"Sir, what's your name?"
"By the way, where exactly are we going?"
"Sir, what are you doing with that sword?"
Howard the Duck chattered incessantly as he followed along, having firmly latched onto the man who had just saved him.
To Garus, it felt like he was being bombarded by the incessant quacking of a thousand ducks.
Annoyed, Garus turned around, grabbed Howard by the neck, and lifted him into the air. "Say one more word, and I'll turn you into roast duck!"
"Ack! Put me down!" Howard rolled his eyes and gasped, "Alright, alright, I'll be quiet!"
The journey was slow and arduous as they navigated through the vast expanse of Knowhere.
The owner of this colossal skull had been dead for an unknown amount of time. The last remnants of his soul were dissipating, and if not for the Soul Stone, Garus wouldn't have had the means to bring him back. Now, he was searching for the final trace of that lingering essence.
"Found it!" Garus halted before a pool of viscous yellow fluid. Extending his consciousness into it, he detected a dazed and fading soul submerged within.
Raising Frostmourne, he unleashed an orange glow from the blade. Beams of light shot into the pool, causing the liquid to boil violently.
Knowhere itself trembled. Buildings crumbled, crashing down in deafening roars.
Howard the Duck frantically dodged the falling debris, quacking in alarm. "Sir, this whole place is collapsing! We need to get out of here!"
As jagged steel and stone rained toward Garus, a rotating shield of bones materialized around him, deflecting the falling debris and keeping him unharmed.
"Rise again... whoever you are!" Garus muttered, realizing he had no idea what kind of being he was resurrecting. But given the sheer scale of its remains, he was eager to find out.
"Arise, my servant!"
From the outside, two beams of golden light erupted from the skull's empty sockets. The immense cranium began to stir, fragments of debris peeling away from its surface.
In a nearby asteroid belt, massive floating rocks fractured, revealing pristine, jade-like bones within. These skeletal fragments surged toward Knowhere, gradually assembling into the shape of a colossal being.
It was done. It was time to leave.
Garus' spaceship, docked in the distance, roared to life and flew toward him.
Howard scrambled aboard right behind him.
"You... ah, whatever," Garus sighed, realizing a duck posed no real threat. He had detected no formidable power emanating from Howard anyway.
"Master, Ulysses greets you."
A voice echoed in Garus' mind. He turned to see the newly formed skeletal titan bowing respectfully. A flood of memories surged into his consciousness.
Ulysses had once been a member of the Celestials. However, a conflict arose between him and his kin over a fundamental ideological difference. Under the command of Arishem the Judge, the Celestials executed him, scattering his remains across the stars.
Despite their seemingly omnipotent status, the Celestials numbered in the millions across the universe. Their strength varied greatly—some were mere foot soldiers, while others rivaled cosmic entities like Galactus. Ulysses had once been among the most powerful, though his resurrection had left him significantly weakened.
With a casual wave, Ulysses summoned a suit of metallic armor that encased his skeletal form entirely, making him resemble a robotic warrior.
Garus needed to return to Earth immediately. However, Ulysses' enormous form was far too large for the small spaceship.
Sensing his master's dilemma, Ulysses rapidly shrank until he reached human size. He then phased effortlessly through the ship's hull and stood motionless at Garus' side.
Howard the Duck circled Ulysses, glancing back at the now-destroyed Knowhere. His small brain struggled to comprehend what had just transpired.
"I'm heading back to Earth now. And you, duck—" Garus shot Howard a warning look. "If you try anything—"
"You'll turn me into roast duck, right? Yeah, yeah, I get it," Howard scoffed. "Relax. I just want to go home. My gut tells me that sticking with you is my best shot at getting back to my world."
Just as Garus was about to activate the ship's thrusters, a fleet of ships belonging to the Collector, Tivan, returned to the ruins of their former headquarters.
"What the hell happened here?" Tivan bellowed in frustration as he took in the sight of Knowhere's destruction.
"Did we... come to the wrong place?"
"No, sir. This is definitely Knowhere."
...
In a distant galaxy, far beyond the Milky Way, several massive starships hovered over a planet's surface. A group of towering, machine-like beings conducted experiments on the planet's indigenous inhabitants.
"The betrayer has been resurrected," a Celestial wielding a long-handled hammer suddenly announced. His eye sockets glowed with an enigmatic light.
They were not machines. They were Celestials. The speaker was Eson the Searcher.
Arishem the Judge, leader of the Celestials, turned to him. "The betrayer? Which one?"
Over the ages, several Celestials had turned against their kind, appalled by their species' disregard for life and their frequent experimentation on primitive civilizations. Each rebel had been swiftly eradicated.
"It is Ulysses," Eson said gravely.
"Impossible!" Arishem's voice flared with emotion. "It has been millennia! How could he return?" Ulysses had once inflicted great losses upon them, and his resurrection sent a ripple of unease through Arishem. "Are you certain, Eson?"
"Yes, Arishem. What are your orders? Thanos is also wreaking havoc in that sector. Do we still deploy forces?"
The flames atop Arishem's helm flickered. "We lack the manpower to address both threats simultaneously. Our forces are scattered. You and the Exterminator will take a squad of Destroyer Celestials to hunt down Ulysses. He is newly revived and has not yet regained his full strength. He must be eliminated immediately."
"Understood." Eson turned and boarded one of the ships, followed by an army of identical Destroyer Celestials.
The Celestials had made their decision. However, given the vast distances of the cosmos, it would take time to track down their resurrected foe. For beings as ancient as them, a few years in pursuit was but a blink of an eye.
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TN: This fanfic has been fully translated and is available on my Patreon —— PATREON.COM / PRIMALDEMON