Phoenix, You Are Guilty!

Li Congxin’s true self encountered the Phoenix’s true body within the multiverse, and the situation on the other two battlefields was equally grim.

On the Himalayas, with Li Congxin—the only person who could communicate with both sides—gone, the bridge between them had vanished, and communication immediately became impossible.

The X-Men and the members of the Mutant Brotherhood had already been hostile toward Captain America and the other outsiders. At Dark Phoenix’s command, they launched a fierce charge against the Avengers team.

As for Dark Phoenix herself, she controlled Jean’s body and rose directly into the air, flying straight toward the Sky-Shattering Sword atop the tower.

Among all the Mutants, only the Phoenix Force could stop these extraterrestrial visitors’ evil plan, completely destroy this building of unknown purpose, and even shatter its core—the Sky-Shattering Sword—along with the green gem radiating terrifying energy!

When the Phoenix turned dark, her combat power became boundless.

When Wanda stayed out of the fight, who could stand against her?

Just as Dark Phoenix gathered the Phoenix Force and lunged toward the Sky-Shattering Sword, crimson magical energy also burst from Wanda’s entire body, lifting her into the sky. She actually reached Dark Phoenix first and blocked her path. After changing hand seals several times, she instantly condensed the Chaos Magic into a greatsword and thrust it straight at Dark Phoenix’s chest!

Faced with the equally unmatched power of Chaos, Dark Phoenix did not dare take it lightly. She quickly brought her arms together, condensing the surging Phoenix Force into a huge shield before her. At the critical moment, it blocked the Chaos Greatsword.

"Bang!"

How terrifying was the might unleashed by the head-on collision between Chaos and the Phoenix Force? The shockwaves immediately triggered the accumulated snow on the mountain to collapse. An avalanche had begun!

Seeing the surging wall of snow about to swallow both the Mutant army and the Avengers team locked in combat, the green-eyed Eastern girl behind Magneto suddenly spun around. Using the force of her turn, she threw a purple light sword from each hand. One shot toward the roaring avalanche, while the other shot into the empty space above the Avengers team.

In the next moment, the two purple light swords exploded simultaneously in midair, transforming into two irregular portals. By manipulating the spatial shift between the two portals, they redirected the entire avalanche’s force and sent it crashing down over the Avengers’ heads!

The Mutant with this ability was Clarice Ferguson, whose codename was Blink.

However, while Blink controlled space on the Mutants’ side, the Avengers naturally had an expert capable of matching her.

Almost the instant Blink’s portal opened, Doctor Strange had already put on the Suspended Ring. Moving at incredible speed, he drew a magical Any Door of equal size beneath Blink’s portal. Before the cascading snow could threaten the Avengers, it fell straight into the second Any Door and came crashing back down toward the Mutant army.

"Hmph! A bunch of useless fools!"

In midair, Dark Phoenix, who was locked in battle with Wanda, noticed the change in the situation and cursed disdainfully. A wave of Phoenix Force swept out, melting the falling snow into water and blasting it into the distance.

However, her momentary distraction gave Wanda an opening. She fired the simplest and most direct Chaos energy blast, striking Dark Phoenix squarely in the chest and sending the strongest of the Mutants flying backward.

Hearing Dark Phoenix’s contemptuous insult—and after she had saved his life again—Professor X and Magneto, the old buddies at the very front of the battlefield, felt so awkward they nearly died of embarrassment.

They wanted to help, too, but they simply couldn’t!

Since Li Congxin had anticipated that something might go wrong among the Mutants, he naturally had not gone without precautions. Before setting out, he had equipped every Avenger with a compact interference device capable of immunizing them against mental attacks. It was small and light, and compared with Magneto’s ugly helmet, it was vastly superior.

As a result, the strongest brain among the Mutants could now do little beyond directing his own side’s coordinated attacks. He could only sit there like a mascot and play the part of a quiet, handsome man.

Since Li Congxin had even taken precautions against such an old softie as Professor X, how could he possibly fail to guard against Magneto, who always loved stirring up trouble?

Likewise, before the mission, nearly all the equipment used by the team led by Captain America—aside from a few irreplaceable items—had been replaced with specialized equipment made of nanocarbon-tube materials. This left Old Man Magneto with the uncomfortable feeling of having power but nowhere to use it.

In fact, Li Congxin’s original plan had been to win over the X-Men as much as possible, using them to restrain Magneto and any other hostile forces that might emerge to cause trouble, such as the Hellfire Club and the like.

Otherwise, he would never have helped Professor X with his hair loss… Ahem, he meant strengthening his abilities.

Unfortunately, things had ultimately developed in the worst direction he had predicted, and his previous investment in the X-Men had failed to produce the expected returns.

Fortunately, he had only enhanced Professor X. His abilities were indeed powerful, but as long as one was prepared, dealing with him was not difficult. Thus, the ridiculous situation of strengthening an enemy had not occurred.

One had to understand that Professor X was even more terrifying than Magneto!

Conservatively speaking, without specialized equipment to counter him, his strength would definitely not be inferior to that of Captain America after Li Congxin had enhanced his equipment twice. He might even be stronger!

This could be seen from Professor X’s other nickname, which was used to illustrate the extent of his combat power.

In fact, his other nickname was One Beauty—a fighting force fully equivalent to that of Captain America!

Professor X and Magneto’s abilities had both been severely restricted. The two forces behind them were still waiting for their leaders to give the order, so they could only stand motionless where they were.

Fortunately, although Magneto was restricted on this battlefield, he was not like Professor X, whose formidable combat power as One Beauty had been almost completely nullified. With a casual gesture, the large number of swords carried by a certain Mutant behind him suddenly rose into the air. At the same time, Magneto discovered that although most of the Avengers’ weapons were unaffected by him, there were still a few he could make use of.

With another gesture from his other hand, the Black Panther siblings and Captain America in the crowd were suddenly lifted involuntarily into the air.

Seeing that three of their teammates had been controlled before they had even made a move—and that one of them was their captain, Steve Rogers—the Avengers immediately grew tense.

Most of the Black Panther siblings’ abilities came from vibranium, so they had no good way to deal with Magneto. Shuri immediately stored her Nano-Vibranium Black Panther battle suit and prepared to fight barehanded, while T’Challa truly had no options left.

After losing his Heart-shaped herb power, abandoning his vibranium equipment would reduce his combat power even further.

However, when Captain America sensed that the opponent had used magnetism to control his injured shield and Eight-Edged Plum Blossom Bright Silver Hammer, an unyielding light appeared in his eyes.

What kind of person was Captain America?

He was a super-soldier whose equipment had been specially enhanced twice by Li Congxin. A visible ripple suddenly spread across the Eight-Edged Plum Blossom Bright Silver Hammer in his right hand. He actually used the force of vibration to disrupt the magnetic field, breaking free from Magneto’s control. Then he struck his shield with the hammer in his right hand. The power that had originally been dispersed instantly became concentrated, and a violent shockwave blasted toward Magneto.

Magneto hurriedly raised a magnetic shield. Although it blocked Captain America’s thunderous strike, it left him nearly exhausted.

The two sides’ leaders had exchanged blows in the blink of an eye. Although neither had managed to overcome the other, the clash formally sounded the bugle of battle.

In the next moment, the Mutant army and the Avengers team attacked together, and the battle instantly entered a white-hot phase.

At the same time, a passionate and stirring piece of music suddenly rang out from inside the Sky-Shattering Sword Tower. Influenced by Li Congxin’s peculiar tastes, Tony and the others had prepared a battle anthem for each team in advance.

"The Avengers"—Avengers Assemble!

This was not music blessed by Li Congxin, nor did it have any special effects. However, whenever the song played, the Avengers could feel their blood surging, as if it were truly their music, allowing them to fight beyond their normal limits.

Amid the music, every Avenger unleashed astonishing potential. Even when facing enemies ten times their number, each of whom possessed considerable combat ability, they stubbornly held on and continued fighting.

Even so, the situation on the battlefield remained unfavorable.

After all, although the Avengers were strong, their opponents were no pushovers either. They were Mutants with all sorts of strange and special abilities!

Not every Mutant’s ability was suited for combat. However, there were more than a million Mutants in the X-Men Universe, and those selected to participate in today’s battle all possessed practical combat abilities and actual battle experience. They could be called the elite among the Mutants.

Against such enemies, even the battle-hardened Avengers fought extremely hard while at an absolute numerical disadvantage.

Take Captain America, for example. He was bravely facing Magneto, Storm, and Psylocke alone. Although Li Congxin had strengthened his equipment repeatedly, making him far stronger than the original version, he was still somewhat overwhelmed when facing three top-tier Mutants at once. He could only struggle to hold on while encouraging himself.

I am Captain America. I am Shi Aiguo. I can fight all day!

His good buddy Brother Eagle… was Falcon, and he was in much the same situation. He not only had to battle Angel in the skies, but also had to deal with Nightcrawler’s intermittent harassment, leaving him equally flustered.

As for the stronger Mindy, she was mounted on a horse with a spear in hand, fighting alongside Wanda against Dark Phoenix in another part of the sky.

Originally, even after turning dark, the Phoenix should not have been able to overwhelm Wanda, who possessed equally boundless potential, in such a short time. However, the Phoenix’s strength was unusually formidable now—far stronger than when Li Congxin had seen her last. Even with Wanda and Mindy working together, she was suppressing them completely, leaving them no chance to fight back.

In fact, the Phoenix Force within Jean’s body had not originally been very strong, and Wanda and Mindy should have been able to hold it off easily. But not long ago, while the X-Men were carrying out a mission in space, the Phoenix had used something resembling a solar flare to recharge Jean Grey, causing her strength to surge instantly and turning her dark in the same moment.

She had not even had time to use the communicator Li Congxin had given her before he left.

"Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!…" Just as the two women were in grave danger, the roar of an automobile engine—something that absolutely should not have appeared here—suddenly resounded across heaven and earth. Then a Flaming Batmobile came flying through the air, slamming into Dark Phoenix as she tried to take advantage of their weakened state and sending her flying backward.

After knocking Dark Phoenix away, the Flaming Batmobile hovered in midair. Its door opened, and a Flame Skull wearing black denim stepped out. He first glanced at Mindy, whose aura was disordered and who was clearly somewhat exhausted. Then he turned toward Dark Phoenix, who was flying back. From the skull’s mouth came three hoarse words, spoken one syllable at a time.

"You-are-guilty!"

Thanks to reader Wuhua Yichen for rewarding 100 starting-point coins!