amaotonovel Chapter 4689 The Demise of the X Royal Family ( )
Chapter 4689 The Demise of the X Royal Family ( )
Chapter 4689 The X Royal Family: Demise (Part 10)
After the White Queen left, Magneto looked at Professor X with concern, then at Schiller, and said, "That was far too risky. If Emma were to act impulsively and attack you, I might not be able to completely stop her. Charles, you should go back to the Gravity Lab."
“Running away isn’t the answer, Eric,” Professor X said, looking him in the eye. “I know you want to protect me, and you’re worried about what the radicals among the mutants might do to me because of the raid team’s annihilation. But I must step forward and take responsibility, setting a good example for the children. I want to call a general meeting…”
“No!” Magneto frowned deeply. “Right now, it’s already very difficult just to suppress the doubts about you within the Brotherhood of Mutants. If the public opinion wasn’t so negative, I wouldn’t have kept you in the lab.”
“But if I stay in the lab, all the blame will fall on you, Eric. How can I leave you to face all this alone?”
Schiller was already behind his desk playing on his phone. That's the downside of the mutant comic universe; a third of the storyline revolves around the on-again, off-again relationship between Magneto and Professor X.
Any comic book could never be published without their romantic entanglement, regardless of the time, place, or major event. It's just a matter of some comics having more plot and others having less.
Whether these two characters initially fall in love or become enemies determines the overall tone of this comic. The bizarre nature of their love-hate relationship determines the comic's length. Ultimately, whether they remain in love or become enemies determines the comic's ending.
The good news is that in the original comic book "Royal Family X," the two worked together without any arguments. The bad news is that the original plot has basically fallen apart, and now it's going to follow the old trope of falling in love first and then killing each other.
“Eric, take off your helmet, we need to talk,” Charles’s voice came from the side. Schiller immediately pulled out a paper medical report and started writing. Once that was said, the discussion would take at least two hours.
Schiller began completing the medical records amidst the background noise of the two arguing. Before coming here, there were 46 medical records left to complete; now, there are 48. Judging from their tone, finishing two records this afternoon shouldn't be a problem.
Suddenly, a mental storm swept through the room. Fortunately, Schiller was prepared and shut down his mental world, remaining unaffected. Magneto, however, looked pained and staggered back, bumping into the table. Schiller quickly raised his hand, preventing scratches from landing on the newly written medical record.
The argument grew louder, but Schiller shut his ears, cursing Strange in his mind as he frantically wrote. Suddenly, a magnetic storm swept through, lifting everything in the room, including tables, chairs, and papers. Schiller again swiftly grabbed a piece of paper that was floating up. Just as he jumped down from mid-air, he saw Professor X collapse limply to the ground.
"Doctor," Magneto called out to Schiller as he lifted him into the wheelchair, "please take him back to the gravity lab and take good care of him until he wakes up."
Schiller took the wheelchair from him, then held up one finger and said, "First, I'm a psychiatrist. If he suddenly falls seriously ill, I can't help him; I can only advise him to think positively. Second, I'm not your personal doctor; I have other things to do..."
Magneto had already turned and left with a resolute air.
Schiller sighed and pushed Professor X back to the gravity lab. Moira gasped when she saw Professor X's appearance.
“Take good care of him.” Schiller began outsourcing his work.
"I don't understand, how could he..."
“Magneto,” Schiller summed up their argument in the most concise way.
Moira seemed to know them both quite well. She breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Magneto's name, but then frowned. "I've heard there's a lot of opposition to the Professor within the mutant community, is that right?"
During his first meeting with Professor X, Schiller knew that Moira couldn't leave the Antigravity Lab. She was responsible for providing the technical support for both the Totem Resurrection Project and the Anti-Redgate Project. While Decoding and Beast could also assist, this nine-times-reincarnated woman was the key figure in the mutants' creation of a new utopia.
Because she shouldered so many technical responsibilities, she rarely participated in politics and wasn't very well-informed. After the entire squad was wiped out, the pressure on her increased, and she communicated with the outside world even less.
“It is a bit of a problem,” Schiller said. “You can probably imagine that Magneto wouldn’t have resorted to this if the pressure from within the mutant community hadn’t been so great as to actually pose a danger to the Professor.”
Moira turned to look at Professor X, who was lying in a wheelchair. She adjusted her glasses and said, "Where is the internal pressure mainly coming from? Neither the X-Men nor the Brotherhood of Mutants should be at fault..."
“Mr. Sinister,” Schiller uttered a name. “He’s a complete opportunist. He may not genuinely agree with the plan; he just wants the benefits Krakoa brings. So, even though he provided the Totem Resurrection Project with the technology to preserve mutant genes, given the current unfavorable situation, it’s not impossible that he might want to withdraw his investment or even turn the tables.”
“This is terrible,” Moira exclaimed. “Even at this point, we still can’t unite. It seems the resurrection plan needs to be accelerated; we need a shot in the arm.”
“No, Miss,” Schiller said, looking at her. “Quite the opposite. You do need to study it as soon as possible, but don’t announce it so quickly. If it is indeed completed, I hope you can keep it a secret for the time being.”
"Why?" Moira asked, puzzled. "The return of our fallen heroes will be truly inspiring. Isn't that the kind of powerful encouragement we need most right now?"
Schiller shook his head and said, "The storm will prove who the true king of the sky is. The mutants failed because you can never accept failure."
Moira didn't speak, she just looked at him. Nine lifetimes had given this woman more experience and deeper thoughts than other mutants, making her more receptive to seemingly unorthodox ideas.
"In my opinion, the raiding party's failure can hardly be called a failure; it was just a minor setback. But too many mutants haven't realized this, including Professor X and Magneto. Otherwise, they wouldn't have chosen to ask the multiverse for help."
"They knew the arrival of the main universe might bring a series of troubles, but they accepted it in order to get aid. But do they really need this aid? If they can't even accept this level of failure, how can they rebuild their home?"
“I don’t understand.” Moira stepped forward, stood before Schiller, and looked up into his grey eyes. “The most important raid plan has completely failed. Isn’t that enough?”
"The problem is that you shouldn't have pinned all your hopes on this surprise attack plan." Schiller sighed, and resumed his prenatal education. "'Quick victory' and 'quick defeat' are both major taboos in military strategy. Trying to decide the outcome with one or two 'surprise attacks' and 'assassinations' is itself a sign of shallow political thinking and short-sighted strategic vision."
"The result of everyone thinking 'to achieve everything in one fell swoop' is what we have now. Once your highly anticipated surprise attack fails, everyone will feel despair and want to find a culprit to vent their anger. This is completely wrong."
"All I can say is that it's good that you failed. If you had won, the major victory would have given you a taste of the sweetness of ambushes and assassinations, and you would have gone further and further astray from the right path, and you would have been further and further away from victory. Even if you were temporarily triumphant, it would not last long."
Schiller wasn't making this up. In fact, in later comics, Krakoa, also known as "K Island," was destroyed. This once-glorious utopia vanished once again into the annals of mutant history, leaving no trace.
While the editors certainly didn't want mutants to settle down, ultimately, the bigger problem lies with the mutant community itself.
“Mutants are like an over-tempered sword,” Schiller commented. “They may be very sharp, but they lack resilience.”
Moira lowered her eyes. She didn't comment on the assessment, showing neither anger nor confusion, as if she had expected it. Silence can sometimes be a form of expression. It seems that her time with mutants since the reconstruction of Utopia has given her a deeper understanding of many things.
“The mutants have only a superficial unity,” Schiller added. “Working together for the ideal of rebuilding their home seems like a good thing. But rebuilding a home is not a proper ideal. What kind of home should we rebuild? The goal of ‘giving every mutant a place to belong’ is not grand enough, so your alliance is not strong enough.”
"Not great enough?" Moira looked at him and asked rhetorically, "But it's something that no one has ever accomplished before, something incredibly difficult."
“It’s far from enough,” Schiller said. “The consequence of never having discussed ‘what kind of home mutants should have’ is that the mutants you unite with are not necessarily your comrades.”
Moira fell silent again. After a long pause, she spoke: "Perhaps you are right. Hopefully, this defeat will help us discern who our true allies are. The departure of some people may not necessarily be a bad thing."
"Learning to accept failure, deal with its aftermath, and even turn failure into a flame for self-refinement is a lesson that mutants must learn. It may be difficult, but no nation or people can truly unite without going through such trials. If rebuilding Utopia fails, at least let's not fail to learn from the lessons like last time."
Moira sighed softly and looked up at the dome of the gravity laboratory. Schiller also heard a murmur in the wind, an ancient and mysterious language she couldn't understand, but she could sense the sorrow in it.
Schiller returned to the surface and walked from the council chamber into the jungle, just in time to see a group of mutants flying overhead. Mr. Sinister Nathaniel and his retinue had left, while Magneto simply stood atop the highest point of the royal court, gazing into the distance. Sunlight streamed down his cloak, like a majestic, perpetually snow-capped mountain.