Chapter 251:
–Carol Danvers–
It was no secret that Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, preferred women over men. As all of her friends in space would tell her, she tended to give off lesbian vibes… whatever that meant. What wasn't well known across the cosmos, was that Carol had never actually been in a relationship before. In fact, she hadn't ever even been on a single date that she could recall. She was always busy with the next mission.
That's why Carol was slightly out of her depth when Layla of the Fallen started to flirt with her while they waited for Ego to arrive…
"I heard stories of you smashing apart an entire Kree Fleet to protect the Earth. I have to say that I'm quite a big fan!" Layla said with a sincere smile that had Carol almost swooning. "I didn't expect you to be so beautiful on top of being so amazing!"
Carol did NOT swoon. She has never swooned. If anyone told her that she did, she would forever deny it! 'Damn, Layla was incredibly beautiful though…' Carol thought to herself. Carol had spent literal decades protecting the Galaxy from numerous threats, she had been to thousands of worlds. Not a single one has any woman as close to as beautiful as Layla was. Had Carol known her home planet was now home to such beautiful women, she probably would have visited more than once a decade. As it was, she was already planning on taking a long sabbatical on Earth for a while after this. What was the point of protecting the Galaxy if she never got to enjoy any of it after all?
"Thank you, Layla." Carol replied with a small blush. "I'm a fan of yours as well. Particularly, I enjoyed the video of you defeating Thanos that spread across the Galaxy. Did you really revive the dead afterwards? How is that possible?" Carol asked, she was incredibly curious about that part. Reviving the dead wasn't supposed to be possible.
"Yes, I can revive the dead, but only a certain amount every day. I did bring everyone back after that battle, but that was a gift from Lady Death for eliminating a version of Thanos. In every Universe, he is a pain in her ass." Layla explained to Carol.
Carol's eyes widened in surprise. "Lady Death is real!?" She had heard the legends, but had never believed them to be true.
Layla giggled. "She is very real, believe me. I know Lady Death… intimately." Layla said with a small teasing pause. "We have a certain relationship that both of us enjoy."
Carol didn't know why, but she felt very annoyed hearing that. "Does that mean you're taken?" Carol found herself blurting out. She hoped that wasn't the case…
Layla grinned at her knowingly and Carol blushed again. "I am currently in a relationship with a small handful of women, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to further possibilities…" Layla trailed off and Carol's mind started to wander.
"Is t-that so?" Carol asked. She made a mental note to learn more about Fallen Angels when she could. Who would have thought not paying attention in her Sunday school classes would actually come back to bite her later?
"Do you want to see my family?" Layla asked and Carol found herself nodding. Carol was once again impressed at how far Earth had come when Layla pulled out a very advanced device that was filled with numerous pictures of the Angel-Goddess's family.
…
–Layla–
A few hours later…
Talking with Carol had been a very enjoyable way to pass the time. I could definitely tell that she was interested in getting to know me more. The feeling was mutual. We both had quite a bit in common. Both of us had incredible power thrust upon us and were doing our best with it to protect the people we cared for. I was mostly focused on Earth and Asgard, while she frequently traveled back and forth across the Galaxy.
Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end. Our foe had finally arrived from across the stars.
"Woah…He is big." I muttered when I laid eyes on him. Ego was a chunky boy, that's for sure.
What does it mean to go to war with an entire planet? I didn't quite understand the answer to that question until I saw him for myself. Hours after my sit down with Captain Marvel, Ego the Celestial had arrived in our section of space. Seeing an entire planet speed towards us was intimidating and exhilarating.
At least he wasn't even close to as big as the Phoenix Force was when I first saw her. Compared to her glorious form, Ego the Celestial was basically an ant.
[If he's an ant, what does that make you then?]
'I'm a very sexy amoeba!' I replied in my head.
"Are you ready to do this, Jean?" I asked my younger redheaded companion. She was once again looking very nervous. I saw her crack a wry smile though.
"No…but we have to do this. I'd rather this thing not swallow up all life in the galaxy just to fulfill his own…Ego." Jean said with a slight pause and blush. "I'm sorry, that pun sounded better in my head."
"I liked it." I said while smiling at her. We were about to take on a Celestial, a little humor was appreciated.
"Are you sure you wish to fight this monster with just the two of you?" Captain Marvel asked while walking over to us. She had offered us her aid, but I turned her down. Likewise, I decided to turn down help from the Guardians as well after some proper thought.
"Yes, we're sure." Jean and I needed to make a statement here. There were tens of thousands of ships currently in this sector, all of them here to observe us. We needed to make a statement here on the Galactic Stage. A statement that it would only take two beings from Earth to take down a Celestial.
The Shi'ar and Kree empires literally spanned millions of worlds. Even Thanos avoided fighting with them in canon. If these behemoth empires wanted to attack Earth, then we would eventually be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers they could field in war. Unless they were too afraid of us to ever try. Unless we showed the Galaxy what we were truly capable of right here and now!
"Good luck, Layla. I shall remain here and await your return." Nebula said to me. I could tell that she had absolute confidence in me.
"Thanks, Nebula. This shouldn't take long."
14 wings appeared behind me as I flew out of my warship and started flying towards Ego. He had stopped a few million kilometers away from us. It only took me a few minutes of flying to enter his upper atmosphere. Jean was right next to me as we gazed upon the gigantic being.
"I only sense one sentient being on the entire planet." Jean told me. I suspected that it was Mantis. There was a small palace hundreds of Kilometers below us that resembled Ego's home from the movie. She was most likely being kept there.
{-20,000MP}
I created a single shadow clone, who immediately teleported down to hide on the planet's surface. My clone would rescue Mantis once Ego was distracted and bring her back to my Warship where the other Guardians were watching from.
…
The air around me suddenly vibrated. A mighty voice echoed across the entire planet's surface.
"You have a lot of nerve to openly challenge me! I am Ego! I am a Celestial! A true God!"
Ego's attention was now solely on us. I'm sure my clone was taking the opportunity to grab Mantis. It was just in time too. The planet below us started to physically shift. Mountains, lakes and oceans crumbled away and disappeared. Two volcanic gaping holes appeared. Ego's eyes were the size of continents as he glared hatefully at us. An even larger hole appeared underneath them and formed a mouth the size of a continent.
He really was a living planet…
{The Living Planet, Ego: Level 109}
His level was a lot lower than I thought it would have been…I expected a Celestial to be a lot more powerful.
"Where is MY SON! Tell me and your deaths will be quick! If you've harmed him, then you will wish I killed you quickly!"
I channeled some magic power into my voice when I replied. "Your son is fine, Ego. It's you we came here for! You will not be escaping. Today you die!" I declared as loudly as possible. I wasn't even as close to as loud as he was, but I know he heard me.
"We're not going to let you go through with your plans!" Jean added her own declaration. Cosmic Energy allowed her to project her own voice across the entire planet. I was a bit jealous. I couldn't wait to complete this Quest and gain access to Cosmic Energy as well!
"Ha! Ha! Ha! You two tiny peons will not stop me! What could you even do to harm me!?" He openly challenged us.
I reached into my inventory and pulled out the most valuable object in my possession. Ego's massive eyes widened in surprise. No doubt, he was able to sense what I was holding.
The Power Stone.
Power surged through me as I held it in my bare hand. It wasn't my turn to use it yet though.
"Light him up, Jean." I told her. Jean took the Stone from me with only a slight grimace from the strain of holding it barehanded. The power started to surge through her next. Her green eyes turned purple, and the fiery red aura around her became much darker.
"Noooo! How do you have that Stone!? Get it away from me!" Ego roared. His confidence didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would have.
"Burn." Jean muttered only a single word while aiming her other hand at the planet's surface.
The next thing I saw was FIRE...
An endless sea of purple flames surged downwards and vegan to wash across the living planet's surface. The flames of the Phoenix began to devour the entire planet!
"AAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!!!" The planet screamed.
…
–The Spectators–
A few minutes prior…
Peter Quill wanted nothing more than to be out there fighting against Ego, but he was eventually outvoted by his newest friends. They didn't want to tangle with such a powerful being. The Guardians of the Galaxy along with Nebula and Captain Marvel were spectating from the bridge of Layla's warship.
"Holy shit! That's your dad, Peter? How the hell did he even have sex with your mom?" Rocket asked rudely.
"I am Groot!"
"Damn right, Groot! His penis must be massive!" Rocket exclaimed with a laugh.
"Quill's mother had very odd tastes. I do not find myself sexually attracted to planets." Drax commented. "Is that a human trait?"
"Yeah, she sure did have some weird tastes." Rocket laughed even more.
"Hey! What the hell guys!? Quit talking shit about my mom! I don't know how my parents hooked up and I don't want to know!" Peter exclaimed. He didn't even want to think about it. He'd met a real Angel and knew his dad was nothing more than a lying monster…
"I'm sure your father created an Avatar of some kind so he could sleep with your mother. Or maybe they just used artificial insemination?" Gamora said questioningly.
"Terran women are strange." Drax said.
Nebula took offense to that! "Terran women aren't strange! Do not insult the Goddess Layla because this one's mother had sex with a planet." Nebula said while pointing at Peter. She wouldn't tolerate anyone insulting her savior, even if it was indirectly!
"Can we PLEASE stop talking about my parents having sex?" Peter begged.
"Hell no! It's too funny!" Rocket replied to Peter's misfortune.
"You guys are weird…" Captain Marvel said while not taking her eyes away from the window. "Aren't you worried that Layla and Jean could lose?" She asked worriedly. Even she had never taken on a Celestial, although she wasn't quite sure if Ego really was one now that she saw his true form. Celestials were known to be giant humanoids as far as she knew.
"Worried about that scary woman? Hell no! She took down the Collector in less than a minute. That guy was like millions of years old!" Rocket stated assuredly.
"I am Groot!"
"That too!" Rocket added. "Just give it a few minutes and I'm sure you'll see that your mate is fine."
Captain Marvel frowned. "Layla and I are not mates."
Rocket scoffed. "Not yet, you're not. Unlike you however, I have a very strong nose. I could literally smell the attraction you both had towards each other. Even now, I can still smell it on you…"
"Damn, that's hot–ow!" Peter commented and got slapped upside the head by Gamora.
Carol blushed and decided to not comment on the talking raccoon's words.
"Oh my god! The entire planet is on fire!" Peter exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention back. There was no sound in space, but Ego's face was massive and surprisingly expressive for such a large being. It was obvious to make out that Ego was in incredible pain. That made Peter feel much better even if he wasn't the one causing that pain to the man/being that killed his mom.
"Damn, I need to step up my game! I've never built a weapon capable of incinerating a whole planet before!" Rocket said with a wide grin. "Not yet at least…"
"Please don't go designing any planet-killing weapons while I'm around. I will be obligated to arrest you." Captain Marvel said with a sigh.
"Heh! Go ahead, Sparkly Lady! We shall bust out of any prison you put us in anyway!" Drax said boisterously.
"I am Groot!"
WOOSH!
"Oh, hi everyone!" Layla said as she suddenly appeared on the ship's bridge next to them. A portal that was giving off incredible heat was closing right behind her. "That was a close one, I almost didn't get her out in time!" Layla was accompanied by a cute alien girl with antennae on her head along with a pair of pitch black eyes.
"Hello, everyone. I do not know what is going on, but I am Mantis." The cute alien introduced herself.
"What are you doing here, Layla? I thought you were fighting Ego?" Carol asked.
"My main body is fighting him. I'm just a shadow clone. This girl was with Ego and I wanted to rescue her before we destroyed him." Layla told Carol before turning to the Guardians. "This is Mantis. She'll be joining you guys from now on. Take care of her." Layla's clone said before she popped in a puff of smoke.
The Guardians and Mantis awkwardly stared at each other for a moment before one of them decided to break the ice and stepped forward. "I am Groot." He held up his large hand for her to shake and grinned at her.
She smiled at the large tree man while shaking his hand. "I am Mantis. Nice to meet you. Why did that lady with wings say that Master Ego was going to die?" She had absolutely no idea what was going on…
…
Jean let out a tired huff. She had given it everything she had just now to roast Ego. She had never expanded her powers on such a massive scale. "Layla, you'll have to take over from here. I don't have any energy left."
Jean returned the Power Stone to me after bathing Ego in flames for five minutes straight. The damage done by her flames was massive. The living planet's entire surface was now nothing more than molten lava. I could barely even make out his face anymore. His screaming hadn't stopped the entire time.
Now it was my turn to finish him off. Honestly, I thought it would have been harder…He wasn't even putting up a fight.
[Yeah, it's kind of embarrassing actually. Celestials are supposed to be a lot tougher. Then again, Rocket did manage to kill him with a jury rigged bomb. We both thought this Ego was going to be stronger than that one was, I guess we were wrong.]
With the Power Stone clutched in my hand, I felt almost invincible as all of my stats soared. Even as injured as he was, there were only a handful of techniques I had that could actually damage Ego due to his sheer size. I didn't know where his core was, but I didn't think it particularly mattered. I was ending this in one shot!
"Tengai Shinsei!"
{-100,000MP}
My MP temporarily plummeted as I summoned the largest possible meteor that I could. Hundreds of kilometers above Ego's surface, a purple coated meteor, almost half the size of Earth's moon, suddenly appeared!
It was an apocalyptic level attack! Unfortunately for Ego, he was so busy focusing on putting out his fires, that he didn't even notice the meteor until it struck him full force!
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!
A literal world ended explosion occurred at the impact point. The amount of energy released was more powerful than anything I'd ever seen! Ego didn't even get to utter any other words before the force of the explosion ended up reaching his core. He went out with a literal bang, but it was honestly more of a sad whimper from my perspective…
{Quest Completed! You have leveled up x3! You have gained access to Cosmic Energy!}
[Layla of the Fallen]
[Title: Fourteen Winged Angel, Goddess of Angels, Death's Favored.]
[Level: 87]
[Sacred Gears: Purger of Darkness, Orb of Infinity]
[HP: 114,000]
[MP: 25,000/120,000]
[Faith Energy: 144,555,675]
[Vigor: 10,000]
[Strength: 5,200]
[Intelligence: 12,200]
[Luck: 2300]
[Available Free Stat Points: 300]
[Perks and Skills:]
-Goddess of Angels (10x Increase in all Stat Points. Access to all Angelic Abilities. Can turn other races into white or black winged Angels depending on the person's Karma.)
-Death's Favored (Resurrect on Death after 24 hours. Can resurrect up to three people a day.)
-Daughter of Heaven's Will (Passive Skill: Ask and you shall receive! The universe bends to your whims and circumstances that you wish for are far more likely to occur!)
-Observe (Max: No one's level is hidden from your gaze. No one can detect you using Observe on them.)
-Light Manipulation (Max: All Light Abilities Cost 10x less MP to Cast.)
-Senjutsu (Max: Passively regenerate 1000 MP/Min.)
-Rinnegan (Max: All Rinnegan abilities cost 5x less MP.)
-Faith Pool (Can draw upon Faith Energy when MP runs out.)
-Cosmic Energy (Instead of air, you know breathe Cosmic Energy. All abilities are drastically improved along with access to Cosmic powers.)
Jean and I flew back into space to escape the resulting planetary explosion. It was actually beautiful…in a macabre sort of way. I pulled out my phone and started filming it. I was sure my family and friends would get a kick out of seeing a Star Wars level explosion in real life.
"…Was that it?" Jean asked in almost disappointment. "I expected that to be a lot harder. Everyone hyped up Celestials to be almost unbeatable. We killed Ego in less than 6 minutes. He didn't even get to fight back."
"Yeah, I'm almost as surprised as you are. Maybe Celestials were just overhyped?" I said questioningly as we started flying back to my warship. I was actually able to hold a conversation with her in space now! "Either way, let's head back home now. I miss my family." I said and Jean agreed. I hadn't been home in days and was looking forward to seeing my family. I would have immediately portaled home, except my warship was too big to fit through my portals as well. Although, now that I had access to Cosmic Energy, I think I could make a portal big enough.
"Huh, why are all the ships around us suddenly leaving?" Jean commented curiously.
I looked around and saw thousands of the ships that had been spectating our battle with Ego, warping away as fast as possible! That was very unexpected. Were they all terrified of Jean and I suddenly? What we did was impressive, certainly, but we weren't going to target them next or anything. Why was everyone running away?
More and more ships continued to warp away until every single one had vanished from our sector of space! Not a single one stayed behind. Every single one vanished!
"That was weird…" The only remaining spaceship in the entire sector was my own.
"Uh…Layla. We might have a problem." Jean said while pointing behind us suddenly. "I think I know why everyone bolted away so fast…" Jean said. She was back to looking incredibly nervous again. I thought her confidence would have improved after we took down Ego.
I turned around to see what had made her so worked up. In the place of Ego's planet, a massive Cosmic red portal had manifested. It was the biggest portal I had ever seen. Easily big enough to have swallowed Ego entirely if he hadn't just exploded.
I was not expecting what floated out of that portal next. Six gigantic red eyes locked onto Jean and I as we floated in the void.
{The Judge, Arishem of the Celestials: Level 234}
Well, shit… I was starting to have the feeling that Ego wasn't the gold standard for Celestials, if he even was one in the first place. What the hell was with that absurd level difference here!? Arishem was Level 234!? Ego was only Level 109!
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