Shiva slowly raised her hand.
Behind her, several colossal ice spears instantly formed—each nearly a hundred meters long.
With a gentle motion of her fingers, the spears shot forward toward Ronan's warship.
Boom—!
One of the spears slammed into the vessel.
The massive warship was instantly pierced open, leaving a gaping hole in its hull. At the same time, frost spread outward at terrifying speed. Within seconds, nearly one-third of the ship was completely frozen.
Then the remaining four spears struck.
The entire warship was instantly sealed in ice—from the interior all the way to the outer hull.
If Ronan had previously been a frozen statue, now he had become something else entirely.
He was no longer merely frozen.
He had become part of the ice itself.
---
A low mechanical hum faded.
Ronan's warship lost all power and began slowly descending toward the surface of Xandar.
"Not good! The ship's going to crash!" Quill shouted as he activated the emergency broadcast.
People everywhere began scrambling to escape.
The warship was enormous. Whether it crashed into the ocean or onto land, the devastation would be catastrophic.
High above them, Shiva remained calm and regal, like a queen watching over the battlefield.
She opened her hand again.
Countless ice crystals gathered around her.
A compact blizzard formed, roaring forward with the force of nature itself.
The storm slammed into Ronan's warship.
The falling vessel shuddered—
And suddenly stopped in midair.
It hovered motionless high above the planet.
Then—
The entire ship shattered.
In an instant, it broke apart into countless fragments of ice crystals that drifted downward like frozen snow.
A soft wind swept across the sky.
The crystalline fragments scattered across the entire planet.
The enormous warship of Ronan the Accuser had vanished—completely reduced to glittering frost.
---
Amid the drifting ice, however, a single violet glow remained.
The Power Stone.
Even Shiva's overwhelming power could not destroy it.
The Stone endured.
Ice crystals gathered around it, forming a small sphere of frost that sealed it safely inside.
The frozen orb slowly floated upward toward Shiva.
She extended her hand.
The Power Stone hovered above her palm.
Compared to her immense divine form, the Stone looked almost insignificant—like a tiny shard of violet crystal.
Only its glowing purple light betrayed its true nature.
---
Everyone below stared upward in stunned silence.
Even the Supreme Leader of Xandar was speechless.
No one could comprehend what they had just witnessed.
Ronan's massive warship had been erased in the blink of an eye.
Not destroyed.
Erased.
There wasn't even debris left behind.
This level of power was far beyond anything the Nova Corps had ever estimated.
Xandar's forces had only hoped to resist Ronan temporarily.
But the divine figure in the sky had eliminated him effortlessly.
---
Shiva lowered her gaze toward the planet.
Then she slowly descended.
Though not as massive as the Phoenix or Ram forms Karl had used before, she still towered dozens of meters tall—an awe-inspiring presence.
She stopped just above the ground.
Then her form began to fade.
The magnificent figure dissolved gradually—
Until only a red cloak remained fluttering in the wind.
As she reached the ground, Shiva had completely vanished.
Yet the countless drifting ice crystals proved that what everyone had witnessed was no illusion.
Karl stepped out from the swirling frost.
His red cloak billowed behind him.
And the crowd collectively lost their minds.
No one had expected the divine goddess they had just seen—radiant like a heavenly queen—to transform into a human man from Earth.
For many observers, especially the men who had just developed a worshipful admiration for the beautiful goddess, their dreams shattered as completely as Ronan's warship.
Across Xandar, cameras had captured the entire transformation.
Nearly everyone on the planet saw Shiva become Karl.
But the most shocked were Quill and his companions.
They had known Karl longer than anyone else present.
And none of them had ever seen power like this.
Power capable of annihilating an entire fleet.
All eyes slowly turned toward Drax.
Among them, he was the first to have met Karl.
"Drax," Quill asked seriously, "be honest… did you know Karl could… turn into a super hot goddess?"
The moment he finished speaking, the seriousness of the moment collapsed completely.
Rocket covered his face.
If possible, he would have preferred never knowing Quill.
Gamora smacked Quill on the head.
She ignored Karl entirely and looked at Drax.
Drax simply shook his head.
He knew nothing about Karl's abilities either.
All he knew was that Karl used to mysteriously disappear from prison every night.
Everyone sighed.
They should never have expected insight from Drax's brain.
His logic was somehow even stranger than Quill's.
---
Later, inside the Nova Corps command chamber.
The Supreme Leader and the high-ranking officers of Xandar stood in formal formation before Karl, Quill, their team, and Yondu with his first mate.
"On behalf of the Nova Corps and all citizens of Xandar," the Supreme Leader said solemnly, "please accept our deepest gratitude and highest respect."
"Thank you for saving our world."
Under everyone's watchful gaze, Karl handed over the newly constructed Orb containing the Power Stone.
This had already been agreed upon beforehand.
Even Yondu didn't object.
After witnessing Karl's power, he had no intention of arguing.
---
After the ceremony, Yondu loudly scolded Quill before leaving aboard his Ravager ship.
But as he turned away from Quill, a faint smile appeared on his face.
It was the proud smile of a father watching his son finally grow up.
"Boss," Yondu's first mate said while looking down at Quill from the ship, "we should be grateful we never handed that kid over to the client."
"Yeah," Yondu replied.
"That little bastard's a real pain in the ass."
But his eyes never left Quill.
---
Back at the landing pad, the Supreme Leader gifted Quill a brand-new ship.
The team excitedly boarded it to explore.
Only Quill and Karl remained seated outside.
"So you're leaving?" Quill asked, rubbing the old cassette player in his hand. "Going back to Earth?"
"Yeah," Karl replied. "I've been away for a while. Time to go home."
"Yeah… home…"
Quill looked down at the player quietly.
Karl handed him a small device.
"These are for you. Earth's newest popular music. Nobody uses cassette tapes anymore—they use this."
Quill examined the music player with curiosity.
"Hope your ship has something compatible with it," Karl added.
After hugging everyone goodbye one by one, Karl finally took out the Chocobo whistle.
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