Marvel: The Awakened One

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As God is his witness!

Hawk had figured killing Ego wouldn’t be particularly difficult, but he hadn’t expected it to be this easy.

But…

When you really thought about it, it made perfect sense.

A high cosmic standing didn’t necessarily translate to high combat prowess.

Take Mephisto, for example.

He was a Dimensional God, yes, but if Mephisto really cut loose, he could tear an average Celestial apart with his bare hands.

As for Ego?

Let’s look at the facts.

This was a Celestial who, in the original timeline, was killed by a conventional bomb.

Yes.

A bomb.

So, dealing with a ”God” who could be taken out by high explosives? Hawk knew going in that Ego was a glass cannon. But it wasn’t until he actually put his hands on him that he realized even calling him a glass cannon was giving him too much credit.

In short:

Once Ego’s core was exposed, he was nothing more than a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

Hawk stared at the massive, glowing brain that was Ego’s true form, and couldn’t help but shake his head.

”The fact that you’ve survived this long is a miracle.”

”A truly unbelievable miracle.”

Logically speaking, Ego had been around for millions of years. And yet, his only line of defense was a thick crust of rock that a normal human couldn’t break with their bare hands. Beyond that, zero security.

Even a rabbit is smart enough to have three exits to its burrow. Ego didn’t even have a panic room.

So…

Just in case Ego had some hidden trick up his sleeve, Hawk had beamed Star-Lord down.

And then!

Using the fact that Star-Lord carried Ego’s unique Celestial energy signature, Hawk ran a quick diagnostic.

The result was conclusive. The giant brain floating in front of him was the one and only core.

There were no backups. No horcruxes.

Hawk felt a momentary sense of surreal disbelief.

After all—

Beating the absolute hell out of a Celestial felt significantly easier than dismantling a mid-level Hydra base.

Ego’s core, currently looking like a chewed-up piece of bubblegum, seemed to take offense at Hawk’s assessment.

He instinctively started to run hot.

Glowing red-hot.

Blindingly red-hot.

Ego was trying to self-destruct!

Hawk raised an eyebrow and tapped his index finger against the core.

BONG!

Ego, currently lacking a physical body, felt as if he’d just been hit square in the head with a cosmic sledgehammer. He saw stars, his consciousness spinning wildly.

”A little late to blow yourself up now, don’t you think?”

Hawk chuckled softly. He turned to Star-Lord, who he had just teleported to his side, and offered a casual smile. ”Peter. How would you like to be a God?”

Star-Lord, who was still trying to process the fact that he was suddenly floating in the vacuum of space, looked back at the Enterprise hovering sixty miles away, then at the massive, glowing brain, and finally at Hawk. He was completely lost.

”What?”

”I asked if you want to be a Celestial.”

Hawk repeated, his smile widening. ”You’ve got the Celestial gene. I can help you unlock it. Make you a true God. Do you want it?”

Hawk had already taken his metaphorical tour through Ego’s core. He’d gotten the insight he needed.

As for Ego himself?

Hawk had zero use for a Celestial this pathetic.

But what’s the point of being a transmigrator?

To rewrite the script.

And!

He was already here.

So…

If Star-Lord just said the word, Hawk didn’t mind giving him a push and helping him become a literal, undeniable god.

But!

When Star-Lord finally caught his breath and processed the offer, his eyes fell on the battered, wheezing brain floating before them. A look of profound, unadulterated disgust washed over his face.

”I’d rather die than be anything like him.”

When he’d first found out he was half-god, he’d been ecstatic.

But after discovering the truth about his mother’s death? He felt nothing but pure, burning hatred for Ego.

Don’t want to be a Celestial?

I can’t allow that.

If the thought hadn’t crossed my mind, fine. But now that I’ve offered, you think you can just say no?

Hawk smirked.

”Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos.”

”Huh?”

Star-Lord blinked, confused by the sudden change in subject.

Hawk’s smile grew a little sharper. ”A mortal might fear Thanos. But a Celestial? A Celestial wouldn’t give Thanos a second thought. So, Peter... are you absolutely sure you don’t want to be a God?”

Star-Lord looked at Hawk’s easy smile, thought of Gamora, and swallowed hard.

”What do I have to do?”

”It’s simple.”

Hawk’s smile became radiant. He raised his right hand, pressed his index finger directly against Star-Lord’s forehead, and whispered in his ear.

”You just have to die.”

BOOM!

Star-Lord’s physical body exploded instantly, dissolving into dust. The next second, a luminous, ethereal blue soul popped out of the dispersing ash.

Without missing a beat, Hawk grabbed Star-Lord’s soul and forcefully shoved it directly into Ego’s core. ”Kill him, and you become the new Celestial.”

Yes.

There was only one way for Star-Lord to ascend to full godhood. Kill Ego and take his place.

And was Star-Lord willing to kill Ego?

Absolutely.

Once again: never underestimate the bond between a child raised by a single mother and the woman who sacrificed everything for him.

The moment Ego confessed to putting the tumor in Meredith Quill’s head, he cemented his fate. Thanos might be a name that struck fear into the galaxy, but Star-Lord was the true Father-Killer.

Star-Lord didn’t hesitate for a microsecond. The moment his soul entered the core, his spectral eyes burned red, and he launched himself at Ego’s remaining consciousness with feral intensity.

Hawk, sensing the sheer brutality of Ego’s demise from the outside, couldn’t help but wince slightly.

The next second.

Hawk focused his mind, projecting his voice into the core to guide Star-Lord.

”Focus your mind!”

”Your life energy is inherited from Ego, so the core won’t reject you. All you have to do is expand your consciousness. Fill every corner of the core and overwrite him completely.”

”Do it quickly.”

”Wait!”

Star-Lord’s panicked voice echoed back. ”I don’t know how to do that!”

Hawk laughed.

”If you don’t know how, then just sit there and wait for it to wither.”

”What happens if it withers?”

”You die.”

”Wait, who dies?”

”You, obviously. You think I’m going to die?”

”FUCK!”

Hearing that, Star-Lord lost whatever composure he had left. Cursing Hawk with every breath, pure survival instinct took over. Without needing any further instruction, he aggressively expanded his consciousness, overwriting Ego’s rapidly fading essence.

Hawk tuned out Star-Lord’s frantic swearing. He fully unleashed his Seventh Sense and slowly closed his eyes.

Even the most pathetic Celestial was still a Celestial.

So…

Hawk’s primary motivation for helping Star-Lord usurp Ego wasn’t just to change the plot. It was to use the profound, cosmic transition of a Celestial’s death and rebirth as a catalyst to further his own comprehension of the Eighth Sense.

Sixty miles away, aboard the Enterprise.

Gamora frowned, looking at Gwen. ”Why are you helping Peter become a Celestial?”

Gwen, leaning comfortably in the Captain’s chair, met Gamora’s intense gaze with a serene smile. ”My husband once told me a saying: ’I destroy you, but what does that have to do with you?’ So, if you’re asking me why he’s doing this... I can’t answer that.”

I destroy you, but what does that have to do with you!

What kind of terrifying arrogance is that?

Gamora felt a chill run down her spine. She looked at the main screen, at Hawk meditating with his eyes closed beside the glowing brain, and took a deep breath. She turned back to Gwen, her voice low and dangerous. ”If anything happens to Peter, I will not let you get away with it.”

Gwen raised a finger to her lips in a shushing motion.

Gamora frowned.

Gwen’s smile remained pleasant, but her tone was firm. ”I wouldn’t say that again if I were you. I might not mind, but my husband takes issue with people threatening me. If he hears you, he will kill you.”

Just as they were speaking.

On the main screen, the massive brain floating beside Hawk suddenly flared with a brilliant, ethereal blue light.

Hawk slowly opened his eyes. He projected his thoughts to Star-Lord, guiding him through the final steps.

A moment later, the blue light surged upward from the brain like a geyser, coalescing into a distinct, luminous humanoid figure.

The figure grew sharper, more defined.

It was Star-Lord.

No.

It was the Celestial, Star-Lord.

”Whoa!”

Celestial Star-Lord raised his hands, staring in awe at his arms, which were slowly solidifying from pure cosmic energy. He looked around at the vast emptiness of space, breathing easily without any life support gear. He gasped. ”Wait, there’s oxygen in space?”

Hawk chuckled.

”You’re breathing your own energy. Now, get out of there. Since I’ve already helped you this much, I’ll do you one last favor.”

”What?”

”Unless you want to follow in Ego’s footsteps and spend the next few million years slowly building a planet out of space dust?”

”...”

Hearing that, Celestial Star-Lord immediately detached himself from the core, hovering in the void beside Hawk, trying to mimic his relaxed posture.

SKREEE!

Behind Hawk, the spectral Phoenix spread its wings. With a deafening roar, the blistering heat of the Phoenix Fire engulfed the massive, planet-sized brain from all sides.

As everyone knows.

The Phoenix Fire is not just the fire of rebirth; it is the fire of life.

Under the intense, purifying heat of the Phoenix Fire, the colossal, asteroid-sized brain began to rapidly shrink and condense.

As Star-Lord watched in amazement, the massive organ was refined down, smaller and smaller, until it was replaced by a single, intricate pendant.

A necklace pendant, forged in the flames of the Phoenix from the very core of a Celestial.

Hawk recalled the Phoenix Fire. He waited for Star-Lord to take the pendant—which still looked a little large in his hands—and gave him one final piece of advice. ”There. Keep your core safe. As long as your core survives, you are a God.”

Star-Lord looked at the pendant, then instinctively looked at Hawk.

”And if it gets destroyed?”

”Heh.”

Hawk just offered a cryptic, knowing smile. He turned, and with a swift whoosh, vanished from the spot.

Seeing Hawk disappear, Celestial Star-Lord yelled, ”Hey, wait!” He flailed his arms and legs, and like a newborn god trying to find his footing, began to physically swim through the vacuum of space, heading toward the Enterprise sixty miles away.

Hawk, who had already materialized back on the bridge, glanced at the main screen. Watching Star-Lord attempting to do the butterfly stroke through the cosmos, the corner of his mouth twitched. He looked at Gwen. ”I think I’m already regretting helping him become a god.”

Gwen, watching Star-Lord switch to a doggie paddle, just shrugged. ”I think it’s hilarious.”

Gamora buried her face in her hands.

Rocket slapped his paw against his forehead.

Yondu, watching Star-Lord’s frantic doggie paddle, let out a nostalgic sigh. ”When he was a kid, I took him swimming. No matter how hard I tried to teach him, he never could stop doing the doggie paddle.”

Hawk watched Star-Lord paddling away, calculating that at his current speed, the universe would experience heat death before he reached the ship. Shaking his head, he used his telekinesis and simply teleported Star-Lord directly onto the Enterprise.

THUD!

Star-Lord, who was just starting to feel like he was getting the hang of his cosmic breaststroke, materialized mid-paddle and face-planted hard onto the bridge deck.

He remained frozen in the doggie paddle position.

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