Complete Prediction

Valkyrie had been lying in her room, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

Zhan Liu’s words had made her remember that unbearable past once again.

Asgard’s once-mightiest Valkyrie Legion had been completely slaughtered by Hela, Odin’s eldest daughter and the God of Death, when they went to conquer her.

It was during that battle that Valkyrie truly realized just how powerful the top-tier experts could be.

That figure wearing a horned crown and riding a giant wolf, her entire body drenched in blood, had become an indelible nightmare in Valkyrie’s mind, accompanied by the remains of flying horses swirling through the sky.

That battle had left Valkyrie utterly terrified. So although she had luckily survived and fallen to Sakaar, she had never considered asking Asgard for help. Instead, she had spent every day drinking herself into a stupor, hoping alcohol would numb her pain.

Although Zhan Liu had brought her away from Sakaar, he had been unable to revive her heart as a warrior.

In the movie, it was Thor’s battle with Hulk that affected her and allowed her to regain her fighting spirit. Zhan Liu’s previous battles had all been overwhelming victories, so although they had moved her slightly, they had done nothing to awaken her.

As the alcohol took effect, Valkyrie finally fell into a deep sleep. But just as she was sleeping soundly, a tremendous surge of energy suddenly struck and woke her.

Acting on instinct, Valkyrie slammed herself sideways, blasting a human-shaped hole through the wall. Without looking back, she flew forward at full speed in a straight line, smashing through several more walls before escaping the attack’s range just before the energy reached her.

Her first thought was that enemies had invaded. After all, they were inside a warship, and anyone capable of unleashing such an attack was certainly no weakling. She immediately headed for the command center. It was the strategic heart of the ship, and anyone trying to seize it would definitely attack there first.

But only after she arrived did she discover that it had all been a misunderstanding.

worldmind had already taken control of the warship and could operate its main computer. Thus, the instant the incident occurred, he had sent the entire chain of events and the recording of the scene to the command center.

"Damn it!"

"That bastard disturbed my sleep and blasted my bedroom to pieces!"

"And a lot of people must have died, too. I can’t let him off that easily!"

Valkyrie complained indignantly.

"Haha…" Zhan Liu did not care in the slightest. Instead, he was quite happy.

"Those Ravagers are all scum. If they’re dead, then they’re dead."

"Losing a bunch of cannon fodder in exchange for a general is an incredible bargain!"

Zhan Liu actually had a pretty good impression of the idiots in the Guardians of the Galaxy, especially the furry Rocket. He felt Rocket would make a nice pet.

Although he had killed Yondu, he did not think there was anything wrong with doing so, nor did he believe Quill would dare seek revenge because of it.

So he was actually happy to see Quill and the others become Nova warriors and grow stronger.

After learning Zhan Liu’s attitude, worldmind finally relaxed.

Although Quill was still very inexperienced, worldmind was extremely invested in this once-in-a-millennium host. While Quill was still bewildered and at a loss, he had already dealt with every potential problem.

Since he had already reported the matter to Zhan Liu, he had dared to tell Quill that the warship would not punish him for it.

However, although Zhan Liu would not punish Quill, he would not stop Valkyrie from going after Quill, either.

A warrior who never fought or killed—what kind of warrior was that?

Thus, when Valkyrie said she was going to teach the boy who had disturbed her rest a lesson, Zhan Liu merely said, "Don’t fight inside the warship. This ship can’t withstand you two tearing it apart." After that, he left them to it.

"Kid, you’re pretty cocky!" Valkyrie rolled her wrists and twisted her neck, producing crisp sounds as her joints rubbed together.

"Let’s spar outside the warship."

"That way, you’ll learn just how serious the consequences are for disturbing someone’s sleep in the middle of the night!"

Quill had just obtained Nova Energy and was at the height of his overconfidence. Naturally, he refused to back down and immediately nodded in agreement.

Valkyrie flew out of the warship first and stood in the void, waiting for Quill to come out. But after waiting for quite a while, she still saw no sign of him.

At that moment, Quill was facing a huge problem: how was he supposed to fly?

Quill raised one hand toward the ceiling and placed the other on his waist, striking Superman’s classic flying pose. He then cautiously jumped in place—and with a bang, his head was embedded in the ceiling.

Quill frantically pried his head free and dropped back to the floor. Then he sighed and asked quietly, "WM, how do I fly?"

"Are you calling me?" worldmind asked hesitantly.

"Of course. Is there anyone else here?"

"Why are you calling me WM?"

"Isn’t it to show how close we are? It’s a pet name. Don’t you understand?"

"…Fine. I understand." After receiving Quill’s request, worldmind accessed the instructions for flying with Nova Energy and transmitted them into Quill’s mind.

"Uh… Why is this so complicated? Is there an easier way?"

"The easy way… I could control your body and make you fly. Pay close attention to how the energy flows through your body. That should make it easier for you to learn."

"Control my body… You’re not going to do anything weird with it, are you?"

"Of course not."

"All right, then. Come on, WM. I need to learn quickly and go spar with that woman outside."

worldmind controlled Quill’s body and slowly flew a few circles around the room, finally allowing Quill to gain a preliminary grasp of flight.

Thus, just as Valkyrie’s patience was about to run out, Quill finally flew crookedly out of the warship.

Valkyrie did not show any mercy once she entered combat mode. She flashed forward and kicked Quill away, sending him streaking through the vacuum in a brilliant arc and smashing numerous space rocks to pieces.

Inside the warship, the large screens in every residential area were broadcasting the two men’s battle. Seeing how weak Quill was, many people began booing him, while whistles and shrieks rang out without end. Quite a few gamblers even began shouting for bets to be placed, wagering on how long Quill could last.

Even Rocket and Drax laughed nonstop when they saw Quill being beaten. Rocket had even secretly gone to buy a betting slip.

"Heh. You think you can fight me like this?" Facing such a weakling, Valkyrie quickly lost interest.

Quill might have been losing the fight, but he would never admit defeat verbally.

"Hey, I only just got my powers, so I’m not used to them yet. I’ll be pinning you down and beating you up in no time. WM said I’m stronger than you!"

Although Valkyrie had kicked him away, he had not suffered any actual injury, which only made him more confident.

Confidence was useless, however. Quill had absolutely no close-combat experience. He raised his hand and fired at Valkyrie, then began moving around, constantly harassing her with long-range attacks.

Valkyrie stared at him as though he were an idiot. She did not even bother dodging, allowing his energy shots to burst into fireworks against the energy layer outside her body.

After a while, Valkyrie completely lost interest and decided to end the fight.

"All right, that’s enough!"

She accelerated in a straight line and rushed directly in front of Quill. Then she drove a heavy punch at his irritating pretty-boy face.

Although the short dagger was actually Valkyrie’s specialty, she had no intention of killing anyone during a spar.

Quill instinctively raised both arms to protect his handsome face, but Valkyrie still smashed through his guard and struck him heavily in the face, sending him spinning away.

Nova Energy protected Quill’s body well enough to keep his head from being blown apart by the punch. But because of his poor energy efficiency, his face still visibly swelled.

"Ugh, WM, this isn’t looking good. You have to help me!" Quill hurriedly called for his cheat in his mind.

"Sigh, your foundation is far too poor, Quill." worldmind was deeply discouraged as well. He had finally found the best possible vessel, only to discover that it was still a useless weakling.

"You’ve never received formal warrior training. Your previous performance was much better than that of a street thug, but it was far too unorthodox. Otherwise, with the assistance prompts I gave you just now, you shouldn’t have been beaten this badly."

Quill glanced at the various prompts projected across his retinas. They marked Valkyrie’s subtle movements with different colors and words, essentially predicting the enemy’s actions completely.

A normal warrior given these prompts might not be able to counterattack immediately, but at the very least, defending in advance and gaining a tactical advantage should not have been difficult. Quill, however, had only managed to raise both arms and shield his head.

Naturally, Quill refused to admit fault. He stubbornly said, "Your predictions aren’t accurate. Attacking her openings was completely useless."

"…Your bird gun can’t even penetrate her defenses, so of course it’s useless. You need to engage her in close combat! As long as you use Nova Energy properly, your fists are already far more powerful than any warship’s main cannon."

worldmind was completely helpless with this host. "You need to fight according to the combat techniques I transmitted to you. They are the crystallized wisdom accumulated by Nova warriors over tens of thousands of years, and they will help you greatly."

"All right. Actually, I wanted to use them, but the moment I start fighting, I can’t remember any of them."

"I suggest you surrender and come back after I give you special training."

"No! I’m not surrendering! You must have a way, WM. Help me win this round, and then we can talk about the training."

"…Fine! I understand. Relax your body!"

Mental communication was extremely fast. Though the two of them exchanged many words, the entire conversation took place in an instant.

When Valkyrie chased after him and brought another powerful kick down from above, Quill had already steadied himself. He reached out and caught Valkyrie’s attack.

The two identical forms of Nova Energy collided. It was as though a sun had risen from nowhere, unleashing hundreds of millions of rays and sweeping away every fragment of space rock within a hundred-mile radius.

Even the nearby warship was affected by the force and rocked several times. Fortunately, the warship now also used Nova Energy and had no shortage of power. Its shields immediately deployed and nullified the subsequent damage. Otherwise, the ship might have been disabled by the aftershock of the collision.

"Hm?" Valkyrie was surprised to find that Quill’s bearing had changed. He had become cold and dangerous.

Valkyrie quickly withdrew and retreated before Quill could counterattack. But Quill did not let the opportunity pass. He immediately closed in, attacking with both fists and palms in an explosive barrage that caught Valkyrie off guard.

Quill’s sudden outburst surprised not only Valkyrie but also the gamblers aboard the warship. The angriest were those who had bet that Quill would lose quickly. They cursed Quill loudly for making them lose money. These people were all bullies who picked on the weak and feared the strong. None of them dared curse Valkyrie, but they had no restraint when cursing Quill.

Rocket excitedly waved the betting slip marked "Lasts five to ten minutes," laughed loudly, slapped the Ravager beside him on the shoulder, and bragged:

"I told you!"

"Quill is a dependable guy!"

"You can still place another bet now!"

"Haha…"

But before long, he could not laugh anymore, because ten minutes was almost up.

"Ah… Quill, stop forcing yourself!" Rocket clutched his head with both hands and screamed, cheering against Quill.

"Hurry up and surrender!"

"It’s not worth risking your life against that violent woman!"

"No… It’s been more than ten minutes!"

Rocket let out a wail. His ears and tail drooped as he collapsed onto the floor, utterly dejected.

Drax stood beside him with a huge mug of beer, gulping it down as he laughed at Rocket, who looked like a complete idiot. Kind-hearted Groot extended a branch and gently patted Rocket’s back as though comforting him.

Rocket hung his head in dejection for a while, then suddenly jumped up and shouted, "I’ll buy another bet for thirty minutes!"

"I refuse to believe this loser Quill can last any longer!"

Soon…

"I’ll buy another bet for one hour!"

"…Two hours!"

Drax watched as Rocket, his eyes red from losing and his temper flaring, picked up his modified weapon and prepared to go out and kill Quill himself. He reached out, lifted Rocket off the ground, and left the temporary casino with a loud laugh.

Rocket was still unwilling to leave. He punched and kicked at the air, loudly cursing and damning Quill. Groot sighed, blinked his big eyes, and swayed after them.

Outside the warship, Valkyrie had already fallen into a bitter struggle. Her opponent was worldmind, who was controlling Quill’s body.

Thanks to the characteristics of a supercomputer, Valkyrie’s combat patterns had long since been entered into the system and modeled, successfully achieving complete prediction.

Furthermore, Valkyrie was still using Nova Energy, which put her at an even greater disadvantage during the battle.

worldmind was extremely sensitive to Nova Energy. The moment Valkyrie mobilized her energy, worldmind immediately knew whether she intended to attack or maneuver. All of Valkyrie’s tactics were meaningless before him. If they fought on the basis of pure strength, worldmind could channel all of Quill’s Nova Energy through his body, while his efficiency and technique were far superior to Valkyrie’s.

If Quill’s physical foundation had not been so poor and required slow strengthening through Nova Energy, Valkyrie would have lost long ago.

But as the fierce battle continued, Quill’s basic attributes grew higher and higher. worldmind could bring more and more energy into play, and victory was only a matter of time.

Being entangled for so long with someone on the level of a street thug had already left Valkyrie extremely frustrated. If she ultimately lost to someone like this, Valkyrie would probably want to die.

The prolonged, intense battle stimulated the bloodline of the Asgardian Valkyrie within Valkyrie’s body. The Asgardian God-Force she had not used in years finally began to awaken from its slumber and slowly flow through her body.

But as the God-Force revived, the nightmare from that time came with it.

That nightmarish woman, the God of Death Hela, had eyes that were indifferent and cold. Across a thousand years of history, that gaze overlapped with the eyes of "Quill" before her.

The two gazes were exactly alike—arrogant, dangerous, cold, and utterly devoid of emotion…

Valkyrie’s body began to tremble. Her hands and feet grew cold, her reactions slowed, and her breathing became increasingly hurried. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears like a drum.

worldmind did not know what was wrong with her, but he could not possibly ignore such an obvious opening. He punched through Valkyrie’s defense, then hammered her chest and abdomen, completely turning the stalemated battle around.

Valkyrie sprayed blood from her mouth as scenes of the Valkyrie Legion’s destruction flashed before her eyes once more.

Blood flowers filled the sky, and corpses lay everywhere.

All her companions had been unable to withstand even a single strike from the enemy before short swords pierced their bodies.

She looked around in confusion. Flying-horse wings drifted everywhere around her, like a vast snowfall, covering everything beneath a blanket of feathers.

Only that nightmarish enemy before her had not stopped. She continued advancing unhurriedly.

All her companions were dead!

Only she remained!

How had she survived?

Right. One of her Valkyrie companions had rammed her away with her own body.

What had that Valkyrie companion been called?

Was it Valkyrie, or Valkyrie May?

It had been more than a thousand years. It seemed she had already forgotten.

She really had done something foolish back then!

The one who should have died that day should have been her!

The one who should have died was a useless coward like her, someone who had kept running from the past, lacked the courage to seek revenge, and had even forgotten the name of the person who saved her life!

A piercing pain snapped her out of her daze. Quill’s heavy punches had already broken several of her ribs, and he was raising his right fist high, preparing to deliver the final, decisive blow.

Valkyrie had treated this as a spar and never intended to kill anyone, so she had not even used a weapon. Quill certainly did not want to kill anyone in a contest like this, either. But worldmind was a supercomputer and had no such concerns. Until his host told him to stop, he would not cease his attack.

With Quill’s meager combat experience, he could only tell that worldmind had gained the upper hand and was suppressing Valkyrie. He had no way of realizing that worldmind was preparing to kill his opponent with a single strike.

The aura of death instantly enveloped Valkyrie’s heart, exactly like it had back then. But the worldmind before her was not the God of Death Hela from that time. And Valkyrie was no longer the Valkyrie she had been then.

In fact, this sensation resembling the past instead awakened the hatred and resentment that had been buried in Valkyrie’s heart for a thousand years.

"My shoulders bear the hopes of the entire Valkyrie Legion!"

"That woman… is still alive!"

"I will not die here!"

As Valkyrie roared, the Asgardian God-Force instantly boiled. It gathered in her right fist, which she drove heavily into the descending fist.

Nova Energy and the Asgardian God-Force collided, instantly triggering an explosion far more terrifying than anything during the battle before.

The cosmic shockwave generated by the battle pushed the warship far away, while the smaller fragments of space rock were destroyed in an instant. Even the live broadcast was disrupted by the powerful energy and turned into a screen full of garbled code.

"Quill" and Valkyrie’s fists remained locked together as both desperately poured energy into the collision.

Only then did Quill truly realize how serious the situation was.

"Hey, WM, what are you doing?"

"Let go already!"

"It’s only a spar. There’s no need to risk our lives, right?"

worldmind was helpless with this host who kept dragging him down.

"She is one of Zhan Liu’s most important assistants. If you want to kill Zhan Liu and avenge Yondu, killing her now is your best opportunity."

"She’s already at the end of her strength. If this drags on any longer, her severe injuries will turn her to ash in the energy impact that follows."

"Zhan Liu is a heartless man. He wouldn’t destroy another, more useful tool for the sake of one that had already died."

Quill fell silent for a moment, but still voiced his opposition.

"As for my business with Zhan Liu, I’ll naturally find a way to resolve it."

"I can use all kinds of shameless methods, but I won’t drag an innocent person into this revenge."

Worldmind couldn’t understand this at all. "Weren’t you taking those people from the Guardians of the Galaxy with you to their deaths?"

"What do you mean, ‘to their deaths’?" Quill was furious at Worldmind’s assessment. "We’re companions, and we’re carrying out our revenge according to a plan!"

"Plan?" Worldmind rapidly scanned Quill’s memories. "If those childish methods in your brain—poisoning, assassination, using super bombs, sowing discord, and so on—count as a plan, then you’re leading them to their deaths."

"Those… those are merely the rough beginnings of a plan!" Quill said in embarrassed fury. "Besides, you’re a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy now too. You have to discuss the plan with us!"

"And hurry up and end the battle here. After fighting to this extent, I’ve already saved enough face. The outcome doesn’t matter anymore."

"Whatever you do, don’t actually kill her!"

Worldmind had no choice but to change the energy from a continuous, massive output into a burst. As it triggered a huge explosion, it also pushed the two of them apart in opposite directions.

Using the explosion’s recoil, Worldmind flew straight back toward the vicinity of the warship. Valkyrie, meanwhile, was further injured by the blast and sent flying into the vast reaches of space.

After sustaining severe injuries, Valkyrie had completely lost consciousness. She had no way to fly back to the warship under her own power.

P.S. Wishing everyone a happy Spring Festival in advance!