"Charles! What in the damn hell are you doing? Stop this madness right now!" Logan roared, his healing factor already screaming for him to attack. The sight of Charles, their mentor and figurehead of peace, psychically assaulting the one man who had helped them reach the base was an immediate, visceral betrayal.
Logan's claws, extended and gleaming under the emergency lights, were aimed not at Huang Wen, but defensively toward his teacher.
Logan wasn't alone in his confusion and anger. John, the Fireman, an official apprentice of Huang Wen and former student of Xavier's, immediately stepped forward, his eyes blazing with a different kind of heat than his flames. He positioned himself squarely in front of Huang Wen, facing the stunned and hostile X-Men lineup.
"Have you all forgotten who led us here? Who bought us the time to rescue our own people?" John challenged, his voice cracking with indignant fury as he addressed Jean Grey, Cyclops, and the others. "I did not have to be here. My Teacher did not have to get involved in this twisted mutant war. And now that we have helped you, you repay that kindness with an attack?"
Anna, Rogue, who was still recovering from the psychic shock, instantly lowered her eyes, a look of profound shame washing over her face. Bobby, Iceman, however, felt a surge of loyalty to the Academy supersede all else. He glared at John, seeing his fellow student's actions as the ultimate betrayal—a defiance of their mentor and the mutant cause itself.
Scott, Cyclops, the ever-vigilant team leader, instinctively lifted his visor, his hand twitching near the release mechanism. He recognized the profound danger in John's words and the golden figure's presence. This was not just a fight; this was a fundamental challenge to the X-Men's core mission.
"I'm quite alright, Logan. John, stand down for a moment." Just then, Huang Wen's calm, amplified voice cut through the tension. He slowly, deliberately shook his head, his golden form radiating a contemptuous serenity.
Charles's mental assault, however potent, was useless. The Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill was not merely a physical barrier; it was a state of being where Huang Wen's Jing (Essence), Qi (Energy), and Shen (Spirit) were unified into an impregnable psychic and physical defense. Charles's powerful telepathy met an absolute wall, unable to find a single crack or opening to penetrate Huang Wen's consciousness.
"Young man, stop your parlor tricks and release Eric," Charles demanded, his voice strained by the immense mental effort. He refused to disengage, determined to find a flaw in the gold-skinned man's defense. He kept pressing, searching for the weakness in the seemingly perfect armor.
"He ambushed me, Professor," Huang Wen pointed out, raising a mocking eyebrow. "You saw it. He tried to rip the bones out of my body. Yet, you expect me to just 'untie' him? Where is the justice in that?"
Huang Wen had initially harbored a certain amount of respect for Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr. They were the iconic dichotomy: the two sides of a necessary coin, leading the pro-peace and pro-war factions, each fighting—in their own way—for the survival and rights of the mutant race. They were, in essence, two patriots of a single, nascent nation.
However, Huang Wen had made a critical oversight: he had forgotten the deep, underlying animosity that existed within the mutant community towards humanity.
Most mutants, having been shunned, feared, or actively persecuted since childhood, held a deep-seated, often subconscious, rejection of humans. Even Charles Xavier, the ultimate pacifist who often bordered on martyrdom, was not immune to this fundamental truth.
Magneto had attacked Huang Wen because Huang Wen, a human, had utterly destroyed his ultimate solution to the human problem. Magneto couldn't touch the Ancient One; she was an enigma. Compared to the Sorcerer Supreme, Huang Wen, an established rival who had already clashed with him, became the immediate, acceptable target for his rage.
As for Charles? Even knowing that Eric had orchestrated a plan that would cost Charles his own life along with all of humanity, Charles did not feel true resentment toward Magneto.
If eliminating humanity guaranteed absolute, final freedom and peace for his mutant children, Charles would sacrifice himself for it in a heartbeat. The two men were indeed two sides of the same coin: both were willing to sacrifice anything for the collective rise of the mutant race.
But unlike Magneto, Charles's immense psychic power granted him a chilling awareness of the deeper cosmic forces, a sense of the things he could not do, the boundaries that the universe—and entities like the Ancient One—would not permit him to cross.
This deep, dark awareness was why Charles preached peace: not because he loved his oppressors, but because he knew the true cost of war against forces far beyond Magneto's understanding. He believed that both the peace faction and the war faction were necessary components of mutant survival until their true ascendancy.
And now, Huang Wen—a powerful, mysterious, and human wild card—had attacked and neutralized Magneto, threatening to irrevocably disrupt the essential, delicate balance between the two mutant factions. From the perspective of the mutant community, Huang Wen had become the prime enemy.
"Young man, I will say this one last time: undo your magical confinement and release Eric immediately!" Charles stared at Huang Wen, his eyes burning with stern, unyielding authority, refusing to debate the moral ambiguity of the situation.
"Charles!" Logan roared again, the sound halfway between a warning and a snarl. He had pieced together enough of the situation to grasp the sheer hypocrisy of his mentor. But Charles remained steadfast, even subtly raising his hand as if preparing to give the final, disastrous order for the X-Men to engage the golden warrior.
"CRACK! CRACK! BOOM!"
Before the order could be given, the base delivered its final, decisive opinion. The dam and the base walls, already severely stressed by the violent clash between Jean Grey and Cyclops earlier, finally succumbed to the immense pressure of the lake. A catastrophic fissure opened, followed by a deafening roar as a torrent of frigid lake water began to cascade into the facility.
"Heh, so this is the legendary X-Men," Huang Wen remarked, sensing the impending collapse, his tone laced with sarcasm and a touch of genuine disappointment. "Repaying a life debt with a hostile attack. A fascinating display of mutant morality."
He shook his head. "I have no further interest in this parlor game. Oh, and by the way, you are welcome to come looking for me anytime. But be warned: if you approach my martial arts school with violence, we will certainly kill you, and we won't bother with the burial."
"BUZZ!"
As Huang Wen finished his cold dismissal, he, Logan, and John simultaneously dissolved into blurs of golden light. Their forms stretched and vanished, leaving behind only the sound of rushing water and the stunned X-Men.
Before his final essence disappeared, Huang Wen's finger twitched—a minute, almost imperceptible movement.
"PFFT!"
A sudden burst of telekinetic energy slammed into the ceiling near Charles, blocking a falling beam of metal that would have crushed the Professor in his paralyzed state. Jean Grey, already overwhelmed by the new threat, was too slow to react.
However, the movement didn't end there. Another, equally powerful burst of energy impacted the thick piece of metal that had fallen and pinned Magneto.
This telekinetic force tightened the metal, ensuring Eric remained securely held and convulsing on the floor. In Huang Wen's eyes, Charles was still a potential resource, but Magneto needed to suffer a little longer.
"Originally, if you two had continued your carefully choreographed dance, playing the good cop and the bad cop, Charles, I would have only intended to teach Magneto a swift, painful lesson for attacking me," Huang Wen's mocking, amplified thought echoed in the chamber for the X-Men to hear, even as his presence vanished. "But now, Eric… now you get to experience more than just a lesson."
The next instant, Huang Wen, Logan, and John materialized back in the quiet serenity of the Wing Chun martial arts school. Beside them, Deathstrike, Yuriko, appeared as well, blinking in the sudden change of scenery.
Logan and John were already accustomed to Huang Wen's seamless teleportation—a technique far superior to the Ancient One's portal, as it required no visible casting time.
Yuriko, however, showed no visible surprise either, merely looking around her new, surprisingly mundane environment before her eyes settled on Logan, a mixture of lingering confusion and a need to speak etched on her features.
"Boss, I… I'm truly sorry," Logan said, his voice raw, looking at the familiar wooden floor. "I never expected that even Charles would… repay your immense kindness with enmity. I dragged you into a mess that cost you a great deal of trouble and, possibly, created a powerful new enemy."
"It's not your fault, Logan. It's their inherent nature," Huang Wen replied, shaking his head with a gentle smile. He deactivated the Vajra Divine Art and rubbed his temples. "I gave them the benefit of the doubt, thinking that Charles's ideals of peace were built on true humanism, not just self-preservation for his own kind. I miscalculated."
He looked from Logan to John. "However, this experience was necessary. It taught me that I cannot operate based on preconceived notions or narratives from my memories. The people in this world are far more complex than the characters in a comic book. For example, Uncle Wolverine, you have proven yourself far more loyal and controlled than the raging beast I initially believed you to be."
"But Teacher! They acted so unjustly!" John exclaimed, slamming his fist into his open palm, careful not to ignite any flames. "That place—the school—is a complete waste of time. They actually repaid kindness with a hostile attack! I genuinely thought Professor Xavier was a kind, good man, a true humanitarian!"
"The line between a humanitarian and a self-sacrificing nationalist is often very thin, John," Huang Wen corrected him softly. "Do not be so quick to anger. What happened there was a political statement, not a personal failure on your part. Besides, trust me when I say that for some people, losing something is far more painful and effective than simply ending their life."
Huang Wen grinned, a dangerous, calculating light in his eyes. "Let them first worry about getting out of a collapsing, water-filled base with two powerful, unconscious masters and a handful of injured students. That, my young apprentice, is payment enough for the moment. The chaos will consume their immediate attention. We, on the other hand, have work to do."