Inside the Kree warship Dark Star, Ragna reappeared as if he had never vanished, continuing as though it was business as usual.
Yon-Rogg's eyes darted around in sheer panic before locking onto Ragna . His breath hitched. The energy core—previously clenched in Ragna 's right hand—was gone.
Instead, embedded in Ragna 's palm was a small, radiant blue gem, pulsing with cosmic energy. Azure lines of pure power flickered across his body like living circuitry, as if he had become a conduit for something ancient and unfathomable.
Yon-Rogg's entire frame began to tremble.
He knew what he had just witnessed was not an illusion. Time had stopped.
A force that defied the very fabric of reality had just made itself known.
Valina, a Kree hybrid warrior-in-training, studied Ragna with suspicion. His carefree smirk suddenly gave way to a more somber expression, his very posture shifting. And the Tesseract—the infamous artifact stolen from Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.—had vanished from his grasp.
"What just happened?" she demanded.
Ragna considered her question for a moment, then softened his demeanor. Ruffling Valina's hair with a teasing grin, he said,
"I told you to train harder."
"You didn't even notice what just happened."
"Hurry up and get stronger for me."
"You'll understand when you reach the Fourth Tier."
With that, he shot a glance at the visibly shaken Yon-Rogg, then coolly took Valina's hand and turned away, exiting with an air of effortless dominance.
Not even the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme of Kamar-Taj, appeared to intervene.
Valina frowned. "Tier 4 again? When am I ever going to reach that?"
She was painfully aware of her limits. Reaching Tier 3 was within her grasp with effort, but Tier 4? That was near impossible. Even the peak of the Asgardian race—gods among warriors—produced only a handful of beings who reached that level.
Ragna smirked as they walked. "I'll help you. Now, let's go. It's time we return to our base camp."
Ignoring the stunned Kree Starforce troopers behind them, Ragna entered the sleek, high-tech spacecraft docked in the cruiser's hangar. However, instead of initiating takeoff, he extended his right hand.
He turned to Valina, his eyes gleaming with mischief.
"Come on, let me show you something special."
Before Valina's curious fingers could touch it, Ragna clenched his fist, and the entire ship was instantly engulfed in a luminous blue glow.
In the blink of an eye, the ship phased into the cosmic void—vanishing without a trace.
Just before disappearing, Ragna 's gaze flicked outside the viewport. A lone fighter craft, its engines roaring with photonic energy, was racing toward the Dark Star.
Inside the cockpit, the unmistakable face of Carol Danvers—Captain Marvel herself—was coming into focus.
Yon-Rogg watched as Ragna 's ship disappeared, skipping traditional flight mechanics entirely. Instead of feeling fear, he exhaled a breath of relief.
Yon-Rogg and his elite Starforce unit were nothing in the face of such an overwhelming cosmic force.
They had barely survived an encounter with something that should not exist. A power beyond the natural laws of the universe.
And if they weren't careful, they could have been crushed like mere insects.
"Did he just vanish?" Brown Char, a brute of a warrior with a notoriously short fuse, muttered in disbelief.
Then his frustration took over. "Wait a damn minute! Didn't he just take the energy core with him? Does that mean our mission failed? The mighty Kree Starforce has never been this useless!"
"Shut up, you brainless oaf."
Minerva, the blue-skinned, sharp-eyed sniper, shot him a glare. She was the most rational of them all—and she had never seen Yon-Rogg so shaken. Even against the deadliest foes, their leader never lost his composure.
Yet today, his fear was palpable.
"Enough." Yon-Rogg's voice was firm. "The Supreme Intelligence will have his information soon enough."
"But mark my words—when you see that man again, run."
"I don't care how powerful you think you are."
"I don't care how much we believe in the Kree Empire's might."
"Even Thanos the Mad Titan may not be his equal."
Silence fell over the Starforce members as they processed his words, their expressions shifting from skepticism to unease.
Then the radar lit up.
Carol's fighter craft was approaching at full speed.
Yon-Rogg exhaled. "Get ready. We have a job to do."
"Understood, Captain!"
Andromeda Galaxy – The Star of Hope
Hidden deep within the Andromeda Galaxy lay the Star of Hope—a former stronghold of the Skrull Empire. Once a critical strategic hub, it was surrounded by naturally occurring wormholes, allowing for near-instantaneous travel across vast stretches of space.
It was one of the greatest assets of the Skrull Empire. A logistical nexus that made their dominion almost unbreakable.
But now, with the Skrull homeworld destroyed and their civilization shattered, the remnants of their once-mighty race had scattered to the galactic fringes, desperately trying to evade annihilation.
Ragna arrived on Hope Star, swiftly eliminating the Skrull insurgents still clinging to their last refuge.
This planet had once been an impenetrable fortress, guarded by legions of Skrull warriors. Now, its defenses had withered to near nothing.
Satisfied, Ragna extended his influence over the desolate world. With a mere thought, he renamed it Angel Star.
Venturing into the planet's core, he prepared to place the Reincarnation Pool—a powerful artifact tied to his unfathomable abilities.
On the star map, Angel Star was now marked as the perfect strategic world—ripe for conquest and a crucial foothold in the cosmic war to come.
But there was one place he desired even more.
Morag.
It was there that the Power Stone lay hidden—an artifact of unparalleled destruction. If he could secure the Space Stone, it was only logical to pursue its counterpart.
But there was a problem.
He had no coordinates.
The universe was too vast.
Even the star maps compiled by the most advanced civilizations only cataloged charted systems and crucial celestial bodies.
And Morag?
Morag was just an abandoned, forgotten Death Star.
The Andromeda Galaxy alone contained over one trillion fixed stars and at least ten trillion planets.
How many worlds like Morag were scattered across the cosmos?
Ragna exhaled.
He had much work to do.