Marvel: The Sole Player

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The black warship slowly slammed into the ground, and the hatch opened with a boom.

Dozens of figures wearing white masks, clad in black armor, and holding firearms walked out.

The man in the lead wore heavy black armor, his face pale, a single ponytail tied at the back of his head, and he possessed the pointed ears unique to the Dark Elves, radiating an icy, sinister aura.

[ NPC: Malekith ]

[ Favorability: -20 ]

[ Evaluation: Malekith, leader of the Dark Elves, mortal enemy of Asgard, one of the supervillains with the lowest presence. ]

"Malekith? What kind of ridiculous name is that?"

Darian looked at Malekith’s face, which was whiter than a dead person’s, and muttered, "I don’t think he looks like a Dark Elf at all. His appearance doesn’t match his name. Zero stars."

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for the sharp-eared Dark Elves to hear.

"You’re courting death! How dare you show disrespect to our King!"

As soon as the words fell, a burly black figure lunged from behind Malekith.

This person was Algorigim, the second-in-command of the Dark Elves. Except for his eyes, teeth, and hair, which were white, everything else was pitch black, blending perfectly with the surrounding environment.

Darian nodded in satisfaction. "Now this is what a Dark Elf should look like."

Algorigim: "?"

Malekith raised a hand to stop Algorigim, who was about to attack, his icy gaze fixed firmly on Darian.

"Was it you who caused such a commotion here just now?"

Malekith was currently very angry.

Five thousand years ago, he had used the convergence of the celestial bodies as an opportunity to attempt to drag the Nine Realms into endless darkness, but his plan was ruined by the Asgardians, and the Dark Elves were scattered and nearly wiped out.

Unwilling to give up, he led his elite guards into a deep slumber, intending to wait until the celestial bodies converged again five thousand years later, at which point he would wake up and restart his dark plan.

The saying goes that the most dangerous place is the safest.

They had specifically chosen their home Base, Vanaheim, as their resting place, betting that the Asgardians wouldn’t come back for a surprise attack.

Facts proved they had won the bet.

For thousands of years, the Asgardians never showed up, and they slept soundly at home without a single thing happening.

Until today, when they were suddenly awakened by a huge commotion.

After waking up, they checked the alarm clock and found it wasn’t time yet, so they rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, thinking whatever was happening outside could just deal with itself; they would just ignore it.

But the commotion outside didn’t stop; it only grew louder.

It felt like you were dead asleep, but your phone alarm kept going off every five minutes, and you couldn’t turn it off, which was enough to drive anyone crazy.

In the end, no one could sleep anymore, and the group crawled out of bed, furious, grabbing their weapons.

They had to see which bastard was disturbing their rest today!

Hearing Malekith’s words, Darian understood immediately; the recent battle must have disturbed these Dark Elves.

He shook his head decisively. "No, we are just a passing cosmic caravan. The ones who caused such a commotion were the Necrocorps; they left right after finishing a fight."

"What is the Necrocorps?"

Malekith had slept for nearly five thousand years and had no idea about the changes in the outside world, let alone the famous Necrocorps.

Darian kindly explained, "They are Ronan’s subordinates. That Ronan is an Accuser of the Kree Empire, holds a high position, and kills without blinking. Every influential power in the Universe has to give him some respect. I advise you not to provoke him."

"Him?"

Malekith was already full of rage, and hearing this only made him angrier. He snorted on the spot.

Five thousand years ago, their Dark Elves had nearly plunged the Nine Realms into endless darkness and could fight Asgard to a standstill; they were big shots standing at the top of the Universe.

Where did this small fry Ronan pop out from, and why should they fear him?

Malekith said coldly, "It seems our Dark Elf race has slept for too long, so long that even small characters dare to ride on our heads. As for Ronan, if he dares to appear before me, I will make him kneel and beg for mercy!"

Darian pretended to warn him, "Be careful with your words. The Necrocorps might return at any time. If they hear this, you’ll be in big trouble!"

"They dare to come back?"

Malekith raised an eyebrow and issued a threat on the spot, "If they dare to step back here even half a step, they won’t leave alive today!"

The communicator in Darian’s ear suddenly rang, and Ultron’s voice came through, "My Lord, the peripheral scout ships have detected the Necrocorps with their main force returning this way."

"Set sail and leave immediately!"

Darian’s expression didn’t change as he gave the order. Then, he looked at Malekith and said, "Meeting is fate. Since it’s our first time meeting, I have nothing to give you, but those ships left behind by the Necrocorps over there—take them as a gift!"

As he spoke, he pointed to the distance at the Necrocorps warships that had been gathered together by the Ultron Robots.

Malekith was somewhat surprised. "Are you serious?"

"Of course, we can’t take them with us anyway, and leaving them here is a waste."

Hearing this, Malekith felt a strange emotion. He didn’t expect that after thousands of years, people would become so friendly, gifting so many ships upon their first meeting.

"Then I will accept them."

Malekith didn’t stand on ceremony. The Dark Elf race’s assets were basically destroyed in the war five thousand years ago; so many ships were a timely help.

"Well, I have urgent matters, so I’m leaving. See you again!"

Without waiting for Malekith to reply, Darian rushed into the ravager ships.

The next moment, dozens of ravager ships ignited and took off simultaneously, their engines roaring as they shot into the sky, disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Malekith didn’t stop them.

For one, he had just accepted their favor, and turning on them immediately would damage the image of the Dark Elf race, even though they didn’t have much of a reputation to speak of anyway.

Secondly, he could see that the guy was definitely not an ordinary person, and those strange metal creations had been on guard against them, ready to attack at any moment.

They still had a massive plan to implement, so there was no need to provoke a character whose background they couldn’t figure out.

Malekith looked up at the sky.

"Although it’s a bit early, the time is about right. Five thousand years have passed, and the celestial bodies are about to converge again. This time, my grand plan will surely succeed!"

He clenched his fist, his eyes filled with determination. He had just woken up and someone had gifted him so many ships, and with so many years having passed, perhaps Bor, the King of Asgard, was long dead.

With such a perfect start, how could the Dark Elf race lose this time?

Thinking of this, Malekith’s rage vanished, and he was in a great mood.

He had just turned to instruct Algorigim to have people count the Necrocorps ships when a dense roar of engines suddenly came from the horizon.

Everyone looked up, only to see a fleet of Necrocorps warships diving down from space.

Malekith snorted, "So this is the so-called Necrocorps. They actually dared to return. Since that’s the case, let them see the strength of our Dark Elves..."

Before he could finish, he saw even more Necrocorps ships appearing in the high altitude, densely covering the entire sky, their cannons neatly aimed at the ground.

And at the very top, a warship of exaggerated size slowly appeared before everyone’s eyes, countless times larger than their own dark warships.

Dark Elves: ∑(°A°)

Algorigim leaned over to Malekith and asked cautiously, "My King, should we keep them?"

Malekith glared at him fiercely and said righteously, "Are we Dark Elves such an unreasonable race? How have I taught you? We must have hospitality! Maybe they came with good intentions; don’t resort to fighting at every turn!"

Just as he finished speaking, a cold voice resounded across the sky.

"Who was it that said just now they wanted me, Ronan, to kneel before them and beg for mercy?"

Malekith: ...

"Buddy, why did you just give all those Necrocorps ships away to those guys for free?"

Quill leaned over to Darian, his face full of heartache. The Guardians of the Galaxy had already boarded the ship and were waiting; they had seen everything that happened on the ground clearly from the cockpit.

Darian chuckled, "Those Necrocorps ships are all equipped with location trackers. Even if we took one, it would expose our whereabouts. It’s better to give them to the Dark Elves; they can serve as our shield and help us draw some fire."

Gamora raised an eyebrow and asked, "Aren’t you afraid that the two sides will make peace and turn around to join forces to cause us trouble?"

Darian grinned, "That’s why I sent what that Dark Elf said to Ronan, word for word, through the Necrocorps ship’s communication system."

Everyone: "..."

Good grief, it really has to be you!

Rocket pointed at Yondu and the others who were tied up on the side. "What should we do with these Raiders?"

Darian said casually, "Keep them. It just so happens that our Loot-Looters army needs some people to do odd jobs."

Yondu snorted, his attitude firm. "Delusional! Raiders never bow or give in; this is the spirit of the Raiders!"

Darian waved his hand. "Oh, then they are useless. Just execute them all and throw them out as space trash."

Yondu’s expression changed, and he immediately changed his tune.

"But having said that, I was kicked out and removed from the Raiders long ago, so I’m not a Raider anymore. Their spirit has nothing to do with me. I am willing to join the Loot-Looters army."

"Nice."

"..."

Like father, like son. Finally, I know where Quill learned his ability to change his face.

Of course, Darian didn’t really plan to do anything to Yondu; he was, after all, Quill’s adoptive father. He simply packed Yondu and the other Raiders together and dumped them all on Quill to manage himself.

Quill readily accepted the job on the spot. Back in the day, he was constantly bossed around by Yondu.

Now that he had turned the tables and become the Master, he never thought that one day Yondu would end up working for him.

He bossed Yondu around without any hesitation, calling him "Little Yondu," perfectly embodying what it means to have "filial piety" between father and son.

With the Dark Elves helping them draw fire, Ronan’s Necrocorps didn’t discover them, and the journey went smoothly.

However, they had too many ravager ships on hand, and flying in a cluster in the Universe was too conspicuous.

Darian simply split off a batch of Ultron Robots and had them pilot most of the ravager ships back to the moon Base, leaving only the largest flagship for their own use.

He wasn’t worried about any accidents during the transport; he had the Ultron Robots perform continuous space jumps, jumping hundreds of times to reach the destination at the fastest speed.

Anyway, the Ultron Robots had mechanical bodies and weren’t afraid of the physical strain caused by space jumps.

As for Darian and the others, they turned to prepare to tip off the Nova Empire.

Quill immediately volunteered, "Leave it to me. I happen to know a high-ranking official in the Nova Empire. We are very close."

Darian looked surprised. "You have that kind of connections?"

Quill said proudly, "Of course, I am the famous Star-Lord!"

Darian was curious. "One is a cosmic thief, the other is an interstellar Police officer; how did you meet?"

"I’ve been caught by him several times when I committed crimes, so we got to know each other through that."

"..."

So that’s how you know each other.

Quill didn’t hesitate and immediately contacted that old acquaintance from the Nova Empire, polishing the lies they had prepared in advance and adding some spice to tell the other party everything.

Ronan was the Nova Empire’s number one mortal enemy.

Upon hearing that Ronan had obtained the Cosmic Orb, which could directly shatter an entire Planet, the other party’s expression instantly turned serious, and they immediately stated they would report this to the highest level.

Soon, the ship’s communication console lit up, and an encrypted communication request popped up.

The moment the accept button was pressed, a holographic projection unfolded in the cockpit. On the screen appeared a woman wearing the standard Nova Corps uniform, with her white hair twisted like a braid.

She was Irani Rael, the Supreme Commander of the Nova Corps on Xandar.

Irani didn’t waste any words and asked straight to the point, "Can you guarantee that the intelligence provided is true?"

Quill said with certainty, "It’s true. If you don’t believe me, you can go ask The Collector, Tivan, at the Knowhere. The Cosmic Orb Ronan is looking for is the Power Stone, and its ability is enough to destroy an entire Planet."

"Unfortunately, the Cosmic Orb was originally in our hands, but it was accidentally snatched by Ronan just now. What do you think he’s going to do next?"

Irani’s expression instantly sank.

As a member of the Kree Empire’s Radicals, Ronan had a deep blood feud with the Nova Empire.

From the beginning, he opposed the peace treaty signed between the Nova Empire and the Kree Empire, and for years, he had led the Necrocorps on a rampage of killing and looting, causing countless troubles for the Nova Empire.

But the strength of the Nova Corps was not to be trifled with; Ronan had been causing trouble for so long, yet he hadn’t gained much of an advantage.

But now, this balance was broken. Ronan had obtained the Power Stone that could easily destroy a Planet; there was no need to guess what he wanted to do. He would definitely target the Nova Empire first.

According to the video sent by Quill, as long as the Power Stone touched the surface of a Planet, it could use its power to destroy the entire Planet. Their Nova Empire’s most powerful defense system probably couldn’t withstand that terrifying energy.

Irani pondered for a moment and immediately issued an order to the adjutant beside her.

"Send people to investigate. Once confirmed, immediately activate the highest combat readiness level of Xandar, recall all fleets patrolling outside, and capture the Kree Empire’s Accuser, Ronan, with full force."

"Received!"