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Selene arched a single brow at Emma's rebellious attitude. "What is the meaning of this?"
Footsteps closed in behind, then a big, warm hand settled on her shoulder.
"Don't you dare touch me with your filthy—"
A current tore through her. Every nerve in her body short-circuited at once. She hit the floor, limbs jerking beyond her control. She could feel the cold stone against her cheek and the involuntary spasms wracking her frame, but she couldn't move. Dante had severed the connection between her will and her body entirely, leaving her mind screaming into the void.
'What has he done to me?'
She roared at her own muscles to obey, but the command vanished into silence. Refusing to surrender, she channeled her life-force into the earth itself. The stone groaned and cracked apart as it was imbued with her life-force, and then surged up in the form of a massive granite arm. It rose with crushing momentum and slammed down on Dante.
He glanced at it.
The gigantic arm stopped right before his face and crumbled into dust. The life-force woven within it was dissolved into nothing.
'How is this possible…?'
Selene's mind was in shambles. He hadn't used brute power. Whatever he had done simply unmade her life-force.
Dante didn't give her time to gather her thoughts. He stepped closer and stomped on Selene's spine.
CRACK.
A shriek tore from Selene's throat—it was a disgusting sound that she couldn't believe came out of her own mouth.
What followed after was a series of smaller, wet, grinding fractures as Dante dug his heel in and twisted. Those sounds were completely drowned under her screams filled with agony.
In seventeen millennia, Selene had been impaled, dismembered, beheaded, burned alive, drowned, and tortured. The uncountable number of deaths had cultivated a near-immunity to pain. A stab to her heart barely registered as a pain to her mind these days. A little convenience.
Yet the pain flooding her body ripped directly at her soul. It was as if someone had amplified her sense of pain a dozenfold.
"Arghhh!"
Tears ran down her face without her permission. Selene the Black Queen, the immortal psychic vampire, the priestess of ancient Rome, the Moon Goddess revered by many… as much as she loathed to be humiliated in this manner, right now, these screams and tears were the only thing keeping her mind from spanning like a twig under pressure.
Her mind would inevitably break under this torture.
'I have to leave.'
She squeezed her eyes shut against the agony and dragged together the mystical energy. It was so hard to concentrate under so much pain, yet she did.
The teleportation matrix spell required many intricate details, and she painstakingly wove them thread by thread. The spell became clear in her mind.
'Close. So close.'
She channeled her mystical energy and controlled it with insane effort. A cold shiver suddenly ran down her spine as an overwhelming presence swallowed the room.
Her mind reeled.
She had clawed her way back from the threshold of life countless times. No one in this world came close to knowing death as intimately as her. This immense presence seemed to be the very embodiment of that experience, and it came from the man with a boot in her spine.
Death.
A god of death.
The bitter taste of regret filled her mouth. She had been foolish. She had been arrogant. On top of that, she had been negligent.
A single spell prepared in advance could've saved her the moment things turned. But she hadn't bothered. She had falsely believed she could reduce them both to ash at her leisure.
She realized now that she had never been the hunter in this room. From the moment they had walked through the door, Dante had been containing her. She had been the prey all along.
His prey.
"Did you get my permission to leave?"
"St… op."
Her mouth, which had become tired of screaming, barely squeezed out the word. Usually, the adrenaline rush would numb everything, but the pain had remained as excruciating as the first second.
The man had thoroughly changed her body.
Dante lifted his foot. "Emma, she is asking me to stop."
Light crystal sounds filled the room as Emma used her new power.
Emma crouched beside Selene, seized a fistful of black hair, and pulled her up until their faces were inches apart.
Selene met those eyes which were filled with the fury of a teacher. The fury of a mother. But those eyes became cold the moment her crystallization spread up her neck and covered her face.
"Did you stop Trevor?" Emma asked in a voice stripped of everything that made one human. "When I was on the ground, begging, did you tell him to stop?"
Selene stayed quiet.
"I was prepared to throw every shred of dignity. Take me and let the kids go—that's all I wanted." The cold diamond fingers closed around Selene's throat and lifted her up and off the ground like a weightless doll. "You monsters didn't even give me that much."
Selene knew convincing Emma would be impossible in this situation. Vengeance drove Emma. So she fed her stored life-force into her broken spine in an attempt to heal and drive away this treacherous pain.
Dante positioned himself behind Emma's shoulder. "She is healing herself."
Emma tilted her head. "Good."
The single word made Selene's heart cold.
"Don't hold back. I can heal as many times as you need."
"There is no need for you to stay here," Emma said, looking at him. "I can't feel emotions in this form. Torturing someone won't affect me, but you—"
"Don't mind me. I've seen worse things."
Emma gazed at him for a long moment before redirecting her attention back to Selene. "Do you have a medieval torture dungeon here? I'd like to have a bit of fun before Dante takes your soul."
"Stop this, Emma!" Selene drove the thoughts directly into their minds. "You'll gain nothing from killing me."
The deities related to death was one of the few existences capable of killing her. A being who could rip her soul out and carry it to the afterlife. And Dante wasn't any ordinary god of death. He seemed abnormally powerful even when compared to the god of death she had previously encountered.
"What will I gain from keeping you alive?" Emma asked. "Every moment I'll be anxious about your revenge. That's not a life I want for myself or for my children."
"I swear I won't move against you again." She desperately turned to Dante. Just one moment of eye-contact made her entire body freeze up. Her eyes couldn't stay steady on him. "You should have told me what your man was. I would not have touched you or your students in a hundred lifetimes. Not once."
"So now you admit to harming my students."
"I did," Selene confessed without hesitation. "I'll make up for it. Bring me their bodies and I will perform a ritual to resurrect them. I'll get on my knees and apologize to all of them."
Pride and dignity were things she could trade for survival at any given moment. Dying meant losing everything gained in seventeen thousand years. She had no interest in dying now or ever.
Dante stayed quiet, showing his intention of leaving everything in Emma's hands.
"Dante already brought them back."
Selene wasn't surprised. Her necromantic rituals would never be the same as the life reversal done by a god of death. An imitation, no matter how skilled, would never be close to the real thing.
Emma tilted her head. "Seeing you this miserable, I have lost all motivation to torture you. Dear, you should—"
"Wait!"
The sincerity method had met a dead end.
She had to shift her approach.
"The Externals… we're some of the most powerful mutants who share a psychic connection with each other." Selene glanced between them. "Everyone beside me is currently in hibernation, but my death will be the alarm that wakes them."
Dante showed a look of recognition.
Emma stayed as cold as ice. "Do you think I fear anyone standing next to this man?"
Selene hung her head. The mutant king empowered by Celestial technology was probably the strongest mutant in the world. But would he stand a chance against a god of death? She felt unqualified to answer that question.
"They left clans behind. Fanatical, ancient clans filled with crazy mutants."
"I've never heard of them."
"They're staying hidden until the Externals awaken. It'll be troublesome to deal with all of them even for Sir Dante." She tried to convince Dante. "Why not save yourself that trouble and gain a resourceful ally in me?"
Emma eased her grip, seemingly a bit hesitant after learning of the trouble associated with the Externals. She turned to her companion for his opinion. "If that's true, killing her will create trouble for the world."
"Agreed," Dante said, nodding slowly. "I have no interest in fighting Apocalypse and his Horsemen."
Selene was rattled to hear that name from Dante. Apocalypse—En Sabah Nur—the man who had kept her ambitions of ruling the world in check. Dante spoke as though he personally knew the crazy man.
"But you said he's currently sleeping. So we—" Dante suddenly turned toward the door connecting the chamber to the rest of the Club. The deathly, suffocating presence around him faded away like a tide pulling back from shore. "I'm afraid we have guests."
Selene didn't care who came through the door. She was more concerned with what Dante was about to say. What intention did he have with the slumbering Apocalypse?
"Guests?" Emma eyed the door. "Oh my."
The first to rush in was indeed a man with short brown hair. He had a sharp face partially concealed by the red visor over his eyes. He wore a dark blue costume with yellow belts.
Scott Summers.
"Dante! Emma!" a surprise-filled voice came as a breathtaking redhead in a green costume followed behind Scott. Her yellow gloves and golden half-mask made her stand out even among the X-Men.
Selene knew the redhead as Jean Gray, one of the most promising telepaths.
The rest of the X-Men crew arrived one after another.
Warren Worthington III, Angel, descended through the doorway on white wings. He landed beside Scott and folded his wings.
Robert Drake, Iceman, continuously projected an ice beam that created a bridge for him to skate on. He stopped beside Angel in a shower of frost crystals.
"Iceman." Drake stretched the word cheerfully. "Reporting for the distress call!"
"Read the room, stupid icehead." Angel rolled his eyes. "Is it the right place to announce your name?"
"Come on, pal. We only go out in suits once a blue moon. Let me—"
Angel slapped the back of his head and pointed towards Selene. If it were before, Selene would've chopped off his head, resurrected him, and made him a slave. But now, she could only endure this humiliation.
Iceman surveyed the scene of Emma, Dante, and Selene. "Is that Emma freaking Frost? Why is she glittering?"
"A new mutant power I believe."
"That guy's coat looks familiar. He is—"
"Skullfire," Scott uttered the name under his breath. Even though his eyes were covered, anyone could make out his complicated emotions through his voice. "I was waiting to meet you."
Dante ignored him and kept his gaze on the stairs as if he had no interest in Scott whatsoever.
The temperature in the vast chamber suddenly shifted. It went from warm humidity to the cool freshness that accompanied the rain.
Ororo slowly glided into the chamber, her white hair and cape fluttering to the currents of her power.
"Dante, Emma Frost," Ororo whispered, her glowing white eyes giving her a divine presence. "Emma Frost, I did not expect to find you at the scene of a mutant distress signal."
"Ororo, Emma and I are in the middle of something important here," Dante said with a warm smile. "Can you take your friends and leave?"
Ororo shook her head slowly. "I cannot agree or disagree. The decision is in Charles' hands."
The last figure descended the stairs on a levitating chair. He quietly reached the forefront of the assembled X-Men.
Currently the strongest telepath in the world.
Charles Xavier.
"Is that… blood over there?" Iceman pointed out. "That's gross."
"Who died?"
The gruesome sight near the dais finally caught someone's attention. Tessa had taken the corpse away, but the mess of blood, brain, and skull remained there as a reminder of the bet between Emma and Sebastian Shaw.
Nobody answered their question.
Emma released her grip on Selene's throat and pushed down her head to make her kneel. Selene followed along without any resistance. The young X-Men, however, winced at her cruelty.
"Xavier," Emma said. "Who invited your crew here?"
"I did." The side door opened, and Tessa strode in with light steps. She bowed to Selene. "Apologies, Mistress. I've acted without your permission."
Selene didn't condone Tessa for sending the distressed signal. All mutant factions had an agreement to assist each other if they were under attack by anyone. Staying united was the only way to end SHIELD's oppression.
She didn't know yet whether Tessa had bought her a lifeline or complicated the situation past saving. Either way, she wasn't going to give up on her life.
"Release her, Frost," Xavier said in a calm voice. "Conflict among our own kind will yield nothing."
"Professor is right, Emma," Scott said. "Don't be influenced by him. We shouldn't be fighting among ourselves when SHIELD is still lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike."
Selene saw no light of hope in Xavier and his X-Men. They were formidable. Together, they were extraordinary. However, all of them amounted to nothing in the face of one who controlled death itself.
But then again, Dante had a compassionate soul. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone so far to help the helpless people of New York. Maybe he would listen to Xavier and spare her life.
Emma's smile was barely visible beneath the diamond. "Dear, what do you have to say to these hypocrites?"
The silence that followed was tense for the X-Men. Xavier, Scott, Jean, Ororo, Warren, Drake, and Tessa held still. Selene herself, still dangling in Emma's unbreakable grip, waited anxiously.
Dante's response would lead to two outcomes.
There would be a peaceful resolution if he chose to stand down.
Or the conflict would escalate if he refused to stand down.
Dante passed a hand over his face. Pale golden and blue flames erupted and consumed his face. What emerged was the face nearly every person in New York knew.
"I'm going to kill Selene." He took a step forward that shook the ground, perhaps the entire Club. The flames around his skull mask roared higher. "Feel free to stop me."
The faint golden glow underneath the chest part of his coat suddenly blazed like the sun itself.
"Just don't expect any mercy if you do."
It was a declaration to make the X-Men think twice before stopping him.
Selene realized, finally, nobody would be able to save her today.
***
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