Even though Rogue's consciousness had begun to awaken, she still couldn't regain control of her body from Onslaught, whose mind powers gave him complete dominance.
It didn't take long before the mutant adjusted his condition and stood back up again, muttering to himself, "Just as I thought. Your strength is too overwhelming."
Countless shards of metal floated around him, reforging his damaged armor piece by piece. At the same time, he gave up on the idea of clashing head-on with Aquaman.
"But if you think you can beat me alone, you're dreaming!"
As he spoke, the surrounding metal, and even the ground beneath his feet, began to tremble.
Floating in midair, Aquaman couldn't feel the vibrations directly. But just by looking, he could tell Onslaught was now manipulating the metallic elements within the earth itself. At any moment, the ground around them could break apart.
"I'm not the same Magneto you fought in Gotham!"
Laughing wildly, Onslaught waved his hand. A storm of metal sand burst from beneath the earth, forming a raging wave of golden dust rushing toward Aquaman.
But even an attack like this had little effect on the Atlantean King. Gripping the Trident of Poseidon tightly, he struck downward. A bolt of lightning followed the motion from the sky, and the metal sand controlled by the mutant was superheated and turned into glass. The brittle shards shattered easily under his follow-up strike.
It was only then that Aquaman realized what Onslaught's real plan was.
Behind the dramatic attack, the mutant was rushing straight toward Jean.
While her potential came from the Phoenix Force within her, and Onslaught couldn't absorb that power, Jean herself still possessed strong telekinesis and telepathy. Even without the Phoenix, she was dangerous.
Aquaman couldn't let Onslaught keep growing stronger. If he did, the situation might spiral out of control.
In the next moment, he went full speed.
And since he didn't have the Speed Force to break the laws of physics, just the sonic boom created by his acceleration flattened the forest within a hundred-meter radius.
A gentle breeze? Not even close. Aquaman tore through the air like a typhoon. In an instant, he appeared in front of Jean. The pressure from his arrival was so intense it shattered the protective barrier she had just formed after waking up, sending her flying.
But in doing so, he had protected her.
Once again, the Trident of Poseidon clashed with Onslaught's armored body. And just like before, the result was clear.
Even though Onslaught immediately tried to use magnetic fields to lessen the blow, it was useless. Only a fading afterimage remained at the spot, while his real body was sent backward thousands of meters.
Not only did his armor shatter, but even his newly formed body was beginning to break apart under the sheer force.
Aquaman's attack had shown no mercy. He didn't care whether Rogue survived or not. That strike was aimed to kill.
"Argh!"
Onslaught flew through the air, his body soaring across the entire Westchester region in the blink of an eye. But soon, as the force from Aquaman's attack began to wear off, he managed to regain some control using his magnetic powers.
Still, he didn't stop. Instead, he used the remaining momentum to propel himself even farther.
He needed time. He needed an opening.
Now he understood. Unless he went all out and risked tearing the planet apart with his magnetic power, there was no way he could win in a direct clash against Aquaman.
However, Onslaught wasn't out of options yet. Jean might've been the best source of power, but she wasn't the only one.
He knew that among the group of mutants led by Emma, the ones who had recently broken free of his control, there were others with incredible abilities.
Back at the ruins of the academy, Aquaman also understood what Onslaught was planning.
"This is bad. If he escapes..."
As long as the battle stayed here, all Aquaman needed to do was protect Jean. But once the fight spread, every mutant in the world would become a potential energy source for Onslaught.
Realizing this, Aquaman immediately shot off in the direction the mutant had gone. But by now, using the momentum from the Atlantean King's own earlier attack, Onslaught had already reached Hell's Kitchen in New York.
In this world, Hell's Kitchen was no longer the crime-ridden mess seen in other Marvel stories.
The reason was simple: Fisk had long since fallen under the control of LexCorp.
Everything here was managed under Luthor's centralized rule. He had turned Hell's Kitchen into a hub of organized crime—chaotic but still tightly regulated.
Crime still existed, but it was no longer out in the open. This illusion of order helped make New York the safest city in all of America.
But Onslaught's arrival shattered that fragile peace.
Landing with force, he didn't hesitate for a moment. He grabbed a nearby pedestrian, and Rogue's power activated immediately, draining the man's life force in seconds. The innocent passerby collapsed, shriveled like a dried corpse.
Onslaught, on the other hand, recovered a large portion of his injuries.
Even without absorbing a mutant with healing powers, Rogue's ability to drain life itself allowed him to restore his body just by feeding on ordinary humans.
By the time Aquaman arrived above Hell's Kitchen, several innocent civilians already lay lifeless at Onslaught's feet. The wounds that had once covered his body were now completely gone.
"Hahaha. Blasting me away was the worst mistake you could've made."
Onslaught laughed loudly, but just then, a green beam of light shot in from behind, nearly piercing through him.
Though it didn't kill him, the beam managed to break through his armor and wounded his body.
"Oh really? I'd say you've just walked into the most dangerous place."
Behind him, Luthor, just an ordinary man in terms of biology, wasn't fast enough to react like Aquaman. But wearing his advanced combat suit, he still arrived in time.
In the distance, Kingpin had also shown up, dragging his men into action. They quickly cleared the area, making sure the mutant had no more easy victims to drain.
"Is that so?" Onslaught smiled faintly. "Seems like you don't understand me as well as you think. For instance… those mutants who betrayed me. And that wretched Emma Frost. Do you even know where they went?"
Luthor paused, that was indeed something they hadn't fully been able to control.
After Emma led the neutral faction of mutants away from Charles' leadership, LexCorp had attempted to monitor their movements.
But in the end, they failed.
The group had no fixed base. Emma herself could block Reid's psychic senses, and several other mutants among them had powers that let them avoid conventional surveillance.
LexCorp lost track of them in less than two weeks. In the end, they had no choice but to abandon the operation altogether.
That was critical intel they didn't have. And from the way Onslaught spoke, there was a good chance those mutants were hiding somewhere right here in New York.
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