---
Lin Fan looked down at Bruce Banner, now reverted to his human form, and sighed slightly.
He was disappointed.
Clearly, the Hulk and Banner were still not fully synchronized. In the face of overwhelming power, Hulk had chosen to retreat—just like in the original timeline, after Thanos beat him into submission.
It was only after Banner and Hulk eventually reconciled and fused completely that the true "Professor Hulk" emerged.
But that version hadn't arrived yet.
So for now, Lin Fan simply lost interest.
---
Before he could dwell on it, he heard sharp whipping sounds—hundreds of them—cutting through the air.
Spider-Man was next.
Lin Fan glanced upward. The black-and-red suit glimmered in the light as Peter Parker swung through the sky, spider silk shooting in every direction.
Lin Fan raised his right hand. A blade of red energy formed, glowing like a lightsaber.
With a single sweep—
SWOOSH!
Every single web line was severed at once.
Spider-Man, suddenly unanchored, lost his balance midair.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Fan slashed again. The energy blade swept through Peter's body, cutting a deep line from his shoulder to his abdomen.
The young hero crashed hard into the ground, trembling in pain.
---
With Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, and now Spider-Man all down, Black Widow and Hawkeye froze.
Their weapons dropped.
They were soldiers—but not gods. Without superpowers, resistance was pointless.
The battle was over.
For the first time since their founding, the Avengers had suffered total defeat.
Lin Fan looked around, studying the battered and beaten team. His expression was calm. Almost… amused.
Then, with a smirk, he turned away.
"Three days from now," he said. "I'll be at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters."
And with that, his Phoenix wings flared—and he shot into the sky, vanishing in a burst of light.
---
The shock was absolute.
Lin Fan had done what Thanos once did—he had reminded Earth's heroes what failure tasted like.
And this time, it wasn't a war.
It was a massacre.
No one had even been able to stop him.
Cyclops stood trembling, his body stiff with fury and helplessness. Then he coughed up blood and collapsed.
Panic spread through the X-Men ranks again.
---
Captain America, still clutching the broken halves of his vibranium shield, turned toward Tony Stark—who was crawling from the wreckage of his damaged armor.
Their eyes met.
Their spirits had been shaken to the core.
Three days.
That was all the time they had before Lin Fan reappeared.
Could they really face him again?
Cap hated the thought, but somewhere deep inside… he was afraid. The gap in power was too great—like facing a being from a higher dimension. One you couldn't even comprehend.
He gritted his teeth.
"We're going to need something stronger," he said quietly.
Tony didn't reply. He just stared into the sky, lost in thought.
No one could guess what the genius inventor was thinking.
---
Meanwhile, far from the wreckage of the school, Lin Fan had already caught up with the Hellfire Club.
After escaping through their portal, Psylocke and the others had stopped roughly 50 kilometers away.
When Lin Fan descended from the sky, they bowed in unison.
His hair and eyes had returned to black, his Phoenix aura suppressed.
The Black King stepped forward.
"We failed you. We couldn't defeat the Avengers..."
Lin Fan waved a hand.
"Get up. Losing to the Avengers and X-Men isn't shameful."
They were still rookies—he didn't expect perfection.
Psylocke approached quietly, eyes full of restrained frustration.
"Where are we going next?" she asked. "Are we attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. right away?"
She still seemed bitter about being forced to retreat earlier, especially after being outmatched by Storm and Iron Man.
Lin Fan chuckled.
"In three days, you'll have your chance again."
He gently patted her on the head.
Then his expression turned sharp.
"For now, we move to the next target—Scarlet Witch."
He turned his gaze toward the horizon.
---
Wanda Maximoff.
Known as the Scarlet Witch.
She was next.
Unlike Jean Grey, who was chosen by the Phoenix Force, Wanda's power came from within.
Chaos Magic.
A mysterious force never before seen on Earth.
---
Most people only saw the surface of Wanda's power—telekinesis, force fields, energy manipulation. She once held Thanos in place for a few seconds during battle.
But that was only a glimpse.
True chaos magic could do far more.
It could bend reality itself.
Turn rocks into diamonds.
Gold into lead.
Even rewrite the rules of existence.
In essence, Wanda's chaos magic mirrored the powers of the Reality Stone—except she didn't need a cosmic artifact to use it.
All she needed was her will.
And Lin Fan intended to claim that power for himself.
---