When Josh and his group arrived at the warehouse where the ship was kept, a group of desperate people were trying to attack and steal it.
But the vampire squad guarding the area was strong and had already taken control earlier, so the attackers couldn't break through.
Now that Josh was here, he didn't hold back. The Vrykul warriors rushed in and quickly cut them down without mercy.
"How's the situation?" Josh asked the vampire leader.
"Noble master, we've done a basic check of the ship you wanted. Everything Is in good condition!" the vampire replied flatteringly.
Even though he had been guarding the place the whole time, he had seen what happened to Xandar from a distance. He didn't dare disrespect such a powerful man.
"Good. Let's leave now. The Nova Corps reinforcements will probably arrive soon," Josh said with a nod.
Xandar was just the capital planet of the Nova Empire, not the entire empire.
There were over a thousand other administrative planets.
Now that Xandar was under attack, the other planets were sure to send reinforcements.
Josh wasn't afraid of a direct fight, but it would be troublesome.
After all, a planet can't run, but ships can.
The group quickly boarded the ship and, not far from the spaceport, met up with the ship they had come in—one that had taken off early before the attack.
Together, they left the star system.
Of course, before leaving, Josh didn't forget to deliver one last blow to the collapsing spaceport, just like the people fleeing had feared.
A few hours later, when the first wave of Nova Empire reinforcements arrived, all they saw was a glowing purple planet completely covered in violent energy, lifeless and destroyed.
The spaceport above it had turned to ruins, filled with wreckage.
Staring at this hopeless scene, the soldiers who had arrived later were filled with sorrow.
They could already tell—the Nova Empire, and maybe the whole galaxy, was about to change.
And they were right.
Just like how a big country's stability affects its whole region on Earth, the Nova Empire played a key role in keeping this part of the galaxy stable.
But now, with Xandar gone, that balance was shattered.
First, the remaining Nova Empire fell into civil war.
All the top leaders had been wiped out on Xandar by Josh.
The empire's 2,000+ remaining administrative planets and more than ten main fleets now acted on their own.
Everyone wanted to find out who had destroyed Xandar and rebuild a new central government—But no one was willing to follow anyone else.
Since it was a union of hundreds of civilizations, each one now tried to protect itself and grab as much power as it could.
Some only argued, but others quickly turned their weapons on each other.
While the Nova Empire was falling apart, its enemies didn't waste time—Especially the Kree, who had been at war with them for over a thousand years.
The moment they heard about Xandar's destruction, the Kree sent all nearby fleets to launch a full attack on the Nova Empire.
They also pulled troops from other fronts, trying to wipe out the empire in one big strike.
Leading the charge was Ronan the Accuser.
Facing the aggressive Kree army, the divided Nova Empire reacted in different ways.
Some chose to fight back until the end.
Some tried to make peace or even surrendered.
Others joined forces with the Sovereign or nearby small powers.
But because the Nova Empire's territory was so vast, the Kree couldn't move all their forces here—They still had to deal with other enemies like the Skrulls.
So this chaos was sure to last a long time—maybe years, or even decades.
As for the one behind it all, the man now being hunted by powerful forces across the galaxy—Josh had already left Nova space.
He first sent the vampire allies who had worked with him back to Dracula, then returned to Starfarer.
Once he confirmed that the entire operation, his identity, and the secret of the faster-than-light engine hadn't leaked.
He quietly went back to working on infrastructure on Starfarer.
Loki, after getting Josh's approval, also returned to Asgard for now to continue being the second prince.
At first, he had a lot of mixed feelings about Xandar.
But after some time, he had sorted it out.
Now that he had joined Josh's "pirate ship," it was too late to back out.
He could only take things one step at a time and hope Asgard wouldn't pay a price it couldn't afford.
Meanwhile, Vereesa had recovered.
After hearing what Josh had done while she was injured, instead of being afraid, she was incredibly moved.
Josh said he did it to stop the faster-than-light tech from spreading, but in her eyes, it was all because of her failure.
Yet Josh didn't blame her—instead, he personally took revenge for her.
Where else could she find a boss like that?
If Margaret weren't around, this elf girl might've offered herself to him right then and there.
Josh didn't say much about Vereesa's feelings.
Once everything on Starfarer was back on track, he started preparing to return to Earth.
He had originally planned to travel for six months, but nearly a year had passed.
It was time to go home.
But before leaving, he had to say goodbye to Mar-Vell, the friend who had brought them out here.
"I'm really sorry. Because of the sudden mess on Xandar, my deployment has been extended. I can't see you off," Mar-Vell said with an apologetic face through the communicator.
With the Kree Empire launching a full-scale attack on the Nova Empire.
Mar-Vell, who had been investigating a past fleet attack nearby, had now been drafted again.
She truly felt bad for Josh and his group.
After all, it had been her idea to bring them off Earth and explore space.
But they never got to visit Hala, the Kree capital.
Instead, she had to leave them on a completely unfamiliar planet halfway through.
If Josh hadn't been lucky enough to meet Dracula on Contraxia.
Who knows how long they would've been stuck there—Josh had already told Mar-Vell earlier that they ran into Dracula and were treated well, Carefully hiding their real activities.
So Mar-Vell had no idea that the man behind her being called away twice, and the cause of the current galaxy-wide chaos, was the same Josh she was speaking to now.
"Don't worry about it, Mar-Vell. No one could've predicted all this," Josh said with a fake smile, acting warm and calm, completely different from the cold figure who destroyed Xandar.
They chatted for a little while longer before ending the call.
Mar-Vell was clearly very busy with the ongoing Kree campaign.
After hanging up, Josh stood up and looked out the ship's window—At the blue planet outside.
Earth.
He was finally home.
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