Attea was extraordinarily brazen for someone currently hogtied and defeated. She proclaimed herself the savior of Looma and Felicia, demanded to be treated as an honored guest rather than a prisoner, and insisted Ben transform into Bullfrag to "kiss her sweetly" before making her Queen of the Sakaar Empire.
As for the thousands of destroyed Incurseans soldiers? She didn't spare them a single thought.
In her worldview, Incurseans military personnel were consumable resources—biological automatons with no individual will, existing solely to execute orders from the royal bloodline. They were tools, nothing more.
Now that the only two surviving members of the Incurseans royal family had been captured, the empire itself had effectively ceased to exist. The soldiers would simply shut down, awaiting new commands that would never arrive.
"Take them away," Ben ordered, gesturing to the guards.
He showed Attea a small measure of consideration, ordering only that Emperor Milleous be detained in Sakaar's mining facilities. Otherwise, given the crimes the emperor had committed—the casual genocide, the slavery operations, the destabilization of entire sectors—execution or exile to the Null Void Realm would have been appropriate sentences.
As for Attea herself, considering that she had genuinely saved Looma and Felicia's lives by responding to their distress signal, Ben decided to treat her similarly to how he'd handled Gamora after Thanos's death—imprisonment with potential rehabilitation, rather than immediate execution.
"Wait, one more thing," Attea said suddenly, remembering something important as the guards prepared to escort her away. "Before attacking the Behemoth Star Ring, I also planned simultaneous raids on all three empires. But now the Waybads are under your control, so the assault on Sakaar obviously failed. Ma Vreedle has probably withdrawn her forces by now as well."
She shrugged as much as her bonds permitted. "But there's still a Incurseans fleet carrying out the raid on the Skrull Empire. Nobody's recalled them yet, so they're probably still executing the original battle plan."
Her tone became almost cheerful. "Anyway, I've already lost everything. If the Skrull Empire gets conquered in the process, consider it my gift to you!"
Then her expression shifted to something calculating. "Though during my imprisonment, I expect to be assigned three personal servants for—"
"Absolutely not."
THUMP.
Ben flicked her forehead—gently by Four Arms standards, devastating by normal metrics. Attea immediately went quiet, her eyes watering.
"This farce is finally over," Captain Marvel said, approaching with visible relief evident in her posture.
The Galactic Conference had assembled most of the known universe's intelligent civilizations in one location. Aside from certain hidden cosmic entities and the various pantheons of gods, practically every significant political figure in the galaxy had attended.
But after such catastrophic chaos, the reputations of the old established empires had been reduced to rubble.
Both the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire had failed to demonstrate even basic responsibility during the crisis. Instead of protecting their citizens or maintaining order, they'd shown nothing but embarrassing incompetence and cowardice.
It was like watching a noblewoman dressed in gorgeous, luxurious clothes suddenly stumble into a slum. Within moments, the glamorous facade crumbled completely. She'd grab her tattered skirts and flee, dignity abandoned, all pretense of superiority stripped away by harsh reality.
That certainly described the Skrulls perfectly.
But the Kree situation was fundamentally different—and far more dangerous.
The Kree high command had been replaced by Highbreed. Using the chaos created by the Incurseans as cover, those infiltrators had systematically conquered their co collaborator the Kree. Now they were preparing to disperse throughout the universe, spreading to every corner of known space.
Their goal: drag all life into the abyss of extinction alongside them.
As the threat of racial collapse approached its terminal phase, the Highbreeds had abandoned sanity entirely. They didn't need to maintain the Kree Empire's reputation. They didn't care about the Kree civilization's future.
All that mattered was taking everyone else down with them when they died.
As for the Skrull Empire? That civilization genuinely was finished.
"Caiera, assemble the Royal Legion," Ben ordered after handling the immediate situation. He'd confirmed that Looma and Felicia's vital signs had stabilized after receiving treatment from the medical wing, allowing him to focus on strategic matters. "Prepare to launch an assault on the Skrull Empire."
"Understood." Caiera raised her head and nodded, completely unsurprised by the command.
Everyone at this Galactic Conference had witnessed the Skrull Empire's deliberate provocations against Sakaar. The Super Skrull's assault on "Ben Parker"—even though everyone now knew Peter had been the one wearing the disguise—had been an attack on a Sakaar representative attending an official diplomatic function.
That demanded response.
Though one thing confused her: "The Royal Legion, specifically?"
"Isn't that just the Plumbers under a different name?" Peter asked, his voice tight with reluctance and inner turmoil.
He didn't want to participate in invading other empires, even as an act of justified retaliation. War was war, regardless of the cause.
But as a Plumber, if the organization issued orders, he couldn't refuse. Duty demanded obedience.
"The Plumbers are an organization dedicated to maintaining universal peace," Ben said, his tone matter-of-fact. "How could they possibly be deployed for military conquest? That would contradict their entire purpose."
He continued with careful precision. "The Skrull Empire provoked the Sakaar Empire specifically. This conflict has nothing to do with the Plumbers as a peacekeeping force."
"I'm declaring war on the Skrulls as the King of Sakaar, not as the Magistrata of the Plumbers."
The Royal Legion of the Sakaar Empire had existed since the Red King's reign. After Ben had assumed control of Sakaar, most soldiers had transitioned into Plumber roles, but the ceremonial Royal Legion had been maintained for exactly this kind of situation.
Their numbers were limited, honestly. Perhaps a few hundred personnel at most—essentially a parade force without significant combat capability.
Peter released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, relief flooding through him.
Norman Osborn, however, felt profound disappointment. He'd been genuinely interested in counterattacking the Skrull Empire, potentially securing territorial concessions for Earth in the process.
Unfortunately, Ben had explicitly sworn to wage this war as Sakaar's sovereign rather than the Plumbers' leader. That meant Plumber forces couldn't officially participate—though low-ranking soldiers could presumably remove their uniforms and "volunteer" for the Royal Legion.
But any named officers would be immediately recognized. Figures like Beta Ray Bill and Caiera showing up on the battlefield would make the distinction between "Royal Legion" and "Plumbers" completely meaningless.
"Will the Royal Legion alone be sufficient?" Norman asked, still trying to negotiate Earth's involvement. "Perhaps the Thunderbolts could—"
"Unnecessary," Ben interrupted, shaking his head.
Setting aside the nearly one thousand Waybads he'd just acquired, he possessed another force that nobody present had ever witnessed—a team that was essentially invincible.
The Guardians of the Null Void Realm. The Kryptonians.
Ben had brought the Kryptonian survivors back to the Marvel Universe months ago. Within the Null Void Realm's isolated pocket dimension, New Krypton had been steadily recovering.
The Omnitrix had reproduced the complete genetic potential of the Kryptonian species—essentially creating a new Codex, a fresh wellspring of life for a civilization on the brink of extinction.
With assistance from the Time Stone's temporal manipulation, the first generation of Kryptonians had matured rapidly. They now served as the foundational population—the Adams and Eves of their reborn species.
After establishing that initial breeding population, Ben had removed the Codex restrictions for subsequent generations, granting them greater genetic diversity and possibility.
However, due to limitations inherent in the founding population's genes, even naturally-born Kryptonians displayed certain predispositions. It was impossible for them to manifest the kind of unlimited potential that Clark Kent possessed—at least not yet.
Children of doctors and scientists tended to inherit aptitude for one or both of those fields. Engineers' offspring showed mechanical intuition. The pattern repeated across specializations.
But this was only temporary.
As generations of Kryptonians continued reproducing, those various talents would interweave like threads in a tapestry, their genetic potential gradually converging and recombining. Eventually, the biases would smooth out.
A thousand years from now, a new generation of Kryptonians with truly unlimited possibilities would emerge. Until then, they remained formidable but somewhat specialized.
The assembled civilizations watched Ben casually discuss the Skrull Empire's fate as though planning dinner, and they couldn't suppress rising panic.
No matter how diminished the Skrulls had become, they remained one of the three ancient empires—civilizations that had dominated galactic politics for millennia.
Yet after Sakaar's meteoric rise, everything had changed in mere years.
The Shi'ar Empire had been destroyed. The Incurseans Empire had burned like a brief, violent firework. Now the Skrull Empire faced annihilation.
Contemplating it carefully, these empires had taken hundreds of thousands of years to build their power. But their destruction required only moments.
And every single collapse connected directly to the King of Sakaar.
The realization sent shockwaves through the assembled delegates. They stared at the Earthling—who didn't even look particularly tall or physically imposing—with profound awe mixed with genuine terror.
From this day forward, there would be no "three empires" or "four empires."
Only one empire truly mattered in this universe: Sakaar.
And only one ruler commanded genuine universal authority: the King of Sakaar.
However, Ben hadn't actually issued orders yet. He hadn't even transmitted commands to New Krypton's garrison forces.
Before he could initiate the invasion, shocking news arrived that left even him momentarily stunned.
The Skrull Empire had been destroyed.
Already. Completely. Without his involvement whatsoever.
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