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But he forced it down. Took a deep breath. "Yes, Father. You did the right thing, for the sake of the great cause."
A gratified smile spread across Ego's face. He clapped Quill on the shoulder. "I knew you would understand me."
Days passed. The performance of devoted father and filial son played on, scene after scene.
Then one day, after training wrapped up, Quill went to find Ego.
"Father." A perfectly calibrated look of frustration crossed Quill's face. "I feel like something is still missing. This power is too vast, I can only seem to draw on a tiny fraction of it. I'm worried I'll end up holding back your great plan."
"My child, do not be impatient." Ego's voice rang out like a great bell. "A Celestial's power takes time to adapt to. To master."
"But time won't wait, Father!" Quill's tone sharpened with urgency. "Didn't you say those seeds are already scattered across the universe, waiting to be awakened? I want to share your burden, not become a liability. If you could give me just a little more power, I might grasp the trick of it faster, and then we could sooner, "
Ego paused, a flicker of hesitation crossing his face. But the thought of Quill's perfect potential, of the magnificent blueprint nearly within reach, it pushed the doubt aside. He nodded.
"Very well, my child. Feel this power. Let it become part of you."
A far vaster surge of blue energy rose from deep within the planet and flowed slowly into Quill's body.
More time passed.
Quill came to find Ego again.
"Father, I can feel it, I'm almost at the threshold! Just a little more, just a tiny bit! I know if I had just a bit more power, I could master it completely. I could truly help you launch the plan!
Just think, the entire universe reborn under our radiance. What a magnificent sight that would be!"
The doubt in Ego's heart had deepened another degree. But hunger for the great cause drowned everything else out. He agreed to Quill's request and gave away another portion of his primordial power.
And after that...
"Father! It's almost time, I promise you, almost! Give me a little more time, a little more power! For our shared future!"
Ego stared at Quill. Finally gritted his teeth.
"This is the last time, Quill. This is already—"
Another massive surge of power poured into Quill's body.
Then one day, Quill appeared before Ego again.
Expression calm. A faint smile on his face.
"Father. I need more power."
Ego's patience finally snapped. His brow pulled tight, his voice edged with anger. "Quill! I've already given you nearly half my power! How is it possible you still haven't fully mastered it?!"
"You're not wrong, Father." The smile didn't move. But Quill's eyes went cold, instantly, completely. "I have already fully mastered your power."
Ego froze.
Then wild joy broke across his face. "Really? Wonderful! My child! Then — the plan — can it begin now?!"
"Yes." Quill nodded. His tone was terrifyingly calm. "The plan can begin now."
The last word hadn't even landed before both of Quill's hands flipped open, and two high-powered elemental guns materialized in his grip.
The muzzles swung up.
A dense, screaming barrage of energy beams erupted, straight into Ego's face.
Ego had no warning. No time to react, no time to raise a single defense. That energy body was blown full of holes in an instant, points of light scattering in every direction. The humanoid silhouette shredded apart, exposing the mass of churning blue energy beneath.
"QUILL!"
Ego's furious roar shook the entire interior of the planet. "What are you doing?! You just said the plan could begin!"
"That's right." Quill kept both gun barrels trained on him, voice flat and cold. "But those words weren't for you."
The space beside Quill twisted.
Hermione appeared out of nowhere, wearing a strange, easy smile.
Ego's core energy mass heaved and flickered violently, shock and fury in equal measure. "Who are you?!"
"Allow me to introduce myself." Hermione said pleasantly. "I'm the professional Quill hired. My services include, but are not limited to: planetary demolition, deity removal, and cosmic pest extermination."
Ego understood in an instant.
"Quill! You treacherous traitor!"
BOOM!
Countless raging blue energy tendrils erupted from every direction, surging toward Hermione in a crushing wave.
They never reached her.
Mid-air, another set of energy tendrils, blazing the same blue, cut them off and held them back.
Quill floated overhead, wrapped in torrential divine power, watching Ego with cold, steady eyes.
"Did you think I had Quill train seriously under you all this time for nothing?" Hermione crossed her arms, still smiling. "He had to learn your signature moves first. Only fair to use them against you, isn't that right?"
Ego's core energy flickered wildly.
He finally understood. These two, they had actually turned the power he taught against him.
"You, you deceived me!" The thunderous roar shook the air around them, disbelief saturating every syllable.
Hermione shrugged. This trick never got old. Her con artistry was sharper than ever, and the fraud operation had even brought on a promising new recruit in Quill.
The next moment, the battle exploded.
The entire planet of Ego became a battlefield.
Countless blue energy tendrils whipped through the air, lashing, tearing, biting at each other in furious combat. Quill wielded the power he'd borrowed from Ego and hurled it back at the original source. The ground cracked apart, massive boulders ripped skyward by invisible forces and smashed into each other like meteors, exploding into dust. Blasts rang out one after another, the light blinding.
Quill had nearly half of Ego's divine power and knew every attack pattern by heart. But Ego was the source. That was the problem.
As the fight stretched on, Quill began to feel the strain. The energy tendrils under his control grew sluggish. Their force dropped.
"Hahahahaha!" Ego erupted into wild laughter, triumph and cruelty pouring out of every syllable.
"You see, Quill?! Your power comes from me! No matter how much you stole, I can pull it back, it's only a matter of time! Once I reclaim it all, you both die! You'll become fuel for my great plan, nothing more!"
Not a flicker of panic crossed Hermione's face. Instead, a thin, mocking smile. "What a pity. That assumes you actually have the time."
She glanced at Quill.
He caught it immediately. His eyes sharpened.
He dropped all control of the energy tendrils at once, letting Ego's attacks slam into his energy-formed defenses in a cascade of rippling light.
And then he poured everything inward, downward. The near-half measure of vast, torrential Celestial power inside him, every last ounce of it, driven straight into the planet's body below.
Not as an attack.
As a tear.
RUMBLE,,
The planet's outer shell began to shake. A fissure opened, bottomless, enormous, and split outward at a terrifying speed.
Ego lurched. Something changed in him, some sudden awful comprehension. A dread unlike anything he had ever felt swept over him.
Quill pushed with everything he had left. By sheer, grinding force, he tore a channel through Ego's planet, straight down, straight through, all the way to the core.
At the end of that channel, bathed in faint blue light, vast beyond reckoning, threaded with countless neural pathways,
A gigantic brain.
➤ Next: Advancing to Level Six
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