The Curtain Rises

"Manipulating my fate?"

Wolverine frowned deeply and asked angrily, "Who is the Behind-the-Scenes Manipulator?"

Sabretooth answered in a low voice, "Our ancestor, Romulus. Don’t make that face. Once our bloodline awakens, we become immortal. You know that."

Wolverine muttered, "Romulus? That name sounds kind of familiar."

Sabretooth said, "You always fall asleep the moment you see a book, so it’s normal that you don’t remember. Romulus was the founder of ancient Rome and also our ancestor, an old monster who has lived for thousands of years."

Wolverine was stunned. "The founder of ancient Rome? That’s too ridiculous, isn’t it? Wait, does that mean our ancestors used to be rich and powerful too?"

Sabretooth laughed. "I suppose so, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re poor now."

"You’re poor. I’m not. My salary is quite high."

Wolverine snorted and asked, "Why does he want to manipulate our fates?"

"How would I know? It’s not like I’m him."

Sabretooth shrugged and said, "All I know is that he’s incredibly powerful. I’m no match for him at all. He’s the Wolf King, the Wolf King who rules over all wolves."

Remembering that battle, Sabretooth could not help shuddering. Even a fierce man like him could not help fearing Romulus. The other man was simply too strong.

Wolverine fell silent for a moment, then asked, "What do you want to do?"

"Jimmy, I want to take you with me and kill him. With your current strength and my support, we should be able to do it."

Sabretooth said, "As long as he lives, neither we nor our descendants will ever know peace."

"Our descendants?"

Wolverine abruptly clenched his fists and asked, "Do you know where he is?"

Sabretooth nodded. "Yes. He’s been hiding in the mountains of Great Canada all these years."

"I’m going to see him and ask why he did this. If he’s willing to stop, I’ll spare him. If he isn’t, I’ll kill him."

Wolverine extended his claws and said coldly, "No one gets to control my child’s fate, not even my ancestor."

"Good."

Sabretooth nodded in satisfaction. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Should we tell BOSS?"

"No. Challenging the Wolf King is an internal matter for our family."

Wolverine shook his head. "Don’t worry. BOSS gave me a watch. As long as I press it, he’ll come save us immediately."

"A watch?"

Sabretooth rubbed his chin and asked suspiciously, "Don’t you think BOSS treats you a little too well? He not only lets you slack off every day without working, he even gave you a watch to protect your life."

Wolverine blinked and said, "I didn’t think so until you mentioned it. Now that you have, it does seem like he treats me pretty well. He even helped me save Silver Fox."

"Bosses don’t have any reason to treat employees this well."

Sabretooth chuckled. "BOSS has never had a woman by his side. Do you think he might… heh heh!"

Wolverine did not understand at first, but then flew into a rage and punched Sabretooth away. When had this guy become so filthy? But then again, BOSS really did not seem interested in women.

Ahem, setting that aside for now, Wolverine found an excuse and headed into the mountains of Great Canada with Sabretooth. With Sabretooth leading the way, they did not spend much effort finding Romulus, who lived in a wooden cabin.

Romulus was a towering, heavily built man with an arrogant face and several strands of white hair hanging over his forehead. When he saw Wolverine and Sabretooth, he laughed. "The little wolf cubs have come to challenge the Wolf King."

Wolverine did not blindly trust one side. He shouted at Romulus, "Romulus, have you been manipulating our fates all along?"

"Yes. Your amnesia and Sabretooth being beaten stupid were both my doing."

Romulus did not deny it. He leaped in front of them and said with a smile, "I’m very glad you’ve returned to normal. That means I can torment you again."

"Romulus!"

Wolverine and Sabretooth were furious. Wolverine tossed aside his hiking pack and demanded, "Why?"

Romulus shrugged and answered, "Because I’m a psychopath."

"What?" Wolverine and Sabretooth were dumbfounded.

"I’ve lived for thousands of years. I’ve enjoyed everything there is to enjoy, and life became unbearably boring, yet I can’t die."

Romulus sighed and said, "Over time, I became a psychopath. I torment you because it brings me pleasure. The more miserable you are, the happier I am."

Wolverine and Sabretooth gritted their teeth in rage. They had imagined many reasons, but never expected the real one to be so absurd.

"Then there’s nothing more to say."

Wolverine took a deep breath, stared at Romulus, and said, "Romulus, I will cut off your head and completely end the bloodline curse of the Howlett Family."

Sabretooth added, "Everything ends today."

Faced with the challenge from his two descendants, Romulus merely sighed. "Being challenged by descendants is actually quite entertaining, but a perfectly timed amusement is waiting for me, so I can only give this up."

"What do you mean?"

Wolverine was puzzled. Just then, he suddenly flew backward and crashed into a tree with a bang, sending leaves raining down.

With anger and fear in his voice, Wolverine shouted, "Magneto!"

"Yes, it’s me."

Magneto walked out of the cabin and smiled. "Wolverine, no matter how strong you become, I will always be your nemesis."

"Victor!"

Wolverine shouted. The meaning was obvious: he wanted Sabretooth to press his watch. Sabretooth did not hesitate and immediately leaped toward Wolverine with all his strength.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared above him and kicked him back into the ground. He slammed down with a bang, smashing out a small crater. It was Romulus.

Romulus descended from the sky and said with a smile, "Such a fine bit of entertainment can’t be ruined by you."

Magneto arrogantly said to Wolverine, "Wolverine, stop struggling. Before me, you’re no different from a child. Next, cooperate with us and contribute to the great cause of mutants."

"You were waiting here specifically for me?"

Wolverine froze and asked in confusion, "How is that possible? How did you know I was coming here?"

Romulus smiled. "Of course, because of Victor."

Wolverine glared at Sabretooth. "You betrayed me again?"

Sabretooth hurriedly shouted, "I didn’t, Jimmy! This time, I really didn’t betray you."

"He really didn’t betray you. He was simply hypnotized into bringing you here to deal with me."

Romulus said, "Without that hypnosis, he probably wouldn’t have come looking for you so quickly."

Sabretooth shouted, "I was hypnotized? How is that possible? I don’t remember anything at all."

"How could you possibly remember when Apocalypse did it himself?"

Romulus spread his hands and said, "A grand feast is about to begin. I like it very much, so I agreed to join Apocalypse and become one of his Four Horsemen."

Wolverine’s expression changed. "Apocalypse? Your target wasn’t me. Your target is Iron Man."

"Of course. Why would you be worth so much trouble?"

Magneto smiled disdainfully, then took out his phone and said, "Blink, we’re done here. Open a portal."

"Okay."

A voice came from the phone. Then, a purple vortex appeared out of thin air nearby. Apocalypse emerged from it with Blink, whose face now bore an extra ring of spatial markings.

"Apocalypse."

Wolverine and Sabretooth’s expressions became incomparably grave. This time, they were completely finished.

Apocalypse looked at Wolverine and Sabretooth and said, "You are mutants, so I am willing to give you a chance. Pledge yourselves to me, and I will not treat you poorly."

"Dream on! I’d rather die than surrender to you."

Wolverine roared, "You’re no match for Iron Man. He’ll definitely defeat you."

"Iron Man’s vision is too narrow, and so is yours."

Apocalypse shook his head, then turned his gaze toward Sabretooth and asked, "What about you?"

Sabretooth hesitated. After a moment, he said, "I betrayed Jimmy before, but this time, I choose to stand with my brother."

"What touching brotherhood. Someday, I’ll make sure to arrange a performance where you kill each other."

Romulus clapped and said, "Let me think. It starts with Sabretooth killing Silver Fox… uh, I think that’s already been done. Then let’s do another one: Sabretooth kills Wolverine’s daughter."

"You dare? I’ll kill you!"

Wolverine roared and poured all his strength into trying to break free from Magneto’s control. Unfortunately, he could not do it. He could not even bend a finger.

Romulus laughed. "Don’t rush. Your story won’t come so soon. The great play about to begin is called Mutant God."

"This show won’t disappoint you."

Apocalypse smiled. His eyes lit up with gray light as he said to Wolverine and Sabretooth, "Look into my eyes."

Wolverine and Sabretooth instinctively looked at Apocalypse. Once they did, they could no longer look away. Then, their consciousness grew increasingly blurred until they fell completely into darkness.

Apocalypse shook his head. "Compared to the Professor’s mental control, this hypnosis can’t even make it onto the stage."

"At least it works."

As Magneto spoke, he released his hand. Wolverine dropped to the ground with a bang, scattering a mass of leaves.

"Use it for now. Better things will come soon."

Apocalypse spoke, then willed the shadow beneath his feet to transform into another version of himself standing before everyone.

This was another of Apocalypse’s abilities: Shadow Clone, which possessed roughly thirty percent of his strength.

Apocalypse ordered the clone to walk over to Magneto. Then he said, "Magneto, you may begin your performance. Blink, Romulus, follow him and help him complete it."

"Yes, Apocalypse."

Blink answered respectfully, while Romulus merely nodded with an arrogant expression.

"I’ll raise the curtain on this war of gods."

Magneto said excitedly. After preparing for so long, they could finally begin officially. This world would soon belong to mutants.

"The gods will not forget your contributions."

Apocalypse nodded and left through the Space Vortex with Wolverine and Sabretooth.

After the Space Vortex closed, Magneto instructed Blink, "First, go to our base and gather our people. Then go to the new Statue of Liberty."

"As you wish."

Blink smiled, opened a Space Vortex, and took Magneto to New York.

Last year, the Statue of Liberty had nearly wiped out humanity’s upper ranks under the control of a certain congressman. Later, the Statue of Liberty was destroyed by mutants and shattered into pieces.

The Statue of Liberty was a popular attraction in New York and a symbol of America’s "freedom," so President Richard allocated special funds to restore it. This January, the new Statue of Liberty once again stood on Liberty Island, with large numbers of tourists coming to visit every day.

"The main structure of the Statue of Liberty has not changed. Only some details were added, such as the torch taking on a more modern design…"

The tour guide introduced the monument to the visitors. As one tourist took photos, he asked, "The Statue of Liberty doesn’t have joints. How did she walk to the island across the water?"

The tour guide smiled. "You’ll have to ask the Doomsday Master about that. I can’t answer it."

"Will she come back to life again?"

A young tourist asked curiously. The tour guide replied, "Definitely not. Don’t worry, everyone. The Statue of Liberty is very safe. She symbolizes America’s freedom…"

As the tour guide spoke, he suddenly saw all the tourists staring behind him in terror. Some even had their mouths wide open.

"Please don’t let it be what I think it is…"

The tour guide blinked and stiffly turned around, only to discover that the Statue of Liberty had come alive again—she slowly rose from the ground into the air.

"The freedom you desire has arrived."

An aged yet powerful voice rang out. Then, the torch atop the Statue of Liberty lit up with dazzling light, and every human struck by that light let out a shrill scream.

A moment later, some humans began to change. Some grew scales, some burst into flames, and others grew horns from their heads. They were evolving, evolving into mutants.

Seeing this, Magneto laughed triumphantly. He had researched for so many years for this very moment.

The light from the torch came from the Mutant Transformation Device. Magneto had secretly installed it in the torch, allowing it to radiate the Light of Freedom into the surrounding area.

At this moment, some humans suddenly began vomiting blood before collapsing to the ground and losing their breath. Their evolution had failed.

Magneto’s Mutant Transformation Device did not have a one-hundred-percent success rate. In fact, its success rate was only around thirty percent. If the process failed, the irradiated subject’s cells would deteriorate and they would die.

Magneto did not care about that. The dead were all humans, anyway. Only those who endured had the right to become mutants, to become gods!

It was worth mentioning that the humans who died would strengthen Original Sin, because Apocalypse had added Original Sin’s resentment into the mutant device.

This also caused the successfully transformed mutants to be filled with brutality. They climbed up from the ground and charged toward the Steel Bridge and Manhattan Island with bloodshot eyes.

"Kill! Kill all humans! This world belongs to us mutants!"

Magneto laughed wildly and controlled the Statue of Liberty as she flew toward Manhattan Island. That was his true target.

"Warning! Highest-level alert! A major incident has occurred on Liberty Island in New York. It is suspected to be the work of Magneto, a top-level wanted criminal."

A piercing alarm sounded throughout the Mutant Affairs Management Department, startling everyone.