The power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit may be formidable in One Piece or even Naruto, but in the world of Marvel comics, where gods are commonplace, it falls a bit short.
Pure lightning, without any qualitative enhancement, simply isn't enough to threaten high-tier opponents. Shin even suspected that unleashing his entire lightning orb might not leave a scratch on Apocalypse.
And Apocalypse was hardly the type to take a beating passively. With a wave of his hand, he unleashed a shockwave brimming with raw energy.
Cyclops jumped into the fray. In the comics, they were supposedly related, but Shin wasn't entirely sure what the current relationship between Cyclops and Apocalypse was. Regardless, their abilities were similar, and they clashed with ferocity.
Predictably, Cyclops was at a disadvantage. While his potential was greater, he couldn't overpower Apocalypse's shockwave-enhanced blasts. Still, since both were direct attackers rather than assassins, Cyclops wasn't in mortal danger... yet.
Meanwhile, Psylocke sprouted a pair of glowing energy wings and charged forward, twin energy blades at the ready. Storm intercepted her without hesitation. One was a magic-based warrior, the other an elemental mage, and their battle quickly escalated into a storm of power.
Neither side struck to kill. The Horsemen of Apocalypse were already wavering in their loyalty, and the X-Men, a group of idealists, refrained from lethal force, especially against fellow mutants.
Mr. Sinister, however, sneered with disdain. Unlike the others, he held no illusions of loyalty toward Apocalypse but he was utterly obsessed with the genetic potential of those present. He'd been eyeing them like a butcher selecting cuts of meat.
So he held nothing back.
In a flicker of motion, he appeared behind Shin, unleashing a strange energy wave with a swipe of his hand.
Swish! The attack passed straight through Shin's body without resistance. Mr. Sinister stumbled forward. "What is this? An illusion?"
Shin's body shifted from intangible to solid as he grabbed Sinister's shoulder.
"Wrong answer. Stay in the dark dimension."
Before Sinister could react, black mist surged around them. In an instant, he was consumed, sucked completely into Shin's dark dimension.
To be fair, Mr. Sinister was no lightweight. His physical abilities, strength, speed, and durability, were far beyond average. He also possessed a versatile arsenal of mutant powers: telekinesis, telepathy, energy projection, and flight. He was the type of all-rounder with no obvious weaknesses.
If Shin had faced him in a straight-up brawl, they could have gone toe-to-toe for several rounds. Given Sinister's cunning, it wouldn't have been impossible for him to escape.
Unfortunately for him, Shin's Kamui was beyond anything he anticipated. One surprise attack and the match was over before it began.
"Useless," Apocalypse scoffed. Without another word, he raised his hand and launched an energy blast at Shin.
Sensing the immense power, Shin's heart clenched, and he dodged just in time.
"Not good!" he muttered. The blast surged past him and struck the massive lightning orb he had been forming. Instantly, the orb destabilized, vibrating with violent intensity. Shin realized Apocalypse's aim: detonation.
Transforming into lightning, Shin zipped into the orb and activated his Rumble-Rumble Fruit powers, trying to force it skyward.
He managed to push it only about a hundred meters before control slipped from his grasp. Then—BOOM!
The sky exploded in white light.
The shockwave swept across Cairo with apocalyptic force. The X-Men, Brotherhood, and Apocalypse's forces all broke off combat and scattered in panic.
Quicksilver, carrying Scarlet Witch, seemed to regain a bit of his old self or maybe it was sheer terror. In a blur of speed, he vanished from Cairo like a streak of silver lightning.
The two Phoenix hosts gasped. Joining hands, they released a torrent of Phoenix energy that expanded across the sky, absorbing the brunt of the blast. Even so, bolts of lightning slipped through.
Psylocke and Storm separated mid-air. Psylocke stared upward, teeth clenched, before conjuring a full set of purple psionic armor around herself. Weaving through the storm with practiced grace, she tanked what she couldn't dodge and fled the battlefield.
'I'm out. Whoever wants to play world war can do it without me!'
Storm, meanwhile, barely managed to divert the lightning strikes from her vicinity.
Cyclops and Arclight were less fortunate. Trapped in the heart of the blast zone, they were hit head-on. Electricity surged through them, and they collapsed like blackened husks. Whether they were dead or merely unconscious was unclear.
Magneto encased his Brotherhood allies in a makeshift electromagnetic cage made from metal debris. It shielded them just enough.
Wolverine, unfortunately, had a different problem—his adamantium skeleton. It acted like a lightning rod. The storm focused on him, and for a few horrific seconds, he sizzled with electricity, smoke rising from his body like grilled meat.
Finally, the Phoenix twins unleashed one final blast. Energy flared outward, swallowing the last remnants of the storm.
Only one lightning bolt escaped the annihilation wave. It twisted downward before striking the earth with a thunderous crack.
From within the fading lightning emerged Shin.
Cough! Cough! Cough! He staggered to his feet, blood spilling from his mouth.
He hadn't expected to suffer his worst injury not from Apocalypse, but from his own teammates.
The Phoenix Force was still running wild inside him. Though it was just a trace, its sheer potency bypassed his physical defenses entirely. The Swallow-Swallow Fruit couldn't heal it, and even the Dark-Dark Fruit struggled to absorb it. Only his naturally resilient body and the immense chakra within kept him alive, pushing back against the invading force.
"Ugh… not good."
Wolverine, now down from well-done to medium-rare, limped over. "You alright, bub?"
Shin's body was covered in glowing red cracks, faint wisps of Phoenix energy leaking from his wounds.
"Define 'alright,'" Shin muttered, coughing again. This time, his blood ignited into flames, and the ghostly cry of the Phoenix echoed faintly. "I think… I need a little help."
"What kind?"
"Lend me your healing factor."
Shin reached out, extracting a sliver of Wolverine's flesh and blood. "You'll regenerate just fine, right?"
Wolverine rolled his eyes but didn't argue. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't take too much, sparkplug."
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