Yondu's ice sculpture drifted slowly through space.
Quill clutched him tightly, tears flying from the corners of his eyes.
They scattered haphazardly in the weightless environment, freezing into tiny beads of ice in the blink of an eye.
Quicksilver's expression remained blank, but the hand gripping the rope slowly bulged with veins.
Yondu had successfully saved Quill and Quicksilver's lives, but he had paid for it with his own.
Sobbing.
Soundless weeping.
Quill's heart, which had only just been warmed, fell once more into an icy abyss...
Meanwhile, Dormammu's fury spread to the spacecraft carrying Rocket and the others.
Buzz—
The armor began to vaporize and disintegrate soundlessly, like thin ice beneath the blazing sun.
The very sturdiness of metal structures had been directly denied at the level of laws!
The mournful screech of twisting metal reached the cabin, painfully piercing.
It made their teeth ache.
Outside the portholes, that grayish-white edge of death had filled their entire field of vision.
The next moment, the entire spacecraft and everyone inside would turn into cosmic dust.
Not even a trace would remain.
Despair shrouded everyone.
They had lost even the will to scream or wail, able only to watch helplessly as death descended.
Everyone except Groot.
The little sapling was currently bouncing and jumping atop Rocket's head.
"Smack, smack, smack—"
His two tiny hands transformed into vine whips, lashing so quickly they became afterimages and left Rocket's scalp tingling.
Rocket had lost the mood to trade barbs with Groot as well. The hand he raised fell limply back down.
His voice was low.
"Oh, Groot, stop messing around... Can't you let someone die in peace?"
It was as though he had already accepted fate's judgment.
No matter how Groot made a fuss, he gave no response.
"I am Groot!! I am