Invasion pt2

[3rd person POV]

The golden energy around Jack pulsed, brighter and more intense as the battle raged on. His gaze was fixed ahead, scanning the endless tide of symbiotes pouring out of the space cracks. The army was overwhelming, their grotesque forms slithering through the void, seemingly endless.

Carol was already darting towards the tear in space, her photon blasts lighting up the battlefield. She sliced through the swarm, every explosion of light clearing a path in the dark, writhing mass. Jack followed her with his eyes for a moment, then refocused. This side of the battle was his now. The Nova Corps needed him to hold the line, and Jack wasn't about to let them down.

The Nova Corps fighters zipped around Jack, firing plasma bolts at the oncoming army. Explosions erupted in the distance as their shots hit the mark, but the symbiotes regrouped quickly, adapting and pressing forward. The symbiote wave began to close in faster than the corps could hold them back.

"Alright, time to make a move," Jack muttered to himself, his body glowing with energy. He clenched his fists, summoning the cosmic power he absorbed from Carol. His hands hummed with radiant light as he flung another energy blast into the advancing symbiotes. The blast ripped through the enemy ranks, vaporizing dozens of them in an instant.

The Nova Corps troops cheered, gaining a temporary boost in morale, but the tide wasn't stopping. A handful of symbiotes broke through the defensive line and latched onto one of the Nova fighters, tearing through its armor with savage precision. The pilot screamed as his ship spun out of control, careening toward the surface of Xandar.

Jack gritted his teeth, extending his hand toward the falling ship. He focused his energy, willing the cosmic force to guide his movements. A golden beam shot from his palm, wrapping around the ship like a tether, halting its descent just before it could crash. He yanked the ship back to safety.

"I didn't sign up to be a space hero," he muttered, releasing the pilot.

"Jack, more incoming!" Irani's voice crackled through his comms, "We've detected larger symbiote creatures emerging from the rift. The sonic weapons are ready, but we need more time to deploy them."

"Then I'll give you time!" Jack yelled, launching himself forward. His speed was incredible, a streak of golden light cutting through space. He flew straight into the thick of the symbiote horde, fists blazing with cosmic energy.

Each punch he threw released a shockwave of raw power, sending symbiotes flying in every direction. Black tendrils snapped at him, but he dodged and weaved between them with ease, his superhuman agility allowing him to dance through the chaos. He could feel his body adapting, the system integrating Carol's abilities perfectly into his fighting style.

One of the larger symbiotes—towering over the others with a jagged maw and tentacles writhing from its back—charged toward him. Jack smirked.

"Alright, ugly," he muttered, "Let's see how tough you are."

He rocketed forward, slamming his fist into the creature's chest. The impact reverberated through space, but the symbiote barely flinched. It roared, swinging one of its massive tentacles at Jack. He dodged at the last second, twisting his body and firing a photon blast straight into its face. The creature screeched in agony, its face melting under the energy's intensity. Jack followed up with another barrage of punches, each one laced with the full force of his cosmic power.

Behind him, the Nova Corps fighters were doing their best to hold the line, but the symbiote army was relentless. Ships exploded, pilots screamed over the comms as they were overwhelmed.

Jack flew around at a blinding speed, catching the falling pilots, and binding them with his energy construct to create a large chain to pull them to safety. Then he charged back into the fray, punching and kicking symbiotes away from the Nova ships as quickly as he could.

But even his enhanced reflexes couldn't save everyone.

"Energy missiles!" He unleashed ten bolts of golden energy, piercing through symbiotes, clearing the way for a pair of Nova fighters.

On the other side, Nebula's ship roared past, firing plasma cannons into the swarm. Her ship tore through the symbiote ranks, blasting everything in her path, but more symbiotes kept emerging from the cracks. They swarmed Nebula's ship, claws raking against the hull, looking for weak points. Rosia came to the rescue with her new ship.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you all!" She yelled as she fired salvos of missiles into the symbiote horde. The explosions scattered the swarm, buying Nebula time to jump out of the ship. She quickly put on her suit, activated it, and jumped out of the ship, hitting the self-destruct mode.

Rosia zoomed past Nebula, shooting symbiote creatures before the woman grabbed onto her wing.

"You alright, Nebula?" She asked while Nebula climbed into her cockpit.

"I'll live," she replied, taking charge of the secondary weapon system at the back. "Let's light them up!"

"Roger that!" Rosia grinned as Nebula opened fire with the plasma cannons. The symbiotes screeched as they burned, their charred bodies floating lifelessly through space. Rosia took the chance to fly through the gap, unleashing energy bombs all around. The explosions cleared more symbiotes.

Nebula smiled behind her helmet and aimed at more incoming symbiotes at the flank.

"Irani, where are those sonic weapons?" Jack shouted.

"They're en route!" Irani replied, her voice strained. "But they won't be enough. We need a coordinated strike if we're going to break through their defenses."

"Fine, just hurry up!" Jack growled. He could feel the weight of the battle pressing down on him. There were just too many of them.

He glanced at the space crack where Carol had disappeared. He had to trust that she was handling things on the other side, but the uncertainty gnawed at him. What if she couldn't stop the invasion? What if this was their last stand?

No. He couldn't think like that. Not now.

A sudden surge of energy washed over him, pulling him out of his thoughts. His senses flared to life, and his cosmic awareness kicked in. He could feel them—symbiotes, hundreds if not thousands of them, closing in from every direction.

"Alright, you bastards," Jack said, his eyes glowing with golden light. "You want to play rough? Let's play."

He shot upward, high above the battlefield, and held out both hands. Energy crackled around him, arcs of cosmic power swirling as he gathered every ounce of strength he had. Below him, the symbiote army surged, their grotesque forms twisting and writhing in a chaotic wave.

"Let's see how you handle this!" Jack yelled.

With a roar, he unleashed a massive wave of energy, a golden tsunami that crashed down on the symbiotes below. The blast was blinding, illuminating the entire battlefield with its brilliance. The symbiotes screeched as they were obliterated, their bodies disintegrating under the force of the attack.

The Nova Corps fighters shielded their eyes from the light, stunned by the sheer power of the explosion. For a moment, there was silence, the battlefield eerily quiet as the golden energy dissipated.

Jack floated in the air, panting heavily. He had poured everything he had into that attack, and it showed. The symbiote army had been decimated, their numbers reduced to a fraction of what they had been.

But it wasn't over yet.

A low growl echoed from the rift, and Jack's eyes snapped toward the source. Emerging from the tear in space was a massive creature, far larger than anything he had seen before. Its black, oily body was covered in writhing tendrils, and its eyes glowed with an unnatural red light.

"Well, shit," Jack muttered, his fists clenching. "Guess round two's starting."

He hovered in the air, his eyes locked on the monstrosity emerging from the space crack. It was massive, unlike anything he had ever seen—a colossal dragon, its scales black as midnight, streaked with veins of pulsing red. Tendrils of symbiote goo wrapped around its hulking frame, merging with its skin and distorting its natural form. The beast's eyes glowed an eerie crimson, and as it spread its massive wings, a guttural roar echoed across the battlefield, shaking the very foundations of Xandar.

"Holy... that's not just a symbiote!" Jack muttered, his body instinctively tensing up. "That's a freaking dragon with a symbiote attached to it!!"