given the order. She called some friends in the Brotherhood to ask about it and quickly learned the whole story.

Although she did not know why Erik had stepped down as leader of the Brotherhood, it presumably had something to do with her new master.

She had no idea that Zhan Liu had crippled all four of Erik’s limbs. Otherwise, it was hard to say whether she might have impulsively rushed back to fight her new master to the death.

But since her safety was no longer an issue, she began considering how she should walk the Path of the Martial God.

Becoming a disciple and studying martial arts was essential, but the very first hurdle was difficult. None of the people she had brought with her knew Chinese.

So she specifically found a remote and secure location, settled everyone there, and then looked for a Chinese teacher for them.

She was an ace spy and knew Chinese herself, but she had to return to the Martial Arts School to study. Otherwise, if she failed the second assessment, even the best-laid plan would ultimately end in failure.

Finding a Chinese teacher among the scarce Mutant population was extremely difficult, while she could not completely trust an ordinary human Chinese teacher.

After thinking it over, she had no choice but to ask another good big brother for help.

Charles was naturally willing to help. He even invited her to bring these people to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, but after careful consideration, Raven still refused.

Since she had decided to walk a third path, she could not allow herself to be influenced by either of the other two paths.

Therefore, she accepted only the Chinese teacher Charles sent and politely declined all other assistance.

Her decision left Charles disappointed, yet also deeply gratified. The little sister who had always followed behind others had finally grown up.