40 Nature

"That's nice and all but…you overestimate yourself too much."

Everyone turned to look at who spoke just now and saw Benjamin casually walking toward Apocalypse.

Apocalypse frowned but he didn't act out. Instead, he continued to gaze at him as if he was an insect beneath his feet.

"Name yourself, child."

"There's no need for you to know my name."

"And you say I overestimate myself? You-"

"Kneel."

Benjamin activated the Necklace of One again with a new spell.

Suddenly, Apocalypse's knees bent and he was forced to kneel on the ground.

Apocalypse was shocked and tried his hardest to resist, leaving him in a posture that was half kneeling and half standing.

"Hoh? You can actually resist it."

"What sorcery is this!?"

"Blood magic."

Benjamin answered nonchalantly and Apocalypse gave him a glare.

"You think this is enough to defeat me!?"

The next moment, the earth around them started to rise and turn into sand which then formed countless spikes aimed at Benjamin.

"Petty tricks."

Benjamin didn't bother blocking them and just let them stab at him.

His symbiote suit acted immediately and created small tentacles which grabbed onto each spike to prevent it from reaching Benjamin.

Well, not like it would do anything since he can turn his own body to earth or electricity to avoid being injured.

Once the symbiote grab the sand spikes, he hurled them all to Apocalypse.

"Hmph!"

Apocalypse snorted and created an energy shield around him that pulverized the sand spikes before they got near him.

Benjamin narrowed his eyes and continued to hurl other things at him. Mainly just to annoy him.

"Enough!"

Apocalypse changed his tactic and his body suddenly grew in size while he was still resisting to kneel.

"You think yourself as powerful?"

Apocalypse mocked as he grew bigger and bigger.

"You know nothing of power!"

Roaring, he lifted both hands up and slammed them to the ground.

Benjamin raised his hand and on his command, towering trees began to sprout from the earth, creating a dome that protected all of them.

Natasha looked at the wooden dome in surprise.

"Huh? Ben, did you gain a new power again?"

"Yep. Pretty neat huh?"

"You can…what? Control trees now? How are you even getting these powers? This isn't logical!"

Iron Man asked agitatedly and Benjamin just shrugged.

"It just happened. And no, it's not as simple as controlling trees…"

Benjamin smiled mysteriously.

Suddenly, the clouds above them gathered and darkened. Flickers of lightning came and went along with the rumbling sounds of thunder.

The wind around them started to become chilly and grew stronger by the second.

Wolverine frowned and looked at Storm.

"Storm?"

"It's not me…"

Storm looked confused as well as she was not the one responsible for the change in weather.

"It's me."

Benjamin chuckled.

He walked out of the dome and looked up at Apocalypse' towering figure.

"Stay in the dome, all of you. I'll deal with this one now."

Benjamin then took out a certain item from his Inventory.

Something that he had gotten a long time ago.

It was none other than two Pym Particle Vial: Positive!

Crushing it in his hand, his body started to quickly grow in size, matching that of Apocalypse!

Although Ant-man needed a suit to make himself shrink or grow, this was an enhanced version by the System and can be used directly.

Of course, there was a time limit to it and it can't stay that size for long.

He only has 5 minutes.

It was more than enough time to whoop Apocalypse's ass!

"As a wise man once said. Pick on someone your own size."

"Fine. I'll kill you first."

Benjamin laughed and raised his fist to punch at Apocalypse. His fist flickered with lightning that struck down at the same time.

Apocalypse took the hit and his jaw was blown off but he didn't care. It only took a second or two for it to regenerate.

This guy's healing factor is so absurd thanks to his ability to manipulate his own molecules.

Not only can he heal instantaneously, but he can also give himself new powers.

Apocalypse opened his mouth and fire shot out from it, heading straight at Benjamin's face.

"Spitting fire, really? How original."

Benjamin sneered and simply blew cold wind from the atmosphere to extinguish the flame.

"Let me show you how it's done."

Benjamin smiled and stomped his feet on the earth. The next moment, the pyramid where Apocalypse used to sit on started to shake.

The bricks fell off one by one until everyone could see a huge mountain had replaced it.

But that wasn't over.

The mountain started to shake as well as if it was about to release something from within.

Iron Man's HUD was scanning the mountain and Friday's voice reported to him.

["Boss, scans show volcano activity in that mountain. It's about to erupt."]

"WHAT!?"

As if on cue, the mountain exploded.

*BOOM!!!*

Everyone expected lava to start raining down on them but it didn't.

Instead, the magma shot to the sky and…curved towards Benjamin!

The magma straightened on his hands and formed a huge hammer!

"No matter how powerful you think you are…you are no match for Nature itself."

Benjamin grinned and raised the magma hammer, still red hot from the volcano.

Lightning continued to strike the hammer to continue heating it up and prevent it from hardening completely.

Apocalypse's eyes widened as he was repeatedly struck by the hammer.

He kept trying to fight back but nothing he did manage to hurt Benjamin.

At the last resort, he tried to mentally attack him but…

"ARGH!!!"

"Tsk tsk tsk. Mental attacks won't work on me."

Apocalypse glared at Benjamin and energy started to gather in his eyes.

With a boom, that energy shot out toward Benjamin who casually blocked it with one of his hands.

"YOU CAN'T KILL ME!!! I AM IMMORTAL!!!"

Apocalypse shouted while still shooting the energy beam at Benjamin.

"Maybe so…but there are fates much worse than death."

*BOOM*

Apocalypse staggered as he was hit by the hammer and crashed onto the newly made volcano.

Benjamin lifted the magma hammer and changed it into a sword this time.

Looking over at Apocalypse who was no longer able to resist kneeling, Benjamin lifted the magma sword and stabbed it straight through his heart!

He didn't die, however, as Apocalypse once again manipulated his molecular structure and prevent him from dying.

Well, this guy's own healing factor was overpowered enough to begin with so even without the molecular alteration, he would still live.

Even blowing his brains out might not guarantee his death.

Apocalypse's body started to shrink back. Perhaps due to him being unable to maintain the size or some other reason.

He even began to manipulate the magma sword to remove it but Benjamin's own control plus the pain won't allow him to do so.

At best, he managed to resize it as he shrunk. But Benjamin still made sure it stayed in his chest.

Benjamin looked down on him from above.

"En Sabah Nur. You are under arrest. I think I can speak for the whole world here that your sentence is imprisonment…for eternity. I'd say execution but that's too troublesome thanks to your powers. Instead, you will wish that you could die. And no, you do not have the right to an attorney."

"NO!"

Apocalypse roared but no one cared about him.

Lightning struck at him repeatedly from above while Benjamin conjured a sealing formation and surrounded him with it. All the while controlling the magma to completely envelop Apocalypse.

Even as he was being encased by magma, Apocalypse kept struggling as he used various powers but it was all useless.

He also couldn't teleport himself out as the sealing formation also restricted the space around him.

Benjamin even spat out Hellfire and surrounded the magma-clad Apocalypse so it will burn for all eternity. Apocalypse would live in constant pain of burning and healing over and over.

As if that wasn't enough, Benjamin controlled the earth and surround Apocalypse again, fixing up the volcano mountain.

Then, he picked up all the bricks of the previous pyramid and formed it around the volcano.

Benjamin added more inscriptions on the bricks to seal Apocalypse even more…

Looking at the disaster around them, Benjamin sighed at the lack of vibrancy and used the power of Nature to fix everything.

Trees grew in desolate places, lakes formed…in just mere moments, an oasis was formed with Apocalypse's pyramid prison at its center.

Just in time, the 5 minutes were also up and Benjamin started shrinking down.

He looked at everyone and found that they were all staring at him in shock and dumbfounded.

"Ben you…just how powerful are you?"

Natasha asked.

"How powerful? Hmm…it's a bit hard to put it into words. Well, I'm akin to a God I presume."

"A…God?"

"Yeah. I have some control over Nature itself. Global warming, drought, heavy storms, and such won't even be an issue now."

Benjamin chuckled.

He looked back at Apocalypse's pyramid prison and pointed at it with his thumb.

"That thing should hold him off for…well the rest of eternity. Unless someone is powerful enough to remove it and release him, which I doubt will happen."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…if they are powerful enough to remove it, then there's no reason why they would remove the seals and release someone weaker than them right?"

"..."

That…seemed to make sense?

Benjamin smiled and shook his head.

Although if someone wanted to get Apocalypse as their henchmen, that could still happen. But that will be a whole new set of problems anyway.

"If you're still uneasy we can like chop him up and send his limbs to every corner of the universe."

"...Uhh, that shouldn't be necessary…"

Captain America replied.

Wolverine, who also has a high level of healing factor, shivered at the thought that this might happen to him if he ever makes an enemy out of Benjamin…

"Anyway, that's taken care of. We should get back now."

Not long after, the whole world received news of Apocalypse's defeat under the joint operations of the Avengers, X-Men, and the EPD.

Everyone celebrated and those who tried to take advantage of the situation were also quickly apprehended.

The Avengers, X-Men, EPD, and anyone else involved also celebrated and organized a party.

Since last time, it was the Avengers who had hosted it, this time, they all got together in the X-Mansion that night to party.

Well, not inside the mansion itself but in a small forest near it.

There's a bar, DJ stage, bonfire, lights, music, and everything. It was a mini-rave sort of thing and everyone laughed and danced as they had fun.

Benjamin also helped make the DJ stage a bit fancier by controlling the trees to make the stage and a half dome around it.

The DJs of the night were Nightcrawler and Iron Man who alternated with each other so the other could also have fun.

Included in this party was Magneto as well.

Though he only stood at the corner beside Charles with a drink at hand. He felt awkward to be included in this party when he was their enemy a few hours ago.

He looked at Charles' legs and spoke after some hesitation.

"So…you can walk now…"

"Hm? Ah yes. Thanks to Captain Freed who healed me before."

"Captain Freed huh…"

Magneto sighed.

Never had he seen such a powerful person as Benjamin Freed.

In the past, he considered himself one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Then the Battle of New York happened and he realized there is more than just Earth.

Then Apocalypse arrived and he realized how powerful Apocalypse was. He feared him.

…Then there's Benjamin Freed who played with Apocalypse like he's just a kid.

He wasn't awake during that time but Charles shared his memory of the fight with him and it made him feel a shiver down his spine.

Forget about other things, just that so-called Blood Magic alone is too scary!

If he were to tell him to 'Die' and not 'Sleep'...is he just gonna die like that? Without being able to put up a fight at all?

Of course, he said that he can only use a word one time but…who's to say he hasn't used that word yet?

Charles chuckled as he could tell what Magneto was thinking even without using his powers.

"He is indeed too powerful…we should be glad that he's not our enemy."

"And what if he becomes one, Charles? Who can we even call to fight against him?"

"Based on his personality, I doubt he would become a truly evil person…that is…unless we give him a reason."

"..."

Charles sighed and faced Magneto with a serious expression.

"Erik, you can't keep running away from your crimes anymore. Captain Freed has already convinced the higher-ups for you to have your freedom but with a power inhibitor on you. The inhibitor will be unlocked only during emergencies or when you are needed."

"...I know."

As Charles said, Benjamin had indeed 'convinced' the higher-ups.

Well, although they were threatened slightly, they were actually happy to have the means to control one of the most powerful mutants.

Of course, Benjamin is watching them closely so as not to misuse this 'authority' over Magneto.

On the other side, Benjamin was with Wanda and Pietro who was looking at Magneto curiously.

"Aren't you going to talk to him?"

"I-I will but…do I look okay? I don't look weird or anything right?"

Benjamin rolled his eyes at Pietro.

"Pietro, you're going to see your dad, not your crush. And for the hundredth time, you look okay."

A while ago, Benjamin revealed to the two of them that Magneto was their actual father and that the ones who raised them in the past and died were their adoptive parents.

The two of them had believed him as there was no reason for him to lie.

This instantly raised a hundred questions in their minds such as why were they separated, did Magneto throw them away, and whether did he not like them, or such.

Benjamin could only say that these questions are better answered by Magneto himself but the two of them hesitated for a long time to approach him.

Although they wanted answers, they were also afraid of hearing them.

After some time, Wanda moved her hand and pinched the corner of Benjamin's sleeve.

"Can you…come with us?"

"Sure."

Benjamin smiled and extended his hand for her to hold.

Wanda smiled and held his hand without any hesitation.

Benjamin looked at Pietro and also held out his hand to him. He felt like he was helping two kids cross the street.

Pietro also felt awkward and shook his head.

"I-it's fine. I'll uhh, follow from behind."

"Let's go then."