Assimilate the entire universe?
No wonder Garus had felt a presence watching him earlier, a consciousness lurking in the depths of his mind.
"Quill is under control, and the others are in danger. I'm afraid if we wait too long, that so-called god might kill them. We need to get help from Earth, quickly."
At that moment, the planet beside them, now completely transformed, rotated, revealing a massive face.
"You are Garus, my child's friend?"
A deep, resonating voice echoed in Garus's mind.
"You are the one who wants to assimilate the entire universe, Ego?"
The celestial before him didn't appear particularly powerful. In fact, he seemed weaker than even the star-consuming Galactus. Perhaps it was because this wasn't his true form.
"You will become my food, the first powerful being to die by my hands."
A powerful gravitational pull emanated from the massive mouth, dragging the Milano ship toward it. The ship's instruments blared urgent alarms as Rocket frantically pushed the engines to their maximum output, trying to escape.
"Damn it, what is that thing?!"
Despite pushing the engines to their limit, the ship continued to be pulled toward the enormous mouth.
Garus patted Rocket's head and said, "Wait, I'll handle this."
"Hey, don't pat my head!"
Annoyed, Rocket pushed Garus's hand away. He watched as Garus casually waved his hand, creating a wormhole right in front of him, then stepped into it and appeared outside the ship.
Creating a transparent spatial shield in front of himself, Garus unsheathed his weapon and swung a blade through the air. A crack appeared in the living planet, splitting it in half.
The power of Eternity was truly incredible, and with the aid of the Space Stone, it was even stronger.
Two massive black arms emerged from the vicinity of the planet, seizing the now split planet. They pulled out a dark green seed from within, still pulsating like a heart.
"What is this thing?"
Squeezing the seed with his hand, Garus crushed it, drawing a strand of soul essence from within.
Now, it was time to check on the situation. Earlier, he had contacted the Death Knights who were still on Earth, and there had been no incident. Ego had not assimilated Earth.
"Let's go. We need to find Quill. I'm going to save him."
"I say, don't we need more help?"
Garus replied confidently, "No need. I'm enough."
Considering Garus had single-handedly destroyed a planet-sized monster before, Rocket didn't argue any further.
The Milano ship suddenly powered up and turned, heading back the way they came, leaving the Legion warship behind. The people aboard it seemed confused.
…
After passing through multiple wormholes and making dozens of space jumps, they arrived in a strange starfield. It was eerily silent. Before them was a massive living planet with a human face, its eyes closed as if deep in thought.
This had to be the living planet Ego.
Sensing Garus's arrival, Ego stopped his planet-wide transformation. His gaze turned toward Garus with malice. This mortal had somehow gained divine power, becoming far stronger than before.
"Ugh!" Just as he was about to speak, Ego felt the space around him seal off. His connection to his other avatars was instantly severed, and rage boiled within him.
On the surface of his body, Gamora and Drax struggled, shouting toward Quill, trying to awaken his consciousness.
Then, they heard Groot shout toward the sky. They all looked up, following his gaze, to see a ship entering the atmosphere of the planet and slowly descending.
"It's the Milano ship! Rocket's back, but why is he alone?"
As they spoke, a figure flew out of the ship. Upon closer inspection, they realized it was Garus.
Ego's created body shouted toward Garus, "Human, you are truly ignorant of death, daring to come here. You will be the first celestial to fall by my hands!"
A massive arm suddenly emerged from the ground, swinging down toward Garus.
Gamora and the others felt the ground shake as Garus's previous location vanished. The enormous arm covered the entire area, dust flying and obscuring their vision.
"Nothing can stop me from transforming the entire universe. All of this will become a part of my body. Not even Quill's mother can stop me," Ego yelled as he lifted his massive rocky arm and slammed it down again. "I almost gave up my ideals for her, but fortunately, I personally placed a tumor in her brain. Nothing can stop me now."
The delirious Star-Lord, still bound, vaguely heard these words and began struggling beneath the surface.
"You talk too much."
Cracks began to form across the enormous arm that covered the ground, and it shattered into rubble.
Ego suddenly screamed in fear, "What is this? Get away from me!"
Frostmourne was driven into the surface of the planet, siphoning Ego's life essence, making him feel weaker with each passing second, though the change was gradual.
Ego gathered his power, and his divine abilities conjured strange creatures that charged toward Garus and the Milano ship.
"Damn it!" Rocket hastily started the ship, trying to escape, but saw massive skeletal creatures appear in front of them.
"Roar!"
Giant skeletal hands blocked the charging beasts, clashing violently with them.
"This is my domain!" Ego shouted angrily, directing the creatures he created to charge toward Garus.
"Ego!" Star-Lord's furious shout rang out from below. His eyes blazed with white light as he broke free from his restraints.
Unable to drain Star-Lord's power, Ego suddenly felt his strength drop significantly.
"Quill! You're alright, thank goodness."
Just as Star-Lord was about to rush to battle Ego's avatar, he heard a familiar voice nearby.
"Gamora, Drax, Groot, are you all alright?"
Star-Lord rushed over, using his newfound strength to free them from their bindings.
"Quill, what is this?" Gamora, Drax, and Groot were stunned by Star-Lord's display of power.
"Let's not worry about that now. I'll help Garus. By the way, where's Rocket?" Star-Lord noticed that the raccoon was nowhere to be seen.
"He's over there. He brought Garus here."
Following Gamora's finger, Star-Lord finally saw the Milano ship.
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TN: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon —— PATREON.COM / PRIMALDEMON