Marvel's Supernova

Earlier, Ella had managed to break through the encirclement by charging head-on with the energy shield absorbing enemy fire, without much real maneuvering. Now, after stabilizing the fighter, she was horrified to discover that the energy shield's strength had dropped below 5%, as her earlier chaotic flying had resulted in taking a few more hits.

"If we don't jump soon, we're dead meat!" Ella's voice cracked in desperation as she stared at the swarm of Kree fighters closing in on her like locusts.

"Unable to activate jump engines. Xandar's gravitational pull has not been fully escaped," the onboard assistant computer calmly reported the situation.

"Damn it! We're dead for sure this time!" Ella was like an ant on a hot pan, desperate but out of options.

Suddenly, a golden streak of light shot toward the Kree fighters pursuing Ella. Explosions erupted among the enemy fleet, painting the screen red with fiery bursts.

"What's going on?" Ella murmured, bewildered, as she watched the golden light shield her from the Kree fighters. A familiar voice echoed inside the cockpit:

"Princess Ella, get out of here quickly. I'll hold these fighters off for you."

"Anwen!"

So this was the strength of a Nova Corps elite? Facing countless fighters alone, it was like the power of a god!

However, from the Kree Empire's flagship, several elite warriors also launched into space, heading straight for the unstoppable Anwen. Their figures clashed at lightning speed in the void of space, their movements too fast for the naked eye to follow.

No matter how strong a hero is, they cannot fight alone forever. The Kree's powerful elite fighters soon began to overwhelm Anwen, forcing her onto the defensive.

At that moment, the voice of the onboard computer spoke again in Ella's ear:

"Jump point reached. Jump sequence ready to initiate."

"Princess Ella, please take care!"

Anwen, now severely injured and surrounded by enemies, had lost her golden aura. Her battered battle armor hung in tatters. From a distance, Ella looked at the screen, tears blurring her vision as she watched Anwen fight desperately to hold off the enemy for her.

"Engines switched to jump mode. 3... 2... 1... Jump initiated!"

A brilliant blue streak of light flashed across the starry sky as Ella's fighter escaped the war-torn Xandar.

Covered in wounds, Anwen smiled with relief as she watched Ella vanish into the cosmos.

She turned around to face the encroaching Kree warriors, smiling as she said, "Come to hell with me, you bastards!"

A blinding golden light burst from within Anwen's body, its intense energy rippling outward. The surrounding Kree warriors shouted in panic, "Get back! She's going to self-destruct!"

With a thunderous "Boom!" the golden explosion consumed everything within several kilometers of its epicenter. Even a nearby Kree mothership was caught in the blast, engulfed by the energy surge. Black smoke poured from the damaged ship as it began to spiral down toward Xandar.

One hour later, 250 kilometers above Xandar's surface, aboard the flagship of Ronan the Accuser:

"Report to Commander Ronan—one Nova fighter managed to jump away."

"No matter," Ronan said, his voice dripping with vengeance as he looked down at the fiery chaos consuming Xandar. Waving his hand dismissively, he continued, "As long as the Infinity Stone and Princess Ella don't escape, it's fine!"

The reporting subordinate swallowed nervously and added, "Commander... the fighter that escaped—it seems to have Princess Ella aboard."

"What about the Infinity Stone? Was it recovered?" Ronan demanded, his tone immediately turning icy.

"Uh... I'm sorry, Commander. It seems the Infinity Stone is also on the fighter with Princess Ella."

Ronan turned slowly to face the trembling subordinate, who instinctively backed away. With a sudden, deafening crack, Ronan swung his massive hammer, smashing the unfortunate soldier into a pulp on the floor.

"Track her jump trajectory! Find out where she's headed!"

"Yes, Commander!" Another officer in the room, eager to escape the same fate, bolted from the command center.

"If the Stone and the Princess are gone, then Xandar has no reason to exist." Ronan's voice was filled with cold malice as he gave his next order, his face twisting into a maniacal grin. "Withdraw the troops. Prepare the planetary destruction missiles. Obliterate Xandar!"

"Face judgment, Xandarians!" Ronan roared.

At his command, countless planetary destruction missiles were launched from dozens of massive warships, raining down on the already burning planet of Xandar.

Two hours later, after two consecutive warp jumps, Ella's adrenaline-fueled frenzy finally began to subside.

She collapsed weakly into the pilot's seat, completely drained. Her body was soaked with sweat, as if she had just been pulled from a lake, and she didn't even have the energy to lift a single finger.

The interior of the ship was eerily silent, with only the faint hum of the thrusters and Ella's own breathing breaking the stillness. Outside, the starry expanse appeared like a motionless painting, its vibrant, oil-paint-like hues filling her entire field of vision.

If she weren't in the middle of fleeing for her life, Ella would've loved to take a picture of the breathtaking scene and post it on her social media... well, not social media anymore.

During the brief intervals between warp jumps, she had crammed an emergency crash course on the basic operation of the cruiser, guided by the ship's AI. She hastily absorbed the relevant information to the best of her ability.

Since her rebirth, Ella had noticed significant improvements in her memory, comprehension, and decision-making abilities. As long as the AI explained something once, she could fully understand and retain the knowledge. Of course, it helped that Ella had been a top-tier "Ace Pilot" in computer games before her reincarnation.

In just a few hours, she had read through most of the flight manual and managed to perform a few relatively complete maneuvering drills during the brief lulls between warp intervals.

What Ella didn't realize was that if she hadn't been piloting the Nova Corps' most advanced prototype, a queen-class starfighter yet to enter mass production, she would never have survived the Kree ships' concentrated firepower. The ship's cutting-edge hyperdrive engine, powerful energy shield, and the Kree pilots' overconfidence—assuming that concentrated fire would undoubtedly bring her down—all contributed to her miraculous escape.

"Zero, how much time is left until the next warp point?" Ella asked weakly. "Zero" was the name she had casually assigned to the ship's AI assistant.

"Princess, the time remaining to the next warp point is seven hours and fifty-five minutes."

"Why is this interval so long?"

"The system has detected a recent supernova explosion within 0.3 light-years of the direct route. As a result, we must reroute to warp point XFL-0079."

"Ugh… a detour, huh?" Ella frowned and rested her chin on her hand as she studied the star map and route displayed by the AI.

Outwardly calm, her inner thoughts were a mess. She couldn't make any sense of the star map—such was the tragedy of being a "bad student."

"Princess, I have detected that your body is under extreme fatigue. I recommend you rest immediately."

"Fine. Enable autopilot and wake me five minutes before we reach the next warp point," Ella replied, finally giving in.

"Understood. The autopilot program has taken control."