Persona: Hero x Villain System

Outside the underground chamber 

Previously.

The X-mansion jostled, toppling desks and furniture, and children screamed as news spread that the school was under attack.

Klaxon bells rang inside the mansion. Storm and Logan looked toward each other in worry as the children ran to their pre-planned group leader. 

“Big guy, you’re on a protection detail,” Logan shouted over the heads of the children. 

“You might-” The building shook again. “You need me. Is this an attack?” Pitor Nikolaievitch “Peter” Rasputin shouted back over the screaming children. 

Storm answered. “Follow orders, Colossus; we’re trusting you with the hardest tasks not because we think you’re weak but because you’re strong.” 

Colossus nodded and began arranging the children in an orderly fashion. Wolverine ran by him and rapt him on the shoulder, having to jump a little to reach the nearly seven-foot man’s shoulder. 

“Bub, beers on me next time.” 

Wolverine’s claws glinted under the lights as he squatted, and she attempted to override the control panels. 

“What’s going on, beaut?” Logan asked as his adrenaline spiked, his muscles rippling, and he was ready to explode as soon as the door opened. 

“Protocols. The door is-” She was shoved aside as Logon slashed through the console, wiring like butter. 

The door shuttered until opening, showing them a scene they’ll never forget. 

“Cyclops, what is this,”  Storm shouted. 

“What is he, some kinda spook?” Wolverine growled out. 

Storm’s eyes glowed, but Hank rushed over to professor “Storm, don’t interfere, Jean is not in control.” 

He made eye contact with her. Wolverine’s eyes squinted as he noticed the body language shifts. 

“The Red Hood,” Hank responded in Cyclops steed, as the younger leader was occupied with the burgeoning battle. 

The professor is down. Jean has transformed.”

“Is she okay?”

“I don’t know. She’s not answering my calls.” 

“Secondary Mutation?” Wolverine asked as he had experienced an event with another student. 

“It Could be an aspect of her psionic powers. Hank responded.

“Your scent is off, Bubba.” Wolverine acknowledged that he was aware of some mistruths 

She whipped her arms around, creating a funnel of air around them. She stared ahead, wanting to participate, but Hank stopped her. 

‘This is Omega power.’ She and Xavier had discussed this decision and learned he believed she was one, too. 

She stared down at the heavily sweating and pale Professor, Hank squatting over him, trying to help and figure out what had been done. 

Storm’s eyes crackled with electricity as she met the illuminated eyes of the Red Hood. Her wind funnel shielded them from the battle. She looked at the professor, her emotions wild and conflicted. 

‘Charles, what did you do?’ she couldn’t help but ask. The Red Hood was a menace, but he didn’t necessarily attack innocents. 

Skreee! 

Heat washed over them as Storm refocused her efforts. She corralled the currents, and somehow, unknowingly, she held back cosmic fire as her eyes continued to glow a deeper blue.

Present-Possessed Jean|Haunt-Cole

Roy Mustang’s gloves are crafted from a unique “pyrotex/ignition cloth.” These gloves can create a spark when Roy rubs his fingers together. 

Additionally, they are adorned with unique flame alchemy transmutation circles. These circles allow Roy to manipulate the oxygen concentration in the air, granting him the power to control flames.

Mustang has a unique way of fighting. He uses an alchemical technique that involves manipulating the oxygen in the air surrounding his enemy. By increasing the oxygen’s density to a specific point, he creates a highly volatile environment. This allows him to develop narrow oxygen pathways between himself and his target. 

He then uses the spark of his gloves to ignite the oxygen, which produces a massive flash fire that is precisely directed through the pathways he creates. 

This attack is potent and can result in severe damage or even death to his enemy. As a result, he can incinerate any number of enemies in the field while deftly avoiding any adjacent allies. 

The ‘snap’ sound at the start of these transmutations is caused by the instantaneous speed at which the highly concentrated gases and sparks react together and pop. 

Snap. 

Jean Grey, possessed by the awakening consciousness of the Phoenix Force, screamed in pain and. rage as Cole’s attack peppered her. 

Like a conductor overseeing his orchestra, he cold-rattled off attacks, his hands moving at superhuman speeds. 

Xavier had irked him by coming to his home and attacking him in the most cowardly way, but one thing he learned was that amps were real and he should use his. 

Jean continued to see her father figure being murdered by the man she had failed to stop. His body fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. 

She had stopped holding back and wanted to dominate the teen. She didn’t care about her morals. She wanted him to pay for her father’s death. 

Xavier was sometimes wrong, and his methods were always the best, but he was still a father who accepted her.

Jean was knocked back, her body denting the unknown metal of the vault. Her vision swamped, the shriek of the entity In her head called out again, and she pushed herself from the indent only for another superheated column of fire to exhilarate her. 

Jean’s psionic tendrils reached out again, but the entity, at least that’s what the maddened Phoenix had thought to her, wasn’t near; he was far away, and whatever he was doing, he was growing. 

Another snap, she moved, the fire engulfing half of her form as she screamed at the attack. He was toying with it. It was mad that all she could understand, the entity in her mind, had known the teen was only toying around, testing himself, seeing how he stacked up against cosmic beings. 

Jean erupted in rage, and fire flowed around her. Behind her, the image of a shrieking bird of prey appeared.

“The bird is coming out to play. This is getting scary,” the hollowed voice said in ridicule. Cole had known his fire, even with magic backing, wouldn’t hurt the Phoenix. In truth, it was the knockback that he was counting on and his need to display his potential to the X-men. 

He snapped his hands, and Jean moved, but nothing happened until a barrage of glazed eyes swept over her. Jean’s eyes grew large inside as Cold smirked, extended his left hand, and pressed his index fingers against each other. 

Snap. 

Jean screamed as the ice melted and the scolding hot vapor burned her flesh. Even though she healed, it was still painful. Her clothes had become tattered and burnt, exposing her private areas as he continued his relentless attack. 

In the comics, in this version, Jean only channeled the Phoenix force forcefully, meaning he had to tire her out. Unfortunately, he had limits, and he was running low and needed a breather; it was already phenomenal that he could go so long and battle to Omegas. 

He knew this wouldn’t kill her, but at worst, it would weaken the Phoenix Force host body, potentially ending its minimal possession of him and inking out his victory. 

Although Cole could create transmutation circles, he knew little about them; he had a grasp on them because he had been rewarded the gloves, unlike Logomancy, which was more widespread and reliant on his Occultism ability. 

Snap. 

The runes on the white gloves pulsated as Cole snapped his fingers again. The conflagration exploded, sending heat waves throughout the room. Storm had erected a shield of wind as the mutants stood behind her. Cole made eye contact with the soon-to-be Omega as the superheated gout of flames washed over Jean. 

Jean swiped her hands down, her hands made into claws. ‘Cosmic pyroknesis,’ thought Cole as he tried to manipulate the fire to no avail. He lamented inside his head before he blanketed the area with the most potent conflagration he could unleash, backed by chi and amped by the fire alchemist gloves. 

A bird of prey appeared and cried loudly, shaking the room and sending the mutants tumbling. The struggling mutants watched in awe at Jean’s power; they had all heard what The Red Hood had stated.

Understandably, the conflagration had been consumed; the raptor had grown more significantly as its bloated form shot at him like a homing missile. Cole hastily erected more shields, still floating backward.

Cole hovered above the ground, and hoarfrost accumulated around him. It was like polar storms engaging each other, and Cole was losing.

His shields shattered like glass, and the raptor exploded when it neared him. Cole quickly wrapped himself in the magical cloak of a god, but even that hadn’t helped; he was blasted back and took so much damage that he blacked out, but his healing and extraordinary new abilities had brought him back into consciousness. 

The vault that concealed the Cerebro shook violently. Whatever they used was containing the still-awakening Phoenix. 

The golden clock remained surrounded by superheated flame, and Cole had begun reforming inside the smoldering cloak. The fabric was so hot that he dispelled it and summoned it back to remove the heat. 

The hidden room underneath the X-mansion that hid the equipment and Cerebro’s had been destroyed. Cole had to reform since half of his form was disintegrated, and even the cloak couldn’t contend with the power of cosmic fire. 

Cole struggled to maintain his connection, feeling it dwindle further with each passing moment. 

He knew he was not in the astral plane, where his ectotoplasmic abilities were nigh-limitless; he could have put up a much better fight there. 

However, he also knew that even if he dared to take on the phoenix force, he would not stand a chance against it. 

Cole was aware that the system could test him, and he wondered if it would protect him if it had a reason to. 

Despite his biases, he couldn’t help but believe the system would ultimately emerge victorious. 

Fortunately, this wasn’t the fully realized Phoenix force but a possessed Jean using the considerable powers of the Phoenix. 

Cole had assumed a smaller Haunt to conserve his power and to etch out more rewards from the system. Cole dipped into the system and purchased more techniques from the Naruto comics. 

If he had time to look, he would have noticed that fire, water, and lightning jutsus costed less than Earth’s. Could it be because of his mutation and chi, or was he more inclined to those natural elements? 

Cole’s decision to test his new abilities against an Immortal who had the power to eradicate all life was nothing short of madness. However, he believed that if he wanted to gain the respect of the X-men, he had to demonstrate that he was as powerful as Magneto. 

Cole hastily performed the hand seals. He hadn’t needed to mold chakra his chi would suffice. Another blast of cosmic fire speared toward him, but a loud clap emanated before the raptor could even form. 

Summoning: Rahsōmon Hadn’t he been aware, he would have expected the gate to be humongous, but it was proportionate to the room, almost touching the vaulted ceiling; they were deep underground. 

BOOM

The gate shuddered, tittered, and cracked but stood. Cole stumbled back and exhaled a breath he didn’t have in this form. He shuddered; he was losing the connection, and his stamina had nearly run dry. His chi had been drained, too; he had underestimated the jutsus. Yet, another training section was needed.

BOOM! 

He exhaled, and chill and frost spread around him as he lowered the temperature by a large margin; hoarfrost crawled up the gate, reinforcing it. It was a letdown that he couldn’t use his chi now. 

Jean had launched herself toward him, her hand drawn back, cosmic fire wrapping around her arm; she extended her hand, fist balled, and connected with the gate. The gate hadn’t fared well, and the raptor emerged again. The psionic cry of the bird’s prey emerged again before it spread its wings out, Jean at the center, her appearance haggard. He sighed to himself; at least she was spent, too. 

The cosmic fire neared him, but Cole had a plan. His cloak emerged before him, spreading out, blocking him from view, and trapping the celestial fire. 

The cloak of fate was divinely fireproof to the degree that it could survive even attacks from gods. 

What was the Phoneix if not a god, a power god, but a god nonetheless? The heat was intense even for his power, and his manifested form began disintegrating.

Cole’s hands made hand gestures, and his gloves and hands formed into the devil signs. 

“By the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak!” Like he had seen crimson ribbons shot from his hands throughout his past life, entangled in the cloak and the spark of the phoenix force. 

Cole unsummoned the cloak, taking a piece of the Phoenix force with him. To his excitement, another pulse emerged behind his eyes as he internally groaned at the notifications he had to clear to get the annoyance to go away. 

Jean had been spent, her fiery eyes still locked onto him. Cole could feel the presence of the Phoenix scratching around his mind, but he could also feel its confusion. He smirked as he winked out. 

He had marked the location and could return anytime unless the X-men had a sorcerer, magic user, or exorcist. 

“I am not strong enough,” he said as he vanished, leaving the quivering, flickering room to the madness of the awakening Phoenix and the sprinting X-men ready to back off their friends.