Marvel: Empire of Power-Chapter 161 - 159: Xandar’s Shield, a Tyrant’s Fall, and the Guardians’ Gambit

The race to Xandar was a desperate, FTL blur. Ronan the Accuser's flagship, the Dark Aster, a colossal, cruciform Kree warship now pulsating with the raw, violet energies of the Power Stone embedded in his Universal Weapon, was a harbinger of planetary doom. Hot on its heels, but deliberately maintaining a strategic distance, was Elias Thorne's Nightfall III, its cloaking systems pushed to their absolute limits, carrying his most elite cosmic strike force: Marcus "Nox" Thorne, Logan "Wolverine," Samuel "Argent" Miller, and Elena "Scythe" Petrova, with O'Malley at the helm. Lexicon "Vex" Thorne, though still recovering from his brief, traumatic interface with the Power Stone on Knowhere, was providing crucial psionic and linguistic analysis of Ronan's increasingly unhinged, power-mad communications which O'Malley's team was barely managing to intercept.

Elias Thorne, from Sanctum Umbra, monitored the unfolding crisis with a focus that was almost inhuman, his own immense psionic abilities stretched thin, maintaining links with his team, with Namor (who was coordinating a desperate, long-shot Atlantean attempt to generate a massive hydrokinetic "resonance shield" in Earth's upper atmosphere to deflect any potential collateral energy waves from Xandar's destruction), and even attempting to subtly influence the chaotic Skrull intelligence channels to feed Warlord Kryll data that might draw more Skrull assets towards the Xandar sector, hoping to create further diversions for Ronan. His [Prime Essence Shard Reserve] stood at a tantalizing [4.9/5.0]. One more significant Shard echo, and he could make a game-changing move.

Anya Petrova's anonymous warning to Nova Prime Irani Rael via Kryll had, it seemed, been heeded. As the Dark Aster emerged from FTL into Xandarian space, it was met not by an unprepared populace, but by the full, desperate might of the Nova Corps fleet – hundreds of their distinctive star-blaster fighters forming a fragile, interlocking shield around their doomed homeworld. Their courage was immense, their technology respectable for a young galactic empire, but against Ronan, now wielding the Power Stone, they were moths to a cosmic flame.

[NOVA CORPS FLEET ENGAGING RONAN THE ACCUSER (POWER STONE ENHANCED). PROBABILITY OF NOVA CORPS SUCCESS (UNASSISTED): <1%. XANDARIAN PLANETARY DESTRUCTION IMMINENT. HOST INTERVENTION REQUIRED IF POWER STONE IS TO BE SECURED/NEUTRALIZED OR IF STRATEGIC XANDARIAN ASSETS ARE TO BE PRESERVED.]

"This is madness," O'Malley muttered from the Nightfall III's bridge, watching the Nova Corps ships vaporize in violet blasts from the Dark Aster. "They can't stop him."

"They ain't meant to stop him," Logan growled, his adamantium claws already extended, his eyes burning with a feral light. "They're meant to slow him down, make him sloppy. That's where we come in."

Nox Thorne, his Klyntar symbiote rippling with contained power, his golden eyes fixed on the Dark Aster, nodded in agreement. "Ronan is drunk on the Stone's power, Creator. His tactical discipline is... compromised. He believes himself invincible. That is his weakness." frёewebηovel.cѳm

Elias gave the order. "O'Malley, deploy the 'Infinity Dampener' prototypes. Target Ronan's Universal Weapon specifically. It's a long shot, but if we can even momentarily disrupt the Power Stone's flow... Logan, Miller, Scythe – you are the boarding party. Your objective: Ronan himself. Neutralize him, secure the Stone. Nox, you are their celestial artillery and close support. Do not let Ronan make planetary impact with that Stone. Xandar's survival is secondary to preventing that cosmic artifact from being unleashed without restraint." It was a cold calculation, but necessary.

The Nightfall III, under cloak, slipped through the chaotic battle, weaving between exploding Nova Corps fighters and Kree plasma volleys. O'Malley launched three experimental "Infinity Dampener" probes – torpedo-like devices designed by Finch and himself, incorporating principles from the Kree Resonance Nullifier, Element X energy fields, and even Finch's necromantic disruption theories. They weren't designed to stop an Infinity Stone, but to temporarily saturate its immediate energetic environment with chaotic, nullifying frequencies, hoping to cause a brief overload or feedback loop in whatever containment matrix Ronan was using.

Two probes were destroyed by Ronan's automated point defenses. But one got through, detonating just meters from his Power Stone-infused Universal Weapon.

For a fraction of a second, the violet inferno around Ronan's hammer flickered. He roared in pain and surprise, the Stone's overwhelming power momentarily stuttering.

[INFINITY DAMPENER PROBE – PARTIAL SUCCESS. POWER STONE ENERGY FLOW (RONAN) TEMPORARILY DISRUPTED (EST. 5-10 SECONDS). RONAN MOMENTARILY VULNERABLE.]

"NOW!" Logan bellowed, as he, Miller, and Elena Scythe were launched from the Nightfall III in heavily shielded, high-velocity breaching pods. They slammed into the Dark Aster's compromised hull (damaged from its earlier engagement with Quill's Guardians on Knowhere) near the bridge.

They tore through the Kree fanatics and Sakaaran mercenaries still defending Ronan's flagship. Logan was a whirlwind of adamantium death. Miller, his cryo-talons and Legionnaire resilience making him a walking glacier of destruction, shattered Kree armor and bone. Elena Scythe, her kinetic blades a blur, carved a path through corridors filled with alien soldiers.

They reached the bridge just as Ronan, recovering from the Dampener's effect, his Power Stone once again blazing, was about to unleash its full, planet-shattering might upon Xandar below.

"NOT TODAY, BLUE BOY!" Logan roared, leaping at Ronan, adamantium claws aimed at the hand wielding the empowered hammer.

The battle was cataclysmic. Ronan, even momentarily disrupted, was still a cosmic demigod. His blows sent Logan and Miller flying. Elena's kinetic scythes, while powerful, seemed to shatter against his Stone-enhanced aura.

It was then that Nox Thorne played his masterstroke. His Klyntar symbiote, having "tasted" the Power Stone's raw energies during his brief contact with the Orb on Morag, had adapted, evolved. It couldn't control the Stone, but it could momentarily resonate with its destructive frequency, and more importantly, with the inherent instability of Ronan's forced bond with it (Ronan was no Celestial, no being of true cosmic balance).

"Ronan!" Nox's chorus-voice boomed through the bridge, not just audibly, but psionically, his Klyntar tendrils lashing out, not to attack Ronan directly, but to subtly disrupt the flow of power between the Stone and Ronan's Universal Weapon. He wasn't trying to overpower it; he was trying to make Ronan lose control of it. "You are a puppet of the Stone, Accuser! It consumes you! You cannot wield true infinity!"

Ronan, enraged and already overstrained by wielding the raw Power Stone, faltered. His connection to the Gem sputtered. The violet energy around his hammer pulsed erratically.

And in that instant of imbalance, Peter Quill, Star-Lord, and his Guardians of the Galaxy – who had, against all odds, survived their encounter with Ronan, repaired their ship (The Milano), and followed him to Xandar with a desperate plan – did something utterly, magnificently, foolishly heroic.

Quill, using a Xandarian "gravity mine" Rocket Raccoon had jury-rigged, managed to briefly yank the Power Stone from Ronan's hammer's containment matrix.

The Orb, now free of Ronan's direct control but still blazing with unimaginable power, hovered in the air for a horrifying microsecond. Ronan, screaming in fury and agony as his connection was severed, lunged for it.

But Logan, Miller, Nox, Elena, and now Quill, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot (who sacrificed himself, forming a protective wooden sphere around his friends as the Power Stone's energies began to overload) all converged.

It wasn't a plan; it was a desperate, chaotic dogpile of Kree fanatics, Terran super-soldiers, cosmic berserkers, and galactic misfits, all grappling for an artifact that could unmake reality.

In the final, blinding flash, as Groot's sacrifice absorbed the worst of the Stone's immediate destructive backlash and Ronan was finally torn apart by the uncontrolled energies and a perfectly timed adamantium claw strike from Logan, Elias Thorne felt the System scream:

[RONAN THE ACCUSER – TERMINATED. POWER STONE (ORB) – UNCONTAINED/RECONTAINED (BY GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY). XANDAR – SAVED. KREE FLEET (RONAN'S FACTION) – DECIMATED.]

[PRIME ESSENCE SHARDS ACQUIRED: +2.0 (FROM RONAN'S ACCUSER CORE/POWER STONE DETONATION ECHOES – EXTREME PURITY). TOTAL SHARDS: 5.7/??? CRITICAL THRESHOLD FOR ADVANCED LEGIONNAIRE TEMPLATE EVOLUTION OR SECOND-STAGE HOST APOTHEOSIS REACHED.]

Elias Thorne now possessed over [5.7 Shards]. Enough to consider Stage II of his own Apotheosis, to become a true System God. Or to elevate his True Legionnaires to an even higher tier, perhaps even gifting one of them (Nox, with his Klyntar, or Marcus Primus) a controlled Klyntar bond if Finch's "Anti-Venom" research proved viable.

The Power Stone was now, improbably, in the hands of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who, Anya Petrova quickly reported, had delivered it to the Nova Corps for "safekeeping" on Xandar – a decision Elias found both amusingly naive and strategically convenient. Better with the Nova Corps, a relatively stable (if now severely weakened) galactic power, than with Thanos, the Kree, the Skrulls, or even loose in the hands of Quill and his unpredictable crew.

The Mad Titan's first major attempt to gather the Infinity Stones had been thwarted, not just by Earth's burgeoning heroes, but by the unseen, manipulative hand of Elias Thorne and his global (now galactic) network. The price had been high – the sacrifice of Groot, the near-destruction of Xandar, the revelation of Earth's true, dangerous potential to the wider cosmos.

But Elias Thorne had played his gambit and won. He had more Shards, more knowledge, and a universe that was now undeniably aware that Earth was no longer a primitive backwater. It was a player. A dangerous, unpredictable, System-forged player in the grand, terrifying game of cosmic thrones. And Thanos, Elias knew, would not forget this insult, this disruption to his sacred "Balance." The true war for the Infinity Gauntlet was just beginning.