The shadowy figure, its attention now fully fixated on Leo, unleashed a torrent of psychic energy directly at him. It felt like a physical blow to the mind, a crushing wave of fear, despair, and raw malevolence. Most of the X-Men staggered back, overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of the assault.
But Leo felt… different. While the psychic onslaught was undeniably unpleasant, it didn't penetrate the core of his being. The connection to the Luminiferous Pocket within him acted as a buffer, its inherent harmony a discordant note in the psychic scream. He felt the chaotic energy buffet against his mental defenses, but it couldn't take root.
Kaelen, though not telepathic, felt the oppressive atmosphere and instinctively reacted, his hands blazing with raw mana. He unleashed a torrent of energy at the shadowy figure, a chaotic blast of pure force. The figure recoiled slightly, his shadowy form flickering as the raw magical energy struck him.
"It's vulnerable to energy!" Kaelen yelled.
Emboldened, the X-Men rallied. Storm unleashed bolts of lightning, Jean Grey focused her telekinetic might, and Iceman froze the air around the shadowy figure. But the psychic entity moved with an unnatural speed, phasing through their attacks, its red eyes still locked on Leo.
"You resist," the disembodied voice echoed in Leo's mind, laced with a chilling curiosity. "What are you?"
Leo didn't answer with words. Instead, he focused his assertive force, channeling it not as a physical push, but as a direct counter to the psychic energy assaulting him. He visualized the chaotic mental waves breaking against a wall of pure, intrinsic reality.
A wave of unseen force emanated from Leo, washing over the shadowy figure. This time, the effect was more pronounced. The red glow in its eyes flickered violently, and its shadowy form seemed to waver, as if struggling to maintain its cohesion. A psychic shriek of pain echoed in their minds, far more intense than the oppressive dread it had previously exuded.
The figure stumbled back, its attention momentarily diverted. Professor Xavier, seizing the opportunity, focused his remaining strength, a telepathic counter-attack lashing out. Though weakened, his psychic blow struck the vulnerable entity, causing it to writhe in agony.
"It's weakening!" Xavier gasped. "Keep the pressure on!"
The X-Men renewed their assault, their attacks now finding purchase against the destabilized psychic entity. Kaelen unleashed another barrage of raw mana, Storm summoned a miniature hurricane of ice and lightning, and Jean Grey telekinetically slammed the creature against the walls of Cerebro.
Leo, still focusing his assertive force, felt a strange resonance with the shadowy figure, a flicker of something… familiar within its alien psychic signature. It was fleeting, almost imperceptible, but it hinted at a connection beyond simple antagonism.
With a final, agonizing psychic scream, the shadowy figure dissolved into nothingness, leaving behind a chilling silence and the lingering scent of psychic decay. Professor Xavier slumped back in his wheelchair, exhausted but conscious.
The immediate threat had passed, but the encounter had left a profound impact. The X-Men had witnessed the unique nature of Leo's powers, a force that could directly counter a powerful psychic entity. And Leo himself had sensed a disturbing familiarity within the alien mind, a ghost of the void they had fled. Their arrival in the Marvel Universe had not only drawn the attention of heroes but had also seemingly attracted the very darkness they had tried to escape. The fight for a stable refuge was far from over.
The silence in Cerebro was heavy, punctuated only by Professor Xavier's ragged breathing and the concerned murmurs of the X-Men. The remnants of the shadowy psychic entity lingered in the air, a faint chill that even Storm's control over the elements couldn't fully dispel.
Xavier, after a moment of recovery, turned his gaze towards Leo, his blue eyes filled with a mixture of awe and concern. "Leo," he said, his voice still weak, "what exactly did you do? That force… it was unlike anything I've ever encountered. It resonated with the psychic energy, but it… disrupted it at a fundamental level."
Leo struggled to articulate the nature of his assertive force. "It's… a part of my connection to reality. I can… assert a different state, a different flow. Against the psychic entity, I tried to… un-weave its structure."
Jean Grey, her telepathic senses still reeling from the encounter, frowned. "It felt… alien. Like a thought from beyond thought. And yet… when you countered it, there was a… resistance. As if it recognized something."
The fleeting sense of familiarity Leo had experienced resurfaced, a nagging feeling that the shadowy entity wasn't entirely unknown. He thought back to the dying god's warnings, the encroaching voids. Could this have been a scout, a tendril of that unravelling darkness reaching across realities?
"Professor," Leo said, his voice grave, "when we left our universe, we encountered… a dying being. He spoke of voids that consume realities. This… this entity felt like a part of that."
Xavier's expression darkened. "A threat to other realities… that is a grave concern." He looked at Leo again, his gaze intense. "Your abilities, Leo, they might be the key to understanding, perhaps even combating, this threat. But we need to understand them better."
The X-Men, initially wary of the newcomers, now regarded Leo with a newfound respect, tinged with a hint of apprehension. They had witnessed his power firsthand, a force that could stand against a psychic entity that had overwhelmed even Professor Xavier.
Tony Stark, who had arrived with the other X-Men after being alerted to the crisis, surveyed the damage to Cerebro with a frown. "Well, that was… dramatic. So, our interdimensional guests attract interdimensional psychic monsters. Just another Tuesday for the Avengers, I suppose." Despite his sardonic tone, there was a flicker of genuine concern in his eyes as he looked at Leo and Kaelen.
"We didn't attract it intentionally," Kaelen said defensively. "We're trying to get away from… all of this."
"And perhaps you brought it with you," Wolverine growled, his claws still extended.
"Logan," Xavier cautioned, his telepathic presence calming the tense atmosphere. "Now is not the time for accusations. We need to understand the nature of this threat and how these young men are connected to it."
The immediate crisis had been averted, but it had opened a Pandora's Box of new questions and potential dangers. Leo and Kaelen's arrival in the Marvel Universe was no longer just about finding refuge. They had inadvertently brought with them the shadow of a dying multiverse, and their unique abilities might be the only thing standing against its encroaching darkness. The fragile trust they had begun to build with the X-Men was now intertwined with the potential fate of this entire reality.