Chapter 231: The War Breaks Out
The sky above Los Soledad was blotted out by a sprawling armada of Highbreed battleships. Countless red laser cannons rained a relentless barrage of plasma down upon the colossal figure of the Gluttony Frog.
Yet, against the fusion's impossibly thick hide, the orbital bombardment was little more than a light drizzle. The damage inflicted by the searing beams couldn't even outpace the monster's innate cellular regeneration. The entire ruined expanse of Los Soledad was littered with abandoned military structures and crumbling concrete houses. The colossal fusion—a terrifying amalgamation of Upchuck's digestive mechanics and Way Big's cosmic scale—loomed over the battlefield.
Reaching down with a massive, clawed hand, the Gluttony Frog casually uprooted an entire concrete barracks. He tossed the multi-ton building into his gaping maw, chewing once before his throat glowed with blinding, volatile light. With a deafening, earth-shaking burp, he expelled an energy sphere the size of a meteor directly into the dense fleet above.
The resulting detonation swallowed the clouds. Searing shockwaves rippled outward for kilometers, instantly vaporizing over a dozen heavily armored cruisers in a single blast. To the Highbreed forces, this wasn't a battle; they were fighting a walking natural disaster.
Combining Way Big's terrifying cosmic energy manipulation with Upchuck's ability to devour and convert matter into raw destructive power turned the Gluttony Frog into an absolute juggernaut. If this were a video game, his stats would easily rival a final boss.
With one warship after another erupting into fireballs, the Highbreed commanders panicked. Their concentrated fire, even when it landed perfectly, failed to leave so much as a lasting scorch mark on the giant. Worse, the Gluttony Frog wasn't just standing there taking hits—he was actively hunting them. The battle had been raging for less than half an hour, and the supposedly invincible Highbreed armada was already showing severe signs of collapse.
Observing the carnage from a safe vantage point, Professor Paradox leaned on his cane, a mild, knowing smile playing on his lips. "Well? What did I tell you? The Highbreed never stood a chance from the very beginning."
He glanced down at the diminutive Galvan perched on his shoulder. Azmuth scowled, crossing his tiny arms.
"Splicing two distinct genetic codes to compound their respective biological advantages certainly amplifies raw combat output," the First Thinker muttered, his tone clipped. "But I assure you, that was never the intended purpose of the Omnitrix."
Azmuth remained stubbornly attached to his pacifistic ideals, despising the weaponization of his life's work. Still, since Klein's 'Another Omnitrix' was an anomaly forged entirely outside his jurisdiction, the grumpy Galvan kept his deeper complaints to himself.
Meanwhile, Ben's side of the battlefield had devolved into a brutal melee. Squaring off against a towering Highbreed Commander—a vanguard elite among the xenophobic empire—Ben didn't hesitate. He dialed up one of his most trusted, battle-tested forms: Diamondhead.
Though he hadn't worn the Petrosapien skin in years, muscle memory kicked in the second the emerald light faded. Diamondhead shifted his stance, morphing his hands into razor-sharp crystalline blades, and launched a blistering flurry of slashes at the Commander. Knowing he couldn't match the Highbreed's raw, crushing physical strength, Ben relied entirely on his species' unique regenerative properties.
The Commander sneered, weaving through the crystal strikes before seizing a split-second opening. He lunged, swiping a massive, clawed hand. Diamondhead threw up his left arm to block.
CRACK.
The Highbreed's dense claws pierced the Petrosapien's guard, burying deep into the crystalline forearm and fracturing the surface.
The alien commander's triumph lasted barely a second. Before he could yank his hand free, the shattered edges of Diamondhead's arm rapidly expanded, the living crystal surging forward to completely encase the Highbreed's wrist. The commander's eyes widened in shock as he found himself anchored in place.
"Gotcha," Diamondhead smirked.
Using the trapped arm as use, Ben yanked the massive alien forward, morphing his free right hand into a dense, jagged mace, and slammed it ruthlessly into the Commander's forehead.
Across the warzone, Kevin was pushing his beloved muscle car to its absolute limits. Tires screamed as he drifted through the rubble, narrowly dodging searing plasma bolts raining from the sky while actively hunting for stray DNAliens to run over. But despite his masterful driving, the sheer density of the orbital bombardment meant his precious ride was taking a severe beating. Scorch marks and dents marred the chassis, making Kevin wince with every scrape. His heart bled for his paint job.
He spared a glance upward to see Gwen in her full Anodite glory. A brilliant silhouette of pure magenta energy, she darted gracefully between the colossal warships. Conjuring shimmering mana shields to deflect incoming fire, she retaliated with highly concentrated mana beams, surgically piercing the battleships' propulsion systems and sending them crashing into the desert below.
Nearby, Alan streaked through the air, propelled by jets of Pyronite fire. While the half-human's flames weren't quite hot enough to melt through the hulls of the hundred-meter-long dreadnoughts, he was more than capable of incinerating the swarms of Highbreed infantry dropping from the bays. Still, these were elite soldiers, and the young Plumber's Helper was visibly straining to hold the line.
Ship and Cooper provided heavy ground-to-air suppression, their techno-organic artillery lighting up the sky, but even their combined firepower felt like a drop in the ocean against the endless armada.
On paper, the war looked like a grueling stalemate. The Highbreed fleet was practically infinite, swarming the skies in numbers too vast for even the Gluttony Frog to swat out of the air instantly. The alien commanders knew the tactical reality: if they could just eliminate that gargantuan fusion, the rest of the resistance would crumble.
But how do you kill a monster with seemingly infinite health? Their heavy invasion cannons—weapons designed to crack planetary crusts—were barely scratching him. The Highbreed commanders were suffocating under a deep sense of despair. Their only lingering hope was the rumor that the legendary Omnitrix had a strict time limit. They prayed the Gluttony Frog would simply run out of energy and time out.
Of course, if they had ever spoken to a certain Ectonurite named Zs'Skayr, they would know just how foolish that hope was. Klein's watch didn't play by the rules. Long before the Gluttony Frog ever "ran out of energy," this fleet would be reduced to cosmic dust.
High above, Alan finally hit his limit. His flames sputtered, and he began plummeting from the sky. Before he could hit the ground, a burly, four-armed red blur snatched him out of the air.
If Klein were paying attention to the ground, he would have noticed Manny had arrived.
And he wasn't alone. Grandpa Max stepped out of a newly opened portal, having retrieved Pierce and Helen from the Null Void to bolster their ranks. Taking in the apocalyptic scale of the Highbreed invasion, Max rubbed his temples, a headache already forming. Yet, as his eyes drifted to the towering, building-eating Gluttony Frog, a proud smile broke through. His grandson's combat prowess never failed to impress.
Max had already sent a distress signal to Plumber Headquarters. Though the local Earth branch had been dismantled earlier, reinforcements were coming. They just needed to hold the line.
Gripping his weapon, Max signaled Pierce and the others. With renewed vigor, the veteran Magister led the charge into the fray.
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