Fifteen seconds passed.
To the men behind the firing line, it was more than enough. Nothing living could survive that.
Then a voice barked out over the chaos.
"Stop!"
The gunfire slowed… then ceased.
Smoke hung thick in the air, drifting between frozen wreckage and shattered pavement. The operators stared at the impact zone, fingers still tight on triggers, certain of only one thing.
Whatever had been there should be dead.
The smoke began to thin.
And something was still standing.
"You guys… messed up."
The words came from the smoke—flat, almost condescending, as if they'd just made the most foolish decision of their lives.
The temperature dropped instantly—like the world had been thrown into a freezer.
CRACK—CRACK
Ice surged out of the asphalt like jagged spears, racing across the street in an instant. Metal groaned as vehicles froze in place, windows frosting over from the inside.
Before anyone could turn—
Esdeath was behind them.
An ice lance was already in motion.
She swung it once.
A clean, horizontal arc.
Ten heads left their bodies at the same time.
For half a second, the men were still standing—eyes wide, mouths open—then their heads hit the pavement in staggered thuds, rolling apart as blood burst from their necks and froze mid-splash, crystallizing into dark red ice.
The bodies collapsed a beat later.
Silence.
Then screaming.
"CONTACT—BEHIND US—!"
Sentinels snapped around, targeting her immediately. Cannons charged, missiles locking on.
WHRRRR—BEEP—BEEP
Luke sighed, already knowing what would happen next.
She didn't dodge.
The blasts hit and froze mid-impact.
Fire blossomed, then stopped, trapped inside spreading ice. Explosions were swallowed whole, sealed in crystal shells that cracked apart and rained down like shattered glass.
Then she was gone. A blur of blue.
Blood sprayed, instantly crystallizing in the air. Dark red ice flecked the pavement as more heads rolled free, clattering across the ground.
At the same time, sharp blue arcs flashed through the Sentinels.
FWOOOM
Six massive machines were cut cleanly in half, their armored bodies split like butter. The upper halves slid off, crashed down, and sparked uselessly as their systems died.
Metal screamed. Hydraulics burst. Then—silence.
Esdeath reappeared a few steps away, boots touching down lightly. Ice mist curled around her legs, lance dripping frozen blood.
She glanced at the wreckage, mildly disappointed.
"…Too fragile."
Luke stared at the ruined street—the frozen bodies, the bisected Sentinels—and exhaled slowly.
"Didn't I say leave?" he muttered. "Who told you to mess with her?"
There was no pity in his voice. None at all.
Their actions were suicidal enough to provoke Esdeath—and that was why they were dead.
A ripple of violet light bled into the frozen street, cutting sharply through the white-blue stillness.
Space folded in on itself.
A portal opened—clean, precise, glowing purple at the edges.
Esdeath noticed it instantly.
She moved.
Ice cracked beneath her feet as she lunged forward, lance forming in her hand mid-motion, killing intent sharp and eager. Whatever had just arrived was a threat—and threats were meant to be erased.
The two figures stepping out of the portal barely had time to register what was happening.
But Luke did.
He flashed forward and planted himself between them in the same instant the lance came down.
CLANG.
The impact never landed.
"Esdeath," Luke said firmly, one hand up. "You can't kill them."
Her eyes flicked to him. For a heartbeat, the air felt like it might shatter anyway.
Then she smiled.
The ice lance dissolved into frost, and instead of finishing the strike, she leaned in and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck from behind, chin near his shoulder—possessive, amused.
"As you say," Esdeath replied lightly.
Luke exhaled, then turned his attention forward.
One was a woman with long purplish hair and a faint violet glow still clinging to her hands—Blink—her eyes flicking rapidly between Luke, Esdeath, and the battlefield of frozen corpses.
The other stood slightly ahead of her, shoulders squared, metal claws already half-extended out of instinct alone.
Wolverine didn't need introductions. The stance said everything.
Luke gave a small nod, calm despite the scene.
"So," he said evenly, Esdeath still hanging off him like this was normal, "you're here for us, right?"
Blink hesitated, then answered carefully. "Professor Xavier sent us."
She didn't add anything else. She wasn't even sure cooperation was guaranteed. They had just appeared out of nowhere, unannounced, asking him to come along—as if that alone was reason enough.
An invitation had been extended, yes, but whether it would be accepted was entirely up to the other party.
Luke studied her for a brief moment.
"Then lead the way," he said.
Blink blinked.
That was it?
She stared at him, clearly caught off guard. She'd been ready to argue, to explain, to make a case—maybe even negotiate.
Instead, he agreed without hesitation—and Blink felt a small wave of relief. She glanced at him once more, then raised her hand and opened the portal.
As the portal opened, Luke's expression turned thoughtful.
He needed answers—fast. Across the multiverse, no two Earths shared the same history. Some worlds feared mutants quietly. Some tried uneasy coexistence. Others burned everything down before it could even begin.
This Earth felt different.
Sentinels deploying this quickly meant the program wasn't experimental or secret—it was approved, operational. And the hostility toward mutants
Luke stepped toward the portal, eyes narrowing.
'Yeah… This world's history is going to be weird.'
*****
A/N: If you'd like to read chapters ahead of the Webnovel release schedule, you can join my Patreon!
The Patreon version is already updated up to Chapter 197.
👉 patreon.com/Universal_Peace