Chapter Summaries

Lu Qi brought psychologists to treat Hela, who had been revived and revealed to be a vessel for a Death Rule seed. He tried to explain that her conflict with Odin stemmed from her anger issues, but Hela remained unconvinced.

• Tony told Lu Qi that the psychologists he had gathered were waiting at the hospital.
• Lu Qi took the psychologists to Hela’s room, moved them into a parallel universe, and explained Hela’s condition before reviving her.
• Hela awoke, attacked the doctors, and was trapped by Lu Qi in a barrier.
• Lu Qi told Hela that Death had planted a Death Rule seed in her and that she was being kept as a vessel for someone else.
• Lu Qi said he had revived Hela to resolve her misunderstanding with Odin and explained that her anger had prevented Odin from reaching her.

Lu Qi helped Hela understand why Odin had imprisoned her and why he had abandoned the Infinity Stones, persuading her to accept treatment for her obsession with him. He then explored the AllSpark with Galactus and learned it could transform a suitable Dimensional Space into a Foundational World.

• Lu Qi explained that Odin had delayed visiting Hela because her rebellion had weakened Asgard, leaving him to fight the Frost Giants and lose an eye, and that he had abandoned the Infinity Stones to avoid sacrificing his loved ones.
• Hela tried to kill herself, but Lu Qi stopped her and persuaded her to reconcile with Odin after treatment for her fixation on him.
• Lu Qi arranged for doctors to treat Hela, left a Dark Crystal to power her barrier, and told Odin that she had agreed to treatment.
• Lu Qi found that Tony was in Asgard repairing its defenses, then joined Galactus in the Shadow World to test the AllSpark.
• The AllSpark expanded to nearly the size of Earth, and Galactus identified it as a rule aggregate with the authority of the World Heart that could turn a suitable Dimensional Space into a Foundational World.

Lu Qi assimilated the AllSpark into his Dimensional Space, turning it into a world and gaining the power to influence its rules. After Galactus offered to help him obtain rule fragments from the Marvel World, Lu Qi decided to add a planet to the Shadow World and chose one based on Megatron’s suggestion.

• Lu Qi transformed the AllSpark into the World Heart, and its rules began ordering Dark Energy and producing Dark Crystals throughout the Shadow World.
• Lu Qi tested his new World Lord powers by changing how Dark Energy circulated and gathered, then received a system notification confirming his Dimensional Space had become a world.
• Galactus taught Lu Qi about world development and explained that he could take Marvel World rule fragments if he paid for their repair.
• Galactus offered Lu Qi access to fragments of the rule of balance, and Lu Qi promised to pay a fitting price for any rules he took.
• Lu Qi decided to add a planet to the Shadow World, rejected Earth, and asked Megatron for a suggestion before choosing a planet.

Lu Qi prepared to absorb Cybertron into the Shadow World while Megatron led the Transformers and their allies toward a final assault on the Kree Empire’s home system. The battle began with the Kree fleet choosing to fight to the death as reinforcements failed to arrive.

• Lu Qi chose Cybertron as the first planet to enter the Shadow World and gathered fragments of fundamental laws while the world expanded to contain it.
• A subordinate told Megatron about a conscious planet in Star System No. 7, but Megatron ordered his forces to assemble for the final offensive against the Kree Empire.
• The conscious planet escaped the Transformers, and an energy figure on its surface said it needed to find its child and evolve to its final stage.
• Megatron rallied nearly one hundred thousand Starship Giants with the promise that they could rebuild Cybertron, then led them into the Kree Empire’s origin system.
• Megatron and the Transformers attacked nearly three hundred thousand Kree warships, with Star Rock destroying the first enemy vessel and the Transformers rapidly overwhelming the fleet.
• The Kree fleet commander learned that no allied forces could provide reinforcements and rallied his crews to fight for the Kree Empire rather than retreat.

Megatron reached the Kree home system and found its last commander-in-chief preparing to defend the Kree’s honor rather than fight a hopeless battle. After the Kree destroyed their own planets in a final act of defiance, Megatron returned to Earth and went to wait for Lu Qi at Far Moon Base.

• Megatron led his fleet to the Kree home system, where the last commander-in-chief said that only a handful of ships remained.
• The commander-in-chief rejected Megatron’s offer to send one subordinate to fight and declared that true Kree feared neither battle nor death.
• Megatron ordered his forces to destroy the Kree ships, and bombs in the planets’ cores detonated, shattering the home system’s worlds.
• Megatron chose not to search for spoils and told the other allies that the Kree Empire had fallen before returning to the Solar System.
• Megatron found that Lu Qi had left Earth to collect fragments of laws, so he went to Far Moon Base to wait.
• Megatron told the Supreme Intelligence that the last commander-in-chief had restored the Kree’s glory, while the Supreme Intelligence lamented its own fate.

Lu Qi investigated a destroyed cargo fleet and learned that a person and a giant monster had attacked it. Meanwhile, Star-Lord and Gamora’s crew reached the Cosmic Beast’s last known location, where a Giant Beast Hunting Group ordered them to leave.

• Lu Qi found a cargo ship’s black box and watched recordings showing an unidentified figure and a giant monster destroy the fleet after it opened fire.
• Star-Lord told Gamora that Lu Qi could teleport across tens of millions of light-years and had promised to help them if they called for assistance.
• Star-Lord grew close to Gamora, but she slapped him when he leaned toward her.
• Star-Lord’s crew arrived at the Cosmic Beast’s last known location and spotted a fleet already there.
• Gamora answered the fleet’s contact request, and a member of the Giant Beast Hunting Group demanded that her crew leave.

Star-Lord’s group tracked the Cosmic Beast Shadowbane and discovered it was fighting Silver Surfer, while Shadow recognized the beast as a former comrade. Lu Qi joined the pursuit, leaving Gamora worried that he would uncover her past ties to Thanos.

• Gamora used the Cosmic Beast sightings to lead Star-Lord’s group toward the beast, while the Giant Beast Hunting Group secretly followed them and planned to profit by contacting Thanos.
• Star-Lord’s group found Shadowbane fighting Silver Surfer, whose attacks could wound the beast but could not stop its rapid regeneration.
• Shadowbane’s aura left Rocket, Groot, and Drax feeling sick, but Shadow urged the group to keep chasing after recognizing the beast as a comrade from the Battle of New York.
• Lu Qi arrived through a portal after Shadow contacted him and explained that he had followed Shadowbane’s traces across nearby star systems.
• Gamora recognized Lu Qi as an enemy of Thanos and withdrew to the lower cabin, fearing he would discover her identity, while Lu Qi chose to conceal that he knew who she was.

Lu Qi reunited with Shadowbane and trapped Silver Surfer in the Mirror Dimension, where he revealed that Galactus was his father-in-law. Outside, the Giant Beast Hunting Group disabled Star-Lord’s ship, and a Shadow Ninja began cutting through their cables.

• Lu Qi left Star-Lord’s crew at a distance and flew out to meet Shadowbane, while Star-Lord and Gamora discussed surviving in a vacuum and Shadowbane’s unsettling influence.
• Silver Surfer attacked Lu Qi and tried to flee, but Lu Qi trapped him in the Mirror Dimension and reunited affectionately with Shadowbane.
• Lu Qi told Silver Surfer that Galactus was resting at his home with Galacta and said Galactus was his father-in-law.
• Star-Lord’s crew discovered Lu Qi, Shadowbane, and Silver Surfer had vanished, then the Giant Beast Hunting Group captured their ship with heavy grappling cables.
• A Shadow Ninja went outside the disabled ship, used a Dark Energy spell on a cable, and severed it with an enchanted weapon.

The Guardians fought the Giant Beast Hunting Group as it tried to capture Gamora, but the attackers boarded and tore apart their ship. Star-Lord’s hidden Star God Gene awakened as he drifted unconscious in space, while a new warship arrived and charged its main cannon.

• The Giant Beast Hunting Group trapped the Guardians’ ship with an energy net, so Star-Lord called Yondu while Rocket, Groot, and Shadow attacked the warships to stall for time.
• The hunters sent armored Beast-Capture Mechas to seize Gamora; Shadow destroyed one and wounded others, but the mechas boarded the ship and cut through its hull.
• The mechas subdued Drax and captured Gamora, but Rocket’s laser weapon damaged them and tore the ship apart, leaving Gamora trapped in a mecha’s grip.
• Star-Lord freed Gamora by giving her his helmet, but debris separated them, and he lost consciousness in the vacuum as the Star God Gene activated within him.
• A vicious-looking warship arrived and its commander ordered the main cannon to charge.

Yondu rescued Star-Lord and his companions from the Giant Beast Hunting Group, then confronted Star-Lord over his alleged betrayal. Star-Lord avoided execution by claiming he had bypassed Yondu to secure a larger payout, leaving Yondu and the Ravagers hearing his explanation.

• Yondu used his Ravager insignia and a threat of enforcing the code to make the Giant Beast Hunting Group let his ship take Star-Lord and his companions.
• Yondu recalled how Stakar had rescued him from slavery, and how he was later expelled from the Ravagers for violating their code while refusing to deliver children to a client who killed them.
• The Giant Beast Hunting Group secretly attached a tracker to Yondu's ship, then offered Thanos the signal coordinates of the Ravagers carrying Gamora.
• Star-Lord woke in Yondu's custody, where the Ravagers argued over how to kill and eat him until Yondu gave him time to explain himself.
• Star-Lord claimed he had sought a larger profit by arranging a deal for the orb's hundred-million-credit black-market bounty, which had drawn his pursuers.

Star-Lord recovered aboard Yondu’s Ravager ship and reunited with the Shadow Ninjas and his other companions, who fought their way toward the hangar. As Yondu moved to intercept them, a strange arrow shot toward Star-Lord.

• Yondu spared Star-Lord, demanded a share of the hundred million credits, and sent him to the medical bay before allowing him to visit the prisoners.
• Drax, Groot, Rocket, Gamora, and the Shadow Ninjas broke out of their cell and knocked out the Ravagers guarding Star-Lord.
• The escape alarm sounded after Yondu’s cameras spotted the group, and Star-Lord led his companions toward the hangar.
• The group fought through the Ravagers, and Star-Lord discovered he could sense attacks and withstand blows better than before.
• Groot used Wood Release, Deep Forest Emergence to seal the hangar entrance with vines while the Ravagers prepared flamethrowers.
• Yondu headed to the hangar with his Yaka Arrow as Star-Lord led the others toward a spaceship, but a strange arrow suddenly shot at him.

Star-Lord and his companions escaped Yondu’s Ravager ship after fighting over the hundred million and the Yaka Arrow, but they encountered a warship sent by Thanos to retrieve Gamora. With Lu Qi still unreachable, they turned back toward Yondu’s ship to seek help.

• Yondu confronted Star-Lord’s group over the hundred million, and the Yaka Arrow battled Shadow Ninjas before the group restrained it and Star-Lord knocked Yondu unconscious.
• Rocket recovered the Yaka Arrow, and the group fled the Ravager ship as Yondu’s crew fired at them.
• A warship hailed Gamora and announced that it had come to take her back to her adoptive father, Thanos.
• Rocket found that Lu Qi had used the Energy Crystal, so Shadow Ninjas sent him a message while the group faced the approaching warship.
• Gamora warned that Thanos’s forces would kill her companions, and Star-Lord turned the ship back toward Yondu’s Ravager ship for help.

Star-Lord and the Ravagers fought Ebony Maw’s Chitauri fleet, initially overwhelming the soldiers while Gamora suspected Ebony Maw was luring them into a trap. The Ravagers ignored Star-Lord’s warning, and their warship aimed its main cannon at the enemy vessel.

• Star-Lord recognized that Yondu had deliberately let his team go, then urged him to join forces against the warship seeking the hundred million credits.
• Yondu rallied the Ravagers by claiming someone wanted to steal their credits, and they launched their ships to attack.
• Ebony Maw deployed the Chitauri fleet and piloted the warship toward the Ravagers’ vessel while Cull Obsidian waited near the boarding rack.
• The Ravagers’ ships destroyed Chitauri skiffs and biological ships, while the Chitauri soldiers’ return fire failed to reach them.
• Gamora noticed the Chitauri soldiers’ unusual frenzy and warned Star-Lord that Ebony Maw might be setting a trap.
• Star-Lord told Blaze to warn Yondu and the others, but Blaze dismissed the warning as the Ravagers’ warship aimed its main cannon at the enemy vessel.

Yondu and the Ravagers fought to escape the Chitauri fleet’s encirclement, but Ebony Maw turned the battle against them and captured Yondu’s Yaka Arrow. The Ravagers remained under attack as Ebony Maw imprisoned the arrow in compressed wreckage.

• Blaze ignored Star-Lord’s warning and charged the Ravagers’ main cannon, while Yondu noticed the Chitauri fleet had surrounded his forces and ordered Blaze to fire at their flagship.
• Ebony Maw used telekinesis to move his warship out of the cannon’s path, seal off the Ravagers’ escape, and board the Ravagers warship with Cull Obsidian and Chitauri soldiers.
• Yondu led the Ravagers fleet through the encirclement with his Yaka Arrow, but Ebony Maw manipulated wreckage to attack their ships.
• Yondu recognized Ebony Maw as the one directing the attack and sent the Yaka Arrow after him, but Ebony Maw used a Chitauri as a shield and disrupted Yondu’s control.
• Ebony Maw compressed nearby skiffs and wreckage around the Yaka Arrow, trapping it and preventing Yondu from controlling it.

Yondu and Kraglin battled Ebony Maw until Star-Lord’s crew rescued them. Afterward, Kraglin revealed that Yondu had protected Star-Lord from his murderous father, leaving Star-Lord struggling to face the man he had mistaken for a villain.

• Ebony Maw trapped Yondu’s Yaka Arrow, cut the Ravagers’ ship in half, and offered Yondu a place in Thanos’s service, but Yondu refused.
• Star-Lord’s cannon fire struck Ebony Maw, and Groot brought Yondu and Kraglin aboard the rescuers’ ship.
• Star-Lord pressed Yondu about why he had let the crew go, but Yondu stayed silent until Kraglin decided to explain his past.
• Kraglin revealed that Yondu had refused a client’s order to deliver Star-Lord after discovering the client had murdered more than a thousand children, and had kept Star-Lord safe from then on.
• Star-Lord learned that the father he had longed to meet had ordered the deaths of his children, while Yondu had protected him, and he struggled to face Yondu.

Yondu rushed back toward the Ravagers' mothership after Blaze reported an attack, while Cull Obsidian seized control of the ship and encountered Gamora. Gamora tried to lead Cull Obsidian away, but he grew suspicious and smashed the floor beneath him.

• Blaze told Yondu that a hammer-wielding monster had broken into the Ravagers' mothership, and Yondu flew there with Star-Lord.
• Ebony Maw survived Star-Lord's attack and called on Supergiant for assistance.
• Cull Obsidian and the Chitauri overwhelmed the Ravagers aboard the mothership, and Cull Obsidian broke into the bridge, burying Blaze under debris.
• Gamora appeared and told Cull Obsidian she wanted to return to her father, then proposed blowing up the mothership rather than clearing it of enemies.
• Cull Obsidian became suspicious when Gamora led him somewhere with no hangar and claimed Ebony Maw was waiting outside, then smashed the floor with his hammer.

Rocket, Shadow, and the Guardians fought Cull Obsidian, whose strength and durability overwhelmed them until Groot drained his vitality through his wounds. Cull Obsidian was left helpless and dying as Yondu killed the arriving Chitauri.

• Rocket detonated the corridor bombs, but Cull Obsidian survived the debris and charged him until Shadow intervened.
• Shadow used Shadow Form and black flames to injure Cull Obsidian, while Drax and Groot joined the fight; Cull Obsidian severely damaged Groot and blasted Shadow into a wall.
• Cull Obsidian captured Gamora, who offered to return to Thanos, but Star-Lord attacked with gravity devices and Yondu joined the battle with his Yaka Arrow.
• Rocket revived Groot with nutrient fluid, and Groot clung to Cull Obsidian and drained his strength through the wounds in his body.
• Shadow kicked Cull Obsidian's hammer away as Groot continued draining him, and Yondu killed the Chitauri who arrived to help.
• Cull Obsidian lost his strength, fell to his knees, and closed his eyes as he awaited death.

Star-Lord and his allies battled Ebony Maw aboard the Ravagers' ship, but Shadow was destroyed when Maw turned the ship's engines against him. After Maw tortured Star-Lord and blamed Gamora for his suffering, Star-Lord awakened a powerful energy within himself, killed Maw, and rescued Gamora.

• Ebony Maw tore open the battleship and fought Yondu, while Shadow protected Star-Lord and the others as they moved toward the hangar.
• Shadow used Yondu's Yaka Arrow to reach Ebony Maw, but Maw activated the ship's engines and annihilated Shadow with their energy stream.
• Gamora warned that Supergiant could arrive with a fleet, and Ebony Maw captured the crew, imprisoned Gamora, and tortured Star-Lord with thin needles.
• Gamora blamed herself for Star-Lord's suffering, but Star-Lord urged her not to listen to Ebony Maw and awakened a surge of blue energy.
• Star-Lord broke free, killed Ebony Maw, and rescued Gamora before the two kissed; Yondu and the others returned to the mothership.

Yondu, Star-Lord, and their allies escaped the Chitauri after rescuing the Ravagers, but Supergiant trapped them with a fleet while attempting to seize Gamora. As Supergiant’s forces closed in, unidentified objects approached her warship from several directions.

• Yondu discovered that the Ravager warship’s engines and spatial anchor had broken it, so he organized an evacuation while Star-Lord and his companions stayed behind to help.
• Star-Lord used his new powers to hold off the Chitauri while Yondu and the others evacuated the remaining Ravagers, then the group escaped together.
• Gamora told Star-Lord that Thanos had killed her parents and raised her, leaving her conflicted about how she felt toward him.
• Supergiant’s fleet emerged from wormholes and surrounded the group; her persuasive voice nearly compelled them to surrender Gamora, but Star-Lord shut off the communicator.
• Star-Lord offered to use up his remaining energy to help his companions escape, but Rocket insisted they would leave together, while Supergiant ordered her forces to capture Gamora.
• Supergiant’s confidant reported that unidentified objects were approaching from different directions.

Lu Qi intercepted Supergiant’s fleet, defeated it with the Dark Giant Legion, and secretly influenced Supergiant to report Gamora’s betrayal to Thanos in person. After reuniting with the others, Lu Qi learned that Star-Lord had awakened his power, and the chapter ended as Star-Lord went to speak with Yondu before he left.

• Supergiant ordered her fleet to retreat when she learned Lu Qi was approaching, while Star-Lord and the others waited for the newcomers.
• Lu Qi smashed through Supergiant’s fleet, unleashed the Dark Giant Legion, and captured and manipulated a thread of Supergiant’s psychic power before she escaped.
• Supergiant decided to return to Thanos in person and tell him that Gamora had betrayed him, while Lu Qi watched the Dark Giants destroy the remaining ships.
• Lu Qi let Shadowbane collect the wreckage, then reunited with Rocket, Star-Lord, Gamora, and the others and gave Rocket a new Energy Crystal.
• Lu Qi recognized that Star-Lord had awakened his power and introduced Silver Surfer to the group.
• Star-Lord hesitated when Gamora told him Yondu was leaving, then went to speak with him.