"Roar—!!!"
Before Galacta, a massive horde of insects swarmed, blazing red and clinging to a superheated orb of rock floating within the magma. Spotting Galacta, they roared in unison, a clear warning.
Looking at these bugs, Galacta merely wore a faintly helpless expression.
"See? People on Earth thought the Kree crisis was over, but they completely overlooked the existence of these Lithometallic Thermo-insects."
Galacta shrugged, pulling out a device to scan the swarm.
"Whoa! A whopping 85 trillion megacalories! Just as delicious as the Kree!"
Seeing the readout on her device, Galacta's eyes sparkled, and drool trickled from the corner of her mouth. To her, these terrifying-looking creatures weren't monsters. They were a meal.
Huaizhu: "Where is this place?"
Seitenshi: "Those bugs look horrifying. Judging by Miss Galacta's expression... is her so-called 'food'... these insects?!"
Noticing the group chat, Galacta smiled and explained.
"Ahem, this is Earth's core. Those are Lithometallic Thermo-insects, a species from a Kree satellite. They've been bio-engineered into weapons, deployed to Earth as ecosystem killers. After being nurtured and reproducing here in the core for centuries, the end result would be the complete consumption of all the core's minerals."
Saeko: "Wouldn't that trigger a planetary catastrophe?!"
Yuki: "Yes. Such an event would disrupt the magnetic field, leaving Earth's surface exposed. Soon after, solar and cosmic radiation would scorch the land into a barren wasteland."
Yuki went on to explain the consequences of letting the insects proliferate. Hearing this, Saya and the others broke into a cold sweat.
"Exactly!"
Galacta nodded, confirming the risks.
"Of course, facing disasters like this is hardly rare. Honestly, this planet goes through several such crises a day. I'm used to it."
She shrugged, as if it were all in a day's work.
Seitenshi: "From what you're saying, Miss Galacta, it seems Earth in your world is incredibly dangerous!"
Artemis: "Dangerous is an understatement. Without Galacta, it probably would've been gone long ago."
"Uh... it's not that bad, really! Even if I didn't intervene, there are plenty of others who could save it! Whether it's mutants, superheroes, or sorcerers... They definitely wouldn't stand by and do nothing."
Galacta scratched her head sheepishly. She never considered herself a hero protecting Earth—after all, she benefited from it too. Every time, she got a meal out of it.
Without further ado, several cannons materialized around Galacta, aimed at the insect swarm. They fired laser beams in unison. The beams struck the insects, rapidly disintegrating their bodies into streams of light, which were then siphoned away.
As Galacta absorbed these streams, her body momentarily glowed with energy. She could feel the satisfying fullness of having consumed the energy. This large swarm was enough to take the edge off her hunger.
After the last insect was eliminated by her cosmic disintegration beams, a faint smile graced her lips.
"Finally, not quite as starving!"
With a flash, she returned to her apartment. After ending the live stream, she resumed chatting with the group.
Nishino: "You work so hard, Miss Galacta! Saving Earth every day."
Saeko: "It truly must be exhausting."
Galacta: "It's alright. Besides, it fills me up. A win-win!"
However, the moment she sent that message, Galacta felt the energy within her draining away rapidly. In an instant, she was famished again. Not even twenty percent of her previous fullness remained.
"That's strange... Why am I hungry again so quickly?"
Puzzled, Galacta stepped onto a machine. After a full-body scan with cosmic rays, she discovered the culprit: a Cosmic Tapeworm inside her.
The parasite was constantly devouring the energy she absorbed. The realization hit her.
"So that's why I've been getting hungry so easily lately! It was you all along, you little pest!"
Galacta frowned, staring at the image of the worm captured by the scanner. While she'd found the cause, this was her first time dealing with such a thing—a parasitic organism with a symbiotic ability, living inside her. She wasn't sure how to handle it.
After a moment's thought, she considered opening a quantum entanglement comm to ask her father. But then she changed her mind. She decided to ask the group instead.
Galacta: "Everyone, have any of you heard of a Cosmic Tapeworm? "
Artemis: "No, why? What's wrong?"
At their prompting, Galacta explained her discovery.
Marika: "I see. Having something parasitic inside you that steals your food is indeed quite troublesome."
Raiden: "That would mean no matter what you eat, the tapeworm absorbs it, leaving you forever unsatisfied."
Huaizhu: "Maybe once the tapeworm is full, you'll finally get to eat your fill, Miss Galacta?"
Galacta: "Ha... but I have a feeling that thing is like a bottomless pit."
Yuki: "In that case, why not ask your father for help?"
Galacta: "Uh... well... that's a bit awkward. In my father's eyes, I'm probably just a rebellious daughter. He's likely fed up with me by now... (awkward)"
Yuki: "Not necessarily. No parent ever stops loving their child. Try reaching out to him."
Hearing Galacta's words, Yuki couldn't help but smile faintly.
Galacta believed that because she held different views and acted contrary to her father's ways, he didn't love her. But Yuki knew that ever since Galactus had Galacta, he'd become completely wrapped around his daughter's finger. He knew that when Galacta wanted to eliminate the Cosmic Tapeworm, she considered using the Ultimate Nullifier—an unstable weapon that risked erasing her along with the parasite. Galactus would travel across the cosmos to stop her, and he'd even give her all the energy he'd painstakingly gathered.
It was clear how much Galactus cared for his daughter.
Yuki: "If that doesn't work, I can come over and help you deal with it."
Galacta: "Alright... I'll give it a try."
Galacta thought Yuki made sense and quickly tried to send a message to her father using her communication device.
However, when she opened the comms, she discovered a message from her father sent several days ago. Puzzled, Galacta opened it. It was only a fragmented audio recording.
[Hurry... run! Daughter! The Mad Titan Thanos! He... aims to become the supreme being of the universe!!!]
But the recording didn't end there. A heavy, grim voice followed.
[Galactus, your cosmic energy... I'll be taking it.]
[Stop, Thanos! Do you have any idea what you're doing?!]
[I know perfectly well, Galan. But I have no choice. There are... errors in this universe that only I can correct.]
After that came the sound of a massive energy explosion, and the recording cut off.
Hearing this, Galacta instantly deduced that her father was in grave danger.
And at that very moment, she received a mission alert from the chat group...
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