Chapter 163: Street Battle

Even if the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants, these old enemies, did not wish to fight, the newly arrived US military would force their hand.

The greeting was a full burst of gunfire, both enthusiastic and decisive; Professor X had no time to play peacemaker. The US military of this era was incredibly arrogant, and that was evident at this moment.

Moreover, this second wave included some who carried equipment designed to counter mutants. Especially the plastic bullets and plastic rifles that Magneto could not control.

Magneto was no doormat who took beatings without fighting back. Under special circumstances, he might have been helpless against plastic bullets.

But on a normal street, metal objects susceptible to magnetism were everywhere. The entire world was essentially his ally; this was his home ground. To deal with the heavily armed US military, the battle-hardened Magneto had countless methods to defeat the enemy.

With a casual gesture, he controlled a roadside car, blocking the entire field of fire for that group. This was because Magneto had no intent to kill; otherwise, that car would have been hurled at the soldiers, leaving them dead or severely injured.

His attitude was also the attitude of Red Lotus and Selene; they had come to save their mutant kin, not to engage in a death match with the US military.

Not to mention the burden of Genosha Island behind them; they could not act solely based on personal likes and dislikes. Killing these soldiers was easy, but defending the last mutant homeland afterward would be difficult.

Red Lotus, with indigenous bloodlines from the South Pacific island chain, was not only huge in stature, but even his long braid could suddenly burst into length and whip around like a lash.

Although not as agile as octopus tentacles, it possessed immense strength; a normal person hit by it would be sent flying. If it happened to whip across a bullet's trajectory, the bullets could be knocked away.

Selene's fighting style looked much simpler; he drew only a dagger to fight. Yet he fully leveraged the advantage of his psychic abilities, not deliberately trying to completely control others, but causing the soldiers to unconsciously shift their gun barrels away from him.

Simply put, even if he stood still, the American soldiers, believing they had aimed their guns, would find their bullets merely grazing past him. Because under his suggestion, his actual position was not where the soldiers were aiming.

However, Selene did not attack the soldiers, only occasionally defending against enemies who got close. He had a more important mission: to control Nightcrawler, who was appearing and disappearing mysteriously and moving unpredictably on the battlefield.

This was because as soon as Magneto, leading the Brotherhood of Mutants, retaliated against the US military, the X-Men also moved. They were not trying to defeat the enemy, but mainly to hinder Magneto and the others from causing greater damage, especially to the US soldiers.

Cyclops and Storm needed no explanation; they did not even need Professor X's orders. The moment Magneto moved, they acted as if they had a stress response.

Nightcrawler, unlike the previous two, lacked the courage for hand-to-hand combat. His strength lay in using his teleportation ability to rapidly support and deploy combat power. Especially for Professor X, who had difficulty walking; in complex terrain, he could hardly move on his own wheelchair.

Selene's abilities effectively caused deviations in Nightcrawler's teleportation arrival points. And since Nightcrawler's ability required physical contact to transport companions, this indirectly limited his ability to make the X-Men appear and disappear mysteriously on the battlefield.

If the combat power on both sides was only this, then the X-Men plus the US military should have held a slight advantage over the Brotherhood of Mutants.

But Beast Hank, in this sudden battle, clearly stood on Magneto's side. Whether it was Cyclops or Storm, when encountering this figure who was both teacher and friend, they would unconsciously hold back, only to be knocked flying.

Partly because Beast's concerns were not as numerous as those two young ones.

Secondly, whether it was Cyclops or Storm, without unleashing their ultimate moves, they simply could not hurt Beast's thick-skinned, tough body; unleashing their ultimate moves risked excessive damage. Under such restrained conditions, being knocked flying by Beast's close-range strike was the only result.

Then Jester Super sat on a nearby railing, holding a hot dog in each hand, taking a bite from the left, then a bite from the right.

Just as Cyclops finally could not hold back, using his optic blast to knock Beast away and preparing to unite with the US soldiers to surround Magneto.

Unfortunately, Magneto, who was completely unafraid of area attacks, raised a palm and pulled out all the metal pipes from underground indiscriminately, creating trouble for the people on the ground.

No one could ignore the threat beneath their feet and fire their guns calmly; some were even entangled by pipes that might be gas lines or something else.

Even those who did not give up and wanted to continue firing had all their weapons on their hands and bodies stripped away by Magneto. Facing the coming battle, they were naturally powerless.

Those with plastic weapons were given special attention. Pipes extending from the ground crawled up like snakes, not only wrapping around them but also restraining them so they could not move.

This move also blocked Professor X, who tried to control his wheelchair to move forward. He could only choose to continue his mental duel with Selene.

As an immortal witch and mutant, Selene, though trapped in a low tide of magic which greatly reduced his abilities, still showed his power from the fact that Professor X had been unable to help Nightcrawler break free from Selene's psychic influence.

Of course, this was also related to Professor X's carefree nature; every time he saw his own people in crisis, he chose to directly freeze the opponent. He spent too much mental energy on extra things.

The destroyed ground certainly did not hinder Magneto's movements. He controlled magnetic substances in the soles of his shoes to float up and advance toward the house where Jean was located according to the intelligence.

Beast, who had been blasted away, returned to the battlefield at this moment. He used the roofs of cars along the road as stepping stones, jumping forward.

Cyclops was not like the American soldiers, immobilized after being trapped by a trap. He flipped the switch on his visor, looked down, and blasted a circle around himself, directly melting through the pipes entangling him.

He was about to flip the visor switch and use his optic blast to blast down Magneto, who was floating in the air. But Beast's pounce interrupted Cyclops's attack action.

Cyclops, now fired up with rage, no longer cared who the person in front of him was. He directly unleashed an optic blast, blasting Beast away with tremendous force!

However, just as Cyclops was pinned down, Magneto pulled a subway train from underground, blocking the entrance to the apartment where Jean was located, preventing others from entering to interfere. He himself entered the apartment through the interior of the train.

At this moment, Jester Super was showing off a box of evil pizza topped with pineapple slices, chugging a bottle of fat-joy soda in one hand.

Seeing the classic scene from the movie on site, he excitedly clapped his hands and shouted praises. It was just that the food still in his mouth sprayed everywhere, making it look a bit dirty.

Beast, blasted away by Cyclops, happened to fall right next to Jester Super. He stared blankly at this outside help designated by Raven, suddenly feeling the absurdity of what the other person was doing there.

(End of Chapter)