Retreat and Counterattack

In Eastern terms, Magneto had long since fallen to demons—the demon of mutant supremacy. Other than their stance, he was no different from those people in the Human Supremacy Organization.

Just then, a pair of aged hands caught Mystique as she fell. It was Professor Charles. He said, "Raven, don’t be sad. No matter who you are, you’re still my family—my sister."

Having lived for decades, Mystique now only wanted to lean into the professor’s arms and have a good cry.

"You two can go in together."

Apocalypse had no time to watch a family drama. After destroying the small planet, he waved through the air, and Professor Charles and Mystique both flew uncontrollably toward the Space Vortex.

Apocalypse was determined to obtain the professor’s Mind Power.

Once he gained that ability, all humanity would become his slaves for all eternity. Unlike the professor, he would not possess such a heaven-defying power and barely use it.

"Nope. Come back, all of you."

Franklin rotated his hands, and time began to rewind. Not only did the professor and Mystique return to where they had been, but even Magneto, who had escaped earlier, was rapidly pulled backward.

"Break!"

Apocalypse stomped down hard. The entire villa shook violently, and Franklin’s Time Rewind was abruptly interrupted. Magneto breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly fled farther away.

The professor also let out a breath and guided his wheelchair, carrying the weakened Mystique toward a corner.

Why not flee directly outside? The reason was simple: with Apocalypse’s abilities, it would be even more dangerous outside. To a spatial ability user, distance had never been a problem.

"I’m just a child. Why do I have to take part in such a brutal battle?"

Franklin complained, then clapped his hands together. Apocalypse’s body was suddenly enveloped by a small planet. Then, the planet rapidly shrank into a blue bead and flew toward Franklin.

Franklin was about to shatter the small bead before him when it suddenly broke apart on its own. Apocalypse then flew in front of Franklin, his palm carrying layer upon layer of spatial slashes as it cut toward him.

Franklin pointed a finger, and Apocalypse suddenly froze. He took the chance to flee to the side, grumbling unhappily, "Why hasn’t Iron Man arrived yet? I sent him a message ages ago."

"Sorry, he can’t come. A group of foolish humans is preparing to ambush him. Why do you think I chose today to act?"

Apocalypse snorted. "Boy, don’t force my hand. Otherwise, you’ll vanish from this world."

"Apocalypse, I may not be as strong as you, but you still can’t kill me."

Franklin snorted. "Besides, my mission isn’t to defeat you. It’s to delay you until Iron Man arrives."

"Is that so?"

Apocalypse raised both hands, and a small pyramid covered in mysterious patterns rose from the ground. Then, waves of spatial ripples spread from the pyramid and attacked Franklin.

Franklin was about to dodge when the spatial ripples suddenly changed direction and surged toward the professor and the others. Franklin hurriedly raised his hand, and a World Barrier appeared out of thin air in front of them.

Apocalypse smiled coldly. The pyramid suddenly appeared beside Franklin, and Franklin was helplessly suspended from it. Then, his body began flickering wildly, as if he might disappear at any moment.

"If there were nothing wrong with you, even I would find it difficult to kill you. The problem is that something is seriously wrong with you. You don’t belong to this era at all."

Apocalypse spoke smugly. Just then, time and space suddenly rewound. Franklin returned to the air, while the pyramid sank into the ground and vanished.

Franklin smiled. "Sorry, but I’m fairly confident when it comes to staying alive."

"A Time Loop? You created a Time Loop between us?"

As Apocalypse spoke, he sensed the surrounding time and space, trying to break the loop.

"That’s right. No matter what you and I do, we’ll eventually return to the starting point."

Franklin said, "Apocalypse, when it comes to time, I’m an expert."

"Is that so?"

Apocalypse snorted and stopped attacking, because it was pointless. However, that did not mean he would stop here. He narrowed his eyes and contacted his subordinates with his mind.

A moment later, a purple vortex appeared, and four mutants stepped out.

Of the four mutants, the leader was an Asian woman. She was Blink, a mutant with spatial abilities. The long-haired mutant on the left was Zheng Tu, a close-combat expert who could fly and possessed extremely sharp senses.

The mutant on the right was a Black man with many small braids tied in his hair. His codename was Bishop. His ability was somewhat similar to Black King’s: absorbing energy and releasing it.

Besides those three, a handsome mutant stood behind them. He was Sunspot, who could absorb solar radiation and unleash flames. He was an enhanced, upgraded version of Human Torch—before Human Torch became a Horseman.

It was worth mentioning that Sunspot’s eyes were somewhat unfocused. Something was clearly wrong with him.

As soon as the four appeared, the Space Vortex vanished. At the same time, all four felt their powers disappear. They were greatly alarmed and turned murderous gazes toward the little bald boy, Leech. They knew he was the one affecting them.

Leech nearly wet himself. The outside world really was too dangerous. He was starting to want to go back to being a bird in a cage.

"I haven’t been doing nothing all this time."

Apocalypse snorted. "Take the professor and Leech away. As for those two women, kill them directly."

"You dare?"

Franklin was about to stop them when a transparent spatial pyramid appeared around him and Apocalypse out of thin air, enclosing them both.

Blink and the other three took the opportunity to charge toward the professor’s group. The professor maneuvered his wheelchair in front of them and shouted, "Laura, Leech, take Raven and run! I’ll hold them off!"

Laura did not run. Instead, she charged fiercely at the four. Leech remained where he was, looking utterly at a loss.

Just then, spatial light flashed, and Wade and Wolverine appeared out of thin air. Wolverine grabbed Laura, who was charging forward, and said, "Leave fighting to your old man."

Laura growled at Wolverine. She had never acknowledged that rude bastard as her father.

Blink and the others were not afraid of Wolverine. Just as they were about to attack, a voice rang out. "Apocalypse, leave this place."

"Iron Man, how does it feel to be betrayed by humans? Humanity is an inferior race. They are only fit to be slaves."

Apocalypse sneered. "I’ll give you a chance. Submit to me. Become my knight, and rule humanity with me."

"Humanity is never inferior. Trash like you, always wanting to sit on everyone else’s heads, are the ones who are inferior."

Wang Bert said disdainfully, "Apocalypse, leave. Otherwise, you and I will begin fighting right now."

"You think I’m afraid of you?"

Apocalypse smiled disdainfully. "But now isn’t the time for us to fight. We’ll leave it here for today. Iron Man, you and I will eventually have a battle. Then you’ll learn who the true Mutant God is."

Wang Bert said, "Other than me, who else is qualified to be the Mutant God?"

"I like your arrogance. When you kneel before me, I’ll be very happy."

Apocalypse said, "Boy, undo the Time Loop."

Franklin snapped his fingers. "Done. I can finally go to sleep."

Apocalypse glanced at the professor and Leech, then left through the Space Vortex with Blink and the other three. No matter what, he had to obtain the professor’s ability. He had overlooked Franklin this time. Next time, he would not make the same mistake.

After everyone had left, Franklin yawned and said, "Buy a warehouse full of chocolate and put it in my room. I’m going to sleep."

Wang Bert complained, "Aren’t you afraid of getting cavities from eating so much chocolate?"

"It’s fine. I can just rewind my body."

Franklin said, "I just like eating chocolate. I don’t need its nutrition."

With that, Franklin floated upstairs. Wang Bert shook his head. Having superpowers really did make one willful.

"Bert, thank you."

Seeing that things had temporarily settled down, the professor breathed a sigh of relief. Then he remembered something and asked, "Bert, is everything alright on your end? Did the Human Supremacy Organization launch a counterattack?"

"Yes, if you can call that a counterattack."

Wang Bert smiled and instructed Wolverine and Wade, "Stay here and protect them for now. Oh, and Professor, have Mutant Academy stay on high alert. Apocalypse may go there."

"Alright."

The professor nodded first, then sighed. "We just dealt with the Doomsday Master, and now Apocalypse has appeared. When will this world ever be at peace?"

And the Celestial Group.

The professor silently added to himself. His retirement plans were probably doomed.

Wang Bert said calmly, "Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, nothing will happen to this world."

Let us turn back time a little. While Apocalypse was launching his surprise attack on the resort villa, Wang Bert was drinking tea with General Wright in the hall.

Wang Bert took a few sips of freshly brewed hot tea and nodded approvingly. "Very fragrant. I didn’t expect you to know how to make tea, General Wright."

He drank the cure.

General Wright was overjoyed. He smiled and said, "I also enjoy tea. In fact, my ancestors were English nobles."

"No wonder."

Wang Bert said, "Speaking of which, England’s Queen wants to grant me a title. I’m considering whether to accept. A title is of no use to me."

"Has that Queen also submitted to mutants?"

General Wright was somewhat irritated. After thinking for a moment, he decided to speed things up. Iron Man had already taken the cure. He was now no different from an ordinary person.

With that thought, General Wright asked with a smile, "Iron Man, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you. Would that be alright?"

Wang Bert smiled. "No need to be polite. Go ahead."

General Wright asked very politely, "Could you please go die?"

Wang Bert said, "That’s a rude way to put it. You should ask, ‘May I borrow your head?’"

General Wright was dumbfounded. That was not the right reaction. Shouldn’t he be shocked, terrified, and utterly horrified?

"Do it."

General Wright stopped wasting words and shouted. The next moment, the main doors and two surrounding walls were smashed apart simultaneously. Then, a large number of Sentinel Robots and Wolverine clones stormed into the hall, surrounding Wang Bert.

General Wright retreated to the rear as quickly as possible, protected by a group of Sentinel Robots. Then he said smugly, "Iron Man, didn’t see that coming, did you?"

"So many Wolverines? How much do you people like Wolverine, exactly?"

Wang Bert ignored General Wright. Looking at the group of identical Wolverines in front of him, he complained, "You even replicated the hairstyle and clothes."

Dr. Rice, who was mixed in among the crowd, was a little embarrassed. He said, "Sorry, I’m somewhat of a perfectionist. I like to do things properly.

"Besides, we don’t just have Wolverine. We also have Sabretooth, Cyclops, and Jean."

Wang Bert pretended to be curious and asked, "You are… Dr. Rice? You didn’t die?"

"How could a genius like me die so easily?"

Dr. Rice said with a smile, "The one whose head exploded earlier was my clone."

"Iron Man, you’re very calm, aren’t you?"

General Wright sneered from behind him. "Understandable. With your spatial abilities, you could go anywhere you wanted. Unfortunately, you no longer have spatial abilities."

Dr. Rice added, "And your Money Power is gone too."

Wang Bert asked unhurriedly, "Why are my spatial abilities and Money Power gone?"

"Because the tea you just drank had cure mixed into it—the cure that treats you mutants."

General Wright burst into laughter. "You’re no different from an ordinary person now. We’ll kill you, then wipe out mutants across the entire country."

Wang Bert could not be bothered to keep acting and directly asked, "Wipe out mutants? Are you members of the Human Supremacy Organization?"

Dr. Rice was somewhat stunned by Wang Bert’s attitude. He said, "That’s right. We are members of the Human Supremacy Organization. We will force all mutants to return to normal with the cure.

"Iron Man, before long, there will be no more mutants anywhere except laboratories. Even if there are, they will only be clones under our control."

"You really are being straightforward."

Wang Bert asked, "Who is the leader of your Human Supremacy Organization?"

Dr. Rice felt that something was wrong and turned to shout at General Wright, "The longer we wait, the more likely things will change. Kill him now."

"Fine. Iron Man, go to Hell."

General Wright stopped wasting words and ordered the Sentinel Robots, "Kill him."

All the Sentinel Robots’ eyes lit up with red light at the same time. It was Cyclops’s ability.

"It’s fine. If you won’t talk now, you’ll talk later—in front of all the viewers."

Wang Bert smiled faintly and pronounced judgment like a judge. "The Human Supremacy Organization is anti-humanity and anti-mutant, guilty of heinous crimes. In the name of the Mutant Savior, I sentence every one of you to death."

"You think this is still your era? Sentinel Robots, what are you waiting for? Kill him now!"

General Wright roared, but to his astonishment, the Sentinel Robots did not attack. Instead, they all saluted Wang Bert. "Greetings, Supreme BOSS Iron Man."

Wang Bert laughed loudly. "Sentinels, well done."

General Wright and Dr. Rice felt a chill run from the tops of their heads to the soles of their feet. General Wright shouted in a trembling voice, "That’s impossible! Trask Industries, why are your Sentinel Robots under Iron Man’s control?"