Successive Slayings

"No!"

Original Sin roared. Dazzling purple light erupted from his wound, and the next moment, he exploded with a bang. All his flesh and blood were reduced to ashes within the purple glow.

Original Sin was not dead, but he had been gravely injured. His soul sank directly into the earth, and it would take at least centuries, if not millennia, for him to recover.

"This is impossible."

Black Phoenix cried out in disbelief as Original Sin was killed in a single blow. Original Sin was God. How could God be instantly killed by Wade’s strike?

Just then, accompanied by an icy blue radiance, everything around them came to a halt.

That was right, everything stopped. Whether it was Black Phoenix, the phantom behind her, or the flames about to crash into Wade, all of it froze.

Iceman’s ability—Time Freeze! Immediately afterward, Wade put away the Adamantium Longsword, and a translucent blade of light appeared in his hand out of thin air. He traveled through space and slashed down at Black Phoenix.

This blade was the Mind Blade, containing all of the Professor’s Mind Power. Once Black Phoenix was struck, her consciousness would suffer severe damage. Then Jean would be able to break through the seal and regain control of her body.

"Don’t even think about it."

Black Phoenix erupted with all her power and forcibly recovered from frozen time. Then, using telekinesis, she erected layer after layer of spatial defenses before herself, stretching the distance between herself and the Mind Blade.

"Break!"

Wade opened his mouth and fired a laser. The spatial defenses were destroyed one after another, and the Mind Blade continued slashing toward Black Phoenix.

Just as the Mind Blade was about to strike its target, a hand reached out from the void and grabbed it.

"Ah, I’m dead."

The owner of the hand said excitedly. The next second, he switched to another voice and said, "My turn. Hurry up and kill me."

There was no question that it was Legion who had intervened. After the Mind Blade killed one of his personalities, it gradually faded away. The second Legion was extremely dissatisfied and shouted, "How can this be? Old man, hurry up and form another blade to kill me too."

"Shut up."

Apocalypse’s voice rang out. Then he, Black King, and Jason appeared beside Black Phoenix at the same time.

Black Phoenix let out a sigh of relief. That had been close. Fortunately, Legion and the others had arrived in time.

"As expected of Iron Man. We thought we could scheme against you, but you turned our scheme against us and killed Original Sin."

Black King’s expression was grim. Before the battle began, no one had imagined that Original Sin would die so quickly, or so miserably.

"The plan only succeeded halfway."

Wade sighed. The next moment, several beams of light flew out of him and transformed into the Professor, Psylocke, and the others.

After everyone left, Wade’s body suddenly collapsed. Fortunately, he immediately stood back up and complained, "That was cramped as hell. Good thing nobody farted while using my body."

Everyone looked at Wade speechlessly. Why did something so impressive become so sleazy when it came out of his mouth?

At the same time everyone appeared, all the mutants rushing toward them at full speed vanished. They were Time Shadows created by Franklin, barely different from the originals. That was why Black Phoenix and the others had failed to notice anything.

From atop the high-rise, the Celestial Group exclaimed, "As expected of the Space Lord. Not only did I fail to scheme against you, you even turned the tables on me. But why were you able to fuse them together? That ability should belong only to the Mutant God."

"I merely adapted to every circumstance without changing."

Wang Bert said calmly, "Only the Mutant God can fuse so many mutants together. The problem is, I possess the complete Fusion Concept.

Although I cannot condense concepts on Mutant Planet, I understand all the principles. Temporarily fusing them together is not difficult."

It was only a temporary fusion. If they could fuse completely, they might even be able to fight the Celestial Group! "I see. I failed to account for that, which led to Original Sin’s fall."

The Celestial Group came to a realization. It said, "Fortunately, they cannot remain fused for long. The odds are still more favorable on my side."

Wang Bert smiled. "Just keep watching. And by the way, I have never lost."

The Celestial Group said flatly, "Everything has a first time."

In Lost City, Black Phoenix stared at the Professor and the others, gritting her teeth. "You actually ambushed me. I’ll make you pay."

"We ambushed Original Sin. You were merely an accessory."

Wade said, "You weren’t important at all. Otherwise, the first blade would have been aimed at you."

"You’re courting death."

Black Phoenix flew into a rage. With a raised hand, a pillar of light made of pitch-black flames blasted fiercely toward Wade. Everywhere it passed, space vanished.

Wade’s eyes glowed red as he fired two lasers at Black Phoenix.

Wade alone naturally could not contend with Black Phoenix. His lasers were forced steadily backward. Seeing this, Cyclops immediately gathered all his energy in his chest and fired fiercely at Black Phoenix.

With Cyclops’s help, the flaming pillar was stopped. However, Black Phoenix still held the advantage, and the lasers struggled greatly to hold their ground.

When Black Phoenix attacked, Apocalypse did not fall behind. He stomped heavily, and the entire Lost City shook violently. Then countless Earth Giants crawled out of the ground and charged toward the Professor and the others in a vast tide.

"So many?"

Everyone was stunned. There had clearly only been a few dozen in the illusion. Why had there become hundreds here? The answer was simple: this was Lost City, a city personally forged by Apocalypse. Here, Earth Giants were not only numerous, but endless.

"I’ll handle these Earth Giants. You deal with the others."

Psylocke took a deep breath and merged with her blade, piercing through an Earth Giant’s chest. The Earth Giant howled and crashed to the ground with a rumble, kicking up clouds of dust.

Wolverine and Yuriko were about to charge at Apocalypse when their minds suddenly blurred and they fell into illusions.

There was no battle in Wolverine’s illusion, only women—Silver Fox, Jean, and Mariko. They were all the wives of Wolverine, Logan.

Having three wives was not a good thing, especially when all three wanted Wolverine to themselves. So they schemed against each other every day and argued without end. Wolverine was endlessly annoyed, yet helping either one was the wrong choice.

In the end, Wolverine did not even want to go home. Every day after work, he would sit in his car and enjoy the peace of being alone.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last. The three women discovered that he had been using overtime as an excuse to avoid going home every day. They cried and made a scene, just like a melodrama.

Wolverine could no longer endure it and chose to run away from home. Sitting in his car, a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind. If I die, they won’t be able to torment me anymore.

The moment that thought appeared, it kept circling in Wolverine’s mind. He held a lighter, opening and closing it with a conflicted expression.

"Die. Once you’re dead, you’ll have complete peace."

Jason muttered. As Mastermind, he could not only create illusions to confuse others, but also sense the fears in their hearts.

Wolverine had lived for a long time and possessed an exceptionally steadfast will. There were few things that could frighten him, and even fewer that could make him so afraid that he wanted to die. Jason could only take another path, fulfilling Wolverine’s wish while dragging that wish into an abyss. That way, Wolverine would lose all desire to live.

What was Wolverine’s wish? Naturally, I want them all!

Jason thought excitedly, Father, I’ll avenge you soon.

Unlike Wolverine’s illusion, Yuriko’s was very simple—she was an assassin, an assassin without emotions.

Yuriko did not know who she was, where she came from, or what the meaning of her existence was. Her life was simple every day—receive orders, kill the target, retreat, then wait in a room for the next order.

Yuriko was deeply unwilling to live such a life. She had tried to resist, but she could not resist at all. She could only endure in silence, filling her heart with despair. One day, she raised a gun to her chin, ready to end her life.

"You are a puppet. This is your destined fate."

Jason sneered. What did Yuriko fear most? Being controlled by others, to the point where she did not even have a self. This was the shadow Stryker had left upon her, and now Jason intended to use that shadow to kill her.

Just then, Yuriko turned her gun and fired at the corner to her right. With a bang, a little boy appeared out of nowhere. Looking at his bleeding chest, he shouted in disbelief, "How is this possible?"

How could Yuriko break free from his illusion? How could Yuriko know where he was?

"BOSS told me that you would definitely use illusions on Wolverine and me."

Yuriko said coldly to Jason, "So he specially prepared a lesson for Wolverine and me, a lesson on how to resist illusions. I woke up long ago and had been searching for your trail.

Jason, I should have killed you directly back then. You and your father are both disgusting bastards."

"You’re the disgusting one! I’ll definitely kill you and avenge my father."

Jason roared. Yuriko smiled disdainfully and fired repeatedly, blasting apart his consciousness.

In another illusion, Wolverine suddenly froze, then snapped his lighter shut and stepped out of the car. He walked over to a large tree and punched it fiercely. The next moment, Jason appeared with a scream and fell to his knees.

"You really are impressive. I almost fell for it."

Wolverine snorted. "Luckily, BOSS gave me lessons. At the critical moment, I woke up."

Wolverine had awakened not only because of Wang Bert’s lessons, but also because he possessed an extremely strong will to survive. It was still far too early for him to die.

Jason roared, "I won’t let you go! I’ll make your deaths as miserable as possible."

"I’ll send you to meet that bastard. Oh, and don’t forget to tell him that I’m living very well."

Wolverine grabbed Jason’s head and smashed it hard against the tree as he spoke coldly.

Bang! Jason’s head exploded, and the illusion began to fade. Wolverine glanced at his home and could not help shuddering. Monogamy was the right path. If anyone dared mention polygamy again, he would beat them until they could no longer take care of themselves.

"People can’t be too greedy. Silver Fox is enough."

Wolverine came to a profound realization. "As for Jean, I should give her back to Cyclops. That guy saved me several times. I can’t keep stealing his woman."

In Lost City, Jason let out a shrill scream. Blood flowed from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, a sign that his mental power had suffered severe damage.

Jason clutched his head, which felt like it was about to explode, and prepared to retreat. At that moment, Quicksilver suddenly appeared before him and thrust a sword viciously into his body.

"Don’t thank me. It’s what I should do."

Quicksilver giggled. Jason stared at Quicksilver in disbelief as his body slowly fell. As Mastermind, he did not possess regeneration.

"Jason!"

Seeing Jason die miserably, Black King was both shocked and furious. He fired an energy wave at Quicksilver, who abruptly vanished. When he reappeared, he was already behind Black King, slashing him with his sword.

Unfortunately, Black King was not killed. He absorbed the energy on the sword, then roared as energy erupted from him. The surrounding space shook violently, as if it might shatter at any moment.

Quicksilver immediately fled Black King’s attack range. He said to Wolverine and Yuriko, "I’ll help Psylocke deal with the Earth Giants. You handle this guy."

"Logan, go help too. I’ll kill Black King."

Yuriko said to Wolverine. Wolverine nodded and charged toward Apocalypse.

Seeing Yuriko charge at him, Black King smiled disdainfully and fired an energy wave at her. "A mere secretary dares to fight me?"

Yuriko did not dodge. The energy wave struck her and vanished directly. Then she rushed before Black King, her claws stabbing at him repeatedly at astonishing speed.

Yuriko was too fast for Black King to dodge. He simply did not bother. As soon as the claws struck him, their power was absorbed by him.

Black King snorted and prepared to unleash his energy. At that moment, Yuriko placed her hand on him, and his power was rapidly absorbed by Yuriko.

"How is this possible?"

Black King was greatly alarmed. He immediately unleashed all his energy, trying to blast Yuriko away.

Boom! The ground collapsed into a massive crater, and cracks covered the void. Yet to Black King’s shock, Yuriko’s hand remained on him.

Yuriko’s destroyed body regenerated at an astonishing speed. She said coldly, "So what if I’m a secretary? BOSS’s secretary is ten thousand times nobler than you. You will become my nourishment and help me reach a higher realm."

"No!"

Black King roared and gathered power, preparing to erupt once more. Before the battle, he had absorbed a great deal of energy.

At that moment, Yuriko drove her claw fiercely into Black King’s heart. Black King stared at Yuriko in disbelief. Why had his ability not worked?

The reason was simple: Yuriko had used the ability she had just absorbed to neutralize Black King’s ability.

Rogue’s ability was more advanced than Black King’s. Black King could only absorb energy, while Rogue could absorb abilities. Combined with Yuriko’s immortal body, Black King’s defeat was entirely natural. He should never have allowed Yuriko to get close.

From atop the high-rise, Wang Bert watched Black King gradually collapse and smiled. "Celestial Group, two more of your people have died."

As he spoke, Wang Bert’s hand behind his back moved slightly. The primal mutant auras from Jason and Black King’s corpses traveled through space and were silently absorbed into his body.

Jason and Black King’s auras were special. Their powers were useful to Wang Bert.

Because Wang Bert used Money Power to conceal it, the Celestial Group did not notice any of this. It looked at the battlefield and said, "This is only the beginning."

"A good beginning is half the success."

Wang Bert smiled. With the help of the two primal auras, his mastery of the Mutant Source, which had not moved for a long time, slowly began to rise.