Before Ego arrived, Yondu had already taken off with the Marauder.
He knew very well that once Ego came, with his strength, he would inevitably take out his anger from more than ten years on them.
The Marauders had already suffered multiple hits.
There couldn't be any more losses.
Only Star-Lord and his group were left on Xandar, facing Yi Ge alone.
When Star-Lord saw him, his appearance was completely unfamiliar.
Star-Lord was uncertain.
"Quill, I thought my handsome appearance was enough to explain our relationship."
"It seems that you still have doubts."
Ego appeared in front of Star-Lord as kindly as possible.
"This is your partner? I heard you defeated Ronan, who held the power gem? As expected of my child, you have a very good group of partners."
Ego was evaluating Star-Lord's companions.
Rocket, Groot, Drax—all of them took a glance.
There wasn't much emotion in his eyes.
When he looked at Nebula, he didn't acknowledge her identity.
Thanos' adopted daughter was just an ordinary being to him.
Even if many civilizations saw them as demons, they were still weak in his eyes.
He was a god.
Even Thanos hadn't captured his attention, so why would he care about the bad reputation of others?
However, when he looked at Gamora, his gaze lingered longer.
"Nice magic."
Well, it was just "okay."
Compared to him, it was far behind.
Even his current duplication—designed purely for the convenience of movement—held more power than Gamora.
This was the essence of being a god!
If it weren't for the fact that they were friends of Star-Lord and that Star-Lord possibly carried his complete god gene, making him worth focusing on, he wouldn't have spared them a second glance.
"My biological father…"
Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Star-Lord still felt confused.
"After your mother died, I hired Yondu to bring you back."
"But he never returned you to me."
"And now, father and son meet more than ten years too late!"
"I don't know why he did that, but I never gave up looking for you."
"Now, I've finally found you, and you've inherited my genes!"
"Come with me. Let me see how powerful you are with the genes you inherited from me."
Ego couldn't wait to take Star-Lord away.
Star-Lord listened to him, but didn't offer an explanation.
He had originally believed Yondu took him in because Star-Lord was small enough to sneak into places that adults couldn't and could be useful for stealing.
But what Yondu told him later shattered that perception.
But was Ego really so cruel?
He seemed so kind, like a loving father.
"By the way, I heard you're a god?"
"Yes, as you can see, I'm a so-called god, my dear."
"It's just that I'm an ordinary god. You don't need to care too much about this identity, and neither should you."
Ego smiled and spoke to the others, inviting them to board his spaceship.
"You are my child, and if you've inherited my genes, then you're a god as well, and that's no big deal, son."
"We can talk about the details of us later; we have a long time ahead of us. Maybe we can talk slowly on the ship."
Seeing Ego inviting them aboard, Gamora and Nebula decided to go after a brief exchange.
As partners, they were concerned about the truth of what Yondu had said.
"Since you're a god, do you know Aaron? Who's stronger between you and him?"
Once on the spaceship, Star-Lord began asking the questions that had been on his mind.
"Aaron?"
Ego was a little confused by the mention of this name.
"The God of Magic from Asgard! The god who fought Ronan with us before and killed Ronan."
Star-Lord clarified.
"Oh, so you mean him."
"I know him. He's gained quite a reputation across the universe lately."
Ego suddenly realized, although he rarely paid attention to anything outside of his heirs and women.
But when searching for Star-Lord, he had come across some information about him.
Looking at Star-Lord's expectant face, Ego laughed.
Wasn't this a great time for indoctrination?
As long as Star-Lord agreed with him, things would become much easier afterward.
"Son, even though I say I'm just a god of the common kind, that's just me being humble."
"I'm a very humble person."
"If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have answered these questions."
"But since you're the one asking, I can tell you plainly."
"We are gods! True gods! Not like the gods of Asgard."
"The gods of Asgard are bound by time and often meet their end because of their lifespan."
"Not to mention a mere god of magic, even Odin, the King of Gods in Asgard, is nothing compared to us gods."
"There can be huge differences between gods."
"Do you know how long I've lived?"
"How long?" Star-Lord asked out of curiosity.
"Millions of years, at least!"
"My first memory is of flickering and floating in space, existing completely alone."
"Over millions of years, I learned to control the molecules around me."
"I grew smarter and stronger, and in the time that followed, I built my own planet."
"Wait, you built your own planet?"
Hearing this, everyone looked confused.
"Yes, it's my planet, not that big—about the size of your moon."
"It took millions of years to create something from nothing."
Ego explained with a smile. Seeing Star-Lord's surprised expression, he was very satisfied.
"How long can the gods of Asgard live?"
"The recorded history says only tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands, right?"
"Now do you see the difference between me and the God of Magic?"
Star-Lord nodded, still in shock, his heart racing with excitement.
Wow, his own father was actually that powerful!
Would he be able to become a powerful god in the future?
This felt like the protagonist template in novels.
Once he gained divine power, wouldn't he surpass the God of Magic?
Ego's explanation was beyond belief.
Especially when he said the God of Magic was nothing compared to him.
At that moment, Gamora and the others didn't believe it.
But then they thought about it—Ego had created a planet!
He'd lived for millions of years.
It seemed like it was possible?
However, when they thought of the Magic Net again, things didn't add up.
Building a planet was impressive.
But the God of Magic had also created a Magic Net that spanned the entire galaxy and beyond.
Seeing their expressions, Star-Lord also considered this, and then spoke up.
"Magic Net? What's that?"
"A special network that allows people to master magic?"
Ego didn't notice the so-called Magic Net, but he still smiled and said, "It's just a way for people to tap into extraordinary powers. It's not a big deal."
"When you see my plan, which is almost complete, you'll realize the Magic Net is nothing."
"What's the plan?" Star-Lord asked.
"A plan for world domination!"
"Do you know? All these years, I've been searching for life to fill the empty, lonely hole in my heart."
"But when I found it… it was so disappointing!"
"From that moment, I realized deeply that I am different from those ordinary beings. Time doesn't affect us, but it does affect them."
"So, I found meaning."
"I've planted thousands of my extensions on thousands of worlds over millennia."
"I want to achieve the true purpose of life: to grow and spread!"
"To make everything become me and make the world meaningful."
Looking at Ego with his lofty ideals, everyone felt numb.
What a benevolent god he was.
But it looked like a villain who wanted to destroy the world!
And they were following him into his territory.
It was like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth!
Gamora and Star-Lord exchanged a look, seeing the bitterness in each other's eyes.
They began using the Magic Net to contact the God of Going.
At this point, they couldn't think of a way to solve the problem.
They hoped that Aaron, also a god, could help them out.
Otherwise, if they entered Ego's territory, they wouldn't even be able to escape.
On the other side, Aaron, who was trying to improve his strength, received news from Karla.
They were worried Aaron wouldn't care.
They also told him about Ego's ultimate plan.
The God of Magic and Ego had conflicting goals.
The God of Magic was spreading the Magic Net, while Ego wanted to destroy all life.
For this matter, Aaron would indeed take action.
But he didn't need to intervene directly.
The solution had already been handed to someone else.
Ego was powerful, but he was stationary—a fixed target.
He could be ravaged as much as they wanted.
It wasn't worth Aaron's time to deal with him.
Aaron casually replied to the message and returned to his retreat.
Gamora and Nebula were stunned by the solution.
"Is it possible to have Star-Lord use the Magic Net to absorb the energy of the planet?"
"Simple?"
"Did you say Ego is a god, a god who can create planets?"
"Yes, but the God of Magic doesn't seem to care?"
Gamora smiled wryly.
She hadn't expected that Ego, who had made them so worried, wasn't even worth an appearance in the eyes of the God of Magic.
The two looked at the confident god, Ego…
Was Ego right, or was it the God of Magic?
Why did it seem like they didn't like each other?
Who was the most powerful god?
And who was the rookie?
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