He was selling gashapon toys in Marvel Studios, and at the beginning, Tony turned into Kuuga.

Nebula was stunned.

She wanted to swat the hand away, but her body defied her brain's instructions.

She trembled as she reached out her mechanical hand and placed it in Gamora's palm.

The two sisters stood up from the pile of bones.

At this moment, the hatred that had accumulated over decades seemed insignificant in the face of these more terrifying truths.

"We have to get out of here." Gamora pulled Nebula up. "Let's go save that idiot."

At the same time, the atmosphere in the square became eerie.

Drax sat on the steps, gesturing to the Mantis about his muscles.

His laughter was loud and sounded completely innocent.

Mantis looked at him and gently touched Drax's shoulder with her finger.

The next second, the Mantis Woman's eyes reddened.

She sensed it.

It was an overwhelming sadness, yet it was suppressed beneath an extreme optimism.

"Why...why do you still feel so bad?" the Mantis Woman whispered.

"Of course, my wife and daughters are dead."

Drax said matter-of-factly, even with a smile on his face.

"But I'm happy now because I'm with my friends."

The Mantis Woman withdrew her hand, her body trembling slightly.

She looked at Tony and Pepper not far away.

"Mr. Stark," Mantis approached Tony, her voice barely audible, "you...should leave."

Tony stopped what he was doing.

He turned around and looked at the girl with antennae on her head.

He noticed the fear in the Mantis's eyes, a fear not directed at him, but at the entire planet.

"Leave?" Tony looked at her with a half-smile. "We just arrived, and we haven't even had a chance to try the local specialties yet."

"Tell me, why are you in such a hurry to send the guests away?"

The Mantis glanced at the tall palace not far away, confirming that Ego was not nearby.

She whispered, "His love... isn't what you think."

"He's looking for Quill to...devour him."

Pepper's body tensed slightly, and a faint red glow flowed beneath the skin of her palms.

"Devour?"

Tony repeated the word.

His gaze turned completely cold, and his previous nonchalant demeanor vanished.

He looked at the complex energy circuits on the holographic screen.

Every inch of land and every plant on this planet is, in fact, a part of Igor.

This is not a planet at all, but a giant biological organ.

"He chose the wrong person."

Tony snorted, and the Stark Drive made a crisp click at his waist.

"I hate it when people cause trouble for my friends."

Tony flexed his wrist, and the dark gold armor components began to snap back together.

He looked at Li Ang.

Li Ang was sitting there drinking a cola, seemingly having anticipated all of this.

"Lee, did you hear that?" Tony asked.

"I heard you."

Li Ang put down the can of cola, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes.

Tony turned around and looked into the depths of the palace.

"I also know a little about the matter of devouring."

……

A pure white beam of energy shot straight up to the dome.

Peter Quill is suspended in mid-air with his feet off the ground.

Blue and white light traveled wildly through his limbs and bones.

"Did you see that clearly, Peter?"

Igor opened his arms, a fanatical expression on his face.

"This is our destiny, and the ultimate fate of this universe!"

A holographic star map unfolded around the two of them.

Thousands of planets were marked with blue dots.

Star-Lord's eyes were filled with light.

He saw countless planets covered by blue energy matter.

Mountains collapsed, cities shattered, and all life turned to dust amidst cries of agony.

"Stop..."

Star-Lord clutched his head with both hands, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.

"This is called expansion, my son."

Ego was completely indifferent to Star-Lord's pain.

"I spent millions of years planting my clone seeds on thousands of planets."

"But I can't activate them all at the same time with just my energy alone."

Ego walked up to Star-Lord and cupped Star-Lord's cheeks in his hands.

"Until I found you."

"My genes flow in your veins; you are the only offspring to inherit the light of the gods."

"If my son and I join forces, this boring universe will finally be unified!"

Star-Lord shook his head violently, trying to break free from this mental control.

He saw the courtyard in his hallucination.

The blue substance is devouring farmland in Missouri, swallowing every street from his childhood memories.

He even saw Gamora, Drax, and that sarcastic Tony Stark in the square.

Everyone vanished into nothingness in the blue light.

"You're going to kill everyone?!"

Star-Lord bit his lip until it bled, and the pain brought him back to consciousness for a brief moment.

"They are just insignificant carbon-based life forms."

Igor looked down at him from his high position.

"They will turn to dust in a hundred years, but we will be eternal!"

"Bullshit!" Star-Lord spat out the word through gritted teeth. "My friends are still outside!"

Igor released his grip, the fervor on his face gradually fading, replaced by extreme indifference.

"Friends? Those defective products?"

"Peter, you are too bound by human emotions."

"You must sever these meaningless ties in order to achieve true evolution."

Ego turned around, his back to Star-Lord, his voice filled with reminiscence.

"I met your mother, Meredith, in the courtyard years ago."

"She is the most special woman I have ever met in my long life."

"I really love her, Peter. I've even written countless poems for her."

Star-Lord's body began to glow, and he struggled to breathe, enduring the excruciating pain of the energy infusion.

"Since you love her, why don't you go back to her?"

Igor turned his head, his eyes filled with a morbid self-pity.

"If I go back, if I choose to stay in the courtyard with her and grow old together..."

"I would forget my mission, and this great expansion plan would be ruined."

"Therefore, I had no other choice."

Igor spread his hands, his tone so calm it was infuriating.

"To make myself harden my heart and leave the courtyard..."

"I had to personally place the tumor in her brain."

The air inside the hall seemed to freeze.

The blue and white light in Star-Lord's eyes suddenly stopped.

All the magnificent star map illusions around us shattered at that moment.

Time was stretched out indefinitely.

Meredith's withered face lying on the hospital bed, the long, flattened his electrocardiogram, echoed wildly in Star-Lord's mind.

Tumor.

It turns out it wasn't some kind of incurable disease after all.

That was the murderous method planted by the man who called himself a loving father.

"What...did you say?!"

Star-Lord's voice trembled, not from fear, but from extreme rage.

"I know this is hard to accept."

Igor shrugged.

"But this is the price of becoming a god; only by severing ties with the mortal realm can you..."

boom! boom! boom!