Ben could sense Looma and the others making their desperate descent toward Ego's core, but he had no spare energy to assist them. Every fiber of his transformed being was locked in a struggle for survival against a god whose power had been accumulating since the dawn of creation.
Ego's strength was beyond anything Ben had anticipated. The Celestial wasn't merely ancient, he was a walking repository of space genocide, his abilities enhanced by the consumption of thousands of life-bearing worlds and the murdered essence of countless children who had failed to meet his impossible standards.
If not for the fact that Ben's current form carried Star-Lord's genetic template, making him genetically compatible with Ego's own essence, he would have been overwhelmed within moments. That compatibility allowed him to interfere with Ego's power on a fundamental level, creating enough chaos in the Celestial's energy systems to prevent an immediate defeat.
But even with that advantage, Ben was fighting a losing battle.
"Die, King of Sakaar!" Ego's voice roared across the devastated landscape, each word accompanied by space forces that redefined the laws of physics.
Lightning erupted from the false god's mouth like the breath of a stellar dragon. When he raised his hands, the four classical elements, earth, water, fire, and air, twisted into reality-destroying vortexes that painted the sky in impossible colors. Mountains materialized in the upper atmosphere, their continental masses hurled toward Ben like space artillery shells. Stars condensed from pure fire, their nuclear fusion melting the very air into plasma.
The planet's surface had become a vision of apocalypse. Magma geysers erupted in patterns that spelled out Ego's rage in a language older than human civilization. Thunderclouds the size of continents collided with enough force to shatter dimensi'onal barriers. The ground itself rose and fell like ocean waves, solid matter behaving like liquid under the stress of competing gravitational fields.
Ben had been forced to abandon his humanoid configuration, compressing himself into true planetary form to survive the onslaught. His rocky exterior served as armor while his gravitational fields captured debris and energy, transforming them into defensive rings that orbited his core like the aftermath of space collisions.
For every attack he managed to redirect, ten more found their mark. Ego's energy reserves seemed infinite, drawing upon power accumulated across geological ages. Ben could reverse some of the elemental assaults, sending them spinning back toward their source, but it was like trying to empty an ocean with a teacup.
CRASH!
A continent-sized meteor of compressed earth and fire struck Ben with the force of a genuine planetary impact, driving him deep into Ego's surface. The crater his body carved was measured in kilometers, and immediately the living planet's crust responded like a predatory organism. The ground became liquid yet somehow retained structural integrity, flowing toward Ben's impact site like a slow-motion tsunami intent on burial.
Energy conduits burst from the crater walls, organic tubes that pulsed with bioluminescent hunger. They pierced Ben's rocky exterior with surgical precision, their crystalline tips designed for one purpose: drainage. Ben felt his accumulated space power being siphoned away like blood from a wound, each pulse of the energy vampires leaving him weaker and more vulnerable.
He screamed, a sound that registered across multiple octaves of reality as his planetary form began to desiccate. His outer shell, once vibrant with space energy, started to crack and flake away like ancient sandstone. Millions of years of geological processes compressed into moments as his body experienced accelerated entropy.
"Become part of me, King of Sakaar!" Ego's satisfaction was palpable, his space consciousness flooding with triumph. "Your power will fuel my expansion for tens of thousands of years! With your energy, I'll be able to assimilate every inhabited world in this galaxy simultaneously!"
Ego could feel Ben's resistance through their connected energy streams, but he wasn't concerned. This was a battle of reserves now, a space tug-of-war where raw power determined the victor. Ben's struggles were like a mouse trying to arm-wrestle an elephant. Soon, the young upstart would be nothing but a drained husk, another monument to Ego's inevitable destiny.
Ben could feel something essential being torn from his core with each pulse of the extraction conduits. It was agony beyond physical pain, the sensation of having fundamental parts of his existence stripped away layer by layer. His consciousness began to fragment as critical energy reserves dwindled toward the point of no return.
This isn't working, he realized with growing desperation. Ultimate Gravattack was already one of his most powerful forms, surpassed only by Alien X and his experimental fusion configurations. If this transformation couldn't match Ego's accumulated might, he needed to think beyond conventional solutions.
With tremendous effort, Ben raised one massive hand toward the Omnitrix core embedded in his planetary cranium. The device pulsed with its characteristic green light, ready to offer alternatives that might save not just his life, but the universe itself.
Reality dissolved around Ben as his consciousness was pulled into the familiar void of Alien X's mental realm. The sensation was like being yanked through dimensions, his awareness separating from his struggling physical form to emerge in the endless darkness where space decisions were made.
The three entities were exactly where he'd left them, or perhaps had always been, given the fluid nature of time within this space. Enara and Ouyana hung suspended like living constellations, their massive forms radiating the kind of power that could reshape reality with a casual thought. Between them, the consciousness Ben had designated as his permanent delegate maintained its vigil, appearing far more patient than Ben felt in his current crisis.
"Opposition noted," Enara was saying as Ben materialized, her voice carrying the weight of absolute authority.
She had always been the contrarian among them, but Ben had come to understand that her arguments weren't mere obstinacy, they served as crucial counterbalance to Ouyana's sometimes overwhelming compassion. Now she gestured with space grandeur as she laid out her position.
"The temporal anomalies affecting the Time Variance Authority are not our concern," she declared. "Their multiversal maintenance protocols cannot affect our timeline. Even a Kronos-class temporal bomb could only destroy linear time and conventional reality, forces that hold no dominion over Celestialsapien existence."
Ouyana's starlight features showed profound sadness as she responded. "Enara, your pragmatism borders on cruelty. The TVA's collapse could trigger a cascade failure across all existing timelines. Every possible universe might cease to exist."
Ben listened to this exchange with growing amazement and mild terror. "Wait, it sounds like you've been making good progress. Are you seriously discussing events nine billion years in the future?"
"Actually, we're reviewing historical data," his delegate corrected with the patience of someone who had grown accustomed to space-scale temporal confusion. "This discussion covers events that occurred nine billion years after the multiverse's initial formation, what you might consider ancient history from our perspective."
"As you can see," Enara said, her attention focusing on Ben with uncomfortable intensity, "we're far too busy with significant matters to concern ourselves with your current predicament, little Ben." Her massive face descended until it nearly filled his field of vision. "Unless, of course, you're willing to consider my earlier proposal."
"What proposal?" Ben asked, though something in her tone made him suspect he didn't want to know.
His delegate's expression shifted to one of weary resignation. "She wants to eliminate the Trinity of Vishanti and the Living Tribunal. Her argument is that three entities governing space balance is redundant when one Celestialsapien trinity could handle the role more efficiently."
The Trinity of Vishanti and the Living Tribunal represent two very different layers of Marvel's cosmic hierarchy. The Vishanti are a trio of powerful mystical beings—Agamotto, Hoggoth, and Oshtur—who serve as patrons of white magic.
They empower sorcerers like Doctor Strange, granting spells, protection, and guidance to defend Earth's dimension against dark forces such as Dormammu or Chthon.
Their focus is mystical and dimension-based, tied to order, protection, and balance through magical means.
In contrast, the Living Tribunal is a singular cosmic entity whose authority extends over the entire multiverse. Acting as the supreme judge beneath only The One Above All, the Tribunal maintains equilibrium between universes, preventing any single one from gaining too much power or imbalance.
Its three faces—Equity, Necessity, and Revenge—reflect the principles it uses to weigh its judgments. Where the Vishanti intervene through empowerment and guidance on a magical scale, the Living Tribunal enforces impartial justice on a cosmic scale, even overruling gods, artifacts, and dimensional powers if multiversal balance is at risk. Together, they illustrate Marvel's layered hierarchy of mystical guardianship and cosmic law.
Ben felt his consciousness reel. While he'd been building interstellar alliances and fighting space tyrants, thinking himself remarkably ambitious for a teenager from Queens, these three had been casually discussing the elimination of Marvel's fundamental universe authorities.
"Enara, we cannot simply murder ancient cosmic entities because their job descriptions overlap with ours," Ouyana protested, her celestial features radiating disapproval.
"There's no need to kill anyone just because they're also a trinity," Ben agreed hastily. "Let's table that discussion indefinitely, please."
"Hmph. You're all so tediously moral," Enara muttered, but she didn't pursue the topic further.
Ben suspected that much of their more extreme proposals were simply intellectual exercises, the equivalent of cosmic entities playing devil's advocate to combat the endless boredom of omnipotence.
"Look, I really need help here," Ben pressed. "Ultimate Gravattack is one of my most powerful transformations besides you three, but Ego is still overwhelming me. I'm about to be drained completely."
"What about your Anodite form?" his delegate suggested. "Dimensional demon god powers should at least match Ego's capabilities."
"Genesis doesn't have enough accumulated energy yet," Ben explained. "The Anodite form is still developing. If Ego starts draining it, he might absorb the entire dimension before my power can grow to match his."
The thought of Ego gaining access to dimensional lordship made Ben's non-corporeal form shudder. A mad god with that kind of power could remake reality itself according to his twisted vision.
"You still have the Celestial form you got from Knowhere," his delegate offered.
"I'm saving that for Vilgax," Ben said firmly. "Some transformations are too dramatic to use casually."
"Such drama," Enara observed with amusement. "We could obliterate that 'broken marble' without the slightest effort. But perhaps there's a more... educational solution. What do you think, delegate?"
Ben's other self smiled with the kind of expression that suggested incoming revelation. "Enara's right. We don't need to use overwhelming force against Ego. The situation calls for clever application of existing resources."
"Didn't you say omniversal threats require the combined power of all Alien X variants?" Ben asked.
"They do, but we exist as both singular and infinite," his delegate explained. "Each individual Alien X can multiply into countless variants, and those variants can combine their abilities to transcend normal limitations."
"Don't forget," Ouyana added gently, "we can literally do anything once we reach consensus."
"Right, you're all ridiculously overpowered," Ben acknowledged. "So how do we solve this without breaking reality?"
"Simple. You're overlooking an obvious solution," his delegate said, extending one hand to manifest a familiar black substance that formed into a distinctly alien face. "You remember Overkill."
The symbiote consciousness nodded enthusiastically. "That's me! And I'm still technically one of your alien forms, even though I can exist independently now."
Overkill was unique among Ben's transformations, a member of the parasitic sequence that could maintain separate existence while retaining the ability to merge with other forms. Ben had originally separated the symbiote to serve as a friend consciousness for his delegate, but now he realized its true potential.
"You haven't forgotten that symbiotes can record and replicate their host's genetic abilities, have you?" Overkill asked. "When properly fused, they can essentially combine different alien forms, something your regular Omnitrix can't do yet."
The fusion watch project was still theoretical, requiring Ben to develop new techniques for blending genetic templates without causing catastrophic cellular breakdown. But symbiotes naturally possessed that ability.
"So you're like a biological combination device?" Ben asked.
"Exactly, though please don't compare me to that green blob from the children's cartoon," Overkill said with dignity. "Ego likes absorbing energy, so we just need to find someone who can out-absorb him."
Ben's mind immediately went to the obvious candidate. "Feedback."
"Perfect choice!" his delegate agreed. "If Ultimate Gravattack can't out-drain Ego, then Feedback enhanced with Mother of Storm power definitely can."
"Just remember to let me out for some fresh air occasionally," his delegate added. "These two have been stretching temporal flow in here to optimize our discussion time. I'm starting to develop cabin fever."
"Deal," Ben promised, already feeling his consciousness being pulled back toward his physical form.
Ben's awareness snapped back to his planetary body like a rubber band released at space velocity. Time had barely progressed during his mental journey, a few seconds at most, and Ego remained oblivious to anything unusual. The false god was too focused on his apparent victory, watching with sadistic satisfaction as Ben's energy reserves dwindled toward critical levels.
"Die, King of Sakaar!" Ego's voice thundered across dimensions, his space consciousness blazing with triumph. "I will commemorate your sacrifice by making your corpse into a satellite! Your dead body will orbit my form for eternity, a monument to the futility of opposing destiny!"
Ben opened his eyes, all of them, scattered across his planetary surface like geological features, and felt a familiar presence beginning to manifest. Black tendrils emerged from the cracked earth of his shell, flowing like liquid midnight as Overkill materialized in the physical realm.
"That's actually pretty considerate of you," Ben said, his voice carrying across every frequency of reality as the symbiote began its work.
The fusion started at the quantum level, Overkill's consciousness interfacing with Ben's Omnitrix core to access the Conductoid genetic template. Feedback's essence merged with Ben's existing form, adding layers of complexity that transformed his planetary structure into something unprecedented.
Ben had expected the change to be dramatic, but the reality exceeded even his enhanced imagination. His rocky exterior began sprouting crystalline formations that pulsed with electrical potential. Energy-conducting channels spread across his surface like neural networks, each one capable of channeling power that would make stars jealous.
But most importantly, his energy absorption capabilities multiplied exponentially.
Where Ego's extraction conduits had been draining Ben's reserves, they suddenly found their flow reversed. The same channels that had been bleeding Ben dry became pathways for an appetite that dwarfed even a Celestial's hunger.
Ego's triumphant expression shifted to confusion, then alarm, as he felt his own energy being pulled into Ben's form. "What, ? This is impossible!"