Thanos sat upon his floating throne, fingers interlaced. His golden armor cast a soul-stirring gleam beneath the cold moonlight. The meaningful look in his eyes filled Ebony Maw with unease.
He did not know what Thanos meant by suddenly mentioning the moon. Was he warning him?
Skilled at reading Thanos's mind, Ebony Maw suddenly lost confidence in the plan he had considered a sure thing. From what he knew of Thanos, this man would never do anything meaningless or say anything without purpose.
Ebony Maw looked up at the sky. The moon, whose light had once been soft, now seemed even more blinding than the blazing sun at noon. What did Thanos's words mean?
Ebony Maw did not know, nor did he dare ask.
Though he seemed to be favored by Thanos and commanded the Second Legion in all its glory, Ebony Maw knew his place very well. Everything he possessed now had been given to him by the man before him. If Thanos wished it, he could turn him back into the lonely, pitiful wretch he once was overnight.
"Watch closely, Ebony Maw. Beckett tonight..." Leaning against the cold back of his chair and enjoying this rare moment of silence after returning from the front lines, Thanos closed his eyes beneath the moonlight. The image of a great ape surfaced in his mind.
That was the form Beckett could assume only on the night of a full moon. When Beckett was one year old, Thanos, his sole guardian, had wanted to hold his adopted son and build some affection between them. To that end, he had specially set up a stove outside Sanctuary Base, intending to make Beckett a dish that had once swept across all of Titan.
The result was that one-year-old Beckett transformed into a great ape beneath the full moon and kicked over the stove Thanos had specially built.
Boiling soup splashed everywhere. The warrior transformed into a great ape became violent because an infant's fragile nerves could not withstand that sudden surge of power. From then on, Thanos had a clear plan for Beckett's training.
The nourishment and strengthening of Nutrient Fluid, nerves tempered through countless battles until they were no longer fragile—these were all decisions Thanos made to ensure that Beckett could remain rational after transforming into a great ape.
In Thanos's eyes, uncontrollable power could not be called power at all. People sought power because they desired to use it to accomplish something they had imagined for a long time, not to lose control and go berserk after gaining it.
Whenever he remembered the solemn look on five-year-old Beckett's face when he declared that he wanted to control his great ape form, the corner of Thanos's lips could not help but curl into a smile.
"The defenses really are tight. I just don't know whether Ebony Maw is here."
Under Thanos's gaze, Beckett gradually approached the area where the Nutrient Pods were located. He held his breath and tried his best to hide in the darkness of a corner as he watched the tight security ahead.
The farther in he went, the tighter the defenses became.
The patrols had gone from a scattered few to groups moving together, making Beckett's path as a thief increasingly difficult. He no longer had any confidence that he could slip into the area containing the Nutrient Pods under their noses.
Narrowing his eyes as he calculated the shift times of every patrol, Beckett told himself to stay calm and began using the rough timetable in his mind to simulate the likelihood of a successful infiltration.
Unfortunately, the chance of success was zero.
Over these 116 days, Beckett had thoroughly learned how sensitive Cyborg soldiers were to enemy attacks. Unless he could wipe out every Cyborg before him in an instant, stealth was simply impossible.
More importantly, he did not know whether that dirty-minded sorcerer Ebony Maw was waiting for him to walk into a trap. Yet the Nutrient Fluid in his backpack could only barely sustain him for another fifteen days or so.
Beckett's plan was to take a gamble while he still had Nutrient Fluid to treat his injuries. If he failed, he would still have a chance to make a comeback with the healing provided by his remaining Nutrient Fluid. If he waited until fifteen days later, once the Nutrient Fluid was completely used up, it would be difficult for him to rise again if he failed.
"Father once said that when trouble comes, you must never sit still and wait for death."
"So..."
Thanos's teachings echoed continuously in Beckett's mind. Having made up his mind, Beckett seized the moment. His legs exploded with force, and his entire body shot straight toward a patrolling Cyborg squad like an arrow loosed from a bow.
"Let's do this!"
Vast energy gathered at Beckett's fingertips, instantly piercing through the cranial cores of an entire Cyborg squad. His bright red tail, especially vivid beneath the base lights, curled around one of the Cyborg corpses and used it as a shield to block the concentrated fire from several other squads as Beckett continuously shifted positions.
The young figure darted and twisted across the uneven battlefield with astonishing agility. Using his hands, feet, and even an extra tail, every movement Beckett made added a few wounds to his body while taking the lives of another squad.
Over these 116 days, Beckett's greatest gain had been learning that his strikes had to be steady, precise, and ruthless. He neither wanted nor cared for flashy tricks. He would simply fight through everything with his iron fists.
Achieving the greatest victory at the smallest cost was the attitude a warrior should possess.
"Beckett!"
Cull Obsidian's low shout rang clearly in Beckett's ears. Alarm bells went off in his heart, and Beckett rolled across the ground, barely evading the path carved by Cull Obsidian's massive axe.
Cull Obsidian, a giant compared to Beckett, leaped high from behind the Nutrient Pods. His left hand, encased in silver-black armor, directly grabbed Beckett's red tail exposed outside his Battle Suit.
Beckett felt an overwhelming force surge through his tail, one he could not resist at all. His small body instantly lost balance, and the massive Cull Obsidian dragged him before him.
"You brought this on yourself."
Dragged before him by the tail in Cull Obsidian's grip, Beckett took the opportunity to drive a fist straight into his face.
"Roar!"
In pain, Cull Obsidian instinctively released Beckett's tail. But Beckett's tail instead hooked around Cull Obsidian's thick arm. Pulled by his tail, he spun around and circled behind Cull Obsidian, then smashed a powerful roundhouse kick straight into the back of his head!
Boom!!!
The roundhouse kick, accompanied by a shriek of tearing wind, shattered Cull Obsidian's helmet. Beckett's savage, unreasonable strength made even Cull Obsidian's massive body stagger, and he swayed before dropping to one knee.
Now!
Beckett had no intention of getting drawn into a fight. He knew exactly what his goal was. After briefly driving Cull Obsidian back, he leaped toward the door of the Nutrient Pod chamber.
Yet before he could take off, a massive mechanical hand assembled from the parts of several Cyborg corpses descended from above and slapped Beckett, who had been trying to soar into the air, back onto the ground.
"Ebony Maw!"
Though Ebony Maw had not appeared, he was the only one in the Sanctuary with such an ability.
"Beckett!"
Roaring Beckett's name, Cull Obsidian grabbed his ankle and lifted him into the air. Overwhelming strength erupted as he slammed Beckett viciously against the Sanctuary's hard floor!
Once, twice...
As though he had gotten addicted to it, Cull Obsidian slammed Beckett down six times in succession before hurling him into the air. The enormous impact sent Beckett crashing through the upper structure of Sanctuary Base and plunging headfirst into the vast starlight.
Cull Obsidian had no intention of letting Beckett go. He crouched down, then launched himself upward. His huge body shot after Beckett like a cannonball, chasing the boy whom he had hurled into the air above Thanos's domain.
I remember that the setting where Saiyans transformed into great apes upon seeing the moon because of Blutz Rays came from GT. Strictly speaking, GT was only authorized fanwork by Akira Toriyama, right? The main series did not seem to explain in detail why they transformed into great apes. All I remember from the main series is that after the moon was destroyed, Master Roshi once used Krillin's bald head as a moon, and Vegeta once transformed into a great ape using an artificial moon.
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