Space.
Inside a spaceship that looked, if anything, a little ordinary, a colossal blue-white skull radiated an aura of ice.
The terrifying cold had frozen the entire cabin solid. Frost had condensed to a thickness of nearly half a meter. A gaunt, slightly hunched figure—a man with a fin on his head like a shark's—tread across the ice and snow, dragging a piece of equipment toward the frozen skull, leaving a deep trail of footprints behind him.
He was shivering slightly. The bone-piercing frost made every step feel like walking across a floor studded with nails; the extreme cold bit into him like needles.
It took him quite a while before he finally reached the skull. Only now did he realize just how enormous it truly was. The head alone measured over two meters across. It was hard to imagine what the corpse had looked like in life.
"It must have possessed boundless power, surely?"
He murmured to himself, then lowered his head and let out a laugh, thinking his own thought was somewhat foolish.
"If that weren't the case, why would Lord Vilgax go out of his way to absorb its superpowers?"
Anyone worthy of catching Vilgax's eye had to be, at the very least, the guardian of an entire planet. Otherwise, whatever superpowers they possessed wouldn't even be worth mentioning.
Just as he was thinking this, a terrifying voice rang out through the wind and snow: "Sai Fung, what are you dawdling for?"
Vilgax's towering form emerged from the white whirlwind. The oppressive pressure instantly made Sai Fung feel suffocated. He hurriedly lowered his head and said to Vilgax, terrified yet reverent: "Lord Vilgax, I'll begin at once…"
Sai Fung couldn't help stealing a glance at Vilgax out of the corner of his eye.
Vilgax looked no different from the one in his memory. The enhancement steroids embedded in his body had been removed, yet his aura hadn't diminished in the slightest. On the contrary, it was several times stronger than before, as if he had truly become a cosmic overlord!
'No—not as if. Lord Vilgax was always meant to rule the universe and become its overlord!'
Sai Fung thought fervently!
His bearing resembled Ebony Maw's somewhat. Both were like strategists at the side of a cosmic overlord. But compared to that traitorous Ebony Maw, Sai Fung was far more loyal.
Vilgax, for his part, was completely at ease with Sai Fung. He sat down where he was and let Sai Fung connect the machine to both the enormous skull and his own body.
It was after Thanos died that Vilgax, roaming the universe in search of a target worthy enough to be his next absorption, had discovered Sai Fung.
And it wasn't just Sai Fung. Aside from this subordinate, there were also Liu Liu, Qi Qi, Ba Ba, and Er Er Guai—members of four bounty hunter clans.
That bunch hailed from the planet Sotorag. Normally no one ever saw their true faces; they usually concealed their real bodies within purple high-tech armor. They enjoyed quite a reputation across the universe.
Vilgax figured he didn't have many subordinates anyway, so just as before, he'd hired the lot of them with bounties to serve as window dressing, lest he—the future overlord of the universe—look too shabby.
BOOM!!!
The machine whirred to life, and a torrent of immense energy erupted from the giant skull, surging through the connecting tubes and pouring into Vilgax's body.
"AHH!"
In an instant, Vilgax let out a scream of unbearable agony.
"Lord Vilgax!"
Sai Fung rushed over in concern, wanting to steady Vilgax, but Vilgax mercilessly swept him aside with an arm.
"Get away!"
That arm, twisted like a braided rope, carried the power of ice. Wherever it passed, the air instantly froze into a layer of solid frost. Sai Fung was directly frostbitten, collapsing to the ground in misery.
Vilgax was in no mood to care about this subordinate's life or death. He himself was still enduring tremendous pain.
To absorb another's superpower, one had to withstand the same energy.
The terrifying cold instantly invaded Vilgax's body, freezing every one of his cells. He felt as though all the water in his body had turned to ice, pain stabbing from the inside out.
"AHH!"
In the blink of an eye, Vilgax was frozen solid. The rampaging ice power expanded outward, and within the span of a single breath, it had formed an enormous iceberg!
"Lord Vilgax!"
Sai Fung was overcome with worry. Without pausing to tend to his own injuries, he scrambled toward Vilgax on all fours—but the next moment, he was sent flying by a massive wave of cold air.
CRACK!
The enormous iceberg suddenly shattered and exploded. Vilgax, clenching a fist frozen to the absolute extreme, strode out from the ice. He exhaled lightly, and the frigid airflow formed a freezing wind that fell to the ground.
Behind him, the giant blue skull crumbled into crystalline dust and scattered like powder.
"Worthy of the body of the Frost Giant King. This is exactly the power I needed!"
Ever since Vilgax had witnessed the battle between Bant and Thanos, he had understood with absolute clarity that with his original level of strength, he could never possibly be Bant's match.
When it came down to it, the old him was, at best, only fit to serve under Thanos as a slightly larger cannon fodder—someone on par with the Black Order.
Even Thanos had lost to Bant, let alone him.
If things continued this way, Vilgax would never obtain the Omnitrix.
Unless he acquired an even more powerful superpower.
As luck would have it, Thanos—despite returning from death after losing to Bant—had been left in an extremely weakened state. That gave Vilgax the opportunity to seize his power.
With the help of this machine, Vilgax had completely inherited the mighty strength that had allowed Thanos to sweep through most of the universe. Combined with his original power, he could now be called unmatched!
But Vilgax didn't act rashly.
Using the intelligence Thanos had gathered, he had gained a thorough understanding of just how deep the waters of this universe ran.
For one thing, losing to Bant Parker was hardly the first defeat of Thanos's life. Long ago, the Mad Titan had harbored ambitions of invading Earth but had been repelled by the All-Father of Asgard.
After learning of the far-reaching reputation of Asgard and the Nine Realms, Vilgax set his sights on the Nine Realms. Not long ago, he had arrived at the shattered realm of Jotunheim and, amidst the countless giant corpses, found the body of Laufey, King of the Frost Giants.
Thanks to the unique nature of the Nine Realms' power, Laufey's strength was, in fact, deeply connected to the World Tree.
Death had not caused the power within his body to dissipate immediately, which was how Vilgax had been able to seize his ice power without the slightest effort.
The fusion of these two powers made Vilgax stronger than ever before!
Thanos's power went without saying. And the Frost Giants, having once been great enemies of Asgard, possessed power approaching that level as well—though without the Casket of Ancient Winters, they were like a nation that had lost its nuclear weapons, stripped of their fatal-level deterrence.
In truth, each of the guardians of the Nine Realms possessed formidable power.
Vilgax's goal was to gather all the power of the Nine Realms into himself and become a being truly without equal.
"Lord Vilgax, is our next target in the Nine Realms…?" Sai Fung asked, his eyes full of adoration, hunching over and rubbing his hands together like a sycophant, his tone fawning.
He was eagerly awaiting Vilgax to launch a massive invasion, to continue conquering new worlds, to obtain even greater power, and make the entire universe kneel!
Vilgax shot him a contemptuous glance.
"Not yet."
Unlike the reckless Sai Fung, Vilgax had inherited Thanos's knowledge and knew exactly how powerful Asgard was.
Perhaps, with the combined power of Thanos and Laufey, his energy level was no longer inferior to Odin's. But he was utterly bare—he had no decent weapon whatsoever to amplify his strength.
Asgard, on the other hand, had a treasure vault crammed full of divine artifacts, so many he wouldn't even know where to begin choosing.
In this universe, a powerful weapon could very well be stronger than its wielder. He had already learned that lesson firsthand at Thanos's hands.
Back then, a single beam of light casually unleashed by the Power Stone had nearly killed him in the depths of space, forcing him to revert to his true form just to heal his injuries.
Asgard might not have an Infinity Stone, but its divine artifacts were still incredibly powerful. Vilgax remained somewhat wary.
Frequently entering the Nine Realms was not a wise move—especially not at this particular moment in time…
"Let those Dark Elves stir up trouble!"
"And us?"
Sai Fung asked cautiously.
If they weren't going to continue conquering the Nine Realms, then what else was there to do?
"Liu Liu Guai and the others have been keeping an eye on the Plumbers. They should have sent some intelligence by now, shouldn't they?" Vilgax asked.
In Vilgax's current view, Liu Liu Guai and the others weren't of much use beyond gathering a bit of intelligence for him. After he'd met them, he'd dispatched them to collect information on the Plumbers.
By now, it seemed they had gained a bit of a reputation among certain mercenary crews in the universe.
"Not long ago, the Plumbers came into conflict with the three great empires at the Galactic Council. The Majestor of the Shi'ar Empire, Gladiator, lost a duel to Bant Parker," Sai Fung reported truthfully.
But he glanced at Vilgax with concern. Going after the Plumbers right now might be a bit premature, wouldn't it?
Vilgax, of course, wasn't crazy enough to go that far. He bared his teeth in a cruel grin.
"The Shi'ar Empire's Gladiator…"
The abandoned planet Morag.
The gray planet lay utterly still and lifeless. The vast ocean that had once submerged the entire world had vanished without a trace, revealing the planet's original black surface.
On jagged rocks, packs of small dinosaurs scoured the land like migrating herds, ceaselessly sweeping across the terrain in search of anything that could be called food.
They resembled dinosaurs, but their way of survival was entirely different.
Their time on this planet was limited. In a few more years, the exposed land would vanish once again, the seawater would submerge the planet anew, and the ground beneath their feet would be gone without a trace.
Within this finite window, they needed to complete their life cycle as quickly as possible: hatching, breaking out of their shells, growing, reproducing… and finally leaving behind countless eggs, quietly waiting several hundred years for the next brief cycle.
A small dinosaur found a piranha trapped in a puddle, and in an instant, the whole horde swarmed over.
"So we're rebuilding the Codon Stream on this planet?"
Eunice's gaze drifted downward.
She was no stranger to this planet, of course. Back when they'd been searching for the Power Stone, Bant had scanned the planet's structure, and she had processed all that data.
Now, Bant and she had returned here together. The two of them stood atop the rocks, yet the dinosaurs parted around them like a river splitting, not daring to come near.
"This planet is just right."
Bant nodded.
"It has an atmosphere with sufficient oxygen, along with the water and day-night cycle necessary for life. It's remote, poor in resources, and no one really comes here. And since the civilization that once existed on this planet has already been destroyed, we don't have to worry about any disputes arising."
As a planet meant to host the Codon Stream, an overly harsh environment was certainly out of the question.
If it were an extreme hellscape of cold or heat like Jotunheim or Muspelheim, then the genetic data might very well develop problems too.
"And even if intruders come, you can deal with them, right?"
Bant asked in return.
By now, Eunice's strength had already grown tremendously—perhaps even surpassing most of Bant's alien forms.
Having completely mastered an Infinity Stone meant that in certain respects, Eunice might now even surpass the Skyfather level. In the domain of the mind, many dimensional demons might not be able to match her.
Of course, that was provided Eunice didn't end up like that fellow Vision, whose entire understanding of the Mind Stone consisted of firing beams—and weak, feeble lasers at that.
"You don't need to worry about that." Eunice nodded, her beautiful eyes sweeping over the planet's barren soil.
Morag was so desolate it seemed already dead.
She wondered whether such an environment was truly suitable for housing the Codon Stream.
After a moment, Eunice asked, "What about the planet's periodic floods? If we're going to gather the genes of all life in the universe here, I'd still prefer to make this place a bit more beautiful."
"No rush. Once we get the Reality Stone, we can reshape this planet."
Bant had already made arrangements.
The Reality Stone was incredibly useful. Even without the support of the other stones' energy, transforming a single planet was a trivial matter.
"Of course, we can change the planet's name then too," Bant said.
The name Morag was far too ordinary.
After transforming the planet, he would have Eunice begin collecting the genetic material of species across the Marvel universe. Then, the genes of all life in the universe would gather here—like a microcosm of the universe itself, a Noah's Ark in the face of disaster, the spark of civilization.
"Just like Primus," Eunice picked up, a look of longing spreading across her face.
Her emerald eyes were filled with serenity. This poor black continent, under her gaze, seemed already brimming with life, full of hope for the future.
"Primus, Noah's Ark, or Garden… anything works." Bant wasn't particular about it.
"Let's call it Primus. Even though it's the same name as the company, like you said—there's nothing wrong with a classic."
Eunice said with a smile.
Bant smiled back. At that moment, the Plumber badge on his body flickered to life. He opened the communication channel, and Bill's serious figure materialized:
"Magistrate, the Majestor of the Shi'ar Empire, Gladiator, has been attacked. The attacker is Vilgax—the one who once acted alongside Thanos."
/-\
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