Chapter 129: Allen Prepares to Level Up His Skills
"Hahaha…"
"You all forced me to do this!"
Allen stood tall amidst the wreckage of the Sentinel robots scattered across the schoolyard, one hand holding a pig-slaying knife, the other covering his face as he let out a maniacal laugh.
The elite mutants nearby looked at him with expressions wrinkled like chrysanthemums, utterly baffled by his bizarre performance.
"The so-called righteous Six Great Sects besieging Bright Peak—aren't you just after the Sacred Art of Great Dimensional Shift? Forget it! I've already handed it over to Lord Conqueror through Stepping Cloud. You'll all die by my Blood-Drinking Crazy Blade, kukukuku...!"
"…"
What is he even talking about?
This clearly isn't the same script.
Allen sighed in frustration. "Hey, give me something! I was so into it, and none of you are even trying to play along."
The mutant elites ignored him and got back to tending their wounds, waiting for Apocalypse to arrive and teleport them back to the Hydra base.
"Hey, Secret-Secret."
Allen swaggered over to Illyana and asked, "Was I cool just now or what?"
"To be honest, not at all," she replied with a faint smile.
Allen huffed proudly, "How can you say something so hurtful so casually? Doesn't your conscience ache?"
"Just being honest," she replied flatly.
"…Oof."
Allen let out a dramatic gasp, collapsed onto the ground with his hand on his chest, and put on an anguished expression. "Falling in love with a cold-hearted woman... I was doomed from the start."
Then he pulled out a carrot and stabbed it into his chest area, holding it in place.
"Woman, you've shattered my heart—like this carrot, thrust in while I was dry and unguarded, catching me completely off guard."
"…"
Can you stop with that imagery?
Dry and unguarded? Thrust in? Seriously?
At that moment, Pietro and Kurt approached.
Kurt looked at Allen with admiration. "Allen, I didn't know you were this powerful."
"Being strong is worthless. In this world, what matters is power and connections."
Allen boasted, "I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons expert, Hydra squad leader, Apocalypse's Third Horseman, the Comedic Bat of Gotham, Justice Knight Bateman, and the People's Whiplady. Any one of those titles would send shivers through the multiverse. Even Lord Doom would wet himself at the sight of me."
"…"
Not a single word of that sounded real. They didn't even bother to pretend to understand.
Less than fifteen minutes later, Apocalypse arrived to teleport everyone back to the Hydra base.
"Should we bring some Sentinel remains back to study their weaknesses?" Beast (Hank) suggested.
Among mutants, Hank was widely recognized as a top-tier scientific mind—not only a biology expert, but also skilled in mechanical engineering. The X-Men's signature aircraft was one of his creations.
Magneto immediately rejected the idea. "Better to be cautious. They might be embedded with tracking devices."
Their only current stronghold was the Hydra base. Any human facility was untrustworthy—who could guarantee it wasn't compromised and wouldn't betray them the moment they walked in?
Before leaving the school, Charles looked back at the ruins and let out a helpless sigh.
That building had been his life's work, a symbol of the mutant future.
"Charles, as long as the people survive, the school can always be rebuilt," Magneto offered a word of comfort.
"Yes, lives matter more than buildings."
Charles nodded sadly, trying to console himself.
Magneto, once one of the school's co-founders, had parted ways with Charles due to a difference in ideology. At times, Charles couldn't help but wonder if his idealistic vision was what had provoked the government into trying to wipe them out completely.
Back at the Hydra base, everyone gathered to discuss how to deal with the Sentinels.
Among the mutants were plenty of brilliant minds, bound to offer useful insights.
While the others were resting, Magneto approached Charles privately.
"If the government starts mass-producing Sentinels… will you release her?"
He was referring to the Dark Phoenix.
Only a handful knew the truth. Most believed Jean Grey simply had a darker personality hidden within, unaware of the Phoenix Force's terrifying destructive potential.
Charles remained silent—his silence was an answer in itself.
Once upon a time, he would have flatly denied the possibility.
Now, with mutantkind facing annihilation, he knew he might have no choice but to resort to desperate measures.
"Just think it through. And protect her."
Magneto left the room, giving Charles space to decide.
…
Trask Industries, Data Processing Center.
"My team's working overtime. We should be done by tomorrow," Trask said with a perfunctory smile.
In reality, all it took was plugging in a control chip and tweaking a few settings to bypass the behavioral constraints.
No true scientist would be foolish enough to rely on software alone—what if it got hacked?
Hardware keys were far safer. If a chip were ever lost, they'd know immediately.
"Well then, I've got good news for you. We've approved a tenfold increase to the order—ten thousand Sentinels to solve the mutant problem."
Hearing that, Trask beamed. "I'll have the factories running around the clock."
Of course, if it were a human-run factory, there'd be strikes, protests, maybe even demands for better wages.
But Trask Industries had AI-run production lines.
The ten underground factories were hidden beneath peaceful-looking towns—residents unknowingly serving as human shields, much like the Umbrella Corporation's tactics.
If mutants attacked and civilians got caught in the crossfire, the ensuing media storm would allow Trask to control public opinion completely.
Now that they had the order, Trask no longer needed to downplay his output to hike up costs. With the floodgates open, mass production began.
Meanwhile, Natasha had successfully infiltrated Trask Industries under the guise of a new hire.
For her, it was no challenge at all. Everything was proceeding smoothly.
…
[Class]: Lv95 Priest
[Skills]:
Embodiment of Light: 100% affinity with Light element.
Light of Healing Lv4: Fires a beam of light to heal a target's injuries.
Guardian's Embrace Lv1: Grants a shield to self or target that blocks one fatal hit.
Cleansing Light Lv0: Dispels negative effects and grants 5 minutes of immunity.
Summon Angel Lv0 (0/1): Summons a battle angel of the same level to assist in combat.
Light's Aegis Lv0: Boosts target's physical/magical resistance, reflects dark energy damage; scales with level.
Holy Flame Lv0: Imbues target with sacred flame that burns the soul and deals true damage to dark creatures.
Divine Domain: All skill effects are doubled within this domain.
[Time]: 1973, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
…
Lying on his bed, Allen stared at his class panel.
One wave of Sentinel kills had bumped him all the way up to level 95.
He'd initially planned to have Illyana send him back to Hell for more grinding, but apparently Sentinels gave far better XP. With another hundred or so, he could hit level 120 and return to the main timeline at any moment.
"Oh no no no…"
Allen suddenly realized a serious issue: "Why are my skill levels so low?!"
Thinking back, he remembered barely using any skills.
Aside from casting Light of Healing on others a few times, he hadn't touched the rest.
"Little Crazypants, Little Crazypants…"
Allen got up and headed out to find Deadpool.
That guy was immortal—perfect for grinding skill levels.
Not long after—
In a training room, not only was Wade there, but Allen had also gathered Quicksilver, Nightcrawler, Mystique, Negasonic, and Yukio.
"The mutant crisis is upon us. As Hydra's squad leader, I must act for the greater good. You six have been chosen by fate to stand against destiny…"
Before Allen could finish, everyone looked annoyed and started turning to leave.
"Don't go!"
Allen suddenly dove at Illyana, latching onto her thigh with a pitiful expression. "Secret-Secret, you have to believe in me!"
"Allen, quit fooling around. Everyone's busy preparing," Yukio urged.
"Alright, alright."
Allen sprang to his feet, instantly shifting from clown to serious mode. "I need your help leveling up my skills."
Snap!
With a finger snap, a holy portal appeared overhead, and a solemn angel descended, silently standing guard behind Allen.
"I'm sure you've already guessed my identity," he said grandly. "That's right, no need to question it—I am the God who fell to Earth. Send me $50 and I will guarantee your place in heaven."
"…"
"Quit acting. Last time your angel got one-shotted by Agent Zero," Wade said, already drawing his swords and attacking the angel.
Clang!
The swords struck, but the angel remained unharmed.
Wade blinked in surprise.
"This is a level 95 battle angel with five active skills. He's not some pushover."
Allen explained, "Now I need you guys to kill him."
…What?
Kill the angel?
They thought they'd misheard.
"No need to panic. The angel is just a Light-element projection from the third dimension. I can summon them infinitely. The only problem is my skill is still at level zero. Once I reach level ten, I can summon five at once. Isn't that insane?"
The skill description did mention that summon slots increased with level, and that different types of angels would appear at random.
"What kind of ability is that?" Yukio asked, curious.
The school had records of summoning-type mutants, but those were typically demon-aligned abilities—like Nightcrawler's teleportation, which, at its peak, could pull in low-tier demons.
Even Red Demon could summon imp-like minions… although their power was laughable, more like monkey-sized annoyances.
But no one had ever heard of summoning angels.
"I'm not a mutant," Allen said solemnly, hands clasped together as he looked upward at a 45-degree angle. "I'm the walking embodiment of Light, the priest who brings salvation to the suffering."
Illyana raised an eyebrow. "Aren't priests usually exorcists?"
"Those guys are just moonlighting. I'm a support class."
Allen began showing off his skills.
"Shame Ray of Failure!"
"Boob Shame Ray!"
Light of Healing was white.
Cleansing Light was golden.
They had no offensive effect—unless the target was demonic or undead, in which case it became lethal.
"Sophie's Shield!"
He pointed at Illyana. A flash of white light granted her Guardian's Embrace.
"Max Absorption Leak Shield!"
Another flash of gold, casting Light's Aegis.
"FFF Brigade's Wrath!"
Mystique erupted in sacred golden fire—Holy Flame had been applied.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded, as Allen demonstrated his priest abilities.
Even if the names made no sense, there was a strange, awe-inspiring aura to his powers.
"Your abilities are similar to white magic," Illyana observed.
As a trained black mage, she was sensitive to such forces.
With so many powers in the world, she couldn't say for sure, but they felt very similar.
Allen didn't care whether it was magic or not—he was just glad his powers worked.
After some pleading, the others agreed to help.
"How do we help?" Negasonic (Ellie) asked.
"I've already got a plan."
Allen flashed a mysterious smile—he'd already thought it all through.