"You foolish human! You dare reject the grace of the Celestials and oppose us?!"
The alloy giant Ego roared. At his thought, the arm Saitama had shattered reformed instantly, good as new.
"Two-Handed Consecutive Normal Punches!"
Saitama had no intention of talking further. He leapt above Ego's colossal head, unleashing a storm of fists from every angle.
To him, massive monsters like this were nothing new. He'd fought them countless times before.
"Courting death!!"
Ego bellowed. His giant body flared with countless energy orbs, blasting upward in a rain of devastation.
But to his horror, every shining sphere — strong enough to rival super missiles — was obliterated the instant Saitama's fists struck. Yet Saitama's punches didn't stop, hammering down without pause.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—
The storm of fists smashed into Ego's alloy body. He howled in agony as his supposedly indestructible shell caved, dented, cracked, and shattered.
After ten straight seconds of relentless punching, the hundred-meter alloy titan was gone.
In its place stood a crater tens of kilometers wide, littered with twisted steel and broken fragments. The earth trembled… then fell silent.
—
Deep inside the planet.
Mantis led Gamora, Quill, and Drax further underground, searching for Ego's brain. Even here, they felt the earth shudder violently from the battle above.
"…Wait. Why did it stop shaking?"
Quill frowned, suspicious.
Gamora and Drax halted.
"Ego's… alloy giant was defeated!"
Mantis gasped, her antennae trembling. She could sense everything.
"We won? Already?"
Quill's eyes widened, then he grinned in relief. "Guess we don't need to find his brain after all. Good thing — these tunnels are getting too damn small!"
Drax laughed harshly. "Hahaha! Then let's get out of here before it all caves in!"
But Mantis paled. "No… he's not dead. He's angrier than ever. Ego… he's—"
She collapsed unconscious mid-sentence, overwhelmed by his wrath.
Gamora's expression darkened. "We need to keep going! If Saitama loses, we're finished!"
They pushed forward, carving through the narrowing tunnels.
—
On Ego's surface.
The shattered titan was gone, but the planet itself began to twist. Blue veins of light streaked across the ground. Pillars of stone surged upward, reshaping the terrain.
"You've made me angry, Saitama! Truly angry!!"
Ego's furious voice echoed across the skies.
Mountains crumbled, rivers dried, magma boiled from cracks in the earth. Before Saitama's eyes, molten lava surged together, reshaping into a new hundred-meter titan — a lava giant in Ego's image.
"You cannot kill me! I am Ego the Celestial! I am the planet itself! No matter how you strike, I cannot die!!"
The molten giant roared and punched down.
Saitama dodged, countering with a Normal Punch.
BOOM!
A hole ten meters wide blasted through the lava giant's chest, melting it into slag. But almost instantly, another giant reformed.
As Ego had said — as long as his core remained, he was effectively endless. Nine planets' worth of energy fueled him.
He would exhaust Saitama to death.
High above, the two clashed endlessly. Saitama destroyed titan after titan, but each time, a new one arose.
"This is getting annoying."
Saitama finally stopped midair, scratching his cheek.
Ego laughed maniacally. "Hahahaha! Do you see now? You cannot kill me! Surrender, or I'll consume you whole!!"
Saitama shook his head. "It's not that I can't kill you… I just need to take them away first."
His cryptic words made no sense to Ego.
—
Underground.
Quill, Gamora, and Drax finally reached the pulsing mass that was Ego's brain, a tangle of glowing blue roots. As Quill stabbed his blade into it, Ego's enraged scream tore across the planet.
"You vermin dare try to sneak attack me?! I'll bury you alive!!"
The earth twisted, entombing them.
BOOM!
Just as the ground collapsed over them, a bald figure punched through, shattering the rock. In a flash, Saitama scooped the three into his arms and shot upward at light speed.
"Ah?! Saitama!"
Gamora gasped.
"We're going to space?!" Quill panicked. "We don't have suits! We'll die out there!"
"It's fine."
Saitama said simply, calm as ever, blazing through the air.
CRASH—
The Ravagers' ship rattled as its tail hatch was blown open. Quill, Gamora, and Drax tumbled onto the deck, staring in disbelief.
"Leave Ego's planet. Get as far away as possible."
Saitama's flat voice lingered as he vanished in a flash of light.
Yondu: "..."
Rocket: "..."
Everyone else: "..."
They didn't understand. But they didn't need to. Rocket snapped to action, yanking the controls to full retreat.
—
On Ego's planet.
The Celestial froze as he felt Saitama's sudden disappearance — then roared in fury. But moments later, Saitama returned, descending calmly from the skies.
Ego bared his fangs in a grim smile. "So you came back after all. Have you accepted your death, human?!"
(End of Chapter)
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