Chapter 348

At this moment, in the secret chamber of the World Security Council, a larger screen encircled the semicircular seating, and the image upon it was peculiar: at the very center, a massive fireball—clearly, the image had been specially processed to reveal the true face of the star.

And if one looked closely, in the upper right corner of this star, there was a tiny black dot—that was the Kree planet-ship.

Though the planet-ship was as large as an entire planet, compared to the colossal star, it was negligible; at this moment, the Kree planet-ship was squatting beside the Sun, absorbing energy—colloquially called "sucking the Sun."

Due to the vast disparity in size, the scene resembled a mosquito sucking a coconut; when the star filled the entire screen, the Kree planet-ship had shrunk to near-invisibility—had there not been a red box specifically marking its location, the dignitaries seated there would never have seen the ship at all.

Previously, they had seen a close-up of this planet-ship; on that image, the vessel appeared enormous, terrifying, and overwhelmingly oppressive—but compared to the awe-inspiring artistry of nature in the cosmos, it remained insignificantly small.

Though this no longer delivered the same crushing pressure, it instilled a deeper despair: even at the height of Kree civilization, against the blazing star, it was still like a grain of sand. This was the reality of interstellar society—no matter how powerful a civilization, it would one day be erased by cosmic disasters.

Yet now, humanity did not even qualify as a grain of sand; even without a tidal wave, a slightly stronger sea breeze would be enough to snuff out the flame of civilization.

At this moment, though everyone's thoughts differed and no one's stance was entirely aligned—each harbored hidden agendas—they were all forced to temporarily view the issue from the perspective of human civilization; for if they continued to distinguish nations and factions now, they would be even weaker, crumbling at the slightest touch.

When the game map was still confined to Earth, struggles between nations and factions seemed dramatic and intense; but when the map expanded to encompass the entire universe, no one cared what happened on the surface of a single star. Many delegates kept glancing toward Director Nick Fury of S. . . . . . and Director Zheng Xian of S. . . . . .

It was foreseeable that these two agencies would gain greater authority in the coming time.

As they pondered future directions, another red box suddenly appeared on the screen—but inside that red box, nothing seemed to be there.

At this moment, the director seemed to realize it was an invalid alert, so he had no choice but to zoom in; against the endless flames of the star, a tiny black dot gradually enlarged.

Zooming in further, people saw that it appeared to be a person.

Instantly, murmurs broke out across the chamber; from this image, it was clear the person was astonishingly close to the star—closer even than the planet-ship—nearly touching the Sun's surface.

The lens pulled in infinitely until focused on his face—suddenly, the chamber erupted in heated discussion, for the face at the center of the screen was one no one wished to see: Magneto.

His expression remained cold, his mouth and brow like two downward slashes; he pressed his lips shut, saying nothing, yet slightly lowered his head and brushed dust from his glove.

Solar particles swirled around him, yet not a single one touched his cloak; amidst the endless flames of the star, his black cloak fluttered with the solar wind—like a mantis blocking a cart, or a tiny insect trying to shake a tree—this image stunned everyone present.

Magneto slowly closed his eyes, then opened his arms; he floated upward, then descended further, nearly merging himself entirely into the Sun. Particles began to vibrate violently; the firestorm grew stronger.

In an instant, all flames on the Sun froze.

The image on the screen appeared as if paused—had the distant Kree ship not continued its slow rotation, viewers might have thought the broadcast had malfunctioned.

But the signal remained uncut; everything was truly occurring. In that single instant, the Sun stopped—every flame, every particle, every storm, every form of energy—froze.

An invisible force froze the Sun, then began collapsing inward; the magnetic field tightened relentlessly, as if an invisible hand were squeezing the entire star.

"This doesn't match our predictions," Nick Fury said, squinting in S. . . . . .'s office. "A supernova shouldn't unfold like this—shouldn't it begin at the core?"

Stark shook his head. "Do you know why a bomb needs a casing? Not just to contain the explosives—but to amplify its power."

As Stark spoke, a more direct transformation began: particles on the Sun's surface gradually dispersed; the entire sphere expanded, as if rapidly aging. The Kree planet-ship finally reacted—it immediately attempted to flee.

At this moment, Shieler remarked: "It seems Magneto is still a tactical master. He first used this slow change to lull the Kree commander into complacency—making him believe the Sun wouldn't immediately fail, giving him ample time to ponder what had happened, perhaps even to investigate…"

As Shieler said, the planet-ship did not immediately use all remaining energy to activate its drive and jump; instead, it slowly retreated a distance in space, seemingly to observe from afar what changes had occurred in the star.

This was hardly their fault; before harvesting energy, they had conducted an extremely detailed survey of this star. Though not at its peak, it had been stable—certainly no change expected for hundreds of thousands of years.

The more advanced a civilization, the more it trusted its own data. Thus, the Kree's first reaction was not that the Sun would explode, but that their energy extraction method had caused the anomaly—so their first instinct was not to flee, but to retreat slightly and investigate.

Like a person using a microwave who hears a sudden click, their first thought is: "Did I heat something wrong? Did I break the microwave?"

The response is certainly not to run away—it's to step back and observe, perhaps even tap the microwave.

But just as the planet-ship observed without result and prepared to "tap" the star to see what was broken, within an imperceptibly brief moment—unfelt by humans—the star suddenly unleashed immense gravity, pulling everything nearby toward it.

In an instant, this terrifying gravity exceeded the upper limit of the planet-ship's anti-gravity systems; that tiny vessel, negligible before the star, plummeted toward the Sun at a horrifying speed.

Suddenly, that terrifying gravity vanished—

The star exploded.

On the massive screen, the spherical fireball first surged with waves of orange-red, then white spread from a single point, gradually engulfing the entire sphere; next, several brilliant rings radiated outward, covering the entire elliptical region around the star.

These rings began to vibrate, then in one instant, burst into dazzling fireworks.

Human eyes could perceive only a fraction of what occurred; the intricate interactions among particles were invisible to carbon-based life.

But what they saw was a dazzling firework spanning the entire star system, erupting from the massive star—endless radiance illuminating the dark universe.

No one cared anymore which energy wave had destroyed the tiny planet-ship; this brilliant light left everyone dizzy and dazzled—no painting could capture such splendor; the known colors of the world were insufficient to express the brilliance of this moment.

At this moment, people noticed a tiny black dot on the screen, standing motionless since the Sun's transformation began.

That black dot was as still as a speck of dust on the screen's surface—strikingly out of place amid the dazzling light. Some viewers nearly reached to wipe the screen, but soon realized it was not dust—it was a person.

A person they did not wish to think of, dared not think of.

Magneto stood amid the afterglow of the exploding Sun; wave after wave of immense energy swept past him, yet not a single particle touched his cloak. An invisible field surrounded him, allowing him to stand at the hottest core of the energy, closer than anyone else to witness this splendor—yet he remained silent.

North Star stood in S. . . . . .'s office, watching the screen; her face glowed with firelight. While all others stared frozen at the screen, she lowered her head slightly, gazing at her hands—as if lost in thought.

Then, as if sensing his gaze, she looked toward Charles; Charles was watching her, and slowly nodded.

North Star turned her gaze back to the screen; the explosion's radiance had not dimmed—it grew stronger. The supernova's light would continue brightening over the next several dozen days.

Undoubtedly, this was a supernova observable by humans; for the next several dozen days, its brightness would span hundreds of millions of light-years.

In both chambers, everyone who witnessed this stood in silence, still immersed in awe.

But that tiny black dot had no interest in the view; in an instant no one noticed, he vanished—as he had vanished countless times on battlefields.

"I think," Nick said slowly, watching the screen, "the group in the other room now has a mountain of questions—and terror."

"I bet they want to ask one question," Shieler added, "but it's a stupid one: 'Why didn't Magneto destroy Earth?'"

"Better to ask: why would he destroy Earth?"

"Perhaps… when mutants are finally extinct, he will…"

"No, he won't," Charles interrupted Nick's speculation, shaking his head. "He won't destroy Earth. If mutants truly face extinction, he will turn everyone into mutants."

"You may call him a madman—but he truly loves this planet more than any of you ever could." Charles sighed, his voice growing low, like reading from a storybook.

The cold lights in the office dimmed; only the low voice echoed.

"Many years ago, when I first met him, I thought he was profoundly lonely—he rarely spoke to others, disliked any lively gathering."

"At the time, I felt it was my duty as his friend to pull him out of that loneliness. But later, I realized—he was never lonely."

"Because he was born able to sense magnetic fields, his best friend was the planet beneath his feet."

"Eric lives within Earth's bloodstream, listening to the planet's whispers through his unique magnetic gift."

"Their magnetic fields merge; this planet is his parent, his friend, his lover—beating with him, pulsing with him."

"As his power grew, so did his friends."

"Planets, stars, black holes… every object in the universe has its own magnetic field—its language. And Eric? He is the listener to all sounds in the universe. Only he hears these celestial bodies sing…"

Finally, as the screen went dark, Charles's voice, filled with sorrow, faded into silence.

"This is Magneto—a cosmic child who was never alone."