Facing the "meteor shower," Shaw let out a chuckle.
"So this is all you've got?"
"You've really disappointed me, Erik."
"And to think I once regarded you as a treasure."
"Looking at it now, I really was blind back then."
While chatting casually, all the incoming steel fragments, large and small, including the larger sections of the submarine's hull, melted from the ever-rising heat of the nuclear energy radiating from Shaw before they could even get close.
Those larger pieces that didn't melt immediately also lost their magnetism because of the rising temperature around Shaw and kept falling into the sea.
"Two."
Shaw counted.
Erik let out a roar, his eyes bloodshot, and suddenly looked toward the island where Alex was, toward the cargo ship beneath Alex.
What Magneto was looking at wasn't the cargo ship, but the nuclear missiles aboard it.
But when he saw Alex, he calmed down a little and ultimately chose not to use those nuclear missiles.
At that moment, however, Shaw spoke the final number.
"Three!"
A nuclear energy beam immediately shot from his fingertips.
With complete ease, like a hot knife through butter, it pierced Charles's brain.
Floating on the sea, Charles didn't even let out a groan.
He died just like that.
"No."
"No!"
"Charles!"
"Brother!"
Cries rang out from many people.
It was as if all the strength had been drained from Erik's body. His legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees on the beach.
"Again."
"Again."
Erik buried his head in the sand in agony.
"I still can't save anyone."
"I couldn't save my mother. I couldn't even save my friend."
"I'm really useless!"
Scalding tears poured from his eyes and fell onto the beach.
Beside the wreckage of the Blackbird, Hank and Raven desperately swam over to Charles's body.
"Oh God, please don't take him away!"
Raven broke down in tears. She no longer cared about maintaining her human appearance. She returned to her original blue form, hugged Charles's body, and wept.
Hank closed his eyes and let out a long sigh.
Seeing Charles die, Erik collapsed.
Shaw smiled in satisfaction, then flew toward the two fleets by the blockade line.
He was going to release the nuclear energy inside his body between the two fleets and destroy them both. In an era when communications were still underdeveloped, as long as every ship was destroyed, the Federation and the Soviets would believe the war had begun.
After that, the world would unfold according to the script Shaw had written.
The fleets drew closer and closer.
But just then, something red drifted into Shaw's view.
Then he saw Alex, now dressed in black battle armor with a red cape, descending from the sky.
Shaw recognized the man at once.
"It's you?"
He recognized Alex.
The scene of Alex effortlessly killing his two subordinates at the CIA base flashed through his mind.
'But today I'm different!'
'I've absorbed an enormous amount of nuclear energy. Even this man isn't my match anymore!'
Shaw was full of confidence.
———
On the beach, Erik, still kneeling on the ground, moved.
From inside his battle suit, he took out a box.
He opened it, revealing a syringe.
It was the serum Hank had made.
Hank had originally intended to use the serum to attack the X-gene, but instead it had strengthened it.
"Maybe I should have used it from the very beginning."
"I'm sorry, Charles."
"I still wasn't determined enough."
"But I will be from now on."
Erik raised his head.
The look in his eyes had changed.
He had become cold and indifferent, as though he had lost his humanity.
He had lost... the last trace of light in his heart.
Without the slightest hesitation, Magneto injected the serum into his body.
Over the sea, with his arms folded, Alex smiled at the elegant man before him.
"Originally, I planned to leave the job of saving the world to those young people."
"It looks like I overestimated their abilities and underestimated yours."
"After absorbing nuclear energy, you're like a different person."
"So your upper and lower limits fluctuate quite a bit."
"But it doesn't matter."
"Today, you'll die here."
Alex wasn't going to let Shaw destroy the two fleets. Lin Aida was still sick, and they still didn't know when they would be able to return.
If World War III really broke out, Alex didn't care, but if anything happened to Lin Aida, he might end up trapped in this universe.
Alex had no intention of staying here.
Shaw burst into laughter.
"You really have a big mouth. Don't tell me you think killing Azazel and the others means you can easily kill me too?"
"In my current state, I could just as easily kill Azazel and the others."
"What are you so pleased with?"
Alex smiled, "You're not actually as strong as you think you are."
"Really?"
"Then later, you'd better not beg me to spare you."
Shaw suddenly raised a hand. A flash of light flickered from his fingertips, and a nuclear energy beam shot through the air.
Alex didn't move.
He let the beam strike him, only for it to be blocked by the Biological Force Field that came with the Cape of Justice.
The beam wasn't powerful enough to make the light threads of the Justice Force Field appear.
The corners of Alex's mouth lifted slightly, and golden light suddenly flared in his eyes.
"Here's my return gift."
Two golden beams shot out at once.
But the Heat Vision, with a temperature of only one thousand degrees, was effortlessly absorbed by Shaw.
Shaw laughed loudly, "So you have this trick too."
"But that's all it amounts to."
He charged forward and threw a punch. Nuclear energy glowed around his fist, radiating terrifying heat.
Bang!
The punch landed on Alex's face.
More accurately, it landed on the Biological Force Field.
Alex's expression didn't change.
He muttered, "At this level... this much impact should be about the same as my base strength before I enhanced any of my talents."
"This is a little boring."
He raised his hand and flicked Shaw on the chest with one finger.
Bang!
Disbelief appeared on Shaw's face.
Then his whole body flew backward.
He flew more than a thousand meters before finally stopping.
Covering his chest, he said in horror, "How is that possible?"
"I couldn't completely absorb your energy?"
Shaw could indeed absorb energy.
But absorbing energy took time, which meant there was a question of efficiency.
Shaw's "efficiency" at absorbing energy wasn't actually very high.
That was clear from the fact that it took him a certain amount of time to absorb energy from the two nuclear energy devices.
He could absorb energy, but he couldn't absorb it at high speed.
After Alex's Divine Power had been upgraded to +4, it gained the Power Concentration effect.
That effect highly concentrated the kinetic energy behind Alex's strikes.
Shaw couldn't completely absorb such concentrated kinetic energy in an instant.
His absorption "efficiency" couldn't keep up.
As a result, he could only absorb part of it, while the rest acted on his body, sending him flying.
In other words, even without using certain methods, as long as Alex used 80% Divine Power output together with the Power Concentration effect, he could easily crush Shaw in his current state.
As the villain of this stage, Shaw was undoubtedly powerful.
However, Alex, who had come from another universe, stood at a level beyond Shaw's highest peak.
It was precisely because he realized this that Alex suddenly lost interest.
"I'm done playing," He said.
The moment Shaw heard those words, for no reason at all, every hair on his body stood on end.
His instincts told him.
Something bad was about to happen.
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