"You... very good!"
The human-like skin on Ego's face shattered completely, exposing a semi-solid entity made entirely of swirling, raw energy underneath.
In all his billions of years of existence, this was the first time anyone had slapped him across the face—let alone twice in a row.
"You lowly, inferior parasite... it seems I must teach you an overdue lesson today!"
As he spoke, Ego's body began to swell.
No—it wasn't just his body.
The entire planet was shaking violently. The sprawling fields of flowers withered and dropped away in massive swathes; mountains crumbled into powder, and lakes boiled over into vapor.
The elements that had previously looked like something out of a serene fairytale world finally unveiled their true nature—energy!
An almost infinite, roaring ocean of blue-and-white Celestial light!
The energy surged and condensed, piling higher and higher until it coalesced into a colossal giant standing over a hundred meters tall.
"Now... let's see who's slapping whose face!"
Ego let out a booming roar that echoed so violently it made the ears of everyone present bleed.
Rocket Raccoon couldn't resist adjusting his heavy blaster to maximum yield, pulling the trigger to fire a full-charge plasma blast.
Yet a shot capable of reducing a high-tech starship to cosmic dust did nothing more than fizzle harmlessly against the giant's skin, failing to produce even a single ripple of energy.
"Holy shit! What kind of monster is this?! He feels way harder to deal with than Ronan when he had the Power Stone!"
Ego didn't even bother acknowledging Rocket. He simply raised his massive right foot, bringing it crashing down toward Peter like an absolute sky-blotting mountain.
Before the giant foot even made contact with the ground, the terrifying atmospheric pressure it generated blew Star-Lord and the others flying off their feet, causing the terrain beneath Peter's boots to spiderweb and fracture in all directions.
Peter stood his ground, his clothes whipping wildly in the hurricane-force gale.
Gazing at his solitary yet unyielding back, Star-Lord grit his teeth. Forcing the newly awakened Celestial energy within his blood to ignite, he thrust his hand out toward Ego.
He was attempting to help Peter in his own way.
Surprisingly enough, his desperate attempt actually worked.
The earth-shattering foot halted for a brief fraction of a second in midair under Star-Lord's interference.
Enduring the agonizing strain, Star-Lord screamed at Peter through the gale:
"DODGE IT, MAN! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Peter glanced back over his shoulder, offering him a calm smile. Just as he was about to speak, Ego forcefully cut him off:
"Foolish child... every ounce of power inside you flows directly from me."
Ego looked down at Star-Lord with a sneer of utter contempt:
"You honestly think you can use the gift I bestowed upon you to fight me?"
"Shut your mouth!" Star-Lord yelled back, fresh blood pouring from his nostrils due to the extreme mental feedback of manipulating Celestial light.
"Stop flattering yourself, old man! You're not my dad!"
"My true father... is Yondu!"
Hearing those words, the giant energy construct trembled noticeably. The mocking glint in Ego's eyes vanished, replaced by an absolute, icy fury:
"Very well! If you can utter something so disgraceful, then... you are no longer fit to carry my power!"
With a flick of his wrist, a brilliant orb of Celestial energy was forcibly ripped out of Star-Lord's chest. Star-Lord collapsed instantly, passing out cold on the spot.
Freed from Star-Lord's mental suppression, the giant energy foot resumed its descent, plunging downward to pulverize Peter once and for all.
BOOM!
The foot slammed down, kicking up an enormous mushroom cloud of dust and debris.
Gamora and the others stared with wide, horrified eyes. Mantis broke down in tears, believing her desperate request had just gotten Peter killed.
Rocket screamed in frustration:
"Bro! Weren't you supposed to be unstoppable?! Don't die on me! Don't make me look down on you!"
Just as everyone—save for Sif—thought Peter had been flattened under Ego's heel, a casual, lighthearted voice echoed out from the swirling dust:
"You foul-mouthed raccoon... you really aren't cute at all, are you~?"
The instant the words fell, a powerful gust of wind blew away the dense dust, revealing the scene inside.
Peter stood entirely unscathed. Floating directly above his head was a thick wooden shield emblazoned with a sinister demon face pattern, effortlessly holding off Ego's massive foot.
Wood Release: Ranked Shield Technique!
Seeing that a mere wooden barrier had halted his attack, Ego felt his pride taking a serious hit. He channeled even more energy into his leg, attempting to crush the shield into splinters.
Noticing his effort, Peter let out a cold smirk:
"Got an itch on your sole and want to step on people's heads? Careful you don't get your shoe spiked through, old man~!"
With a casual flick of his wrist, countless wooden branches sprouted violently from the shield's surface, stabbing straight through Ego's energy foot like massive spears.
Wood Release: Cutting Technique!
The moment his foot was impaled, Ego's expression shifted slightly.
It wasn't because he felt physical pain, but because he noticed something absurd about these branches—they were actively absorbing his Celestial energy to nourish and expand themselves!
"Young man, I admit I underestimated you. But you forget—this body belongs to me!"
Channeling a massive surge of power, Ego detonated the energy inside his right leg, shattering the wooden branches to pieces.
"I am this entire planet! Compared to a whole world, every single one of your attacks is nothing more than a minor itch! Do you understand?!"
"Inside my main body, how could you possibly hope to beat me?!"
Faced with Ego's booming roar, Peter didn't even bother answering verbally. He simply glanced down at the Omnitrix on his wrist, casually turning the bezel halfway with his thumb.
The motion was subtle—so subtle that almost no one noticed.
Only Sif caught it.
Standing off to the side with her arms crossed, the concern on her face vanished, replaced by a subtle, knowing smirk.
She knew a great show was about to start!
Gazing with satisfaction at the progress bar on the Omnitrix—confirming that the genetic sampling process had officially initiated—Peter raised his head, offering Ego a faint smile as he spoke in a remarkably nonchalant tone:
"How do I plan to beat you?"
"The answer is, of course... trees!"
Clapping his hands together, the ground ruptured violently. Countless thick, wooden roots burst out from the deep fissures, spreading outward in all directions at a staggering speed. Each trunk was thick enough to require a dozen men to encircle it, and the foliage grew so dense that it completely obscured the view of Peter and his group.
Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!
"I am Groot!" Seeing this technique once again, Groot gasped in awe, his eyes shining with unadulterated admiration for Peter.
Yet such a breath-taking display only earned a disdainful scoff from Ego:
"Laughable! This entire planet is my true body! You honestly expect to hurt me with such primitive parlor tricks?"
With a single thought, Ego redirected a portion of his core power deep into the mantle beneath them.
The next second, the energy-rich terrain beneath the forest began to petrify at an alarming rate.
A wave of grey stone swept outward from Ego's feet. Wherever it touched, the vast forest summoned by Peter began to turn to ash from the roots up—trunks solidified, leaves crumbled, and the root systems wrapping around his legs snapped one by one, disintegrating into dust that rained down onto the floor.
The magnificent forest that had taken seconds to spawn was completely turned to stone and destroyed in less than ten seconds.
Gazing at his handiwork, Ego let out a wild, arrogant laugh:
"Fool! Do you still not get it?! I am not merely a sentient energy mass—every bit of energy on this planet is at my absolute disposal! Energy or solid matter, it shifts at my whim!"
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