Shin, having assessed the situation, stopped standing by. Without a word, he flashed forward and landed a punch on Apocalypse, who was positioned at the front of the battle.
Although Apocalypse possessed super speed as well, his reaction time still lagged slightly behind Shin's, roughly on par with Shin's speed before he had absorbed the solar storm energy.
At that level, Apocalypse wasn't incapable of reacting, but his attention was focused entirely on the Dark Phoenix and Professor X. Naturally, he failed to notice Shin's sudden attack.
With one punch, Apocalypse was sent flying backward. Shin quickly chased after him, but the moment he moved, Apocalypse's figure flickered and vanished from sight.
"Teleportation ability? Not good!" Shin realized grimly. Turning his head, he saw that Professor X had already been dragged away by Apocalypse, vanishing without a trace.
The whole maneuver had been executed smoothly, without a single taunt or threat.
There was a reason for that. After all, this was the X-Men's home base. Who knew how many strange and powerful mutants might be lurking within? Even someone as formidable as Apocalypse wouldn't dare be reckless. Now that reinforcements had arrived, the priority was to capture Professor X. As for the Dark Phoenix, that could wait.
Just then, Mister Sinister noticed Apocalypse's departure. His expression shifted slightly as he swooped down from the sky, caught the White Queen, and slapped a small device onto himself. The two of them vanished instantly.
"Another teleporter," Shin muttered, slightly surprised. "Apocalypse really rounded up some heavy hitters."
Of course, this likely had something to do with Magneto's previous actions at the multinational summit. Mister Sinister had long had ties to Apocalypse. A covert mutant operating from the shadows, Sinister had always focused on researching mutant genetics.
Unfortunately, Magneto's assassination of the summit leaders triggered massive crackdowns on mutant activity. Though Sinister's abilities were strong enough for him to stay hidden, his position as a scientist specializing in mutants made him vulnerable. Once governments mobilized their full surveillance capabilities, he was bound to be discovered.
Not that he feared national authorities—he had teleportation, telepathy, and cellular manipulation abilities. Unless something on the level of a future Sentinel program was deployed, he was essentially untouchable. But the problem wasn't his own safety. His years of accumulated research, laboratories, instruments, and experimental materials couldn't just be hauled away overnight.
All of that was at risk of being lost. Faced with that prospect, Sinister made up his mind and defected to Apocalypse. Unlike Magneto, Apocalypse wasn't particularly concerned with mutant rights. He only cared about power and his self-appointed godhood. In his eyes, mutants were divine servants and humans were slaves.
Under his regime, Mister Sinister thrived. He was free to experiment on almost any mutant he pleased unless they were one of Apocalypse's elite Horsemen. As long as it wasn't too excessive, Apocalypse turned a blind eye. In fact, he even joined in on occasion, contributing his own scientific insights.
Shin didn't know all of this. Looking at Mister Sinister's outlandish, vampiric attire, he couldn't imagine this man was a scientist. If someone told Shin he practiced dark magic, he'd believe it on the spot.
At this point, the X-Men were in chaos. With Professor X abducted, the remaining veterans were left stunned, unsure of what to do.
Even more troubling, with Professor X gone, no one could help Jean Grey reinforce the psychic seal in her mind. Though Apocalypse had left, the Phoenix Force, now fully enraged, wasn't going to calm down easily.
Inside Jean's mind, it felt like a nuclear explosion had gone off. Her psyche and telepathic abilities were like a small boat caught in a raging storm.
Just as the Phoenix Force was about to erupt, Shin stepped forward without hesitation. He pushed aside Cyclops, who was about to approach Jean in concern and raised his hand to cast the Eight Trigrams Seal.
The seal could only contain the portion of Phoenix energy that was currently rampaging within Jean, it couldn't sever the connection between her and the multiversal Phoenix Force. Still, the containment helped. Some of the excess energy was sealed away, allowing Jean to catch her breath.
Cyclops, having been shoved aside, climbed up with a look of anger. Just in time to see Shin slap Jean on the forehead. Jean, or rather the Phoenix, staggered up with a look of pain.
The mental cage Professor X had constructed within her mind was now barely holding. It helped Jean resist the latest Phoenix surge, but it was riddled with cracks and clearly wouldn't hold much longer.
A faint red glow flickered in Jean's eyes. It was clear that if she became agitated, the Phoenix Force could erupt again at any moment.
"What's going on?! What did you just do to her?" Cyclops demanded, visibly upset.
Shin glanced at him and replied calmly, "Jean had a surge of intense energy. It nearly went out of control. I sealed it, part of it, at least."
"What?! Jean's mutant power is that strong?" Cyclops exclaimed, shocked. He had spent the entire fight resisting the White Queen's mental onslaught. Thanks to Professor X's interventions, he had barely held out, otherwise, he'd have been mind-controlled long ago.
Because of this, he hadn't heard Apocalypse's speech and didn't realize Jean's full potential had been sealed by her mentor. Now that the seal was unraveling, her true power was beginning to surface.
"Yes," Magneto said, stepping forward. "Charles and I have long known the extent of Jean's potential."
"Thank you for suppressing her power. Otherwise, few in this academy would have survived what was coming."
Cyclops and Storm cast wary glances at Magneto, now restored to his youthful state. But the master of magnetism ignored their suspicious looks.
"What matters now is... why did they take Charles?" he asked coldly.
Jean's Phoenix Force was undeniably important, but in Magneto's heart, his old friend mattered more.
It had almost become a tragic pattern: whenever something catastrophic occurred, Charles was the first to be taken out, either due to the overwhelming potential of his psychic abilities or simply because he was paralyzed and vulnerable.
Even during Magneto's recent terrorist plot, poor Professor X had spent several days bedridden after being poisoned by his former friend.
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