Though unfamiliar with the Sentinel robots' specific capabilities, Richard wasn't particularly surprised by their appearance.
After assimilating his original body's memories, he knew the Department of Mutant Affairs had successfully developed the Sentinel program. He also understood these machines possessed formidable combat potential.
According to those memories, the Department had deployed Sentinel units for numerous operations. Among these capture-or-kill missions, only one had failed—the attempt to apprehend Magneto.
Every other assignment had been completed with remarkable efficiency.
Though the exact details of Magneto's victory remained classified, rumors suggested he had single-handedly engaged five Sentinel units simultaneously, destroying all five while emerging completely unscathed.
After assessing the newly arrived Sentinels, Richard opted against using his X-gene powers. Instead, he raised his right hand and invoked Sephiroth's technique: "Thundaga."
As his arm lifted, low-frequency thunder resonated across the night sky.
Simultaneously, argent lightning serpentined through the darkness, writhing like a living entity.
This atmospheric anomaly immediately captured the attention of Benjamin and the remaining Department personnel.
A lightning manipulation ability?
Witnessing this display, Benjamin instantly recalled the investigative report he'd reviewed that afternoon.
According to the Intelligence Division's analysis, three members of Aiden's team had perished from devastating lightning strikes.
Though the report hadn't detailed the precise mechanism of death, Richard's responsibility seemed obvious. Neither Sabretooth nor Clarice possessed electrokinesis capabilities.
Compared to ordinary civilians, Department agents demonstrated superior physical conditioning.
Nevertheless, most mutant agents remained fundamentally human in their biological vulnerabilities.
Forget high-voltage lightning—even a standard 9mm round could terminate their existence.
As the silver-white lightning continued its sinuous path across the night sky, Richard executed a subtle hand gesture.
Following this motion, the atmospheric electricity immediately converged upon the Sentinel units positioned in the plaza.
KRRRRAKOOOM!
Amid deafening thunder, silver-white lightning enveloped the nearest Sentinel, terrifying electrical current propagating throughout its mechanical frame.
An ordinary machine struck by such lightning would be rendered instantly non-functional, its internal circuitry and processors destroyed by catastrophic voltage overload.
Clearly, however, the Sentinels represented extraordinary engineering.
If lightning could easily neutralize Sentinels, they could hardly have earned their reputation as "mutantkind's natural predators."
The silver-white discharge—powerful enough to reduce a human to carbonized remains—failed to completely destroy the Sentinel. Instead, it penetrated the impact area's outer armor, partially exposing its internal structure.
Though unsuccessful in neutralizing all three units, Richard remained unsurprised.
The Sentinel program represented the Department's proudest technological achievement.
Under Richard, Benjamin, and the staff's collective observation, the scale-like armor plating on the Sentinel began exhibiting strange deformation.
Shortly thereafter, all electrical discharge crawling across their frames disappeared, as if absorbed into their systems.
Just as Benjamin and his personnel anticipated the Sentinels launching a retaliatory strike using Richard's own lightning against him, the mechanized hunters unexpectedly froze in position, motionless.
What's happening?
Benjamin stared at the immobilized Sentinels with bewilderment.
Had their chest cavities and optical sensors not continued emitting yellow illumination, he might have assumed all three units had completely malfunctioned.
Benjamin couldn't comprehend the Sentinels' behavior, nor could the remote monitoring personnel on the third underground level.
Though Sentinels operated autonomously without direct human control, recent upgrades enabled real-time data collection and transmission.
Additionally, monitoring staff could access Sentinel status metrics continuously or view field conditions through the units' sensory apparatus.
At that moment, incomprehensible characters unlike anything previously encountered appeared across the monitoring center's main display.
What is this?
System failure?
Examining the corrupted data stream, the monitoring personnel exhibited universal confusion.
The telemetry indicated the Sentinels had sustained only superficial damage—primarily armor breaches.
Yet the units in the plaza remained completely immobile, as if their power reserves had depleted. Neither Benjamin nor the monitoring staff realized Richard's lightning attack derived not from X-gene mutation, but from Sephiroth templete.
Unlike Benjamin and his colleagues who remained baffled, Richard quickly deduced the underlying cause after observing the paralyzed Sentinels.
System crash!
The Sentinels' operating systems have collapsed!
Lacking true consciousness, the Sentinels executed only pre-programmed protocols.
After sustaining the lightning strike, they had followed their core directive—attempting to assimilate Richard's "mutant ability" to counter him effectively.
Had Richard employed an actual X-gene power, the Sentinels would have successfully replicated it.
Moreover, they could have deployed previously copied mutant abilities from their database.
Anticipating their adaptive capabilities, however, Richard had deliberately avoided using X-gene powers, instead implementing Sephiroth's template skills.
Though both represented supernatural phenomena, the magic-based abilities Richard employed operated fundamentally differently from mutant capabilities.
Their only commonality lay in their shared disregard for conventional physics.
Trying to replicate Richard's magic-based skills through mutant power-copying protocols was like using a medieval broadsword to execute a modern political rival—dramatic, outdated, and completely missing the point.
Not only were these Sentinel units incapable of such replication, even the Ancient One or Doctor Strange couldn't have duplicated Richard's template skills.
These abilities originated from another reality entirely.
Even "mana" itself represented a system-created construct designed to help Richard conceptualize the energy requirements for skill activation.
Simply put, Richard's magical capabilities and those possessed by other Marvel Universe practitioners constituted entirely separate phenomena.
Richard had initially intended Thundaga as a probing attack to assess Sentinel defensive capabilities.
The resultant system crash had been an unexpected but fortuitous development.
Recognizing this unprecedented opportunity, he acted decisively.
Shift Slash!
Without hesitation, he teleported directly before one of the statuesque Sentinels.
Octaslash!
Eight lightning-swift strikes manifested in sequence, Masamune's razor edge repeatedly penetrating the Sentinel's chassis.
While Benjamin and the others could only watch, the targeted Sentinel disintegrated into scattered fragments, completely destroyed before any responsive measures could activate.
The Sentinels' most formidable feature lay in their ability to analyze and duplicate mutant abilities, then employ those same powers against their targets.
Without this adaptive capability, their combat effectiveness diminished dramatically.
After witnessing Richard instantly neutralize one Sentinel, Benjamin sprinted toward him without hesitation.
Despite accelerating to maximum velocity, Benjamin failed to prevent Richard from engaging the second unit.
Octaslash!
Richard deployed the technique again, reducing the second Sentinel to scrap.
As he prepared to eliminate the third and final unit, Benjamin finally reached him, charging like an enraged bull.
Blinkstep!
Before Benjamin could make contact, Richard teleported away.
Though failing to strike Richard directly, Benjamin had successfully prevented the immediate destruction of the third Sentinel.
Or more accurately—temporarily delayed its destruction.
Richard materialized twenty meters distant, dismissing Benjamin entirely while focusing on the remaining Sentinel.
Though the unit remained paralyzed from its system crash and posed no immediate threat, Richard wouldn't grant it the opportunity for future repair and redeployment.
Locking his gaze on the final Sentinel, Richard executed a casual swing with Masamune.
Judgement Cut End!
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