With a deafening "boom," the ground in the mirror dimension shattered instantaneously. The High Evolutionary's body surged with purple light, keeping him from immediately plummeting into the deep crater below.
If not for the sudden and unpredictable appearance of the fire ring portal and his focus being entirely on Adam's betrayal, the High Evolutionary wouldn't have been so easily transported into the mirror dimension.
Even after arriving in the mirror dimension, the High Evolutionary couldn't understand why Adam had betrayed him. From a timeline perspective, Adam had been a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy for only a short while. As Adam's creator, the High Evolutionary firmly believed Adam should have been on his side.
What baffled him even more was the Avengers' behavior. They had already shown interest in the Earth he had created. Why, then, would they attack him?
Ah, perhaps the Avengers were unaware of his relationship with this Earth. If they knew he could destroy it at any moment, they certainly wouldn't be using such direct methods to deal with him.
But there was a new problem: being trapped in the mirror dimension meant the High Evolutionary had lost the ability to destroy Earth. If he wanted the Avengers to hold back for fear of harming Earth, he first needed to escape the mirror dimension and make his presence known to them.
Above him, however, loomed a Hulk radiating intense red heat. From barely deflecting the Hulk's earlier attack, the High Evolutionary had realized the Hulk's strength was extraordinary—not someone like Adam or others could compare to. He had only barely managed to withstand the Hulk's strike and was far from being able to control him as easily as he had subdued Adam and the rest.
"Hulk! Smash!" roared the Hulk, snapping the High Evolutionary from his scattered thoughts. An inexplicable surge of rage welled up in him—an urge to kill the Hulk right there and then, as if failing to do so would cause him to suffocate in frustration.
"Die, you monster!" The High Evolutionary's eyes flared with anger, his body radiating purple light as he launched a violet energy blast at the Hulk, colliding with the Hulk's fist imbued with furious energy.
"Boom!"
A terrifying explosion echoed through the mirror dimension. The surroundings crumbled and spun violently. With Baron Mordo's spells, the mirror dimension returned to its original state after several rotations. Yet the High Evolutionary paid no attention to this; his mind was consumed by rage and the overwhelming desire to tear the Hulk to pieces.
This was why Robert had not allowed anyone else to enter the mirror dimension. Both the Hulk and the High Evolutionary were immensely powerful, and even Baron Mordo, who wasn't as strong as either of them, was struggling to maintain the integrity of their battlefield. Adding more people to the mix would likely overwhelm Mordo's control.
If the additional battle zones were too close, they might suffer collateral damage from the clash between the Hulk and the High Evolutionary. If placed too far, Mordo would struggle to stabilize the spaces they occupied. Thus, while it appeared the Hulk was holding back the High Evolutionary, in reality, Baron Mordo and the Hulk were working together to trap him within the dimension.
Meanwhile, outside the mirror dimension, in this newly created Earth, the High Evolutionary's subordinates were left dumbfounded when he suddenly vanished. They had no idea what had just happened and began searching for his whereabouts.
The High Evolutionary's momentarily dazed subordinates gave the Guardians of the Galaxy their chance. Rocket Raccoon was the first to strike. While his firepower wasn't enough to harm the High Evolutionary, it proved more than effective against his minions.
The Guardians' sudden attack caught the High Evolutionary's forces off guard, killing several bio-engineered monsters instantly. It wasn't until the brute-force bear regained his composure that the subordinates regrouped and launched a formidable counterattack.
The High Evolutionary's minions were undeniably powerful. Earlier, he had confidently claimed he could handle Groot's forest domain, and for good reason. Some fire-breathing creatures inflicted amplified damage on Groot, forcing the tree-man's forest to shrink significantly.
Even with Adam and Ayesha recovering their combat strength after the High Evolutionary's disappearance, the Guardians of the Galaxy struggled to gain the upper hand. This was, after all, the High Evolutionary's headquarters, and his forces were overwhelming. Star-Lord even spotted the same monstrous creatures they had once encountered on Sovereign during their heist—thick-skinned and challenging to deal with.
Thankfully, the Avengers soon joined the battle. Excluding the researchers, the Avengers' combat strength significantly outmatched the High Evolutionary's forces. Their arrival quickly turned the tide.
"Look at all these people! Have we found Nebula and Gamora yet?" Thor asked aboard the ship he shared with Supergiant. Scanning the chaotic battle below, he frowned at the holographic display. Thor, unfamiliar with Nebula and Gamora, couldn't identify them in the crowd.
"Yes, we've located Gamora, but it doesn't look like she's using the Soul Stone. She's injured—why wouldn't she use it? Is there a restriction on the stone, or is the cost too great?" Supergiant replied, her eyes narrowing in confusion as she observed Gamora's condition through their scanner.
"The Soul Stone? On Gamora? Who gave you that intel?" A third voice suddenly cut into their conversation. Thor and Supergiant's expressions darkened as they turned to face the source, their unease growing.
Standing behind them were not one but two figures—Robert and Kara.
Supergiant and Thor couldn't comprehend how Robert and Kara had boarded their ship. The last time they had encountered Robert, he was merely a skilled energy-wielder with no apparent ability to teleport.
"Well, well, familiar faces. One of you is the enemy who escaped last time, and the other, though not exactly an enemy, what are you doing with him?" Robert asked, his tone laced with curiosity as he glanced between the two.
"Sayian, why are you here?" Supergiant gritted her teeth, trying to mask the fear in her voice, but the tremble betrayed her.
"You're on Earth, aren't you? Isn't it normal for me to be here?" Robert replied with a smile, deliberately distorting the truth. "But I seem to recall that neither of you was supposed to set foot here again."
"Earth? But this doesn't look like Earth on the star maps!" Supergiant exclaimed, her pupils contracting as an ominous feeling took hold.
The thought of Robert's capabilities sent shivers down her spine. She couldn't help but think back to how Black Dwarf and Ebony Maw had fallen. Thanos wasn't here to protect her now. Even with the Mind Stone and the Infinity Gauntlet, she doubted Thanos would be a match for Robert.
Thor, meanwhile, remained silent. Despite the Mind Stone's influence, a part of him acknowledged the immense gap in power between him and Robert. This realization filled him with both dread and determination as he prepared to make his move, hoping to uncover the true extent of that gap.
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