Although it was only half of the Phoenix Force, the energy was still overwhelmingly powerful. Jean Grey felt as if she were navigating a tiny sailboat in a raging sea, sometimes submerged by crashing waves, then hurled into the sky by the terrifying surges of power. Her consciousness struggled to maintain control within the torrent.
Fortunately, she was a telepath. More importantly, after being split into two Jean Greys, the spiritual link between the twins significantly expanded.
That connection gradually pulled her back from despair. For telepaths, confidence, hope, and other positive emotions dramatically enhance their abilities.
Balancing out the extremes, Jean Grey's mind slowly adapted to the waves of Phoenix energy, allowing her to exert a small degree of control over it.
Opening her eyes, flames danced in her pupils. Jean Grey felt more powerful than ever before. With the Phoenix Force enhancing her, both her telekinesis and telepathy surged to astonishing levels.
She glanced at a stone on the ground. With a casual wave of her hand, it instantly disintegrated down to its molecular structure.
Shin inhaled sharply. This is the Phoenix Force's disintegration ability. Compared to Dust Release, which has an obvious charge-up and can be restrained by energy absorption skills, this is on an entirely different level.
It's silent, instantaneous, and works for both offense and defense. If Onoki saw this right now, he'd probably be so ashamed he'd smash his head into a wall.
And this was just the most basic, instinctual application of the Phoenix Force. With further development, it could manipulate matter at the atomic level, transmuting stone to gold or turning water into oil.
At its peak, the Phoenix Force could resurrect the dead, create matter from nothing, reshape the universe, traverse time, control cause and effect, weave fate, and rewrite history without obeying any causal laws.
That was godhood, not the kind seen in Asgard or Olympus, but the kind described in the Book of Genesis.
Of course, Jean Grey was far from that level. She was only barely able to keep the Phoenix Force in check. For now, she could unleash energy waves, employ disintegration, and amplify her mutant powers.
When Shin brought back Jean Grey, barely in control of the Phoenix Force, even Magneto was stunned.
"Two Jeans? What the hell happened?" Cyclops was the first to speak, visibly confused. How did his girlfriend turn into two after stepping out for a bit?
The thought stirred a flicker of excitement... No, confusion. Definitely confusion.
Shin calmly explained, "The Phoenix Force inside Jean was too powerful. I used a special method to split her into two people. Sharing the burden of the Phoenix Force between two bodies made it bearable."
"Don't worry. This is only temporary. Once Jean gradually adjusts to the Phoenix Force, I can merge them back into one."
Cyclops nodded. As long as she could return to normal, it was acceptable. Even if she couldn't… he would still… cough cough… support her.
Magneto, for his part, was surprised. "Split one person into two? What kind of ability is that?" He glanced between the two Jeans, noting a slight decline in intensity.
In truth, the Legendary Spring of the Drowned Twin curse didn't come with any innate weaknesses. The reason Jean felt diminished was that while her body had been duplicated, the Phoenix Force had not.
For most mutants, being duplicated like this would effectively double their combat potential. And in Jean's case, due to the twins' shared telepathy, their cooperative boost could exceed that.
But Shin had no intention of sharing such a trump card with Magneto, a known terrorist. Despite Magneto's concern for Professor X, Shin hadn't forgotten that the man had tried to recruit from the Academy the moment Xavier was arrested.
Right now, everyone was united against Apocalypse. But after defeating him, Magneto and the Brotherhood would go right back to their terrorist agenda.
It wasn't by choice, it was by necessity. Most of Magneto's followers had mutant defects that prevented them from integrating into society. While they were better off than the lowest-level mutants, they still had no place in the normal world.
Besides vandalism, looting, and arson, the Brotherhood didn't have many marketable skills. If they truly turned over a new leaf, most would either starve or live in poverty.
With such desperation, Magneto could retire or take a few elites with him. But expecting the entire Brotherhood to reform?
Unrealistic.
If he stops the terrorism, what will his 'brothers' eat?
Truth be told, Magneto was a bit disheartened. He had hoped to use Apocalypse's rise as a distraction to push his Brotherhood's agenda. But instead, he was forced to ally with the X-Men to stop a global threat.
Fortunately, internal conflict among mutants was nothing new. Magneto didn't find it strange.
"Charles, you owe me big for this one," he muttered.
He wasn't talking about saving Charles, that had happened plenty of times on both sides. Rather, it was because of Xavier that he was now dragged into open conflict with Apocalypse.
This latest mutant civil war would leave lasting scars. Luckily, the world leaders irradiated by Magneto's magnetic field had perished. Without those extremists driving mutant policy, things might calm down for a while.
…
Clarisse also known as Blink, still young and inexperienced, could only teleport the Brotherhood and the X-Men roughly into Egypt. She couldn't accurately pinpoint Cairo.
Her ability was closer to creating portals. Compared to instant teleportation, portals took longer to deploy and offered far less in direct combat. But as a support ability, especially for large-scale movement, it was extremely effective.
In addition to the Phoenix twins, the X-Men deployed Storm, Cyclops, and Wolverine. They were joined by reserves like Colossus, Iceman, and Pyro. Shin couldn't recognize most of the other students.
Magneto's Brotherhood had the usual crew: Sabretooth, Toad, Mystique, and several others. Due to time constraints, Magneto hadn't brought more.
The whole group arrived via Blink's portal in a desolate desert. A quick scan showed they were only a few dozen kilometers from Cairo, not too far.
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