Ego

A raspy voice, like the hiss of a venomous snake, came through the communicator.

After shutting it off, Thanos stared into the distant void, his fists unconsciously clenching.

"Just wait... One day, I'll restore balance to this overburdened universe," he muttered darkly, his twisted determination echoing throughout the ship until it faded away into the silence.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Zane watched in mild surprise as the Collector and the Grandmaster abruptly turned and left without even uttering a single harsh word.

He was slightly taken aback. They were just at each other's throats a moment ago, and now they were gone. 

They were on the same level of existence as him, six-dimensional beings—so why did they back off so easily?

What Zane didn't realize was that, despite being on his level, both the Collector and the Grandmaster weren't skilled at combat.

Even the existence of the Celestials was something Zane had only known about from comic books and forums in his previous life.

In fact, in the comics, the Celestials were extremely mysterious in the Marvel Universe, rarely making appearances. Only their own members likely knew their exact numbers or how their power was structured.

However, Zane did have some understanding of the "Judge" that the Collector had mentioned.

The Judge was the leader of the Celestials, responsible for making decisions based on the information provided by other members.

For now, avoiding a direct confrontation with the Celestials was advantageous for Zane. 

He had only recently ascended to the status of a mid-level god, and while his power was incredibly stable thanks to his deep foundation, he still hadn't fully mastered the vast abilities of a six-dimensional being.

Facing an unknown powerhouse like the Celestials, Zane was more than happy to buy himself some breathing room.

Though the time might be short, it would be enough for Zane to elevate his strength to another level.

With that in mind, Zane made a risky decision in his heart.

Originally, he had planned to wait until the storyline progressed to a certain point to acquire something without any risk. 

But plans could never keep up with changes, and time was running out for him.

He had to improve his power in a short period—there was no other way to deal with the Celestials that would inevitably come for him.

Zane tossed a quantum communicator to Thor, who had remained silent in the crowd below.

"In the next ten years, if Asgard faces a life-or-death crisis, you can contact me. For Odin's sake, I'll step in and help you," Zane said coolly, glancing at the now much-changed Thor.

Thor stood up, took the communicator, and bowed respectfully to Zane.

"Thank you, Lord Zane."

No matter how close Lorna and the others had come to killing him before, Thor couldn't refuse this gesture of goodwill, even if it felt a bit like charity.

Asgard needed time, and they also needed the protection of someone as strong as Zane.

Zane didn't bother to acknowledge them further. He turned around, conjured a space portal with his abilities, and left with Lorna and the others.

Inside the now mechanized planet that was the Ark, Skynet looked at Zane and asked:

"Boss, where to next?"

"Vormir," Zane replied calmly, his gaze fixed on the endless darkness of the void, naming the distant planet.

That's right—it's the planet Vormir, the one where the Soul Stone is kept.

At this stage, the only way for Zane to quickly increase his power is to collect all the Infinity Stones. 

A single Infinity Stone has limited power, but once all six are gathered, their combined abilities are terrifying.

In the original story, Thanos only had to snap his fingers to wipe out half of all life in the universe. 

Even now, as a six-dimensional being, Zane couldn't replicate that feat.

However, something awkward happened at that moment.

Skynet's eyes flashed with green streams of data flowing rapidly.

After a while, Skynet awkwardly smiled at Zane.

"Boss, where is Vormir? It seems we don't have its coordinates in our star map."

"..."

Zane stared at Skynet, his mouth twitching slightly.

Only now did Zane suddenly realize that he only knew the name of the planet.

In such a vast universe, there were countless planets with the same name. 

There could be tens of millions, if not billions, of planets called Vormir—how was he supposed to find the right one?

In the original story, Thanos only found Vormir because Gamora led the way.

As far as Zane knew, Gamora was the only one in the entire universe who knew how to get to Vormir.

Suddenly, Zane remembered that five years ago, although he hadn't killed Star-Lord and Gamora, he had dumped them into space, leaving them to die.

Damn, could they really have died?

After all, Star-Lord has the protagonist's halo. He shouldn't have been so easy to get rid of... Right?

Maybe... hopefully...

"Skynet, use your network to search for any traces of Star-Lord and Gamora. Confirm whether they're still alive," Zane said urgently.

"Got it, boss."

Instantly, green data streams flowed like a waterfall through Skynet's system as countless images were filtered and sorted.

Five minutes later, a video suddenly appeared in Skynet's database and was projected in front of Zane.

In the footage, an old man with gray-white hair controlled an all-white spaceship using two energy whips, blasting thousands of smaller ships with a marauder-style design into pieces.

As the last small ship was destroyed by a strange energy, the video cut out to static.

"Boss, this video is from two days ago," Skynet said calmly. "Star-Lord and Gamora were on the ship being attacked. Their current status is unclear."

After Skynet shut off the projection, Zane let out a sigh of relief.

The man in the video, controlling the spaceship with energy whips, was almost certainly Star-Lord's biological father, Ego.

No, to be more precise—it.

Ego was a sentient planet that spread its offspring across the universe, seeking to expand its influence. 

He was also, without a doubt, the universe's most prolific "stud," breaking all biological boundaries with his bizarre tastes.

He impregnated both living and non-living beings, fathering tens of thousands of children.

His goal? To find a child capable of inheriting his power, so that Ego could harness that child's energy and fulfill his ambition of becoming the universe itself.

Ego's desire was simple and pure—just like the most basic instincts of life.

To endlessly divide and reproduce, until the entire universe became a part of him.

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