Erik's voice echoed over the ruins, filled with a hysterical madness and a heartbreaking resolve.
His words were like a poisoned dagger, precisely piercing the softest part of Charles's heart.
A planet for mutants... no discrimination, no persecution, only their own kind...
Charles's fingers clutched the armrest of his wheelchair, his knuckles turning white from the excessive force.
He looked at his old friend, who, despite wearing a shameful bodysuit and ridiculous shoulder pads, still held his head high.
In that instant, the old man with the most powerful mind in the world couldn't find a single word to refute.
Dignity?
In the face of racial survival, is dignity truly too much of a luxury?
"Charles! Don't listen to him!"
Tony's anxious roar came through the loudspeaker. But in Charles's ears, it sounded distant, as if through a thick fog.
"He's brainwashing you! That demon will kill all of us! He's just painting a picture for you! Wake up, Professor!"
Tony yelled desperately while controlling the massive Anti-Frieza armor to bombard the steel barrier in front of him.
He knew Charles's abilities too well. If even he defected, then this battle would truly be unwinnable.
If Charles were to turn around and mind-control the Avengers…
Tony shivered.
That would be hell.
However, just as Erik thought his persuasive words were about to succeed, and just as Charles's eyes were starting to glaze over—
"ROAR———!!!"
A roar filled with extreme rage, like a sudden clap of thunder, shattered the solidified atmosphere.
The metal cage that had been firmly pinning down the Hulk suddenly began to twist.
Creak—CRACK!
Countless solid steel bars, thicker than a man's thigh, snapped instantly like crumbly biscuits, scattering in all directions.
Hulk, the beast that had been suppressed for so long, finally broke free.
His eyes were glowing green, and two visible streams of hot air spewed from his nostrils.
He didn't understand anything about the future of mutants, nor the dialectic of dignity and survival.
He only knew one thing.
The old man with the red helmet in front of him had just choked him with an iron rod, and it hurt a lot.
It hurt terribly!
"Hulk… hates… metal guy!!!"
BOOM!
A deep crater instantly exploded in the ground.
Hulk's massive body, like a cannonball, charged directly towards Erik, who was suspended in mid-air, with kinetic energy capable of crushing mountains. His terrifying speed even left a green afterimage in the air.
Erik's expression changed.
He had been so busy trying to persuade his old friend that he hadn't expected this green monster to still be able to unleash such power.
"Damn it!"
He instinctively tried to manipulate the magnetic field for defense, but Hulk was too fast. It was an extreme burst of pure physical strength.
That massive green fist rapidly expanded in his pupils.
Erik could even make out the rough texture on Hulk's knuckles.
Was he going to be embarrassed in front of Frieza?
No!
Just at this critical moment, a grey afterimage burst out from the ruins on the side.
"For Lord Frieza!"
It was a roar full of fanaticism and loyalty.
BANG!!!
A dull, extremely heavy sound of flesh colliding rang out.
Hulk's unstoppable punch was actually intercepted in mid-air.
No, not intercepted.
It was knocked aside.
A grotesque monster, covered in bone spikes and even larger than the Hulk, slammed into Hulk's side.
The immense impact sent both behemoths tumbling aside, collapsing a grandstand.
As the dust settled, the grey monster slowly stood up, shook its hideous head, and revealed a mouthful of jagged fangs.
Emil Blonsky.
The Abomination!
The madman who had once transformed himself into a monster in pursuit of power.
Now, he was also wearing his distinctive white and purple battle suit (though it was stretched to the point of tearing), with the Frieza Force emblem emblazoned on his chest.
The Abomination stared at the Hulk, who was climbing out of the ruins, his eyes gleaming with ferocity.
"Long time no see, Hulk."
"I heard you're afraid of the blonde one? Hahahaha!"
The Abomination let out a grating laugh, pointing at the elegant figure in the sky.
"But I'm different."
"I feel Lord Frieza's power! It's the power of evolution!"
"As long as I kill you, I'll become Lord Frieza's top warrior! That big blue oaf will have to rank behind me!"
The Abomination stomped his foot and charged at the Hulk again.
"Come on! Let's fight again!"
"Roar! Hulk… smash you!"
The two power-type monsters instantly wrestled together, fists meeting flesh, each blow causing minor earthquakes.
In mid-air.
Erik, still shaken, wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
He glanced at the Abomination, who was brawling with the Hulk, cursing him inwardly as a "brainless brute," but also breathing a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, he hadn't made a fool of himself in front of Frieza.
"Hmph, Charles, do you see?"
Erik looked back at the old man in the wheelchair, sneering.
"This is Lord Frieza's charm."
"Even a beast that only knows slaughter is willing to die for him."
"We are the ones following destiny."
On the ground.
Tony watched this scene, his heart sinking halfway.
"Damn it!"
Tony gritted his teeth, the Anti-Frieza armor's engines roaring.
He had to do something.
"Professor! Don't listen to his bullshit!"
"That's fear! That's not loyalty! That's the servility of being scared out of your wits!"
Tony yelled, raising his arm, his repulsor cannons beginning to charge.
"I'm going to dismantle that magnet suit of yours!"
However, before Tony could fire, Erik in the sky merely glanced at him indifferently.
"Noisy."
He subtly hooked his finger.
Countless metal debris from the ruins instantly flew up, forming an impenetrable steel tornado that tightly encircled Tony, with continuous clanging sounds.
Although these ordinary metals couldn't damage the Vibranium armor, they were as annoying as flies, completely blocking Tony's vision and attack routes.
Just as the ground battle reached a stalemate—
The Mirror Dimension.
Here, the sky was inverted, and buildings folded and flipped in the air like building blocks.
"ROAR!!!"
The giant-sized Apocalypse was now roaring in fury, like a fly trapped in a glass bottle.