Mysterio looked somewhat embarrassed by the sudden tonal shift, "What a bizarre change in fighting style! Why did they suddenly bring in a Pac-Man construct?!!"
Star-Lord was genuinely surprised when he heard this: "Oh! Is there Pac-Man in your universe too?"
"Yeah!" Mysterio nodded first, then couldn't help but ask with confusion, "Wait! Are you seriously more concerned about the fact that there's Pac-Man in my dimension than the space battle?"
Star-Lord shrugged casually, "I told you I was going to do something really weird! What's all the fuss about!"
[Rocket pulled out a digital timer from his equipment bag and saw that there were still more than 50 seconds remaining on the countdown display.]
[When he still didn't provide an answer, Gamora was obviously growing more frantic: "Rocket! Rocket!!! Look at me!!! Where is he?!!"]
[Rocket shook his head silently, unable to meet her desperate gaze.]
[Baby Groot pointed his tiny finger toward the massive crack in the cavern ceiling.]
["No! I can't abandon him here!"]
[Gamora immediately jumped to her feet, grabbed a blaster and prepared to fight her way back to Star-Lord.]
[At that moment, an electric stun blast struck her directly, causing her to collapse to the floor with her entire body convulsing from the shock.]
[Behind her, Rocket stood holding his weapon with obvious remorse.]
["I'm sorry! I can only bear to lose one friend today!"]
[Then he raised his head and shouted urgently at their pilot: "Kraglin! Get us out of here now!!!"]
[Drax quickly raised his hand in alarm to stop the departure: "Wait... Is Quill back on board?"]
[Kraglin started the ship's engines without answering the question.]
[Drax pressed down on the communication device and yelled desperately: "Rocket! Where's Quill? Rocket!!! Where's Quill?!!!"]
[Rocket stared silently at the crack in the distance until the cargo hatch sealed shut, listening to Drax's increasingly anxious roars echoing through the ship.]
["Rocket!!! Where's Quill?! Where's Quill?!!"]
[On the collapsing platform below, Star-Lord struggled to his feet, clasped both hands together and delivered a devastating blow that knocked Ego to the rocky ground once again.]
[As the countdown approached zero, Ego became visibly panicked and desperate.]
["No! We have to stop the detonation! We have to stop it!!!"]
[But Star-Lord maintained his iron grip on Ego and threw him forcefully to the ground, preventing any escape.]
[Ego was completely focused on reaching the bomb and was no longer paying attention to Star-Lord's attacks.]
[He grabbed Star-Lord's arms, his eyes showing absolute terror.]
["No! Stop! Stop! Listen to me! You are a god! If you kill me... you will become mortal like everyone else!"]
[Star-Lord looked at him with calm resolution and said simply: "What's wrong with that?"]
[Ego opened his mouth to make another desperate plea, but the countdown had already reached zero.]
[The bomb exploded with tremendous force, and the entire core chamber was instantly consumed by intense flames and destructive energy.]
[The Ego manifestation facing Star-Lord also began collapsing inward from the head downward, disintegrating into a pile of cosmic ash, dust returning to dust, matter returning to the void.]
[Then the entire living planet began its death throes, with massive amounts of molten lava erupting from cracks in the planetary crust.]
[Star-Lord watched as the brilliant light in his hands gradually faded away. The power of the celestials had vanished completely with Ego's death, but he felt no regret for his choice.]
[The underground cavern system began collapsing continuously, accompanied by a series of massive explosions, and enormous amounts of debris fell from the destabilizing ceiling above.]
[Looking at the destruction surrounding him, he knew he couldn't possibly escape without his jet thrusters, so he knelt on the rocky ground and silently prepared to accept his fate.]
[At that critical moment, Yondu burst through the falling debris from the side and grabbed Star-Lord, carrying him away. Under the powerful thrust of his flight system, they rocketed upward at tremendous speed.]
[Soon they broke through the crack in the cavern ceiling, reached the planet's surface, and continued flying toward space without slowing down.]
[Beneath their feet, raging flames erupted from fissures throughout the landscape. The entire world was now filled with molten rock and was moments away from complete destruction.]
[As they soared toward the stars, Yondu looked up at the infinite cosmos and spoke with quiet conviction, "He may be your biological father, child, but he ain't your daddy!"]
[Star-Lord looked at Yondu with genuine surprise. He hadn't expected to hear such profound wisdom from the gruff Ravager captain.]
[Yondu gazed at Star-Lord with deep regret and love, "I'm sorry I didn't do a better job raising you! I'm so lucky to have had you as my boy!"]
[After delivering these final words, he carefully placed the life-saving space suit over Star-Lord's body, and the protective blue energy barrier immediately covered Peter's entire form.]
[Star-Lord hadn't yet processed what was happening, "What?"]
[Yondu looked at his adopted son with a gentle smile spreading across his weathered features. As the two of them broke through the planet's atmosphere and entered the lethal vacuum of space, Yondu began enduring the excruciating pain caused by the pressure differential and lack of oxygen.]
[Star-Lord glanced down at the planet that was continuously collapsing beneath them, then looked back at Yondu with growing alarm, "Yondu, what are you doing? You can't do this! Yondu!!!"]
[But by this time, Yondu could no longer speak as the vacuum of space began taking its toll. After his personal thrusters barely maintained their function in the void for a few more seconds, they also ceased working.]
["No! No!" Star-Lord looked at him with complete disbelief and desperately tried to remove the space suit to share it, but the emergency seals were locked so tightly that he couldn't remove the protective barrier.]
[At the same time, frost slowly began forming across Yondu's face, and Star-Lord's expression filled with overwhelming grief, "No! Come on! No! No! No!!!"]
[Yondu slowly reached up to cup Star-Lord's face with his hands, and Peter could only watch helplessly as his father figure gradually lost his life to the merciless vacuum of space.]
[Using his last remaining strength, Yondu gently tapped Star-Lord's forehead with his fingers in a final gesture of paternal love, and his life gradually faded away into the cosmic void.]
[Like the loyal crew members who had died before him, Yondu's eyes became cloudy and unfocused, his body was covered with crystalline frost, his grip on Star-Lord gradually loosened, and he began floating helplessly in the endless darkness.]
[Star-Lord was overwhelmed with heartbreak and grabbed Yondu's clothing tightly, refusing to let his father drift away from him into the void...]
Star-Lord turned his head away, pretending that the emotional scene hadn't affected him, and spoke in a deliberately casual tone: "Oh! This guy Yondu is really... so embarrassing to watch."
But his slightly red eyes betrayed his true feelings, clearly indicating that his heart was far from as calm as he was trying to appear.
Tony Stark patted his shoulder silently in understanding.
"You had a great dad. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. We won't judge you for caring. On the contrary, I think many people here would envy having someone who loved them that much."
Star-Lord managed a weak grin and turned to gaze silently at the stars outside their spacecraft.
Rocket spread his hands pragmatically, "It looks like I need to pack a few more space suits and flight devices in my equipment bag for future missions!"
Scott Lang nodded in agreement, "Absolutely! If you had brought two more sets, Yondu wouldn't have needed to die!"
Natasha Romanoff glared at him sharply, "Shut up!"
Scott immediately protested defensively: "Hey! I'm just stating facts!"
Tony brought the discussion back to tactical matters, "Ego is dead, but the method that killed him would be extremely difficult to replicate. We still need to find a way to engage him in direct combat."
Bruce Banner nodded thoughtfully. "Right! We can't risk Scott's life unless it's absolutely necessary. After all, we can't guarantee that Ego won't detect Scott's infiltration attempt."
"We'll have to stick with the original plan and use brute force to break through the core's defenses, but the critical question is: when will Thor be able to complete repairs on his hammer and forge his new weapon?"
Hearing this practical concern, Natasha pulled out her communication device and said, "I'll contact him immediately to get a status update."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~