"You… you really won't hurt us?"
Wanda's voice trembled. Even as she spoke, she clung tighter to the old woman beside her—the only warmth she remembered.
Ryuuto softened his tone. "I won't hurt you. Ever. My name's Ryuuto. I'm nothing like the psychos tearing up the village. I came to help you, Wanda—no strings attached."
His smile was warm, almost big-brother gentle.
Wanda's frantic breathing eased, and the fear in her eyes flickered into something else—trust, faint but real.
But peace never lasted long in this world.
"Hmph. Ryuuto… ruining my plans again, and now you're trying to steal one of my strongest subordinates?"
Magneto tore through the last of Ryuuto's Shadow Clones and stepped forward, cape whipping in the storm of metal around him.
His gaze landed on Wanda.
At his presence alone, she flinched—panic drowning out reason—and instinctively grabbed Ryuuto's hand.
Ryuuto squeezed back lightly.
"Hehe… say whatever you want, old man, but Wanda chooses for herself. You don't get to decide her fate."
"And if I say I'm taking her?"
Magneto's voice dropped to a deadly chill as countless Brotherhood Mutants surrounded them.
Ryuuto didn't hesitate.
"That's easy," he said with a grin.
"I kill you. Then I break your Brotherhood apart so thoroughly no one can even spell your name right."
The world froze.
Even Magneto's lieutenants went silent.
Only Wanda's small, trembling breath moved the air.
Magneto's expression didn't change.
But the pressure radiating from him was so heavy the ground itself seemed to groan.
Quicksilver and Mystique stiffened behind him, barely daring to breathe.
Ryuuto ignored them all.
He leaned closer to Wanda and the old woman, voice calm:
"As long as I'm here, none of them will touch you. If they try… their heads roll. Simple."
Wanda's eyes widened, not in fear—
but in startled, aching relief.
At last, Magneto moved.
"Bring me Scarlet Witch," he commanded.
"Alive or dead."
The Brotherhood roared.
"KILL!!"
They surged forward in a thunderous wave.
Ryuuto didn't blink.
Summoning Technique!
He bit into his thumb, slammed his palm onto the contract scroll—
and the earth exploded.
A massive serpent erupted from the ground, coils shaking the forest apart.
"Master! I'm back!" bellowed Ten Thousand Snakes.
"Look at all these juicy sacrifices! Magnificent!"
Its tail swept a dozen Mutants into the sky before swallowing them whole in a single gulp.
Ryuuto laughed. "Eat as much as you want! These guys barely count as people anyway!"
Then—
Fire Style! Fire Dragon Bullet!
Fire Style! Phoenix Fire!
Fire Style! Great Fireball Technique!
The forest Ryuuto previously summoned became a burning labyrinth, flames twisting between branches, engulfing every Mutant in sight.
Dozens fell—too slow to even scream.
Quicksilver trembled, half in fury, half in disbelief.
"This kid… really kills without blinking!"
Mystique scoffed. "Then go fight him."
"You—!"
Quicksilver choked on his retort, face going red in humiliation.
Magneto stepped forward at last.
"Ryuuto," he growled, "do you think slaughtering my men makes you mighty? Look at your friends—they're dying out there!"
Ryuuto's jaw tightened. Bobby, Arlo, and the others were indeed pushing their limits, surrounded and bleeding.
But Ryuuto didn't look away.
"They're X-Men. We don't bend. We don't bow. And we don't kneel to tyrants like you."
His chakra surged.
Lightning Style—Hands Raikiri!
Ryuuto's arms exploded into twin spears of blinding lightning, arcs snapping through the air, painting the sky electric blue.
The pressure was so intense that even Magneto's cloak whipped violently.
Quicksilver froze.
Mystique stared, pale.
Half the Brotherhood stumbled back instinctively.
For the first time—
Magneto's eyes narrowed in genuine caution.
In the distance, the battered X-Men looked up.
"Captain!" Scott shouted.
"It's him! It's really Captain Ryuuto!"
"We're saved! If he's here, Magneto doesn't stand a chance!"
The battlefield shifted—
a tide turning with a single warrior.
Ryuuto stepped forward, lightning screaming from his hands.
"Magneto…
Let's finish this."