Reborn with Steve Stand-Chapter 844: You got the Wolverine’s Experience

Egypt, outskirts of Cairo.

With a flash of purple light shining through the dusty haze, several figures appeared. They were none other than Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen, who had just left Xavier’s School.

Having been hastily slashed by Fang Mo earlier, Apocalypse was in rough shape, cut diagonally from his shoulder to his chest. Muscle, bone, and internal organs lay severed, blood spraying madly from the gash.

“Master!”

Noticing Apocalypse’s injury, three of his Horsemen grew anxious. “Are… are you all right?!”

“It’s no big deal.”

Apocalypse slowly shook his head in response to their concern.

What looked like a fatal wound to others didn’t worry him at all. Throughout millennia of body-hopping, he’d stolen the abilities of countless superpowered individuals.

Among them was hyper-accelerated regeneration.

Standing there, he didn’t seem to do anything special, yet his injury steadily mended itself. The torn flesh at the wound’s edge began to twitch and re-knit, countless strands of raw tissue latching together. With visible speed, the cut in his shoulder shrank, muscle regrew, bone re-formed, even the shredded lung returned to normal.

“Done.”

Testing his now-healthy shoulder, Apocalypse determined everything was fine, then paused, weighing his next move. After a moment, he extended a hand toward the scattered rubble on the ground. A surge of power activated.

Nearby matter turned to swirling dust, sweeping into a heap beside him.

Quickly, something miraculous happened. Those fragments of crushed rock on the ground, now coated with dust, re-coalesced into slabs of stone with a metallic sheen. Then the slabs merged and roughly regained a humanoid shape.

It was the rocky giant who’d been shattered in the fight earlier.

“I… What the—?”

The rock giant himself seemed startled. Staring at his own hands, he vaguely remembered being smashed to bits by that “idiot,” right? Even if he could maintain his powers and avoid dying outright, once his stamina was exhausted, his body would revert to human form, turning that sea of gravel into clumps of flesh. It should’ve been a near-certain death. He couldn’t figure out how he was still alive.

“Take note, there won’t be a next time.”

Apocalypse’s voice sounded in front of him. “My Horsemen are not allowed to fail.”

“Uh?”

The giant hesitated, then quickly dropped to one knee. “Y-yes…my master!”

“Rise.”

Apocalypse didn’t spare him another glance. Slowly lifting his head, he looked into the distance. “Now… it’s time to show them a true miracle.”

With that, Apocalypse suddenly raised both hands.

His pupils glowed white, and a massive power burst forth from him. Without warning, the ground trembled violently, and everything before him—mountains, rivers, sand, and even distant towns—rapidly decayed and disintegrated. It was as if everything in that region had begun collapsing, reduced to microscopic dust. Those particles formed a swirling, sky-darkening mass that rushed toward Apocalypse’s location.

All that once was, now broken down to fine powder, was being reshaped. Converted into rock and metal, a colossal structure rose from the desert. It was a pyramidal edifice, towering higher than the surrounding mountains, adorned with ornate carvings. It stood in the midst of the rolling dunes, gleaming under the sun with a gold-tinged splendor, exuding both sacredness and majesty.

“That’s…”

Seeing this godlike spectacle, the four Horsemen couldn’t help showing shock and awe on their faces.

“All set.”

With the magnificent pyramid formed, Apocalypse lowered his hands, then turned a fervent gaze on Charles at his side. “Once I obtain him, I’ll be… omnipresent!”

So saying, he grasped Charles and strode into that immense pyramid. The Horsemen hastened to follow.

…

Meanwhile, back at Xavier’s School:

“So, you’re saying…”

Logan frowned. “This ‘Apocalypse’ guy can occupy another mutant’s body and gain their powers?”

“Basically, yeah,”

Fang Mo replied, looking more cheerful than Logan, who was clearly tense.

“Um, boss…”

Mǎyù Líng (in human form) spoke from the side, “Could you let go of my foot? That’s kind of unhygienic.”

“I’m just maintaining my blade here,”

Fang Mo remarked nonchalantly, removing his hand.

“May I ask something?” Pietro interjected curiously. “If Apocalypse takes over someone’s body, is that it? Could the original occupant fight back and retake it?”

“Nope.”

Fang Mo shook his head. “It’s a battle on a spiritual or consciousness level. Once you lose, your mind is gone. No different from being dead.”

“What!?

Everyone was visibly rattled.

“And you’re still sitting here fondling that kid’s foot?!” Logan snapped, unable to hold back. “This is no time for jokes! We have to take out Apocalypse right now!”

“Exactly.”

Raven, forcing herself upright, agreed. “We must rescue Charles at once…”

“Hey, you guys have so little faith in me?”

Fang Mo spread his hands. “I can even resurrect the dead, but you’re afraid Charles might die? I’ve prepared three separate contingency plans…”

Bang!

Just then, there was a loud crash of a door being kicked open at the end of the hallway, and a blur of blue fur rushed in. “Charles, Logan, turn on the news—huh?!”

But that figure halted mid-sentence. “…Where’s Charles?”

“Hank?”

Raven exclaimed in surprise. “Weren’t you still in the hospital?”

Indeed, it was Hank (Beast), covered in bandages from his burns but somehow back on campus, looking frantic.

“What happened?”

Erik, seeing Hank’s expression, guessed something big was going on. “What’s going on out there?”

“Didn’t you see the news?”

Hank replied with a question of his own.

“News?”

Everyone exchanged glances. They didn’t know what was happening beyond the school. Possibly it had to do with Apocalypse.

“All sorts of countries launched their nukes into space… which seems unlike anything they’d do on their own.”

Hank explained quickly: “So I was worried about Charles—who else can pull that off but him? Also, there’s some new unidentified structure in Egypt, a pyramid. Some people claim it’s alien ruins or… Wait, where is Charles?”

“Egypt?

The others responded at once, quickly connecting the dots.

“Open a gate,” Logan said, turning to Fang Mo. “We’ll head to Egypt, finish off that guy, and bring Charles home.”

“W-What’s going on with Charles?”

Hank, clearly in the dark, pressed for info.

“He was taken.”

Raven succinctly filled him in: “By this ancient mutant called Apocalypse…”

After a quick rundown, Hank basically grasped the situation.

“Right… I think I get it,” Hank said, taking a deep breath. He was still puzzled by why Fang Mo hadn’t just stopped Apocalypse, but anyway. “So we’re going to stop him now?”

“That’s the plan.”

Logan nodded, then looked at Fang Mo. “Are we traveling via your portal or by plane?”

“Hmm…”

Noticing their pilot was here as well, Fang Mo hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Fine. We’ll just open a portal.”

He closed his eyes to recall the relevant location. Sparks crackled, and the air tore open, revealing a rectangular passage through space.

Only Logan among the crowd had seen Fang Mo do this before, so the rest stared in shock. But they soon noticed the pyramids on the other side—without a single trace of age or wear, clearly unnatural.

“Let’s go. That’s the place.”

Fang Mo spoke, reaching out for Mǎyù Líng. “X-Men, move out. The All-Star team stays here to guard the school.”

To his surprise, when he stretched out his hand, Mǎyù Líng dodged it.

“Hm?”

“Um, boss…”

She backed away a step, glancing around. “Don’t just favor me alone as your weapon! A serious fight like this—maybe you should let the others out to see some action, too!”

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“Well, that’s true.”

Fang Mo considered this, feeling her argument was valid. Then he drew another weapon: the dense Neutron Greatsword.

“All right, let’s go.”

Slinging the massive sword over his shoulder, Fang Mo stepped through the portal first. Everyone else hurried after him.

Because the portal opened directly near the newly risen pyramid, the moment they stepped out, they beheld that enormous, obviously man-made structure. And stationed at the entrance were the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.

Apocalypse, needing to transfer his consciousness, was extremely vulnerable during that period. So for safety, he’d stationed his Horsemen to guard the pyramid’s entrance with orders to keep intruders out—no matter the cost.

“They’re here!”

Noticing the portal, the Horsemen took battle stances at once.

“Charge!”

The X-Men knew that if Apocalypse successfully fused with Charles, it was all over. They couldn’t rely solely on Fang Mo’s unpredictable nature. Better to fight for Charles on their own as well. The moment someone shouted, they all sprinted toward the pyramid entrance.

Among them, Logan and Beast had the fastest start, lunging directly at the Four Horsemen.

“Take out that bald one first!”

Knowing about his disease-inducing powers, Logan avoided the spiky fellow and targeted the sickly one. That ability was too dangerous if triggered.

“Roar!”

Hank followed with a pounce.

“Back off!”

The towering man bellowed. His figure quickly swelled into a rocky form, swinging a giant fist and easily smacking them away like flies. His strength was astounding; Logan and Hank both crashed backward like broken kites.

Laughing triumphantly, the rock giant regained his confidence. “Looks like that stupid woman from before was the anomaly. I’m not weak, after all.”

“You’re actually smiling right now?”

A voice sounded behind him. The rock giant turned to see that the diseased man had collapsed, and a silver-haired youth in goggles stood there in a silver jacket.

“You—!”

Enraged, the rock giant prepared to attack, but then he caught the sound of footsteps. Looking over, he saw Fang Mo casually approaching with the huge sword on his shoulder, and a chill ran through him. He turned at once to defend.

“Take this sword.”

But Fang Mo, ignoring him, simply tossed the sword over, as if handing a weapon to a teammate. He threw it so slowly that the rock giant unconsciously reached out to catch it.

And that was his fatal mistake.

Seemingly weightless, the sword carried the mass of countless worlds. The giant realized he couldn’t resist at all. He could only watch in horror as it crushed his hands. Then the blade dropped onto his face.

Naturally, it pulverized his entire body into a cloud of gravel. The sword sank into the sand, disappearing from view.

“W-What was that?!”

The porcupine man gaped, his face suddenly wary. Metallic spines bristled all over him. “You… you’re only strong because of that weapon! Come fight me barehanded if you dare!”

“Erik.”

Fang Mo didn’t even respond to that clownish provocation. Calling out nonchalantly, he caused the spiky guy to shriek as he was yanked into the air by magnetism.

“That’s what you get for acting tough!”

Watching the porcupine man spiral skyward, Fang Mo commented calmly, “Enjoy your flight.”