The D‑Class vessel died exactly on schedule.
Twelve hours after uploading a fragment of my consciousness into his brain, his skull convulsed, his pupils burst red, and the neural tissue liquefied. A messy side‑effect of implanting something vastly superior into something vastly inferior. His death wasn't unexpected. It wasn't even unfortunate. It was simply the cost of using a disposable shell to negotiate with Charles Xavier.
Besides—I had gotten what I wanted.
Jean Grey.Blood samples.Genetic material saturated with the X‑Gene.And, most importantly… her connection to the Phoenix Force.
Even suppressed, restrained in SCP‑148 cuffs, unconscious and unable to scream—she radiated cosmic potential like a dying star begging to be reborn.
But I didn't want a cosmic entity sharing space inside her.
I wanted its power.
And I wanted it inside me.
Before attempting the impossible, I prepared myself.
Otsutsuki Bloodline — 30,000 points.Perfect Psychic, Mental, and Telepathic Abilities — 5,300 points.
The transformation hit instantly.
My vision fractured, then sharpened into Byakugan clarity. Veins pulsed at the edges of my temples as my field of vision widened to nearly three‑hundred‑and‑sixty degrees. I felt my mind expand, blooming outward like a supernova. Thoughts sharpened. Perceptions multiplied. Mental strength surged to something so vast that Jean Grey's psychic potential suddenly seemed… quaint.
A few strands of my hair turned white.My pupils faded into celestial pale.
For the first time, I felt worthy of the Phoenix.
With the Time Stone, Reality Stone, and Tesseract humming around me like orbiting suns, I entered the containment chamber—reinforced with SCP‑148, dimensional anchors, and psionic dampeners strong enough to choke a god.
Jean lay unconscious on the central platform.
The Phoenix Force, sensing the Infinity Stones, stirred.
It noticed me.
I exhaled and activated my final purchased ability:
Perfect Absorption.
A circle of red‑gold cosmic fire erupted around us as I reached for the Phoenix, not as a host—not as a vessel—but as a predator challenging a cosmic apex organism.
The force did not submit.
It attacked.
A psychic scream slammed into me, fracturing layered mental defenses and ripping through dimensional shielding. Fire—cosmic, eternal, primeval—lashed across the room, melting reinforced alloy and warping gravity. My Byakugan blurred under the strain, nearly tearing itself apart as the Phoenix tried to break my mind, my body, my identity.
But I held.
Hours passed.Then more hours.Thirteen in total.
My bones cracked; my veins glowed molten gold; my consciousness expanded and collapsed in cycles of agony and rebirth. The Phoenix fought like a primordial storm—but the Otsutsuki bloodline, my enhanced psychic abilities, and the Infinity Stones gave me an edge it hadn't accounted for.
And slowly—so slowly—I consumed it.
Its will.Its power.Its fire.
Until the Phoenix screamed one last time…and vanished into me.
The flames died.The room fell silent.Only I remained standing—barely.Sweat drenched me, but my body radiated cosmic heat.
And I knew, with perfect clarity:
I had not become a host.I had become the Phoenix itself.
Cosmic-level telepathy.Star‑level pyrokinesis.Matter transmutation.Energy absorption.Life manipulation.Interstellar teleportation.Planet‑breaking concussive force.Absolute cosmic awareness.
I felt them all.
No entity burned alongside me.No second consciousness whispered in the back of my mind.No cosmic parasite lurked behind my thoughts.
The Phoenix was gone.
Its power was mine alone.
At minimum, I was now on Odin's level. Perhaps more. Perhaps equal to weaker Celestials. And with Rick Prime's knowledge, three Infinity Stones, and my growing arsenal… I may already be one of the single most dangerous beings in this universe.
But brute strength never suited me.
I wasn't a frontline fighter.I didn't want to be.
I was a strategist.A creator.A builder of empires.
And now, with the Phoenix absorbed into my soul, I finally had the power to reshape reality itself—quietly, efficiently, intelligently.
Exactly the way I liked it.