Starting as a Class Five Mutant

Watching Luan's frantic and clumsy dodging, Syd smiled.

"Keep running, keep dodging—entertain me."

The playful, almost mocking tone in his voice pushed Luan to his breaking point.

"How are you this strong?"

"I don't believe it!"

"Ahhh!"

Luan roared in fury.

As he watched Messiah unleash one devastating ability after another, fragments of past events flickered through his mind.

Messiah had used similar powers before, but they had never been this terrifying.

"Could this be your true strength?"

"Have you been toying with everyone all along?"

"Were you deceiving the military, the American authorities, and everyone else by hiding your true power?"

Luan shouted in disbelief, his voice trembling.

The nearby drones captured his outburst, broadcasting it worldwide.

Stark Tower.

Tony froze, his expression growing grim.

"If that's true, then this kid Messiah is beyond terrifying."

"Pretending to be weaker just for amusement? Just to toy with everyone?"

He couldn't wrap his head around it.

Beside him, Pepper went pale with shock, finding it hard to believe how fearsome Messiah was.

Across America and the world, similar thoughts ran through people's minds.

If Messiah had truly been hiding his power all along, that would mean…

All this time, every battle, every encounter, he had been mocking them with hidden strength, looking at them as if they were clowns.

The thought was chilling.

X Mansion.

Professor Charles muttered, "Omega-level mutant…"

He had thought he understood the power of Omega mutants, especially Messiah, but now it seemed he had barely scratched the surface.

"Omega mutants are truly humanity's ultimate threat," he sighed.

"If Messiah were to truly lose control, it might well be the end of the world."

Logan and the others, picturing the scenario, couldn't help but take deep breaths.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.

Nick Fury, watching the live feed, muttered grimly, "Pretending?"

"This guy's insane."

Still, he couldn't hide the fear in his heart.

"Messiah's current power is even more terrifying than the White-Clad Hero."

"And if this pretense is true… his mind is far more calculating and dangerous than I thought."

"No wonder he dared to provoke us so openly."

With Messiah's current strength, it wasn't entirely impossible for him to withstand America's full might.

Had Messiah simply decided to stop pretending?

The thought left Fury more unsettled the more he considered it.

Meanwhile, American officials were in an uproar.

"He's been pretending all this time? Deceiving us?"

"No! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

They refused to accept it because believing it would make Messiah far too terrifying.

"All of America's might—our weapons, our nukes—will surely destroy him!"

That was the only thought that brought them some semblance of confidence.

The Battlefield.

Syd smiled and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

His denial, accompanied by a faint smirk, sent chills down the spines of Luan and countless others watching.

It felt like an admission.

Terrifying.

"You're a demon!" Luan screamed in terror.

Even as he shouted, he frantically reached out to the Great Being.

"Great Being, this Messiah is too terrifying. I can't defeat him. Didn't you say my power surpassed his?"

The Great Being snorted. "Are you questioning me, boy?"

Despite his confident tone, even the Great Being was shaken.

"How could a mere human…"

He had initially thought of Messiah as a strong but ultimately insignificant human, someone to be toyed with before being destroyed.

But the scene before him defied logic.

By all accounts, Luan, empowered by the Great Being, should have surpassed Messiah.

Yet, it was now clear Messiah had been concealing his true strength all along, deceiving everyone, including the Great Being.

Even the Great Being, who had been impressed by Messiah's initial abilities, found the current display far beyond "impressive."

"This strength… it's shocking, even for me."

The Great Being's tone darkened.

"Boy, just hold on until I arrive. With my true form here, no mere human will survive."

Hearing this, Luan's heart sank. He gritted his teeth and fought on, but he was barely holding on.

The relentless black waves and occasional blue beams from Messiah had him completely overwhelmed.

He couldn't win.

Worse, Messiah seemed to be toying with him like a cat with a mouse, injuring him repeatedly but refusing to deliver the killing blow.

Being toyed with on the edge of death was driving Luan insane.

Covered in blood, barely able to stand, Luan screamed, "No! My power surpasses yours!"

"It's all fake! This can't be real!"

But Syd's calm reply came once more.

"I've told you before—what gave you the illusion that your power surpassed mine?"

Finally, Syd decided he'd played enough.

He raised his right hand again.

This time, he used Soul Extraction.

Gently pressing forward, his hand seemed to pass through an invisible barrier. Before the stunned eyes of onlookers, his hand reached across the battlefield and struck Luan.

Boom!

In an instant, Luan's soul was ripped from his body.

The transparent, ghostly form of Luan floated in mid-air, his previous rage replaced by a dazed expression.

"You…"

Luan stammered, his voice trembling.

"What is this?"

"In just… an instant?"

"Could Messiah have defeated me this easily all along?"

Staring at his body as it plummeted to the ground, Luan was completely dumbfounded.

(End of Chapter)

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