POV: Baldur.
Downtown Los Angeles, California.
One Hour After the Start of the Mental Battle.
"BOOM!"
At last, the link between our minds was severed. In that instant, a small explosion of psychic energy propelled us apart.
In mid-air, I pause to catch my breath. It wasn't easy engaging in a mental battle with a being like Galactus. In truth, all I could do was defend myself and wait for a moment when he let his guard down, hoping to capitalize on it.
I delivered some good attacks, and in the end, when a real opportunity arose to inflict serious damage, the cursed one broke the link, escaping. Only an hour had passed in the outside world, but for us, it had been almost three days—three days to create a chance, and I lost it.
"That was very unfair of you, Galactus," I say to Galactus, who is leaning against a building.
Even though my attack wasn't successful, there's a price to pay when a connection is severed so abruptly, not anything serious, but he must be feeling ten times more exhausted than I am now. However, with his almost infinite vitality, it won't take him long to recover.
"You speak as if you wouldn't do the same if you were in my position," Galactus replies.
During these three mental days, we conversed a bit amidst exchanging blows—not enough to become best friends, but enough to gain some understanding of each other.
"True, I probably would do the same," I confess.
As our conversation unfolds, I remain attentive to my surroundings. Even after an hour, the situation hasn't changed much. The Avengers and the Fantastic Four are still fighting, now with the help of Magneto and his daughter. Evacuation efforts are also underway; somehow, Amora managed to move the people who couldn't move themselves in the city using Pietro, who finally showed up.
The situation for the US Air Force was worse than the ground team's. Galactus robot mobility made jets easy prey in the air. If not for Hawkeye and Steve, who are commanding, they would be in a much worse situation. But even though they are suffering, they are carrying out their mission perfectly, keeping a large part of the robots away from the populated areas of the city, now that protecting the machine's location is no longer necessary.
"You're losing, little god, alone against me while your armies burn," Galactus taunts.
"I don't see any problem in dealing with you alone," I retort.
"We'll see!" Galactus shouts, pointing both hands at me and firing.
The two beams of cosmic energy graze my body as I dodge and fly towards him, ready to attack. Sigel's blade is engulfed in flames as I approach him.
Galactus moves quickly this time. Before I can get close enough to launch an attack, he pulls his arm back and punches towards me. I don't retreat and counter with Sigel.
"BOOOOOOOOM!"
Galactus fist collides with my lance, and the flames cause a massive explosion of golden fire. I exert force to avoid being thrown away, and when I manage to stand firm, I quickly attack, flying towards his neck. He then shoots his eyes at me, forcing me to change the target of my attack and thrust my lance into the center of his chest.
Sigel pierces Galactus armor and flesh, but due to the vast size difference between us, this blow is nothing more than a scratch for him. He retaliates by grabbing me with his palm and crushing me against his chest.
"BOOM!"
With Galactus hand on my body, I unleash an explosion, creating a wave of energy that forces him to move his hand away. Seizing the opportunity, I distance myself from him.
With a thought, two chains of the same size as Galactus appear by my side and attack him. Galactus raises his hand, which glows with strong purple energy. The purple energy takes the form of energy serpents that destroy my chains before coming towards me.
I spin Sigel, destroying the energy serpents, but the explosion from them was a secondary attack that hits my entire body. Thanks to my resilience, I didn't suffer much damage, but this attack blinds me to the next one. Galactus strikes me with both hands together, delivering a downward blow.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!"
As my body falls to the ground, the entire city trembles with the impact. On the ground, I feel it, and I know that all my bones have been shattered. My body must be like Mr. Fantastic's now. Before I can even begin to heal, his hand envelops me and lifts me until I am facing his face.
"I warned you, little god. You cannot win alone," Galactus says.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
I try to respond, but all I can manage is to cough up blood and bits of my organs. I give up on responding and shoot a blast of energy from my eyes, aiming for Galactus eye, which he simply defends by closing his eyelid.
"A warrior to the end. You make your father proud," Galactus says.
Then I feel the grip around me tighten, he wants to crush me, and trapped in this way, I cannot heal. So it's time to reveal one of the cards up my sleeve.
"Maybe I can't win alone, but who said I'm alone?"
It was hard to say those words, but it was worth it. I just wanted to get Galactus's attention, making him stop squeezing me long enough to open my dimension.
When he does that, the space above his hand distorts, and a three-meter-tall golden Destroyer armor appears facing him.
The Destroyer's body begins to glow golden, and from the hole in its helmet, it fires a blast of energy that hits Galactus's face head-on, making him release me. The force of the shot is enough to make the giant take several steps back, destroying any building nearby him.
As I had all my bones shattered, I couldn't fly. In free fall, with a thought, the Destroyer, who was also falling, moves towards me and grabs me. It turns its body in the air and lands upright on the ground.
"TRUMM!"
Galactus is already recovered and coming towards me; there's no time to lose. I give the order.
"Destroyer, command overlord!"
Recognizing the command, the armor's body opens up and engulfs mine; a second later, I am wearing the Destroyer.
Twenty percent—that's usually the limit of my power that I can safely use without fearing my body will explode. Of course, if I push myself to the edge, I can elevate that to twenty-five percent. It was at this level that I fought against the mad Celestial.
The Destroyer was made to function using divine energy, which is why it can handle an abundance of it within its body. So, with adjustments and plenty of patience, I altered it with Amora's help to contain my energy while preserving my physical body. This way, I can fight with forty percent of my total power without fear of it destroying me—but only for a limited time, which I won't waste.
Going from twenty to forty is a significant leap, so the question is, how powerful does that make me? There's only one way to find out. First, I place Sigel on the ground. She's powerful, but she can't withstand the level of power I'm at now.
With a thought, a two-handed sword, 1.50 meters long, appears in my hand. My manipulation of light has never been as potent compared to my other destructive abilities, but now I can create this—a sword more resilient than my spear, with the power of a star.
I grip it with both hands and descend my body, then I leap.
Galactus, who was observing everything, analyzing the change, didn't attack me, but now, when he saw me coming towards him, he fired a beam of energy at me. When the energy beam was about to hit my body, it exploded in a flash of light, and suddenly, I'm no longer in front of Galactus but behind him.
I tighten my grip on my sword and strike; it emits a thin beam of light as it pierces Galactus's armor. The blow leaves a deep cut across his back.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" Galactus roared.
He turned and swung his arm at me; once again, the flash of light occurs. I reappear now on his shoulder, and with a downward strike, another mark, a few centimeters wide and very deep, appears across Galactus's shoulder.
"Enough!" Galactus shouts.
A purple energy bubble appears around me, trapping me. I attack it, but my sword is repelled—it's like trying to cut rubber with a blunt knife.
Galactus calmly places his hands on each side of the purple sphere I'm in. Inside it, I can't convert my body into light to attack him like I did the two times before. It's powerful, but I don't have much practice controlling it, so I didn't attempt to decapitate him immediately.
I thought he would crush me, but instead, his hands start glowing purple; he doesn't want to crush me—he wants to vaporize me. The energy from his hands envelops my prison.
"CREAK! CREAK!"
The defenses of the Destroyer are being demolished; it won't be long before it shatters, and shortly after, my body will follow suit. I raise my longsword above my head, and its blade extends, piercing the bubble I was in. As the blade reaches over a hundred meters in height, piercing through the clouds, it widens to five meters. I aim squarely at the center of Galactus head.
Galactus refuses to relent in his attack, facing the sword hurtling towards him. He unleashes a burst from his eyes, striking my blade, which withstands the blow. The speed of the blade slows slightly, but it continues its descent towards his eyes. As the sword approaches within meters of his head, I feel his resistance pushing it away.
I then increase my power from forty to forty-five percent—a surge of strength that catches him off guard. My sword cuts through Galactus's ray and heads toward his head. Galactus gives up trying to destroy me and retreats, but he couldn't evade entirely; my blade strikes his shoulder, severing his entire arm.
"AAAAAAAAAAH" he screams.
Silver blood gushes from Galactus's wound.
His blood is pure cosmic energy. As it touches the ground, it spawns an entire forest in the city center. With a thought, a large portion of the blood flies towards me and enters my dimension. Galactus, still in pain, clutches the location where his arm was severed, taking several steps back. But my attack is not yet over; the giant sword strikes him again, this time aiming for his leg. As it's about to hit, Galactus looks at me with pure fury.
"CRACK!"
When my sword touches his body, it explodes into shards of glass that scatter throughout the city. My sword didn't break because the Destroyer reached its limit, or because this attack was weaker than the previous one. No, it broke because Galactus stopped playing games with me.
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