Ella glanced left and right, her innocent ice-blue eyes blinking as she asked, "What Infinity Stone? I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ronan let out a cold laugh. "Princess, do you know how we found you so quickly? We detected the energy waves from the Stone. That's how we pinpointed your location."
"Shit!" Ella cursed under her breath, wishing she could slap herself.
Curiosity really did kill the cat. If she hadn't been so curious and opened the box, she could have escaped without any trouble. But now, here she was, surrounded and cornered.
What now? What could she do? Someone, please give her a plan! This was urgent—she was practically screaming for help in her head.
Seeing Ella's eyes darting nervously, Ronan sneered. "Don't bother trying to scheme your way out of this. All the nearby warp points have been blocked. You have only two choices: surrender or die!"
Ella sighed helplessly and said, "Alright, give me a few minutes to think it over."
"Stalling is pointless!" Ronan snapped.
Ella cut off the transmission and nervously asked, "Zero, scan for any other warp points that the Kree haven't blocked!"
"XFL-0079 warp point detected," Zero reported.
"Then stop wasting time and set a course for it!" Ella ordered.
"Princess, the XFL-0079 warp point is near the site of a supernova explosion. Attempting a warp there carries a high probability of entering unknown space."
"Hmph! That's still better than waiting here to die!"
"Princess, the chance of successfully warping through the supernova's dust cloud is only seven percent."
"Shut up and don't speak again unless I give you an order. Display the route—I'll pilot manually," Ella commanded coldly.
That was just how she was. In her previous life, Ella could be a bit indecisive at times, but when the moment called for it, she made her decisions without hesitation. Once she'd thought something through, she'd accept the consequences, even if the outcome wasn't perfect. That was one of her guiding principles: her fate was hers to decide.
Trusting Ronan, a cruel and inhumane fanatic, was about as likely as believing pigs could fly. Even if she surrendered and he spared her life, the consequences would still be disastrous. She'd likely become a hostage, a bargaining chip for the Kree to wipe out the remnants of the Nova Corps.
As she thought about it, Ella's resolve hardened. A real warrior knows what they must and must not do. Sacrificing the entire Nova Corps to save her own life was something she could never bring herself to do.
If Queen Adora ordered all Nova Corps forces to ignore her plight, her fate would be even worse. A beautiful yet utterly powerless girl falling into the hands of a gang of brutish men? The horrors she'd face were too terrible to imagine.
The thought sent a shiver down Ella's spine—it would truly be a fate worse than death.
"Fine, then! If I die, so be it! Worst case, I'll just transmigrate again!"
Steeling herself with grim determination, Ella had already embraced the idea of her own death. She resolved that, no matter what, she would never allow herself to fall into enemy hands.
At that moment, she gritted her teeth in frustration, cursing her own lack of power to fight back.
Aboard the Kree Empire's cruiser, Ronan watched the Nova starfighter at full throttle, speeding away. He sneered, "Pursue her. Capture her. Let's see how far she thinks she can run."
"Commander, Princess Ella is heading toward the XFL-0079 warp point, where the supernova explosion occurred. Our fleet isn't stationed there," a subordinate reported.
"Huh? Is she trying to get herself killed?" Ronan frowned. After a brief pause, he stood and commanded, "Dispatch the high-speed fighters to catch up with her and shoot her down."
"But Commander, won't the Stone be damaged?" one of Ronan's subordinates asked.
"It won't. The Stone cannot be destroyed by any weapon," Ronan replied coldly.
However, the Nova starfighter Ella piloted was Queen Adora's personal vessel, equipped with extremely advanced propulsion and defense systems. Even with the high-speed fighters dispatched, the Kree forces found themselves unable to catch up with her for the time being.
Trailing far behind her ship, the Kree fighters could only watch as, after nearly half an hour, Ella finally neared the supernova. The electronic systems onboard her vessel began malfunctioning due to the extreme gravitational forces and radiation shockwaves. The ship itself shook violently.
The dark red planetary core burned with flames, while fragments of the destroyed star scattered across the void, forming an immense dust cloud spanning billions of kilometers.
Ella gazed at the dazzling, overwhelming sight filling her entire view. The shock she felt in her heart was beyond words.
"So, this is the death of a star…"
Although she hadn't completely mastered the ship's controls, Ella had memorized the steps for initiating a manual warp jump. Most importantly, she refused to entrust the final moments of her life to the ship's computer. If she were to meet her end, she wanted to personally send herself on her way.
With unwavering focus, Ella piloted the starfighter straight into the supernova's dust cloud. The ship rocked violently as turbulence grew more intense. Anything inside the cabin that wasn't secured went tumbling in all directions, creating a chaotic mess.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Collision warning alarms and system failure alerts echoed throughout the cabin.
A massive, burning fragment of a planet suddenly appeared in Ella's line of sight. She screamed, "Dodge it, quick!"
Although the ship wasn't equipped with an automatic avoidance system, the AI assistant, Zero, promptly displayed an emergency maneuver route on the screen, allowing her to narrowly escape the massive fragment by the skin of her teeth.
However, the sudden sharp maneuver sent the silver box on the dashboard flying into the air. Its sharp corner struck her forehead, leaving a gash as a trickle of blood ran down her cheek.
"Damn it! If I survive this, I swear I'll come back and make you regret this so bad your mother won't recognize you!"
Ella, now furious, wiped the blood dripping into her eye with her arm, smearing it across the floor without a second thought.
What she failed to notice was that her blood, as if drawn by some mysterious force, was being absorbed by the silver box at her feet. In mere moments, the blood had been completely absorbed.
Suddenly, golden light began to emanate from the box, gradually piercing through the metal that had previously contained the energy waves of the Infinity Stone.
Caught in a life-or-death situation, Ella was too preoccupied to notice this strange phenomenon.
"Commander, the energy levels of the Infinity Stone are spiking!"
Ronan sneered. "Desperate enough to try harnessing the Stone's power to save herself? Pitiful. She's just a Xandarian—godlike power isn't something mortals can control."
"Commander, the ship is approaching the supernova's dust cloud. We cannot proceed safely. Awaiting further orders."
"Hold our position! Focus all efforts on monitoring the Infinity Stone's energy fluctuations! Deploy the Sakaarian high-speed fighters to continue pursuit!"
Watching Ella dive headfirst into the turbulent dust cloud left by the supernova, Ronan reluctantly gave the order. Revenge could wait—he had no desire to perish alongside that reckless woman.
Small fighters were more agile and capable of evasive maneuvers, but sending a large cruiser into the chaotic dust cloud would be suicidal. Just one large planetary fragment striking the ship would mean complete destruction.
Not that Ronan cared in the slightest about the Sakaarian thralls. As far as he was concerned, they were expendable cannon fodder.
"Beep! Arrival at the warp point. Warp conditions are highly unstable. Jump not recommended," the AI warned.
"Shut up! I know what I'm doing!" Ella snapped, ignoring the warning from the ship's computer.