Even though Soren's killing intent wasn't directed at them, the Guardians of the Galaxy felt it like a freezing wind slicing through bone.
The air thickened with silent death.
Tears welled up in Rocket's eye, from sheer pressure.
Even Drax, who had yearned for vengeance for years, instinctively took a step back.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
One by one, under the crushing force of Soren's space magic, the Kree soldiers exploded into grotesque, multicolored bursts of flesh. Limbs twisted, armor shattered, bones splintered.
It was a ghastly spectacle, macabre, and yet strangely beautiful in its cold, precise brutality.
Soren stood unmoving, face emotionless. He wasn't consumed by rage. He wasn't screaming.
This was simply execution.
"Soren, please! Have mercy!"
A voice rang out, trembling, desperate.
Gamora. She rushed forward, placing herself between Soren and the remaining prisoners.
Soren's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You're asking me to spare a war criminal?"
Gamora dropped to one knee, pointing to a lone blue figure trembling in the air, suspended in the space-binding glyphs.
"No. I'm asking you to spare my sister."
All eyes turned toward Nebula, her eyes unfocused, mouth slightly open, as if she'd already accepted her fate. Her mechanical limbs hung limp.
Years of rivalry. Pain. Resentment. And yet, beneath all of that…
Family.
Soren gazed at her in silence. For a long, heavy moment, no one spoke.
Then, with a wave of his hand, the space glyph surrounding Nebula shimmered and vanished.
Her body dropped gently to the ground, unconscious, breath shallow but steady.
Gamora rushed to her side, tears finally spilling down her face.
"Thank you… Thank you, Soren."
Soren gave a small nod.
Then, turning to the rest of the still-suspended Kree forces, his patience ended.
"Enough."
He raised his hand and clenched it.
BOOM.
In a single, sweeping collapse of the magic field, every remaining soldier was crushed into pulverized gore, raining down in silence. Nothing but blood mist and fragments remained.
The space magic circle dimmed and finally blinked out of existence.
Soren lowered his hand calmly, like he'd just turned off a light switch.
His face was as unreadable as ever, like what had just happened wasn't even worth remembering.
"Ronan is gone." He said, stepping toward Star-Lord.
"This transaction is complete."
Peter Quill, still pale from shock, blinked.
"R-right. Yeah. Complete."
But before he could even stammer out more, Soren vanished in a ripple of spatial energy, leaving only silence and blood behind.
The Collector, who had been watching quietly, gave the Guardians a lingering look.
Then, without a word, he, too, turned and walked into the void.
For a long moment, the Guardians said nothing.
Only the quiet hum of the damaged battlefield remained.
Star-Lord looked around, still dazed.
Gamora clutched Nebula gently, cradling her as if she were still a child.
"It could've been either of us in that spell. I'm not sure which of us deserved it more."
Rocket muttered,
"Remind me never to piss off Earthlings again."
Then he glanced at Drax, who was… smiling.
"Drax?" Peter asked cautiously.
Drax stood tall, tears still streaking his cheeks, but laughter rumbling in his chest.
"He's gone. Ronan the Accuser is gone."
"My family can finally rest." He let out a long, deep breath.
But then his smile faded, replaced by fire.
"But it's not enough. Ronan was only a weapon. The hand that wielded him is still alive."
He clenched his fists.
"I will kill Thanos. If it takes the rest of my life."
Rocket stared at him, aghast.
"You're insane! You saw what Soren just did! Ronan was ten times stronger than us, and Thanos is in a whole different league!"
Drax didn't falter. "Then I'll become stronger."
Rocket looked to Peter and sighed.
"I swear, next time Soren shows up, I'm asking if he does apprenticeships."
Quill chuckled weakly. "Yeah… me too."
"Alright, let's move out."
Peter gave a casual wave of his hand. He didn't need to lecture Drax. Everyone here had made their own choices, walked through fire, and bled for them.
"And once we sell that spinal fluid Mr. Soren gave us…" He added, a smirk creeping onto his face.
"We'll be the richest people in the galaxy."
Rocket's ears perked up like a dog hearing a treat bag.
"Wait, wait, how much we talkin' about? Like… ship-upgrade money? Or new-planet money?"
"Rocket, we're talking private-fleet-and-retirement-on-a-luxury-moon money."
Rocket's eyes lit up like twin suns.
"Oh-ho-ho, baby! I'm gonna install twenty plasma cannons on the Milano. And buy Groot his own forest!"
"I am Groot!" Groot cheered, raising a twiggy fist.
The crew burst into laughter, a moment of levity after the carnage. But their minds didn't stray far from Soren, the man who changed their fate.
"You're not staying to celebrate?" The Collector asked, watching him step out from the portal of bending space.
"Ronan is dead. The Guardians will remember you forever."
"They'll move on. As they should." Soren's tone was flat. "The mission is done."
The Collector, always curious, shifted gears.
"About the gem… the Orb you now possess—"
"The Power Stone." Soren interrupted softly.
"Yes, exactly. Dangerous beyond measure." The Collector's tone grew serious.
"That gem doesn't grant power. It is power. The kind that turns planets to dust if misused. Even the Council once held it, barely."
"They needed multiple high elders to spread the burden of its energy. Eventually, they lost control of it too."
Soren's gaze sharpened, but he remained calm.
"So no one has truly mastered it?"
The Collector hesitated, then shook his head.
"Not that I know of. One of my former servants… once tried to harness it. Just touching it burned her from the inside out."
"She exploded in my very gallery. Nearly took my entire vault with her."
Soren frowned. The gem pulsed faintly in the pocket dimension he kept locked within his aura. Even now, it called to him, a seductive whisper of strength.
"Is there a right way to use it?"
"Perhaps." The Collector leaned forward, lowering his voice.
"One man comes to mind… Thanos, the Eternal Titan."
Soren's eyes narrowed.
"You think he can control it?"
"If anyone can, it's him. He's obsessed with the Infinity Stones. He's spent years trying to gather them, studying their limits. And from what I've heard… he may already have a way to control them."
Soren's mind flashed to a single image from the future he remembered, the Infinity Gauntlet, forged to harness the power of all six stones.
Soren clenched his fist, feeling the hum of the Power Stone again.
He had already destroyed Ronan… crushed the Chitauri army… and drawn the attention of the Titan himself.
There would be no avoiding it.
"Thanos will come," Soren said quietly. "And when he does… I'll be ready."
The Collector arched a brow.
"You sound confident."
Soren turned toward the portal, cape fluttering with each step.
"Determined."
He paused. "If Thanos wants the stones, he'll have to take them from my corpse."
And with that, he vanished into the void, leaving the Collector alone with a rare feeling.