"How was I supposed to know he could grow this many…" Drax muttered sheepishly.
"But don't worry! I still have a trump card!"
Suddenly remembering something, Drax's eyes lit up and he shouted loudly.
He grabbed Mantis, who had been hiding behind him, and shoved her forward.
"Mantis! Use your power!"
"Make him sleep! Like you always do!"
Mantis hesitated.
"I… I don't know if I can…"
"Before, he always allowed it voluntarily…"
"You can!" Drax grabbed her shoulders and stared into her eyes with what he clearly believed was a look of great wisdom.
"Because… I believe in you!"
The entire room fell silent.
Rocket stared at Drax in disbelief.
Even Ego, standing nearby, looked utterly confused at the two idiots loudly discussing their plan right in front of him.
"Are you… pretending I'm not here?"
"Or do you really think shouting 'I believe in you' will create a miracle?"
WHIP—!
Without warning, a thin energy tendril burst from the soil beneath Mantis's feet.
It moved too fast for anyone to react.
"Ah!"
Mantis screamed as the tendril wrapped around her ankle and swung her violently into the air.
"WHOOO—BANG!!"
She slammed into a rock wall over ten meters away before sliding limply to the ground, unconscious.
"Mantis!!"
Drax panicked and tried to run toward her—
But more tendrils surged up, separating them instantly.
"You absolute idiot!!"
Rocket nearly lost his mind, firing wildly while shouting.
"You just revealed your trump card right in front of the villain?!"
"Is your brain filled with shit?!"
Endless tendrils surged forward like an ocean.
They pressed the group backward step by step.
Yondu's arrow was tangled in a web of tendrils.
Gamora and Nebula were both wounded.
Jessica could barely keep up with teleportation dodges under the overwhelming barrage.
"There's too many! We can't kill them all!" Quill shouted in despair.
-----
On Earth — The Livestream
Across the world, billions of viewers were watching the chaotic footage.
Groot's camera work was… terrible.
The image shook constantly.
Sometimes the camera pointed at random angles.
But the tension was unmistakable.
[Oh my god… how are they supposed to fight this?]
[It's over… they're going to get wiped out!]
[That big guy is the worst teammate ever!]
[Did the mantis girl die? I actually liked her…]
[Where is Homelander?!]
[Wasn't he fighting the ships earlier? Why isn't he back yet?!]
[Hurry! They can't hold on much longer!]
…
From everyone's perspective, Ego's power seemed endless.
Cut one tendril—
Two more grew.
The team was pushed further and further back.
Their space to move shrank rapidly.
Yondu's arrow was trapped by a net of tendrils and finally swatted aside, sending Yondu himself crashing into a pile of rubble.
Only Jessica, with her teleportation and incredible strength, could barely keep fighting.
The rest were gradually swallowed by the sea of tendrils.
And Quill—
He was captured again.
This time, over a dozen massive energy tendrils pierced his body simultaneously.
Chest.
Back.
Legs.
Arms.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH—!!!"
Quill screamed in unbearable agony.
Ego was no longer holding back.
He intended to drain every ounce of Celestial power from Quill—
Even if it killed him.
RUMBLE—!!!
As enormous divine energy surged into the planet's core—
Ego itself seemed to swell.
-----
Earth — Missouri
The gray crystals that had previously fallen dormant suddenly lit up again with blue light.
CRACK—BOOM!!
The rock surface exploded.
The blue energy inside didn't merely flow anymore—
It erupted.
Like a volcano that had been suppressed for centuries.
"Oh no!!"
Wanda's face went pale.
This surge was ten times stronger than before.
CRACK!!
The golden Vishanti magic circle instantly filled with fractures like shattered glass.
"Hold it!! We have to hold it!!"
Wanda bit her lip until it bled.
Her hands pressed desperately against the magical barrier as she poured out every ounce of her power.
But the eruption was overwhelming.
One section of the barrier collapsed.
A torrent of blue energy burst through the opening—
Transforming into gigantic tendrils that surged toward the nearby towns and defensive lines.
"There! The breach is there!!"
"Push them back!!"
Steve Rogers roared.
Shield raised, he charged straight toward an incoming tendril.
CLANG!
Shield and energy collided with a thunderous impact.
The force pushed Steve back several steps—
But he held his ground.
"Open fire! Open fire!"
Bucky lifted his Piercer Gauss rifle, unleashing a barrage of rounds.
A red-and-gold streak flew across the sky.
"Watch this!"
Tony Stark, wearing the brand-new Mark 47 armor, fired a chest-mounted unibeam and blasted apart a giant tendril.
"Banner! You're up!"
"Time to bring out the big guy!"
"HULK—SMASH!!"
With a thunderous roar, the Hulk leapt from a transport aircraft.
He crashed into the blue mass like a meteor, grabbing tendrils and ripping them apart with raw brute force.
At this moment—
The Vought heroes displayed astonishing combat strength.
With sheer courage, they formed a living defensive wall at the breach.
…
Through Skynet's global broadcast, the battle was shown live across the planet.
Billions watched with tears in their eyes.
They saw the Guardians of the Galaxy overwhelmed by tendrils on Ego.
They saw Earth's heroes fighting desperately to defend humanity.
Wanda's bleeding lips.
Scratches across Iron Man's armor.
Wounds on Captain America's body.
Every moment tightened the grip around the viewers' hearts.
Fear spread across the world—
But hope burned just as fiercely.
And in every heart, people were calling the same name.
The man wearing the Stars and Stripes cape.
The man who promised to protect them.
"Homelander… where are you?"
"Please come!"
"We need you!"
"Save us… save them…"
The prayers merged into a single ocean of voices.
-----
Ego's Temple
"AH!"
Gamora screamed as several tendrils wrapped around her body and began dragging her underground.
"GAMORA!!"
Nebula saw her sister being pulled away and charged forward without hesitation.
"Let her go!!"
Nebula leapt onto the tendrils, slashing wildly with her broken blade.
But more tendrils surrounded her.
They wrapped around her arms and legs.
The pulling force grew stronger.
Nebula felt as if her body were about to be torn apart.
"Sister…"
She looked at Gamora, who was trapped just like her.
A trace of sadness filled her eyes.
Is this… the end?
She closed her eyes and waited for death.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM—!!!
A deafening explosion erupted above them.
--------------
T/N:
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