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The moment Arthur swept his gaze across the surroundings, his expression twisted slightly.
"Something's wrong," he muttered. "I can't remember… but I'm sure something strange just happened. My memory's blank, everything from the past ten minutes is just… gone."
Shaking his head sharply, Arthur shoved Rocket. The raccoon groaned, scrambling up from the floor.
"I'm bringing us down," Rocket rasped.
Arthur inhaled deeply, forcing calm into his chest. Whatever had just happened to him, now wasn't the time to chase answers. Bigger problems were already closing in.
Suddenly, the ship's radar blared with a sharp alarm. Arthur flipped it on, and his stomach clenched. A swarm of starships, at least a hundred strong, had jumped into their sector and now surrounded their vessel.
"The Sovereign," Arthur growled, his voice like ice.
Yondu, who had just shaken off his daze, gave a grim nod. "They're the ones who hired me to find Star-Lord. Wouldn't surprise me if they had backup plans lined up."
"Persistent little pests," Rocket sneered, baring his teeth.
"They're heading for the planet," Arthur assessed quickly. He flicked on his comms.
"How many Mark Series units are still operational?"
"Tony kept every single one on board," Natasha replied, her voice taut. "Were they for this glittering welcoming party outside?"
"Perfect. Deploy them all." Arthur's sharp gaze flicked to Rocket and Yondu. "I'll hold the line here. You two head down and provide support. I'll join you soon."
"Got it." Rocket's confirmation was barely out before Arthur's figure vanished in a blur, only to reappear amidst the infinite expanse of space.
With a thought, he reached into the Disassembler's dimensional vault and summoned the Mark Series Unit-01, a sleek war machine he'd never deployed until now. As he materialized it, an entire squadron of Mark Series drones shimmered into formation around him.
[Mark Series: At your service.]
"Link all Mark Series systems," Arthur commanded coldly. "Lock onto every hostile coordinate. Commence lethal barrage."
The response was immediate. In the next heartbeat, the Mark Series units unfolded into full combat mode, bristling with weapons. Gun barrels extended like fangs, their systems pulsing as data streamed across Arthur's visor.
[Connection to Mark Series Core: Complete.]
[All Mark Series units synchronized.]
[Coordinates acquired. Targets locked. Lethal barrage initiated.]
And then, light. Blinding, searing light that carved the darkness of space itself.
In an instant, the cosmos erupted into a hellish inferno.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of explosions roared across the void. Golden starfighters, poised to dive into the planet's atmosphere, were torn apart in fiery blossoms. In mere seconds, nearly half their vanguard had been obliterated.
The sudden ambush shattered their advance. The Sovereign fleet broke formation, veering sharply. And the instant they spotted Arthur, their ships surged forward like a swarm of enraged hornets.
Arthur's lips curved into a razor-thin smile. "Good. Let's begin."
With a snap, his metallic wings unfolded, radiant feathers slicing through the vacuum like a storm of blades. The Mark Series units fell into flawless formation, their firepower intertwining with his assault.
One man, Arthur, now wielded the destructive presence of an army.
But this battle wouldn't be won as easily as the opening strike. The Sovereign pilots, now wary, responded with surgical precision. Their fighters darted through space in tight spirals, rolling and weaving, slipping just out of lock-on range. Cloaking arrays flickered, radar signatures vanished, and evasive maneuvers tightened as they closed the gap on Arthur.
Lances of energy fire lanced past him, illuminating the void.
In seconds, the tranquil darkness of the cosmos transformed into a chaotic battleground of blazing light and shadow.
Under the command of Mark Series Unit-01, the swarm of Mark Series drones executed a flawless, coordinated assault, exploiting every strength of their design. While their second volley lacked the overwhelming devastation of the first, it still reduced dozens of Sovereign starfighters to nothing but drifting cinders in the cold void of space.
At that same moment, Arthur abandoned his Feather Blade Storm. His body blurred, vanishing from sight before reappearing within the heart of the Sovereign fleet, plunging headlong into the storm of energy blasts and gunfire.
Golden light shimmered around him, a radiant aura flaring with every strike that landed. The barrage lit up his barrier, each hit sending ripples across the shimmering shield, but none could pierce his defenses. Not only that, with a flick of his wrist, Arthur traced a blazing Eye of Horus sigil in midair. Golden light cascaded over him like a divine blessing, knitting away every scratch or scorch in an instant.
"Hits like a warship, tanks like a fortress, and self-heals like a damn cheat code," Arthur chuckled darkly. "You people picked the wrong target."
In a single motion, he blinked across space, landing atop a Sovereign fighter. His hand moved to summon his Asgardian twinblade for a clean kill, but a thought struck him mid-motion. Instead of striking, he clenched his fist.
The entire starship vanished in an instant, absorbed seamlessly into the Disassembler's spatial vault.
Arthur flashed again, appearing atop another vessel. This time his palm slammed down, and a single command echoed through his mind: "Disassemble."
The fighter disintegrated instantly. Gears and mechanisms groaned with an almost ethereal resonance, like a cosmic whisper in Arthur's ears.
"That sound… familiar, reliable, and still so damn satisfying," he muttered with a feral grin, eyes glinting like a predator's. "Switch to suppression tactics. Disable their mobility!"
[Acknowledged. Updating Mark Series attack protocols.]
[Current mode: 'Targeted Suppression.']
The Mark Series units shifted strategy, weaving through the chaos of space like sleek predators. Their fire no longer aimed for destruction, but precision strikes on thrusters, stabilizers, and flight control arrays.
Arthur, meanwhile, darted from ship to ship like a phantom. Some he shattered into nothingness with his Disassembler's power; others he simply plucked from existence, sealing them away in his personal void.
The Sovereign's technology was advanced, its entire fleet remotely piloted with near-perfect synchronization. But without their braking and maneuvering systems, the golden starfighters became nothing more than glittering lanterns in the black expanse of space, useless, immobile targets, good only for the Sovereign operators back home to watch like a doomed holo-drama.
Within a mere three or four exchanges, their once-proud fleet was reduced to a field of lifeless husks, drifting aimlessly like scattered debris.
A chime rang softly in Arthur's ears.
[Ding! Disassembly complete.]
[Intermediate Finger-Beam Module ×231 acquired.]
[White Crystal Core ×129 acquired.]
[Extraction available. Would you like to extract now?]
"No Battle Souls?" Arthur frowned slightly, brows knitting. "Because none of these were piloted in person? Everything's been run remotely… No connection. No soul imprint."
He tapped his comms. "Natasha, hold position."
"Understood," came her calm, steady reply. "And Arthur… be careful."
He didn't respond, simply cut the channel. Now wasn't the time to catalog his loot or analyze the haul. The real fight lay ahead, and every second counted.
This skirmish was nothing more than an appetizer.
Arthur's black wings snapped open, releasing a pulse of energy as he surged forward. His form blurred into a streak of obsidian light, tearing across the star-strewn expanse toward the massive planet looming ahead, its colossal surface marked with something monstrous… a face.
Inside the starship, Sharon watched his rapidly disappearing silhouette, whispering softly, almost to herself:
"So this… this is his war?"
Natasha exhaled slowly, her gaze firm, eyes reflecting the chaos unfolding beyond.
"No," she said quietly. "This is our war."
Her eyes lifted to the ship's display screen, where, against all odds, an alliance of warriors was locked in battle… with an entire living planet.
(End of Chapter)