Even after destroying the last Razorwing butterfly, Apocalypse still couldn't locate Marcus.
Just as he continued searching, his blue protective shield shattered. A shadow rushed toward him, wielding an Exalted Sword that grew larger with each passing moment.
CLANG!
Apocalypse resisted with all his might, blocking the Exalted Sword with his scepter.
But Marcus didn't let up. The moment his Exalted Sword was blocked, he drew the Energy Blade with his other hand and swung it in a fluid motion.
SCREECH!
A tooth-grinding sound echoed as the Energy Blade carved a deep gash in Apocalypse's golden armor.
Marcus followed immediately with another slash from the Exalted Sword. The two blades moved like flowing water, their attacks relentless and fierce.
Faced with this onslaught, Apocalypse could only defend with everything he had. The Exalted Sword posed too great a threat—to prevent its terrifying energy from tearing him apart, he constantly manipulated cyan energy to protect himself.
Even so, the cyan energy surrounding his body steadily diminished.
"You're running out of strength!" Marcus taunted.
Energy poured into the Exalted Sword, making the blade glow brighter and brighter. With a powerful swing, he released a devastating energy blade.
WHOOSH!
The energy blade struck the cyan shield violently. The shield burst like a bubble, instantly reduced to nothing.
The energy continued through, severing Apocalypse's head cleanly from his body. Though he possessed accelerated healing, even he couldn't quickly regenerate from decapitation.
Under the continued assault of Marcus's energy blades, Apocalypse's body was torn to pieces, becoming a rain of blood that dissipated in the air.
"It's finally over!"
As Apocalypse fell, Marcus exhaled in relief. This had been the most challenging battle he'd ever experienced.
The corrupted Apocalypse had summoned his former Four Horsemen. If Marcus hadn't cleverly utilized his different Warframes' abilities and switched between them, he might not have survived against these corrupted foes.
Descending from the air, Marcus surrounded himself with energy to recover, moving his limbs to release tension.
Thud!
A crystal emitting a faint glow fell to the ground before him. Marcus recognized the energy signature immediately.
"Heh, this really has become like the game—even Void Traces dropped as loot."
Picking up the crystallized Void Trace from the ground, Marcus laughed. Without any Void Relics, these Traces weren't particularly useful to him right now.
Pocketing the crystal, he turned his attention to the pyramid looming before him.
Though Apocalypse was dead, the pyramid continued transforming sunlight, its etched lines already filled with cyan energy.
"With this much energy, I could probably extract seven Aya Stars," he mused.
As he spoke, he used Void Dash to rush toward the pyramid's apex.
There lay the core that transformed sunlight—the source of the pyramid's energy. There, the efficiency of extracting Aya Stars would be highest.
Landing atop the pyramid, Marcus channeled Void energy through his hands, covering the lines at the pyramid's peak.
He had deliberately avoided destroying the pyramid during his battle with Apocalypse. The immense energy stored there would be sufficient to extract the Stars he needed.
Soon, the phantom shape of an Aya Star appeared in his hands. As time passed, the extraction process successfully completed, one Star after another.
As expected, the pyramid provided him with seven Aya Stars, increasing his collection from fourteen to twenty-one.
"Now I can create five Warframes."
In the future timeline, he had only shaped Excalibur before the temporal disturbance brought him back here.
He hadn't given much thought to other Warframes yet. Now that everything was over, he could finally consider which ones to create.
After returning from the pyramid, Marcus stroked his chin, deep in thought about which Warframes to build.
Meanwhile, Charles called out urgently:
"Take a deep breath, Jean! Stay calm and let your powers settle!"
Jean's body radiated an overwhelming aura. The potentially world-ending power made everyone break into a cold sweat.
Fortunately, Jean was attempting to calm her abilities according to Charles's guidance, preventing her power from running wild.
This display caught Marcus's attention immediately. The destructive aura snapped him from his thoughts.
Seeing Jean floating in the air, emanating raw power, Marcus remembered that the Phoenix Force was supposedly dormant within her.
Though only a fraction of the Phoenix's true power, it was enough to destroy nearly anything. Compared to the self-proclaimed god Apocalypse, the Phoenix Force residing in Jean was true divine power.
"This shouldn't be happening," Marcus thought. "She's never used the Phoenix power before, and Charles's mental barriers shouldn't have been lifted. What could have triggered this?"
Looking at Jean radiating such immense energy, Marcus was deeply puzzled.
Seeing that Jean was about to lose control—the powerful Phoenix Force on the verge of release—Marcus acted quickly. Void energy shot from his hand, enveloping Jean completely.
The nullifying effect made the Phoenix Force that was about to emerge vanish instantly. This wasn't because Void energy could contain something as powerful as the Phoenix—rather, the Phoenix needed a channel for release.
With Jean's mutant abilities temporarily sealed, the Phoenix Force had no outlet and gradually calmed on its own.
As the glow faded from the suspended Jean, Erik manipulated a large mass of metal, forming a magnetic platform to gently lower her to the ground.
"Charles, her power..." Erik was visibly shaken by what he'd witnessed from Jean. If she had released that kind of power moments earlier, Apocalypse and his Horsemen would have been instantly obliterated.
He recognized that level of destructive potential all too well. It was far beyond Apocalypse's abilities—not just gathering sand into a tower, but capable of reshaping the entire Earth with a mere thought.
"Yes, Jean possesses a terrible power," Charles confirmed. "She's been suppressing it all this time. If she were to release it at full strength, everything would be reduced to nothing."
"That power is no ordinary thing," Marcus added, watching Jean's now-calm unconscious form. "Fortunately, her ability was sealed before it fully manifested. Otherwise, I can't guarantee any of you would have survived."
In his hands, Void energy wrapped around traces of the contained Phoenix aura.
Though merely a residual breath of the Phoenix Force, the power within it remained terrifying. This gave Marcus an idea to study it further.
Perhaps he could extract important information from these Phoenix traces, or even apply the aura to his Warframes to enhance their power.
"Jean, wake up! Jean..." Charles called.
Under their gentle urging, Jean soon regained consciousness. She looked at everyone with confusion before remembering her power slipping out of control.
"Professor, I—" she began anxiously.
"It's alright," Charles reassured her, patting her shoulder. "Your power wasn't fully released."
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