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Gwen's voice was soft.
But her words were absolute law!
The moment the Enterprise initiated the transport sequence, Gamora, still standing on the surface of Ego's planet, looked down as her body began to shimmer and glow. Before she could even process what was happening, she dissolved into a flurry of sparkling light and vanished from the spot.
At the same time.
Drax and Mantis, who were sprinting toward the palace to find Star-Lord, suddenly stopped. They looked at their own glowing hands, realizing they, too, were turning into light.
And, of course.
Nebula, who had been chasing Gamora, was also caught in the transport beam.
"What is this..."
"Wait."
Drax, who was almost at the entrance of the main hall, saw Star-Lord inside.
"Peter..."
VMMMM!
Before Drax could even finish the name, he, Mantis, and Nebula dissolved into starlight and vanished.
Inside the grand hall, Star-Lord, whose eyes were swirling with an entire cosmos of stars, completely captivated by his father's vision of 'Expansion,' suddenly heard Ego murmur a single, chilling sentence.
"...It broke my heart to put that tumor in her head."
"..."
No one truly understands the profound, unbreakable bond between a child raised by a single mother and the woman who sacrificed everything for him.
Star-Lord, who had been standing completely still, looking as if he had been totally brainwashed by Ego, froze.
The swirling cosmos in his eyes—the Celestial light he had inherited from his father—vanished instantly. It was replaced by a flash of deep, emerald green—the very human eyes he had inherited from his mother.
Peter stared blankly at Ego's back.
"What?"
"Oh, now, Peter, don't get upset."
Ego, realizing what he had just confessed, turned around, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, his tone dripping with fake regret.
"I know that sounds bad, but you have to understand—"
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Before Ego could finish his justification, Star-Lord had already drawn both of his Quad Blasters. With an expression of cold fury, he pulled the triggers, emptying the charges directly into his father's chest.
In an instant.
Ego's physical avatar was riddled with gaping, glowing holes.
But he didn't die. He just stood there, looking like a shredded piece of Swiss cheese.
Ego looked down at his ruined torso, then back at his son.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!"
"You killed my mother!"
Star-Lord roared, his voice cracking with rage.
The next second.
Just as he was about to unleash another volley, a shimmering light enveloped him.
Peter looked down at his glowing body.
And then—
VMMMM!
He vanished.
"WTF!"
Ego was stunned.
He stared at the empty space where his son had just been standing. Just as he was trying to figure out what kind of trick this was, a voice suddenly echoed directly in his ear.
"I need your help with my training!"
"..."
Hearing the voice, which seemed to originate from the very core of his planet, Ego's face twisted in alarm. He abandoned his shredded physical avatar, letting the ruined body collapse to the floor, and instantly pulled his consciousness back to his true, planetary core.
At that exact moment, Star-Lord materialized on the transporter pad aboard the Enterprise.
Gamora, who had been waiting anxiously just outside the transporter room, saw Peter materialize, blasters drawn, his body tense and ready for a fight.
"Peter!"
Peter's eyes snapped toward her.
The next second.
Gamora pushed through the doors, ran up to the platform, and threw her arms around him.
"Peter, Ego... he's..."
"I know. He killed my mom."
Peter held her tight, his voice thick with emotion as he listened to Gamora's panicked explanation. But as he spoke, his gaze drifted past her, landing on the figure standing just outside the room.
Yondu.
During his brief communion with Ego's light, Peter had seen it all. He had seen exactly what his father did to the children who didn't inherit the Celestial gene.
So...
Now he understood. He finally understood why Yondu had taken him from Earth all those years ago, and why he had kept him, raising him among the Ravagers instead of delivering him to a monster.
Yondu was looking right back at him.
Their eyes met, a profound, unspoken understanding passing between them.
Suddenly, The entire hull of the Enterprise shuddered violently.
The touching reunion was cut short as everyone scrambled to the bridge.
When they arrived, they looked at the main viewscreen.
A massive swarm of sleek, golden, remote-controlled Sovereign fighters had materialized from a hyperspace jump and was already launching a coordinated assault on the Enterprise.
The collision alarm shrieked through the bridge.
Enterprise spoke, her synthetic voice calm and precise amidst the chaos.
"Alert. Enemy attack."
"Engaging automated defense protocols. Raising deflector shields."
"Initiating eradication mode."
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—!!
As the AI spoke, the Enterprise's tactical systems, located on the underside of the saucer section, powered up instantly.
Volley after volley of concentrated energy blasts tore into the void.
The Sovereign fighters' attacks splashed harmlessly against the Enterprise's deflector shields, creating ripples of blue light. In return, the Enterprise's automated targeting system didn't miss a single shot, vaporizing the golden drones one by one.
When the weapons fire ceased, the battle, which had lasted less than a minute, was over.
The Sovereign fleet had been annihilated. Again.
Gwen raised an eyebrow, a triumphant smile on her face.
"Excellent work, Enterprise!"
"Thank you, ma'am."
The holographic projection of the AI replied with a polite bow.
Yondu, who had been intercepted by the Enterprise shortly after arriving in the system, stared at the expanding cloud of golden debris floating outside the viewport. He turned slowly to look at Gwen. "I'm going to ask you one more time. Who exactly are you people?"
Gwen turned to face him.
Just as she opened her mouth to answer, the projection of Enterprise suddenly flickered, its expression changing to one of urgent calculation.
The next second.
ZOOOM!
The Enterprise, which had been holding position in high orbit above Ego's planet, executed an instantaneous micro-warp jump, reappearing sixty miles away, putting significant distance between itself and the planet.
Gwen, securely strapped into the Captain's chair, was fine.
But the Guardians, Yondu, and Kraglin were completely caught off guard by the sudden, violent shift in momentum. They were thrown off their feet, tumbling across the bridge deck like bowling pins.
Fortunately, no one was hurt.
As they scrambled back to their feet, they looked out the viewport at Ego's planet.
The surface of the world was erupting in a blinding, apocalyptic display of light.
No, wait!
To be precise, it looked as if a relentless, unending shower of golden meteors was raining down, hammering the surface of Ego's planet.
This wasn't a technique used by any Gold Saint.
It wasn't even a Silver Saint technique.
It was—
"Pegasus Meteor Fist!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!!!
Having traversed the vacuum of space using his own physical body once again, Hawk hovered high above Ego's planet. In a flash, he manifested the Pegasus Bronze Cloth. As he threw a single punch, a million golden meteors rained down, plunging Ego's world into an apocalyptic nightmare.
Palaces shattered.
Mountains crumbled. Rivers boiled.
It wasn't Hawk's fault.
When Ego had pulled his consciousness back to his core, Hawk had politely, even cordially, asked if he could take a closer look at the Celestial's true form to aid in his comprehension of the Eighth Sense.
And how did Ego respond?
Not only did he refuse, but he immediately launched a lethal attack against Hawk without a second thought.
That was Ego's mistake.
So...
"I gave you a chance to do this the easy way."
"Now, we do it my way."
"Pegasus Meteor Fist!!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!!!
As the barrage of golden, meteor-like fists slammed into the surface of Ego's planet, deafening cracks began to echo from the very bedrock of the world.
The next second, Before the disbelieving eyes of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a planet—an entire living planet—began to crack and fracture under the sheer, overwhelming physical force of the bombardment.
Gulp!
Yondu swallowed hard, his eyes wide with terror as he watched the planet break apart. He turned to Gwen, his voice raspy. "So... you guys are gods?"
Gwen pulled her gaze away from the viewscreen and looked at him.
"Gods? No."
"Then..."
"But Hawk told me once, technically speaking, you should address me as his Queen!"
"..."
That was somehow even more terrifying than 'god.'
What is a Queen?
Just the wife of a god?
No.
Not every milk is created equal, and not every wife of a deity gets the title of Queen.
Only the wife of a Chief God—a Pantheon head—has the right to that title.
Odin's Frigga.
Zeus's Hera.
Even the wives of Hades or Poseidon didn't hold that rank.
Because they were just gods, not Chief Gods!
Just then.
As the outer shell of Ego's planet completely shattered, his true form—a massive, humanoid figure composed entirely of pure, swirling energy—emerged from the ruins.
Ego was beyond furious. He had been so close. He had finally found the child who inherited his light, his grand design was within reach, and now, it was all falling apart. He roared at the man hovering in the sky.
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
"Hawk." Hovering in the void, Hawk looked down with cold indifference at the glowing energy giant, who had managed to keep his actual, brain-like core safely shielded during the planetary collapse. "I told you. I just wanted to take a look at your core. You could have just said no. But you tried to kill me. Don't you think that was a bit of an overreaction?"
Ego roared back.
"IN YOUR DREAMS!"
"Actually, I prefer making my dreams a reality."
Hawk calmly refuted the Celestial's threat. "I'll ask you one last time. Are you going to let me study your core? If you still refuse, I'll just have to find someone more agreeable to replace you and let me study theirs."
Ego let out a maniacal, booming laugh.
And then...
His massive hands, formed of pure energy, grabbed two continent-sized fragments of his shattered planet and hurled them directly at Hawk with terrifying speed.
Hawk watched the continent-sized projectiles screaming toward him and just smiled.
"I'll take that as a no."
"SKREEEEE!"
The spectral image of the Black Phoenix materialized. A metallic, resonant cry echoed from the armor as the obsidian pieces of the Surplice snapped into place over Hawk's body. The moment the dark visor locked down, Hawk shot forward, piercing straight through the massive chunks of rock and plunging deep into Ego's energy form.
He extended his right hand. With a sharp CRACK, his finger shattered the incredibly dense, protective shell surrounding Ego's true core—the massive, glowing, brain-like structure. He pressed his finger directly against it.
In a flash!
Hawk's consciousness rode the connection, violently kicking down the metaphysical door to Ego's mind and stepping into his domain like a ruthless invader.
And then...
He found Ego hiding in his own mindscape. Without a word of explanation, Hawk grabbed him by the collar and started beating the living hell out of him.
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Meanwhile, on the outside.
BOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOM!
The colossal energy avatar of Ego began to shudder violently, its form destabilizing and collapsing at a visible rate.
Soon, the energy dissipated completely, revealing Ego's true, brain-like core. And even from a distance, the core itself seemed to pulse and twitch, looking pathetic and thoroughly battered.
The next second, While the Guardians of the Galaxy watched the display in stunned, horrified silence, a sudden whoosh echoed on the bridge.
Star-Lord vanished from among them.
Before anyone could even ask what happened, they looked at the main viewscreen and saw Peter. He was standing right next to Hawk, looking incredibly small beside the massive, glowing brain that was Ego's true core.
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