My new skill immediately went to work when Phoenix Colossus's fists came down for an overhead hit. I parried back the attack and followed with a shotgun blast to the face. Phoenix Colossus seemed more irritated than anything else and rushed me, beginning our battle in earnest.

His blows came down like comets, and I sunk deeper into my skills, parrying, dodging with Demon evade, and chaining Axe strikes together. My hits shoved the titan left and right, but it never seemed enough.

Things kicked into high gear when Phoenix Colossus wrapped his fist with cosmic fire and swung at me.

My eyes went wide, and I had to use a full-powered Burst and leverage my considerable speed to gain distance, but even that was not enough. I chained it with Angel Evade in hopes of dodging the approaching destruction, but to my utter horror, the flame still touched me, splashing against my chest and left shoulder, throwing me out of Angel Evade.

I spun out, bouncing on the ground, which had now been partially glassed over by fire, screaming my lungs out.

Congratulations: You've unlocked Pain Resistance (Basic)

Grants a 15% reduced perception of all damage received. Costs 5 AE hr while in use.

Congratulations: You've unlocked Fire resistance (Basic)

Grants 15% resistance to all fire damage. Costs 5 DE per hr while in use.

Really! Right fucking now?

I tried rolling around, but that only spread the fire.

Desperate, I tapped into my Angel Energy, Osiris materializing on my back, and focused on the wind affinity that came with the weapon.

As usual, getting Angel Energy to do anything was exhausting, so I relinquished all control around my upper body and let the energy pour out of me.

Blue tinted Wind escaped my pores, buffeting me wildly. It snuffed out the Cosmic fire burning, and I collapsed to my knees, wracked with indescribable pain.

This was the worst I'd felt in both lives, and I knew things would only get worse from here.

Angel Regeneration flared to life, and it healed through all the scrapes and wounds but halted when it came across my burns.

The energy soothed me but didn't do much else. Instead, I got a notification that made my heart drop.

You've been inflicted by Cosmic burn -15% health until fully healed.

420/630

A third of my health pool was gone just like that.

Fuck this. I was not dying over Shin's bullshit. I liked Colossus, but if it was me or him, I'd choose me.

I summoned the Sniper I'd used on Wolverine and fired from the hip. It clipped Colossus in the head, knocking him down and leaving him open for the two sonic grenades I armed and tossed. I flipped on the noise cancellation feature on my earpieces before they landed and stalked toward Colossus with a deep rage bubbling inside of me.

I was saving the sonic grenade for Xavier and the Phoenix, but since it was right here in front of me. What the Hell.

Phoenix Colossus clamped its hands around his ears. I hefted the sniper rifle again and began to fill it with demonic energy, activating my skill, Focused shot. I felt the weapon heat and warp in my hand, but it remained stable enough for the 5 seconds it took to charge the shot.

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The bullet exploded forward like a beam of light and slammed into Colossus's chest, throwing him into the side of the mansion and rocking the entire structure.

Metal skin or not, he would die if I kept riding him this hard, but I was checked out at this point.

I discarded the heat warped Sniper rifle, hefted Arbiter, and started pouring Demonic energy into the axe head.

Five seconds later, the Axe head was scorching hot, yet I was not done. I activated Burst, packing the weapon with more energy. Arbiter lapped it up so quickly that I reached the 10 DE limit of the skill and continued to push.

I felt an unseen muscle in my mind stretch and break, and demon energy flooded my veins. The tactical gear on me that survived the Phoenix fire started to warp and melt as heat poured out of every pore in my body.

I got two more notifications.

Congratulations: Demonic Energy Manipulation has reached Adept Tier.

Improved fine manipulation, damage, multitasking, and unlocks energy projection.

Demonic Technique: Burst has reached Adept Tier.

Permits user to stack two additional levels of Burst onto an action or attack.

Congratulations: You've learned Demonic Technique: Cloak

Channel your inner Devil and project a cloak made of demonic energy inspired by your affinity. Grants a 50% immunity to ALL fire, improves the potency of Demonic techniques by 50%, and improves Endurance and durability by 35%

Cost 50 DE to activate and 2 for every second used.

A whirlwind of emotions and answers flooded me. It explained why new Demon and Angel skills were so difficult to gain. Energy projection and fine manipulation were adept-level feats.

The fresh skill also gave me the confidence I needed to continue this fight.

I quickly checked my resources.

HP: 420/620

SP: 450/610

DE: 301/450

AE: 320/420

Phoenix Colossus waded out of the rubble with a savage grin on its face.

'Show me more,' it screeched as it waved its hand again, flooding the area with Cosmic fire, but I was already in the air. The Burst threw me up so fast that my mind struggled to keep up. I pushed my recently upgraded Adept Tier manipulation skill, layering it on the bonus of my Fire cloak, and swung my axe head, willing only the energy contained within it forward.

Surprisingly, the Axe head of Arbiter detached and flew forward in a crimson streak, leaving the handle in my hand.

It cut through the cosmic fire and impacted the rapidly reacting Colossus. He'd look like he was in the middle of redirecting his fire, but it was too late.

The Axe head impacted with the force of half a dozen grenades, and the cosmic fire ripping through the landscape winked out immediately. Arbiter's axe head materialized a moment later, and in the chaos below, I saw Phoenix Colossus standing proud with a deep scar across its chest.

I winced at the sight. Colossus was a tough motherfucker, but a wound like that packed with demonic energy could take him out.

He would die if the Phoenix did nothing about it. Still...it was him or me, and I refused to show weakness in front of the overgrown chicken.

It could read my mind, and I did not want it to entertain the idea that it could hold Colossus or any of the other X-Men or SHIELD agents as hostages.

"Doesn't feel very good, does it?" I yelled as I landed across from it.

"More."

In a flash, Colossus was on me with a flame-wreathed fist. I leaned out of the way, triggering Demon evade, and laid into his wounded chest with a Burst-boosted uppercut.

Phoenix Colossus doubled over, wrenching blood, and looked up at me with surprise.

My strength has reached the huge milestone of 40 since I started training at the Shield facility. With the double damage bonus of Demon Evade, stacked with the outrageous damage amp of Cloak's 50% and a Burst strike, I was punching with the force of near 150 Strength.

Absolutely disgusting.

If not for my boosted Endurance, I was sure I would've crippled myself with that hit alone.

In retrospect, that shot with Arbiter was probably powerful enough to cleave a car in half. I was getting up there.

I grinned ear to ear despite the pain. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Eryx.

The flame died down as Colossus stepped out, his chrome skin fully repaired. The very tips of his fists burned white hot with cosmic fire, and he looked noticeably fatigued despite just getting a cosmic pick-me-up.

I raised my brow and used Devil's Eye. The Phoenix's presence was a tenth of its former size and flickering.

I couldn't believe it. The bird was running out of juice

—

Clint

Drumm's portal dumped us in the bowels of the castle, and everyone save for Drumm had their rifles raised with their torches on.

Sure, all of the fighters had come out to meet us, but it paid to be paranoid in our line of work.

Tense seconds passed as we scattered, scanning the perimeter before we converged.

"Perimeter secure," I announced, then turned to Drumm. "The other mutants?"

"Safe on an inaccessible portion of the roof," he said. "They're stuck even if they somehow manage to get out of their restraint."

"Great work, Drumm," I said. "And the kid?