Reborn with Steve Stand

Chapter 690: Dark Phoenix... weak

"How about it? Interested in being sealed in the sculpture?" Fang Mo said, rotating his neck while holding Laevatein and smiling.

The technique he just used was actually quite simple. On the surface, it looked like he had lost his head, but in reality, this was just a feature of the custom Steve mod, temporarily modifying his model to remove the neck and head.

Normally, a living being cannot survive without a head.

But Fang Mo, who could already chat and laugh with Nyarlathotep, had likely long since transcended the realm of 'normal'.

Moreover, as previously mentioned, almost all functional mods were incredibly powerful, like Gluttony, Giant Backpack, Sinicization, Large Veins of Ore, and so on. The custom Steve mod was also a functional mod, so its effects were bound to be extraordinary.

Fang Mo discovered that not only could he survive without a head, he could even think freely.

The idea of thinking without a brain was too ridiculous. Fang Mo even wondered if he really had no brain stem and was thinking entirely with his lower body.

However, while Fang Mo was pondering this, the Dark Phoenix, in pain, also underwent another transformation.

"You..."

The Dark Phoenix stared fiercely at Fang Mo. Her expression had become so twisted it was frightening. Her face was covered with black veins, and combined with her hollow eyes, it no longer looked like something from X-Men, but rather something akin to The Grudge.

"You... want... to... kill... me?" The Dark Phoenix slowly spoke, her aura becoming even more intense.

As she spoke, her body floated forward, pulling the blade out of her stomach, and with a 'plop,' blood started to gush out.

In the next second, the Dark Phoenix suddenly pressed her hand to her stomach.

With this action, the blood that had sprayed out was reabsorbed, and the flesh on either side of her wound started to wriggle and quickly heal, leaving only a shallow scar.

"Hey, hey, you can heal yourself?" Fang Mo couldn't help but quip, "You didn't do that in the movies, can't we maintain some professional ethics here?"

Fang Mo wasn't wrong.

In the original story, the Dark Phoenix was ultimately killed by Logan.

If he remembered correctly, at the end of X-Men: The Last Stand, the Dark Phoenix went berserk and attacked everything indiscriminately, and Logan had to rush in and end her life with his claws to stop her.

Logan's adamantium claws worked.

So why shouldn't his world-ending sword, Laevatein, be effective?

Of course, if he had to find a reason, it might be because in the original, Jean's consciousness hadn't disappeared, and she briefly woke up after hearing Logan's words, so Logan killed Jean as a human, not the Dark Phoenix.

But now, because of Fang Mo's intervention, the storyline was unbalanced.

Originally, Logan, Jean, and Scott formed a weird love triangle.

But Fang Mo, as a pure love warrior, couldn't stand their distorted relationship and removed Logan, leaving no one to wake Jean, resulting in the Dark Phoenix's dominance.

"No one... can kill me!"

As Fang Mo was thinking, the Dark Phoenix roared crazily.

As she spoke, everything around her started to shake uneasily, followed by an unprecedented psychic storm erupting from her center, spreading outward.

Hills, forests, even large swaths of ground were forcibly torn apart, ground to dust by her psychic power, forming a gigantic, rapidly rotating dust cloud.

Even the clouds in the sky were stirred into an unprecedented super cyclone.

At the center of this particle storm, the Dark Phoenix floated in the sky, reveling in her power, as if enjoying the freedom of breaking free.

But soon, she noticed Fang Mo again.

"You... still aren't dead?"

The Dark Phoenix frowned. Her liberated power was so strong that she could tear apart the heavens and earth with a gesture, yet this guy was still standing here unharmed?

"So..."

Before she could finish, Fang Mo, carrying his giant sword, looked up and asked, "Is this your limit?"

"What do you mean?"

The Dark Phoenix seemed puzzled.

"I met a little one called Tatsumaki before," Fang Mo said slowly in response to the Dark Phoenix's question. "What you did just now reminded me of her, but to be honest, you disappointed me... in terms of power and looks, you're far behind her."

(TL: Looks? You Lolicon!)

"What did you say?"

Dark Phoenix immediately became angry upon hearing this and raised her hand, "I'll kill you!"

At this moment, a massive surge of psychic energy was unleashed. This time, instead of just twisting Fang Mo's neck, she lifted his entire body and began tearing him apart furiously.

Despite Dark Phoenix's effort, Fang Mo sighed.

"Still no damage..." he remarked, glancing at Steve's health bar from his perspective, feeling a bit helpless.

He had really tried to be patient.

Unfortunately, Dark Phoenix's performance had been consistently disappointing.

Of course, it wasn't that she wasn't strong. The recent display of power suggested she could easily destroy a small city.

Even in the original version, Dark Phoenix had obliterated the entire Demon Island in an instant, affecting the nearby seas as well, with the seawater suspended mid-air. This demonstrated her immense power, at least within the movie universe, where she held a high rank.

Even against the Avengers, Dark Phoenix could easily handle Thanos and his army alone.

Regrettably, her compatibility with Fang Mo was poor.

What was more disappointing was that the original timeline scarcely mentioned the origin of the Phoenix Force, which Fang Mo suspected was why Dark Phoenix's power was lacking.

The new version explicitly referred to some kind of cosmic energy.

However, the original version lacked this setting, implying she was merely Jean's dark personality as a mutant. This realization left Fang Mo a bit disheartened. If she could only destroy cities... to him, she was just a toy. If he wanted to fully enjoy himself, he couldn't even use any props or activate beacons.

"Forget it, I guess your level in the old world is just this," Fang Mo sighed again, "Let's end this here."

Then he swung his sword forward.

The Laevatein sword ignited fiercely, blazing straight towards Dark Phoenix in mid-air.

"!!!"

Dark Phoenix seemed startled, quickly raising her hand to gather psychic energy in front of her, forcibly blocking Fang Mo's attack.

After successfully blocking it, Dark Phoenix appeared relieved, but then suddenly remembered something. Her pupils shrank, and she turned abruptly, making a hasty defensive gesture.

At that moment, an orange blade struck her barrier.

"Huh?"

Seeing this, Fang Mo raised an eyebrow instinctively, "Not bad, girl, you're much smarter than Makima."

"You, bastard, I'll..."

Dark Phoenix was visibly enraged. However, just as she was about to retaliate, a terrifying psychic force surged straight towards her from a distance, hitting her head and interrupting her attack.

"Ah!!!"

Dark Phoenix screamed in pain, clutching her head, "Charles! Get out! Get out of my mind!!!"

"Hmm?"

Fang Mo was also taken aback by the sight.

Dark Phoenix clearly indicated it was Charles attacking, but since when could Charles contend with Dark Phoenix?

In the original story, she incinerated him with just a glance.

Moreover, Charles's only trump card, the cerebral amplifier, had seemingly been destroyed by Dark Phoenix's earlier blast.

"Wait, could it be…"

However, as he thought about this, Fang Mo's heart suddenly stirred inexplicably.

He saw Fang Mo look up at the Dark Phoenix in front of him. The other party's condition was indeed not very good. How should he describe it... it was a bit like Sun Wukong under the tightening spell, holding his head in powerless rage and unable to launch an effective attack against Fang Mo.

"Emmmm..."

Seeing this, Fang Mo pondered for a moment.

In the next second, he directly activated Ender Teleportation, and with a thought, left the battlefield and returned to the interior of Xavier Academy.

Accompanied by a flash of dark green light.

Fang Mo looked up and saw a scene that made the corners of his mouth rise uncontrollably.

The room in front of him was very small, with retro tiles all around. Beside him was a mirror and a countertop, with a washbasin on top of it. There were also an antique incense bottle, soap, towels, and other items. It was obviously a bathroom.

Not far from Fang Mo, Charles was sitting on a pure gold toilet, his elbows resting on his knees, his palms pressing on his bald head, eyes closed, and brow furrowed, exerting himself.

He even occasionally gritted his teeth and made an "uh uh" sound.

To be honest, at first glance, it looked like an old man struggling with constipation.

Of course, everyone knew this was not actually about constipation. This was just what Professor X looked like when he was fully exerting his telepathic abilities.

In the world of X-Men, some mutants have habitual gestures or signs when using their abilities... for example, Storm's eyes turning white, or Magneto raising his hand when controlling metal.

Professor X, Charles, also had a habit when he was younger.

When he used his telepathic abilities, he would subconsciously press his temples with his index and middle fingers. However, he did this much less frequently as he got older.

But as it seems now.

It's not that he stopped doing it; it's just that he usually doesn't need to exert himself fully.

And now, to deal with the awakened Dark Phoenix, he's exerting himself to the extreme, veins bulging on his shiny forehead.

Honestly, seeing Charles exerting himself on the golden toilet...

If it were Biden, he probably would have filled the entire bathroom by now.

"Hahahahaha!!!"

Seeing this, Fang Mo couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Oh my gosh, Charles, hahaha... you really couldn't resist sitting on it!"

"!"

Fang Mo's sudden laughter obviously startled Charles. He suddenly opened his eyes, and his expression became extremely awkward.

It looked like he was both nervous and a bit uneasy.

To put it bluntly, it was like a kid secretly cosplaying in the living room while their parents were at work, only to be caught when the parents suddenly returned with a bunch of relatives, leading to a mental breakdown.

After being laughed at by Fang Mo for a while.

Charles was completely uneasy, his old face turning red with embarrassment, losing all his dignity: "Fang Mo, why... why did you come back suddenly? Go back, I can't hold her alone..."

"Hahaha, I just came back to see you specifically."

Fang Mo took a deep breath, barely suppressing his urge to laugh: "And to ask you something."

"What is it?"

Charles asked uneasily.

"It's about Jean." Fang Mo shrugged: "It seems she has reached her limit. Forget about destroying stars, she probably can't even destroy a country... it seems this version's timeline of the Dark Phoenix is a bit lacking, so I decided to end the battle early."

"What are you planning to do?"

Charles asked.

"That's what I wanted to ask you."

Fang Mo said directly: "Do you want me to kill her directly, or capture her first? If it's the latter, please move a bit. I just learned a new skill called Demon Seal, and I want to practice it on her."

"Wait, you mean to say you want to..."

"She is the Dark Phoenix."

Fang Mo corrected with a smile: "Or you could call her Her Majesty the Divine Phoenix, as she will never leave this golden vessel like you will never leave your golden toilet..."