X-Force: Beyond Omega

Magneto floated above them, the air heavy with his magnetic power. Pieces of broken metal spun and moved around him, like planets orbiting a sun. His face looked calm, but there was a hint of danger in it.

"Aron," Magneto began, his voice smooth and calculated. "You have power, intellect, and clearly ambition. Why waste it on them?" He gestured toward the unconscious mutants and the two women standing nearby. "These… mortals will never understand our vision. Humanity will always fear us. Join me, and together, we will reshape the world."

Jean folded her arms, unimpressed. "Oh, please. The same tired speech? You'd think after all these years you'd get a new script."

Wanda frowned, her gaze fixed on Magneto. "You're not fooling anyone, Erik. I know exactly what you're trying to do."

Magneto ignored her, his focus remaining on Aron. "Think about it, Aron. You could stand by my side as we elevate mutant-kind to its rightful place. You don't belong with them. They are beneath you. You're a god among men. Act like it."

Aron chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You're really pulling the 'join me, and we'll rule together' card? I've seen enough movies to know how this ends."

Magneto narrowed his eyes, frustration flashing across his face. "Don't make this mistake, Aron. You might think you're invincible, but even gods can fall."

Aron turned to Jean and Wanda. "Stand back. Protect the ones who are down. I'll handle this."

Wanda hesitated, her gaze flickering between Aron and Magneto. "You sure? He's dangerous."

Aron smirked. "Dangerous? Sure. But fun? Definitely."

Jean rolled her eyes and motioned for Wanda to follow. "Let's keep the unconscious ones safe. Aron can play the hero."

As they moved to a safer position, Magneto raised his hands, and the air filled with a low hum as the magnetic field around him intensified. Shards of metal flew toward Aron at blinding speed, a storm of lethal projectiles.

Aron barely flinched. With a flick of his wrist, a gale of wind erupted around him, courtesy of Storm's powers, deflecting the metal shards harmlessly into the ground. "Really? Metal shards? You're gonna have to try harder, Erik."

Magneto scowled and clenched his fists. The ground beneath Aron buckled and twisted as Magneto manipulated the very earth's magnetic properties to trap him. Aron responded by summoning a crackling lightning bolt from the sky, shattering the magnetic bindings and forcing Magneto to dodge mid-air.

"Cute trick," Aron taunted. "But let me show you a real light show."

He extended his hand, and beams of energy, channeling Cyclops' optic blasts, erupted in Magneto's direction. The red energy tore through the air, forcing Magneto to throw up a force field. Sparks flew as the beams struck the force field, but Aron didn't let up. He grinned, alternating his attacks—one moment fire, the next ice, then bursts of acidic energy.

However, no matter what he threw at the magnetic freak, his attack did nothing but push Magneto further back. The force field held strong, protecting him from harm.

"Now, that's a strong shield," Aron said, cracking his fingers. "Let's amp up the power and see what happens, shall we?"

The air grew heavy as he opened a portal, sending Jean, Wanda, and the others out of the island. Then he used Storm's power to the maximum limit.

The sky was covered in black clouds and thunder cracked loudly. Rain began to pour and the sea began to swirl under the immense power.

As Aron concentrated, his body began to change. Lightning crackled all over his body. His eyes glowed white with sparks of blue lighting, and his skin shimmered faintly with the ambient energy of the storm. Every molecule of air around him seemed to hum with raw, untapped power.

He reached out with both hands, his fingers glowing with raw energy as the storm around him intensified, shifting from simple gusts of wind to swirling vortexes of power. Lightning danced around him, wild and uncontrollable, before he focused every bolt into a single, unified point in the sky. The air crackled with an almost sentient hunger, and the island trembled, responding to the immense pressure building in the atmosphere.

Magneto looked on, his expression a mixture of skepticism and wariness, but as the bolt of energy coalesced into a bright concentrated spear of lightning, even he couldn't hide his growing unease.

"Try, not to die," Aron threw his hands forward, releasing the bolt with the force of a thousand storms. The sky suddenly brightened with a powerful flash as lightning shot through the air, destroying everything it touched. Magneto, understanding how serious the attack was, lifted his hands to try and defend himself. But even with his strong magnetic abilities, he couldn't fully protect himself from the overwhelming force of nature that was coming straight at him.

He covered himself with a dome of solid metal and a force field.

The island seemed to breathe its last as the lightning bolt struck, its impact vaporizing everything in its vicinity. The ground split open, waves of energy crashing outward, reducing everything to nothingness in an instant. The air itself burned with the intense heat, and the once verdant land was reduced to ash.

For a moment, the world fell silent.

Then, a slow, rumbling hum filled the air, and from the sea below, shards of metal shot up like weapons from the depths, weaving together to form a protective shield around Magneto. His body, battered and scorched, had somehow managed to survive, but the toll was evident. His hair was singed, and his face was drawn with a mixture of pain and anger.

But what truly stood out was the sight of his missing arm, the limb reduced to a charred, mangled stump, as if the bolt had stripped it away in an instant. Magneto, gritting his teeth, lifted his remaining hand and clenched it into a fist, his force field still holding strong but faltering under the immense strain. The metal shards were still flying around him.

"Impressive," Magneto rasped, his voice heavy with the weight of his survival. "But you've only made me angry, Aron. You think you can break me? You think you can—"

Aron's voice cut through the air, low and calm, but filled with a dangerous edge. "Don't mistake my mercy for weakness, Erik. I let you live for a reason, but you just made the mistake of thinking you're in control. Now, let's see if you can survive the next phase." He raised both hands, and the temperature around them plummeted as he summoned Iceman's powers, encasing the flying metal debris in massive blocks of ice. But Magneto was able to shatter the ice with ease. With a snap of his fingers, he switched to fire manipulation, melting the ice and turning the air around Magneto into a steaming, chaotic mess.

Magneto, now visibly strained, pushed on. His magnetic field surged again, but Aron was already in motion. Using teleportation, he appeared behind Magneto, delivering a scorching blow with pyrokinetic flames. Magneto grunted in pain and counter-attacked, sending a wave of metallic spikes in every direction.

Aron phased through the spikes using Kitty Pryde's intangibility and appeared above Magneto, this time summoning a glowing ball of acid that sizzled ominously in his hand. "Catch!" he called out, lobbing it at Magneto.

He deflected the acid with a swipe of his hand, but Aron didn't let up.

"What's the matter, Erik? Feeling the burn?" He smirked, unleashing another barrage of attacks, each more devastating than the last.

Magneto, now battered and exhausted, tried one last desperate move. He reached out with his powers, attempting to crush Aron's body directly by manipulating the iron in his blood. Aron staggered for a moment but then grinned.

"Really? You're trying that trick? Nice try, but I can change my body to pure ice or energy. Your magnetic tricks won't work."

Magneto's eyes widened in shock. "What... what are you?"

"Something you can't handle," Aron said as he appeared before him. With a flick of his finger, the force field shattered like glass. Magneto tried to attack again with his metal shards, but they froze in mid-air. Aron grabbed Magneto's throat and absorbed his power and turned him into a normal human. Then he opened a portal back to the lake where he sent Jean and the others earlier.

After walking through the portal, he threw Magneto on the ground.

Jean rushed forward, concern etched on her face. "Aron, are you okay?"

He nodded, grinning. "I'm fine. But he isn't."

Magneto looked at his left hand. He touched the ground and tried to use his power, but couldn't. He tried again, and again, and again, but still nothing happened.

"Why...?" Magneto asked, his voice hoarse. "What have you done?"

"I just took your powers and gave you a taste of humanity," Aron replied.

"How could you? Do you have any idea what you've done? If you had just joined me, you would've helped mutant-kind! Humans will come to you to bring their dead back to life. Tell me, Aron, how long do you think you can keep bringing them back to life? Playing with the natural laws has its price! The moment you refuse them, they won't care about anything and will turn you into their enemy! Even the ones you saved will turn against you. The savior will then become the villain. Do you really think you can handle the pressure and expectations?!"

Magneto looked up at him while grabbing his charred stump.

"I know that. They will ask me to bring their loved ones back to life. I know that I will be labeled as evil sooner or later because no one will care about the backlash I suffer after manipulating the natural law of life and death. But..." Aron changed his face using Azazel's power. "What if Aron dies in the blaze of glory?"

"Shapeshifitng! ... Blaze of glory? What are you planning?" Magneto asked, confused.

"Genosha. What if I die while freeing the prisoners there? The end of mutant slavery... and the death of the greatest hero," Aron's body began to glow. "The world will remember the sacrifice made by me. It will be the start of a new age. I'll disappear into the shadows and keep protecting this world. And you, my friend, no one will care about you. Anyway, enough talk. Goodbye."

"I see... If it's you, you can do it. But beware of their leader... Free them, don't let humans destroy our kind..."

"I'll protect both sides and kill all enemies... Humans, mutants, or aliens, it doesn't matter," Aron touched Magneto's head and used the Phoenix Force to turn him into ashes.

**[POWERSTONES & Reviews]***

If you like my work, you can support me on:-

www.patr eon.com/UnknownMaster

[15 advance chapters] [No double billing] 

---