When the first Original Sentinel emerged, Sebastian thought it was a coincidence. But when a second followed closely, he felt it was bordering on the metaphysical.

Was his Animagus form, a crow, making his knack for jinxing things grow stronger by the day?

Could it work like that?

In this situation, Sebastian had no options left but to fight desperately.

His body, hovering in midair, spun rapidly, transforming into his Animagus death raven.

Shifting to Phase Form, he dove into one of the Original Sentinels' bodies.

This caused the other Sentinel to halt.

Its programming detected Sebastian inside its counterpart, but it couldn't attack another Sentinel.

The conflicting protocols caused a glitch, freezing it in place.

The Sentinel Sebastian infiltrated also stopped, locked in a standstill.

Suddenly, the Sentinel's body swelled slightly but quickly returned to normal.

Sebastian, in Phase Form, emerged as a black smoke crow, his face showing human-like frustration and gloom.

He had tried to repeat his tactic against regular Sentinels, shifting from Phase Form to Phantom Form inside to burst the Sentinel apart.

Though he'd injured his bones and muscles from the pressure before, and such a shift risked disrupting the Animagus transformation—potentially leaving a bone or muscle untransformed, harming himself—it was the fastest way to deal with them given his depleted magic.

But, to his surprise, the Original Sentinel's body, infused with Adamantium, was incomparably tough and had a degree of self-healing, mimicking Wolverine Logan's abilities.

This made it extremely hard to destroy unless completely obliterated or evaporated, as with the previous Sentinel.

When Sebastian tried to transform inside, he nearly crushed himself.

The Adamantium-infused body couldn't be destroyed this way. Even if some internal parts were crushed, they repaired quickly.

Not only did he fail to destroy the Sentinel, but he almost killed himself.

The frustration was palpable. Moreover, his Phantom Form death raven's physical strength scaled with size.

Unable to grow larger inside the Sentinel, he couldn't destroy it from within.

Ignoring the Sentinels' attacks, Sebastian flew around them, weaving up and down.

He felt lucky they lacked direct mental or soul-based abilities, or he wouldn't be able to toy with them so easily.

Seeing the Sentinels follow him to the core area of the Sentinel underground institute, Sebastian crashed into the core server room.

The Sentinels stopped at the entrance, unable to enter. Their programming clearly forbade it, marking the area as a restricted zone.

Looking at the Sentinels that didn't follow, Sebastian thought, As expected.

He shifted from Phase Form death raven to human form, tapped his head with his wand, and cast the Disillusionment Charm, vanishing and concealing his presence.

Sebastian sensed something in the institute's absolute core area—something he was searching for.

Sure enough, when he reached a lab-like area in the core, he saw two groups of arguing aliens.

Their bodies were yellowish-green, plant-like, with asparagus-shaped heads, yet undeniably humanoid intelligent beings.

Debarli—the true masterminds behind the Sentinel program!

Sebastian kept his distance, recalling nearly being detected by a Debarli before.

This time, he stayed far enough to overhear their conversation safely.

"Vok, the mutants have infiltrated this place. Your plan has failed," one said.

The asparagus-like Debarli called Vok was larger and more robust than the one speaking, whose voice was slightly sharper.

Sebastian tentatively concluded that Debarli had genders, with the speaker resembling a female and the taller, sturdier Vok likely a male.

At that moment, the robust male Debarli, Vok, looked at the female Debarli and said,

"Wok, my plan hasn't failed yet. Though the mutants have broken in, they don't know we're behind the Sentinel program.

Moreover, we have three Original Sentinels here.

When I detected the mutants' escape, I granted them high-level permissions. They can wipe out all the mutants here, killing them all."

Shaking her head slowly, Wok replied, "Vok, I told you before, your plan is too slow.

If we can seize the Phoenix Force, which is coming soon, we can easily reshape this planet to suit our survival and reproduction.

The Phoenix Force has reached the solar system and will soon descend to Earth, drawn by that unknown mutant. I need your assistance, or we can't capture it!"

Hearing Wok's words, Sebastian's heartbeat quickened involuntarily.

The Phoenix Force, born at the universe's dawn, wielded immense power over destruction and rebirth.

In Sebastian's estimation, the Phoenix Force likely held complete authority over destruction and life.

More crucially, it seemed to possess a form of self-awareness.

Unlike the Infinity Stones, which also held complete authority but lacked will, the Phoenix Force's sentience made it incredibly difficult to tame.

Yet, if tamed, it would grant unparalleled power.

The singular authority of destruction or life surpassed any single Infinity Stone.

Moreover, with the complementary powers of destruction and life fused together, its strength might rival the combined might of all six Infinity Stones, falling short by only a fraction.

Such immense power—how could Sebastian not be shocked!

The Debarli's physical constitution is similar to that of Asgardians, roughly three to four times that of ordinary humans.

Coupled with their plant-based lifeform's vigorous vitality, the Debarli's combat prowess is truly formidable.

If an ordinary human is shot in a vital spot with a handgun, one shot could be fatal.

For a Debarli, it would take a high-powered firearm or five to six shots to vital areas to possibly kill them.

When Sebastian's heartbeat caught the Debarli's keen senses, the dozen or so Debarli almost simultaneously rushed toward his direction.

These living Debarli were their race's most elite warriors. As they charged, they moved with tacit coordination, each approaching from a different angle.

In an instant, Sebastian was trapped in their encirclement.

Protego!

His wand traced an arc in front of him, casting a red light ring that spread outward, knocking all the Debarli back.

At the same time, Sebastian flicked his wand, casting Fiendfyre.

Red flames surged forth, swiftly transforming into countless fiery crows that soared and swarmed toward the Debarli.

With his magic depleted, Sebastian avoided the costly hellfire, instead using Fiendfyre combined with Transfiguration to attack the Debarli.

Though plant-based, the Debarli were largely unafraid of flames.

They swung their arms, their tough skin shattering the fire crows, dodging as they rushed at Sebastian.

Tch, troublesome aliens.

Aguamenti!

Protego!

A massive torrent, like a breached dam, poured from Sebastian's wand, swiftly forming countless sharp water blades.

Like a blooming lotus, they spread in all directions.

The water blades, razor-sharp, sliced through the Debarli's bodies without resistance.

In an instant, the dozen Debarli were either cut into pieces and killed or left barely alive, dragging their mangled bodies.

Looking at the only two surviving Debarli, Sebastian waved his wand, casting Wingardium Leviosa, dragging them before him.

To Sebastian, the Debarli's appearances were indistinguishable.

But for Sebastian, this was irrelevant.

He could extract the information he wanted directly.

Legilimens!

Green light threads shot from his wand's tip, and Sebastian began reading the two Debarli's memories.

As expected, the survivors were exceptional. These two were the leaders from the earlier conversation, Vok and Wok.

Their minds held exactly the information Sebastian sought.

Like how to control the Original Sentinels!

Like how to seize the Phoenix Force!

After obtaining the information, Sebastian withdrew his wand. Vok and Wok died as a result.

The Debarli on Earth, save for a few scattered at other Sentinel bases, had their leadership and most members eradicated by Sebastian's hand.

At least with the Sentinels, the Debarli had kept a trump card.

Regular Sentinels were mere cannon fodder to the Debarli, with little value.

They had tampered only with the Original Sentinels.

Due to limited Adamantium from the late Colonel Stryker's Alkali Lake base, only four Original Sentinels were built.

One was destroyed by Sebastian, two were outside, and the fourth's whereabouts were unknown to him, though likely targeting Charles and Erik.

The Original Sentinels' programming included a Debarli-exclusive protocol.

By speaking a command, the Sentinels would fully obey one person, unchangeable thereafter.

For security, the command had two layers. The first stopped all four Sentinels. The second, unique to each Sentinel, was split between Vok and Wok, each knowing two.

Sebastian felt fortunate that these two were stronger than the other Debarli.

Had they died with the others, controlling the Sentinels would have been impossible—a loss of two powerful assets.

With the commands, Sebastian also learned the Debarli's method for using the Phoenix Force.

The Debarli's homeworld was destroyed by the Phoenix Force.

While tracking it, they studied this primordial cosmic power and gained some understanding.

But to Sebastian, the Debarli's method for seizing and using the Phoenix Force was partly viable but mostly reliant on luck.

Success meant partial control; failure meant annihilation.

So, Sebastian planned to use the Debarli's method only as a reference, not to seize the Phoenix Force directly.

Having obtained the desired intelligence, Sebastian didn't linger.

He left the core area, opened the core area's gate, and faced the two Original Sentinels, which immediately prepared to attack.

Sebastian quickly uttered a harsh, short syllable—the Debarli's first-layer command.

Instantly, the Sentinels halted, entering standby mode.

Sebastian then spoke the second-layer commands' four words.

At the second and fourth, the Sentinels' eyes emitted scanning beams, analyzing Sebastian's form and voice, and collected DNA from his skin and hair to confirm his identity.

Then, both Sentinels knelt on one knee, showing submission.

Seeing their actions, Sebastian exhaled. Gaining two such powerful weapons was an unexpected boon.

No more fighting alone—against enemies, he could unleash the Sentinels and watch, maybe munching seeds.

The thought was thrilling.

If possible, Sebastian could show the Sentinels to Tony later. Tony might glean new technology from them.

Combining this world's top tech with Debarli science would spark new ideas for Tony. Upgrading his Sentinels would give Sebastian's magic school two formidable gatekeepers!