As Galactus's surging energy wave engulfed Shin, Wanda, who had been circling Galactus from the outside, let out a furious scream. In an instant, her crimson Chaos Magic surged into a massive tidal wave and slammed into the Devourer of Worlds.
Unlike the Phoenix Force, which constantly seeks to wrest control from its host, Chaos Magic grows wild in proportion to its wielder's emotions. The moment Wanda saw Shin swallowed in cosmic energy, her rage reached a critical point, and her Chaos Magic erupted uncontrollably.
Had Galactus been at full strength, he wouldn't have been fazed. After all, Wanda's current power hadn't yet reached its full potential. But in his current state, wounded, bleeding cosmic energy, and riddled with internal instability, Galactus was no longer invincible. Wanda's attack shook him.
The towering figure of Galactus, hundreds of meters tall, was lifted off the ground by Wanda's Chaos Magic. Crimson light poured from her eyes, and the seemingly indestructible armor across his body began to crack under the intense force.
But just as the power peaked, Wanda's rage dimmed. Her expression softened as the crimson waves withdrew, and Galactus crashed to the ground with a tremendous boom.
The cause of her sudden release became clear, Shin had reappeared. He stood atop Galactus's shoulder, blood on the corner of his mouth and his clothes tattered, but otherwise unharmed.
This wasn't surprising. Shin's current physical defense reinforced by Armament Haki, chakra, and the Galactic Glaze was at the peak of Earth's standards. Though Galactus's energy blast was intense, it was far from fatal. To Shin, it felt more like a heavy blow than a life-threatening attack.
Seeing Shin unharmed, Wanda exhaled deeply in relief. As her adrenaline subsided, pain rushed through her body, and the Chaos Magic she'd overextended began to disperse. She staggered but managed to steady herself.
Meanwhile, Galactus could no longer afford distraction. Shin's right hand was now engulfed in swirling black mist representing the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit. The dark mist began to corrode and break down the armor surrounding Galactus's shoulder.
Galactus's armor, while immensely durable, wasn't invincible. No metal is. Shin's Dust Release technique, a devastating ninjutsu that disintegrates matter at the molecular level, could break down any non-energy-based material with ease.
Under normal circumstances, Galactus's armor was reinforced by cosmic energy. Without it, Shin's Dust Release alone could have bored straight through. But now, coupled with the corrosive absorption of the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Munch-Munch Fruit's enhancement, even the cosmic armor began to fail.
With that critical piece of armor disintegrating, Galactus's energy shield began to falter. The shield had been powered entirely by the leaking energy it was meant to contain. Not only that, but his armor also acted as a temporary "bandage" to prevent excessive energy loss.
Now that Shin had effectively torn off that cosmic gauze, energy erupted from Galactus like a geyser. The stream of cosmic power gushed out like a river, flowing into the fractured battlefield.
Without hesitation, Shin leaped forward and entered Galactus's body through the exposed breach.
To human eyes, Galactus appeared as a humanoid figure clad in purple armor. But that image was merely a perception filter. Galactus, as one of the six cosmic entities governing the balance of the universe, has no fixed form. Each species perceives him differently.
Inside, he was not made of blood and bone, but of space itself.
Shin found himself standing in an endless, internal dimension, a void filled with viscous cosmic energy that drifted like molten mist. Throughout the space, embryonic planets slowly condensed from the ether, forming dense cores of energy.
Even though Galactus was hemorrhaging energy at an alarming rate, these forming planet-cores remained untouched. They hovered, seemingly independent of their host, quietly leeching his power as they matured.
'It's like kidney stones in a cosmic stomach,' Shin thought as he surveyed the energy spheres. 'No wonder he's constantly hungry. He's not just hoarding... he's creating.'
The Devourer of Worlds wasn't merely a destroyer. Once he had consumed enough energy, he transformed into his golden form, the Lifebringer, and began to create new planets. The embryonic worlds inside his body were likely the prototypes of these creations.
The effort of forming these planets came at a cost. Galactus was caught in a constant cycle of depletion and creation, which explained his unending hunger and weakness after prolonged energy use.
The energy surrounding Shin was thick enough to vaporize a normal human. But to him, it was almost soothing. His dark mist began to spread, and the cosmic energy that had been leaking now flowed inward, sucked into the void of his dark dimension.
Outside, Galactus suddenly froze mid-motion. Panic flared in his expression as he bellowed, "What did you do?! Where is the energy in my body going?!"
The Earth's heroes, bewildered by his outburst, looked around in confusion. They didn't know what he was talking about. But Phoenix, Scarlet Witch, and Captain Marvel didn't pause to ask questions they saw an opening and attacked with renewed ferocity.
The energy surging through Galactus's form began to drain faster.
A few of the smarter heroes began to piece it together. Shin must have found a way to disrupt Galactus internally. Sensing this, they fought harder, determined to keep the cosmic giant from ejecting him.
Cornered and desperate, Galactus raised his hand, and from within his fractured body, dozens of mechanical constructs burst forth.
Combat drones, turrets, and flying machines assembled mid-air, bristling with weapons.
As a cosmic scientist from a distant galaxy, Galactus's technological prowess was unmatched. Though he had long since abandoned such tools, deeming his own power and his heralds sufficient, he had kept a few war machines for emergencies.
Many had been destroyed when the ship exploded. But a few, buried deep in his remaining systems, now activated and launched a barrage of attacks on the Earth's heroes.
Though ancient and incomplete, these machines were comparable in power to Tony Stark's most advanced armors. Their surprise assault momentarily slowed the heroes, forcing them to focus on defense.
And all the while, deep inside Galactus's core, Shin was drawing the Devourer's life away one breath at a time.
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