The blazing Eternal Flame ignited the universe.
This was the fire potent enough to consume the very dimension of Asgard — the force that brings twilight to the gods, the Ragnarok. Now, having swallowed the Eternal Flame into his body, the Flame Man had seized power that stood at the apex of this universe. If one had to name it with a single term, it would be this: Skyfather level.
Strictly speaking, the Marvel universe's power scale does not recognize an official tier called "Skyfather." But compare it sideways, and the Flame Man now rivaled Four-Armed Tyrant, who wields the Thunder of Sakaar — both now possessed the strength to become the master of an entire dimension. Setting aside the X-Superman and the Living Planet, these two alien heroes were already Bant's mightiest warriors. Only after them came Gravity Crab Overlord.
And so, locked in combat against Thanos now, the Flame Man could be said to hold his ground completely — no disadvantage whatsoever. The sheer force of their struggle, if left unchecked aboard the great warship, would soon rip the colossal vessel apart, perhaps even melt it down into molten iron. Because of this, Bant unleashed Death Flame Bullets as his assault, and with a skyful of blazing meteors, he dragged Thanos out from the depths of space and sent them both plummeting towards Xandar.
Everyone could see that apocalyptic, terrifying sight: endless flames falling like a rain of ruin and despair, like titanic meteors tearing through the heavens, crashing down. The Chitauri behemoths and warriors that so much as brushed against those flames were annihilated in an instant. Amidst the inferno, only the figures of Bant and Thanos still battled on. And what was more — even against such overwhelming power from the Flame Man, Thanos did not rely on the strength of the Infinity Stones to fight back. His own original might alone was enough to match Bant's current level!
Meanwhile, the battles of others raged on as well.
Inside the Sanctuary.
"Nebula?"
"What, you don't recognize me, sister?"
No longer bearing a half-mechanical body, Nebula stood before Gamora, and Gamora almost failed to recognize her. Nebula was deeply satisfied with the astonished expression on Gamora's face now. If she could, she would have wanted Thanos to see her like this as well — to let that cold, ruthless father see how beautiful his daughter could be, without him.
"How did you…"
Gamora still couldn't believe her eyes.
"He healed me!" Nebula said. Gamora knew, of course, that the "he" in Nebula's words was the leader of the Celestial Guild: Bant.
"He gave me a new life."
"Then why have you come here?" Gamora countered. "Even with your rebuilt body, you were never my match — and even less so now. Since you've already been given a second life, why throw it away?"
After a few seconds of silence, Nebula produced her blade. "Because I want revenge against that cruel father!"
But deep down, she understood very well. In her heart, the desire for revenge was only a small part. Everything she was doing was more like her way of repaying with her whole being — repaying the Celestial Guild, repaying Bant for all that he had brought to her.
In her entire past life, Nebula had never received love, nor any reward. Whatever she wanted, she had to seize by her own effort, by winning. But the price of losing was always devastatingly high. Yet in the Celestial Guild, she had received Bant's treatment without paying almost anything at all. And between the options of further replacing her body with machinery to gain even greater combat strength, and healing her completely — the latter had been chosen. All of it stirred Nebula deeply.
So you didn't have to win to receive a reward. You didn't have to come first to be loved. Even if you lost, punishment didn't have to follow — what mattered more than victory or defeat was life itself.
But Nebula could not bring herself to speak these words aloud. All she said was, "You ask why I'm here. I'll ask you instead — why are you still working for Father?"
"He is our father," Gamora said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
But Nebula would not accept this. Her voice came out hoarse as she cried:
"Look at me now, Gamora! Think of the pain I suffered in the past! Without Father, the two of us could have lived much better lives. Your parents wouldn't have died, and the Zehoberei people would not have perished. You would have grown up peacefully on that planet, just like any innocent girl — not like now, a killer calling the murderer of your real parents 'Father'!"
Every word was a blade. Gamora felt as if countless knives had pierced her chest, as if her beating heart were coiled with endless vines, each beat an impossible struggle. She knew, with painful clarity, that Nebula was right. Thanos had never truly been her father. She had always hidden her hatred for him deep inside. Yet within that hatred was tangled another, far more complicated feeling. After all, she was still the daughter Thanos had raised.
And now, no more words were needed.
Nebula leapt towards the wall, using it as a springboard, and swung her blade down at Gamora. Gamora, who had once mastered the martial arts of several different planets, seemed to struggle against Nebula's attacks. On paper, the numbers between them were not far apart. So, the state of their hearts now weighed heavily on the outcome. Gamora, troubled and hesitating inside, was no longer qualified to be the opponent of Nebula, who had already resolved to fight as a Plumber, for the Celestial Guild.
Meanwhile, within the atmosphere, across the sky — though that wave of celestial fire had wiped out countless Chitauri lives, an endless number of leviathans still swam from the far shore of the starry void, surging towards this battlefield. Star-Lord in his combat suit fought alongside the members of the Celestial Guild against these monsters. His elemental guns fired without pause, eliminating enemy after enemy. Even though his pistols held infinite energy, he himself was still susceptible to exhaustion.
"How much longer are we supposed to fight? That raccoon and the spider went to take out the Chitauri mothership — why haven't they succeeded yet?" Star-Lord complained, never pausing his attacks.
"Patience, kid!" A Plumber member dispatched several Chitauri soldiers in a single countermove and said, "Blowing up the Chitauri mothership isn't so simple."
"But at this rate, we're going to lose!"
Star-Lord blasted another Accuser's head off, then stared into the cosmic distance. Countless leviathans stretched out in a line, surging forward like a tide rising over the sea's horizon.
"Don't we have any reinforcements?" he asked, despair creeping in.
At that very moment, a clear voice rang out. "Of course we do!"
From the other side of the cosmos, a not-so-large Sakaaran courier ship crossed the stars and arrived. Before Star-Lord could even complain that this reinforcement was far too small, he saw many things being projected out from inside the ship.
"What's that?" He frowned. Those projected things looked like sticky globs of gelatin, immediately conjuring images of some kind of alien snot in his mind.
Just as he was puzzling over it, a glob of snot splattered wetly onto his faceplate.
"We're symbiotes, not snot!"
Indeed — this reinforcement was none other than Brunnhilde, returning from the Andromeda Galaxy. And coming with her to this battlefield were the cosmic knights — the symbiotes. The moment the multicolored symbiotes reached the battlefield, they immediately locked onto their targets and bonded with the fighting members of the Celestial Guild, granting a surge of power to the Plumbers. Most of the symbiotes replicated the abilities of their previous hosts. Many of those abilities might only be enhanced strength and a degree of self-healing, but thrown onto this battlefield, they still represented a massive upgrade. With their help, the Plumbers managed to hold the line once again.
Brunnhilde donned her silver armor once more, Dragonfang in hand, and joined the fray. Inside her armor, she too was bonded with a symbiote. This symbiote gave her the power of flight, and with the ability to stay airborne, Brunnhilde's combat prowess was unleashed to its absolute fullest. She killed Chitauri soldiers as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.
"KILL!" Brunnhilde raised Dragonfang high, rallying the morale. And she showed every surviving Xandarian the fearless, fierce side of the Celestial Guild's Plumbers.
On the ground, many warriors were locked in battle as well. Steve and the Winter Soldier needed no mention. The gladiators, too, had followed Bill down to the surface, fighting against the Accusers. Korg and his brother swung their massive hammers together, sending enemies flying. The insectoid Miek directed his kin, scattering to rescue injured Xandarian residents…
Inside the palace, the battle between Bill and Ronan also raged on. Without the hammer of Thor, Bill was roughly Ronan's equal. Their configurations were even somewhat similar — both wielded heavy weapons: one the Kree universal weapon warhammer, the other a Chitauri war lord's heavy axe. Both could fire energy beams. Strictly speaking, Ronan's weapon was the more advanced of the two. Yet Bill still fought him to a standstill, showing no disadvantage.
Kayla did not intervene. Taking advantage of Bill's fight with Ronan, she rescued Xandar's Queen Adora and brought her far from the battlefield.
Watching such a brutal war, Adora was filled with regret. If the Celestial Guild had not appeared, Xandar would have already fallen by now. Yet even with the Celestial Guild's help, the Nova Corps had been annihilated — what path could Xandar possibly take from here? At this thought, her heart grew colder still, and her gaze unconsciously drifted towards the towering Kayla. But this woman of immense power had her eyes fixed unwaveringly on the distance, on the purgatory shrouded by the falling celestial fire.
Adora could not help but look as well. Beneath the ground, rock spears larger than mountains thrust upward, only to be melted by the fierce flames moments later and flow down as rivers of lava. If the battle in the sky against the endless Chitauri was the bloodiest, then that battle deep within the distant flames was the most terrifying and intense struggle of all.
Queen Adora beheld a demon wreathed in volcanic fire. "That's…?"
"That is the King of our Sakaar."
/-\
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