The other Earth in this timeline was also a Mutant world.
Without the help of the X-Men, Magneto and the others could not quickly break through that Earth's defenses. So Magneto, the White Queen, and various factions jointly asked Professor X to intervene. Their goal was to protect their own Earth and its billions of people.
In the end, Professor X agreed to act, but he decided that after destroying the other Earth he would atone for his sins with death.
However, an even worse situation occurred. When the second collision ended, a third collision arrived surprisingly fast. Once a boundary was broken, it continued to break again.
The X-Men joined the operation to destroy the third Earth. That Earth was very powerful and had Thanos in possession of four Infinity Stones. So the mutants awakened Apocalypse and together destroyed the third Earth once again.
By the time the fourth world collision occurred, they had all become demons, burdened with the blood debt of tens of billions of lives. Neither Magneto nor Professor X had any bottom line left. Even Professor X no longer hesitated when destroying another Earth.
When it came to our current world collision, the fifth one, Wanda paused and spoke heavily.
At first, although Professor X agreed with Jarvis that he would wait until the world collision ended, they were already mobilizing personnel and preparing to infiltrate our world. Their plan was to first take control of all humans, then detonate the Earth's core.
Wanda summarized the Mutant Earth's experience and explained the reasons for their actions.
The Avengers were silent. Captain America and Carter looked at the Mutants lying on the ground. They could have passed for demonic butchers, but they also looked like desperate people fighting to survive.
Tony Stark could not stop himself from imagining the Mutant Earth's fate. Without Malrick in this Earth, what would happen to them, the Avengers, in the face of a world collision crisis? He remembered everyone's behavior during their last visit to the main Universe. Captain America certainly would not agree to destroy another Earth.
As for him, Tony thought about himself. Although the Avengers could temporarily push Earth away using the Infinity Stones, if world collisions occurred repeatedly like on the Mutant Universe, could the Infinity Stones still manage the crisis? With deep thought, Tony feared that he too might become like these Mutants.
A chill spread through his body.
Now Tony looked at Wolverine with sympathy.
"So what do we do with these people? Send them back?" Tony broke the silence.
Everyone snapped back from their thoughts, but no one knew what to do. These Mutants were sinful butchers. Even if they shared the guilt, they still carried countless lives on their hands. And yet everything they did was to survive. To survive, they had no choice but to kill.
Among the Avengers, only Captain America could claim that he would not do the same in their position.
In the silence, Wolverine suddenly scoffed. He rolled over from lying face down to face up. Under the Avengers' watchful eyes, he stared blankly at the sky above. A mocking expression slowly appeared on his face, though deep pain and a strange sense of relief lay beneath it.
"Kill us, kill all of us," Wolverine said.
"This world is already crazy, and we are all driven mad. I have seen the cruelty of war, but even wars called meat grinders aren't as insane as this world now. This world forces everyone to abandon their humanity."
"Kill me, then kill that old man and that beautiful woman, and those others, kill them all."
"If Professor X knew he was going to be killed, he would welcome it."
"And Jean, she doesn't want to live either. She hurts every day. I've seen her late at night, burning her palm with a cigarette. She used to hate the smell of smoke more than anything."
"As for the others, death is better than life for them. Once dead, everything ends. No more nightmares, no more hearing the endless wails of souls."
"Come on, kill us. Aren't you Avengers? I'm begging you, do it already."
Maybe he truly longed for release. Wolverine spoke in one breath. His eyes were dark, but in that moment they looked like dusty glass marbles, filled with a pain sharper than ten thousand blades.
The Avengers listened in silence, their expressions complicated. Tony wanted to say something, but his heart was too heavy.
Finally, Carter said expressionlessly, "Do it. Even if they return to their Earth now, only pain will remain, causing more death in the future."
She pulled out her Glock pistol and fired at several Mutants with ordinary physiques. Wanda exhaled and extended her fingers to cast magic. Scarlet chaos magic enveloped the Mutants. When the red energy faded, each Mutant had transformed into a transparent bubble, drifting upward and returning to their own Earth.
"Malrick said that an unimaginable crisis is brewing in the Multiverse," Tony said in a melancholic tone as he watched the bubbles disappear.
"Perhaps the world collision was only part of that crisis. We should be grateful that Malrick is still with us. But we also need to prepare for all possible dangers that could threaten Earth."
The others nodded in agreement.
Hela, the former goddess of death now mortal, was also present. She stared at the sky, suddenly feeling that this Universe was very strange. Thousands of years ago, when she and Odin once conquered the universe, they had never heard of anything like a multiverse crisis. Looking at the distant Earth, the arrogance in Hela's heart faded greatly.
…
Outside this Universe, Malrick's gaze shifted slowly between the two Worlds. He penetrated through vague interference forces, searching for the true reason the Universes were colliding.
As a series of bubbles drifted from this Universe toward the Mutant Universe, Malrick suddenly reached out and grabbed a black flame that was flying beyond the boundaries of both Universes. The flame was trapped in his palm. When he opened his hand, it transformed into a black phoenix flapping its wings.
"Is this a fragment of the Phoenix Force that came from Jean Grey?" he wondered. "After her death, the fragment seeks a new host. I will keep it for future study."
Malrick pocketed the Phoenix Force fragment and continued observing the timelines, causality, space-time, and all other factors between the Universes.
Everything that had happened in the Mutant Universe, Malrick had already discovered the instant he first observed that world. That was why he allowed those Mutants to enter Earth. A sense of crisis should not be his alone. What could invoke more urgency than a group of people bearing the weight of countless deaths from world collisions?
Tony and the others needed to grow stronger, and quickly.
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