You Know Nothing About Power!
The shore of Nak Island.
Magneto stood at the front, watching the approaching yacht with sharp, calculating eyes. Several Brotherhood mutants gathered behind him, keeping their distance.
He had courted Emma Frost—the White Queen—more than once, trying to recruit her. A telepath of her caliber was exactly what the Brotherhood lacked. With her on his side, many of his grand designs could have been realized far more easily.
But each time, Emma had rejected him.
Now she arrived uninvited, not alone but in the company of a young stranger. Magneto's suspicion deepened. He doubted she had come to accept his offer. Still, with his powers partially restored, and with Shaw's psychic-blocking helmet on his brow, he felt secure. Even if Frost tried to seize control of the others, he and Cain Marko—the Juggernaut—were confident in their resistance.
The advantage, he believed, was his.
The yacht touched the pier.
To his surprise, the first figure to disembark was not Emma, but a young man—Xu Mo—who strode with unshaken confidence. Emma followed a step behind, calm and composed.
Magneto's eyes narrowed. "Who is this boy?" he asked sharply, but Emma offered no answer.
Xu Mo's smile was light, almost mocking.
"Erik, I heard the Brotherhood has been short on funds. You wanted investors, didn't you? Well, here I am. But every investor wants to see the project—and the returns."
The Brotherhood mutants behind Magneto shifted uneasily. Only weeks ago, they had plotted to seize wealth by force. Now wealth walked to their door willingly. The situation reeked of danger.
Magneto stepped forward, unshaken. "Don't mistake Emma's presence as protection. You won't flaunt yourself before me."
Xu Mo tilted his head. "Is that how you see it? Flaunting?" His smile sharpened. "Then how about this?"
His foot lashed out faster than the eye could follow.
Magneto had no time to react before pain exploded in his gut. The Master of Magnetism was hurled backwards, crashing through several Brotherhood members before smashing into a palm tree with bone-shaking force. Blood welled at his lips as he slid to the ground.
"Erik!" Juggernaut roared. The crimson-clad behemoth thundered forward, each step shaking the earth.
Pyro—St. John Allerdyce—hesitated, flames licking across his hands. But seeing Juggernaut charge, he turned instead to help Magneto.
Xu Mo raised his right arm. With a shimmer, vibranium armor materialized across his fist. He flexed his hand, preparing. "Emma—diamond."
At his side, Emma Frost's body hardened into gleaming crystal.
Xu Mo shifted his stance and met Juggernaut's charge head-on.
"Triple strength increase!"
Their collision detonated like thunder.
For an instant, Juggernaut resisted—then his body ruptured under the force. Blood and flesh scattered in a grisly storm. The ground ran red.
The mutants nearest the blast screamed. Shards of Cain Marko's flesh rained over them, coating their skin and clothes. Hardened killers though they were, none had ever witnessed such brutality.
"He's a monster—no, a devil!" a woman shrieked before fleeing into the trees.
Panic spread like wildfire. Mutants broke, screaming and scattering, over a third of Magneto's forces collapsing into chaos.
Magneto, propped by Pyro, wiped blood from his chin. His eyes were cold steel. "Go," he ordered. "Leave him to me."
Pyro hesitated, then backed away, his expression stricken.
Magneto rose, levitating slowly, his cloak fluttering in the unseen current of his magnetic field. "Not killing me outright, boy, will be the gravest mistake you ever make."
His voice cut like ice as he extended his arms. The air thickened. The ground trembled. Within seconds, every scrap of metal within a kilometer rose, orbiting him in a deadly halo.
Only once he secured himself did he turn his gaze on Emma. "Emma, whatever he promised you, abandon him now. Join the Brotherhood. It's not too late."
Emma Frost, her body glittering in diamond form, only smirked. "Afraid I'll disappoint you—again."
Magneto's eyes hardened. "Then I'll show you what real power looks like. When he's broken at my feet, you'll change your mind."
Xu Mo, still calm, flicked open his system panel. The Juggernaut's death had rewarded him over twenty thousand points—just shy of what he needed for Mu Ya Jing.
He looked up at Magneto, lips curling. "You seem convinced you've already won."
"Strength is finite," Magneto answered coldly. "Only those who command the forces of nature can shape destiny. That is power."
"You know nothing of mine."
He clenched his fists, and the world around him groaned as steel and iron tore free, orbiting him like planets around a sun.
"I'll show you the difference between us!"