The golden glow around Logan flickered and died like a candle in a gale, leaving him gasping for air in the middle of the debris-strewn corridor. Magneto, a veteran of a thousand battles, didn't need a second invitation. Beneath his matte-black helmet, his eyes flared with a cold, predatory light.
"The light is out, Logan," Magneto's voice boomed, amplified by the metallic resonance of his suit.
He didn't just move; he commanded the very molecules of the room. The magnetic field tightened around Logan's skeleton like a localized black hole. Logan's limbs stiffened, his own adamantium bones becoming a cage that threatened to crush his internal organs. He let out a guttural roar of agony as his joints began to bend in directions they were never meant to go, the metal groaning under Magneto's absolute will.
But Magneto had forgotten one thing: Logan wasn't just a man with a metal skeleton anymore. His healing factor, supercharged by the remnant Qi of the Indestructible Divine Art, surged with a violent intensity. As fast as Magneto could warp the bones, Logan's biology snapped them back into place.
"Pfft!"
Before Magneto could finish his "execution," a shockwave rippled through the air. A massive, translucent golden palm materialized out of thin air, traveling with the weight of a falling moon. It didn't just hit Magneto; it erased the space he was occupying.
BOOM!
Magneto's "anti-pressure point" armor, his pride and joy, shattered like cheap porcelain. The old man was sent hurtling through the facility, smashing through three reinforced concrete walls before coming to a stop in a cloud of dust. On the final wall, a perfect, glowing palm print—twenty feet high—remained etched into the stone.
Magneto slumped to the ground, coughing up a mixture of blood and soot. He looked at the devastation with a hollow, incredulous stare. He had prepared for a martial artist; he hadn't prepared for a god.
Huang Wen stood at the end of the corridor, his hand still extended. He frowned slightly, looking at his own palm. The Rulai Divine Palm... it was more destructive than the system description had suggested, but he wasn't satisfied.
"I held back too much," Huang Wen muttered. He hadn't used Silly Girl's processing power, nor had he pushed his own state to the Extreme. If he had, Magneto wouldn't be breathing right now. He was still gauging the limits of this new legendary power, trying to find the line between "subduing" and "annihilating."
"Holy crap, Boss..." Logan's voice broke the silence. He was leaning against a pillar, watching the dust settle around the crater where Magneto used to be. "When the hell did you become a walking natural disaster? I thought we were doing kung fu, not demolition work."
Logan had seen Huang Wen do some incredible things, but this was different. This wasn't a technique; it was a statement.
"Focus, Uncle Wolf," Huang Wen said, turning his gaze toward the wounded mutant. "Speaking of techniques, that 'Ultraman' performance of yours was embarrassing. Those iron clamps on the bed shouldn't have been able to hold you for a second. Why were you playing the damsel in distress?"
Logan's face turned a shade of red that matched his blood. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking everywhere but at Huang Wen. "Look... three minutes isn't a long time. I figured if I broke out too early, I wouldn't have enough juice to find Yuriko and get out of this maze. Plus..." He paused, his voice dropping an octave. "I wanted to see what was wrong with Jean. Boss, she's not herself. It's like her soul was replaced by a sun."
"So you stayed for a heart-to-heart?" Huang Wen teased, his lips curling into a smirk. "Aren't you worried about another 'wolf cub' situation? You really have a type, Logan: powerful, psychic, and likely to kill you."
"Raz..." Logan winced, thinking of the bone claws in his chest. "Don't remind me. But seriously, Boss, we need to move. If Jean comes back—"
BOOM!
The room where Logan had been held exploded. It wasn't a chemical blast; it was an eruption of pure, primordial energy. The air in the facility began to hum, vibrating with a frequency that made Huang Wen's teeth ache.
From the heart of the wreckage, a figure rose. Jean Grey floated a few inches off the ground, her hair fanning out like a crown of living fire. But her eyes... they weren't the eyes of the woman Logan loved. They were black pits of infinite hunger, swirling with the orange sparks of a dying nebula.
The Phoenix had arrived.
"You're leaving?" Jean's voice echoed, not from her throat, but directly into their minds. It was a cold, alien sound that carried the weight of a thousand suns. She looked at Logan, a flicker of something dark crossing her features. "Why? Wasn't the cage comfortable? I kept you safe."
"Safe isn't being tied to a bed, Jean!" Logan shouted, his claws extending. "This isn't you!"
"It was him," Jean's gaze shifted to Huang Wen. The temperature in the room skyrocketed. "You're the one who keeps pulling the strings. You're the static in my world."
A wave of psychic pressure hit Huang Wen like a physical wall. He didn't hesitate. "Silly Girl, full integration! Activate Indestructible Diamond Divine Skill—Extreme State!"
"Understood, Master. Power diversion at 100%," Silly Girl's voice rang in his head.
Huang Wen felt his power surge, his Essence, Qi, and Spirit merging into a single, blinding point of focus. But as he reached the peak, he felt a jolt. A digital barrier appeared in his mind's eye.
Host: Huang Wen State: Legend (Peak) Attributes: 9999 / 10,000
"Wait... the bottleneck?" Huang Wen's heart hammered. He was at the absolute limit of the Legendary realm. The "Insurmountable Barrier" between Legend and Epic was sitting right at the 10,000-point mark. He was a god among men, but he was still a "man."
Jean Grey didn't care about his attributes. She lashed out with a psychic whip that tore through the fabric of reality. Huang Wen braced himself, his golden skin glowing with the Indestructible Diamond mantra. The impact made his entire body tremble, and for the first time in months, he felt his internal Qi falter.
The Phoenix Force was destructive. It didn't just hit you; it tried to unmake you at a molecular level.
So this is the gap, Huang Wen thought, his eyes narrowing. I'm at the peak of what is possible for a human, but she... she is the universe.
But a Legend doesn't bow to the universe.
"Hmph!" Huang Wen snorted, stepping forward. He didn't retreat; he attacked. He channeled every ounce of his 9,999 points into a single, concentrated strike. He wasn't just using the Rulai Divine Palm; he was pouring his very soul into the movement.
A massive golden silhouette of a Buddha appeared behind him, its hand matching his own. It was a strike that possessed three times the power of a peak Legend. The air in the bunker ignited from the friction of the Qi.
"Caw!"
A screech that sounded like a dying star erupted from Jean. A silhouette of a flaming bird flared behind her, its wings expanding to fill the entire hallway. The two forces collided—the ultimate human technique against the ultimate cosmic power.
The resulting explosion turned the underground base into a kiln. Logan was sent flying into the darkness, his skin charring before his healing factor could even register the heat. The walls melted, the floor turned to glass, and for a brief, terrifying moment, the world of the Brotherhood ceased to exist.