"What does strength have to do with taking the Heart-Shaped Herb?"
Although Tony did not understand why Fenris was stopping him, he still chose without hesitation to trust him.
"Fenris, are you sure you want me to do it?"
Jean stared into Fenris's eyes, her face full of confusion.
"That's right. And it has to be you."
Fenris nodded with absolute certainty, then changed the subject. "How much control do you have over your power now? The Professor said you don't lose control easily anymore."
"More or less."
Jean thought it over seriously for a moment. "The Phoenix personality has completely gone dormant. It's almost impossible for it to erupt again on its own, and I've mostly adapted to that power by now. Using ten or twenty percent of it shouldn't be a problem."
As she spoke, Jean seemed a little embarrassed.
It was her own power, and yet after spending so much time and effort adapting to it, she could still only draw out a very small part of it.
"That's enough."
Fenris made a silent comparison in his mind, and the tension in his brow finally eased.
The power of the Phoenix was obvious to anyone. Even if Jean could use only a small fraction of it, that was still enough to push her strength to a truly terrifying level.
"Jean, if you see a giant black panther in a little while, or maybe a woman who looks a little rough, then you should..."
Before placing the Heart-Shaped Herb into Jean's mouth, Fenris leaned in close and quietly instructed her over and over by her ear.
"Okay."
Jean gave Fenris a deep look, then slowly closed her eyes.
...
At the same time, within the divine realm of the Panther Goddess.
After lying on the ground to rest for a while and finally recovering a bit of strength, Bast staggered back to her feet.
A flash of black light passed over her, and she quietly shifted into a human form.
Looking at the divine realm she had painstakingly maintained for countless ages, now reduced to this ruined state, Bast felt like her heart was bleeding.
Smack!
On the verge of tears, she slapped herself across the face and bitterly regretted ever getting handsy enough to provoke that man in the first place.
"Well, great. My divine power's been drained dry, and who knows how long it'll take to recover? Even the divine realm got sucked into this state..."
Bast resisted the urge to slap herself again. After slowly calming down, she finally forced herself back upright and silently tried to cheer herself on. "It's fine. The divine realm is still here. The foundation isn't damaged. I can recover it slowly..."
"You can do this!"
After a round of mental preparation, Bast's mood had finally started to improve, and she was just about to get some proper rest when another unfamiliar presence appeared in the divine realm.
"Who now?"
Bast shook her head impatiently and snapped in irritation.
What was going on with Wakanda today? Why were so many people coming to bother her?
"Hello."
An equally powerful pressure began spreading from afar.
The moment she sensed that force, and felt her divine realm start trembling on the verge of collapse again, Bast's expression changed instantly.
A moment later, a tall, beautiful woman walked over, her red hair blazing like fire.
"Panther Goddess Bast, it is an honor to meet you."
Red light flickered in the woman's eyes, yet she wore a friendly smile on her face.
"..."
A very bad feeling suddenly rose in Bast's chest.
"No way... right?"
...
"She's awake! Awake!"
Jean had remained asleep for an unusually long time. Just as everyone was waiting quietly for her to wake, Tony, who had been staring at the equipment without blinking, suddenly cried out.
"Jean? How did it go?"
Fenris blurred forward in a flash and shoved Scott aside from the bedside.
"Very well. Our negotiations went smoothly."
Jean slowly opened her eyes.
The ruined sight she had just witnessed inside that divine realm was still vivid in her memory.
The deep cracks spanning the earth, the nearly dried-up river, and the unstable distortions in the distant space all made it obvious how much destruction that place had just suffered.
From her brief conversation with Bast, even a being as powerful as the Panther Goddess had been strangely evasive whenever Fenris came up.
After sitting up on the operating table, Jean glanced at Fenris with visible interest. "I'm genuinely curious how you managed to cause that much destruction."
"If we'd known you had that kind of strength, why would we be afraid of the Sentinels? Why would we be afraid of Bolivar?"
"I don't know either. It all happened because Bast wanted to test me by attacking me."
Fenris spread his hands, then asked, "What did she say?"
"I'm not her match right now, but she seems to be extremely wary of the power inside me..."
Jean thought back carefully. "But maybe because of that, our conversation went very smoothly."
"But that part isn't important. Our goal has already been achieved."
Under Jean's control, all the Heart-Shaped Herbs floated down precisely into each person's hands. She smiled slightly and said to the group, "With Fenris and me watching over things, there's no need for everyone to take them one at a time."
"Jean, what exactly happened? Why the sudden change...?"
Scott stepped forward, took his girlfriend's hand, and looked at her in confusion.
What Bast? What conversation? What deal?
"Don't ask. Just listen to me first."
Jean looked at Scott gently and fed a Heart-Shaped Herb into his mouth. "Don't worry. If you're lucky, everyone might even have a chance to receive an extra blessing."
"I'm doing it!"
Watching Scott drift off in Jean's arms, and after getting an affirming look from Fenris, Tony gritted his teeth and swallowed the Heart-Shaped Herb in his hand without hesitation.
"Fenris, wish me luck!"
John rushed straight to Fenris's side. His eyes rolled back, and he quickly lost consciousness.
"What a reckless kid."
Fenris chuckled and helped Pyro onto a nearby bed.
"We're taking ours too."
After a brief flurry of rustling, it did not take long before every operating table in the lab was occupied by sleeping X-Men.
"These are the future of mutantkind."
Magneto held the Heart-Shaped Herb in his hand and looked at the sleeping young faces, his expression full of satisfaction.
"You're really not going to take it?"
Fenris looked at Magneto in surprise.
"I don't like relying on outside power."
Magneto shook his head lightly.
He raised one hand and held it out in front of Fenris.
The wrinkles in his formerly aged skin had already faded quite a bit, and it had regained elasticity and luster.
"This is something bestowed by a god. Compared to gods, I'd rather trust my own power, and the most basic physical laws of this world."
"So what if it gives someone a dozen tons of strength?"
Magneto smiled openly, his tone full of powerful confidence. "It won't be long before I can do that on my own."
"I hope it turns out the way you think."
Fenris shrugged and did not press the matter further. He knew how stubborn Magneto was.
Besides, compared to something truly granted by a god, what they had received felt more like something they had seized by force.
Magneto said nothing more. He simply waited in silence with Fenris, and before long the lab grew completely quiet.
"What new energy source? Isotopes?"
A moment later, a murmur so soft it was almost inaudible came from nearby.
Fenris's ears twitched, and he instinctively turned to look at Tony.
After taking the Heart-Shaped Herb, Tony seemed to have seen someone. The expression on his face had shifted from his initial excitement and shock into grievance and confusion.
He was clearly a mature middle-aged man, yet right now Tony looked almost like a child.
"Even at a time like this, you still can't stop lecturing me?"
(End of Chapter)
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