The body of that Chitauri Swiss soldier, too, in an instant, aged from its prime to old age, then to dry bone. In the end, even those dry bones could not withstand the power of time—they completely decayed and vanished! The process was silent, grand, and eerie, like a vast pantomime.
As the energy of the Space-Time Sword swept by, a wind blew. The once densely packed, overwhelming Chitauri Vanguard Legion, before the eyes of the entire world, turned into nothing but... flying ash.
Carried away by the wind, vanishing as if they never existed.
But this was not the end!
After sweeping away all enemies before the wormhole, the power of the Space-Time Sword did not diminish at all!
It plunged directly into the dark blue cosmic wormhole, traversed the endless distance of space, and slashed at the other end—the Chitauri army's mothership!
Through the twisted light and shadow of the wormhole, all anyone could see was the tip of the iceberg of the Chitauri mothership. Yet even that tip was already larger than an entire city, like a moving continent.
When the sword energy struck the mothership, once again, there was only silence.
The heavy, metallic starship, radiant in the cosmos, experienced hundreds of millions of years in an instant. It weathered, decayed, and rapidly collapsed...
In the end, it became nothing but an icy mountain floating in space—dust.
One sword, another world.
In an instant, the entire enemy army was wiped out, and the mothership turned to ash!
At this moment, everyone who witnessed the scene was utterly stunned!
Their minds went blank, unable to even think.
Professor Charles Xavier—renowned as a master of telepathy, wisdom, and composure—sat in his hovering wheelchair, his body trembling slightly from the shock.
His telepathy allowed him to "see" the true essence of the sword better than anyone.
It was neither energy nor matter, nor any form of force he could understand.
That was... Law!
It acted directly on "Time" and "Space" itself. Supreme, and beyond any... evaluation!
"God... this is a true... god..."
He murmured, filled with relentless awe.
Suddenly, he felt that the so-called "future of mutants" he had pursued in the past was so small and childish before true power.
Beside him, Magneto was speechless from the shock.
He let go of his magnetic powers, looking up at Lucci with a pilgrim's gaze.
He had spent his whole life pursuing power and mutant supremacy. He once thought he stood at the pinnacle of his abilities.
But today, he realized he was nothing more than... an ant at the foot of the mountain.
"Indeed... Prince Lucci..."
His Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, his voice hoarse yet filled with an unprecedented surrender from the depths of his soul.
"I always knew Prince Lucci's actions were extraordinary... but... I never expected... something like this... to shake the world!"
Jean Grey's heart brimmed with pride!
She looked up at the figure who seemed to merge with the universe itself.
Her beautiful eyes, infused with the power of the Phoenix, shimmered with vibrant color and rippling light.
This was... this was the one she had chosen to follow for life—a god!
So powerful, yet so restrained—so... cool!
Other mutants, after a brief daze, finally erupted into a deafening, fanatical cheer!
"Prince Lucci is mighty!"
Their roars were filled with a joy they would carry for life, and the highest glory of having chosen to follow such a god!
Their cheers soared through the sky, clearly heard by the Avengers.
They, too, were shocked by the power of that sword.
At that moment, as they listened to the mutants' cheers, they looked at each other, as if waking from a dream.
"Lu... Lucci?"
Captain America stumbled over the name.
"Actually... his name is Lucci?"
Iron Man muttered to himself.
At this time, the ancient sorcerers of Kamar-Taj had also returned from the Mirror Dimension to reality.
The Chitauri army drawn into the mirror world had clearly been dealt with by them.
Ancient One gazed at the figure standing before the space-time wormhole, her eyes full of respect.
She glanced at the group of mutants cheering for Lucci and nodded slightly.
"The threat has been removed. There's no need to act against the remaining stragglers."
She knew that the Chitauri remnants left in the air weren't enough to trouble the mutants.
So she calmly issued her order: "Let's go. Return to Kamar-Taj."
"Uhh! Uhh! Uhh!"
One by one, portals opened for the sorcerers.
Without nostalgia or farewells, they simply bowed in Lucci's direction in the sky, then stepped through the portals and vanished without a trace.
As the hidden guardians of the earth, they were accustomed to paying their dues behind the scenes, preferring not to attract mundane attention.
When they arrived, it was as if heavenly soldiers had descended.
When they left, it was as gentle as a breeze, leaving no trace.
…
On the high-altitude Helicarrier, Nick Fury, upon seeing the Chitauri army and mothership weathered away, finally relaxed his steel-tight nerves.
An unprecedented surge of ecstasy and exhaustion hit him at once.
He pounded his fist down, unleashing a roar of victory that had been pent up for so long!
"Yes!"
His roar was like a signal, instantly igniting the entire command bridge!
"We won! We really won!"
"Oh my god! We're saved! Earth is saved!"
"The greatest!"
All agents, analysts, staff threw down their documents and headsets, cheering desperately, some even weeping with joy!
A relieved, bright smile appeared on Maria Hill's face.
She stared persistently at the screen, watching Lucci's figure, then looked at the director beside her—who was gasping, releasing his pent-up emotions.
Her heart was filled with unprecedented peace. Earth was saved.
…
World Security Council, underground shelter.
Here, too, a dead silence lingered.
But unlike before, this silence was filled with the joy of "surviving a disaster" and a trance of "shattered worldviews."
The directors slumped in their chairs, eyes still dull, glued to the holographic screens.
The image of "one sword, another world" was forever etched in their souls.
After a long time, the hawkish general who had once yelled that Lucci was "seeking death" murmured in a dazed, self-deprecating shock:
"Actually... he wasn't seeking death..."
"He... he saved the Earth..."
His words voiced everyone's thoughts.
Another director spoke bitterly,
"Fortunately, we didn't rashly launch the nukes. Otherwise..."
At those words, the entire conference room turned pale!
A cold, stabbing chill ran down everyone's spines!
Unimaginable!
If they had really pressed that button...
If the nuke had flown onto the battlefield—would the space-time sword that just destroyed the alien mothership now be hanging over their own shelter... above their heads?
Thinking of this, everyone felt suffocated for a while!
They realized—they would have died... not from the enemy, but by their own hand!
At this moment, they gained a new, deepest, most terrifying understanding of the word "power."
…
The giant cosmic wormhole faded away.
On the battlefield, the scattered Chitauri remnants were swiftly wiped out by the mutant army.
The sky finally returned to its former tranquility.
Lucci sheathed the Path of Flame Sword, his mind stirring.
The laws of space activated instantly.
"Buzz—"
Centered on him, an invisible, gentle space ripple spread out, perfectly enveloping Hulk, Mini-Dormammu, all the mutant army led by Magneto and Jean Grey, and even those bound in magical chains and forgotten at the top of Stark Tower's deep pit... Loki.
In the next instant, under countless gazes, the world-saving heroes and their mysterious, godlike leader suddenly and simultaneously vanished into the air—as if they had never appeared at all.
The Chitauri invasion crisis ended completely in just a few hours.
But the impact of this war was so far-reaching, it changed the entire course of human civilization.
…
A few days later...
The World Security Council issued an unprecedented, unanimous new resolution to the world:
The core content was simple:
["From this day forth, no organization or individual in the world may discriminate against, oppress, or persecute the mutant people in any form.
Forced scientific experiments on mutants are forbidden, without exception.
Anyone violating this resolution will be deemed the enemy of all humanity and receive the harshest punishment from the World Court!"]
The world was in an uproar!
Countless human rights organizations applauded.
Organizations and countries that had secretly profited from hunting and studying mutants fell silent, destroying all related information overnight.
Everyone knew this wasn't because the council politicians had suddenly grown a conscience.
It was because, the world had witnessed a godlike power that could destroy the Star Fleet with a single sword.
They were afraid.
As a result, countless imprisoned and experimented-upon mutants regained their freedom.
Upon leaving their cages and seeing the news, they finally understood why.
When they saw, in the news, the image of the godlike figure who single-handedly faced the wormhole—countless mutants, regardless of gender, wept hot tears of gratitude and excitement.
It was Prince Lucci!
It was Prince Lucci who brought new life!
For a time, in every mutant community around the world, Lucci's name was completely deified.
He became the singular faith of all mutants!
Countless freed mutants, or those who had already been living in the shadows, rushed from all over the world to the same place—Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
They came to follow their god!
They yearned to join Lucci, who brought dignity and hope to mutants... and to fight!
Lucci's actions not only shook the mutant world, but sent shockwaves through all of humanity.
Those with hearts quickly took notice of his existence.
…
Gotham City, underground, Batcave.
The Dark Knight of Gotham—Bruce Wayne—sat before the giant bat-computer, his expression solemn.
The screen displayed several seemingly unrelated news stories.
One was a detailed report on the "Chitauri Invasion" that shook the world, with a photo taken from high altitude—hailed as a "miracle" by countless media—of a black-haired figure standing alone with a sword, facing the cosmic wormhole.
Another was a low-profile report of an internal theft at STAR Labs in Star City.
According to the report, a "mysterious cube of unknown origin" that had been heavily guarded in the lab had vanished.
Bruce Wayne's sharp gaze moved between the two stories.
Looking at the STAR Labs photo, he felt that the missing "mysterious cube" was suspiciously similar to a top-secret alien technology file he'd obtained from Lex Luthor—a "Mother Box" capable of tearing open space and summoning apocalyptic demons...
A strong sense of unease welled up in his heart.
He muttered, with rare regret, "Maybe... I really shouldn't have... killed Superman."
He'd thought that by eliminating an "uncontrollable alien god" like Superman, he could remove Earth's greatest potential threat.
But now, cosmic threats seemed far greater than he'd imagined.
And Earth had lost the god who could have been its strongest guardian.
His gaze fell back on the screen, on Lucci's figure.
After a while, he sighed deeply.
"In that case... the only thing to do is... try to contact this Lucci."
"Hopefully, he's not just another reckless superpower."
…
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
The warm sun shone on the estate, filled with birds and flowers, dispelling the last mists of war.
The campus bustled with new life.
Lucci was very satisfied with the scene before him.
After leading the mutant army to save the world, he'd pushed all the subsequent trivial matters onto Professor X and Magneto.
For example: how to accommodate and resettle the thousands of new mutants arriving from all over the world, or how to negotiate with human governments for more legitimate mutant rights.
He himself was ready to enjoy this rare leisure.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the peace he wanted.
At this very moment, on the mansion's lawn, a man dressed in Asgardian armor—but looking rather disheveled—sat hugging his knees, snot and tears running down his face as he pleaded bitterly,
"Brother! Brother! Are you really my brother?"
The second prince of Asgard, Loki, had at this moment completely abandoned any dignity as a "god," displaying all the household skills of the "God of Mischief"—wailing, rolling, and splashing water.
"Please! For brotherhood! For the Queen Mother! Don't send me back to Asgard!"
He wailed so pitifully that passing mutant students couldn't help but cast him strange looks—and feel a bit sorry for him.
…
Bonus Chapter at 100 PS
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