"Celestial?"
Upon hearing Howard's words in the crowded second-floor hall, everyone's expressions were momentarily stunned.
Celestial.
Obviously, everyone knew a little about it, but precisely because they had heard of it, they found it even more incredible. After all, Celestials only existed in the legends of ancient races!
Rumored to have existed in the early ages of the universe, long before many civilizations rose and various alien races were still in their infancy, Celestials were said to possess powers akin to stars and lifespans of millions of years.
However, tens of thousands of years ago, Celestials faded from existence, and few have seen them since. Some even speculated that Celestials had long been extinct in the universe.
...
No one noticed that after Howard mentioned the name "Ego," Star-Lord Quill fell silent, lost in thought.
"Howard, are you sure you encountered a Celestial? That's the ancient lifeform from the legends!" Green asked in astonishment.
"I am absolutely certain," Howard nodded, firm in his conviction. "Ego himself told me. Later, I did some research and fully confirmed his identity. He is the only surviving Celestial in the universe."
"Howard, what happened next?" Kyle narrowed his eyes. He knew no less about Celestials than anyone present.
Howard spoke slowly, "After the three of us accepted the intermediary mission, we piloted our spaceship and left the central region of the Galaxy, arriving at a lush, resource-rich life planet. As the master of the planet, Ego warmly welcomed us and even told us a love story."
"A love story?" Rocket blinked.
"Yes, a love story. It's about a Celestial man and a human woman falling in love," Howard continued. Suddenly, Quill began to tremble slightly while clutching his head with both hands, prompting Gemora sitting next to him to look at him in confusion.
Lorna covered her mouth in astonishment. "Does that mean the Celestial man named Ego visited Earth?"
"Yes," Howard nodded decisively. "In the 19th century, Ego not only visited Earth but also lived there for a short time in the guise of a human. He fell in love with a woman named Meredith and bore a son with her."
"That's impossible!" Quill raised his head abruptly, his eyes bloodshot as he stared at Howard, repeating incredulously, "This can't be true, how could..."
The others looked at Quill in surprise, wondering what triggered such a strong reaction from him.
"Stay calm, Quill," Kyle raised his gaze and gently pressed down his left hand, intending to stop Quill, who was about to rush towards Howard, but an invisible force pulled Quill back to his original position.
Tony stood guard beside Howard, fearing that the agitated Quill might harm his father.
Howard remained calm, looking at Quill. "Son, this is the truth."
Quill clenched his teeth and said nothing.
"Quill, why such a big reaction? Are you the hybrid offspring of that Celestial and a human?" Rocket joked, but halfway through, he noticed the silence of the others and abruptly stopped laughing.
The atmosphere in the second-floor hall became unusually awkward.
"Um... That... Can't be true, right?" Rocket looked at Quill's grim expression, exaggeratingly opening his mouth wide.
"Yes," Howard stated calmly. "The human baby who inherited Celestial blood is named Peter Quill, the Star-Lord standing before you."
As the truth was revealed, the expressions of the others turned to shock, while Quill clenched his fists tightly, vigorously shaking his head. "My father was a human from Earth who disappeared when I was a child. There's no way he could be that Celestial!"
"Have you ever wondered why the Hunters brought you to the Galaxy? And whether your body is different from other ordinary humans?" Howard casually pointed out two points, saying, "In fact, when I repaired your Spaceship last time, I took a sample of your blood for research and confirmed that you and Ego are father and son."
"Believe it or not, you can contact the Hunters who brought you to outer space to verify it."
After Howard finished speaking, Quill's heart was mostly convinced, but he was unwilling to admit the truth so he spoke with a cold look on his face, "I will verify it."
Kyle, on the other hand, wore a calm expression, as if he had known this already. He said in a cold voice, "Howard, continue. What did that Celestial, Ego, do to you?"
Howard sneered, "Ego said he had urgent matters to attend to and had to leave Earth. By the time he returned, Meredith had passed away from cancer. In memory of his wife, Ego wanted the three of them to build an Earth-style structure on his planet."
"So, Ego still had a bit of sentimentality," Calvin commented, and the others nodded in silent agreement.
A Celestial with immense power and millions of years of life, grieving for an Earth woman, was no less than a divine-human love story from a movie.
"Heh, sentimentality?" Howard sneered, his face darkening significantly. He said bitterly, "That's what we thought at first. So, we agreed to Ego's request and temporarily settled on that planet, ready to design and construct. It was because of that, we inadvertently discovered Ego's secret!"
"What secret?" Kyle voiced the question on everyone's mind.
Howard took a deep breath and said, "Underneath the seemingly resource-rich life planet, teeming with flowers and greenery, lay the bones of various lifeforms. It turns out that as a Celestial, Ego is the planet itself and requires vast resources and nutrients to sustain himself.
So, he continuously lured lifeforms to his doorstep, using their bodies and spaceship materials as fertilizer for his breeding planet!"
"What?!" Everyone gasped in horror at the revelation.
"When we found out, it was already too late," Howard said bitterly. "Ego could sense everything happening on the entire planet. When we tried to escape in the Spaceship, we found it damaged. Forced into a corner, we engaged in a battle with Ego."
"Naturally, we were no match for a Celestial. In the end, Logan and Lucy fought for me to escape, and I managed to flee in a dilapidated Spaceship."
"Losing Logan and Lucy, as well as the original Spaceship, and without the materials to manufacture the Infinity Formula, I quickly entered into old age. For the past five years, every day and night, I have been dedicated to research, trying to find a way to kill the Celestial. Otherwise, I would have no face to explain these things to you, sir."
"That's everything you wanted to know."
After Howard finished speaking, he gazed at Kyle with a pained expression, waiting for his response.
"I understand."
Kyle stood up from his seat as if he were about to embark on a journey, and said calmly but resolutely, "Now, I will go and kill that Celestial."
(End of Chapter)
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