Luke stepped into the room and gave it a quick glance. A large bed. Clean sheets. Quiet hum of air conditioning cutting through the bunker's dull silence.
"Hm. Not bad for a bunker," he muttered. "Looks like the professor decided to be generous."
The door closed behind him.
Click.
He turned at the sound—and immediately regretted how slowly he moved.
Esdeath stood there, one hand still on the door, the other already shrugging her coat off her shoulders. The fabric slid down like it had been waiting for permission, her expression calm, confident… and unmistakably pleased.
Luke exhaled. "…I had a feeling this was going to happen."
She stepped closer, unhurried, predatory in the way only she could manage without raising her voice. "Tonight," she said softly, looping her arms around his neck and pulling herself close, "you're mine."
Luke felt the pressure before he finished processing the words—her weight, her warmth, her absolute lack of hesitation.
"And the three who usually interrupt?" she continued, lips close enough that he could feel her breath. "They're not here."
"This is still daytime," Luke said, even as his balance betrayed him. "Night hasn't even started."
"I don't care."
She shoved him back in one smooth motion. The mattress dipped beneath his weight, the breath knocked out of him just enough to be inconvenient. Before he could sit up, she was already there—straddling him, hands planted on either side of his shoulders, eyes bright with intent.
Luke stared up at her, resigned amusement flickering through his expression. "…You really don't believe in easing into things."
Esdeath smiled, slow and satisfied, leaning down just enough to make her point clear.
"No," she said. "I believe in taking what I want."
She didn't give him time to argue.
Her lips crashed into his, decisive and unrestrained, fingers already fisting into his shirt. Fabric tore with a sharp rip before Luke could even sigh in protest.
"…You're crazy," he muttered, even as blue mana flickered instinctively around them, sealing the room in a quiet barrier.
Esdeath only laughed softly, pushing him back again.
What followed stayed contained within those walls—sound, force, and sheer chaos swallowed by magic.
Time blurred. Hours slipped past unnoticed, the outside world reduced to nothing more than a distant concept.
When it finally ended, the bunker clocks read midnight.
The room was a mess.
Luke lay there staring at the ceiling.
"…Great. Now I've got another headache permanently attached to me," he muttered, voice flat.
Beside him, Esdeath rested comfortably beneath the sheets, completely unbothered. One bare arm was draped over his chest possessively, fingers idly tracing slow, absent patterns as if she had every right to be there.
She looked more relaxed than she ever had—like a predator that had claimed its territory and decided to nap afterwards.
Luke glanced sideways at her, then back at the ceiling.
"…This is going to be a mess when I return to Marvel," Luke thought.
He pushed the thought aside. That was a problem for later. Right now, he needed answers.
"Let's see what's really going on," he muttered.
Luke closed his eyes.
His spiritual sense unfolded—an invisible third eye opening somewhere beyond flesh. Before gaining Infinite Mind, its range had been limited. Five hundred meters at most. Enough to scout, enough to fight.
Now?
He didn't even bother checking the limit.
The sense expanded outward in silence, sweeping across land and ocean. South America came first—cities, jungles, coastlines—then further, faster, spreading like a tide that refused to stop.
The entire planet lies within reach.
Along with the massive spiritual power, the trait also unlocked several other abilities, including mind reading and direct mental control.
But he chose to put those abilities on hold, deciding not to use them for now.
He wasn't nearly brave—or stupid—enough to start poking around inside other people's heads. That kind of power was dangerous, for both sides. One wrong push, too much force, and he could fry someone's mind… or worse, drag their memories straight into his own.
And honestly? That part scared him more.
What if he accidentally pulled up something he really didn't want to see?
Trauma. Nightmares. Or some deeply sick, twisted hobby memory that would make him question humanity and ruin his appetite forever.
Yeah. No thanks.
He had zero interest in becoming mentally scarred because someone out there enjoyed things best left unknown.
So until he actually learned how to control the ability without causing permanent damage—or psychological self-harm—mind reading was officially shelved.
Some doors were better left closed.
Especially the ones labeled other people's thoughts.
He continued his search, extending his spiritual sense outward.
Then—
Something was wrong.
His spiritual sense hit resistance.
Not a wall.
Not a shield.
Something dark.
The moment it made contact, the sensation changed. The resistance didn't just block him—it bit back.
The darkness clung to his spiritual sense and began to spread.
Fast.
It moved like a living thing, crawling along the connection, rotting it, corrupting it the way a virus eats healthy flesh. The clean clarity of his perception warped, darkened, distorted—like ink bleeding into water.
Luke's breath hitched.
"Fuck—"
His eyes snapped open as he severed the connection instantly, cutting it off before whatever that was could crawl any closer.
The room returned.
Silence.
Luke sat up slowly, heart steady but mind sharp.
"…What the hell was that?"
Before he could think any further, a knock echoed at the door, breaking his concentration.
Luke sighed, pushed himself out of bed, and pulled on his clothes. Midnight visits were never good news, and he couldn't think of anyone who should be knocking right now.
He opened the door.
A red-haired woman stood there, posture tense, eyes uneasy—as if she'd debated turning back more than once before knocking.
The moment Luke focused on her, his senses flared.
Power.
Dense. Immense. It pressed against him like an invisible tide—on the same level as his mana.
A single-universe tier of power, where strength could no longer be measured by normal means. A level where an individual possessed enough energy to destroy an entire universe.
Jean Grey.
The most powerful mutant alive.
*****
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