The Eternal Flame burned, igniting the void of space itself. This was a power sufficient to shatter the dimension of Asgard, a fire capable of bringing about the twilight of the gods. Now, swallowed and assimilated by Ben, it had elevated his Pyronite form to a level of power that few in the universe could match.
If it had to be described in a single term, it would be Skyfather.
Strictly speaking, the power hierarchy of the Marvel Universe had no such official level, but it was a useful comparison. In this state, Ultimate Heatblast was as powerful as Four Arms when wielding the Old Power of Sakaar, Setting aside the reality-warping potential of Alien X, this new form was one of Ben's most powerful warriors.
Therefore, as he faced Thanos, the fight was anything but one-sided. It was a cataclysmic struggle between two beings of immense might. To continue such a battle aboard the Plumber flagship would have torn the vessel apart in minutes, melting it down to slag. So, with his opening attack, the Death-Fire Bomb, Ben had deliberately carried the fight—and Thanos—down to the scarred surface of Xandar, cloaked in a storm of flaming meteors.
Everyone on the planet and in the skies above could see the horrific, doomsday-like spectacle. The endless rain of fire fell like a shattered, burning sky. Chitauri monsters and warriors touched by the divine flames perished in an instant. And at the heart of the inferno, two titans continued their battle. Even when facing this new, terrifying power, Thanos did not immediately rely on the Infinity Stone. His own innate strength was enough to contend with Ben's current might.
Meanwhile, other battles raged. Aboard the Sanctuary II, Nebula stood before her sister.
"Why, you don't recognize me, sister?" she asked, a faint, satisfied smile on her lips.
Gamora, her eyes wide with disbelief, almost failed to recognize the woman before her, now free of the cybernetics that had defined her for so long. Nebula savored the expression. If only Thanos could see her now. If only that cold-blooded father could witness how beautiful his daughter was without his monstrous "improvements."
"How did you…" Gamora stammered.
"He healed me," Nebula stated simply. Gamora knew instantly that the "he" she referred to was Ben. "He gave me a new life."
"Then why have you come here?" Gamora shot back, regaining her composure. "Even with your augmentations, you were never my match. What makes you think you can face me now? Since you have been reborn, why do you seek death?"
Nebula was silent for a few seconds before drawing her blades. "Because I want revenge on that cruel father of ours!"
But even as she said it, she knew it was only a sliver of the truth. In her heart, the desire for revenge was a small, flickering ember. The inferno that truly drove her was something else entirely: a fierce, desperate need to repay Ben and the Plumbers for everything they had given her. In her past life, she had never known kindness or received a reward that wasn't earned through bloodshed. To get anything, she had to fight, to win. And the cost of losing was always a piece of herself.
But on Sakaar, she had received treatment, a new life, without paying any price at all. When given the choice between more powerful machine parts or her own flesh and blood, she had been allowed to choose the latter. This simple kindness had moved her to her very core.
It turns out, she had realized, you don't have to win to get rewards. You don't have to be first for someone to care. You don't have to be punished when you lose. There are things more important than victory.
But Nebula couldn't bring herself to say those words. Instead, she deflected. "You ask me why I'm here, but I should ask you the same. Why do you still work for him?"
"He is our father," Gamora replied, though the words sounded hollow even to her own ears.
Nebula's voice rose, cracking with years of repressed anguish. "Look at me, Gamora! Think of the pain I have endured! Without him, we could have had a better life. Your parents wouldn't have died. The Zehoberei would not have perished. You would have grown up peacefully on your world, like any other innocent girl, instead of becoming… this. A killer, who calls the murderer of her own parents 'Father'!"
Every word was a perfectly aimed blade. Gamora felt them pierce her chest, her heart tangled in a thorny vine of guilt and confusion that made every beat a struggle. She knew Nebula was right. Thanos was not her father. She had always hidden a seed of hatred for him deep within her soul, but that hatred was complicated, tangled with the fact that he had, in his own twisted way, raised her.
There was nothing more to say.
Nebula launched herself from a wall, using it as a springboard to swing her blades at Gamora. Gamora, an expert in countless forms of combat from a dozen different worlds, suddenly found herself on the defensive, exhausted by Nebula's relentless assault. On paper, their physical abilities were not so different. But this was not a battle of statistics. It was a battle of will.
And compared to Nebula, who had found a new purpose fighting for the Plumbers, the confused and hesitant Gamora was no longer a match for her sister.
In the skies above, though the initial firestorm had cleansed the heavens of countless Chitauri, more still swarmed from the other side of the system, an endless tide rushing to fill the void. Star-Lord, his flight suit scorched, fought alongside the Plumbers.
His gun fired continuously, blasting one enemy after another out of the sky. Even with an infinitely powered weapon, his own body was growing weary.
"How much longer is this gonna take?" he complained. "Didn't Rocket and Spidey go to blow up their mothership? What's taking so long?"
"Patience, boy!" a nearby Plumber shouted, vaporizing several Chitauri with a plasma rifle. "Taking out a Chitauri mothership isn't exactly a walk in the park."
"Yeah, well, if this keeps up, we're gonna lose sooner or later!" Star-Lord grunted, blasting an Accuser through the head. He looked into the distance and saw a new wave approaching, an unbroken line of monsters rising over the horizon of space. "Don't we have any more backup?" he asked, his voice filled with despair.
Just then, a clear voice cut through the comms. From the edge of the system, a single, not-so-huge Sakaaran transport ship sped into view. Before Star-Lord could complain about the laughably small reinforcements, the ship began ejecting a barrage of small, dark objects.
He frowned. They looked like blobs of sticky, gooey jelly. Like some kind of alien snot.
As he was pondering this, one of the blobs landed on his helmet with a wet splat.
"We are Klyntar," a voice echoed directly in his mind, "not snot!"
The reinforcements had arrived. Brunnhilde had returned from the Andromeda Galaxy. And with her, she brought the legendary Agent of Cosmos—the symbiotes.
The colorful Klyntar immediately found their targets, bonding with the embattled Plumbers and granting them a massive boost in power. Most symbiotes replicated the abilities of their previous hosts, which meant many of them simply enhanced strength and healing, but on this battlefield, it was a huge improvement. With their help, the Plumbers once again held the line.
Brunnhilde herself, clad again in her silver Valkyrie armor and wielding her Dragonfang sword, joined the fray. Her own armor was now covered by a sleek, silver symbiote, granting her the ability to fly under her own power. Her combat potential was now fully unleashed. She carved through the Chitauri warriors as if she were harvesting wheat. Raising Dragonfang high, her war cry boosted the morale of every Plumber and Xandarian survivor who saw her.
On the ground, the war raged on. Steve and Bucky fought alongside Bill. Korg and his brother swung their great hammers, while Miek commanded his insectoid brethren in rescuing injured Xandarians. In the palace ruins, the duel between Bill and Ronan continued, a thunderous clash of hammer and axe.
Caiera did not join that fight. While Bill kept Ronan occupied, she had rescued Queen Adora, taking her away from the battlefield to a safer vantage point. Watching the brutal war consume her world, Adora was drowning in regret. Without the Plumbers, Xandar would have already fallen. But even with their help, the Nova Corps was gone. What future was left for her people?
Her heart aching, she couldn't help but look at the tall, powerful woman beside her. But Caiera wasn't watching the battle in the sky or the duel in the palace. Her gaze was fixed on the distant inferno where the world itself seemed to be coming undone.
Adora followed her gaze and gasped. In the distance, beneath the falling sky of fire, she could see spears of rock larger than mountains erupting from the ground, only to be instantly melted into flowing magma by the raging, all-consuming heat. If the battle in the sky was brutal, the struggle in that distant hellscape was something else entirely: a terrifying, primal clash of gods.
Queen Adora saw the volcanic demon at the center of it all, a being of pure, unrestrained power.
Caiera stared, her expression not one of fear, but of fierce, unwavering pride.
"He," she said, her voice clear and strong above the din of war, "is the king of our planet, Sakaar."
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