"What legacy?"
Star-Lord was puzzled, knowing what Ethan meant, but Ethan did not explain, because whether or not they could take over the energy Ego had gathered over countless years was not yet a sure thing.
Do not brag about it now and then find out you cannot do it. That would be too embarrassing.
"I'll explain this to you once the situation is confirmed. We might be in trouble now."
As Ethan gave the warning, his mirror clone suddenly flickered, like a TV screen with poor signal reception, but after a moment of distortion, it quickly returned to a clear image.
This strange and somewhat magical sight made Mantis unable to resist her curiosity, and she reached out to touch Ethan's clone.
Rocket Raccoon had already tried reaching out earlier. Ethan's clone was just a phantom image. No matter how real it looked, it was merely an illusion with no physical substance, so nothing could be touched.
But this time, Mantis's outstretched hand was grabbed by Ethan. She genuinely touched Ethan's body, or was touched.
Of course, this was not because Ethan's clone had gained substance, but because Ego had broken free from the control of his labyrinth. He had cast a spell to teleport himself to the location of the mirror clone, which caused the previous distortion.
"I did underestimate this guy a bit."
Ethan had thought the spatial labyrinth would be enough to trap one of Ego's clones, and it did indeed trap Ego, leaving him with few ways to escape.
But Ego had lived for so many years and was not lacking in wisdom or experience, nor the necessary decisiveness. At the crucial moment, he made a very correct choice, self-detonation.
Detonating the entire energy clone, the instantly unleashed energy was enough to scatter and break the spatial labyrinth. Even if it only broke for a moment, it was enough for Ego's mental core to return to his main body.
Seeing Ego escape, Ethan immediately went to Star-Lord. Although the fighter jet had already entered the planet's interior, the spherical object wrapped in rock layers not far ahead was Ego's main body. However, now they were facing the planet Ego, not just an energy clone.
"So... what should we do now?"
Inside Ego's body, this was entirely the opponent's home ground. The energy pillars and tentacles surrounding them, one after another, were all huge threats that could kill them.
Even things that looked like ordinary rocks could cause trouble for everyone, either shaking or suddenly collapsing to trap or even bury people. These were all situations they needed to avoid at all costs.
"So... do not land. Try to stay in mid-air as much as possible. Only then will it be safe enough."
None of the people on the fighter jet had innate flight abilities, but these were adventurers using high-level civilization equipment in the vast universe. They had enough gear to make themselves fly.
For example, Star-Lord had small thrusters that could be attached to his back and legs, and Rocket Raccoon had similar equipment.
Groot the tree person was probably the only one who could not use flight equipment.
Considering that the fighter jet needed an excellent pilot, the best pilots on this ship were Star-Lord and Rocket, so one of them had to stay behind.
This did not require any thought. Star-Lord had other ways to help Ethan, so he definitely could not stay on the fighter jet.
As for the rest...
"Protect yourselves, and if possible, try to attract Ego's attention." Then, pointing at Star-Lord, "You, come with me."
"What are we doing?"
Star-Lord usually acted like an ordinary cosmic drifter, but he was very responsible at critical moments. Hearing Ethan call him out to go out and fight with him, he followed directly without any hesitation.
Or rather, he had originally wanted to go out and avenge his mother with his own hands.
"Before we go out, you need to understand something."
"What?"
"Do not ignore your lineage. Even if you do not like it, you should not disregard it." Ethan pointed at the glowing energy tentacles outside. "This powerful energy, you can also use it."
Whether Star-Lord understood or not, Ethan turned his head and was the first to leave the fighter jet.
"Wait, he does not seem to have brought..." Yondu watched as Ethan, wearing only ordinary clothes, jumped out, not attaching small thrusters to his back like Star-Lord.
But the next second, he saw this man, whose origin was unknown, simply flying away into the distance. Yondu swallowed back the words he had not finished. "Do not mind me, I did not know this guy could fly."
There were too many strange races in the Marvel universe. Yondu was not surprised to see Ethan fly, and he did not even think about the question of why this guy could fly.
He just told Star-Lord to be careful, then returned to the pilot's seat, controlling the fighter jet's maneuverability and firepower with Rocket Raccoon to avoid being struck and shot down by the increasing number of tentacles.
As for attracting attention, Yondu and the others had a good sense of self-awareness. They did not force themselves to try and draw Ego's attention. It was enough for them to successfully preserve their own lives, and then quietly wait for Ethan to solve the problem.
Yondu did not trust Ethan. Rather, he clearly recognized how powerful Ethan was. He had realized this from the very beginning when the other party casually performed spatial displacement.
If Ethan could not solve it, he could not solve it either.
Ethan and Star-Lord, who had exited the fighter jet, had not flown far at all when several energy tentacles in front suddenly twisted together, finally condensing into a giant face.
"Now... can you still trap me?"
It was clear that Ego was very unhappy about being trapped by Ethan, especially after he escaped and returned to his main body, only to find that after just a short delay in the labyrinth, these guys had already reached his core body, the flow of time was definitely problematic.
If he had not decisively chosen to self-detonate, he would have been inexplicably killed by these guys.
Thinking of this, Ego could not suppress the rage in his heart. The large face condensed from energy appeared extremely distorted due to his anger.
"This time, it is your turn to experience what it is like to be trapped."
Energy gushing out from all directions formed a giant cage, firmly surrounding Ethan and Star-Lord, and then continuously shrinking, squeezing the already limited space.
If this trend continued, Ego would not need to do anything extra. Ethan and Star-Lord would be squeezed into paste by the powerful energy from all sides.
However, it was basically impossible for Ego to kill Ethan in this way.
Grabbing Star-Lord, who wanted to charge forward, Ethan casually opened a portal and escaped the energy cage created by Ego. Compared to a spatial labyrinth, simply surrounding someone from all sides with energy to trap a mage was simply dreaming.
Let alone a mage like Ethan who specialized in spatial magic, even an ordinary mage with decent strength could use short-range teleportation spells to escape this predicament.
The moment he escaped, Ethan also left something in the middle of the energy cage. He was sure Ego would love it, not.
A muffled roar came from the layer of energy that had already clumped together beneath their feet. The outer side of the energy layer even shook violently, and some energy was even scattered by the shock.
If Star-Lord had learned how to control this energy, he might have been able to take the opportunity to seize control of this large mass of energy below.
Unfortunately, Star-Lord was currently in a daze and at a loss. He lacked a detailed understanding of his abilities, and since he had not been beaten and stimulated repeatedly by Ego like in the movie plot, he had not awakened his abilities.
Although the current Star-Lord had Ego's lineage, he only performed like a slightly stronger, somewhat experienced ordinary adventurer.
Therefore, it was unrealistic to expect Star-Lord to suddenly counter-kill Ego, and Ethan had not expected such a good thing to suddenly fall into his lap either.
How to deal with Ego, he still had to figure out himself.
While Ego was stunned by the magical explosion Ethan had left behind, Ethan quickly flew to the surface of the giant spherical rock and found a crack that seemed relatively wide.
"I do not know if this crack will let you get all the way inside. You will need to figure out the specifics yourself."
"What if I find Ego's core body?"
Ethan casually took out an amulet and handed it to Star-Lord. "When you find it, crush this, and I'll send a mirror clone to tell you what to do then."
That was all he could say, because Ego had recovered. Ethan turned around and released a magic barrier, blocking Ego's attack, and also released a magic shockwave to hinder Ego for a moment.
He discovered that although Ego had returned to his main body, his attention still could not be split. He could only focus on dealing with one target and could not directly control all the energy to attack everyone simultaneously.
As long as he attracted Ego's attention, Star-Lord could approach the core without hindrance.
Once Star-Lord touched Ego's core, the outcome of this battle would be decided.
So what he had to do was quite simple, just hold off Ego for a few minutes or even less time.
Although it was a very simple task, Ethan was not planning to use a slow-and-steady approach to stall for time. Compared to that method, he preferred grand, spectacular scenes.
Ego had previously used self-detonation to escape Ethan's spatial labyrinth. Ethan was also skilled in this kind of method.
He would not detonate himself. What he would detonate were the remaining dozen or so Arcane Springs in the space.
With a casual wave of his hand in front of him, a dozen or so Arcane Springs lined up and floated before him. The vast arcane energy contained within them gradually became unstable under Ethan's control.
(To be continued.)