Chapter 238

Damian didn't return home but appeared directly on Mars.

Looking down, he saw a city under construction, many robots were moving back and forth carrying materials, welding, or building.

Mars had changed considerably in over a year and was no longer a red and arid planet.

The atmosphere now resembled that of Earth, of course, there were differences, and it still wasn't as hospitable for humans compared to Earth.

Nevertheless, the changes were in progress; the plants that had grown all over the world were working constantly to create a pleasant atmosphere.

All these changes had been driven by Arishem, who was sleeping at the planet's core, and Cortana, who was accelerating the process in a favorable direction.

Damian continued moving until he reached a mountain a couple of kilometers from the city.

A secret base had been built there using the best possible materials; this base was the reason why the city wasn't ready yet after a year.

The last time Damian improved his magic circle, it released an absurd amount of energy.

Damian and Cortana had planned to use the resulting energy from his advancement to the sixth magic circle to propel the expansion of the system.

Neither of them could predict how intense the energy would be, so the underground base was ridiculously reinforced.

Damian passed through dozens of reinforced doors before reaching the center of the base. Many metal tubes were connected to the room, their function being to distribute his energy to reduce pressure and absorb everything.

Damian moved to the center of the room where there was a chair; he just sat down before closing his eyes and concentrating fully on building his sixth magic circle.

...

It was the next day since Damian had dedicated all his attention to finishing his sixth magic circle, and Monica finally prepared to depart for space.

Her ship was in the backyard behind the palace, and the whole family had come to bid her farewell.

The ship was quite large, 5 meters high and about 20 meters long. It had a manta ray shape very similar to her submarine, with gold stripes on the white paint.

It looked quite expensive and almost seemed to say "steal me," but Monica wasn't bothered by this; she was really looking forward to the poor souls who would try.

Among them was Maria, Monica's mother, and there was another rather controversial person, Loki.

Loki had his usual slight smile as he watched Monica bid farewell to everyone.

Loki has to admit that at first, he was very confused by the way they all treated each other; for beings so powerful, they sometimes acted very... mortal.

He has to admit that they remind him a bit of his mother; none of them had the arrogance of beings at their level.

Monica finally hugged her mother and gave her a kiss on the cheek, saying goodbye.

Seeing Loki next to Maria, Monica just looked at him before quickly saying goodbye and heading towards her ship.

The ship ascended slightly before shooting out of Earth; as it left the atmosphere, the ship's engines hummed, making the ship disappear from view.

Monica got up from the seat of the ship before starting to explore it; it would take quite a while to reach her destination even if she was traveling in hyperspace.

Inside, it wasn't much different from the outside; everything was white and gold, not really look like a ship that could defend itself.

Still, despite appearances, the ship had a fairly complete and advanced weapon system.

Anyone who underestimated her ship would be destined to wander through space forever.

Monica approached a hidden fridge before taking out a drink and lying down on the sofa while watching television; she had downloaded several of her favorite shows, so she could kill time for a while.

Lying on the sofa with a drink in her hand, she had a satisfied smile; this was really worth leaving home for.

Several hours passed as the ship traveled silently in space towards Morag.

Suddenly, the ship trembled violently before exiting hyperspace. Monica, who was quietly lying down, almost fell off the sofa.

Quickly getting up, she reached the ship's controls and was surprised to see that she hadn't arrived at Morag; instead, she had been surrounded by several ships.

It already seemed strange that the ship moved so violently; it turned out that it wasn't something normal.

Several rays headed towards her ship, holding it tightly while pulling it in.

Monica immediately assumed they were pirates, so with a smile, she extended her hand while slowly closing her fist.

The pirate ships immediately began to be pulled towards a point in space, inside the ships the alarms sounded loud as the sound of metal crunching was the last thing they heard before all the pirate ships turned into one big ball of metal.

Monica shook her head before piloting the ship away from the place and entering hyperspace again.

As according to the computer, there were only a few minutes left, Monica didn't move and just waited silently.

The ship's engines hummed softly before it seemed like the ship stopped abruptly, but it was just a perception since the ship had just exited hyperspace.

In the distance, there was a somewhat purplish planet with constant storms.

Monica pressed several buttons on her ship before an interface indicated her destination.

She took the controls before accelerating the ship towards the planet; the ship descended gently through the atmosphere as it approached the indicated point.

Unbeknownst to Monica, on the other side of the planet, an orange ship was quickly leaving before entering hyperspace.

Approaching the surface, Monica saw several humanoid figures next to a cannon as they looked in one direction.

One of the humanoids seemed to be scolding the rest.

Frowning, wondering if someone beat her to it, she quickly made the ship start landing in automatic mode before she launched and fell near the people.

"Hey," Monica said, catching the attention of the humanoids.

Immediately, a man with dark skin and some body modifications turned to look at her.

"Oh, wait, I know you," Monica said, squinting as she put her hand on her chin, trying to remember.

The Kree soldier with his subordinate Sakarians looked at the woman who appeared in front of him with confusion.

"Oh! I remember you, you were part of Starforce," Monica said, recalling where she had seen him.

"Who are you?" the Kree man said, furrowing his brow. Starforce was a long time ago.

"You probably don't remember me; back then, I was a child. My father is Damian, who is married to Carol Danvers," Monica said, causing the Kree man to widen his eyes.

"You... you were that little girl with that monster," the Kree said, his voice trembling at first.

"How rude, what was your name again?" Monica asked, looking at him.

The Kree man looked into Monica's red eyes with fear, realizing she wasn't someone he could mess with.

"Korath," the man said.

"Korath, I see. So, have you seen a silver orb around here?" Monica asked, looking at him.

"A man took it just a few minutes ago," Korath said honestly.

"I see. And where do you think he took the orb?" Monica asked, furrowing her brow slightly. The universe was so vast that finding someone could be really difficult.

"That man looked like a Ravanger; he'll probably try to sell the orb, and the nearest place is Xandar. I would start looking there," Korath said proactively, showing her a hologram of the man.

He was also a Cybord, and many parts of his body had been replaced. It wasn't a problem to create a hologram of something he had just seen.

"Well, thank you for your cooperation," Monica said, nodding before quickly flying to her ship, starting the engines, and heading toward Xandar.

Korath remained in place and let out a sigh he didn't realize he was holding. There was always the possibility of being silenced after giving information.

He must return and quickly inform Ronan that Damian is after the orb; it surely wouldn't be good for them.

Damian's name was not unknown in the neighboring galaxies; many witnesses saw him brutally killing the Collector and later moving Knowhere from one side of the galaxy to the other.

This information was also confirmed by Xandar, categorizing him as a cosmic being of great power.

Although several years have passed since he was last heard of, his name still ranks alongside the Mad Titan.

Monica saw elongated particles forming a tunnel in front of her as the ship advanced.

She hoped the person who stole the orb really went to Xandar, or she would have to return home with a failed mission, and her father would have to take care of finding it.

If she returned empty-handed, no one would forget it, and they would tease her for eternity.

Almost half an hour passed when her ship finally emerged from hyperspace. She quickly looked around for any ships but saw nothing.

She clicked her tongue before descending towards Xandar while her ship entered stealth mode.

This place was not unfamiliar to her; she had come a couple of times with her father, so she knew how it worked quite well.

Therefore, she didn't forget to hide her energy signature to avoid drawing attention to her arrival.

Her ship stopped several hundred meters above the surface before she leaped from the ship, the wind blowing her hair forcefully before landing softly.

She was a bit lost on how to find the person who had the orb; her familiars was more geared towards combat, and her reconnaissance skills weren't very good.

With no other option, she went to the commercial area in the city center, the busiest place with the most potential buyers for the orb.

Monica bought a drink and sat on a small balcony while watching the people passing by.

Suddenly, her eyes focused on a man with brown hair wearing a long red coat.

"I've got you," Monica murmured happily as she continued watching him. At that moment, she also noticed she wasn't the only one going after that man.

A green-skinned woman was also following him, along with a raccoon and a humanoid tree.

Monica watched them before quickly advancing towards the store where the man with the orb entered, ready to infiltrate and steal the orb once the transaction was complete, and the buyer was about to store it.

She was covered by a simple invisibility cloak made with her magic, so she didn't really draw attention despite being in such a visible place.

Monica didn't know what happened, but the man quickly left the store even with the orb while complaining about it.

Then she saw the green-skinned woman waiting for him at the exit.

The corner of her lips curved slightly as she saw that the man seemed a bit captivated by the green-skinned woman.

Both quickly started chatting before the situation changed entirely.

Not too surprised, she hit him before taking the orb and starting to run.

Her eyes immediately narrowed as she realized her target was indeed the orb, as she suspected.

For now, she decided to just watch. It was a bit amusing to see how the man, now identified as Peter, threw a device that wrapped around the woman's legs, bringing her down.

Peter quickly tried to snatch the orb from the woman but was quickly overpowered by her.

Just when Monica suspected the woman would kill him, the raccoon arrived with the humanoid tree, knocking down the green-skinned woman. The tree quickly began wrapping her with its branches while the raccoon complained that she wasn't the target.

This piqued Monica's curiosity because she thought both were after the orb.

Peter took this opportunity to get up and run with the orb.

The green-skinned woman broke free from the branches before sending the raccoon flying; she quickly looked in Peter's direction before throwing a dagger at him.

To her surprise, instead of aiming for his body, she simply hit the orb, causing it to fall and roll to the lower floor.

Seeing the orb so close to her, she decided she had seen enough, so she jumped down to grab the orb before it fell into someone else's hands.

Looking at the metallic sphere, she wondered what could be inside that even her father wanted it.

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