After thinking over everything Charmcaster had told him, Kaito reached a simple conclusion, he had no idea what to do.
How was someone supposed to defeat an omnipotent being?
"How long ago did all this happen?" he finally asked.
"About seven years here, a little more than a day outside," Charmcaster replied. Kaito didn't need an explanation, he already knew time flowed differently inside that place.
"And do you have any kind of plan?"
Charmcaster laughed.
"Plan? What kind of plan could I have to defeat something like that? My plan was to live here alone forever," she then looked at him with a mysterious smile, "but now I have something better."
Before Kaito could ask what she meant, Lala interrupted.
"Why don't you try time travel?" she asked casually, as if she hadn't just said something completely absurd.
"Is that even possible?" Kaito raised a brow, confused. It wasn't that he didn't understand what she meant, but rather that he knew time travel worked differently depending on the story.
To name a few examples, there was the classic version, where changing the past altered the future. Then there was the one where modifying the past created a new timeline. There was also the idea that everything was predestined, meaning nothing you did would really change anything, since it had already happened. And finally, there were the most complex ones, like where time was perceived differently by each being, so traveling to the past was simply going to someone else's present. Yeah, it was hard to explain.
"It should be possible," Lala continued, "if time here and outside flows differently, it means that in this land time is malleable. Also, this place is made entirely of magic, so temporal manipulation and magic must be connected."
"So I can travel through time using magic?" Charmcaster asked, catching the point.
"Yes, though it's probably quite complicated," Lala replied.
Charmcaster didn't waste time and began asking her more questions. The two ended up discussing for hours about magical theory and temporal structures.
---
A little over a week had passed since Kaito and Lala arrived in that world. During that time, both Lala and Charmcaster had been researching how to travel through time.
Surprisingly, they had already achieved some results. I guess that's what happens when two geniuses, one of science and the other of magic, work together.
Even so, their findings weren't entirely encouraging. First of all, time travel would require an absurd amount of mana, far more than either of them possessed. Luckily, there was a solution, to directly use the magical energy of Legerdomain itself, the realm of magic.
But that led to the second problem. Using the magic of the environment to alter time could distort the already established temporal flow, causing unpredictable results. It could make time inside and outside flow equally, or make one second in one place equal a thousand years in the other.
And the most worrying thing, the realm itself seemed to resist temporal manipulation. If they tried to force the spell, at most, they would only have two chances before Legerdomain rejected them and expelled them, which was basically a death sentence, considering that outside existed Alien X.
How did they know so much about the realm? Well, according to Charmcaster, she could communicate with it directly.
Kaito thought about that and couldn't help but remember Charmcaster's version from Ben 10, Omniverse, completely unhinged. Maybe seven years of solitude had really affected her mind more than she let on.
---
"Is it ready?" Kaito asked.
"Don't doubt me," Charmcaster replied with a proud tone, "the spell is complete. It connects the mana of the entire realm to function. We only have two attempts, so remember the plan."
"What was it exactly?" Lala asked.
"We'll go to the past and prevent the boy from obtaining the device. We have to be fast and, above all, keep our attention on the Carnitrix. We can't put the boy's life in danger. If he transforms into Alien X, we're finished. Any questions?"
Kaito shook his head. Everything was clear. Just as they were about to leave, Lala raised her voice.
"And what if he can time travel too?"
Silence filled the place. Kaito and Charmcaster looked at each other, unsure what to say. None of them had thought of that.
Even so, Charmcaster decided to take the risk. Kaito also trusted that Alien X couldn't do it, based on what he knew from the series. Of course, he could be wrong, but they had no other choice.
"I'll leave the portal open. If he can travel through time, with his omniscience he'll notice us the moment we cross. If he doesn't show up, it means we're safe. If he does..." her voice lowered a little, "we'll try to run."
"Got it," Kaito and Lala answered in unison.
Charmcaster began chanting a spell in a language neither of them recognized.
The ground shook.
Legerdomain was a strange place. Beneath its surface flowed a pink river made of pure magical energy. In the sky, an eternal aurora borealis painted the horizon with shades of violet and fuchsia. The terrain was made of floating stone islands and ruins, connected by dark paths that twisted in impossible directions.
The most impressive thing was the mana veins that ran through the entire realm, like enormous roots carrying magic energy within them.
At that moment, those same veins glowed intensely as all the energy converged toward Charmcaster's magic circle.
Slowly, a door began to materialize in front of them. It wasn't a simple magical opening, but a real stone door with two panels that opened inward, revealing a green forest on the other side.
Charmcaster froze for a moment, seeing a landscape she hadn't seen in years, but quickly regained her composure and stepped through the portal.
She raised her hand, signaling Kaito to wait. A few tense seconds passed before she sighed in relief. Alien X hadn't appeared.
Kaito followed right behind her just before the doors closed with a loud sound and vanished.
On the other side, the air was fresh and the ground was covered with leaves. A normal forest, seemingly peaceful. However, Charmcaster frowned.
"Something's not right," she said in a low voice, "we arrived too late."
Kaito looked up and noticed a column of smoke in the distance. Without hesitation, he ran toward it.
The place was a crater. In the center, a metallic, dome-shaped capsule was smoking, open and empty. Without a doubt, it was the container of the Omnitrix, or rather, the Carnitrix in this universe.
Kaito exhaled in frustration. Even so, they still had a chance. As long as Ben wasn't in danger, they could try to take the device without him transforming.
He closed his eyes and expanded his senses.
"This would be a lot more useful if it worked passively..." he muttered while searching for traces of energy.
Then, as his senses spread through the park, he heard a voice.
"Ben... you're hurting me..."
Kaito reacted instantly and ran toward the source of the sound, coming from the opposite side of where they had arrived.
When he got there, he saw a humanoid creature. Its body was made of orange and red stone, with cracks that leaked boiling magma. Flames burned from its head.
It might have looked like a normal alien, as normal as you'd expect from a being from another planet at least, but its distorted form gave it away. It was a monstrous version, typical of the Carnitrix. Deformed limbs, twisted posture, a grotesque grin full of sharp teeth, claws, sunken eyes in dark sockets, and a head bent at an impossible angle.
Before Kaito could act, Charmcaster did. With a quick spell, she transported the girl the monster was holding to an unknown location.
Anyone might think she did it to keep her safe, but the following attacks proved otherwise. She had moved her just so she wouldn't have to hold back her magic.
Charmcaster launched pink energy orbs with fury, without precision or strategy, just pure rage. Each impact pushed the fiery alien back, while shields formed to block every counterattack.
"You killed my uncle!" she shouted in anger. "I was alone for seven years!"
"Charmcaster," Kaito called, trying to calm her down.
"I know!" she gritted her teeth. "I'm only doing minimal damage!"
Even so, Kaito didn't want to take any chances. He understood her anger, but he couldn't allow everything to spiral out of control. He decided to intervene and remove the Carnitrix directly.
However, just then, that unpleasant, familiar sensation ran through his body once again.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)