"You're stalling..."
"No, I'm confirming whether my deduction is correct."
Compared to Ego's ugly expression, Ethan's current expression was relaxed, especially as time passed. He was already certain of his deduction.
This clone of Ego was not just a simple clone. Rather, it was more like a main body.
Perhaps because moving as a planet was too inconvenient, most of Ego's consciousness was infused into this clone, while his real brain was in a semi-dormant state, completely defenseless and even unconscious.
Even the vast energy accumulated over countless years within this planet was controlled through this clone.
Based on this situation, Ethan believed that Ego's spiritual core usually resided in the clone, and only when the clone was destroyed or he actively withdrew his spiritual core would Ego, as the planet, return to a normal state.
Given this situation, Ethan was not just planning to defeat and eliminate Ego. He had set his sights on the vast energy Ego had collected and stored for who knows how many years.
Ego releasing his spiritual main body was a huge blunder. If he had maintained his planetary form, Ethan would not have had many options. Even just destroying the planet would not have been an easy task, let alone coveting that massive energy.
Now, he was just dealing with an energy body with a spiritual core. Even if he could rely on the advantage of being on his home ground to constantly replenish his energy, he was still just an energy body.
Ego, with his limited single-output power, had no way to deal with Ethan. He had completely failed to realize that the action which made it more convenient for him to move around had become the biggest reason for him to fall into this predicament.
The only slightly troublesome thing was being unable to confirm whether Ego could directly dismiss this clone and let his spiritual core return to his original body. To prevent this from happening, Ethan had used some additional minor tricks.
"You're very pleased with yourself?"
Ego glared at Ethan with a dark face. Although Ethan's expression was calm and he had not said anything mocking, Ego felt extremely displeased.
Being outsmarted by a guy who was immeasurably younger than himself, not even a fraction of his age, was simply the greatest humiliation in Ego's long life.
"Pleased?" Ethan shook his head. Being pleased before succeeding was undoubtedly foolish, and he was still some distance away from true victory. However, he did not explain. Letting Ego overthink was more beneficial to him. "Perhaps, after all, you currently have no way to break my spell."
He had already taken out the Space Stone. In the Marvel Universe, the Space Stone could unleash its greatest power. As for the Gold Cloth, he had not taken it out.
The spatial maze and spatial barriers created by the Space Stone were enough to guarantee his safety. Even Ego could not get close and engage him in melee combat.
This had already been confirmed by Ethan from the probing attempt just now. Ego also dared not touch the energy storm generated when spatial energy erupted. There was no easy way to deal with that storm that could tear apart the surrounding space. The safest method was to create a defensive layer with strong enough energy to block this violent energy.
He casually turned the Space Stone and its dedicated base into a bracelet and wore it on his left wrist, while his right hand held nothing, not even the most commonly used Arcane Spring.
The greatest use of the Arcane Spring was the large amount of arcane energy stored within it, which allowed Ethan to cast spells without restraint. However, in the Marvel Universe with the Space Stone, Ethan did not lack energy.
In this world, his combat power far surpassed that in any other world, which was also the source of his confidence in confronting Ego head-on.
With a gentle wave of his hand, the energy that had been quietly dispersed around him during the previous few spells was mobilized by Ethan. The fundamental purpose of that flame just now was not to cause damage to Ego, but to spread his magical energy around.
Following Ethan's gesture, the entire space underwent earth-shattering and strange changes. Ego felt various bizarre deviations in his perception. Ethan, who should have been standing in front of him, was now located above and to his side, and was standing upside down on a patch of ground, which also existed abruptly in mid-air. Below, or above, that ground was a sky radiating colorful light.
The sky of Ego's planet emitted auroral-like colored light, completely different from the clear blue sky of Earth, looking more dreamlike.
But at this moment, this beautiful scenery gave Ego a headache. These bright colors were scattered around him in all directions, severely affecting his vision. And when he wanted to change position and took a step forward, he found that Ethan's position had changed to being behind him.
At the same time, the ground he was standing on also changed. The vast plain became a patch of ground only about one square meter. To his left was a lake, to his right was the sky radiating beautiful colors, and in front was underwater. He could clearly see a species of aquatic creature native to Ego's planet swimming through the water in front of him.
"You want to trap me here?"
"Yes." Ethan did not hide his purpose. He just wanted to trap Ego's spiritual main body. As long as his spiritual main body was trapped here, he could do anything to Ego's main body, including directly killing Ego's brain, causing brain death, and then using Star-Lord's bloodline to give that vast energy a new owner.
Without energy and the real main body, Ego would have no other outcome but to perish.
As for the method to trap Ego...
Ethan's understanding of spatial power had reached a very high level, and his understanding of the Space Stone's abilities was far beyond what it was back then.
Now, when using the Space Stone, he was invincible against enemies of the same level or even slightly stronger than himself.
Because Ethan had completely mastered the Space Stone and could construct and combine space at will, just knowing where his real body was was enough to make these people scratch their heads.
Enemies strong enough could, of course, violently shatter this space. The only thing to be careful of was the energy storm caused by the spatial rupture.
Ego, with his full power, could do this, but this energy clone...
He could blast through a part of the spatial maze with all his might, but the resulting spatial storm would make him feel like he was falling apart. That kind of energy might injure his spiritual core.
Even if it did not injure himself, Ethan was not dead. If Ego blasted through a part of the spatial maze, he could simply set up a new maze outside.
As long as Ego could not instantly shatter and disperse the entire spatial energy, causing this space to immediately return to normal, then he had no way to escape from this maze.
If Ego were a mage, he could use less energy and some other means to break or escape.
Unfortunately, he was not. The only effective method was rendered unusable by himself, and he was now in a very awkward situation.
Facing the increasingly exasperated Ego, Ethan would occasionally say something to distract him.
He did not need to attack now. This spell was enough to keep Ego trapped here. At the same time, he also used the slightly comprehended power of time within this spatial maze, changing the flow of time inside and outside the maze to buy more time for Star-Lord and the others.
Ethan stayed here to tie up Ego, and the Guardians of the Galaxy were still responsible for dealing with Ego's main body.
However, compared to the original Guardians of the Galaxy, there was one more person in the team this time, Ethan's clone.
As for how to find Ego's main body? Star-Lord mentioned someone, Mantis.
Mantis possessed a unique ability that allowed Ego to enter a better state of sleep, so she was the only intelligent life form on this planet besides Ego.
Mantis was naive and adorable, and inherently kind. After understanding that Ego's plan would threaten countless lives, she agreed to lead Star-Lord to the location of Ego's main body.
So, a large group of people plus a mirror clone boarded Yondu's Ravager ship and headed toward the interior of the planet through a rift valley.
"Are you sure nobody... or anything strange will suddenly jump out to stop us?"
"Unless Ego can get out of the maze I set up first, he cannot do anything."
Ethan's mirror clone was not as skilled as Loki's, but in the eyes of ordinary people, this clone was no different from the main body. Except for obvious image fluctuations when touched, it was completely indistinguishable from a phantom if not touched.
"Alright, then I'll ask in a different way." This time it was Rocket Raccoon asking, "Are you sure that guy will not run out of your maze?"
"If he gets out, I'll notify you in advance so you can be prepared."
Ethan's answer did not reassure Rocket Raccoon, but the current situation was good enough, because along the way he had already understood what kind of being Ego was, they were currently inside Ego's body. This guy named Ego was actually a planet.
And now they were heading to the deepest part of this planet to find Ego's real main body and kill him.
"Alright, while that guy is still spinning around in the maze, let's hurry and find that guy's brain, then plant the bomb and run... Let me tell you, I just assembled a very powerful bomb, guaranteed to blow that guy to smithereens."
"Bomb?" Ethan waved his hand. "We do not need a bomb. I have other ways to kill Ego so that Peter can smoothly inherit the legacy Ego left behind."
"Legacy?"
(To be continued.)
***
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