The air above the Carolinas swamp, which had been frozen by a Conceptual Stasis Field, now felt thick and awkward.
The vast, gray dust of the Elder Bloom was settling, a testament to a power none of the meta-humans present had ever witnessed.
Yuffie Kisaragi and Felicia Hardy were already at work, Yuffie swiftly placing containment seals while Felicia, with her signature agility, deployed drones carrying the chemical neutralizers Arthur had remotely dispatched.
On the remaining strip of scorched coastline, the leaders stood frozen. Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) and Scott Summers (Cyclops) were shaken to the core.
Eric's magnetic aura, usually a powerful, visible force, felt feeble.
He stared at the spot where Arthur had stood.
He could still feel the phantom sensation of absolute helplessness—the moment when his very control over magnetism, the foundation of his being, had wavered under Arthur's simple gaze.
"How can he become so powerful… Is it because of Dungeon Tower?"
Scott muttered, his voice hoarse, his visor lowered more for security than for protection.
He remembered their first meeting two years ago.
Arthur, a powerful young mutant they had sought to recruit, only to be blocked by the towering influence of Tony Stark, who adopted him.
The loss had always felt like a minor political setback. Now, it felt like an apocalyptic mistake.
"He is a threat,"
Eric hissed, his voice tight with suppressed rage.
His lifelong ideology, mutant supremacy, was rooted in the belief that they were evolution's chosen few.
He had looked down on the burgeoning Dungeon Climbers, viewing them as weak amateurs.
But Arthur—a mutant who became powerful via the Tower—had just rendered Eric's ideology obsolete with a single, casual act.
If the rank-and-file of the Brotherhood knew a Dungeon Climber could wield conceptual authority, they might be swayed, their fanaticism dissolving into ambition or fear.
The younger members of the X-Men approached their leader, their expressions no longer fearful, but alight with raw curiosity.
"Hey, Scott. Can't we become Dungeon Climbers as well?"
Kitty Pryde asked, her voice crackling with excitement, standing beside a wide-eyed Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler).
Scott, mentally exhausted, firmly denied them.
"No! Professor Xavier and I have discussed this. The Tower Dungeon is too unpredictable. It might be a trap."
But even as he spoke the word, doubt clawed at him.
The evidence was right there: a peaceful world, and a new, functional avenue to power that the traditional mutant political structure had rejected.
Maybe they were wrong. Maybe the Dungeon wasn't a trap; maybe it was the turning point they had desperately needed.
The rise of the Tower Dungeon had subtly normalized the supernatural.
Normal humans were slowly becoming accustomed to powers, no longer seeing all meta-humans as freaks, but perhaps, seeing them as the same as any powerful Dungeon Climber.
"I will talk to the Professor,"
Scott conceded, running a hand over his face.
Kitty and Kurt cheered, the immediate danger replaced by boundless youthful optimism.
Eric scoffed, a deep, guttural sound of disgust, and immediately took flight.
He wasn't in the mood to fight Scott anymore; there was only one person worth fighting, and that person had vanished.
"Do you guys want to become a dungeon climber? I could register you directly if you want to!"
Yuffie appeared beside them with a mischievous grin, now clean and perfectly composed, Felicia Hardy lounging on the nearby rock formation.
Yuffie, being from another world, couldn't become a Dungeon Climber herself.
But she was close to Arthur, who was basically the son of the owner of the Tower.
She could cheat them into the Tower easily.
There was no need to wait for the months or even years of required testing and registry that kept countless applicants waiting for their turn to go into the Dungeon.
She knew the temptation of shortcuts would appeal far more than Scott's adherence to rules.