Annihilation

When Kyle flew out of the Cosmic Battleship with Banner, the Kree fleet had already been slaughtered by the Void Cult members and was on the verge of total annihilation.

Tony and Renoli had secretly started competing again, seeing who could eliminate enemies faster and in greater numbers.

Renoli was incredibly fast, capable of destroying dozens of Kree fighter jets in an instant.

Tony’s attacks were equally exceptional at both long and close range. A sweep of destructive purple aurora could wipe out hundreds of fighters at once.

If he had not been worried about accidentally hurting allies, Tony’s beam attacks would have been even more terrifying.

However, they both noticed Kyle and Banner emerging from the battleship.

"How did it go?"

"How strong was Ronan?"

Tony and Renoli arrived in front of Banner and Kyle within mere seconds.

Even in the middle of the battlefield, they moved as though no one else was around, completely unafraid of the threats surrounding them.

"It’s settled. We got the Power Stone."

Kyle answered with a relaxed smile.

"Ronan himself wasn’t that strong, maybe only a little stronger than Malekith. But the Power Stone was seriously powerful."

"A casual attack from it could pierce straight through our defenses."

"Fortunately, I evolved my recovery abilities. Otherwise, I would have been out of commission for a while after taking two hits."

Banner explained what had happened.

Kyle had mainly covered Banner throughout this battle. Without him, it would have been extremely difficult for Banner to take down Ronan alone. He might even have died.

After all, Kyle’s physical body appeared no weaker than his, yet it had still been inadequate against Ronan’s attacks.

Tony and Renoli also noticed Banner’s blood-covered hands, though Kyle himself appeared to be fine.

"You used that move?"

Renoli looked at Kyle’s bare upper body and spoke in surprise.

He and Kyle often sparred, so he knew Kyle possessed a trump card called Void Eternity.

Once Kyle entered that state, his overall strength underwent a qualitative leap, and he could directly control Void Flames.

However, those were secondary. The most important thing was that Kyle gained an almost immortal regenerative ability.

As long as his head was not blown off in one strike or his heart was not pierced in one strike,

Kyle could recover completely within a few seconds. However, that state did not last long—only two short minutes.

During those two minutes, Kyle became like a rabid dog, ignoring all attacks that could not threaten his life and focusing entirely on counterattacks.

Renoli had suffered badly because of it. Kyle had caught him once and left him bedridden for a week.

But Kyle would not have it easy either. He would enter an extreme state of hunger, and the Void Power within his body would become sluggish, leaving him unable to control it freely.

He needed at least half a month to recover.

Renoli knew just how ferocious Kyle was in that state. He simply had not expected Ronan to force Kyle to reveal that trump card.

"Banner’s strength is good, but his combat skills still aren’t enough. I was worried that if the fight dragged on, it would become disadvantageous for us."

"So I decided to end it quickly."

Kyle said with a smile.

"Sorry. I’ll find time to properly learn some combat techniques."

Banner sounded somewhat embarrassed upon hearing Kyle’s words.

At present, he could only control Hulk’s strength well. Although he was already quite strong,

if Ronan did not possess an Infinity Stone, Banner could easily crush him. But honestly, he still relied mostly on brute force in battle and did not know many combat techniques.

He relied more on his terrifying strength, sufficiently powerful defense, and recovery ability, fighting head-on through sheer superiority.

He still could not crush opponents in both strength and skill the way Kyle could.

"I wasn’t blaming you."

"You’ve only mastered Hulk’s strength for about a year. You haven’t yet been tempered through countless battles."

"A lack of combat skills is unavoidable in that regard."

"You can learn slowly in the future."

Kyle reassured him with a smile.

"The Precognitor said we didn’t need to worry about you two, so we didn’t go in to help."

"If we’d known it would turn out like this, we would have gone in and given you a hand."

Renoli spoke after hearing Kyle’s words.

"The Precognitor said Banner could properly learn something from Kyle this time, so I didn’t interfere either."

Tony nodded and spoke as well.

"It’s fine. The result is what matters."

"We’ll head down first. My Void Power can’t support flight for much longer."

"We can talk after you finish clearing out the enemies."

Kyle said a few words, then his body rapidly descended toward the ground.

"Can’t support it for much longer?"

"Flying doesn’t use much Void Power."

Tony was somewhat puzzled by those words.

"Kyle has that problem after using his trump card."

"Get ready to help."

Renoli’s eyes remained fixed in Kyle’s direction.

"Help with what?"

Just as Tony said that,

Kyle and Banner were rapidly descending toward the ground. When they were still eight thousand meters above the surface, the Void Power in Kyle’s body was completely exhausted.

"Sorry, Banner."

Kyle’s body abruptly paused, and an apologetic expression appeared on his face.

"Why are you apologizing?"

Banner was puzzled upon hearing Kyle’s words.

"So that’s what this is."

"Is this why you asked me about falling from several thousand meters up?"

Banner felt his body, which had been stable moments ago, suddenly become unsteady as he began falling. He immediately understood what was happening.

"I only asked because I wanted to prevent accidents."

"And didn’t you say that falling from ten thousand meters would only injure you at most?"

Kyle had also begun free-falling. Hearing Banner shout, he replied.

"That’s what I said, but it doesn’t mean I wanted to fall like this."

Banner was speechless.

"You see it now, right? I’ll explain the exact reason later."

"First, let’s get them safely to the ground. Their bodies would only suffer minor injuries at most from hitting the ground."

"But the buildings and people below would be in trouble."

Renoli looked at the stunned Tony and said with a smile.

Then afterimages appeared in the air as Renoli swiftly flew over.

Tony snapped back to his senses after hearing Renoli’s words. The thrusters on his body roared at full power as he quickly chased after him.

When Banner and Kyle were still five thousand meters above the ground, the two successfully caught them and brought them safely down.

"Thanks."

After his feet touched the ground, Kyle revealed a relieved smile.

Renoli had caught Kyle with his bare body, so he was completely fine.

Tony’s Iron Man armor, however, had caught Banner and absorbed the impact of the fall. The alloy around its arms shattered, though Tony’s hands themselves were unharmed.

"Thanks, Tony. Once I get back, I’m definitely evolving my Void Power. That feeling of being helpless while falling from high altitude is way too awful."

Banner also wore a relieved expression once his feet touched the ground and thanked Tony.

"We’ll take you back to Void Island first. The battle up there is already under control."

Renoli glanced upward and spoke.

"That would be even better."

Kyle did not stand on ceremony with Renoli at all.

Honestly, he was starving. He did not want to wait even a moment, much less spend over an hour taking a car and then a boat back to Void Island.

Banner still had the strength to carry him back, but the thought of a grown man like himself being carried around by Banner felt too embarrassing.

Tony also knew that the battle above no longer required his attention, so he simply took Banner back as well.

Just like that, the group withdrew from the battlefield.

The battle in the sky continued for another half hour, until the final Kree fighter was destroyed.

"It’s all taken care of. Let’s return to Void Island."

After sweeping the battlefield and confirming that no enemies had been missed, Lacey spoke.

The Nova Corps watched as the Kree interstellar fleet, which could contend directly with their own corps, was slaughtered with devastating ease by the many Void Cult members.

They felt both admiration and relief. Fortunately, they had only remained wary of the Void Cult and had never considered taking the initiative to attack them or settle matters by clearly establishing rules between them.

Otherwise, if the Void Cult had attacked the Nova Corps, their fate would likely have been no different from that of the Kree interstellar fleet.

Supreme Commander Iraani Rael watched the Kree interstellar fleet, a long-standing threat, get completely wiped out.

Although this was not the Kree’s full military strength, Ronan the Accuser’s death and the deaths of these tens of thousands of Kree had already dealt the Kree Empire a massive loss.

For quite some time, it would be difficult for another commander as powerful and ambitious as Ronan to emerge.

That meant Xandar could enjoy complete peace for at least several decades to come.

However, Iraani Rael could not bring herself to feel happy, because the Infinity Stone had fallen into the hands of the Void Cult.

If God of the Void Kassadin was not truly benevolent, but instead even more brutal,

then it would not just be Xandar in danger. The entire Milky Way Galaxy would be drawn into a vortex where destruction could come at any moment.

How could Iraani Rael possibly be happy about that? Yet now, all she could do was pray.

She hoped Sonia’s words—that time would prove everything—would prove positive rather than negative.

"Bring the Ravager Corps members to see me."

Iraani Rael then issued an order.

Although the Ravager Corps had not been the main force in this war, the information they had delivered beforehand had been greatly helpful.

Otherwise, if the civilians had not evacuated in time, there would have been many casualties.

The Void Cult members worshipped God of the Void Kassadin.

Furthermore, the Infinity Stone, the greatest prize involved in this war, had already fallen into the Void Cult’s hands, so it was not her place to reward them.

However, she could still meet with the Ravager Corps and see how she could reward them.