Once Sif was fully dressed in her armor, Peter turned the dial on the watch on his wrist.
As he rotated it, the face locked onto an icon resembling a celestial body—the very cosmic energy template he had copied from Xarus!
Pressing down on the watch, a shimmering field of cosmic energy instantly wrapped around his entire body. Protected by this cosmic energy, he could move freely through the void of space without needing any external defensive gear.
Having fully transformed into Cosmic Captain mode, Peter took Sif's hand, cast a protective energy shield around her, and opened The Destiny's airlock, stepping straight out into open space.
With the boost from his cosmic energy, Peter's flight speed outpaced even the incoming energy projectiles. He easily wove through the dense artillery barrage, arriving at the main hatch of the fleet's largest and most luxurious flagship in a split second.
Riiip!
With a casual yank, Peter tore the heavy airlock door clean off its hinges.
He led Sif straight inside the enemy flagship.
Seeing this scene unfold, the soldiers inside the main compartment were utterly dumbfounded. Even with energy weapons in hand, none of them thought to pull their triggers; they just stared blankly as these two figures completely ignored the vacuum of space, hand-ripped their main airlock, and casually strolled inside.
It wasn't until their commander received the news and rushed to the scene that the squad snapped out of their stupor, raising their energy rifles at Peter and Sif one by one.
"Are you... an Asgardian?"
Compared to his subordinate soldiers, the alien commander—who closely resembled a middle-aged Earth man—was slightly more composed. After taking in Sif's attire and features, he couldn't help but let out a shocked exclamation: "Don't tell me Asgard has already bowed to Thanos's tyranny as well?!"
Hearing those words, Sif's temper instantly flared. She drew her longsword on the spot: "How dare you insult the honor of Asgard! You court death!"
Seeing her aggressive stance, the surrounding soldiers instinctively went to squeeze their triggers.
However, before their fingers could even touch the guards—
HUMMM—!!!
An invisible, intangible, yet absolute and overwhelming pressure erupted violently outward, centered right on Peter beside Sif!
Conqueror's Haki!
In the face of this domain-dominating aura, time itself seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second.
Immediately following:
Thud!Thud! Thud!
The human-looking alien soldiers collapsed in batches like harvested wheat. Countless eyes rolled back into their heads as white foam spilled from their mouths!
Even their commander was driven straight to his knees, his body trembling uncontrollably as if suffering from severe Parkinson's.
Seeing the star-glowing monster beside the Asgardian warrior continuing to step toward him, the commander was scared out of his mind, yet he still grit his teeth and bellowed at the top of his lungs:
"I! Rhomann Dey! As a Centurion of the Nova Corps, will never bow to Thanos's tyranny!"
"Don't expect to get a single shred of intelligence out of my mouth! Even if you kill me, my brothers will permanently drive you dogs of Thanos out of Xandar's star sector!"
Having declared this, he hardened his resolve, fighting against the crushing weight of the Conqueror's Haki to aim his energy blaster straight at his own temple.
Just as Rhomann Dey resolved to use his own life to defend the dignity of the Nova Corps, he suddenly felt the terrifying pressure recede like a fading tide.
The star-bathed figure before him spoke up in confusion: "Nova Corps?"
As he spoke, the starlight coating his body dispersed, revealing a handsome face that made Rhomann Dey feel like the sky was falling down on him.
"You... you're a Xandarian too?!"
Rhomann Dey didn't even consider the possibility that Peter was from Earth. Looking at Peter's physical features, which were virtually identical to his own, he instinctively assumed Peter was a fellow Xandarian.
At that thought, Rhomann Dey felt like his entire world was collapsing!
Thanos had already managed to secretly turn high-level Xandarians to his side, while the rest of Xandar was still busy playing around with fools like Ronan!
"Peter, I remember now!"
Just then, Sif finally recalled the cosmic lore taught by Asgard's scholars back home: "The Nova Corps belongs to Xandar. They are one of the major interstellar powers in the universe, on par with the Kree and the Skrulls."
"However, compared to the other two, Xandarians are relatively peace-loving and are considered a friendly interstellar species."
In truth, Peter didn't need Sif's explanation to remember Xandar's background.
Glancing back at his bio-punk-styled flagship, The Destiny...
Well, okay, that design really is easy to misunderstand.
After all, it was modified from a Chitauri Leviathan cruiser; it was completely natural for them to mistake it for Thanos's vanguard invading Xandarian territory. No wonder they had pursued them with such relentless determination.
"Uh... Big Belly-guy, right?" Peter scratched his cheek, reaching out to pull the man up from the ground.
"It's Rhomann Dey!" Rhomann Dey snapped back, his face covered in dark lines.
"Oh, right!" Peter tapped his forehead, then spoke sincerely: "My apologies, I believe there's been a bit of a misunderstanding between us."
"Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Peter Parker, and I come from Earth."
"Earth?" Rhomann Dey tilted his head in confusion.
That planet was clearly well outside his realm of knowledge.
"To put it simply, I come from a planet that hasn't established formal contact with interstellar civilization yet. And just like you guys, we don't get along with Thanos either. Not long ago, we wiped out five of Thanos's Chitauri Leviathan cruisers during an invasion of Earth."
Pointing toward The Destiny off in the distance, Peter added: "That ship over there is a trophy I captured during that battle. I imagine that's where our little mix-up came from."
Listening to Peter's account, Rhomann Dey's eyes nearly popped right out of his sockets.
Did he hear that correctly?
An underdeveloped planet that hadn't even established contact with the galactic community had managed to annihilate Thanos's Chitauri fleet—and five Leviathan cruisers at that?!
Snapping back to his senses, Rhomann Dey didn't hesitate for a second, issuing an immediate invitation to Peter:
"Honored warrior of Earth, on behalf of the Nova Corps, I apologize for our reckless actions earlier. To show our sincerity, would you be willing to travel to Xandar to rest and resupply? We will extend our highest-tier hospitality."
Part of this was to make amends, but another motivation was to gauge Peter's true background. After all, a powerhouse of unknown strength was both a potential opportunity and a possible threat to Xandar—he certainly couldn't be taken lightly.
"Go to your place?"
Peter stroked his chin, a look of hesitation appearing on his face.
Xandar... Nova Corps...
As he pondered, a sudden realization flashed through his mind.
He narrowed his eyes at Rhomann Dey and asked with casual curiosity: "Oh, speaking of which..."
"Did your prisons happen to lock up a group of rather unhinged guys recently?"
Hearing this, Rhomann Dey looked thoroughly perplexed: "How... how did you know that?"
He did recall a report coming in from the Kyln Prison a couple of days ago, stating they had apprehended several illegal infiltrators attempting to steal an "Orb" on Xandar.
"Oho."
Hearing Rhomann Dey's confirmation, Peter couldn't help but slap his own forehead.
Well, look at that~
Searching high and low for something, only to stumble upon it by pure chance.
It turned out that through this unexpected turn of events, he had run straight into the opening plot of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1!
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