As the ship descended onto the only cliff showing signs of human activity, Ryan led the future Guardians of the Galaxy and a large group of Raiders as they marched out of the vessel in a grand display.
A figure clad in a black robe, floating with feet off the ground, appeared from nowhere not far from the group and slowly drifted toward them.
Star-Lord gulped and couldn't help but take a step back, pulling Gamora in front of him for protection. "My God, Gamora, that guy's feet aren't touching the ground. Do you see that?"
Gamora's eye twitched as she gave Star-Lord a disdainful look. "So what? Have you never seen someone fly before?"
Star-Lord shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no! That's different! This guy isn't just flying; I feel like he's more like a ghost!"
This time, before Gamora could mock Star-Lord, Drax burst into laughter first. "Ha! Hahaha! A ghost? Quill, are you a child? You actually believe in ghosts? Hahahaha!!"
Rocket joined Drax in mocking Star-Lord this time. "Hahaha, Quill, do you want your Uncle Rocket to give you an Earthling cross to ward off evil?"
Star-Lord: ...
Ryan ignored the antics behind him and walked step by step toward the eerie black shadow. Before the other party could speak, he said indifferently:
"Red Skull?"
The Red Skull, who had been preparing for his daily routine of revealing the visitor's secrets before informing them of the conditions to obtain the Soul Stone, was stunned.
He didn't expect that instead of exposing the other person's past, he would be the one identified first!
Indeed, this eerie, ghost-like shadow was none other than Captain America's nemesis, the ruler of HYDRA during World War II, 'Red Skull' John Schmidt!
Seeing his identity revealed, the Red Skull no longer concealed his true face and removed the large hood from his head.
It was a terrifying face with no skin, only blood-red muscle clinging to the skull!
This made Star-Lord take another step back, pointing at the Red Skull urgently. "See, see? I told you he was a ghost. What normal person looks like that?"
Gamora and the others: ...
Red Skull: ...
The Red Skull glanced at Star-Lord and said calmly, "Peter Jason Quill, known to the world as 'Star-Lord,' son of the Earthling Meredith Quill and the God Ego..."
Finding his own secrets exposed, Star-Lord was initially incredulous, but then he became excited.
At this moment, he was no longer afraid of ghosts or anything of the sort.
Star-Lord stepped forward quickly to the Red Skull's side and asked excitedly, "You know who my father is? Even I didn't know. You said his name is Ego, right? And what does 'God' mean?"
"The Soul Stone only told me this much. As for more information, I have nothing to say..." After a brief glance at Star-Lord, the Red Skull refocused his gaze on Ryan, a hint of confusion appearing in his eyes.
"The Soul Stone did not give me your information. Why?"
Ryan smiled slightly. "Perhaps because it has realized that it's about to change Masters. You, the Guardian of the Soul Stone, are no longer useful and can be laid off, so it didn't bother telling you anything~"
The Red Skull frowned slightly. "As expected, you also wish to obtain the Soul Stone. But I must tell you, there is only one way to get it, and that is a soul for a—"
Slap!
Before the Red Skull could finish, Ryan delivered a backhand slap that sent the Red Skull flying, only stopping when he hit the edge of the cliff!
Lying on the ground, the Red Skull felt a long-forgotten sharp pain in his cheek, his face filled with disbelief!
How was this possible?
One must know that his physical body had been obliterated by the Tesseract during World War II!
Then his soul was transported by the Tesseract to the location of the Soul Stone, where he became its servant ever since!
How could this guy attack him when he was a soul?
Ryan thought to himself: This is the new version, Infinite Power. You don't get it, do you, you obsolete World War II antique!
He just didn't have the complete Soul Stone; it wasn't as if he lacked the power of a Soul Stone. Naturally, he could strike the Red Skull in his soul form!
Furthermore, Ryan estimated that the reason the Soul Stone hadn't given the Red Skull his information was that he possessed the Soul Stone's power from another Universe, making it impossible for this Soul Stone to read his data!
However, Ryan wasn't about to explain all that to the Red Skull. He strode forward to the Red Skull, who was unable to stand on the cliff edge, bent down, grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him high with a grin.
"I don't like negotiating. I'm here today to notify the Soul Stone that its new Master has arrived, not to make some deal with it!"
Even in his soul form, the Red Skull felt a sense of suffocation under Ryan's large hand, rendering him completely unable to speak!
Of course, Ryan had no intention of listening to any last words. He looked down at the altar below the cliff and sneered.
"Heh, a soul for a soul, is it? It's just a soul, right? Here!"
With that, Ryan swung the Red Skull in a circle and hurled him down violently. Finally, the Red Skull's soul body shattered with a splat upon the altar at the bottom of the cliff!
But as expected, the altar below remained calm. Although the Red Skull was a soul, he was by no means Ryan's beloved, so the requirement was not met, and the Soul Stone did not appear.
"Refusing the easy way only to be forced into the hard way?"
Seeing this, Ryan wasn't disappointed. He simply flicked his right arm, letting the iridescent Ten Rings fly off and circle around him like swimming dragons.
However, just as Ryan intended to use the Ten Rings to destroy the Soul Stone's altar below and force it out, he suddenly stopped and looked up sharply at the sky!
In the next moment, the dreamy, colorful clouds in the sky were torn open as massive black 'meteors' trailing sparks of fire plummeted down!
And the direction they were falling was exactly toward Ryan and the others!
Star-Lord and the others watched the falling flaming 'meteors,' completely stunned.
Because of the density of the impact, they had nowhere to hide, and they didn't even have a chance to run back to the ship to escape!
"It's over, we're definitely dead this time!"
On the scene, only Ryan was pleasantly surprised rather than alarmed. Without a trace of panic, he pushed the iridescent Ten Rings, which were originally meant to strike the altar, toward the sky!
This time, the Ten Rings didn't directly attack the falling 'meteorites.' Instead, they spread out and hovered over everyone's heads, their iridescent energy eventually linking together to form a massive iridescent energy curtain!
When those 'meteorites' crashed into the iridescent energy curtain, they produced a series of dull thuds. However, far from breaking through, they couldn't even dim the energy luster on the curtain!
This was the Ten Rings—not only capable of offense but also defense!
In offense, they could destroy worlds; in defense, they could protect them!
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