After a few days of travel, Josh and his group finally arrived in the Nova Empire's territory.
As a relatively open federal-style empire, the Nova Empire had very relaxed checks for regular visitors. As long as the incoming ships weren't warships, patrol fleets usually just did a quick scan and let them pass—most of the time, no documents were even required.
More detailed checks only happened when someone wanted to enter one of the empire's actual planets.
Since Josh's group was riding a luxurious sightseeing ship, they didn't raise any alarms with the Nova Corps.
During inspection, the officers were a bit surprised to see that the ship was owned by a Frost Giant—Frost Giants were known to be individually powerful, but their civilization was relatively underdeveloped. So while they weren't unheard of in the galaxy, they usually appeared alone and in rare roles.
A whole ship full of Frost Giants? That was definitely unusual.
Still, once Loki, who was leading the group, explained that they were just here for trade and supplies, and weren't carrying any powerful weapons, the Nova Corps let them through easily.
Meanwhile, Josh used magic to completely hide his presence, leaving everything for Loki to handle.
Loki did well. He was smooth, polite, and didn't draw any suspicion during the whole process.
Just like that, their ship smoothly passed through the patrol zone and entered the heart of the Nova Empire—Planet Xandar. After going through customs, a group of strong, tall "Frost Giants" stepped off the ship, catching the attention of many curious aliens from different civilizations.
"What are you staring at?" a passing Nova officer asked his teammate with a pat.
"I don't know… I just have a bad feeling about those guys," the teammate said, frowning as he looked at the Frost Giants' backs.
"Oh, come on, Kean! You're too tense. We're winning the war against the Kree Empire. The whole empire's situation is looking good—who would dare cause trouble on Xandar now? Want to end up like the Kree?" The officer laughed loudly and patted his teammate's shoulder. "Unless you just think they're too ugly? Careful, that's discrimination, you know. It's against regulations!"
"Get lost! Don't talk nonsense. I'm not discriminating!" Kean grumbled and shoved his partner. He felt like he had overthought it.
After all, if someone really complained about him discriminating, he might get into serious trouble.
The Nova Empire, despite being called an empire and having a "Nova-Prime," wasn't made up of just one race—it was a collection of many civilizations. That's why their culture was so open and inclusive.
So discrimination was a serious offense, especially for law enforcers.
Loki and the "Frost Giants" didn't notice the little argument between the two Nova officers.
But hidden nearby, Josh did. He even silently gave a thumbs-up to the officer named Kean. That instinct was sharp—too bad it wouldn't help him.
As soon as Loki and the others exited customs, a large ground airship was already waiting for them outside.
Before they even arrived, all the arrangements had already been made by Dracula's people—there would be someone to receive them at every step.
The one who came to greet them wasn't a vampire, but a member of the Ghoul race.
Even though Dracula's core followers were mostly his vampire descendants, all vampires except for Dracula himself still had a major weakness—they couldn't handle sunlight. Because of that, they usually didn't handle public appearances.
However, due to the special nature of vampires, the Ghoul population had spread rapidly across the universe. They worked in all kinds of fields, from high-class to shady businesses.
Even though the Blood Lord had become famous across the stars, many civilizations still hadn't realized how dangerous vampires truly were. Their threat didn't just lie in their power, but in how tempting their long lifespans were to short-lived species.
So while many feared Dracula's reputation, few civilizations had actually tried to stop the spread of vampire beliefs.
That's why Dracula's network was so well-informed.
Under the Ghoul's lead, Loki's group checked into a fully-booked hotel. This hotel was just two streets away from the home of the Ogord father and son, which was a bar.
Most of the Ravagers who had escaped from Starfarer were now working as security there.
Lyan Ogord, who had built a strong reputation after decades in space and among the Ravagers, was not a simple man. He had bought businesses and properties in many civilizations, partly as investments, partly as safehouses.
This bar was one of them.
Recently, at Lyan's request, many of his men and contacts had been watching out for any unknown groups entering Xandar.
But their focus was mainly on humans and Centaurians.
During their time on Starfarer, they had learned that the Ranger Fleet was mostly made up of humans and robots.
They had never seen the Vrykul before, so when this group of "Frost Giants" suddenly appeared, they only did a quick check on their purpose and left a couple of people to monitor them, not thinking too much about it.
Lyan Ogord and his son would never have guessed that the people they had crossed on Starfarer were not just from some mysterious fleet.
–
Nightfall.
For the fierce and brutal Vrykul, adjusting time zones or resting before a fight was something only weaklings needed.
Most of them had been in a magic-induced sleep for thousands of years before being awakened by Abbendis—now that they were finally awake, who needed more sleep?
What they wanted was battle. What they needed was blood.
And tonight—was the perfect night for killing.
No weapons? All their gear was stored inside Josh's Inventory. With just one spell, Josh could equip them all instantly.
And so, in the blink of an eye, the rough-looking "Frost Giants" turned into fully-armed killing machines—equipped with both magic and tech.
But the ones who struck first weren't the Vrykul warriors.
It was the vampires.
They had been hiding in the shadows ever since the Ogords' location was discovered, silently watching them the entire time.
With their skills, vampires were experts in both stealth and assassination.
The few Ravagers assigned to keep an eye on the Vrykul never even made a sound before they were quietly taken out by vampire assassins.
"Go now. Bring slaughter to this world. Your master will be watching," Loki said coldly from a rooftop near the bar, holding his Frostmourne-like sword and still in his Frost Giant form.
Behind him, hundreds of Vrykul warriors, who had been waiting far too long, let out roars and charged into the night.
The loud noise quickly woke up the Ravagers inside the bar.
A fierce battle broke out instantly between the two sides.
Energy blasts flew in all directions.
Back on Azeroth, these flesh-and-blood Vrykul abandoned by the Titans used to fight with very primitive weapons.
But now that they served under Josh, that was a thing of the past.
They still had melee weapons, of course—but now they also carried ranged weapons.
Every Vrykul was armed with blaster rifles.
With energy rifles for ranged attacks and magic-forged melee weapons for close combat, they were fully equipped for war!
In the Marvel universe, most space civilizations also use energy-based weapons.
These are just as powerful as blasters from the Star Wars universe, and not that different in how they work.
So at first, the Ravagers, with their own weapons, were able to hold their ground.
But very soon, they realized the real gap between the two sides—defense!
In the Marvel universe, energy shields do exist—but just like armor in ancient times, they're much more expensive than weapons.
Most Ravagers simply can't afford them.
That's why in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Rocket and Yondu were able to take down a whole ship mostly on their own.
Only the elite troops of major civilizations could afford full energy shielding.
Even in the Star Wars universe, shields weren't cheap.
During the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo, only capital ships and large ground vehicles had shields.
Standard battle droids didn't have them—only top-tier units like destroyer droids did.
But Josh might not have much universal currency—but he had resources. A lot of them.
Especially magical metals from Azeroth—they were like dirt in his system.
So every Vrykul was equipped not only with energy shields, but also heavy metal armor with high magic resistance.
Since magic is a kind of energy attack, high magic resistance also means strong energy resistance.
The result?
A Ravager could hit a Vrykul once, twice—nothing happened.
Three or four hits—maybe a little pain.
To actually kill one, you'd need to hit them fifteen or twenty times in a row—minimum.
Even worse, the Vrykul had battlefield medical gear ready to go.
As long as they weren't killed instantly or shot in the head, they could be healed and get back into the fight.
The Ravagers, on the other hand—one shot, and they were done.
And once the Vrykul got close, the Ravagers were completely finished.
Sure, many alien species are stronger than humans—but compared to the Vrykul, who all start at three meters tall, they were like kids.
And the Vrykul's weapons? Two-handed axes, giant hammers—pure destruction.
Every swing sent blood flying!
With such a huge difference in gear and strength, it didn't take long before the Ravagers broke and started running for their lives in a panic.
After all, they were just a bunch of bandits, not trained soldiers—you couldn't expect them to have much will to fight back.
But after running for a while, the fleeing Ravagers suddenly realized something strange.
The entire district around the bar seemed to be covered by an invisible wall.
They couldn't get out—and no one outside could see what was happening inside.
No wonder the massive battle had been going on for so long and the Nova Corps still hadn't shown up.
It turned out Josh had already set up a barrier around the whole area.
By the time the Ravagers figured this out, it was already too late.
The Vrykul warriors didn't bother chasing them too far—but the vampires hidden in the dark had already been watching.
One by one, the fleeing Ravagers were dragged into alleys by sudden, silent strikes.
"If only I had an army this powerful…"
Standing on a rooftop, Loki watched the one-sided slaughter below with a surge of emotion.
The vampire assassins were fine—faster and tougher than average, sure, but not impressive in his eyes.
But the strength of the Vrykul warriors… that stirred something in him.
In his mind, these Vrykul could already rival Odin's elite royal guard.
Maybe only the legendary Valkyrie army could surpass them.
"Heh… those two are really patient, huh? Their men are dying and they still haven't shown themselves?"
Even as he admired the Vrykul's power, Loki didn't forget their real target.
It had been almost ten minutes since the fighting started.
The entire bar was nearly taken over—but Stakar Ogord and his son still hadn't appeared.
A bad feeling started to grow in Loki's heart.
Could it be… they were never here?
No—that couldn't be.
The intel from those bloodsucking creeps said the Ogords hadn't left the bar for days.
Just as Loki was puzzling over it, a brilliant light exploded from within the bar.
Several Vrykul warriors were blasted out, crashing into different parts of the battlefield—dead or unconscious.
The Starhawk—Stakar Ogord—had finally appeared!
And the moment he showed up, the tide of battle completely shifted.
The Vrykul might be strong, but in front of Starhawk, they were like Kree soldiers fighting Captain Marvel—no matter how hard they tried, it was completely meaningless.
Seeing the kind of power Starhawk unleashed, a flicker of fear finally appeared on Loki's face.
Now he understood why Josh had repeatedly told him not to engage directly, and to avoid Stakar at all costs.
That energy blast… this guy was easily on par with Thor.
Why were there so many terrifying monsters in this universe?
For the first time, Loki truly felt like a frog in a well—completely unaware of how vast and dangerous the cosmos really was.
"Leave this to me. Go find Lyan!"
Just as panic started to rise in Loki's chest, Josh's voice echoed in his ear.
Josh had finally made his move.
And he didn't hold back—Golden Cosmic Energy and the purple glow of the Power Stone surged around him like a living storm.
Like a giant energy missile, he shot straight toward the rampaging Starhawk!
--
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