Frogmaw plunged straight into the gigantic black hole, drool dripping from the corners of his mouth.
Suddenly—
His mouth opened.
Infinitely wide.
It expanded at a terrifying geometric rate.
By the time Frogmaw reached the black hole—
His mouth was already larger than the black hole itself.
Everyone watching from a distance fell completely silent, staring at that galaxy-sized mouth.
"This is the strongest Akubakuramon…" Dr. Paradox exclaimed in disbelief.
"An Akubakuramon capable of swallowing a black hole in a single bite!"
Albedo watched the scene quietly. A trace of admiration rose in his heart.
"Losing to someone like this isn't shameful," he muttered.
"At least he's truly, absurdly powerful."
Ben Without the Omnitrix, however, looked confused.
"Then why did it take him so long to beat the enemy yesterday?"
"He was obviously acting for his teammates!" he complained.
Gulp!
Frogmaw snapped his mouth shut.
The entire black hole vanished.
Then he tilted his head back.
His massive mouth rose with it—
Gulp.
Frogmaw swallowed hard. The black hole slid down his throat, which expanded to galaxy size—
Yet when it reached his stomach…
Nothing happened.
His stomach didn't expand at all.
He had directly digested the black hole.
"Burp~"
Frogmaw let out a satisfied belch.
In an instant, his mouth and neck returned to normal proportions.
He floated lazily in the void, casually reaching out, grabbing a piece of space itself, kneading it into the shape of a toothpick, and calmly picking his teeth.
"Taste score: eight points."
"Satisfaction score: ten points!"
No one dared interrupt him.
Under Dr. Paradox's direction, Atomic X began reconstructing Earth within Ben Without the Omnitrix's timeline.
Ben Without the Omnitrix was safely returned to Earth.
After that, Atomic X and Dr. Paradox worked together, sending each transformed individual back to their respective timelines one by one.
Just like that—
The multiverse collapse was stopped.
Throughout the process, Frogmaw kept staring at Atomic X with undisguised hunger, drool slowly dripping, making Atomic X's scalp go numb.
"Professor… I'm basically done here," Atomic X said, forcing a smile.
"I'll take my leave first."
After saying goodbye to Dr. Paradox, he immediately condensed divine energy, opened a portal himself—
And fled.
Only Dr. Paradox remained, along with a group of Evil Bens.
"Doctor!"
Frogmaw suddenly flew in front of Dr. Paradox, staring greedily at Bad Ben, Zombie Ben, and the others.
"Sending them back like this means they might keep doing bad things," he said with a grin.
"Why not let me enlighten them a little? Hehehe."
"No need! We'll behave!"
"I really don't want to see you again, Ethen!"
Bad Ben, Zombie Ben, and the rest trembled violently, their faces filled with absolute refusal.
Eon's face was pale.
"If… if Ethen had been on my team… damn it, the plan would've succeeded."
Negative Ben let out a long sigh.
"I'll never look for excitement again. Staying alive is what matters most."
"Ethen," Dr. Paradox forced a smile.
"You've been missing from your universe for nearly an entire day. They must be worried."
"…Yeah, that's true." Frogmaw scratched his head reluctantly.
"I'll be heading back soon," he said. "But before I go, I have one request."
"What is it?" Dr. Paradox asked.
"Just say the word."
Frogmaw didn't hesitate.
"If you ever encounter powerful shapeshifters like Brother Ben—ask them if they're interested in fighting me. Help me arrange interdimensional duels."
"…I'll try," Dr. Paradox said after a moment of silence.
"This guy's a full-blown war maniac," Mad Ben muttered in awe.
"He's someone I need to learn from."
"Well then—later!"
Frogmaw spun lazily in midair. The pattern on his body shifted—
Transforming back into Speed God (XLR8).
In the next instant, he accelerated violently, sprinting through the multiverse.
It was already past midnight—around 12:00 AM.
Max, Ben Tennyson, and the others couldn't sleep.
They sat inside the car, exhausted, staring blankly into the night.
Max frowned deeply.
"From six or seven yesterday morning… all the way past midnight… Ethen still hasn't come back from the parallel universe."
"Hey, blockhead," Gwen looked at Ben again.
"Are you sure you didn't see Ethen at the arena?"
Ben looked miserable.
"I'm telling you, I didn't see him! I almost used Ghostfreak to rip the place apart—there wasn't a single Earthling!"
Silence filled the car.
The three of them couldn't help growing anxious.
Had Ethen been bullied out there?
Or worse—
Couldn't come back at all?
Click.
The car door handle moved.
Ethen casually opened the door and stepped inside, looking surprised.
"I guessed the door wasn't locked," he said. "But I didn't expect everyone to still be awake."
"Ethen!"
"Are you okay?!"
Max and Gwen rushed over, checking him anxiously.
"I'm fine—no need to check my body," Ethen said helplessly.
"Whatever multiverse crisis it was, I already solved it."
"Hey, Ben! Don't touch my God Watch—don't just grab it!"
After enduring a wave of forced concern, Ethen, looking utterly disheveled, went to take a shower.
The others, finally unable to resist exhaustion, fell into deep sleep.
After showering, Ethen lay down on his mat.
After a while—
His expression changed.
Damn it.
He'd been hypnotized by Ghostfreak and forced to sleep for over ten hours earlier.
Now he wasn't sleepy at all.
So—
Ethen's biological clock was completely wrecked.
He stayed consciously awake until dawn, then pretended to wake up.
"Why are you up so early again?" Max said in surprise, arriving even later than him.
Ethen laughed dryly.
"It's nothing… Oh right, Grandpa—nothing weird happened yesterday, right?"
Max smiled bitterly and explained.
It turned out—
When Ben transformed into XLR8 to play hero yesterday, he was suddenly abducted by an alien spaceship.
That ship was called the Death Arena, specializing in kidnapping fighters for combat.
Ben transformed into Ghostfreak, fought his way through the arena—
And encountered a special force from the Milky Way known as the Galactic Guardians.
They seized control of the Death Arena and escorted Ben back safely.
"Hiss…"
Ethen's eyes flickered.
"If you line it up like this… the Death Arena, the Galactic Guardians—those were straight-up episodes from the original series."
"I actually missed that much?"
So—
What the hell was going to happen today?
"Ahhh!!"
A scream echoed.
Ben suddenly sat up, drenched in cold sweat.
"Did you dream about Vilgax? Or school starting?" Ethen teased.
Ben swallowed hard.
"I… I dreamed about Ghostfreak. He said he wanted to come out and show me what a real battle looks like…"
Ethen's expression stiffened.
Damn it.
He had run straight into the Ghostfreak escape arc.
Lowering his head, he glanced at the God Watch on his wrist.
Zs'Skayr going to college.
He wanted to get beaten.
Or maybe this was the rhythm of skipping straight to senior year.
...
Author's Note:
The fanfic Ben 10: Daily Check-In System Activated! Part 1 is now fully completed.
The entire story has been uploaded on Patreon as a dedicated collection:
📚 Ben 10 (Chapters 1–132)
Organized into 14 posts, with multiple chapters per post for easy binge reading.
🔗 patreon.com/Shadow_demon_007
Thank you all for your continuous support and love for this story 💙