Chapter 344: Clark vs. Ego

As the sparks laced with lightning formed a portal before Gamora, a bald woman with blue skin, her body mostly mechanical, stepped out with a face full of murderous intent. The blade of her sword, the Night Sky, emitted waves of divine power that made hearts tremble.

For Gamora, the woman was all too familiar. It was Nebula, who had been adopted by Thanos alongside her and had escaped from his clutches, but who always seemed to find trouble with her.

Seeing Nebula free and appearing so abruptly before her, Gamora stood up from the ground, her muscles tensing instinctively, readying herself for battle.

Now, Nebula was no longer the weaker fighter she once could easily dominate. Armed with a divine artifact, her strength surpassed Gamora's, making her a fearsome enemy.

The cruel power of divinity pulsed through the Night Sky Sword as Nebula lifted her arm, the sword pointing at Gamora, "Gamora, today it looks like no one can help you, not even Thanos!"

Gamora sighed and shook her head, "Nebula, you really are relentless. Do you want to win that badly?"

"Today, the one to become a ghost will be you!" Nebula roared, leaping forward and raising the Night Sky Sword high, slashing down at Gamora!

Though Gamora had always been stronger than Nebula, even after Nebula's enhancements, she couldn't match the power granted by a divine artifact like the Night Sky Sword.

The fight was intense, but Gamora managed to hold her own for over thirty rounds under Nebula's relentless attacks until her sword was shattered by the Night Sky Sword, finally succumbing to defeat.

With the sword's tip at Gamora's throat, Nebula felt a change in her heart. Years of resentment seemed to dissipate, and even the Night Sky Sword felt closer to her. It was as if she had unlocked her true self at last.

Looking at the struggling, resigned Gamora, Nebula's expression softened, "Actually, it has always been you who wanted to win, while I just wanted a sister."

After speaking, Nebula withdrew the Night Sky Sword, her face calm as she looked at the astonished Gamora.

Nebula had broken her internal shackles and opened her heart to Gamora for the first time. Meanwhile, the notorious Star-Lord was facing the biggest crisis of his life.

Having awakened his celestial genes, Star-Lord's eyes connected to the cosmic starry sky, listening to Ego's grand plans of evil conquest.

He was in a state of confusion, undergoing Ego's brainwashing, until he asked about the most important woman in his life, his mother.

"I truly loved her, my little Lily knew every lyric to every song on the radio…" Ego reminisced, "I went back to Earth to see her three times, and I knew if I went back one more time, I would never leave."

His expression then turned painful, "But that would have ended my great plans and the purpose of my life, so I made the hard choice, the saddest part being that I placed a tumor in her brain…"

Hearing this, Star-Lord's deep eyes suddenly cleared, filled with hostility, "What—did—you—say!?"

"Well, I know this sounds bad…"

Before Ego could finish, Star-Lord had already drawn his energy pistol, blasting Ego into pieces.

His mother was Star-Lord's greatest vulnerability; an untouchable rage that called for retribution. If the one who hurt his mother was a god, then he would raise his gun to slay a god. If it was his father, he would not hesitate to commit patricide.

However, as Clark had explained to Rocket and the others, Ego's means of communication was always just an avatar; his true form was the planet beneath their feet. Destroying an avatar inflicted no real damage on Ego.

The battered form of the avatar reassembled, and Ego, enraged at the defiance shown by Star-Lord, hysterically yelled, "You are truly overestimating yourself. I made such efforts to perfect you, and this is how you repay me?"

"You killed my mother!" Star-Lord retorted angrily.

"It seems you still need to mature." Ego, intending to forcibly extract the divine power from Star-Lord, suddenly turned stern and, with a wave of his hand, a pillar of divine energy formed a cage around Star-Lord, trapping him securely. Ego then swiftly moved outside his palace.

In the movie, Rocket Raccoon and Yondu directly attacked Ego's avatar with their ship, but Clark's arrival prompted Ego to react sooner.

This wasn't to say that Clark's presence made things worse, but rather, it forced Ego to take sufficient precaution.

Ego's true form was the planet they were on; landing unnoticed was impossible

. To him, ordinary beings were merely fleas to be cleaned off leisurely. He wouldn't let a mere flea disrupt his important tasks.

Clark himself was a cosmic deity, and although his strength was constrained on the physical plane, he was still a formidable presence, far more powerful than Ego.

A person might ignore a flea landing on them, but they cannot disregard a towering, burly man charging at them with full force.

The Heart One spaceship arrived above Ego's planet, casting a huge shadow, but Ego, emerging from his palace, didn't spare a glance at the massive ship. His focus was entirely on the handsome young man hovering in mid-air.

"Prince Clark!?"

Clark's reputation as an unbeaten warrior was well-known, and Ego, having accessed information from other powers, had seen images of Clark. He had never expected this "madman" to challenge him, especially at such an inconvenient time.

Looking displeased at Clark, who was smiling faintly, Ego spoke first, "Prince, I'm not in the mood for a fight. If you've come to challenge me, congratulations, you've won. I concede."

"Conceding isn't that simple," Clark shook his head, unswayed, "Your evil plan involves devouring countless life-bearing planets to feed your ambition for power, but you shouldn't have included my home planet Earth in your expansion plans. I'm not here for a spar; I'm here to kill you."

"Kill me?" Ego scoffed. "Can you really?"

"Boom!"

Before Ego could finish speaking, Clark had already launched a punch from afar, blasting his divine-energy-formed avatar into pieces.

However, in the next moment, a surge of energy erupted from the entire planet, and Ego's voice boomed through the cosmos, "Prince, if you really care about your home planet, I can promise to withdraw the seeds left there. How about we stop this now?"

While saying this, tangible divine power gathered, forming a gigantic fist from interwoven energy streams, punching upwards towards Clark in mid-air.

"Hmph, as expected, totally insincere."

Clark knew that once Ego's plan started, it couldn't be stopped. His gaze hardened, and he met the energy fist with a punch of his own.

"Boom!"

The collision of divine forces was so powerful it changed the very nature of the planet, causing Ego's world to tremble violently under the immense energy impact.

Propelled by the recoil of the punch, Clark was blasted out of the atmosphere before stabilizing himself.

Flexing his slightly numb arm, Clark muttered, "Concentrating the power of a planet into a punch is indeed powerful! Worth a fight!"

With the final word "fight," Clark dove back towards Ego's planet.

As a living planet, Ego's strengths and vulnerabilities were clear. Clark was confident he could break through the divine barrier quickly and strike directly at the planet's core.

Beneath the planet's surface lay Ego's brain, and Clark didn't believe it could withstand his mighty blow. As Clark re-entered the atmosphere, filled with determination, his expression suddenly changed.

Accompanied by a clear bird's cry, a flaming avatar of Ego rose to meet him, charging straight towards Clark!

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