Thanos gasped for breath heavily. For the first time in his life, he felt truly tired from battle.
But this did not mean that Thanos had lost the strength to continue fighting. Rather it meant that things had developed to the point where there was no need to continue this fight right now.
Through the battle just now, Thanos had already realized that it was impossible to defeat or even kill Sebastian at this time. Instead of fighting desperately now and risking death, it would be better to wait. He would lead his entire army to Earth. He would fight Sebastian to the death there and seize all the Infinity Stones. If he failed then, he would accept death!
"Sebastian Shaw, I admit that I cannot defeat you at this moment. But it will not be long before I come to Earth. I will take back all the Infinity Stones on Earth. Then we will fight again to determine the victor."
As soon as those words fell from his mouth, Thanos suddenly threw the single-bladed sword in his hand at Sebastian. The sword was only half a blade left after being damaged. When Sebastian raised his magic wand to knock away the powerfully thrown single-bladed sword, he found that several tractor beams had fallen from the Q-ship above. They directly took Thanos and his four Black Order members away. They disappeared from the planet Ego.
Watching Thanos flee into space, Sebastian certainly had the ability to pursue him. But he chose not to do so.
The Finger of Death was not simply a powerful spell. Although Sebastian had created it by incorporating elements of the Killing Curse, it still held some of the original curse's dangerous characteristics.
Just moments ago as Sebastian was casting it, he had briefly seen a woman. She seemed to be composed entirely of black and white colors. She was speaking to him. The image had been extremely fleeting. It was almost like an illusion.
But Sebastian knew it was real. At least the aura of death and the physical and mental exhaustion he felt every time he saw her were absolutely real sensations.
Sebastian knew exactly what the woman had said to him. If he could truly cast the Killing Curse successfully once, he would understand her true meaning. However doing so would inevitably expose Sebastian to unprecedented danger from cosmic forces.
Taking a deep breath, he put thoughts of Thanos and the Finger of Death out of his mind for now.
Looking down and seeing that the Guardians of the Galaxy and their companions had not yet emerged from below, Sebastian transformed into black smoke. He burrowed beneath the ground. He escaped down into the planet's core chamber.
Sebastian emerged from the void. He was accompanied by a swirling vortex of twisting space. He hovered in mid-air above the core.
He could see that under Ego's direct control, the planet's interior seemed to come alive. It was constantly attacking the Guardians of the Galaxy from all directions.
Star-Lord and Yondu were entangled in combat with a Sovereign drone fleet. While it seemed the Sovereign fleet offered no immediate lethal threat to them, the other Guardians were also in dire straits under Ego's relentless attacks.
Sebastian raised his wand upward. His eyes turned completely blue-white with electrical energy. Streams of electricity leaked from the corners of his eyes.
With a powerful wave of his wand, lightning flashed throughout the chamber. Countless lightning bolts formed a vast electrical net. It spread outward rapidly. It annihilated the entire Sovereign fleet that was pursuing Star-Lord and Yondu. In mid-air the drones transformed into countless flaming fireballs. They plummeted in all directions. They crashed down onto Ego's core region. This caused Ego to roar in fury and pain.
Looking at the Guardians of the Galaxy and others who were being harassed by Ego's attacks, Sebastian did not hesitate at all. He swung his wand and opened portals one after another. He sent each Guardian safely to the surface above.
Sebastian looked at Star-Lord and Yondu who had just arrived near him. He said to them directly. "I have sent everyone else to the surface for safety. You two can go back as well. Leave dealing with Ego to me."
Ego's physical core and soul were what Sebastian was determined to obtain for his research. However killing Star-Lord's father right in front of his son and then extracting his soul and useful body tissues did not seem right no matter how Sebastian thought about it. So he simply decided to send Star-Lord and the others out. He would leave the rest to himself alone.
Star-Lord looked at Sebastian carefully. He knew that Sebastian had gone to deal with Thanos above.
Now that Sebastian had returned here, it undoubtedly proved one thing. Thanos had been unable to defeat Sebastian. Thanos had left the planet. Otherwise Sebastian would never have come back here at this time.
After realizing this fact, Star-Lord nodded to Sebastian. He was expressing his gratitude. Sebastian then opened a portal and sent Star-Lord and Yondu through it to safety. Although their Milano ship was completely destroyed, another ship belonging to them was docked in space beyond Ego's atmosphere. This gave them plenty of time to board it and leave Ego safely.
As Star-Lord and the others were transported out to safety, Sebastian gazed at the energy-formed face before him. He swung his wand violently downward. Thousands of lightning bolts radiated outward from his wand. The advanced magic of Asgard had become masterful in Sebastian's skilled hands. Each precise bolt of lightning struck a neural energy circuit in Ego's core. This rendered Ego's consciousness unable to transfer between locations. His will was confined to this one spot.
"How dare you hinder a god!"
Countless blue-white energy tentacles extended outward. They stalked toward Sebastian menacingly.
Seeing this attack, Sebastian flicked his wand. Dark green lightning flashed from the tip. It struck one of Ego's magical neural circuits directly. This caused Ego to roar in terrible pain!
"Cruciatus!"
At this moment while Sebastian maintained the Cruciatus Curse with his wand, he slightly raised his other hand upward. Countless blue Hellfire flames blazed to life. They transformed into Hellfire fireballs. They arced through the air towards the back of the energy face. They bombarded the exposed core of Ego's planetary brain repeatedly.
Boom boom boom...
"No! Stop this attack!"
With a furious roar, Ego endured the terrible pain brought by the Cruciatus Curse. The earth and stone in Ego's core area connected through energy tentacles. They quickly transformed into an extremely huge earth and stone giant. It rushed towards Sebastian with anger.
Looking at the massive earth and stone giant, Sebastian immediately stopped using the Cruciatus Curse. With a single flick of his wand from bottom to top, the earth and stone giant was immediately cut cleanly in half. Even the brain core behind it was split in two pieces. The outer protective layer shattered in half. This revealed the brain inside which was only protected by a thin transparent membrane!
"Checkmate Ego!"
Sebastian waved his wand again. Before Ego could gather the strength to stop him, Sebastian pointed his wand forward. He was ready to unleash the Finger of Death spell.
But then a black and white ripple suddenly emanated from the tip of his wand. It instantly filled Sebastian's entire field of vision. It transformed everything around him into black and white and gray colors.
Everything seemed to have stopped in time itself. Everything was stagnating completely. This included the deadly energy that was gushing out from the tip of Sebastian's wand.
At that moment a mature woman appeared before Sebastian. She seemed to be composed entirely of black and white. She appeared directly in front of Sebastian. She spoke to him in a voice that echoed. "You have finally heard my voice..."
Author's Note: Death herself has appeared before Sebastian! What does she want from him? And what will happen to Ego's core?
Come support:
patreon.com/Daoist_Kalyug