American comics: From Hogwarts to God on Earth

Chapter 189 The Truth

Rune followed Charles to the edge of Liberty Island and sat down. He wasn't worried that Charles had any ulterior motives towards him, nor was he afraid of Charles reading his memories. Although his telepathic abilities were inferior to Charles's, with the addition of Occlumency, resisting Charles's mind-reading was a piece of cake.

Moreover, Charles has always been a pushover. Rune believes that perhaps only Mahatma, who loves nuclear peace, can be compared to Charles; he basically never actively reads other people's memories.

When he was splitting the red skull's soul, Rune also repaired the body's face. This was just a small favor; many others could have performed the surgery even if he hadn't. Rune did it, but his purpose was entirely to gain favor.

"How does it feel to stand up again?" Rune started by telling a cheesy joke. In different parallel universes, Professor X is usually in a wheelchair, but for different reasons.

Charles, of course, didn't care about the boy's offense and even laughed along, because he never cared about being in a wheelchair, so this hellish joke could only make him laugh.

But he didn't laugh for long, because soon he was staring at Rune in a daze.

"What's wrong?" Rune asked, puzzled. He was also wondering why Charles had asked to speak to him alone. Logically speaking, he and one of the mutant leaders didn't have much interaction.

"I just feel you've grown up, child," Charles's words struck like a thunderbolt, making Rune's eyes widen. The kind old man continued, "I'm so sorry, so very sorry."

"You don't mean to say that I'm your illegitimate child, do you? Then my mother—is Mystique?" Rune asked incredulously, which amused Charles.

"No—no, no, you are not my illegitimate child, child." Charles sighed. "But—you are indeed our creation, or rather, you are related to us—I know you have doubts, but please listen carefully, what I am about to say is terrible."

He took a deep breath and organized his thoughts: "I come from an organization, Rune, an organization that gathers the forgotten from all higher dimensions. After the higher-dimensional beings forgot them, their worlds and their families vanished into the vast sea of ​​stars. They were originally anchors or key figures in a world, which is why they were able to live on in a false way."

"false?"

Professor X nodded, and said in a low voice, "That's right, it's an illusion. In that dark and hopeless place, we neither need nor can eat or drink. We can only pray that higher-dimensional beings will remember us and let us reappear, so that we can escape that despairing place—this was originally the only way we could survive."

Rune narrowed his eyes, listening quietly to what Professor X would say next.

"Until a man arrived, a man with the ability to traverse dimensions, who chose to bring us together from our scattered place of despair..."

"Let me guess." Rune's voice suddenly turned cold, and the shadows around him began to tremble. "Next, you'll start invading other worlds, won't you?"

"No, that's not it." Charles shook his head, looking frankly at Rune. "Actually, some guys did propose invading other worlds, but it was rejected by another group. According to your classification, the former are the villains, and the latter are the protagonists, right?"

Rune nodded, clearly having thought of something.

"Our initial proposal was to find the universes where our deceased counterparts from other dimensions reside, and then we would live on in their place." This is not only difficult, but also extremely rare, right? Rune asked softly. It certainly sounded like a solution that didn't require abandoning one's conscience, but... according to Rune's understanding, those higher-dimensional beings were likely editors and readers, and the number of characters they forgot daily was countless. While parallel universes were indeed inexhaustible, finding universes that met the criteria remained incredibly difficult, and was destined to be a case of far more monks than plucked pluck.

Charles sighed: "Yes, that's right. So later, someone suggested talking to the alternate-dimensional counterpart of another world, reaching a mutual aid agreement, and sharing his world. But this obviously didn't work. The vast majority of people were unwilling to share food, wives, or the like with another version of themselves—and some even chose to kill the alternate-dimensional counterpart after negotiations broke down and take his place, causing quite a few negative consequences—"

He took a deep breath: "At first, the main characters were able to suppress the villains, but as time went on, the villains' numbers increased, and their influence naturally grew. Therefore, these peace plans were ultimately rejected. Only after that did the invasion of the world happen, as you've been thinking." Rune sighed as well. This was normal. The villains usually outnumbered the main characters; otherwise, how could the story continue? Initially, the main characters might have been able to forcefully suppress the villains' ideas with their strength, but as their numbers increased, it was quite normal for the entire organization to become more chaotic and evil.

"You haven't told me about my origins yet," Rune reminded Charles, who nodded.

"Actually, we didn't interfere with you too much, even though your existence could help many of us." Charles looked at New York City in the distance. "In fact, your arrival surprised us as well. We're all, for the time being, good guys. At first, we just gave you something and let your soul go to other worlds. But later, we tested your abilities again."

"Deadpool?" Rune raised an eyebrow, and Charles nodded.

"Yes, he used the Continuity of the Story Gem in his brain and your higher-dimensional soul to save a large number of people from the predicament of disappearance. After all, if forgotten for too long, we Forgotten Ones would completely vanish, leaving not even our souls behind. The legion of Dead Servants you saved is therefore willing to work for you, however..."

"I need to find them first, right?" Rune said, but his mind was actually on something else. The Plot Continuity Stone was also an Infinity Stone; possessing it could rewrite Marvel comics and had power that made even writers tremble. If he could get his hands on it…

"Yes," Charles nodded, "and the Continuity Stone has also shattered and disappeared completely, so Deadpool has lost the ability to communicate with higher dimensions—although we thought it was just Deadpool talking nonsense before, now we realize that we are the most ridiculous ones."

The plot continuity gem shattered? Rune couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Charles stood up and patted Rune on the shoulder: "Please believe me. Although I've done many wrong things, I haven't lied. If you don't believe me, you can read my memories."

"What about that Red Skull?" Rune didn't answer Charles directly.

"He—" For the first time, Charles's face showed anger and regret: "He was indeed a member of another small group in our organization, and I allowed him to act as he pleased, on the condition that he was not allowed to attack mutants or affect the world order. I just didn't expect—"

"I didn't expect him to still target you, and even collect all the Infinity Stones with the intention of ruling the world, right?" Rune sneered.

Charles retorted, "No, he doesn't want to rule the world; he wants to recreate the wasteland of the Return of the Wolf!"

Rune frowned, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "To avoid being forgotten?"

"Yes," Charles said with a wry smile, "I don't know what their little group has researched or what conclusions they've reached, but I must warn you, Rune, if you encounter them again, strike first! They'll stop at nothing to survive. I think I was caught up in similar thoughts before, which is why I compromised with Red Skull."

The old man shook his head: "Now, you can do whatever you want with me. I won't resist, child. I've done wrong. I've let down the expectations of the mutants. I've forgotten my mission, and therefore I deserve to be punished—"

The scene was silent for a while. The heroes in the back were trying to repair Liberty Island, and some people were arguing about what to do with the sleeping green giant. Overall, however, it was filled with laughter and joy. It should have been a good ending, but Charles felt that he did not deserve such an ending.

"The Professor X of this world died because of you?" Rune asked. Charles shook his head, so Rune sneered and used his telepathic ability to whip him: "Then don't be stupid. Protect this world properly instead of giving up on yourself and cowardly trying to abandon your students and other mutants."

Rune was not happy when he saw the grateful look on Charles's face.

Things were getting worse; the enemy he was facing was clearly beyond his expectations—