Susan inhaled sharply. "If we do that… a lot of people will die."
Ryuuto turned to her with that unnerving calm he kept like a second skin. "Do you remember what you told me?" he asked after a beat. "After you fought the armored unit you said you wanted to follow me. I warned you—if I walk the path of Asura, would you still walk beside me? You said yes."
"I did…" Susan's voice tightened. "But there are innocent people on Devil Island."
"You're too kind," Ryuuto said flatly. "If I let them live today, countless mutants will be erased. You saw the injections yourself—they're not in testing anymore. They're already in use. The mutants hit earlier? Ordinary now. Helpless. If I don't erase this place, the formula goes everywhere."
The realization hit Susan like cold water. Her shoulders slumped. "Then destroy it," she whispered. "If a few die to save the rest… then so be it."
Ryuuto gave a faint smile. "I walk the path of demons. Sometimes I kill the innocent. Don't act surprised." He looked at Katie Dee. "Take us down. I want to see the source—how this serum was made."
"Going straight through the floor?" Katie asked.
"Exactly."
Katie Dee's mutation activated. The concrete beneath them softened like wet clay and swallowed the three of them. Above, Magneto and the Hulk still tore the island apart; the whole place vibrated with each hit.
Below, two lab techs in white hurried by. Invisible beneath Susan's field, Ryuuto, Susan, and Katie waited until the corridor cleared. They moved forward to a reinforced door marked BIO-CONTAINMENT.
Inside sat a pale boy on a cot—too calm, too small for the weight on his shoulders. Ryuuto knew in an instant: this kid was the blood source they'd weaponized.
"Something's wrong," Katie murmured. "My powers are being jammed."
Susan's force field wavered but held. The boy turned and asked, voice soft: "Who's there?"
Ryuuto dropped the invisibility. "I know who you are. Your mutation nullifies others for a short time. The military took your blood and turned it into a weapon: a serum that strips mutants of their power. As long as you live, they can make more. I'm here to end it. Oh—" he gave a strained smile, "I'm Ryuuto, captain of the X-Men."
"I saw you on TV." The boy smiled—small, empty. "I hate what my power caused. I hate they used me to hurt my own. If killing me stops them, then do it. Make it quick."
Ryuuto froze. The kid meant it. That willingness was a blade in itself.
Kill him—and you save thousands.
Spare him—and you hand the world a tool for erasing a people.
It wasn't about good or bad. It was arithmetic.
Ryuuto stepped forward—
—then two officers leapt from hiding. They fired twin syringes. Both pierced Ryuuto's arm.
"Got him!" they cheered.
To them this was triumph: the face of defiance neutralized.
"Ryuuto!" Susan screamed. Rage broke through her gentle voice. Her force field exploded outward, bodies snapped like twigs. The two officers burst—blood and bone sprayed the sterile walls. The boy flinched as red speckles settled on his cheeks.
Love made Susan merciless. Anyone who hurt Ryuuto got no mercy.
She ripped the syringes out and tossed them away. "How are you? Are you—"
"Fine," Ryuuto said, voice cool.
"Fine?!" Her breath trembled. "That injection strips power. Are you saying you're normal now?"
"Seems so."
Her eyes shone; grief leaked through her control. "Maybe… maybe that's okay," she said. "We can disappear somewhere quiet. No more fights." The suggestion trembled like a fragile promise.
Ryuuto chuckled. "That's the third time you've cried since we met."
"I don't remember," she snapped, half-laugh. "You lose everything and still joke. You're impossible."
"It's fine. Powers or not, I'm still me."
He pulled her close. Their kiss was soft, human—desperate in a place that had none.
While their mouths met, Ryuuto's hands moved. Silent seals. The air sucked tight.
Summoning — Executioner's Blade.
A massive cleaver shimmered into his grip. Still kissing Susan, he raised it, calm as a prayer.
Then the blade came down clean.
Blood fanned across the tile. The boy's head thudded against the floor.
Ryuuto didn't flinch. He didn't look away.
Voluntary or coerced—what mattered was the future. That life had become a weapon against his people. That made him an enemy of their survival.
Ryuuto carved the sentence himself.
....
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