"Well played, Alex."

Realization dawned on Mister Sinister's face, his expression a mix of shock and reluctant admiration. He stood there, stiffly, as if unable to believe he'd been bested so completely.

"I lost to—"

BOOM!

Before he could finish, his body exploded in a gruesome burst of gore.

Alex had simply clenched his fist, unleashing his full telekinetic force to crush Sinister into paste.

No metaphor.

No exaggeration.

Just raw, brutal annihilation.

The battlefield went eerily still. Smoke curled off the ground. The scent of blood hung heavy in the air.

"NO!"

"MASTER!"

A furious, grief-stricken roar echoed as Exodus launched himself across the battlefield, landing beside the pulverized remains of his fallen leader.

He dropped to his knees, trembling with rage and despair—as if witnessing the death of a god. His eyes glowed with uncontrollable fury, muscles coiled like springs.

Alex didn't waste time on speeches.

Another mental squeeze—

SPLAT.

Exodus joined his master in oblivion.

The man who had escaped Alex once wouldn't get a second chance.

WHUMP.

Dusting off his hands, Alex took off at supersonic speed, vanishing into the sky without a backward glance.

But what he didn't see—

Was the pile of flesh on the ground twitching.

Squirming.

Reforming.

Like something out of a horror movie, the mass of gore reassembled itself—until Mister Sinister stood once more.

He wasn't dead.

Alex had assumed reducing him to mush would be enough.

But Sinister had let it happen.

His cellular shapeshifting allowed him to mimic death perfectly.

Now, he glanced down at the gaping hole in his chest—where his heart should've been.

With a thought, his flesh rippled, regenerating the organ through sheer biological manipulation.

But this wasn't true healing like Wolverine's.

This was reshaping existing matter—a process that left him drained, weakened, barely standing.

Right now, even a child could kill him.

But fate wasn't that kind.

Staggering away, Sinister vanished into the shadows.

---

Meanwhile, at Xavier's School.

Alex reappeared in a blur, greeted by the stunned faces of Banshee and Darwin.

"Alex! You're alive!"

"Thank god—we thought you were gone!"

Relief washed over them as they rushed forward.

"You two okay?" Alex scanned them quickly.

"We're fine, but Alex…" Banshee's voice darkened. "Havok's in bad shape."

The medical team had rushed Havok away, but the damage from the Juggernaut's punch was severe.

Alex's X-ray vision pierced through walls, locking onto Havok's unconscious form.

His jaw tightened.

"He'll pull through."

Havok had been with him since the CIA days—one of his first allies in this world.

Losing him wasn't an option.

But for now, all Alex could do was wait.

"Alex!"

Charles wheeled forward, eyes sharp with urgency.

"Sinister?"

"Dead." Alex grinned.

"What?!"

"Seriously?!"

The group erupted in shock and elation.

One second captured, the next—victorious?

Only Alex could pull that off.

But Alex wasn't here to celebrate.

His focus shifted to Cain Marko, still unconscious on the ground.

"Alex!" Charles called out, tension creeping into his voice.

Despite the havoc Cain had wreaked, this was still his brother.

"Relax, Charles. I'm not here to finish him."

Kneeling beside Cain, Alex's X-ray vision pinpointed the Crimson Gem embedded in his chest.

With a quick motion, he tore open Cain's shirt—

Revealing the blood-red jewel fused to his skin.

It pulsed ominously, almost like it had a heartbeat of its own. The air around it shimmered faintly, as though it bent reality itself.

"What… is that?" Charles frowned.

Then recognition flashed.

The gem from the cave.

The one that started it all.

"The source of his power," Alex said flatly.

His fingers brushed the gem—

And instantly, a dark, overwhelming force surged into him.

His mind spun, his vision darkened—as if being dragged into a bottomless vortex.

The sheer intensity of the energy made his muscles lock up. His breath caught. Time seemed to stretch, then snap.

"System!" Alex mentally roared.

"Extract the energy source—NOW!"

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