After all...
Fundamentally speaking, Ego really was the source of Lake and Peter. As long as Ego Planet remained intact, Lake could wield Celestial power. Simply put, he was one of the members of the Celestial race in the Marvel Universe.
Born a god!
But if Ego died, it would be equivalent to having his account deleted. Even though deleting his main account would not affect his alternate accounts, he would no longer be able to use the Celestial power or anything else tied to his main account.
That was why Lake said that a living Ego was far more valuable than a dead Ego.
Then there was Peter.
Even if Lake devoured Ego, the essence of a Celestial would not change. It was merely that Ego's Celestial authority would be transferred to Lake. As someone who shared the same origin as Lake, Peter was technically one of the Celestials too. Although Lake did not really want to acknowledge this cheap little brother, there was no denying it. Unless Lake chopped Peter up, Peter would remain one of the Celestials.
And that raised the question.
To Lake, was Peter worth more chopped up, or left alive?
Without a doubt.
Keeping him alive was more valuable.
With some proper training, Peter should have no trouble fighting Thanos before he obtained the Infinity Gauntlet to a standstill.
Lake used the Celestial power he had absorbed on Ego Planet as a seed and taught Peter how to control it. Peter, who had nearly suffocated in the universe, seemed to recover in an instant.
With the help of Lake's Celestial power seed, scenes of Celestial power exploding brilliantly like fireworks appeared in Peter's eyes.
This...
Peter raised his hands, then turned his head toward Yondu, Gamora, and the others in the spaceship, who were