Bant did leave the Worldmind on Xandar.
Because he took the Nova Force with him.
The Worldmind was merely a machine that released the Nova Force. As long as he understood its structure and principles, Bant could simply build a new one right on Sakaar.
The Nova Force was the key.
However, after studying the Worldmind, Bant discovered that the total amount of Nova Force was actually constant.
Even if he built another Worldmind, the Nova Force available would remain exactly the same.
The Worldmind had found this energy and distributed it among the Nova Corps members, but if the Corps grew, the energy each member received would decrease proportionally.
Five hundred members was practically the limit.
And that was with the Corps' strict hierarchy, with only five Centurions.
So the idea of giving every handyman the Nova Force was simply impossible.
Still, as an emergency life-saving measure, the Nova Force could be quite useful.
After all, reaching Centurion level allowed one to cross the cosmos with their physical body alone.
Their strength couldn't compare to an enemy on Thanos's level, but Bant never planned to pit the Nova Corps' combat power against Skyfather-tier beings.
Originally, though, activating the Nova Force required wearing the Corps helmet.
Bant intended to modify that—binding the Nova Force to the handymen's gear, requiring the Sky Union badge as a key to activate it.
Without the Nova Force, Xandar naturally lost its protection.
At that point, Queen Adora took the initiative, hoping the handymen could establish a branch on Xandar to safeguard the planet.
Bant certainly wasn't going to refuse.
Xandar enjoyed immense renown throughout the universe, a top-tier advanced civilization outside the three great empires.
Especially a few years ago when it hadn't lost the war against the Kree and even got the Kree to sign a peace treaty—that alone proved Xandar's strength.
And now, this move from the other side unmistakably signaled that from this day forward, Xandar would accept Sakaar's jurisdiction and join the Sky Union, becoming a part of it.
In the eyes of the entire universe, that was enormous news.
If it had been the Kree Empire instead of Sakaar, maybe it would've made sense.
After all, Xandar had a long and celebrated reputation, while most people had never even heard of Sakaar. Who knew what remote corner of the universe it had popped out of?
What was that if not Britain making some random bloke from India Prime Minister? Absolutely absurd!
Yet the Xandarians didn't find anything wrong with it.
After all, their Nova Corps had been completely annihilated. Many warriors might not be dead, but they'd lost their power.
And having lived through this brutal war, the Xandarians longed for a stronger force to protect their home.
In this situation, the Sky Union—which had turned the tide and brimmed with a sense of justice—was clearly the most fitting choice.
Especially after witnessing the terrifying sight of Bant single-handedly shattering an entire approaching satellite, the Xandarians' worship of Bant was no less than that of the Sakaarans back in the day.
This was practically a god!
What was wrong with submitting to a deity?
You had to understand, in this universe, the more advanced a civilization, the more they knew that those divine races really did exist.
A being who could destroy a planet with one strike and had defeated the cosmic tyrant Thanos—was that not worthy of being called a god?
Hadn't anyone noticed that the Kree, one of the three great empires, fanatically worshipped their Supreme Intelligence?
Compared to that, the Xandarians felt they had nothing wrong with them.
Not only that. After learning that the Black Order had been wiped out at the hands of the Sky Union, every shred of doubt in the universe vanished.
In the universe, when it came down to it, everything was settled by strength.
The Sky Union's battle record was right there, verified.
That enormous Sanctuary was parked right at Xandar's doorstep, Ronan the Accuser had become a captive, and Thanos was nowhere to be found.
If you didn't believe it, go ahead and try your luck. Set an example for the whole universe and see exactly how you die.
Nobody who managed to survive in the universe was truly that stupid.
And so, imperceptibly, the fame of this suddenly emerging Sakaar and Sky Union swept across the entire universe in a flash, nearly standing shoulder to shoulder with the three great empires.
Some were even calling it the "Fourth Empire, the Sakaar Empire."
But Bant paid no mind to such trifles.
Fourth Empire? Fine. Just don't go making it the Third.
Otherwise he'd have to start raising his hand.
Now Bant had returned to Sakaar, ready to brief Kayila on the situation ahead before bringing everyone back to Earth.
"The Galactic Federation has sent an invitation to Sakaar. King, shall we attend?" Kayila said, sorting through a pile of recent documents.
"Beyond that, the Skrull Empire and the Shi'ar Empire are also requesting diplomatic relations. The Kree Empire wants us to release all surviving Accusers, especially Ronan…"
The so-called Galactic Federation was basically an interstellar peace organization.
But that kind of organization was just window-dressing even on Earth, let alone in the universe. Apart from symbolic meaning, it had no binding force whatsoever.
Still, since the other side was reaching out, there was no reason for the Sky Union, an organization of justice, not to participate.
As for the three great empires…
"Dealing with the three empires is unavoidable. We just defeated Thanos and the Black Order. If they could just shrug that off, they'd have to be ghosts," Bant said with a laugh.
Even the mightiest warrior of the three empires, the Shi'ar's Gladiator, was no match for Thanos in terms of power.
You could say, no matter how poorly Sakaar developed, as long as Bant was there, it was a top-tier force in the universe.
"What about Ronan?"
"Dream on!" Bant sneered. "Ronan is our prisoner, and a war criminal in this conflict. If they want him, they'll trade technology!"
Truth be told, Bant had no intention of killing Ronan or locking him away for life.
This guy wasn't exactly a simple villain. Killing him brought Sakaar no real benefit.
If they could squeeze some tech out of the Kree Empire in exchange, that would be recycling waste.
"Remember, when dealing with the three empires, don't show any timidity."
Bant reminded her.
Kayila naturally understood that.
She thought Bant was overthinking it.
Just look at the people on Sakaar right now.
Never mind herself—she was originally a native of isolated Sakaar. What three great empires? Never heard of 'em!
Then there was Luma, a visitor from another world whose strength was terrifying. If anyone from the three empires dared bark in front of her, she'd pound them into the ground like hammering a nail in no time.
As for Brunnhilde and Loki, it went without saying.
For an Asgardian to spare a glance at the so-called three empires already gave them face.
What, not convinced?
They must be too young and never been on the receiving end of Odin's beating.
They didn't even need Odin. Loki could just pop back to Earth, grab the hammer, and that alone would be enough to make those guys choke.
After all, Loki had only set the hammer aside voluntarily; it wasn't that he couldn't lift it.
In a word, Sakaar might lack deep foundations, but if it really came to a fight, once a few high-end combatants took the field, even without the Infinity Stones, the three empires would be dead meat for sure.
"I understand," Kayila nodded.
Truthfully, she hadn't taken these matters to heart either.
What mattered was Sakaar's future development.
"This time our main gains are probably the Nova Force and Thanos's ship, the Sanctuary," Bant mused. "Let Bill handle refitting the Sanctuary. After all, Sakaar can't have only one warship."
Kayila nodded.
At that moment, Loki, who stood to the side, finally spoke up in surprise:
"So, Thanos is truly dead?"
As a prince of Asgard, Loki naturally knew exactly how powerful Thanos was.
One could say, even if he wasn't quite equal to the All-Father Odin, he wasn't far off.
Bant had actually killed him. Didn't that mean Bant's current power was no longer below Odin's?
"I already chopped off his head and buried his body in thousand-degree magma. If he still doesn't die from that, then it's none of my business."
Bant shrugged.
Honestly, he couldn't guarantee whether Thanos was truly dead either.
After all, there was still Death lurking behind Thanos.
If Death rejected Thanos, then aside from using the X-Man bug to forcibly erase Thanos, Bant couldn't think of a better way.
So he actually didn't care much about whether Thanos was truly alive or dead.
Whether Thanos died or not wasn't important. What was important was making the whole universe know that he had indeed, without a shred of doubt, killed Thanos!
By comparison, Bant was far more concerned about someone else.
"Has there still been no trace of Mojas?"
He hadn't forgotten that Mojas who had appeared together with Thanos.
Back then, because of the battle with Thanos, Bant had no attention to spare for Mojas's presence. After Bant shattered the satellite, that stinking squid had long since fled to who-knows-where.
"No…" Kayila lowered her head, a little ashamed.
But this wasn't her fault to begin with.
That stinking squid was far too cunning.
"It's fine. He'll show himself sooner or later," Bant consoled.
At the time, Mojas had half his body blown off by Thanos using the power of the Stones. Even just recovering from that would likely take quite a while, so there was no need to worry about him for now.
Then, Bant and Kayila discussed building a Worldmind for the Sky Union.
Actually, it wasn't just that. The other technologies they'd acquired this time also required a large number of outstanding scientists to study.
Sakaar had plenty of powerful fighters, but not so many research talents.
If not for the scientists among the Korbinites Bill brought along, the only person on Sakaar who could shoulder the load might very well have been Bant alone.
As for the local plug-and-play tech scavenged from junk heaps—don't even mention it.
It wasn't fit for the spotlight.
From this perspective, he couldn't return to Earth just yet.
So Bant first had Kayila prepare a Messenger ship to send Peter and the others back to Earth, while he himself stayed behind to begin constructing Sakaar's own Worldmind.
/-\
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