A dazzling pillar of light tore through the cluttered stars, piercing the cosmos and landing in a place of extraordinary peculiarity.
Sakaar—a planet cloaked in chaos. At that very moment, the Grandmaster who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Collector was enjoying a delightful breakfast. But the next instant, he abruptly looked up, eyes narrowing toward the distant scrapyard.
"That energy... is that that fossil from Gafa?"
He recognized the aura instantly. The Collector had once ventured to Gafa to await the blooming of the Cosmic Flower, and so the Grandmaster had personally visited the planet as well.
He'd initially thought Gafa was inhabited by nobodies, until a terrifyingly powerful ancient being had suddenly emerged. Despite his appearance suggesting he was on death's doorstep, that so-called fossil had nearly beaten the Collector into oblivion when the latter tried to turn all of Gafa into nutrient stock.
"So… what did that fossil send me?"
The Grandmaster set down his breakfast, frowning deeply in thought. He tried reaching out to the Collector, who had only recently sent him a fresh batch of slaves, but received nothing but silence in return.
That was bad. His gladiatorial arena was booming right now. If that old monster decided to cause a scene personally, all of it could go up in flames.
He couldn't afford to lose this hard-earned empire of his, especially not the godly remains he'd scavenged from the junkyard. Those divine bones were his pride and joy.
The Grandmaster had learned one undeniable truth: there was untold potential in trash.
"Send a couple squads to check it out."
Driven by paranoia, he decided to take preemptive action.
"Yes, sir!"
Sakaar, Eastern Scrapland.
A beam of light dropped from the sky, depositing four figures into the trash-littered wasteland.
"Prince Lothar?!"
Utterly confused, The Other turned to see Lothar slumped beside him. Startled, he reached out to help, but Lothar shoved him away.
"Get off me!"
The shove sent The Other sprawling onto a jagged protrusion in the junk pile, his face instantly contorted in agony.
"Aghhhh!! It hurts, it hurts!!"
The scepter embedded with the Mind Stone tumbled from his grasp. He leapt three feet into the air, clutching his rear with both hands.
"Shut up!"
Hela, visibly irritated, punched him square in the forehead. Stars filled The Other's vision as he crumpled to the ground.
"Where… are we?"
"Lord Lothar, based on existing data, this should be Sakaar."
Though shrouded in mystery, Sakaar was not entirely unknown in Thanos' archives. After all, the Grandmaster was one of the more formidable entities in the universe.
"Sakaar…?"
Lothar pulled the last six vials of nutrient solution from his wristband's storage. He paused, then decided to save one just in case and downed the other five.
Power surged through his body. The arms and knees that Ego had crushed began to mend, albeit slowly and with excruciating pain. Still, Lothar's face remained expressionless.
This pain didn't even come close to a fraction of what Ego had inflicted.
"Yes, Sakaar. Think of it as a massive galactic junkyard. Lord Thanos' records describe it as the domain of the mysterious Grandmaster."
Sakaar—an anomaly among worlds.
Surrounded by unpredictable space-time portals, normal starships couldn't safely enter or exit its orbit. Its treacherous nature led many civilizations to use it as a cosmic landfill, or a place of exile for criminals.
There were rumors, unconfirmed but persistent, that even the remains of gods had been drawn in by its dimensional rifts.
"Judging by what that Gubo sage said… that legend might be true."
Lothar's injuries were grave. Even after downing five vials, he needed a full three seconds before he could push himself upright.
"What was that?"
"What did you say, Your Highness?"
The Other, having recovered, picked up the Mind Stone scepter and cautiously approached, bowing slightly.
"None of your concern."
Lothar shot him a cold glare. The Other felt an icy shiver crawl down his spine.
"Are you really sure… that you can awaken, or rather, forge divinity, in a place like this?"
Hela surveyed the desolate surroundings, arms folded across her chest in her now-favored pose. It came naturally. It felt... right.
"...I don't know."
He glanced briefly at Hela before walking over to Jennifer, who sat slumped on the ground. Her chin-length golden hair had lost all luster.
"But what I do know… is that I will kill Ego."
"I must."
Though softly spoken, the conviction was unmistakable.
Utterly resolute.
"So, tell me, what exactly did Gubo mean by 'forging divinity'?"
Standing before her, Lothar asked the question plainly.
But Jennifer, her face buried in her arms, didn't even look up.
Her dreams, her ideals, shattered under Rodus' heel.
Her master, her mentor of a thousand years, had sacrificed himself to protect her. Even after securing escape routes for both races of Gafa, he had stayed behind to hold off Ego, dragging Rodus down with him.
Why…
Why had she been so powerless?
She'd thought everything through: with the two Infinity Stones Lothar possessed and her master's third, they could defeat Rodus…
And Ego…
Why had he accused her of betraying the so-called dignity of gods? She had only left because she loved him…
"Hey. I asked you, what's the method?!"
Frustration burning in his chest, Lothar grabbed her by the collar. Her tear-streaked face and vacant gaze made it clear, she hadn't heard a word.
SMACK!
A crimson handprint bloomed on Jennifer's cheek. Her mind snapped back, rage bubbling to the surface as she glared at Lothar.
Her jaw trembled.
"What is that look supposed to mean?"
"What are those eyes supposed to say?"
"And those two tears, what the hell are they worth?!"
He yanked her close with three rapid-fire questions.
His cold, detached tone made even Hela glance sharply at him from behind.
"Tell me how to forge divinity, now."
Lothar's eyes had grown colder still.
He would avenge what Ego had done.
He'd held grudges since childhood, every name written in his little black notebook had been crossed off one by one. Ego would be no different.
"And what will you do after I tell you?" Jennifer asked quietly. "What can you do?"
She met his gaze without flinching.
What stunned her was that his eyes held none of her despair or defeat.
"I'll kill a god."
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