Arrangement Begins

After a while, the Grandmaster stopped building. Looking at the towering Demon Altar before him, he nodded in satisfaction. "Another one completed. Lucifer, I hope you’ll be more useful this time."

Wang Bert snorted inwardly. Lucifer again. He really is impossible to get rid of.

At that moment, the Grandmaster thought of something. He picked up his communicator and contacted Runner. "Runner, is the soul collection going smoothly?"

The golden Runner, whose entire body was muscle and who wore nothing but a pair of shorts, replied in a somewhat subdued tone, "General Vili just slaughtered a city. I collected several hundred thousand souls."

"That’s a good thing. Why do you sound like that?" the Grandmaster asked.

"Grandmaster, I’m starting to regret it. Numbers and seeing it with my own eyes are two different things," Runner said. "We shouldn’t keep going like this."

"Runner, we’ve come this far. Do you think we still have a way out? Once the Blood God learns what we’ve done, he’ll never let us go unless we flee this universe."

The Grandmaster sneered. "Send the souls over. In three days, we’ll fight the Blood God to the death."

Runner fell silent for a moment, then said, "Grandmaster, none of us will die well."

"No, we’ll continue to enjoy glory, because we’re doing this to save the universe," the Grandmaster said. "Sacrifice a small number to save the majority. That’s how we’ve always done things for the past several million years."

"Then why not sacrifice you instead?"

Runner sneered. "Trade your life for an Infinity Stone. The Blood God might even agree."

The Grandmaster immediately changed the subject. "Give General Vili my regards. Tell him we’ll send him the Blood God’s corpse and make him the new supreme being.

Runner, there’s really no need for you to care so much. That’s Kree Empire territory. They don’t care, so why should you?"

"I understand."

Runner sighed and cut off the communication. The Grandmaster shrugged, then looked at the nine Altars and burst into laughter. "Blood God, a sacrifice of over ten million souls, endless demons and angels—I’d like to see how you survive this time!"

"Over ten million souls?"

Wang Bert almost rushed out and tore the Grandmaster to pieces. Fortunately, he stopped himself at the last moment. It was only a projection; killing it would be meaningless.

Besides, if he destroyed this projection, the Grandmaster’s true body would definitely hide away. Then killing him would become much harder.

"Grandmaster, if you don’t die, I, Wang Bert, will never look at bikini beauties again."

Wang Bert gritted his teeth, left behind a surveillance clone, and teleported from the ground to the surface.

Then Wang Bert contacted Annie and asked, "What’s happening inside the Kree Empire?"

"Master, the Kree Empire’s Civil War has already begun, but we don’t know the specific situation," Annie answered. "The Kree Empire has sealed off the jump points and forbidden outsiders from entering."

Wang Bert sighed. "There’s no Twitter in the universe. That really is inconvenient. I’ll find a way to start one someday."

"Master, that’s impossible. Quantum Communication costs too much. The military can barely afford it, but civilian use is completely impossible," Annie said. "Unless there’s a technological breakthrough."

"Have Shuri and the others give it a try," Wang Bert said. "Never mind that. Annie, go to the black market and pay a high price for intelligence related to indigenous planets within the Kree Empire. I received word that General Vili of the Kree Empire is slaughtering natives."

"Slaughtering natives?"

Flames surged in Annie’s eyes as she shouted angrily, "Master, let’s kill him."

"There’ll be a chance, but not now."

Wang Bert shook his head and ended the communication. Then he sent his projection to find Ancient One while he himself slipped underground to search for Ego’s brain.

"Those Elders of the Universe are all parasites of the cosmos. They still have the nerve to interfere in Earth’s affairs."

Wang Bert’s projection gritted his teeth as he spoke to Ancient One, who was sunbathing. "I really regret making that bet with them. I should have killed them all back then."

"To the Elders of the Universe, the universe is a house. As long as the house doesn’t collapse, they don’t care how many people inside die," Ancient One said with a smile.

"Master, aren’t you angry?" Wang Bert asked.

"I’ve seen this sort of thing too many times."

Ancient One shook her head. "There used to be many mages like this on Earth. Fortunately, there aren’t any now."

"Don’t tell me you killed them all?"

Wang Bert asked in surprise. "No wonder Kamar-Taj is the only mage faction left now."

Ancient One smiled without answering and continued sunbathing leisurely, looking nothing like the supreme powerhouse who had ruled Earth and countless dimensions through iron-blooded methods for centuries.

"So, Master, you don’t object to me taking action against the Elders of the Universe?" Wang Bert asked.

"That’s your business. Handle it yourself," Ancient One said. "They’re merely Elders of the Universe. Don’t take them too seriously."

"Then this is easy. The slaughter has already been carried out, and I was too late to stop it. Now I can only turn their scheme against them," Wang Bert said. "Master, help me analyze the runes on those Altars. I want to alter them."

Ancient One nodded. "No problem. Send me the appearance of the Altars. I’ll analyze them once I’m done sunbathing."

"Done sunbathing? No problem. With your abilities, Master, it won’t take long anyway."

Wang Bert smiled and used magic to send Ancient One an image of the Altars. Then he got up and headed to Kamar-Taj to find the acting leader, Strange.

That was right. Strange was now Kamar-Taj’s acting leader, entrusted with heavy responsibilities by Ancient One and Wang Bert.

"Strange, the Elders of the Universe will definitely send people to tie us down next. Have all the mages prepare for battle," Wang Bert said.

"No problem."

Strange, who was clearly steadier than before but somehow gave off the impression of having weak kidneys, nodded first before asking, "Blood God, why did you and Master Ancient One choose me?

A lot of people at Kamar-Taj refuse to accept me. They think Senior Brother Kaecilius should be the acting leader. Honestly, I think Wong, Mordo, and Kaecilius are all better suited than I am."

Acting leader meant the next Sorcerer Supreme.

"Don’t belittle yourself. You have more than enough ability to serve as acting leader," Wang Bert said with a smile.

"It’s not about ability."

Strange shook his head and said proudly, "With our talent, ability is obviously not a problem. I’m talking about character."

"Can’t you geniuses be just a little more modest?"

Wang Bert complained. Strange, Tony, Doom, and Reed were all so arrogant that they made people want to punch them.

"Why should geniuses be modest? We were born different from everyone else," Strange said matter-of-factly. Then he continued, "The position of Sorcerer Supreme requires a saint, while I enjoy indulgence and can be rather sharp-tongued. No matter how you look at it, I’m not suitable."

"Humanity is about to enter the interstellar age. Kamar-Taj can no longer hide as it did before," Wang Bert said slowly. "I need a mage who understands the mundane world well enough, respects it, and doesn’t look down on it from above. You’re the most suitable."

"I see."

Strange suddenly understood. "After staying in Kamar-Taj too long, it really is easy to develop contempt for the mundane world."

"You actually believed that? That’s just what I wanted you to tell everyone else."

Wang Bert laughed. "Think it over yourself. Once you figure it out, you’ll become the new Sorcerer Supreme."

With that, Wang Bert teleported away. Strange clicked his tongue. These lofty masters always loved being mysterious.

"Why did they choose me? In terms of strength, I’m not as strong as Doom. In terms of seniority, I’m far behind Mordo and Kaecilius. Don’t tell me it’s because I’m handsome? Though I really am handsome."

Strange sighed, turned around, and went back to make preparations. Since the others refused to accept him, he would do the best possible job and leave them all speechless.

Strange was not someone who gave up easily. To him, the greater the pressure, the greater the motivation.

On Ego Planet, underground, Wang Bert’s true body looked at the area ahead shrouded in Celestial Light and could not help sighing. It seemed reality differed somewhat from the movie.

In the movie, Ego’s brain had little protection beyond a thin shell, making it easy to break in. But in reality, Celestial Light continuously protected Ego’s brain.

In fact, this was the normal situation. Even ordinary people knew to install security doors in their homes, let alone Ego.

"It would take at least several minutes to break through this Celestial Light. A sneak attack is impossible."

Wang Bert thought for a moment, then opened a portal and pulled over Doom, who was repairing the Celestial Head.

Then Wang Bert explained the situation to Doom. "Can you make me a super bomb? The kind that can destroy both the Celestial Light and Ego’s brain in one blast.

I can get nuclear bombs, even Hydrogen Bombs, from Russia."

After hearing Wang Bert out, Doom used his own methods to scan and analyze the Celestial Light and the planet. After a while, he said, "I can make such a bomb, but that would be wasteful. We should capture this brain."

Wang Bert asked in astonishment, "Capture this brain? What do you want to do?"

"This brain and Ego’s soul can repair and activate the Celestial Head," Doom said. "In fact, this planet is also extremely valuable. Using an entire planet as the main ship would make us unstoppable on the battlefield."

"The first part is understandable, but what the hell is that second part?"

Wang Bert complained, "A planet this large can serve as a fortress, but a main ship? Do you think everyone else is stupid? The moment they see you flying over, they’ll run."

"Don’t you have the Space Stone?"

Doom said, "With your strength, opening a portal larger than the moon shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

"Of course it wouldn’t be a problem. Uh, we can talk about that later."

Wang Bert shook his head. "Capturing Ego alive is much harder than killing him. This time, my target isn’t just Ego, but also the Elders of the Universe and the Hell Lords. Nothing can go wrong, or the universe will face a great disaster."

"That’s true," Doom said. "How about this? I’ll prepare the super bomb, and you can decide whether to detonate it."

"Fine. Doom, join this battle too," Wang Bert said. "Your army of Explosion Cockroaches will be useful."

Doom nodded without hesitation. "No problem. I’m very interested in dealing with Hell demons. It’s a pity you killed Mephisto. I wanted to settle accounts with him myself."

"Mephisto escaped with a fragment of his soul. With his abilities, he’ll make a comeback sooner or later. When that happens, you’ll definitely have a chance to beat him up."

Wang Bert smiled, then thought of something and asked, "By the way, Doom, are you interested in becoming a Hell Lord? The Hell Demon King I subdued is about to conquer One-Eyed Hell. If you’re interested, I can give you authority over One-Eyed Hell."

"No interest. I’m human. I don’t want to become a demon god."

Doom refused decisively. "It seems you’re doing quite well in Hell."

"Very well. I might even moonlight as Satan someday," Wang Bert said with a smile.

"Earth Guardian moonlighting as Satan. You really know how to have fun."

Even Doom was rendered speechless. He shook his head and returned to the Celestial Head to create the super bomb.

Wang Bert looked at the Celestial Light ahead and sneered before teleporting back to the Altars to begin tampering with them.

Three days passed in a flash. During those three days, Star-Lord became increasingly skilled at controlling Celestial Light, and his relationship with Ego grew better and better.

It was worth mentioning that although Drax thought Mantis was ugly and disgusting, their relationship advanced by leaps and bounds over those three days.

Mantis was even close to being persuaded to switch sides, and several times she nearly told Drax the truth.

Drax’s experience showed that if you wanted to woo a girl, telling her she was ugly worked better than telling her she was pretty—provided she didn’t beat you to death, you probably had a chance.

Enough idle chatter. Ego, who felt that today was an auspicious day, called Star-Lord over early in the morning. After boasting for a while, he poured energy into Star-Lord and laid out his plan in full.

Simply put, he intended to use seeds planted on other planets to devour those planets. However, he could not accomplish this alone, so he had fathered children everywhere in hopes of creating another Celestial to help him.

The reason he had killed all his previous children was that they lacked Celestial Light, while Star-Lord possessed it.

Ego’s intelligence was actually about the same as Star-Lord’s—except when it came to chasing women, his intelligence was negative at all other times. As he spoke, he actually revealed that he had caused Star-Lord’s mother’s death.

"You killed my mother?"

Star-Lord, who had been immersed in Celestial energy moments earlier, immediately went berserk. He drew his guns and fired relentlessly at Ego, blasting hole after hole through Ego’s body.

"What is so important about those mortals? Quill, we are Celestials."

With a wave of his hand, Ego sent an energy whip piercing straight through Star-Lord’s body and lifted him high into the air. Star-Lord was completely controlled and reduced to a puppet.

"It begins. I, Ego, will become the king of the universe!"

Ego roared as massive bolts of energy lightning erupted from his body. The entirety of Ego’s Star activated, transmitting energy toward the seeds scattered throughout the universe.

Once these seeds absorbed the energy, they immediately swelled into energy mudslides and began crazily devouring everything around them.

Mississippi on Earth, Xandar, Sovereign, and countless other planets all saw such energy mudslides appear. The people nearby screamed and fled in panic.

Underground on Ego Planet, Astronomer sensed what was happening across the universe and furiously questioned the Grandmaster, "How could this happen? Grandmaster, what exactly are you and Ego plotting?"

"This is a necessary price."

The Grandmaster said indifferently, "Astronomer, get ready. The Blood God’s clone will descend soon. Don’t overthink it. We no longer have a way out.

Either we die, or the Blood God dies. It’s that simple."