It was quite the agitation inside the castle. Now that Sir Georges and many of their brothers in arms have perished, all remaining Forever Knights had to gather around. Their king had united them again, and those who stayed alive would be tasked to keep the harmony he had brought.
It would be easier said than done, they were bound to form separate factions again very soon, but until then, they needed to find a Forever King for their single, united group for the time being.
As per tradition, the one who would have this honor needed either to be of royal blood, or to have aided their organization more than anyone else. Such a spectacular role needed to be of wise choice, which is why everyone needed to attend the ceremony.
"Now, now, silence in the court!" announced the armored officer. "Now, our archivists have been researching the fittest heir to our company for the past few weeks. Whoever it will be, we may not have a choice. You will be free to return to your individual factions afterwards, but on behalf of our deceased brothers, I invite you to remember our role is to protect our world from anything threatening it, be it a treacherous fellow human or another unearthly abomination."
Voiced agreement could be heard inside the hall, they still all kept together one single goal: take a hold of alien technology, master it and use it for the benefit of the Forever Knights, whether it involved their leaders' interests or the survival of their planet against alien invaders.
A few scholars walked to the front with a pile of parchments and a recreation of the different family trees of the Forever Kings throughout the eras. Everyone was impatiently awaiting the archivists' answer, eager to know who they'd have the great honor to serve for the generations to come.
They were not aware their meeting would soon go very awry, as the archivists themselves were not convinced this was a good idea.
"We have been looking through birth records all over the world and researched every single report of the exploits that were performed in the benefit of the Forever Knights. We must say, however, that the result of this search might divide us more than ever before."
There was confusion in the room, though no one bothered to ask who it would be right away. Whoever it was, it wouldn't be as terrible as King Argit was.
"As it turns out, the only remaining, living heir that is still of age to guide us towards our next goal, and that has served our goals many more times than we believed before, is none other than…"
He silenced himself, allowing his colleague to reveal the identity of their next king as he opened a parchment. Immediately, chaos took place in the court.
"This is sacrilege!"
"It cannot be! There must be a mistake!"
"We will never bow to anyone like him!"
"If he truly was such a great help, we cannot oppose this decision regardless of what he did."
"Or is!"
"How could we possibly be under the rule of this brat?!"
"He proved himself in the past, I know so! With better practice, he'd make a formidable king as much as he was our opponent!"
The new great controversy of the Forever Knights was thus born in one single night, while the future king in question was ignorant of his new role…
"I don't know what they want from us, but this looks like a trap." said Max, preparing himself to park.
The HQ received a message from the Forever Knights, telling them they would gather to make the new Forever King known to Bellwood. Max wasn't completely convinced of why they would warn their enemies of who they'd have to take down next, but if Ben's words were true, they might've simply lost their minds.
"If they're preparing something else, we'll take care of it Grandpa." said Ben, looking up from his phone as Rook followed after him. "I kicked their butts before, and I got this new Omnitrix!"
"And me and Rook." said Max, skeptical.
"That too." Rook sent an amused smirk to his partner, knowing Ben was a lost cause when it came to modesty. "Come on, it's Hero Time!"
He genuinely wished Gwen and Kevin were there too, they would be helpful if he had to know why the Forever Knights were acting weird. He heard they were in total disarray after Dagon was defeated and they were done dealing with the Esoterica, with Sir George's death driving them even further apart.
He went out of the vehicle, ready to transform any time. A whole army was there, surprisingly unarmed. Some of them were carrying books and study junk. Were they going to announce their threats with papers and stuff or did they come out of study hall?
Didn't matter, he'd have to hear what they were planning before acting.
"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, you must know us as an organization faithful to the rise of a better world for humanity, despite our previous fights." said one Knight, stepping in front of his comrades.
"Yeah, totally remember the part you and your tin can followers chased me and my cousin around to get rid of us. Really loving the memories." said Ben, rolling his eyes. "Whatever you're here for, you're not gonna last long if I have anything to say about it."
"Hold on, Ben." said Rook. "They haven't told us who their new leader is, it could be important."
"And right you are, fiendish feline from another planet." said another Knight, getting on one knee as he joined the other one, who also bowed. "We're here to welcome our new king and spread his might all over the world, starting from here."
"Yeah, yeah, might skip that so I get to show your new boss who's the boss?" asked Ben, readying the Omnitrix.
"We are proud to declare you have been chosen for that very role, young Forever King Benjamin."
The rest of the knights bowed while a few showed images that looked a lot like the Tennyson family trees dating from… the Middle Ages. No way, there was just no way…
Max and Rook gasped while Ben was about to freak out. "Wait, what?!"