Probe

All the unmanned ships activated their attack systems and locked onto Ego at the commander’s order.

Sensing the Sovereign targeting him, Ego felt a little annoyed. These arrogant fools actually dared to be so disrespectful to a Celestial like him? Remembering why he had come, Ego suppressed his anger and said, "I’m just an old man who wants to see his son. At the very least, let me speak to Star-Lord."

The commander did not waste words and ordered, "Attack."

All the ships launched their assault at once, firing wave after wave of Energy Bullets at Ego. Ego was truly enraged now. Two enormous energy whips emerged from behind him and swept fiercely toward the unmanned ships.

Bang, bang, bang… Every unmanned ship struck by the energy whips exploded in thunderous blasts. Not a single one remained.

"So powerful."

The commander and the newly arrived Carol were both astonished. Ego spread his hands and said, "I didn’t want this. I only wanted to talk to the son I’ve been separated from for years."

The commander shouted, "Your son isn’t here. I now declare you an enemy of Sovereign."

Ego was about to say something when Carol’s shout came from the distance. Immediately afterward, a dazzling beam of energy as thick as a bowl came blasting toward him.

Ego grew even more irritated. His blue-white energy whip smashed hard into the energy beam, causing it to explode in midair. Carol snorted and instantly appeared beside Ego, kicking him flying with all her strength.

Carol’s kick was no ordinary blow. The part of Ego’s waist she struck simply vanished. Carol froze. This guy’s attacks were so powerful—how could his body be this fragile? "Carol, how did you kill him?"

Thor, who had followed her over, asked in astonishment. At that moment, blue-white energy glowed from Ego’s body, and the missing part of his waist rapidly healed.

Ego floated in space and said coldly, "Are you going to stop me from seeing my son?"

Seeing that Ego was not dead, Carol sighed in relief before shouting, "Your son isn’t here. Surrender now, or don’t blame me for being rude."

"Is that so? Then let’s see how rude you can be."

Ego had never been particularly patient. Hearing that, he could not be bothered to keep pretending. His energy whips rapidly extended and smashed fiercely toward Carol. Carol crossed her arms in front of herself and was sent flying by the blow.

"What incredible strength. He really is a tough opponent."

Carol was startled. She quickly steadied herself in space, then Teleported behind Ego and punched fiercely toward his back.

An energy whip blocked the punch. Then the whip lashed out, sending Carol flying again. Fortunately, she was quite durable and was not seriously injured.

"Carol, you can’t handle him. Let me do it."

Thor laughed loudly and hurled Thor’s Hammer hard at Ego. Ego used an energy whip to knock the hammer away, then swung the whip fiercely at Thor.

"Good."

Thor did not dodge. Instead, he shouted as massive amounts of lightning surged from his body. The lightning then formed into a giant sword and slashed at the energy whip. This was an ability he had learned after sparring with Carol.

The energy whip was cleaved in two by the giant lightning sword, but it did not disappear. Instead, like two agile vipers, the two halves coiled around Thor from either side and bound him tightly.

"Break!"

Thor strained wildly with both arms, trying to break free from the energy whips. But the whips were exceptionally tough and powerful. No matter how he struggled, he could not escape.

"You’re the Son of Odin? Your lightning is far inferior to your father’s."

Ego recognized Thor’s identity and spoke with disdain. Thor flew into a rage and shouted, "You can’t hold me!"

With Thor’s roar, Thor’s Hammer flew back into his hand. Then the lightning around his body surged tenfold, forcibly destroying the energy whips and turning them into scattered motes of light.

"Die!"

Thor soared high into the air and brought his hammer down on Ego with countless bolts of lightning. Ego reformed the energy whip and lashed it fiercely at Thor.

Just then, Carol appeared behind Ego once more. Her fist, blazing with radiant energy, smashed fiercely toward Ego’s back.

Ego hurriedly formed a smaller energy whip to block Carol’s fist, but he underestimated her anger. The small whip was instantly destroyed by Carol’s furious punch.

Then Carol’s fist slammed into Ego’s back. It punched straight through him, and her fist emerged from his chest.

Distracted, Ego’s energy whip could not stop Thor. It was knocked aside by Thor’s hammer, which then smashed down onto Ego’s head with overwhelming force, reducing his head and neck to ashes.

"No!"

Star-Lord had just come out when he saw Carol and Thor "kill" his old father. He immediately cried out in alarm.

At that moment, two more energy whips emerged from the void and knocked Carol and Thor away simultaneously. Then energy light flared from Ego’s body as his back and head regenerated at a visible speed.

"What the hell is that?"

Star-Lord was startled. This was not the father he had imagined.

"Star-Lord, I’m your father. I’m glad you were worried about me. Don’t worry, I’m immortal. Once I’ve dealt with these two, we can have a proper talk."

With that, Ego clenched his fists. Nine energy whips appeared in the void and repeatedly smashed toward Carol and Thor.

Earlier, Ego had merely been playing around. Now, he was serious, drawing a massive amount of energy from his true body.

"Like I’m afraid of you?"

Thor and Carol snorted at the same time, controlling lightning and radiant energy as they battled Ego’s energy whips. The shockwaves of their battle threw the Starport below into chaos, though fortunately, there were not many people inside.

Watching Ego fight one against two without falling behind, Star-Lord was completely dumbfounded. "Is that really my father? What exactly is he? How can he be so strong?"

Gamora was speechless. "Who calls their own father a thing?"

"What race is he, exactly?"

Star-Lord muttered, "Carol and Thor are both superpowered beings capable of destroying warships."

"I’ve never seen a life-form like that."

Gamora thought of something, looked Star-Lord up and down, and asked, "If your father is that strong, why are you so useless?"

Star-Lord shouted unhappily, "How am I useless? What beautiful woman in the Entire Universe hasn’t heard of Star-Lord? My ex-girlfriends could fill an entire city."

Gamora looked disgusted. "Could it be that you only inherited your father’s abilities in that regard?"

"The thing up there probably has the wrong person."

Rocket, who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, said, "He and Star-Lord clearly aren’t even the same species."

Star-Lord said unhappily, "Hey, he might be my father. How dare you call him a thing?"

"Didn’t you call him that first?"

Rocket sneered. As the two were about to start arguing, Gamora said irritably, "Whether he is or not, make them stop fighting first. If he really is your father, then he isn’t an enemy."

"I haven’t acknowledged him as my father yet."

Star-Lord said somewhat haughtily. After thinking for a moment, he used his communicator to shout into space, "Stop fighting for now. Let’s talk this through."

"We’ll talk after the fight."

Ego, Thor, and Carol shouted at the same time—partly because they were enjoying the battle, and partly because they all wanted to test the other side’s true strength.

Star-Lord angrily threw his communicator to the ground. Weren’t you here to find your son? Why did you forget about your son the moment a fight started? "Still just as irresponsible."

Star-Lord gritted his teeth. He had made up his mind not to acknowledge the other party and shouted, "Carol, Thor, go! Beat that whatever-the-hell-it-is thing to death!"

Rocket mocked, "You won’t let others call him that, but you sure enjoy calling him that yourself."

Star-Lord’s curses left Ego deeply speechless. Fortunately, he did not have much fatherly affection anyway, so he pretended not to hear and focused on fighting Carol and Thor.

Both Carol and Thor were powerful, but Ego was stronger. Seizing an opportunity, he sacrificed three energy whips to bind Thor and Carol tightly.

"Break!"

Thor erupted with lightning again, but he still could not break free from the three energy whips. Carol tried to use Teleportation, flickering in midair before reappearing in the same spot—the surrounding space had been disrupted.

"Your understanding of space is far too shallow."

Ego said, "Surrender. I came here today to find my son, not to kill anyone."

"Surrender my ass. I am Thor, the God of Thunder. How could I lose to a decrepit old man like you?"

Thor roared as the lightning around him continued to surge. Ego was a little surprised. This kid’s current strength was mediocre, but his potential was limitless. He truly was Odin’s son.

"In this world, only Master can make me surrender. No one else can."

The spatial glow around Carol burned like flames. Then a phantom image of a space appeared behind her, and endless power poured into her body.

Even Ego was shocked. "Drawing upon the power of another dimension? How is that possible? You’re not even a demon god."

"I am a disciple of Space Lord Blood God."

Carol roared, and the three energy whips shattered on the spot. She then turned into a streak of light and flew before Ego, pressing his head down hard. Ego’s head was forced straight into his chest.

That was not all. Carol swiftly stuffed Ego’s limbs into his body as well, instantly turning Ego into a ball. Then Carol wrapped Ego in her energy and continuously compressed him.

You can regenerate, can’t you? I’ll turn you into a ball and see how you regenerate then.

"You dare?"

Ego flew into a fury and controlled the three energy whips binding Thor to lash at Carol. Thor was enraged and formed a cage of lightning around the three energy whips, trapping them.

"You think I don’t exist?"

Thor roared as Thunder Strike rained down from the sky, battering the energy whips until they continuously shrank.

Watching Ego turn into a ball, Rocket laughed so hard he doubled over. "Star-Lord, your father turned into a ball. You’re the child of a ball and an Earth woman."

Star-Lord’s face darkened, and he felt a little distressed as well. He hurriedly shouted, "Beautiful Carol, can you not be so cruel? He might really be my dad."

Carol hesitated. At that moment, Wang Bert’s voice sounded beside her ear. "Release him. He’s only an energy projection, not the true body. Killing him would be useless."

Carol was greatly shocked. "He’s this strong even as an energy projection? How strong is his true body?"

"Strong enough to rival gods and demons."

Wang Bert smiled and said, "Carol, there are far more powerful beings in this world than you imagine."

"I know. One day, I’ll surpass them."

Carol said proudly. Then she stopped releasing energy. Ego violently broke free and flew to one side, his body rapidly recovering amid the energy glow.

"Earthling, you dare?"

Ego’s expression turned ferocious. He had never suffered such humiliation before.

Carol sneered. "If you still want to fight, I’ll oblige."

Thor also shouted, "That’s right, keep fighting! This time, I’ll finish him."

Ego gritted his teeth, withdrew his energy whips, and said, "I only came to find my son."

Carol said, "You may move freely within the Starport area, but unless you receive permission, you are forbidden from setting foot on Sovereign."

"Fine."

Ego stared at Carol coldly and nodded. Once his plan began, he would definitely tear this woman torn to pieces.

Carol keenly sensed Ego’s killing intent and snorted inwardly before turning into a beam of light and returning to Sovereign.

"That’s it?"

Thor curled his lip in dissatisfaction, then chased after Carol while swinging his hammer. "Carol, why haven’t you ever used that move before? Do you look down on me?"

Carol answered honestly, "Yes, I look down on you. Is there a problem?"

Thor was nearly driven crazy. Shouldn’t you be a little modest at a time like this? What happened to Earthlings’ traditional virtues?

For the moment, setting aside Carol and Thor, who were about to start fighting again, Ego took a deep breath to make himself look kinder, then flew toward Star-Lord.

After landing, Ego said excitedly to Star-Lord, "My son, I’ve finally found you. You haven’t forgotten me, have you?"

Star-Lord took a step back and asked, "Wait a moment. What exactly are you?"

"A thing?"

Ego was speechless. "I am a Celestial. Star-Lord, so are you. Half of your bloodline is Celestial."

Rocket burst into laughter. "Celestial bloodline? Old man, you’re really funny. He’s just a weakling. He can’t even beat me."

"Shut up."

Star-Lord said, "Forget this Celestial nonsense for now. Why did you abandon my mother and me?"

Ego said guiltily, "I had something to do and had to leave. Later, I entrusted Yondu to pick you up, but that bastard Yondu actually kept you for himself. I’ve been looking for you all these decades."

"They needed a little guy to help them steal things, so they kept me."

Star-Lord said angrily, "Why did you go to that bastard Yondu? Didn’t you know the Ravagers couldn’t be trusted?"

"The Ravagers never traffic children. I didn’t know Yondu would be such a bastard. Child, I regret that choice every day."

Ego sighed. "Fortunately, heaven has eyes. I finally found you."

Star-Lord fell silent. To be honest, he did not know what to do with this father who had suddenly appeared.

"You know, Drax has always thought Yondu was Star-Lord’s father. They look incredibly alike."

Rocket whispered to Gamora. Gamora was speechless. "Their skin colors aren’t even the same, okay?"

"But you can’t deny that Yondu treated Star-Lord very well."

Rocket shrugged. Star-Lord turned around and said with an unhappy expression, "Very well? Do you know he threatened to eat me every day?"

"That bastard. Sooner or later, I’ll kill him."

Ego cursed. "Star-Lord, I’ll take you back to my planet. There, you will inherit everything I have and master the power of the Celestials. Oh, and your companions are welcome to come with you."

Star-Lord asked in surprise, "Your planet? You have a planet?"

Ego smiled. "A planet beyond anything you can imagine."