Apocalypse's body, dozens of meters high, appeared exceptionally clumsy in this bizarre space.
No matter how he charged or how terrifying the energy waves he released were, the surrounding space was like a kaleidoscope, constantly shattering, reassembling, and folding.
He would clearly be charging forward, only to find himself falling downward the next second.
He would clearly throw a punch aimed at the bald woman, but the blow would unexpectedly come from behind himself.
"What kind of sorcery is this?!" Apocalypse was furious and exasperated.
As the god of mutants, he was accustomed to crushing everything with absolute power or controlling slaves with psychic power.
But the bald woman in the yellow robes before him was as slippery as an eel, and her methods were incredibly strange and unpredictable.
"This is magic, En Sabah Nur."
The Ancient One stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her feet resting on a glass curtain wall perpendicular to the ground, her expression as placid as still water.
"While your power is great, it still seems somewhat crude when faced with the rules of reality."
"Silence! Witch!"
Apocalypse roared, shooting two thick beams of energy from his eyes.
"Shatter!"
He attempted to use pure energy to burst the space open. However, the Ancient One merely gave her wrist a slight turn.
Crack!
The entire space rotated ninety degrees like a Rubik's Cube.
The energy beams shot by Apocalypse plunged into a folded spatial crease, and then...
Boom!
They shot out from above Apocalypse's head, slamming fiercely into his crown.
"Aargh—!"
Staggered by his own attack, Apocalypse's massive body tumbled onto the folded buildings, crushing countless panes of glass.
"I hate magic!!!"
Covering his smoking head, Apocalypse let out a roar of humiliation.
"Exactly."
The Ancient One watched the impotently raging Apocalypse, a flicker of imperceptible weariness in her eyes, but her tone remained calm.
"As long as you hate it, and as long as you haven't understood it, I can keep you trapped here and prevent you from running rampant outside."
After speaking, the Ancient One formed a complex magical seal with her hands.
Buzz!
Countless golden mystic lines intertwined in the air, forming a huge, even more complex geometric cage that wrapped around Apocalypse layer by layer.
After confirming that Apocalypse was temporarily unable to break free, the Ancient One swept her hands.
Zzzzt—
A portal leading to the real world opened before her.
Without looking back at the still-roaring blue giant, she stepped through.
The real world.
Madison Square Garden, ravaged and scarred.
Tony was being driven frantic by Erik's metallic storm.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.! Calculate trajectory! Find me a gap to slip through!"
"Sir, the metal density is too high. I cannot calculate an effective path. Suggest activating brute-force ramming mode."
"Then ram it is! Ram that helmeted old bastard to death!"
Tony was just about to increase the thruster power when—
Directly in front of his silver-white armor, a golden circle, crackling with sparks, appeared out of thin air.
Through the circle, Tony was stunned to see Erik, who was standing opposite, his back turned, arrogantly brainwashing Charles.
The distance was so close he could even clearly see the shameful seams of Erik's tight suit on his butt.
On the other side of the portal.
The Ancient One and Wong were standing there, nodding at Tony.
"Now, Stark." The Ancient One's voice called out.
Tony froze for a moment, then erupted in delight.
"That's what I call professional."
"Thanks, sorcerer."
Without hesitation, the thrusters of the Anti-Frieza armor instantly erupted in a burst of blue exhaust flame.
Boom!
The massive steel fist, wrapped in the invulnerability of Vibranium and carrying all the frustration Tony had bottled up shot through the portal.
"Old man, can your magnetic field block my rage?!"
Tony's eyes were bloodshot, and on the display screen beneath his faceplate, all the data was spiking into the red.
Closer!
Ten meters left!
Five meters!
Erik's undefended back was right in front of him.
Tony had already preset the trajectory of his repulsor blast. One hit was all it would take to blast this traitorous old bastard into dust.
However, just as the massive steel fist was about to touch Erik's cape—
Whoosh!
Without any warning, Tony felt as if a red-hot iron poker had been violently plunged into his brain.
"Ugh—!!!"
His scream was cut short before it could fully escape his throat.
The rapidly charging armor froze awkwardly mid-air, like a paused video frame.
It wasn't that the thrusters had failed nor was it J.A.R.V.I.S. crashing.
His body was no longer obeying him.
"What's happening... My hands... my legs..."
Tony discovered with horror that no matter how frantically his brain issued commands, his fingers couldn't even bend a millimeter. Even his mouth was forcibly sealed shut by some invisible force, leaving him only able to make muffled "ooh ooh" sounds.
At that moment, Erik slowly turned around. There was no surprise on his aged face, only a chilling mockery.
"That was close, Stark."
He extended a hand, and countless pieces of scrap metal instantly shot out like living snakes. They wrapped the Anti-Frieza armor, rigid in mid-air, layer upon layer, binding it like a mummy.
"If my old friend hadn't intervened, you might actually have torn this old body apart."
Old friend?
Tony's pupils contracted sharply.
The next second, a gentle voice, both familiar and utterly alien, echoed deep within his mind.
"I'm sorry, Stark."
"Sleep."
It was Charles!
"No! Professor! What are you doing?!" Tony roared frantically within the prison of his own mind.
"That devil killed Thor! He destroyed Washington! He destroyed a whole country! You are aiding evil! Let go of me!!!"
"I am very sorry."
Charles's voice was still filled with that same compassionate pity, but to Tony now, it sounded more terrifying than a demon from hell.
"But I have just seen that future."
"Resistance means extinction."
"For the future of mutants, and for the last spark of humanity, we must make a choice."
As his voice faded, an even more massive wave of psychic energy surged forward, instantly drowning Tony's consciousness.
The light in Tony's eyes went out and the massive armor weakly dropped its arms, silently hovering behind Erik.
On the other side of the battlefield.
The X-Men, who were struggling against Juggernaut and others, froze simultaneously.
Logan had just plunged his Adamantium claws into Juggernaut's stomach when he completely stiffened.
"Professor? What the hell are you doing? I can't move!" Logan roared in his mind.
"Logan, Jean, Ororo..."
Charles's voice resonated simultaneously in the minds of every X-Man.