“Sounds like you’re in a terrible mood.
Did you lose a lot of men in Alaska?” Facing Magneto, even in a first conversation taking place through this medium, Duval remained perfectly composed, completely free of unnecessary emotions like nervousness or worry.
Just hearing Magneto’s raspy voice—unconcealed and dripping with fury and frustration—gave Duval a clear picture.
Unlike major organizations, he couldn’t monitor the battle in real time via satellites, so he didn’t know the exact details of the fight.
However, considering Magneto had caught the subtle signal Duval put out and responded so quickly…
“As far as I know, while the Deviants are strong, they shouldn’t be enough to crush your Brotherhood on their own,” Duval said.
“Several Eternals joined the battle as well, each possessing powerful and practical abilities.
Under any other circumstances, I could have slaughtered every last one of them myself!
But they ran too fast!” Magneto’s voice grew slightly heavier.
For a man of Magneto’s stature and shrewdness to display such obvious emotion, the Brotherhood’s losses were clearly far greater than Duval had initially estimated.
Or perhaps it was also because Magneto had failed to achieve his goal, which damaged his authority?
“Furthermore, I refuse to acknowledge those crawling beasts on the ice as Deviants.
Kid, no matter how much you know or where you got your intel, you had better rephrase your words!” It was only at this moment that Magneto explicitly revealed the discovery he found most unbearable.
Losing men made Magneto furious at most, but what he felt now went far beyond mere anger.
“Suffering a simultaneous attack from both the Eternals and the Deviants would cause casualties for any organization on this planet.
There’s no need to dwell on that.” To make the conversation easier, Duval grabbed Mystique’s seemingly slender yet tightly toned arm and forcibly pulled her in front of him.
Mystique remained expressionless.
Having weathered countless dangerous and complex situations, her willpower had long been forged to steel.
Being humiliated by Duval in various ways was just a minor inconvenience; she had already steeled herself for worst-case scenarios.
In contrast, Elektra, who had only recently started out, couldn’t match her composure.
“However, if you’re trying to use this to deny that those animalistic Deviants have any connection to mutants, you really don’t need to bother,” Duval said.
“So you’re saying these inferior creatures are the ancestors of mutants?” “No, of course not.
It’s true that Deviants and mutants are closely linked, but not the ones that attacked you,” Duval said.
Magneto fell silent for a moment.
“There’s more than one kind of Deviant?” “There are many kinds.
On Earth alone, there used to be two: one is the inferior species you just encountered, and the other went extinct twenty thousand years ago due to an irresistible force.” Duval counted on his fingers.
“Beyond Earth, in the vast universe, there are even more types of Deviants.
Some are extinct, while others are thriving, having established powerful civilizations far surpassing Earth’s.” “That’s a lot of information.
I’m forced to suspect you’ve gone mad,” Magneto said.
“In this world, only lunatics can lead the way.
You don’t honestly think those who follow the rules and play it safe become great reformers, do you?” Duval opened his hand, then slowly closed it into a fist.
“Thank you for the compliment.” For a moment, Magneto wasn’t quite sure what to make of him.
Was it a lie?
Or one of those lies that contained ninety percent truth?
“What about the Eternals?” Raven suddenly asked.
“Likewise, however many types of Deviants exist, there are just as many types of Eternals.
It’s an ironclad law.
The Creator of this universe clearly likes things in pairs,” Duval said.
“Tell me, what exactly happened twenty thousand years ago?
You had better not lie.
Tell me everything you know—I have my own ways to verify the truth of your words…” Magneto’s voice came through the communication device.
“Interesting.
If I’m not mistaken, you’re already planning how to crush my forces and capture me for interrogation, aren’t you?
Perhaps you’re even thinking about who among your ranks has telepathic abilities so they can extract the knowledge directly from my brain?” Duval let out a low chuckle.
In fact, Magneto was indeed planning to do just that.
With so much at stake, how could he take everything Duval said at face value?
After all, Duval wasn’t like Professor X, a long-established figure whose character had stood the test of time.
Even SHIELD couldn’t protect Duval—that was Magneto’s conviction.
“If I catch wind of any bad intentions on your end, you’ll get nothing.
And don’t underestimate my power.
I have plenty of trump cards to play at critical moments.
Otherwise, you’ll suffer a massive loss—just like when the Deviants and Eternals suddenly appeared and ambushed you,” Duval said slowly.
“I captured a few Deviants.
I can hand them over to parasitize the animals you’re raising.” “Bingo!
I love a good negotiation.
That solves our problem, doesn’t it?
Ten Deviants per question.
A fair price,” Duval clapped his hands.
Magneto didn’t care to haggle over numbers with a nobody like Duval.
Given his personality, if he hadn’t been genuinely uncertain about Duval’s true depth, he would have moved against him already.
Why use words when force could solve the problem?
However, until he verified Duval’s true origin and intelligence sources, he could afford a brief moment of patience.
“By the way, among the Deviants you captured, was there a leader?” Duval had been eyeing that particularly cunning and powerful leader-level Deviant for a while.
“Ten Deviants.” “Five, or forget it.” “If you mean the largest and strongest one, no.
If not for it, the Brotherhood wouldn’t have suffered such heavy losses.
That beast even dragged Juggernaut away in the end…” “Sorry, did you say Juggernaut?
The Deviant leader dragged Juggernaut away?” Duval had been nonchalant until he heard this news, which made him blurt out in surprise.
“Is your Juggernaut a proper mutant?” Raven spoke up unexpectedly, mocking, “You put on such a grand show for so long, only to lower the quality of your performance where you least should have.
Do you have some special sentiment for a big oaf like Juggernaut?” Miles away, Magneto also showed a puzzled look.
Juggernaut was one of the core members of the Brotherhood and Professor X’s brother.
His ability granted him an indestructible body and immense combat power; he was just a bit stupid.
Was a mere Juggernaut really worth Duval being this shocked?
Having never interacted closely with Duval, Magneto remained silent, waiting for Raven’s assessment.
Before Raven could say anything more, Duval spoke first.
“Guys, believe it or not, I think…
if our luck is bad enough and your Brotherhood’s Juggernaut really is what I think he is…
we’re in big trouble.” Because Juggernaut possessed a reserve of energy far beyond normal imagination—one that remained dormant under most circumstances—and it was extraordinarily vast.
And the source of that power was a multiverse-level entity…