Sakaar.
After finishing a round of "close-quarters combat" with Bant in the hot springs, Felicia returned to Earth thoroughly satisfied.
Kayla began handling interstellar relations. Though Bant had made it perfectly clear that Sakaar didn't need to fear any faction, he hadn't given her leave to act arrogant either.
Loki, who knew far more about the powers of the cosmos, accompanied Kayla. Loki was the sort of person who, if he put his mind to it, could navigate any circle with ease. He wouldn't slip up.
Bill was modifying his new wife — no, his new battleship.
In the beginning, every ship on Sakaar was a misshapen monstrosity cobbled together from junk. Then Luma supplied the technology of the Taizhuoman people, giving Sakaar's vessels a quantum leap in engine design. The tech gap was no less than jumping straight from the Stone Age to modern society.
But back then, engines were the only thing Sakaar could boast about.
Later, after Bill returned with the great battleship, Korbinite technology brought a few modest upgrades to Sakaar.
After that, the Kree warship was stripped and cannibalized directly into the great battleship, so only its ship systems were recorded. Aside from the great battleship itself, the tech saw no practical application.
Now, with Ronan's Dark Aster and Thanos's Sanctuary added to the haul, they had even more on their plate.
But Bill couldn't have been happier.
He was mulling over just how many planet-cracking cannons he ought to install on his "wife." When the day came to go to war with some other planet, his wife would whip out a big baby several kilometers long, and in terms of righteousness, she'd be absolutely invincible.
Bill was lost in a very pleasant daydream.
"First, thoroughly master Kree and Xandarian technology. Then refit the Sanctuary!"
He laid out a plan for himself.
That Kree warship from before had been crudely bolted onto the great battleship. Had Sheriff Bant Parker not once again turned into that black, hulking thing, Bill wasn't sure the great battleship would have held together for even half the journey.
The Kree technology within it was something they hadn't remotely grasped at the time.
But now, he didn't have to rush.
Furthermore, after joining the Sky Union, Xandar had opened all its technology to the Union. After all, they had even handed over the technology of the Cosmos itself. Other starship tech was naturally no big deal.
Once all of that was digested, and the Sanctuary — a ship no less formidable than the great battleship — was refitted, the tech inside could bring yet another round of innovation to Sakaar. Thanos himself had been unfathomably intelligent, after all.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before Sakaar could genuinely go toe-to-toe with the Three Great Empires in terms of technology!
Yet Bill was hardly surprised.
"As it should be. The Sky Union's strength ought to stand at the apex of the universe."
As he said this, his gaze drifted to a small, nimble figure dangling from the ship, tinkering with the circuits — a raccoon.
"As if!"
Rocket clapped his hands and said with disdain, "That's all someone else's stuff. Don't you have any inventions of your own?"
Despite his words, Rocket was utterly immersed in this ocean of knowledge.
He discovered that Sakaar really did have some good things! For instance, the biological modification technology the Korbinites brought fascinated him — naturally so, since Rocket himself was a modified animal.
"The engines are our own," Bill said. "I heard from the Sheriff's cousin that there's a device on Earth that can mutate animals. Maybe it could help you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Rocket instantly bristled.
He felt genuinely insulted.
"Why don't you go mutate that horse face of yours!"
"I am Groot!"
Groot, not far away, immediately backed him up.
"I'm not a horse!"
Bill shrugged, unbothered by Rocket's jab.
When it came down to it, they were kindred spirits in misery, so despite the bickering, they actually got along quite well.
"One of these days I'll tear that machine face of yours apart!"
Rocket threw down the gauntlet.
It was then that Bill suddenly asked, "Rocket, if you hate the way you ended up after being modified, why not ask the Sheriff to turn you back to your original form?"
Rocket froze, his busy hands coming to a complete halt.
Bill, oblivious to his mood, continued, "That Nebula is a cyborg too, but the Sheriff used technology to restore her original body. Maybe it could do the same for you."
"Hah, forget it!"
"I don't want to turn into some real, ordinary little animal."
Rocket fell silent for a moment, then buried his head back in the circuits and let out a hollow, forced laugh.
The words sounded dismissive, but no one noticed the telltale gleam gathering at the corners of his eyes.
His thoughts drifted to his past, to the friends he'd known on the planet Conte — Lylla, Teefs, Floor…
Those were memories steeped in grief.
But meeting them wasn't the painful part.
At least now, he was no different from Lylla and the others.
But if he truly shed this modified body of his, then what would Rocket have left to remember them by?
He furtively wiped his tears away.
Then, almost as a counterattack, he shouted at Bill, "Why don't you ask him to change you back?"
"I'm fine just the way I am now."
Bill's answer was calm.
Before he ever met Bant, he had already understood his mission — to protect the great battleship.
For that, his appearance had long since ceased to matter. What mattered was whether he possessed the strength to protect the ship. And now, the thing he had to protect had become Sakaar itself.
"Hmph!"
Rocket snorted and hollered, "Groot, get me down from here. I'm going to go check the central control computer."
"I am Groot."
Groot stretched out his arms and scooped Rocket up. As a plant-based lifeform, however, Groot was very sensitive to moisture.
After setting Rocket down, he looked oddly at the arm that had made contact with Rocket, raised it to his mouth, gave it a light, curious lick, and then let out a puzzled sound.
"I am Groot?"
Rocket glared at him and snapped,
"What are you babbling about? Salty? Then you must've just licked up my booger! Let's go!"
Rocket strutted into the battleship with his bowlegged swagger.
The Kree Empire.
Dorkar VIII, the current head of the Kree Empire, stood before the Supreme Intelligence, awaiting its directive.
"Sakaar has refused our request. They have no intention of releasing Ronan."
As he spoke, a hazy silhouette slowly took shape.
The Supreme Intelligence had no fixed form. Like the Cosmos, it was nothing more than a supercomputer. But the supremely rational Kree, after building this supercomputer, came to believe that its immense computational power could lead them to the ultimate evolution, and so they revered it as a god.
The face of the Supreme Intelligence was different for every onlooker, because it always appeared in the guise of the person the visitor trusted and was most familiar with.
"What are their conditions?"
As expected of a supercomputer, the Supreme Intelligence understood what living beings desired, and thus understood that Sakaar's refusal to release Ronan meant they were after something.
"They want us to exchange Ronan for our technology."
Dorkar VIII found this difficult to swallow.
Kree technology was extraordinarily advanced. They had created the Inhumans, fielded tens of thousands of Glory Cruisers, and possessed dozens of star-class battleships. In comparison, Ronan's Dark Aster was barely worth mentioning.
Their weapon systems were just as formidable. Ronan's Universal Weapon, for instance, utilized a special Kree weapon system capable of manipulating matter to a certain degree.
Even the Skrull Empire, another of the Three Great Empires, hungered for their technology.
There was no way Dorkar VIII would ever hand over Kree technology.
And yet, Ronan was one of the mightiest among the Kree — abandoning him was just as difficult. The Kree placed immense value on bloodline; blue-skinned Kree were the symbol of nobility.
"We cannot agree to these terms."
The Supreme Intelligence's answer was no different from his.
"In that case, should we…?"
Dorkar VIII probed cautiously.
As a militaristic civilization that could wage a hundred-thousand-year war with the Skrulls, Dorkar VIII's first instinct was to open hostilities with Sakaar.
"That is not permissible."
The Supreme Intelligence vetoed the proposal without a moment's hesitation.
"Sakaar has just achieved victory over Thanos. We cannot yet confirm the truth of it, but Thanos has indeed vanished. If it is true, engaging them in battle would not be wise."
The Supreme Intelligence evaluated. The Kree already had more than enough enemies.
"Put this matter aside for now. At the very least, we must confirm whether Thanos is truly dead," the Supreme Intelligence said.
It changed the subject.
"How are those 'individuals' faring now?"
"Those individuals?" Dorkar VIII quickly grasped what the Supreme Intelligence was referring to. "Those newly discovered creatures suffer from the same affliction we do. Their evolution has reached a dead end, and their genes are on the verge of collapse…"
Dorkar VIII's mind conjured the image of the tall, white-skinned species they had recently discovered on a planet.
These beings had come from out of nowhere. At first, they had thought it was the Cotati, who were supposed to have perished tens of thousands of years ago, somehow resurrected. But later they realized these creatures were different.
After a round of fighting that left neither side able to overcome the other, they had declared a temporary truce and reached an agreement.
The Supreme Intelligence clearly intended to make use of those creatures for something. In its eyes, this might also be an opportunity for the Kree to continue their evolution.
"You mean to…?"
"We will discuss it after confirming Thanos's life or death," the Supreme Intelligence replied.
In truth, they were not the only ones. Starfaring civilizations all across the universe were scrambling to confirm whether Thanos was truly dead.
And on Xandar, the battlefield where Thanos and Bant had clashed was now a scarred wasteland. The horrifying magma had cooled, leaving the land a lifeless dead zone. Black, jagged rocks blanketed the ground like scabs over the earth's wounds.
And now, those wounds suddenly tore open!
A purple hand thrust out from within.
Thanos had returned!
Only…
Before he could even draw a single breath of fresh air, he was swallowed by another massive shadow.
Half his body still buried in stone, Thanos looked up in shock and saw a face he would never have dreamed of.
"Magus…"
"I've come to settle accounts with you, Thanos."
Magus's voice was ice.
/-\
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