Ororo flew towards the center of this disaster and only when she was close did she understand the magnitude of destruction that brought about what the cities were currently facing.
She was thankful for the fact that the battle that she could now hear was isolated because if it had been anywhere else in the populated city of New York, millions would have been the death toll before the end of the hour.
What graced her sight was something straight out of the Bible's telling of Armageddon. Fire, brimstone, disasters, hails, lightning. It was so apocalyptic that it brought phantom pain to her which confused her greatly. She knew she had always had some sort of connection to nature given her abilities but this was different.
She focused on her mission and pushed herself further into the quagmire only to find her flight speed slowed down due to the increased gravity. She scowled and then her body glowed in power, offsetting the increased gravitational pull and she flew towards her target.
She felt as if she was in another domain cut off from the earth as she entered a kilometer away from where the fight was going on.
She could instinctively feel something was off about this place. It felt like a mishmash of everything she had seen before. It felt chaotic.
She could finally see the three men fighting at the distance, moving at impressive speeds that left afterimages.
She saw Magneto covered by some sort of force field, controlling not just metals but rocks around him. Was this what the Professor meant by him controlling not just metals but the very polarity around it?
The other person was Dr. Von Doom who had some sort of letters etched into his armor that Ororo could only classify as magic. She felt strings of power from the symbols on his armor and she could tell which was dangerous by instinct.
The last was… Draul? She could only tell it was him due to that encompassing anger she always felt every time she watched him fight but instead of it being bottled up, it was rolling off in waves.
The upper half of his face was covered in red flames and his hulking physique which was way bigger than he ever was painted him to be the perfect image of a monster any child could imagine. A devil, if he had horns.
She felt apprehension when she looked at his form and she wouldn't be ashamed to say she even felt afraid and uncertain as she saw how he fought.
There was no longer any finesse he used to have the few times she'd seen him battle. No strategy employed or wise manipulations. All he did was dole out powerful attacks without making any effort to dodge the ones aimed at him.
She only remembered the reason she was here when Magneto held him down and Doom used some sort of energy and struck at his neck nut even that didn't kill him. The wound caught on red flames and healed in seconds.
She made the split decision at the moment he effortlessly broke free of the restraints and attacked Doom with lightning. She had to take some of the focus off of him if they ever had the chance to end it once and for all.
"How dare you obstruct Doom from his battle woman? Die!!" Doom raged and charged his spells while shooting blasts at her.
"Why are you doing this? Thousands are dead! Do you feel no remorse? Is your hate that great that you don't care about human life?" She replied back with her own questions. She wanted to understand how they could be this indifferent to the destruction they've caused.
"Doom doesn't care for the ants his boots steps on!" the megalomaniac in armor screamed out as he sent a wave of magic at Ororo who called forth a tornado and sent it towards Doom.
She would keep him at bay until Draul was done with Magneto or when she was through with him. Either way, they all had their work cut out for them.
She didn't plan on talking anymore as it was clear that neither of the men attacking Draul cared. She, with lightning coating her hands, struck at Doom who with a magic spell, created something like a lightning rod that redirected the lightning as it came near him to another location afar.
Ororo didn't let up as she created a huge maelstrom that took Doom by surprise and drew him in. Taking this chance, she engaged him in close combat with lightning cladded fist. Let it never be said that Ororo Munroe wasn't a master fighter in weapons and close combat.
They fought each other, exchanging different strikes but Doom was no slouch either. He received every attack she put forth and donated a few of his own for free. Sometimes he had no choice but to fall back as Ororo's attack came carrying with it the force of gales and storms.
The two continued fighting while moving away from the slam of Magneto and Draul.
Magneto was getting weaker but the same could not be said for Draul. The moment Doom was gone, Magneto felt as if he was figuratively carrying the weight of the world. It was as if Draul fell into a pace that he couldn't keep up with. He knew that the reason he hadn't yet lost a limb was because of the force field protecting him.
He could feel himself declining at a steady rate. He was using so much power that it was beginning to take a heavy toll on him. Some of his attacks had created far more damage than intended. He felt like he was a newly awakened mutant, struggling to control his powers like he had done when he was a kid.
It would take a while to get used to the new heights and sensations his powers brought him… but who was he? The name Magneto was a symbol of power and authority.
He was pushed to the ground by an overwhelming force that he still couldn't identify whether it was electromagnetism or telekinesis.
He repelled himself off the ground to avoid the stomp that destroyed his former location but before he could do anything else, a shadow loomed over him in the blink of an eye and he was sent flying as an axe made of lighting struck his shield with so much force that he coughed out blood.
He was given no reprieve as Draul was on him the next instant with a low uppercut that sent his cruising through the air at humanly impossible speeds only to be double-knuckled down back to earth.
This time though, he wasn't fast enough to get up as he could tell that some his bones were pulverized by that blow.
Blood poured out of his orifices in large amount but even that wasn't enough to grant him pity, not that he would ever accept it, as a huge hand covered his entire head and grabbed him up.
With such close distance, Magneto tried once more to influence Draul's blood in any way as he was sure that even if the metal was superheated by the extreme heat of Draul's body, there would still be massive amounts of metal inside but, as if to prove his despair, he felt the same interference from Draul.
His actions seemed to anger the quiet Draul as millions of volts wrecked his body only for Draul's searing red fist to punch through his protection, destroying this helmet and taking a part of his face.
He was beaten.
He was humiliated.
He felt chagrined.
There was no way someone like him would go out, beaten like a fool. His path was supreme and like a king he shall go down, fighting to the bitter end. He refused to let his enemy take leisure with his death.
"C-curse y-you!" He cursed at the demon in front of him but its face didn't change as if all was within expectations.
Magneto was angered.
He had promised himself that he would make Draul scream, and he hadn't fulfilled that promise yet.
With his indomitable will, he channeled every iota of his abilities and called it forth to himself.
He could feel the wavelength of everything around him. The static of Ororo Munroe, the screeching of Doom… and then the dead silence of Draul. His was so orderly that he would have missed it had it not been that his entire focus was on the man.
"No matter what you are, I have given the promise of your death. I order you to accept this seasonal gift." He croaked out of his damaged throat.
He focused his abilities on Draul and forced his will upon everything his power could touch, his powers trembled as did the space around Draul. The gravity was increased over a hundred times that it collided against its own atoms. The force was so unbearable that Draul was forced to all fours as he kept struggling against gravity.
The red cracks around his body thrummed to life as they widened and flared as red flames spew out in opposition. The both of them clashed their forces together and lightning and thunder roared in the sky while the earth bled red.
The ground rose and fell like the apocalyptic visions of a prophet but neither relented.
This was their last stand.
Whoever won meant the others death.
A distance away, Doom and Storm had stopped their battle as they felt the increasing danger of the chaotic space around the other two fighters.
Even in the city, people felt the increased pull of gravity but it wasn't as intense as what Draul and Magneto were facing.
Magneto kept trying to squash Draul with the collision of the space particles but he didn't know if it was Draul's body or the force he was using that was preventing him from victory.
He watched the huge Draul got on one foot and then another.
It was at that point that he knew his influence was failing. How unfortunate. With his new prowess, he could tell that he would be one of the strongest beings on the planet and at that point the revolution would come to fruition in less than a year.
At this point he couldn't help but think if he had been too hasty. He looked at Draul who was back on his two feet with a growing red orb of destruction in his hand.
"Even if I die… the revolution will still come to pass." He said.
Draul looked at the man while feeling like he was carrying an asteroid on his back. There was no need for second thoughts at this point, not that he could think of any.
He took a heavy step towards Magneto even as the pressure weighed him down. His bones were constantly getting crushed under the force with every exertion he made.
He stood in front of Magneto and he could see the loss of hope in the older man's eyes and also the iron conviction he held.
He didn't care about that as he grabbed the man by the neck but even then the man still held his resolution steadfast.
He felt the effect of Magneto's force subsiding as he choked the master of magnetism.
He put force into his legs and blasted upwards with a sonic boom with Magneto held by the scruff of the neck. Reaching a high enough magnitude he dropped the man and let him fall down before pointing the accumulated destructive energies he had gathered.
There was silence as the entire city saw the sky dye in red followed by the deafening sound of thunder crossing the skies.
The entire sky was dyed red for minutes that it could be seen as far as the neighboring states.
The seas and the earth stopped raging but the damage had already been done with deaths tolling in hundreds of thousands. The city of New York would be scarred for the next few years by this event but it would later be said by historians as what heralded the change of an Era.
Draul landed on the ground with a boom and his senses registered the static of lightning and immediately he flashed to where the person was only to see an apprehensive Ororo.
Ororo looked at the towering figure in front of her and she could still feel the waves of rage rolling off him. She prepared herself to fight to lead him away, farther, from civilization if he was still hostile.
Doom had teleported when she wasn't looking because of the disturbance he and Magneto had caused which left her here, waiting to know if the battle had really ended.
The tension she was feeling started increasing with every step that he took forward. She was not that delusional to think she could defeat him alone when she had seen the type of destruction their battle had caused the country.
She could hold him off for a while but eventually she would lose.
"Draul lis-"
"Don't bother." A deep voice came from Draul as he plopped his gigantic body on the floor. "So much for Christmas."
It was weird seeing such a figure talk in such a way but Ororo had seen some things in her short life not to be surprised by it.
She was still shocked on how to reply when she heard the sound of people coming near.
She could tell the authorities were on their way, probably had satellites down at this location now that the storm was gone.
"Hey Ororo." He called out to her. "Do me a favor and don't let anybody near me. I'm still feeling the need to rip someone's head off."
She hesitated for a moment before she finally asked what she wanted to from the beginning.
"Are you alright?"
He just chuckled and replied. "Never felt so cheated in my life. I'm pretty pissed off but I think that's just normal given the circumstances. Mildly irritated, which I think is nothing new… Oh right! I need a drink….? Fuck! The bar is gone."
By then some familiar people came into view with a black man with an eyepatch in the lead.
She walked forward to meet them like Draul had asked. She could tell he wasn't trying to be humorous when he said about killing people. She could still feel the killing intent rolling off from him even now.
…
[December 25th, 2003, 00:03 AM. The worst tragedy ever to hit the United States two years after the September 11th bombings, nicknamed the Red Eve or Red Christmas by news outlets, caused the deaths of 874,049 people in the city of New York alone and over 2 million across the country and affected states.
The series of natural disasters took place for over an hour with the red sky lasting minutes which crossed over to the hours of Christmas.
The fates and relationship between humans and mutants were forever changed with this event as its fulcrum.]
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