Chapter 1603: Pursuers of the Sun (Forty-Four)_1

In the pitch-black cosmos, the flames from the trail of a spaceship were particularly brilliant. A small scout vessel marked with the Nova Corps logo quickly flew past the remnants of fragmented planets.

One furry paw pressed a button on the control panel. The shield of the side window slowly rose, revealing Star-Lord Quill gazing at the sight of the cosmos and saying:

"Another destroyed star system. The forces of the Extinction Queen must have passed through here, having consumed all the energy of this star."

As Rocket Raccoon worked on the spaceship's equipment, he said, "Thank them for their abundant destructive desires, allowing us to follow their footsteps to this place. I don't believe they can hide their Hive Super Brain for long."

Star-Lord inhaled deeply, puffing out his chest, then sighed, leaning against the side wall of the ship. "We're really in a dire situation now."

"There's more where that came from," Rocket Raccoon announced as he hopped around the control console, pointing Groot towards a lever on the wall. Groot extended a vine-like arm, pulling the lever forcefully downward.

The spaceship shuddered slightly, causing Quill to stagger back a few steps. Rocket Raccoon continued operating the control panel, "Hold on tight, I'm going to accelerate. We need to catch up to this Flank Army before they completely disappear in the cosmos and figure out the coordinates of the Hive Super Brain."

Quill shook his head groggily, bracing himself for the dizzying effect of the sudden acceleration of the less advanced ship. However, just as the energy trail of the engine flared up again, Quill spotted something through the small porthole—pair after pair of glowing red eyes in the distance.

"What's happening?" Quill exclaimed. "Weren't these bugs just passing through here momentarily? Why have they stopped here in such large numbers?"

The screen's light glimmered on Rocket Raccoon's face, turning his every hair into a needle flickering with cold light, exaggerating the shock and uncertainty on his visage.

"Can you see what that red dot on the radar is?"

Rocket Raccoon stepped back, staring up at the radar readout on the holographic screen overhead. Quill rushed into the main control room, joining Rocket Raccoon in examining the abnormality detected by the ship's radar.

"That's a special lifeform that this ship can't identify. It seems to be surrounded by the Insect Race," Rocket Raccoon announced, still staring at the screen.

"But wasn't the Extinction Queen's Flank Army rushing to the front line for support? Why would they delay a combat mission for a single life?" Quill questioned.

Staring at the red dot, Rocket Raccoon paused before finally saying, "Unless they're not unwilling to leave, but unable to leave."

As his words fell, the brightest red dot in the center of the screen suddenly disappeared. Rocket Raccoon's eyes widened in shock, his whiskers twitched involuntarily, then dashed to the radar console, "How is that possible? The life signal hasn't disappeared, but its physical presence does."

"Has it transformed into an energy lifeform?"

"But the energy detection radar didn't send out an alarm!"

Suddenly, Star-Lord froze. He stretched out a hand, trembling fingers pointing at the radar projection screen.

As Rocket Raccoon turned his head, he saw that following the disappearance of the central dot, the surrounding multitude of little red dots began to vanish at an astonishing speed, radiating outwards from the vanished central point.

"Where are these bugs disappearing to?" Quill took two steps back, then rushed to the side window. Just like the radar screen showed, the distinctively red eyes of the Destroying Worms, rapidly became fewer and fewer, a reduction visible even to the naked eye.

As the last of the Destroying Worms, nearest to their ship, disappeared, Quill could finally see how they vanished—after being enveloped by a thick fog, they seemed to dissolve into smoke, vanishing without a trace.

This process wasn't akin to death. Instead, it bore semblance to a terrifying ritualistic sacrifice, reminding Quill of his horrendous encounter in the Dreamworld.

With that, he took a few steps back, then turned around and shouted at the control room, "We need to leave! Now! NOW!"

In the moment of Rocket Raccoon's stunned silence, the wave-like roll of fog closed in on them, encroaching a few feet closer. If the bugs, born for battle and destruction, disintegrated with the slightest touch of the wave, their tiny ship was even more susceptible. Facing a whale-swallowing momentum, their only real option was to run for dear life.

Zigzagging between particles of fog, heading deeper into the silent void, those vanished left no bodies behind. This made the space towards the center more eerie and vacant.

In the heart of the fog, the rising mist enveloped a figure, like the mists of an early foggy morning cradling the rising sun.

Shiller quietly watched this all unfold, with a raspier-than-normal voice, he said, "They just told me to come up and exercise."

"Hmm..." Gray Mist dragged out his response, not quite certain, "You're killing quicker than us initially, but this doesn't seem like exercise."

"I don't know what exercise is," Shiller admitted bluntly to Gray Mist.

Gray Mist hesitated before responding, "Actually, I'm not too sure either. Greed only mentioned exercise, said it was good for the body, but I'm not sure what he meant."

After pondering for a moment, Gray Mist said, "From what I've observed, normal exercise is about making oneself tired through various activities."

"But before, Sloth and I teamed up to fight those giant bugs. We both ended up exhausted, and the other Shillers weren't pleased. So I'm thinking, maybe the kind of 'exercise' they are referring to isn't this?"

"Then what kind of 'exercise' are they talking about?"

Gray mist seemed to ponder for a moment before suggesting, "How about we try a different type of 'exercise'?"

Soon, Shiller arrived in a star system close to the front line of the Shi'ar Empire's Giant Teleportation Gate Star Zone. The area was swarming with bugs, seemingly a storehouse of troops ready to replenish the front lines.

Indeed, not far from the star, Shiller spotted two nests the size of planets, continuously spewing out grotesque Insect Race soldiers.

Without uttering a word, Shiller went into action. The gray mist particles didn't dissipate like usual; instead, they formed into a swift sword, extending straight in one direction at the speed of light.

Against the rays of the sun, the gray mist line reached its limit, once again converging into the shape of Shiller in front of a dazzling ball of fire.

As his silhouette lit up, countless gray mist particles spread out and started rapidly converging towards a single point, compressing, compressing, and compressing again.

Then, gray mist particles continuously converged at superluminal speeds until they were compressed into a dense core.

Through endless hammering and collisions by the outer particles against the core, a point of light ignited in the center, followed by peculiar fusion fire surging forth.

In the minute the fusion fire erupted, its brightness, enough to illuminate a few dozen star systems within its range, began to escape at superluminal speed.

The fire underwent a transformation from birth to decay within a few seconds, and as the gravitational pull on the dense core reached a point that its structure could no longer bear, the gray mist particles in the center of the core softened from their compressed state into a different formation—all the particles began collapsing inwards.

An explosion, a devastating explosion, instantly swept across dozens of star systems obliterating everything in its reach.

An unimaginable gravitational pull shattered the gray mist particles into fragments. A horrifying hollow spread outwards, giving rise to an infinitely massive phenomenon exceeding the density limits of all celestial bodies in the universe.

This massive gravitational pull didn't just absorb physical matter and light rays, it sucked in energy, souls, spirits, and other unfathomable intangibles until even the fundamental rules of the universe vanished.

In the expanse outside those tens of star systems, everyone witnessed a large area of the universe collapse in mere microseconds, absolutely everything physically present disappeared, replaced with a 'void realms' where not even thoughts could exist.

As the beam of light from the devastating explosion reached the front line, beings such as the Iron Demon God, King of Brightness, and others within the cosmic frontier of the Individual Universe, turned their gazes towards the void realm to find a gradually rising black sun.

"What is that?" Thor asked, eyes wide open.

"That is Shiller." Stark responded immediately, before raising his voice in disbelief, "Professor Charles, this is your idea of getting Shiller to have a bit of 'exercise'? My God, what the hell is that thing?!"

"That is an absolute void." Magneto's voice resonated from behind Stark. Just a lone figure floating through the cosmos, he appeared insignificant compared to the gigantic Demon God, yet his presence seemed broader.

Magneto's voice had a hollow tone, like he was contemplating something. He continued, "There is nothing there. No life, no light…""

As Magneto paused mid-sentence, Stark had yet to ascertain the severity of the situation. He was about to inquire when he heard Magneto continue.

"There are no fundamental forces, no rules, no energy, no thoughts... that place simply has no universe."

Stark's eyes slowly widened, but before he could express his views, Thor's worried voice reached his ears—"It's moving... that thing, it's moving! It's on the move!!!"

Instantly, Stark turned his gaze to the slow-moving, giant black sun, radiating faint rays of light from its edges; everything in its path disappeared thoroughly as if erased by an eraser.

"Where is it going?" The question formed the only thought in Stark's mind.

"Insect Race, it's heading towards the Insect Race's front line!" Loki bolted over, eyes widening as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, taking in the eerily empty void.

"So, that's Shiller's idea of outdoor 'exercise'?"

Stark stared at the black sun dumbfoundedly. The traces of certain particles' movements in its vicinity seemed familiar. After a moment of recollection, realization hit him and he roared in disbelief.

"Don't tell me he took it to mean physical motion?!?!"