Chapter 383: One Punch Takes Down Cassandra Nova
Universe 10005
"Holy crap, that hurts!" Like a scrap of debris flung out by the torrent of time, Hell's Kitchen Deadpool dragged himself out of a bottomless crater in thoroughly sorry shape.
"Home at last!" Mainline Deadpool didn't care one bit that he'd just fallen out of the sky.
"Let's go. I know where the Time Variance Authority is." The yellow-suited Wolverine had come along with Mainline Deadpool to his universe.
He'd promised Deadpool he would help save his world, and he meant to keep that promise.
"You go on ahead. I'm going to find this world's remaining mutants first." He hovered in midair, wrapped in a powerful magnetic field, looking every inch an unrivaled king.
His gaze was deep and cold. His heart burned with anger and hatred at the injustice of this world.
Only four of them had come to this world, and each had his own reasons.
Hell's Kitchen Deadpool simply wanted to see how this universe's Deadpool was doing, and why on earth this world's version of him had a girlfriend.
Magneto's reason went without saying. He was going to avenge the mutants and break them out of prison.
He would make the humans of this world feel pain!
As for why Ethan hadn't come, he'd said he wanted to see an old friend, so he'd sit this one out for now.
...
The Void
Only three people remained: Cassandra, Professor X, and Ethan.
Ethan had already sent Wolverine, Gambit, Daredevil and the others back to Hell's Kitchen.
None of the rescued could ever go back to the worlds they came from. Ethan had just saved them, and word was that Hell's Kitchen had great benefits, so they had all gone along.
These days Ethan didn't much care whether they joined for good. He was giving them a choice. If they liked it, they could stay. If not, they were free to go their own way.
Still, Ethan was curious about the Hell's Kitchen he'd built. He'd bet none of them would ever want to leave once they got there.
Only Cassandra, stubborn as ever, refused to go with Xavier.
"Hmph. So you're the Ethan brat. You look perfectly ordinary. How did you get Charles and his lot to swear loyalty to you?"
Cassandra looked at the youthful Ethan, unable to fathom what charm he had that could bring both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants under his banner.
In every mutant universe she knew of, the two teams led by Professor X and Magneto were irreconcilable enemies, as incompatible as fire and water.
"You may be my sister, but allow me to correct your prejudice," said Professor X, Charles Xavier, in a voice both gentle and firm.
At the same time, he slowly extended his telepathy, and it washed toward Cassandra like a gentle tide.
Cassandra had assumed the mental strength she'd honed over so many years would easily hold him off. She had not imagined Charles's telepathy would run so much deeper, and be so much finer, than she'd thought possible.
Her resistance was a sandcastle before an incoming tide, utterly fragile.
In an instant, she felt an irresistible force pressing her down. She was forced to one knee, the arrogance on her face giving way to a trace of defeat.
"Hmph. You're only relying on Charles's power. One-on-one, I wouldn't necessarily lose," Cassandra said, stubbornly raising her head.
She had noticed that every figure she'd once known had become unfamiliar, and that every one of them was stronger than any variant she'd encountered.
She privately suspected that Ethan held some mysterious power that could unlock other people's potential, even change their fate. It made everyone around him keep surpassing themselves and grow stronger than ever before.
Yet a sliver of doubt remained. She suspected Ethan's own strength wasn't enough to command anyone's respect, and that he'd won their loyalty through some trick or scheme.
She believed she had seen right through him. Ethan himself couldn't possibly be strong. Otherwise, why would people with personalities as domineering as Magneto and Professor X ever join him?
Ethan looked at this sister of Charles's. She had to be centuries old, yet here she was, as sore a loser as a child. He shook his head.
"It's fine. I'll go easy on her. Charles, it's all right." He signaled for Charles to withdraw his power. Cassandra's provocation didn't bother him in the least.
Hearing this, Xavier inwardly shook his head. He'd been trying to help his sister.
Ethan had earned his strength and reputation one fight at a time. Xavier didn't know what Cassandra was like at full power, but she certainly wasn't a match for Ethan.
If Cassandra couldn't even beat Xavier, how could she possibly beat Ethan?
Freed from Xavier's psychic suppression, Cassandra looked at Ethan brimming with confidence. She had this in the bag.
"Hmph. Don't worry. I'll leave your body in one piece." Her words carried a cold edge. She drew a deep breath, and all her psychokinetic power surged like a rising tide, converging into a single blinding beam aimed straight at Ethan.
All her pride and fury were poured into that light. She meant to kill her opponent in one blow.
Ethan didn't move. As the tremendous psychokinetic force drew near, an invisible power quietly dissolved it, as if it had been sucked into an unseen vortex and vanished without a trace.
The next instant, he flashed forward to stand right in front of Cassandra and drove a fist hard into the top of her smooth, bald head.
With a deafening boom, Cassandra's body flew like a kite with its string cut. The sheer force punched her straight through the second-floor floorboards, all the way down, until she slammed into the hard ground below in a cloud of dust.
One punch. Instant KO.
"How is that possible?!?!?!"
Cassandra blacked out on the spot.
Ethan picked Cassandra up, opened a portal, and sent Professor X and Cassandra back to Hell's Kitchen.
"Next, I'll go find that demon cloud. The entrance should be in there."
Everyone had gone. Cassandra's base stood completely empty, with only a single portal still shimmering there.
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