Ego's planet was shaking violently, but this time it was not because of the impact Skyl had caused. It was because the Celestial was releasing the ancient divine power he had carried since time immemorial.
The crust collapsed, and ice-blue torrents spilled out over the surface like erupting lava. Across that vast world, there was no longer any ground left for people to stand on. This was the power of a creator. In an instant, mountains and rivers could be overturned, seas could dry up, and stone could crumble into dust.
To mortals, a disaster on this scale was already an absolute apocalypse.
"High Evolutionary, don't even think about taking Peter from me. He is my child. We are destined to join hands and achieve eternity. This is my fate, and the fate of this universe!"
Ego's voice was both fierce and desperate. "If you still have even a shred of reason, then you should know this is my world. You have no chance of winning."
The Ravagers screamed their heads off as they fled toward the ship. These space pirates were usually lawless and fearless, but in the face of a real god of the heavens, they were scared completely out of their minds.
"Gali, Jormungandr, I'll leave this to you two. Don't eat too much. Save some for me," Skyl calmly said, entrusting the two world-devouring serpents with putting an end to this disaster.
The two gluttons had been holding themselves back for a long time. They had been staring at Ego and practically drooling. Now they cheered, opened their mouths toward the Celestial power surging wildly in every direction, and inhaled. The ice-blue divine power was drawn in by raging gravity wells, turning into a cyclone as it poured into their mouths.
The surging tide of energy rapidly receded. Aside from a few Ravagers who had been running around in a panic and slammed headfirst into tendrils of divine power, turning into ash on the spot, everyone else was safe and sound.
Ego's avatar could barely maintain its human shape. He hurriedly begged for mercy. "High Evolutionary, please stop. I bear you no ill will."
Seeing his biological father humiliated, Quill immediately brightened with the most unfilial joy imaginable. From the side, he urged Gali and Jormungandr to speed things up, drain the old bastard dry, then charge into the planetary core, dig out his real brain, and turn it into a bowl of Buffalo-style brain dip.
Skyl intercepted a portion of the Celestial power and conducted a rough analysis through telepathy. His preliminary conclusion was that this energy was similar to magicka. It could also attach itself to thought-strings, and it could be converted into many different forms of energy and matter, giving it extremely high plasticity. However, compared to Eternity's divine power, it was still several tiers lower and could hardly be mentioned in the same breath. In terms of rank, Ego could only be considered a demigod, on the same level as Galactus, but still far removed from other cosmic entities.
If Ego's plan had succeeded, and he had devoured thousands of life-bearing planets to form a distributed neural network stretching across the stars, then his energy would have sublimated and taken on the nature of eternity, becoming an aggregate of "possibility."
Skyl was rather interested in Ego's path toward godhood. Ever since he had devoured his good brother Hermaeus Mora, Skyl's own constitution had also been gradually transforming toward that of a demigod. It was simply that, to mortals, this process was unimaginably long.
Collecting the Infinity Stones was for the sake of understanding the origin of the universe and exploring the essence of magic, while Ego's path to godhood also had considerable research value. The sublimation of divine power was an exceptionally rare subject, involving the root properties of magicka, as well as hidden knowledge of souls, faith, and the thoughts of all living beings.
Considering that Ego's method involved devouring planets and erasing all life, studying this path to godhood was truly troublesome. Skyl had no desire to commit such inhuman slaughter. However, devouring a few barren, ownerless planets was something he could consider.
Skyl planned to collect some of the Celestial's tissue cells and see whether he could cultivate a planet-scale giant brain. If he succeeded, he could contain it in the Tower of Tomes in the future and use it as a biological computer.
Gali and Jormungandr soon drained Ego's energy dry. Gali had enjoyed the greater share and was already fully satisfied, burping contentedly before returning to Skyl's side and curling up on his shoulder with her eyes half-closed in rest. Little Jormungandr, however, was clearly not satisfied yet. She followed the fissures in the ground toward Ego's true body, obviously impatient to enjoy the delicious Celestial brain waiting below.
Inside the Celestial palace, Ego's avatar was on the verge of death. He raised a hand in surrender. Staring at Skyl, who remained calm to the point of seeming indifferent, he suddenly said, "I understand your loneliness."
"I'm not lonely." Skyl looked at the Celestial in surprise. "Are you trying to get close to me now? Why do all you villains love trying to talk your enemies down?"
Ego's expression was very strange, carrying a sadness that came from seeing someone who shared the same disease. "It is as if your body has frozen over. Spending time with mortals must bore you. Back when I wandered the stars with this body, I experienced all of this as well. At first, speaking with mortals was interesting. I often came up with all sorts of ways to amuse myself. But gradually, all joy was exhausted. I could no longer gain the slightest sense of recognition from them. One day, you will reach that point too."
"You're trying to say that becoming too powerful will make me lose my humanity." Skyl summarized Ego's words for him. "So that is the reason you were doomed. Even without me, you would have died from isolation. If I were you, and I had a woman I loved, I could have stayed with her until she died of old age, then carried out my plan after she was buried. If you had stayed by Quill's side back then, you would have had countless chances to slowly guide him onto your path."
By now, Jormungandr had already reached the outer shell of the planetary core. The hard layer protecting Ego's true body was extremely sturdy, but it was riddled with pores. The little serpent easily slipped inside. The fragrant Ego brain was right before her. That huge brain shone with brilliant light and had no power to defend itself, like fresh meat laid out at a butcher counter.
Ego realized that a space ribbon-worm had entered his brain, and he could not help letting out a howl.
"Spare me! I admit defeat. Peter is yours. Take him and leave. From now on, I will give up on expanding. Please, don't kill me!"
Quill cursed Ego's weakness.
"Weren't you supposed to be so powerful? Where's all that arrogance now?"
Snot and tears streamed down Ego's face. He kept apologizing to Quill, begging him to plead for mercy in front of Skyl. "Peter, no matter what, I am still your father. Can you really bear to watch me be eaten?"
"Screw you! Don't try that crap on me. Captain, this guy has nothing to do with me. If he has anything to do with me at all, it's that he's my enemy!"
"Peter, if I die, you will lose your divine power and become a mortal!"
"There's nothing wrong with that."
Ego suddenly began to tremble. His true body was being gnawed by Jormungandr, and his cerebral cortex was being bitten full of holes, severely damaging his ability to think.
In that final moment before death, Ego quieted down.
He collapsed to the ground. One second before brain death, Ego suddenly said, "Peter, I'm sorry."
Then his body rapidly turned into a mass of decayed bone.
Ego was dead.
On his planet, it began to "rain."
Ocean-like thought-strings poured and surged from the planetary core, blowing toward the boundless universe. For that reason, this "rain" flowed from the earth into the sky.
Skyl and the crew walked out of the Celestial palace. Beneath the cracked earth, tens of thousands of pale skeletons gurgled up from below. These were all Ego's children. Every defective product had been personally destroyed by the cold-blooded Celestial. Their blood had nourished the planet, turning the vast plains such a vivid red.
Bathed in the rain of souls, all the wonders of this planet revealed themselves. Colored auroras drifted through the sky. Weightless river water gathered into spheres. The corpses of forests swayed endlessly. Every skeleton was covered in a layer of transparent flesh and blood. These young people looked helplessly at the great "rain" around them. Some were confused, some were furious, and some were relieved. They were all pitiful sacrifices who had died for their father's grand plan. At last, after Ego's death, they had gained the chance to look upon this sorrowful universe once more.
Peter Quill trembled as he stared at his half-siblings. The one suffering just as much as he was Mantis.
"Let's go home," Skyl said.
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