We focused the ship’s laser drilling device straight ahead and began boring a hole into the massive core.

We were doing this to install a bomb inside and deal with it for good, but Ego had made his final defensive barrier to protect his brain so sturdy that it took some time to pierce through.

Ziiing—!

Seeing that, Gamora asked Quill.

"Can’t you go any faster? Ego won’t just sit back and watch either."

"This is maximum output!"

Just then, Yondu suddenly looked out the right window and shouted.

"Oh, damn!"

At Yondu’s shout, we all turned to the right, and we could see Sovereign warships pouring in through the passage we had drilled open.

"Oh, crap!"

Quill hastily stopped drilling and turned the ship, starting to dodge the warships and flee.

Then the Sovereign warships, having spotted us, fired plasma cannons and gave chase.

Rat-tat-tat-tat—!

Then Yondu spoke to us.

"You all go down and plant the bomb! I’ll buy time against the Sovereign warships!"

Nebula then decided to help Yondu as well.

"It’s too hard alone! I’ll help too."

At that, Yondu smirked and shouted to Quill.

"Go!! Before it’s too late."

"Got it, just hold on a little longer!"

Yondu grabbed the controls and brought the ship close to the core.

Then Drax, Groot, Mantis, and Gamora jumped straight down, while Quill and Rocket used jetpacks to fly toward the core.

I too followed them and leaped down to the core immediately.

Once we landed on the core, we hurriedly ran to where we had been drilling earlier.

There we saw the bottom of the deep pit, with several small holes punctured into it.

"Looks like we need to plant the bomb deep inside the core to deal real damage. But the hole’s too small for our fat butts to fit through. If Groot stretches his arms, it might be possible."

Rocket looked at the pit and explained.

This was possible because, unlike in the original, the Sovereign warships arrived a bit later, allowing us to drill more holes.

"Jin, what did you say this bomb timer was?"

"5 minutes."

"Then let’s start the timer, and once Groot finishes installing it, we should get out immediately. The whole planet will explode, so we need to leave fast."

After Rocket’s explanation, everyone agreed.

"Groot, install it as deep inside as you can."

"I am Groot."

Rocket and Groot went in as far as their bodies could fit and prepared to plant the bomb.

Meanwhile, we came back outside and stood guard against any possible interference.

In the air, Yondu and Nebula were evading the Sovereign warships’ attacks with evasive maneuvers at full capacity, and Quill was also providing covering fire to help them.

But then, the vein-like lines around us began to glow even brighter.

At that, Mantis warned us.

"He’s coming!"

"Who?"

"Ego!"

Then Gamora said to Mantis.

"Just put him to sleep!"

"Ego is too powerful! I can’t."

While this was happening, Ego must have realized the situation as well, and he urgently tried to attack us with tendrils of light.

Then Drax hurriedly looked at Mantis and cheered her on.

"You don’t need to believe in yourself! I believe in you!"

When Drax said that, Mantis gained courage, wore a determined expression, placed her hand on the light beneath her, and began using her power.

Mantis has the ability to sense or manipulate others’ emotions through physical contact.

Using this ability, she can calm people down, make them feel specific emotions, or even put them to sleep.

Ego recognized Mantis’s ability and took her in as an adopted daughter to help him sleep.

Mantis traveled with Ego for a long time and acted according to his commands.

Ironically, however, the ability of Mantis, whom Ego had brought in out of necessity, was ultimately used to stop him, and in the end, it became a choice that poisoned Ego.

"Sleep!"

Sure enough, Mantis’s ability seemed to work, and the light tendrils that had been attacking us soon disappeared.

Ego appeared to have fallen asleep due to Mantis’s power.

"Honestly, I didn’t think you could do it. You’re so weak and skinny."

Once the danger passed, Drax openly spoke his mind.

When I heard Drax say that, I thought, ’What’s with this guy?’

"Keep those thoughts to yourself."

"No, I’m going to live proudly."

Drax’s reply to me was a bit absurd, but I decided to just think of it as Drax being Drax.

Just then, powerful beams of laser began spraying out from Yondu’s ship in all directions.

Streams of light poured all at once toward the surrounding Sovereign warships.

Several warships were caught in the lasers and exploded one after another.

Ziiiiiiing—!!!

KABOOOOOM!!!

Probably, just like in the original, Nebula and Yondu had overloaded the ship to temporarily boost its output.

Thanks to that, they were able to take out the Sovereign warships in an instant, but the aftereffect made the ship seem unusable from then on.

Then Yondu and Nebula escaped the ship—Nebula using her jetpack, and Yondu holding his weapon, the Yaka arrow, in one hand as he descended to the core where we were.

Seeing that, Quill smiled and said to Yondu.

"Haha, just like Mary Poppins."

"Is he cool?"

"Yeah, real cool."

Then Yondu shouted loudly.

"I’m Mary Poppins!"

Mary Poppins was a fairy-tale character famous for flying through the sky on an umbrella.

Comparing Yondu, who was rough and violent, to the gentle childcare provider Mary Poppins was funny in its own way, but considering that he had ultimately protected Quill from Ego’s grasp, it wasn’t entirely wrong either.

Meanwhile, Rocket and Groot also returned.

"Planted! It’ll explode in 5 minutes."

"I am Groot."

"Good!"

However, due to the earlier laser show, the surroundings were beginning to collapse bit by bit.

Plus, the destroyed Sovereign warships were falling down as well, so the area was completely chaotic.

Boom! Crash!

In the middle of that, unluckily, Mantis was hit by a falling rock and knocked out.

Clang!

"Ah!"

"Mantis! Watch out!"

As Mantis collapsed like that, Drax warned her half a beat too late.

It was somewhat comical, but to me, Drax just looked foolish.

Anyway, there wasn’t much time left before the explosion, so Quill spoke to us.

"We need to escape fast! Drax, where’s your jetpack?"

"I don’t wear those things. I’m sensitive down there."

Drax pointed to his chest and said.

Then Rocket burst out laughing hysterically.

"Ahahaha, sensitive down there..."

Quill sighed at that, then took off his own jetpack and attached it to Drax.

The jetpack wrapped around Drax’s upper body and was worn.

"AAH! My man-boobs!"

"Drax, take Mantis with you."

Drax grumbled as he picked up Mantis and escaped through the passage we had dug.

Seeing that, Nebula also spoke.

"I’ll take my sister and get out too."

"Good. Since we’re short on jetpacks, once you reach the ship, hand your jetpack over to Rocket."

"Got it."

Nebula also picked up Gamora and used her jetpack to escape.

Rocket followed them to retrieve the jetpack as well.

We waited for them for a moment.

But unluckily, it seemed Ego had woken up as Mantis’s power wore off.

The entire core suddenly shook violently, and light-formed tendrils erupted from all sides, lunging toward us.

"Oh, damn!"

Then Yondu urgently whistled.

His Yaka arrow sliced through the air and cut down the tendrils one after another.

Groot also stretched his arms long and batted away the tendrils to block them.

Quill fired his blaster, attacking the tendrils, but it didn’t seem to have much effect.

I couldn’t just stand by either, so I used Eldritch Magic to spread a barrier and began blocking the tendrils.

Thump! Thump!!

When the tendrils were stopped by the massive barrier I created, they kept striking down on it as if trying to break it.

Seeing my power, Quill looked at me in surprise and spoke.

"Jin, since when did you have this ability?"

"I’ve always had it. Just never had a chance to use it since there were no fights."

Then Yondu said.

"I’ve seen that ability before. Saw the Rem race use it. I think they called it Eldritch something..."

He must have seen Eldritch Magic while traveling through various galaxies.

"That’s right, that’s it! More importantly, it’s getting harder to hold out, so do something!"

While I was holding up the barrier, Yondu whistled again to move the Yaka arrow.

The arrow flew through the air, slicing through tendrils in succession, and Quill also took cover behind me and kept firing his blaster in support.

Then light began to writhe from all over the core.

The energies that made up the walls and floor gathered in one place as if they were alive.

The light tendrils intertwined and twisted, slowly forming a human shape, and after a moment, the clear figure of a man emerged from the center.

Taking form like that, Ego slowly raised his head, looked at Quill, and said.

"I told you, I can’t do this alone! Don’t defy the cosmic destiny bestowed upon you!"

"Don’t give me that crap! What kind of destiny is turning the entire universe into you? That’s just your greed!"

Ego looked down at Quill for a moment and shook his head.

"Greed? You still don’t understand, Peter. I was alone for thousands of years. In this endless universe, there wasn’t a single being like me. So I made a decision. I decided to fill this universe with things like me. So I would never be alone again."

Quill scoffed.

"So you planted seeds on countless planets and made hundreds of children? And then you just killed most of them?"

"They were just failures."

Hearing that, Quill’s face hardened.

He seemed disgusted that Ego treated his own children as disposable.

"Failures? To you, we were just experiments."

Ego shrugged nonchalantly.

"It was a process for a greater purpose."

After a moment of silence, Quill gritted his teeth and said.

"Right... Now I’m sure. Yondu was right. My real father is a crazy idiot."

Yondu smirked at that, and Ego, apparently bothered, frowned.

"Don’t deny your essence!"

"This IS my essence!"

With that, Quill ended the conversation and raised his blaster again, firing wildly at Ego.

Ego’s body burst and regenerated repeatedly as he shouted with an angry expression.

"How long do you think that shabby barrier of yours will protect you!!!"

With that, Ego suddenly gathered energy, formed a massive tendril, and slammed it down on us.

Honestly, I thought I could block this too with Eldritch Magic, but since that would ruin a good scene, I dispersed the energy of the incoming strike just enough, then dismissed the spell.

CRASH!!!

"Ugh!"

With the barrier gone, Ego immediately created multiple tendrils to try and subdue us.

Groot began swinging his arms again to knock away the tendrils, and Yondu desperately whistled to move the Yaka arrow and block them.

But knowing they couldn’t hold out much longer like this, Yondu urgently shouted to Quill.

"Quill! I don’t shoot with my head! I shoot from the heart!"

Hearing that, Quill lowered his blaster.

And he stood still right there.

He slowly closed both eyes and clenched his fists.

A brief stillness passed.

Then the light around the core began to surge violently.

The energies that made up the floor and walls trembled as if drawn to Quill, and they slowly began gathering toward his hand.

Stone, light, and the planet’s materials mixed together, coalescing around his fist.

Crunch...!

In an instant, they clumped into a massive mass of rock, forming the shape of a giant fist fitted to Quill’s arm.

As if the planet itself was responding to his power.

Ego’s eyes widened greatly at the sight.

"No way...!"

Ego hurriedly extended tendrils to attack Quill.

But it was already too late.

Quill raised his massive fist and slowly opened his mouth.

"For killing my mom..."

His eyes flashed.

"And for breaking my Walkman—"

Then he thrust his fist forward.

"—that was a really big mistake!!!"

CRASH!!!

Quill’s massive fist smashed through the tendrils and struck Ego’s body hard.

The impact sent Ego flying all the way to the opposite wall, where he crashed deep into it with a loud noise.

I shouted urgently.

There was almost no time left before the explosion.

Unlike the original, this time we had already pressed the timer button and planted the bomb, so time was truly running out.

"We’re out of time! It’s about to explode!"

Just then, with perfect timing, we heard the sound of jetpacks and saw Rocket flying in.

The members who had gone ahead seemed to have safely boarded the ship.

"Here! Let’s get out of here fast!"

Rocket quickly tossed us jetpacks—I caught one and Quill caught the other.

But Ego seemed to have recovered from the shock quickly and wasn’t about to let us leave easily.

He extended numerous tendrils again to try and block our movement.

"Damn it, go ahead!"

Quill urgently drew energy from the planet himself to block the tendrils and told us to go.

I quickly equipped the jetpack Rocket gave me and grabbed Groot.

Then I said to Yondu.

"You have your arrow, so you can make it on your own, right?"

"Yeah, don’t worry!"

So I flew to the ship first with Groot.

Thankfully, the ship was still within the planet’s atmosphere, so I could safely ascend with the jetpack.

"Groot, Jin, you’re back. Where are the others?"

Gamora seemed very worried and asked as soon as we arrived.

"Quill is holding off Ego, and Rocket and Yondu will be here soon."

"Wh-what!? They’re still fighting!? It’s about to explode..."

Just then, Rocket also returned, but he was alone.

"Rocket, where’s Peter!?"

"He’s still holding off Ego with Yondu."

At that, Gamora grabbed a weapon from the ship and tried to go back down.

But Rocket, seeing that, first lowered the weapon’s output and fired, knocking Gamora out.

Zing—!

Thud. Thump.

"Can’t lose another friend."

So I asked Rocket.

"Things aren’t looking good down there, are they?"

"Yeah, Quill and Yondu were still fighting Ego. I gave them one of the remaining space suits just in case, but I don’t know if they can escape before the explosion..."

Just then, with a rumbling sound, the entire planet began to shake.

It seemed the bomb we had planted had exploded.

Ding—!

[[(SSS) Matter Manipulation], [(SSS) Energy Manipulation] have been stolen.]

[[(SSS) Matter Manipulation] is absorbed into [(EX) Matter Manipulation].]

[[(SSS) Energy Manipulation] merges with [(SSS) Energy Drain], upgrading to [(EX) Energy Manipulation].]

[[(SS) Energy Bomb], [(SS) Energy Weapon], [(SS) Energy Pressure], [(SS) Escaton Judgment], [(SS) Ray] are absorbed into [(EX) Energy Manipulation].]

[(EX) Energy Manipulation]

Allows the user to manipulate energy.

Judging by the fact that Ego’s abilities were being stolen by me, Ego was definitely dead.

And the energy-related abilities I had accumulated over time automatically merged, upgrading to [(EX) Energy Manipulation].

Even as he died, he gave what he could—what a kind Ego.

We kept the door open, hoping Quill and Yondu would come, but as the planet itself collapsed and the atmosphere held by the planet began to disperse into space, alarms went off on the ship.

Beep! Beep!

[Oxygen levels are decreasing.]

Unable to wait any longer, Rocket had no choice but to press the button and close the ship’s door.

We couldn’t wait anymore.

But before the door closed, I spotted something interesting.

In the distance, several Celestials were watching.

However, they only watched and took no action.

They just silently looked upon the end of their own kind.

This hadn’t happened in the original either.

They watched like that, then suddenly a black hole formed and they began to leave.

What was interesting was that among them was ’Arishem’, the leader of the Celestials.

The distance they were watching from was quite far, so I only noticed once we were out in space.

’In a way, maybe this was lucky? I was thinking of fighting Ego head-on, but...’

If I had fought Ego while still not wanting to reveal my power to them, they might have become wary of me.

If that happened, the Marvel storyline could have changed drastically, leading to unforeseen troublesome situations.

So I thought it was actually fortunate that things worked out well in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and I didn’t have to step in much.

’This is why I can never let my guard down in Marvel. There are just too many cosmic beings...’

After they left and we waited a moment, we saw Yondu and Quill rising into space through the ship’s window.

Yondu was attaching a space suit pack to Quill.

Just like in the original, it seemed he was sacrificing himself by giving the only space suit to Quill to save him.

But I had no intention of letting Yondu die.

So I immediately used Eldritch Magic to create a circular protective barrier around them and pulled them toward the ship.

Then I opened the door and quickly brought them inside.

The other members rushed over as well.

Yondu had been exposed to space for a brief moment and was unconscious.

Quill hurriedly held Yondu in his arms.

Gamora looked pleased that Quill had returned safely, but she tried not to show it because Yondu was in such a state.

"Yondu! Wake up! Yondu!!"

Quill was shaking Yondu’s body, trying to wake him somehow.

I understood his feelings, but shaking him like that while he was frozen seemed like it would only make things worse.

So I had no choice but to step in, place my hand on Yondu, and gently apply a weak heal.

Then Yondu slowly began to regain consciousness.

"Guh! Cough..."

"Yondu!"

Yondu then looked around and said.

"Seeing all you stupid faces, I guess it’s not my time to die yet."