Reborn with Steve Stand-Chapter 845: Well… Shit

“Aaaaah!!!”

Under the strong pull of magnetic forces, the porcupine-like mutant was yanked violently off the ground, letting out an unending scream that echoed around the pyramid.

“What?”

Seeing that, the lone remaining female Horseman froze, stunned. “Wh…what’s happening!?”

Fortunately, she soon noticed Erik hovering in midair. Her mind was sharp enough to recall the way he controlled those metal plates earlier—realizing it was him, she showed a look of realization.

“…I expected no less.”

Unlike her, Logan—lying on the ground not far away—rolled his eyes. He and Erik had never gotten along very well; Logan’s body being entirely Adamantium put him at a huge disadvantage whenever they fought. Watching the porcupine mutant now get the same treatment triggered a kind of schadenfreude in Logan.

“He’s flying awfully far…”

Quicksilver, seeing the porcupine-man soar, exclaimed in mild surprise. “So it’s down to just you…thinking of surrendering by chance?”

Obviously, that question was aimed at the female Horseman.

“Surrender?”

The moment she heard that, however, she looked incensed. Her body began transforming rapidly, accompanied by a fierce roar.

“We will NEVER betray him!!!”

With a raspy, harsh growl, her form grew taller at a speed visible to the naked eye. Bones cracked and shifted; her hands and feet turned into sharp claws; her skin took on a pitch-black, scaly covering. Then from her back tore forth a pair of massive wings, ripping through flesh and stretching wide.

As those wings spread, she crouched low, morphing into something resembling a ferocious Western dragon. “I’ll…kill every last one of you!!!”

“Holy crap, a Lady Dragon!?”

Fang Mo exclaimed in surprise, hearing her monstrous roar.

“Raaagh!”

She obviously didn’t understand a word. Enraged, she attacked immediately.

Tilting her head back, she gathered a searing flame in her throat, then spewed it forward, flooding the area in a fiery sea. The air contorted in the heat, sand melted to glass, and the already-scorching desert climate soared to a new extreme.

“Whoa!”

Quicksilver vanished instantly in a blur, dashing out of the flames.

With that wall of fire forcing the group back, the dragon swiveled about and slammed her tail into the path leading inside the pyramid, collapsing it. Without pausing, she used her gigantic wings to leap into the air, circling the pyramid at high speed while blasting flames at the ground. Apparently, she planned to hold everyone off that way.

Her flames were intensely hot and covered a wide area, leaving the people below scrambling with no immediate way to retaliate.

But at that moment, a faint screaming sound rang from above—growing rapidly louder, as if something was plummeting from a great height.

“Huh?”

Hearing it, the people below paused. Even the dragon circling overhead sensed it, glancing around. Then she spotted her comrade—the porcupine mutant from earlier—spiraling downward.

“Aaaah!!!”

He let out a continuous howl, streaking through the sky like a meteor, apparently headed straight for her, judging by the trajectory.

“!”

Realizing that, the dragon whipped her head toward Erik in the distance, who was floating above. She furiously pounded her wings, desperate to get at him first. But Erik also could fly, and used sheets of metal to keep her at bay. She simply couldn’t catch him quickly.

In the meantime, the screaming porcupine-man was racing closer and closer on a direct collision course.

She tried to dodge, but Erik—famous as a globally wanted top-tier mutant—had pinpoint magnetic control. No matter how the dragon weaved in midair, it was useless.

In the end, she could only watch the porcupine-man slam into her back with great force.

Because his entire body was bristling with razor-sharp metallic spikes, he basically became a colossal spiked mace. With a resounding “thump,” blood sprayed. Her tough dragon scales proved no match for those spikes. Coupled with the heavy kinetic impact, she lost her balance, plunging toward the ground.

But compared to the dragon’s wounds, the porcupine-man was even worse off.

The crashing impact shattered every bone in his body at once, his flesh ripped to pieces, spikes scattering everywhere. He was so wrecked as to be nearly unrecognizable, spewing blood nonstop.

Still Erik showed no mercy. With a squeeze of his hand, the porcupine-man once more fell under the sway of magnetism. His body twisted and compressed, turning into a basketball-sized mass of mangled human parts, then, like a shooting star, Erik hurled him straight downward.

“Roar!”

Having crashed into the ground first, the dragon realized their situation was dire. With both of them so badly cornered, there was no choice but to unleash her last resort. Tilting her head skyward, she took a deep breath, a blazing glow building in her throat. She was willing to kill her comrade, if necessary, to fulfill their orders.

Of course, while that might be her plan, the porcupine-man had his own thoughts. He was still conscious, barely. Seeing her prepare another fire blast, he recognized she was aiming at him in midair, and screamed, “No, don’t!!!”

Before he could plead further, scarlet flames swallowed him.

“Arghhh!!”

He howled in agony, but the magnetic force was holding him securely, leaving no room to struggle. He could only watch himself be burned alive into a chunk of charred remains.

Yet even scorched black, his velocity did not lessen. Under Erik’s control, he actually accelerated further. In the end, that charred mass was forcibly shoved down the dragon’s throat, smashing her head into the ground.

Before she could rise again, Erik abruptly spread his hands wide from midair.

In an instant, countless spikes ruptured outward from the charred husk, ripping through the dragon’s jaws, throat, palate, even penetrating her brain and spinal column. The final Horseman died on the spot.

With all of Apocalypse’s Horsemen dispatched, everyone regrouped at the pyramid’s entrance. Logan dusted himself off and strode over. “So…that’s all of them?”

“Assuming they only had the four of them,”

Erik said, floating gently down.

“Then now we head in to finish him?” Raven stared at the collapsed entrance. “But how do we clear all that rubble?”

At that question, everyone looked in unison toward Fang Mo.

“Are we sure we got it done too fast?” Fang Mo seemed discontent, scratching his head. “We can resurrect them for another round if you want. The dragon-lady’s death was a bit gruesome, and that porcupine guy was kinda funny. I wanted to see him in a cage match with a Cactuar…”

“For God’s sake, be serious.”

Hank sounded restless. “Charles’s fate is unknown in there. Could we focus on saving him first?”

“I never said I wouldn’t save him—”

“Fang Mo,”

Logan cut him off before he could finish. “After all this ends…I’ll leave this world with you,” he said, lighting half a cigarette. “So can we go rescue Charles now?”

“…You’re serious?”

Fang Mo arched his brow in surprise.

“I’m tired,” Logan nodded calmly. “It’s been over 200 years of…gaining things, then losing them. I think it’s time I finally got some rest.”

“Sure, fine.”

Seeing how earnest he was, Fang Mo shrugged. “I guess I’ll…get serious, then.”

He raised a hand. The swirling sands parted, and his colossal “degenerate neutron greatsword” flew back into his grip.

No extra words: Fang Mo leveled a finger at the front of the pyramid.

“Chibaku Tensei.”

A faint gleam flickered over his “Void Ring.” A vast gravitational field engulfed everything in sight.

The giant pyramid began to quake under that unstoppable pull, cracking. Countless stones and sand soared into the sky like an inverted waterfall. From a distance, one would see the entire sky darken with debris. The earth went black, like the apocalypse had come.

And once the pyramid was fully uprooted, Fang Mo hefted his greatsword and strode into the wreckage.

“…”

Everyone exchanged looks and hurried after him. Wandering briefly among the ruins, they soon found a half-collapsed sanctuary within. There, they glimpsed two recognizable figures.

It was clearly Apocalypse’s sanctum. In the center stood a gigantic statue of him, carved from sand and stone—depicting him seated on a throne, worshiped by lesser beings. Behind him were four other statues of his Horsemen, mostly destroyed and unrecognizable.

And at the foot of that towering idol, they spotted two very strange stone altars. On the left lay Apocalypse—apparently lifeless—and on the right lay Charles, unconscious. Oddly, his hair was all gone.

“Charles!”

They cried and rushed forward.

Just then, an unexpected change occurred. Charles, previously unconscious, suddenly had his eyes sink in, weird markings crawled across his skin, and his flesh began turning… blue?

“Wh-what the—?!”

Alarmed by the transformation, the group froze.

Before they could react further, Charles’s eyes snapped open. A powerful blast of force hurled them away.

“I…have succeeded…”

A cold, dark voice echoed, plunging everyone’s hearts into despair.

“That’s…Apocalypse!”

Raven struggled to stand, visibly distraught. “We came too late. He…he’s taken over Charles’s body!”

“Hahaha, that’s right!”

Apocalypse couldn’t hide his excitement anymore, his usual composure giving way to wild glee. “I’ve done it. I can sense your minds, your voices. I am everywhere… Now, no one can stop me!”

Hearing that, the team’s spirits plummeted.

“Oh, is that so?”

But Fang Mo’s voice, calm as ever, cut through the tension. “Looks like you’re unstoppable. So how about standing up and taking a few steps?”

“Hm?”

Apocalypse blinked in confusion at Fang Mo’s remark. He tried to move, only to find he couldn’t even twitch. There was zero sensation from the neck down. He had no idea what was happening.

“T-this can’t be!”

No matter how he struggled, his new body wouldn’t respond. This was outright unnatural. In his last takeover, he snatched a mutant with super regeneration. Even if Charles had been injured, that healing factor should have him on his feet by now. Yet here he was, utterly paralyzed, as if snared by some vile trick.

“You—!”

Overwhelmed with fury, Apocalypse glared. “What did you do to me?! Why can’t I move?!”

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“I did nothing. Just…modified Charles’s powers a bit.”

Fang Mo shrugged, losing the mask of indifference as a sneaky grin tugged at his lips. “Now his Omega-level power is ‘Total Paralysis,’ with ‘telepathy’ as the side effect.”