Marvel: What If Thanos Adopted A Saiyan?
Chapter 160 - 161: Ball’s in Play! Ego Gets Blown Up—Again!

Chapter 160: Chapter 161: Ball’s in Play! Ego Gets Blown Up—Again!

Pain—searing, soul-deep pain.

Not even his brutal battle with Thanos and Odin had made Ego feel like this before.

Humiliation, fear, and rage churned in his heart, poisoning every thought.

After all, back then, Thanos had simply cleaved him in two with a single, clean strike. But now? Lothar wasn’t offering him even the mercy of a swift end.

Those feelings—humiliation, fear, fury—wrapped around Ego like chains, dragging him down into a pit of despair.

His right arm, his legs... the agony reminded him of Gafa’s fate not long ago. Only this time, the roles had reversed. Back then, he had been the one towering over Gafa. And Lothar? Crushed beneath his heel.

"An eye for an eye, paid back tenfold."

"That’s His Highness Lothar for you."

Woz sat quietly at the cliff’s edge, refilling his little mug from a barrel of oil. His chubby hands brought the cup to his lips while his stubby legs kicked back and forth in the air. After taking a satisfying sip of the dark brown fluid, a blissful smile crossed his face.

"Every grudge His Highness Lothar has ever held, he’s repaid with interest—without exception."

"Including the rest of the Black Order under Lord Thanos, you know."

He rummaged through the pouch in his belly and pulled out a weathered little notebook with a blue-tinged cover. Holding it up for Hela to see, he grinned broadly. The scrawled words on the front were written in shaky but legible Universal Script.

"The Growth Diary of Lothar?"

"What is this?"

Hela reached out to snatch it, but Woz deftly dodged her hand.

"These are His Highness Lothar’s treasured memories, you see."

Teasingly, Woz waved the diary in front of her face before stuffing it back into his belly pouch, patting his soft belly with satisfaction.

"If you really want to know, why not ask His Highness Lothar himself?"

"...Scram!"

Face darkening, Hela booted Woz into the air, sending him tumbling backward.

"Push me again and I’ll dismantle you!"

The blue robot cat crashed into the oil barrel, just as a gleaming golden figure landed before Hela.

"What are you doing?"

Lothar’s voice was cold, devoid of any warmth, any emotion. The sheer pressure behind it made Hela shiver involuntarily, sweat beading on her brow.

Impossible...

His power right now...

"You bastard!!"

"Are you pitying me?!"

Ego surged forward, no longer held down by Lothar’s energy. With only his left arm remaining, he dragged his mutilated body toward the shoreline. His once-handsome face twisted in rage and humiliation.

"Pity?"

"No, I never pity my enemies."

"I’m just... not done playing yet."

Lothar’s slight smirk looked to Ego like the grin of a devil.

"What did you say?!"

"Come on, then. Let’s see what kind of tricks a so-called primordial god can pull."

Lothar shoved Hela aside and raised his right hand toward Ego, his scornful posture slicing through what little pride Ego had left.

"A primordial god since the dawn of the universe? Please. That’s just Ego hyping up his own résumé. At the end of the day, he’s just a sentient planet, not much different from any other star out there."

Hela, recovering from her stumble, exposed Ego’s truth. If she hadn’t seen him get wrecked by Odin and Thanos, she might’ve believed his grandiose claims.

"At most, he’s just... a little brighter than the rest."

"Oh?"

Lothar stepped closer. His footsteps were light, but to Ego, they sounded like thunderclaps.

"Just a star, huh?"

A searing energy beam shot from Lothar’s left index finger, blasting a hole clean through Ego’s chest.

"Then you’re truly a star that’s lost its shine."

Lothar tilted his head and casually pressed his foot on Ego’s remaining arm, grinding it slowly.

"AHHHHH!!!"

Ego screamed—a raw, gut-wrenching howl that echoed across every corner of Sakaar.

"How boring. Let’s finish this."

Ego’s pain no longer entertained Lothar. With a raised hand, he pointed his palm directly at Ego’s head.

His father once told him; if you want someone dead, the quickest way is to take off their head.

ZING!

Silver tendrils of energy burst from Sakaar’s crust, forming a massive shield between Ego and death.

"Still struggling, are we?"

Lothar arched a brow, watching the shield shatter to reveal Ego, now kneeling.

"You should never have given me time to recover, Lothar."

Reconstituted limbs flared with fresh energy as Ego glared upward, silver ripples flooding his pupils.

"Bathed in the light of the stars..."

"Take your arrogance, and die with it!!!!"

Ego shot skyward, arms spread wide. A core of his hidden energy ignited like a supernova, bathing the land in radiant silver, outshining the entire galaxy above Sakaar.

With a flick of his finger, a concentrated sphere of star-core energy surged toward Lothar.

"Is that all you’ve got?"

Golden brilliance drowned the sky in an instant. Lothar stretched out his arms, energy flooding out of him. Behind him, a colossal golden energy sphere condensed into being.

"You’re nowhere near ready to beat me!!"

He hurled the golden sphere overhead, slamming it straight into Ego’s silver energy ball.

BOOM!!!!

"Let’s go again!"

The golden heat in Lothar’s heart flared higher. He opened his arms once more—two more energy spheres erupted behind him, firing off in rapid succession. They crashed into Ego, who was still siphoning light from Sakaar and nearby planets.

"What?!"

KRA-KOOOMMMMM!!!!

Ego’s silver light began to dim. The crimson-gold blaze of the solar sphere surged in its place.

Two figures—one gold, one silver—plummeted from the heavens, crashing into the ground in a shockwave of burning sparks.

That move—?!

The posture, the rhythm, it was all too familiar. Hela’s eyes widened. She’d already been choked out by this move thirty-three times in the past few days. And now, Ego was the one being dragged like a ragdoll by the golden figure.

WHAM!!!!

"Stars are still just stars."

"They shine only because they borrow the sun’s light."

"So if you’re a star..."

"Then I am the sun itself!"

Lothar slammed Ego’s body into Sakaar’s tallest mountain, obliterating it. The strongest peak on the planet crumbled under the force of Ego’s impact.

"Finale."

Lothar gripped Ego’s throat. A violent energy storm burst from his palm, slicing through Ego’s skin with razor precision.

Wooo wooo...

The slicing winds sounded almost like wailing cries. To Hela, the storm’s keening was unbearable. The silver tendrils that marked Ego’s power dissolved into the void.

"NOOOOO!!!!"

Ego, now completely helpless, was left to the mercy of Lothar’s wrath. His limbs severed, his body, once silver and luminous, shattered like glass in Lothar’s grasp.

"Rejoice!"

"Behold Prince Lothar, son of the mighty Titan, new champion of the Sakaar Gladiator Arena, and venerated ruler of Planet Chitauri!"

-------

Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]