"Otherwise, when the Seeker and the Celestials arrive, they won't be as easy to deal with as I am," Ego said, his tone lofty, as if scolding a junior, while he looked down at Zane.
"Mm-hmm, thank you for your kind advice," Zane nodded, his faint smile remaining unchanged.
The next moment, just as Ego was about to further reprimand the seemingly obedient kid before him, Zane's figure suddenly vanished from his sight.
A scythe appeared as soon as Zane disappeared, slicing through Ego's body, splitting him cleanly in half. The cut surface writhed with blue energy tendrils.
"You brat! How dare you!" Even though Ego had been neatly sliced from head to toe, he wasn't dead. Instead, he hung his half-severed head and roared at Zane.
In response, a thick beam of energy shot straight from Zane's palm, piercing through Ego's body and the massive energy tendrils extending beneath him. It left a deep, bottomless pit on Ego's planet.
"You're so old, and yet you talk so much," Zane muttered mockingly, deactivating the [Son of Light] ability as he looked down at Ego's planet below.
After discovering that Ego was also a member of the Celestial group, Zane had no intention of resolving things peacefully. This was the perfect opportunity to test the strength of the Celestial members and get a taste of six-dimensional combat.
It would serve as preparation for when the Seeker and Celestial Destroyer, as mentioned by Ego, would inevitably come.
As for Gamora, who was still in Ego's grasp, Zane wasn't worried at all. He had the skill [Death River], so even if Gamora was accidentally killed, he could simply resurrect her. He could then extract the exact map leading to the Soul Stone from her later.
As Ego's avatar was obliterated into dust by Zane, the planet below, Ego's true form, seemed to awaken.
Countless blue energy tendrils erupted from the ground, writhing wildly through the air. The blood-red continental plates started to shift unnaturally, forming a massive face.
"You insolent fool, you're asking for death!" roared Ego, now fully awakened, as his voice echoed through the void, shattering countless asteroids floating nearby.
In the next moment, the colossal face formed from the continental plates opened its mouth, and a tendril wrapped in rock shot out from it, rushing toward Zane at near light speed.
Seeing the grotesque scene, Zane frowned in disgust. "So disgusting."
The next moment, deathly energy surged into Zane's scythe like a tidal wave.
A massive slash, extending thousands of kilometers, tore through the void, precisely cutting the energy tendril in half. The attack left a deep, bottomless scar on Ego's planetary face.
A pained roar echoed across the sky as Ego quickly retracted the severed tendril back into his body, his gaze turning crazed as he stared at Zane floating in the void.
"You've completely enraged me, boy!" Ego roared, as Zane's scythe turned into a shadowy blur.
As Ego's star let out a roar that seemed powerful enough to shatter space itself, more energy tendrils surged from beneath the ground. From space, Ego's planet now resembled a massive ball of fur, with tendrils weaving and twisting around one another, slowly enveloping the entire planet.
The continental plates, once fused together, abruptly shattered, with countless energy tendrils intertwining, slowly wrapping the entire planet within their grasp. Star-Lord was swiftly dragged underground for protection.
As for Gamora, Ego hadn't killed her; she remained suspended in mid-air. Since Zane had demanded her, Ego figured she must serve some greater purpose.
Even though she was of no use to him, Ego thought it wise to keep her alive to possibly threaten Zane later. After all, having lived for so long, Ego wasn't foolish enough to kill someone who might still be valuable.
While Ego's planet was wrapped tightly in those blue energy tendrils, Zane, standing in space, was far from idle. His right hand, along with the Reaper's Scythe, became a blur of shadows.
The godhead in his soul spun rapidly, and the divine power of death rules flowed through the scythe, transforming into towering gray slashes that cut through the void, leaving spatial rifts in their wake as they bombarded Ego.
Numerous energy tendrils were severed in two, while successive slashes blasted through the layers of tendrils and struck the planet's surface, carving deep, bottomless gorges.
However, after being mitigated by layer upon layer of tendrils, Zane's attacks failed to reach Ego's core, where his vital parts were located.
The severed tendrils and the massive gorges on the planet's surface quickly regenerated under Ego's control, rendering Zane's efforts ineffective.
Witnessing this, Zane stopped his futile assault and stood quietly in space, observing Ego's next move. Once the tendrils fully covered the planet, more surged outward, forming the skeleton of a gigantic humanoid figure in space.
Soon, blood vessels, nerves, organs, muscles, skin, hair, and clothing all materialized, completing the form. The original planet, now serving as the giant's heart, was securely protected within.
Inside the mechanical planet, Lorna and the others stared at the display in sheer disbelief, watching the incredible scene unfold.
Once the giant was fully formed, its massive size stunned everyone. At this moment, a planet appeared like nothing more than a slightly large soccer ball in comparison to this colossal being.
Everyone inside the mechanical planet simultaneously turned their worried gazes toward Zane.
Meanwhile, Skynet silently began charging the main and auxiliary cannons, ready to provide support to Zane at any moment.
Sensing the mechanical planet's weaponry powering up behind him, Zane turned back with a gleeful smile.
"Don't interfere!" Zane's telepathic voice resonated in the minds of everyone aboard the mechanical planet.
Feeling the excitement and confidence in Zane's words, the crew's tension eased slightly. Even Skynet halted its actions.
From their experience, they knew that Zane was not one to be blindly overconfident. For him to face this giant version of Ego and still confidently demand no interference, he surely had his reasons.
After fully transforming into the giant, Ego stretched contentedly. A casual wave of his hand shattered a nearby satellite, while a planet behind him was knocked off its original orbit, causing a cascade of catastrophes.
Even from light-years away, some civilizations could clearly see the towering giant suspended in space.
"Kid, forcing me into this form is already something you can take pride in," Ego said.
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