At the eye of the psychic storm, Martin forcibly ripped the Phoenix Fragment straight from Jean's body.
Golden flames surged forth, forming the spectral shape of a blazing Phoenix. It shrieked in fury as torrent after torrent of mental power hurtled toward Martin.
"Useless," he said coolly. "To me, you're no different from a common bird."
Martin gripped the Phoenix Force tightly, his expression impassive, even as waves of wrath rolled off the being. A cold, merciless smile tugged at his lips.
The truth was, Martin didn't care about Jean Grey.
He was only here for the Phoenix.
Stripped of the Phoenix Force, Jean immediately collapsed, unconscious. A spatial vortex, casually cast by Wong, whisked her away to safety.
"How dare you defile me like this!" the Phoenix Force howled. "I am the Phoenix! Supreme across the multiverse! Even the Five Cosmic Abstracts would not dare treat me this way!"
The entity thrashed violently in Martin's grip. Its burning eyes blazed with outrage as it tried to wrest free.
"Correction," Martin said with a tilt of his head, "They wouldn't dare treat your complete form this way. But you, this fragment, what are you? A ten-thousandth of the real thing? A billionth?"
He squeezed.
Hard.
The golden Phoenix form flickered. Its flame dimmed. Its vast power stuttered under the crushing pressure of Martin's grip.
And then—
With deliberate intent, Martin drove the Phoenix fragment straight into his chest.
Boom.
A maelstrom of volatile energy exploded outward. At the epicenter—Martin. The unleashed shockwave didn't just destroy the surroundings, it erased them.
Alkali Lake evaporated instantly. Gone from the Earth's surface. It might take centuries for nature to reclaim it.
A towering, golden astral form erupted from Martin's body and rocketed into the sky, breaking through the stratosphere.
The surge did not go unnoticed.
Elsewhere, powerful beings felt it, their gazes snapping toward the sky, faces clouded with unease.
"The Phoenix Force… so he finally made his move," murmured The Ancient One, arms folded behind her back. "Let's just hope it wasn't a mistake."
In front of her, Stephen Strange struggled with his sling ring, attempting to conjure a portal. Each attempt failed, until the golden sky made him freeze.
"What is that?"
"The Phoenix Force," she answered calmly. "One of the most potent powers in the cosmos. Many have tried to claim it. Most died horribly."
But this time, the one reaching for it was Martin, a man known for rewriting fate itself.
And then came the screams.
The Phoenix, now inside him, thrashed, its fury mingled with an unfamiliar emotion: delight.
"You're a fool! You may control the Mind Stone, but you can't possibly have no weakness in your own mind!"
Its voice echoed in Martin's head. It had found a crack, it thought, a chance at revenge.
Martin only laughed.
"Try me, little bird. See if I can't own your power completely."
With a piercing cry, the Phoenix dove into the depths of his psyche. This was its instinct. It was emotion incarnate, forged from passion and thought. Mindscapes were its domain.
But what it found inside, stopped it cold.
"Your mind… why is it so impenetrably resilient?" it whispered, confused.
Every inch of Martin's mind was fortified, unyielding and seamless. Not even the tiniest fissure. And worse, it discovered that his mindscape wasn't merely resistant, it was vast.
A cosmic sea of will.
"This… this is impossible," the Phoenix stammered.
No entity, not even a god, should be without a single point of weakness in their psyche. Every mind had strength and fragility. Yet Martin's was uniform, solid steel at every edge.
The Phoenix reeled. This wasn't just unusual, it was unprecedented.
Still, it resisted. It gathered its full force and launched wave after wave of psychic fire, trying to breach the fortress of Martin's will.
But every attempt shattered.
Then, it saw it.
Deep within the labyrinth of Martin's mind stood a black cube. Otherworldly. Alive.
From it, infinite spiritual and life energy flowed, connecting seamlessly to Martin's body and soul.
Or more accurately, they were one and the same.
"What… what is that?" the Phoenix gasped.
It had crossed countless dimensions, seen divine anomalies, fought godlike beings, but this was unknown to it.
"That's the AllSpark," Martin's voice rang out calmly around it. "Or if you prefer, my heart."
Panic rippled through the Phoenix's essence. It struck out again, one last desperate psychic storm, aimed straight at the AllSpark.
But it passed through like a breeze.
Useless.
And then the cube pulsed.
Even showing only a fraction of its power, the AllSpark unleashed a force greater than the Phoenix, surging forward in a brutal wave. A flood of spectral chains wrapped around the Phoenix's essence, sealing it tight.
It couldn't dodge. Couldn't resist.
Bound.
"Dark Phoenix," Martin said softly, smiling as he stared inward, "you're not at full power yet. But for me… you'll do. From now on, you're part of me."
-------
Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]