Watching the battlefield through the astral plane, Professor X's expression was grim beyond measure. Cyclops and Storm's most devastating attacks were entirely ineffective against the White Demon; in fact, they were actively feeding him an endless supply of energy. There was only one person left among them who could possibly stop this monster.
Entering Jean Grey's mind via telepathy, Professor X issued a desperate command:
"Jean... unleash it. Do not fear the power. Use it to defeat the White Demon!"
Jean Grey's eyes slowly turned a chaotic, burning crimson. Her body levitated off the ground. The primordial Phoenix Force—the cosmic embodiment of all life and emotion—began to awaken within her flesh! An ethereal, fiery aura erupted around her, radiating an absolute, conceptual decomposition.
The physical matter surrounding Jean instantly disintegrated into nothingness. The sheer, overwhelming power of the Phoenix Force was capable of decomposing absolutely any substance in the universe!
Even the invincible White Demon was not exempt. His physical vessel began to actively decompose!
For the first time, the White Demon, who had casually ignored every single attack thrown at him, finally turned his attention to Jean Grey.
Seeing this, the X-Men felt a massive surge of hope. Just like the ancient mutant Apocalypse in their original timeline, the White Demon would surely be reduced to ash before the absolute might of the Phoenix!
Su Mu turned around, looking at the awakening Phoenix Force within Jean Grey.
It was obvious that his Level 4 Energy Absorption wasn't entirely sufficient to passively block the conceptual, molecular decomposition of the Phoenix Force. His body was slowly turning to dust, and the rate of disintegration was accelerating by the second.
However, Su Mu wasn't worried in the slightest. He flashed Jean a brilliant, manic smile.
He raised his index finger, pointing it directly at her. A terrifying black-red singularity materialized in a fraction of a microsecond and shot toward her like a laser!
The singularity violently tore through the air, screaming toward Jean with unstoppable momentum!
Faced with an attack of such apocalyptic density, Jean couldn't afford to focus on decomposing Su Mu anymore. She redirected the absolute entirety of her Phoenix telekinesis to intercept the incoming black-red sphere!
The singularity—which possessed the localized mass of a miniature supernova—actually began to rapidly shrink and dissolve, completely decomposing into nothingness before it could even reach her!
Witnessing this, the X-Men's confidence skyrocketed. But in the very next microsecond, the smiles completely froze on their faces!
The exact instant the black-red singularity vanished, the White Demon vanished with it. He instantly materialized directly in front of Jean Grey and violently threw a punch!
BOOM!
Jagged, black-red lightning exploded between the two! The apocalyptic kinetic impact of the Black Flash violently collided with the Phoenix's telekinetic shield! The ground beneath them instantly shattered, the catastrophic shockwave carving a massive, violently expanding crater into the earth!
The destructive yield was so terrifying that even Professor X, observing from afar, was about to be caught in the blast radius. But a silver blur suddenly swept through the battlefield, rapidly transporting them out of harm's way.
Quicksilver dropped Professor X, Storm, and Cyclops a safe distance away. Pulling down his silver goggles, he stared at the apocalyptic clash of gods in the distance and muttered exactly what everyone was thinking:
"Holy shit!"
...
Su Mu wasn't surprised that his first Black Flash had been blocked. If it couldn't tank a single punch, it wouldn't be the legendary Phoenix Force!
His true goal in throwing the Black Flash was simply to force himself into "The Zone!"
The moment he entered The Zone, his cursed energy output, physical coordination, and reaction time were elevated to a state of absolute, transcendental perfection, drawing out 120% of his maximum potential!
A second Black Flash violently slammed into Jean's telekinetic shield! Amplified by The Zone, the kinetic force was no longer something the newly-awakened, partially-sealed Phoenix could easily withstand!
An ear-piercing CRACK, like shattering glass, echoed across the plaza. Massive fractures spider-webbed across the telekinetic shield!
Without missing a beat, Su Mu opened his fist into a palm. A black-red singularity instantly materialized perfectly against the cracked shield!
At this point-blank range, the miniature supernova violently shattered the telekinetic barrier entirely, blasting directly toward Jean's physical body! She didn't have the time or focus to decompose it!
Just as the singularity was about to obliterate her, Wolverine—launched at supersonic speeds by a combination of Cyclops' optic blast and Storm's gale winds—violently threw himself in front of Jean!
He intended to use his indestructible Adamantium skeleton to shield her from the blast!
But even coated in the strongest metal on Earth, Logan's mass was entirely incapable of halting the apocalyptic repulsive force. He was instantly blasted backward like a cannonball, violently slamming into Jean Grey! The sickening crunch of breaking bones echoed as the two of them were launched through layer after layer of reinforced concrete buildings, buried deep beneath the rubble!
"NO!"
Cyclops roared in absolute, soul-crushing despair. How could their overwhelming advantage be reversed into utter annihilation in the blink of an eye?! Even with Wolverine acting as a meat shield, Jean's mortal body was highly unlikely to survive an impact of that magnitude!
Driven entirely by grief, Cyclops unleashed a hyper-massive optic blast, pushing his powers far beyond their absolute limits. But it was completely useless.
The moment the blinding red beam neared the White Demon, it was effortlessly and entirely absorbed!
Looking at the desperate, broken X-Men, the smile on Su Mu's face grew immensely euphoric. He extended his hand, pointing his palm forward, and decided to quote one of his favorite anime techniques of all time:
"Shinra Tensei!" (Almighty Push!)
Cursed Technique Reversal: Red was pushed into catastrophic overdrive! Accompanied by wildly arcing black-red lightning, an unprecedented, apocalyptic wave of absolute spatial repulsion violently erupted from Su Mu's body in all directions!
Every single physical object in its path was instantly atomized. In the blink of an eye, the entire plaza, the surrounding streets, and the military barricades for thousands of meters were effortlessly reduced to a flat, barren wasteland!
Even Su Mu felt a slight physical strain from unleashing an omnidirectional attack of that magnitude. A significant portion of his cursed energy had been depleted. However, five brand-new Arc Reactors instantly flew out of his messenger bag, orbiting his body and rapidly pumping clean energy back into his system, restoring him to peak capacity in seconds.
Completely ignoring the buried X-Men, whose survival was no longer his concern, Su Mu turned and casually strolled toward his primary target.
Effortlessly swatting aside the remaining, heavily damaged prototype Sentinels, he walked toward the ruins of the White House with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
As he walked, he felt the distinct sensation of being watched. He paused, looked up directly at the orbital trajectory of the military spy satellite, flashed it a brilliant, mocking smile, and continued his stroll.
The White House had been half-destroyed by the shockwaves of his battle. Even the President of the United States was currently pinned beneath a fallen marble pillar in the Oval Office.
Seeing the White Demon casually step through the ruined doorway, the President's face contorted in absolute, primal terror. He immediately began begging for his life.
"P-Please! Don't kill me! The military strike... I couldn't stop them! It wasn't my decision!"
Su Mu didn't answer. He simply walked up to the trapped Commander-in-Chief, crouched down, and looked him dead in the eyes.
"Tell me the exact coordinates of the military high command."
Hearing Su Mu's demand, the President instantly understood his objective and began explaining frantically.
"I don't know! I swear! The second you walked out of the nuclear blast, they went completely dark! They scrambled to undisclosed black sites! Not even I know their current coordinates!"
"Tsk. How disappointing," Su Mu clicked his tongue. "Well then, you must at least have their personnel files, physical descriptions, and operational data, right?"
"Yes! Yes, I have it all!"
Desperate to secure even a sliver of hope for survival, the President rapidly gave Su Mu the master access codes to the secure servers containing the complete dossiers of every single general involved in the Annihilation Protocol.
Seeing a satisfied smile finally appear on the White Demon's face, the President swallowed hard and asked cautiously, "Now... w-will you let me go?"
The White Demon didn't answer. He simply offered one last, chilling smile, took a single spatial step, and vanished from the ruined Oval Office.
Seeing the demon disappear, the President finally exhaled a massive, trembling breath, his body going limp with relief.
"Oh, thank God... I survived..."
But before the words could fully leave his lips... a colossal, blinding sphere of purple imaginary mass, crackling with apocalyptic lightning, descended from the heavens!
In the very next microsecond, the entire White House was completely, absolutely erased from existence, leaving nothing behind but a bottomless, perfectly smooth, circular abyss!
_______
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