It happened to coincide with Black Phoenix's rampage, almost annihilating the remaining X-Men.
Seeing this, Robert directly activated the power of the Green Lantern Ring, shielding everyone from the destructive energy that could disintegrate all matter. Black Phoenix, capable of decomposing and manipulating all forms of matter, found her abilities ineffective against the barrier formed from pure willpower. The Green Lantern Ring easily resisted her devastating power.
Once the situation stabilized slightly, Robert turned and looked at a bloodied, weakened Magneto. His tone was cold but curious.
"What exactly happened?" he asked.
"Why did you force out Jean's second personality?"
Professor X's mental block was supposed to be extremely stable. It shouldn't have broken unless it had encountered a profound psychological shock. Jean had been stable for many years. Even if the mental block had reached its threshold, it shouldn't have shattered so easily.
"Charles is dead," Magneto said numbly, ignoring the gash in his abdomen.
"What?"
Although Robert's expression remained unchanged, he was stunned inside.
How could Professor X be dead? It shouldn't have happened so suddenly, so easily.
"How did the Professor die?" Robert asked again, his voice low and dangerous.
Professor X had treated him with nothing but kindness. He had personally taken care of Robert when he arrived in this world, and had gone as far as legitimizing his identity so he could live among them safely. With just a single word from Robert, Charles had gone above and beyond to make arrangements for him.
Now Charles was gone—and Robert needed to know why.
A surge of anger built in Robert's chest. But he forcibly suppressed it, maintaining a stoic expression. The dark look in his eyes, however, made Magneto's heart tremble involuntarily.
"Sentinels," Magneto said.
"The Sentinel robots attacked X-Men Academy. Charles was killed in the process, trying to cover the students' retreat."
A trace of sorrow flickered in Magneto's eyes. In this world, Charles had been one of the few individuals he had considered a true friend. And now... that friend was gone.
"Very well," Robert said, his voice calm but cold, searing the information into his memory.
Not only had the Sentinels killed Professor Charles, they had also destroyed the X-Men Academy.
Though Robert was angry, he didn't allow it to cloud his judgment. Seeing that Magneto was clearly on the verge of collapse, he reached out his right hand. A soft green glow enveloped Magneto's abdomen. The shard of Sentinel shrapnel lodged in his body—still actively deforming—was drawn into Robert's hand like a magnet.
Then, the power of the Green Lantern Ring began to mend Magneto's wounds. Flesh and muscle regenerated rapidly, sealing the gaping injury in seconds. Although Robert could not restore Magneto's lost blood, leaving him still somewhat weak, his wounds were fully healed.
"Lie down and rest. I'll deal with the rest of the mess here," Robert instructed before turning away.
Standing before him now was an even more battered Wolverine. His body was slowly regenerating—flesh knitting together—but the healing was far slower than usual. Even Wolverine's formidable healing factor was struggling to keep up.
Clearly, Black Phoenix's attack had overwhelmed even his regenerative powers.
"Teacher, how is it that every time I see you, you're always in such a mess?" Robert said with a teasing grin.
Wolverine responded with a wry, helpless smile.
Robert stretched out his hand again. A warm green glow enveloped Wolverine, and his injuries began to heal at an accelerated pace.
After tending to Wolverine and Magneto, Robert turned to see Red Tank—half of his body gone—and Blink, impaled by a metal spear that had clearly been Magneto's creation.
"Don't bother with Red Tank. Blink should still be savable," Robert murmured.
He began by reattaching Red Tank's severed body, and with the help of the red power within him, initiated rapid regeneration. Then he turned to Blink and carefully pulled out the metallic spear embedded in her torso.
Blink had survived only because her ability allowed her to blink in and out of space, giving her just enough speed to avoid instant death.
Shaking his head, Robert covered her with a soft green glow. Her wounds began closing, tissue and skin healing quickly.
"Watch over her. She should wake up soon," Robert said to Wolverine, then turned his gaze toward Black Phoenix, who was still trapped within the reinforced green shield.
At that moment, Jean—Black Phoenix—was visibly struggling, pain etched into her face. Inside the barrier, anything not protected by Robert's willpower was being slowly broken down, molecularly deconstructed by the Phoenix's overwhelming power. The earth had already been hollowed out several meters deep beneath her, transformed into dust and ash.
"It seems like her two personalities are still locked in battle," Robert muttered.
"Jean hasn't completely lost herself."
However, judging by the continued rise in destructive energy around her, she wouldn't hold on much longer.
Robert intensified the green shield, ensuring Wolverine and Magneto remained protected inside. Then he stepped beyond its boundaries.
His sudden movement immediately drew Jean's attention—or more accurately, the raw force of his presence triggered her instinct to eliminate threats.
He felt a colossal wave of telekinetic power surge toward him. The very ground beneath him reacted—an invisible force visibly scraping across it, smoothing the surface like a steamroller made of sheer psychic power.
"What an incredible force," Robert remarked.
Inside the shield, Magneto twitched his lips at the comment.
Incredible?
Robert hadn't even flinched. Not a single hair was out of place. He was still floating mid-air, completely unfazed.
If that same telekinetic wave had hit him—or anyone else for that matter—they'd have been obliterated in an instant, turned into a red mist.
And Robert calls it merely "incredible"?
Who's the real monster here?
Even Magneto, long a powerhouse among mutants and someone not easily shaken, felt a compulsion to curse just to let out the emotions building in his chest.
Wolverine, for his part, was also overwhelmed by a series of mental exclamations—What the heck?
Black Phoenix's power continued to grow, her body surrounded by an aura of blazing psychic energy. The sky around them began to shift, the very air distorted by the immense power she emitted. Cracks formed in the space nearby, reality warping at the fringes.
Robert, however, remained composed.
He reached out with both hands.
The power of the Green Lantern Ring pulsed with pure will, forming complex geometric patterns in mid-air. They shimmered, locking into place around Black Phoenix. A massive cage of emerald light closed in on her, resisting the corrosion of her Phoenix flames.
Jean's face contorted, her mind still waging war against the Phoenix force that had overtaken her. For a brief moment, her eyes flickered—confusion, pain, and recognition surfacing.
"Robert..." she whispered.
That voice—just one word—was enough for Robert to see that Jean was still in there, fighting. The real Jean.
"I'm going to bring you back," Robert said softly.
"No matter what."
He raised his hand again.
A torrent of green energy surged forward, shaped by conviction and sharpened by sorrow. Robert wasn't just facing an enemy—he was trying to save a friend.
And the battle had only just begun.
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