"Grandmaster! What do you mean by this?!" The Collector was furious after realizing he couldn't leave and hearing Grandmaster's gesture of goodwill toward Robert. He hadn't expected that, after knowing each other for so many years, Grandmaster would sell him out like this.
"What do I mean? You brought someone to my Sakaar planet without discussing it with me first. The fact that I haven't personally acted against you is already out of respect for our past. Besides, we were never that close, were we?" Grandmaster scoffed and looked at the Collector with disdain.
The so-called Cosmic Elders were indeed a group of ancient beings who had survived since the universe's birth, but fundamentally, they were not of the same race. Each belonged to a different species and had survived the extinction of their own kind, gaining immortality.
Although these ancient beings banded together to form the Cosmic Elders Council, they still led their own lives. They didn't frequently keep in touch, and the depth of their relationships depended entirely on individual personalities.
So, when the Collector provoked the unknown and powerful Robert, Grandmaster had no hesitation in selling him out. He even thoughtfully sealed the surrounding space, preventing the Collector from escaping Sakaar.
The reason was simple: Grandmaster did not want to be enemies with Robert, nor did he want his precious planet, Sakaar, to be destroyed, just as the Collector didn't want his own collection to be damaged.
"Grandmaster! Have you forgotten the honor of the Elders? Have you forgotten the camaraderie we once shared, our brotherhood?" The Collector, feeling a sense of unease, retreated while questioning Grandmaster in a low voice.
"I forgot. Sorry, who are you again?" Grandmaster spread his hands and shamelessly asked, causing his subordinates nearby to look uncomfortable.
They all knew that when the Collector first arrived, Grandmaster had been very welcoming. Even when learning that the Collector had provoked a formidable enemy, Grandmaster had acted indifferent. Now, however, he had completely changed his attitude, which left his subordinates struggling to hold their composure.
"Boom!" With a loud crash, the Collector, realizing that conventional methods wouldn't allow him to escape, unleashed a powerful force, shattering a nearby glass wall. He transformed into a purple light and shot toward the sky, hoping to fly out of Sakaar since space was sealed.
"Buzz!" But just as the Collector was about to execute his plan, his body was forcibly halted as soon as he left Grandmaster's building. Robert had already sealed the area with his psychic power.
"What terrifying psychic power. But if that's all there is to it, the Collector shouldn't be this afraid. After all, he has the Power Stone. This psychic power shouldn't be enough to trap him..." Grandmaster sensed the situation and noticed the psychic power, but it didn't seem powerful enough to frighten the Collector or cause Grandmaster to instinctively avoid Robert.
"Apologies, although you're quite friendly, I will inevitably need to make a bit of a scene on this planet..." Robert smiled at Grandmaster, speaking softly. "Fortunately, this planet is indeed unique. Its sturdiness ranks among the top across various planets."
"Whoosh!" As soon as Robert finished speaking, he vanished. Meanwhile, the Collector had just gathered his strength to break through the invisible barrier surrounding him when Robert appeared in front of him.
"Boom!" The Collector didn't even have time to resist before Robert sent him flying with a single punch, slamming him into a distant mountain peak. The mountain, thousands of meters high, collapsed instantly.
"Rumble!" As the mountain collapsed, the surrounding land trembled. Grandmaster's expression darkened. Although Robert had said he would cause a little commotion, this was more like destroying property.
Little did Grandmaster know that this level of destruction was merely a warm-up. Robert's true destructive power far exceeded this, and the Collector, now forced into a desperate situation, was about to unleash even more.
"Hiss!" Realizing he couldn't escape, the Collector, unable to suppress his fury, finally let loose the power of the Power Stone. The energy from the Power Stone merged with his versatile weapon, and the debris burying him was pulverized and disappeared, along with the dust.
"Ah, the Power Stone. Infinity Stones are indeed marvelous. But why are you suddenly so interested in the Power Stone?" Grandmaster's eyes flickered as he watched from afar. Despite the distance, he could clearly see and sense the immense power surging from the Collector, leaving him more puzzled.
As a collector, the Collector's hobby of collecting items was normal. But he was neither a warrior nor a power-seeker, nor even a researcher. He should only want to collect the Power Stone, not use it for combat…
"What are they doing? Do they want to destroy Sakaar?" As Grandmaster was lost in thought, one of his subordinates exclaimed, snapping him back to reality. He was greeted by a sight that made his eyes widen in horror.
"Hiss!" Overhead, Robert unleashed a Ki blast toward the Collector. The Collector, in turn, channeled the energy of the Power Stone into his versatile weapon, and the two forces collided. The impact was far more terrifying than the previous battle in the Void.
The Collector's strength far surpassed that of Korath, and after witnessing Korath and Ronan's demise, he knew that his only option was to fight Robert head-on. Thus, he unleashed a power that even Korath could never have reached.
As the two forces clashed, Sakaar—despite its supposed toughness—couldn't withstand the fight for long. The ground beneath the Collector's feet, along with the surrounding structures, began to crumble, pushing the planet toward destruction.
Of course, the speed at which Sakaar was being destroyed had much to do with both Robert and the Collector showing no restraint in their destructive power.
From the Collector's perspective, Grandmaster's actions were nothing short of betrayal. If it weren't for Robert's presence, the Collector would have attacked Grandmaster himself to teach him a lesson. He had no reason to hold back his power to protect Sakaar.
In fact, the Collector hoped the planet would be destroyed faster, as this would undo the space restrictions Grandmaster had set. Then, he would have another chance to escape from Robert.
Even though Robert could teleport and keep up with him, the chance to flee was better than being trapped. Besides, not every Cosmic Elder was as heartless as Grandmaster. If the Collector could find a few willing to help, he believed he could hold off Robert.
As for Robert, he had no reason to restrain his own destructive power. After all, this wasn't Earth. The fate of Sakaar had nothing to do with him. Even if the planet were destroyed, he would only bear a third of the responsibility. The remaining two-thirds would fall on the Collector and Grandmaster for initiating the fight and betraying the Collector.
"Activate the Ultimate Sanctuary System!" Seeing that Sakaar was truly beginning to fall apart, Grandmaster's voice turned icy as he commanded his subordinates. Their faces changed, but they dared not hesitate, immediately activating the so-called Ultimate Sanctuary System.
Deep within Sakaar, in prison-like cells, were beings exuding powerful auras—champions of the arena who had earned Grandmaster untold riches over the years.
These gladiators, however, would never be free. Their freedom, power, and even their lives all belonged to Grandmaster.
"Buzz!" As the Ultimate Sanctuary System activated, these gladiators began to tremble. Their auras surged, catching Robert's attention even as he fought against the Power Stone.
But as the gladiators' auras grew stronger, they also began to wane. At the same time, Sakaar's essence started to strengthen. The ground, which had been crumbling, began to stabilize and even showed signs of mending.
It was a miracle for Sakaar, but it didn't mean the planet could endure the battle between Robert and the Collector. Grandmaster frowned deeply, staring at the two combatants and making a final decision.
"Buzz!" The pressure from Robert's Ki blast against the Power Stone grew heavier, and the Collector felt the weight increasing. Just then, he sensed something. His eyes lit up, the Power Stone's energy surged, and he disappeared from the battlefield.
Yes, in order to prevent the fight from completely destroying Sakaar, Grandmaster had no choice but to release the space seal. As for whether Robert would come after him later, Grandmaster had already prepared countermeasures. After all, he wasn't Robert's enemy, and he had even done Robert a favor by betraying the Collector. If Robert still sought trouble, Grandmaster had nothing more to say…
"Run, run! Is that all you can do?" Meanwhile, Robert's eyes flashed with irritation. He had been analyzing the structure of the Power Stone's energy, but now the cowardly Collector had fled again. This made Robert angry, and he began thinking of a way to replicate the effects of the space seal.
"Whoosh!" Before long, Robert also vanished, and Sakaar finally returned to calm. Grandmaster sighed in relief, and a towering image of him appeared in the sky, reassuring the planet's inhabitants that the disaster was over.
In a desolate corner of the universe, the Collector appeared, his eyes filled with confusion. This was once the residence of another Cosmic Elder, but now nothing remained. It dawned on the Collector that it had been years since they had met. He had no idea where the other Elder was now.
A sense of dread filled the Collector. If all the other Elders had moved their bases like Grandmaster, he would have no one to divert Robert's wrath toward.
"Keep running! Why don't you run some more
?" At that moment, Robert reappeared, kicking the Collector in the side and sending him crashing into a barren planet, which exploded upon impact, turning into cosmic dust.
"Buzz!" Amid the explosion, the Collector's body was protected by a layer of purple energy from the Power Stone. However, his expression darkened as he realized Robert's psychic power had evolved.
The surrounding space was now in chaos, constantly disturbed by Robert's psychic power. While it wasn't a complete space seal, using space abilities here would likely result in being sucked into a space-time vortex.
"Disrupting space directly is much easier than trying to seal it completely!" Robert muttered to himself as he fired another Ki blast toward the Collector, drawing inspiration from the Space Stone.
"Hiss!"
In the vastness of space, the Power Stone's energy clashed once again with Robert's Ki blast, the radiant explosion making it seem as if two new stars had appeared in the universe...
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