Synopsis
In #94 Adam Warlock warned Silver Surfer that he would soon face temptations of greed, power and lust but that there was an unseen menace behind it. At the end of #96 SS found Nova (Frankie Raye) alive (after she was killed in #75). Since then they've been roaming the spaceways together.
Last issue Nova led him to rumoured hoard of treasure. But when Terrax got there as well Surfer destroyed the lot to stop the villain using it to finance his plans of conquest. That issue also ended with an image of Tryco Slatterus, the Elder Of The Universe known as Champion, standing on a pile of dead or unconscious bodies.
Now we see Champion invading the base of Thanos seeking revenge. (The Titan seems to be keeping tabs on SS and Legacy amongst others.) The Elder is powerful in his own right but he used to also have the Power Gem which the Titan took from him in Thanos Quest #1. Since then it seems he's acquired different power augmentation in the form of wristlets with which he intends to kill his enemy. But Thanos just teleports him away.
We rejoin our duo with Nova still moping over the loss of all that wealth. Norrin Radd can't understand why they'd want it when they have the stars. The important thing was not letting villains like Terrax get it. Nova changes tack and says that nothing matters to her as long as she has *him*. She seems to be asking for more than just friendship ...
... but then a powerful explosion ruins the mood. Tracking it to its source they find the rubble of a planet. And in the centre they run across Champion, who SS knows from early issues of this series and had assumed dead after Thanos showed up with all the Infinity Gems in the Infinity Gauntlet event. Tryco explains how he sought revenge on the thief but was teleported to this lifeless world which he destroyed in a fit of rage, using his new wristlets.
He explains how when the Titan stole the Power Gem he left him to fall from space onto a nearby planet. The powerful Elder obviously survived the landing and was worshipped as a god by the simple inhabitants. They gave him their most precious relics, the wristlets, and he discovered that they really were mystical objects which boosted his power. He tried ruling them but got bored and reverted to his only obsession, combat. But they all proved fatally useless at it. So he left to find Thanos.
Norrin Radd gets angry at such a tale of casual genocide. Champion welcomes the promise of a worthy opponent. But Nova restrains her companion reminding him that it won't bring the dead back. And she comments that they should be glad that the Power Gem is now in the hands of Drax. Champion of course immediately zooms off to confront Drax The Destroyer. Surfer spares a few seconds to berate Nova for her thoughtlessness before following him.
Tryco mentions that he'd heard that the Destroyer was now on Earth serving Adam Warlock (in the W & Infinity Watch series). But SS catches up with him on the outskirts of the rubble, and they trade blows and blasts. Surfer restrains his might and tries to reason with him, but not so Champion. SS ask Nova for her help but instead she flies away. Champion smashes our hero between 2 big lumps of planet. But Surfer rebounds, now in a bad mood.
But then Nova returns with the friendly simpleton Drax. It takes a little while for Drax to realise that the blue-skinned guy wants to steal his pretty stone. But when he does he pounds him into the ground of another planetary chunk by slamming his fist repeatedly on the top of his foe's head. Then Drax advises him to leave him and his stone alone, and flies off back to Earth.
Frankie explains that she knew his fight with Champion would drag on for ages because he tries not to hurt his foes. But as she figured, Drax ended it all quickly. Then she removes the comatose villain's wristlets and hands them to Norrin, saying that combined with his Power Cosmic they'd make him a god. And she knows of no-one else who could handle absolute power safely.
But of course our noble hero destroys them as he did last issue's treasure, because absolute power always corrupts (absolutely). Nova is resigned but they still have each other.