An Underdog's Knighthood (Story 3 of 4 of my Underdog Series)

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

During the events of the Ridonculous Race, Adam takes this chance to prepare for Mal's inevitable return. But preparing for this fight will test him in every way imaginable, and the start of it all involves him learning about himself. The age of the Cosmic Knight is upon us. Third story in this series. Multiple crossovers including TMNT 2012, Ben 10, Kung Fu Panda and Fairy Tail.

10. The Ultimate Enemy

(Takes place between during chapters 18-19 of the Ridonculous Underdogs)

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"Since the beginning of time, before the event you have come to know as the Big Bang, there have always been 6 singularities, 6 forces of ultimate power. Then the universe exploded into existence with the Big Bang and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated physical forms each with a consciousness of its own. These beings have come to be known as the Cosmic Elemental Masters. Each being has mastery over one of the 6 elemental forces of the universe: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning and Metal. These beings are the most powerful in all of the universe and cannot be defeated by any normal being lest their existence be wiped from the face of the universe upon contact, and the only being capable of defeating a Cosmic Elemental is a Cosmic Elemental, or one with the powers of a Cosmic Elemental. Many eons ago, a great war was raged between the Daagons, the inhabitants of the cosmic ocean Varuna and their ruler Hiidrala, and Metallum, the Cosmic Elemental of Metal. With them were their greatest protectors, the Wind and Lightning Cosmic Elementals known as Tatsumaki and Kaminari. The two clashed in an epic battle that scarred the very universe itself, but before a victor could be decided Metallum betrayed Kaminari and attempted to take both their powers for himself in order to conquer not only Varuna, but the entire universe itself. In the face of this betrayal, Tatsumaki and Kaminari agreed to combine their power to face Metallum and end him, and in doing so they performed an ancient ritual known only to the Cosmic Elementals: Elemental Fusion, in which they would fuse into one new being altogether with both of their powers but at the cost of their fusion being permanent. With this they forged a new being with a new elemental force: Tempestatis, the Cosmic Elemental of the Hurricane. The battle was fierce and ravaged the universe, but the the end the battle was lost. Metallium was badly injured nearly beyond recovery but he had triumphed. With his dying breath, Tempestatis made a vow: even if it took him thousands upon thousands of lifetimes, he would see Metallum fall for his betrayal. Unsatisfied by this, Metallum made a pact with the Cosmic Elemental of fire, Urere, to create a warrior of fiery pure evil simply to torture each reincarnation until it ceased. Until the day comes when Metallum is slain the cycle will continue and if that day never comes, the true spirit of the Hurricane will be lost forever to the memory of time."

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Adam's eyes snapped open and he looked Alejandro dead in the eye, the two of them standing in a black void "So remind me again, what exactly does Aurora want us to do?"

"It's meant to be a test of our power." Alejandro removed his shirt and tossed it to the side, revealing the very faded scar from his previous battle with Kraang Subprime "Your Hurricane Gauntlets have enhanced your lightning powers far beyond what they were when you had first awakened them, and your Wind Stormer boots do the same for your wind powers. The Second Origin release has done exactly that for me, giving me a set of new abilities as well. We've both undergone some intense training in this Time Dilation Zone that Lady Aurora had provided for us, and now she wishes to test our new limits while she teaches Bridgette some new Cosmic Water abilities before we journey to Dimension 1 and battle Sierra, Vilgax, Diagon and the forces of the Esoterica."

"Fair enough. Let's get to it then." Adam braced himself and removed his own shirt, revealing his numerous small scars "You know to be honest I've been wanting to fight you since you got that Crimson Jaguar power but this is even better, we haven't gone at it since Area 51."

"Indeed, but thanks to you my true self has returned. Now let us begin."

"Good enough for me." at the sound of a rock hitting the ground he charged forward and let a fist fly and slugged Alejandro across the face, followed by a kick to the torso "Now show me what you've got!"

"Very well. Crimson Jaguar… ROAR!" Alejandro breathed out a blast of light that shot forward faster than the speed of light.

Adam leapt out of the path of the blast, only for it to circle around him from behind "A homing attack huh?" he prepared to block, resulting in an explosion, and he charged through the smoke with a wind attack prepare "Cosmic Tempest WING ATTACK!" he hit Alejandro dead on with a blast of wind from both hands, blowing him back a great distance.

Alejandro quickly stopped himself and wiped the blood from his lip "I should've expected as much, even now your abilities are most impressive."

"You're not too shabby either, that's gonna make this a lot more fun. Or at least it will be once you stop holding out on me."

"So you noticed? Very well then. Crimson Drive!" a crimson glow surrounded his body and his muscles bulged slightly "Mind if I make the first move?"

"Oh by all means, go right ahead."

"How kind of you." Alejandro blitzed forward and fired off a fist radiating crimson energy, followed by a second one, revealing a pair of crimson colored claws, sending Adam staggering back a few feet, then followed up with a furious barrage of punches, sending him stumbling backwards.

'Well he definitely powered up that's for sure.'

"Look up, your battle is far from over! Crimson Jaguar TALON!" Alejandro dropped down on him from above with his leg radiating crimson energy, resulting in an explosion, then followed up with a kick to the front and the back of the head, blowing Adam clean off of his feet as a result.

Adam quickly rebounded just in time to fend off a furious barrage of punches and kicks 'He's so much faster now.'

"I must say being able to overpower mi hermano's apprentice like this is quite exhilarating all things considered, or it would be if you were not still holding back! Do not hold out on me in this fight! Crimson Jaguar CLAW!" he landed a solid blow to Adam's torso, sending him tumbling backwards and leaving a stigma mark on his chest.

'He left some kind of mark on me, that attack was definitely different from the other ones he's used so far.' Adam suddenly found himself frozen in place "What the hell- I can't move! What are you ripping off Fairy Tail now? You know what don't even bother responding to that. Man this is like Sting's White Dragon's Talon , let me guess it paralyzes your opponent so now you can attack me all you want like I'm some helpless punching bag?"

"So you have noticed, I commend you for your deduction skills but now this ends!" so he charged forward and let a fist fly.

"Cosmic Lightning… ELECTRIC FIST!" Adam unleashed a lightning enhanced fist and quickly slugged Alejandro across the face, blowing him backwards "Not a bad technique but it's got the same weakness as Sting's move, it's useless if the stigma can be burned off or in my case fried off. You've definitely gotten a lot stronger but you'll have to do a lot better than that if you wanna beat me. Cosmic Lightning… ANNIHILATION FIST!" he unleashed a massive fist made of pure lightning, sending Alejandro crashing into a massive rock plateau behind him, demolishing it.

Alejandro burst up from within the rubble and wiped away some blood "You truly are an impressive specimen, I suppose I will have to come at you at full strength." a crimson light engulfed him.

'His power just shot up like a rocket, at the very least he's stronger than Vilgax was when he wielded Ascalon before. This just got serious.'

"Here I come amigo. Crimson Jaguar Secret Art: CRIMSON NOVA!" Alejandro charged forward and unleashed a massive blast of crimson colored energy, engulfing the area in a massive explosion.

However, when the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Adam had managed to stop the attack with a single hand, his hair now a shade of electric blue with silver colored stripes running through, his eyes the same shade of blue but with silver colored pupils "I've really gotta give you credit where it's due, I knew you had gotten a lot stronger but I never thought you'd push me to bring this out."

"When… When did you learn to evolve that form to such a degree?"

"Truth be told, just now." Adam dealt Alejandro a sharp kick to the face, sending him flying backwards and crashing to the ground "Man this is awesome, I knew this armor would enhance my abilities but I never thought I would be this powerful."

Alejandro spat out some blood and pulled himself back to his feet "To think that is the best that I could manage right now, I suppose I still have a great ways to go."

"Don't sell yourself short, you should be proud of yourself." Adam powered back down to his normal form "I didn't think you would push me to use my full power the way that you did, I'm really impressed."

"Indeed." that was when Aurora stepped through, with Cody and Bridgette following right behind her "Very impressive you two but I'm afraid we do not have any time to waste, the time of the coming of Diagon draws near."

"And that means that he's gotta try and take down Diagon while we deal with Sierra, Vilgax and whatever other idiots are stupid enough to follow him. It's only been a few days but I can imagine that the Esoterica are getting ready to move on the seal."

"It is the only thing stopping Diagon from entering that dimension, if he is not stopped there then all of reality will fall to him."

"That's not gonna happen." Adam stood tall and proud, with Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro all by his side "We're gonna make sure of it, either we'll come back successful or we won't come back at all."

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Another party was currently at work preparing for the coming battle with the Diagon and the forces of the Esoterica.

Sir George had gathered his forces of Forever Knights to prepare for the assault "Forever Knights hear my words, for our time has come at last! This is why we exist, this is our true purpose! All of the other false purposes of the Forever Knights, such as gathering technology and fighting dragons, these are nothing more than nonsense and corruption our the one true mission of our order. As we dig upon our founding, so shall we do once more. Together we shall slay the Diagon and save the very Earth itself! THIS I SWEAR!" he rose Ascalon high into the air, drawing cheers from the thousands of Forever Knights before him.

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By this point, Adam and the others had arrived in Dimension 1 and were making a beeline towards the battlefield "Okay so here's the plan, since I've seen how this thing works out in canon I'll need you guys to follow my lead okay?"

"Makes sense, so what are we gonna do exactly?" asked Bridgette.

"Actually that was all that I had, frankly I was just gonna make it up as I go. I know how it plays out in the original series but with Sierra on board this time who now how different it's gonna turn out to be."

"What's different is that you're going to die."

Adam looked ahead and found Sierra standing in front of him "And speak of the She Devil, I don't have time to deal with you crazy so get lost."

"All I want is for my beloved to see you fall, then finally your brainwashing will disappear with you and then my beloved Cody will realize that I am his soulmate instead of Gwen that little slut, that he and I are meant to be together! I sacrificed everything for his sake, all for him to return my love!"

"Oh I'm gonna enjoy this-"

"Adam, stop it." Cody's voice was soft and rather guilty sounding "Ben and the others need us right now, don't bother with her."

"...Yeah you're right."

"You guys go, I'll catch up."

"Suit yourself." so Adam grabbed onto Bridgette and Alejandro by the shoulder and the three of them disappeared.

"This is something I have to do alone."

Sierra seemed genuinely confused, like her personality had done a 180 "What do you mean? I don't understand."

"Sierra, this isn't you. I know that in your heart you know that everything that you've been doing is wrong. But I can't return your feelings."

"But Cody my love, I did everything that I did for your sake! I got this power so that I could protect you from those that are manipulating you! This power lets me do things that I had never even dreamt of, and all I want to use them for is to make you happy! With me. I want to give you everything that you want. What's wrong with that?"

"Sierra… What do you want?"

"Does that matter?"

"Yes it does, Adam has changed a lot over the past year or so since he's been with Bridgette but if she had just done everything that he wanted then he'd be the same old Adam, only he'd also be a total dick."

"I can be more like Bridgette if that's what you want, or Gwen!"

"No, it has to be what you want."

"Don't you understand? All I want is you."

"That's not enough."

"But Cody… I love you."

"No Sierra, you don't. You don't understand what love is, you're so obsessed that you've led it cloud your mind and drive you to do all of these terrible things. What you're feeling isn't love, it's an unhealthy obsession."

"...You're right. Maybe I don't know what love is, but now I know what hate is. You'll see me again and then you'll pay, all of you will!" and with that, she disappeared between dimensions and out of Cody's line of sight.

Cody didn't utter a single word, he just took off to join Adam and the others.

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The war between the Forever Knights and the Esoterica had begun, and neither side was winning in the struggle.

Sir George on the other hand was fighting his way into the cave with a small squad of Forever Knights, including the squire Winston, right behind him "Forward to the cavern of the seal, let nothing stand in our way!"

"You need not worry sir, I shall protect you with my dying breath!" Winston promptly drew an energy dagger and charged onwards.

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Adam looked down on the canyon, with Bridgette and Alejandro right by his side and Cody coming up behind them "Looks like we're late for the war."

"I'm guessing you made that up as you went?" Bridgette's tone was slightly sarcastic.

"Well it's not one of those things I really bothered to remember from watching this on TV when I was like 12, but either way having several hundred Forever Knights fighting the same enemy as us does help our odds."

"So what do you propose is the best course of action?" asked Alejandro.

"Not what they're doing." Adam pointed to where Ben, Gwen and Kevin had landed in the middle of the fight and were now being forced to fight off several Forever Knights that had blindly attacked them like a bunch of idiots "Here's my plan, we skip the foot soldiers and head straight for the cave."

"Fair enough."

"So let's go." so he grabbed onto the three of them and they charged towards the cave, being sure to avoid the Forever Knights and the Esoterica as they did.

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Sir George continued to venture his way into the cavern, only to be confronted by a large number of Esoterica soldiers "So be it then, have at thee!" he sliced through one energy blast after another without taking a scratch.

"I'm here Sir George I'm here!" Winston finally showed up with his dagger drawn, only to realize that he was too late "And yet I am clearly not needed."

"Worry not young squire, your chance may yet come. I see greatness in you, the spirit of a true knight. Now come, this way." the two of them charged onwards, with Sir George taking out various Esoterica soldiers left and right until they came to a large opening in the cave "There it is, the seal lies just beyond. This is the day that Diagon will fall." he prepared to go deeper into the cave.

"No one will fall this day George." that was when Conduit Edwards popped out from in between dimensions "No one but you that is!" he fired an energy blast at Sir George from behind.

"Sir look out!" Winston pushed Sir George out of the way but ended up taking the blast himself, blowing him back into the wall of the cave and leaving a scorched stump where his left arm had once been.

"Squire!" Sir George took this chance to deflect another blast from Conduit Edwards and knelt down to check on Winston "Thank goodness, he's still breathing."

"But you soon won't be!" Conduit Edwards fired another energy blast.

However, that was when Adam blitzed onto the scene with Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro, and he deflected the blast with one hand "Looks like we got here just in time. How's the kid, is he alright?"

"He still breathes, but as you can see he is far from alright." Sir George gestured towards the fact that Winston was missing an arm "This young man saved my life, and yet he gave such a great cost."

"It was… an honor… to be your squire… please… protect this world…" and then Winston finally passed out.

"...You were no mere squire Winston, you are a true knight among knights. A true Forever Knight through and through." Sir George raised Ascalon high into the air "And I swear on your sacrifice, it will not be in vain."

"The kid's really got heart." Adam muttered "Is there any chance he can still be a knight after this?"

"I do not know, but if not then the blame is all mine."

"Don't beat yourself up, the kid had his choice and he made it. But enough of that, for now we've gotta get him back to Aurora."

"I'll take him." Cody slung Winston over his shoulder "Adam they need you here and I'm the only one of us aside from that can travel between dimensions without any help. You guys just do what you have to do." and so he disappeared in a golden light.

"Poor kid, he had heart but he had to give it up. Such is the world we live in I guess."

"Such is the way of a knight." Sir George told him "Still though I will never forget the sacrifice he made, my defeat of Diagon shall be in his name."

"Are we forgetting something? Oh yeah, I forgot about him." he blitzed behind Conduit Edwards and dealt him a swift yet powerful punch with so much force behind it he coughed up a massive amount of blood.

"May Diagon… curse you…" and then he died.

"You cost that kid his future as a knight, as far as I'm concerned you got of easy. Come on guys let's go, we've got a dragon to slay."

"You seem more confident now than the last time I saw you." Sir George noted "Am I correct to assume your doubt is no longer there in your heart?"

"Oh it's still there, I'm just learning to love with it. But after the stuff I've been through with you I realized something."

"What would that be Young Master Anderson?"

"All this time I've been afraid of letting myself get consumed by vengeance but a lot has changed over the last few years since last fight with Mal, I've got way more bonds now than I ever did before and those bonds are what give me my strength. As long as I have them watching my back my heart will remain strong for their sake, and even if I do let myself get consumed by vengeance someday and tainted with hatred then at least I know that their light will be enough to strike me down and even then I will do everything in my power to protect them. For that you have my eternal gratitude, noble knight Sir George." Adam got down on one knee in front of him.

"Rise Young Master Anderson, your path to knighthood is nearly complete. Your conviction is far more firm than I have ever seen from you before, if I shall fall to the Diagon then I can think of no other."

"I'm truly honored."

"The honor is all mine. Now come young ones, our future awaits." and so they charged deeper into the cave, all four of them.

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It wasn't long before Sir George had led the party into the deepest part of the cave, with the seal not being very far away "Show yourself Diagon, today is the day that I shall slay you for a second and final time!"

"You? You are nothing." the voice of Diagon echoed throughout the cave "You are less than nothing."

"Then come out and face me, face the power of the human race if you fear it as little as you claim to!"

"I need not sully myself with mere specs such as you. I already have complete control over one universe and soon I shall control this one."

"Then grow a pair and come out and face us." Adam's Hurricane Gauntlets began crackling with electricity and his Wind Stormers began vibrating "I'm not afraid of some overgrown lizard with a giant heart bigger than my head and not in the good sense of it, now get out here and meet your death by the hand of Cosmic Knight!"

"If it is battle you seek then so be it, face the herald of my arrival." the seal stood in front of them and a glowing golden colored light began to flow through the crack "Once a pitiful creature of this dimension, now he has been reborn in my power, existing for the sole purpose of serving Diagon." and then a figure emerged from within the seal.

"Yep, right on cue. I've been waiting to have a rematch with you… Vilgax."

Sure enough, from within the seal emerged none other than Vilgax, now merged with one of the Lucubra creatures "I… LIVE! I am Vilgax, herald of Diagon! All hail the grandeur of the great and powerful Diagon!"

"Yeah yeah yeah all hail the great and powerful Oz dragon or whatever, you're just another mindless slave of Diagon like all of the other suckers in his Esoterica like Conduit Edwards used to be before I killed him."

"I am Vilgax, and I am the slave to no creature! I have witnessed the power of Diagon first hand and now I as a result I have been reborn! I worship the great Diagon as all creatures who live shall soon do!"

"We'll see about that. Sir George save your strength for fighting Diagon, Bridgette and Alejandro you head out and try to dwindle down the numbers of the Esoterica."

"Right, just be careful." and so Bridgette and Alejandro took off.

"As for yours truly, I'll take on Vilgax myself."

"Your bravery is commendable child, you have earned your demise by my hand." Vilgax fired a blast of purple energy.

Adam dodged it simply by cranking his neck to the side and got into a fighting stance "So you ready to rumble?"

"The almighty Diagon might show you mercy, but Vilgax has none to give!" Vilgax fired a pair of energy beams from his eyes.

Adam stopped the attack with one hand "I think you'll find that I'm a lot stronger now than I was the last time we went at it."

"Perhaps you are boy, but so am I!" Vilgax charged at Adam at full speed and brought down one of his claws, causing part of the cave roof to collapse, opening it up to the rest of the warzone of a battlefield, allowing the two of them to take their rematch to the night skies.

Adam found himself easily dodging every attack, until one energy blast landed on him and sent him flying across the battlefield and embedded him in the side of the canyon.

"Such is the fate of all who would dare to defy Diagon." Vilgax fired another energy blast, and when the explosion subsided it revealed that Adam was gone "And that is the fate of all who would dare to defy Vilgax."

"Fasttrack!" that was when Ben 10 finally showed up at the important fight and tried to get the jump on Vilgax and managed to drop kick him "And that be how we do things when the clock strikes Hero Time! I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you Vilgax, you can't keep a bad man down now can you?"

"Ben Tennyson… You have been my greatest adversary, I suppose it is only fitting that you be present at my moment of ultimate triumph. Follow me if you dare." and then he disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Well that sucks."

"Tell me about it." Adam blitzed over to him "I was gonna get the jump on him but then you drop kicked him, and where the hell were you anyway?"

"With Gwen and Kevin fighting Forever Knights and Esoterica."

"Wasting time on the foot soldiers, got it."

"...Well what do you know, looks like somebody got his mojo back."

"I got advice from a wise knight on how to go beyond being a hero. Come on let's go, we've gotta take Vilgax down before it's too late." and so he grabbed onto Ben by the shoulder and they teleported away.

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Sir George continued his charged back into the cave, now on his own and he looked back to see Adam and Ben appear "So glad you could join us Young Masters. Come, the monster lies within."

"More like Squid Face lies ahead." Adam pointed to where Vilgax was standing in front of the seal at the end of the cave.

"So be it then, Vilgax have at thee!"

"To resist now is futile." Vilgax turned to face them "You're too late old man, boy and Ben Tennyson, the battle has already come to an end." this was followed by the cave collapsing around them, revealing the dimension of Diagon all around them.

"Oh fu-"

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Bridgette and Alejandro raced out of the cave and found Gwen and Kevin blasting away at a large number of Esoterica "You guys need some help?"

"Cover my back!" Kevin kept on firing at the Esoterica with a Plumber's blaster, with Gwen firing blasts of mana.

"That I can do! Water Cyclone!" Bridgette unleashed a water tornado and took down a large number of Esoterica.

"Crimson Jaguar Roar!" Alejandro breathed out a crimson colored energy blast, annihilating several Esoterica with the sheer power of the blast, just as the entire canyon started shaking from what felt like a tremor.

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Vilgax let out a maniacal triumphant cackle "At last, the era of Diagon has begun!"

"And it ends with me snapping your neck." Adam promptly powered up, wind and lightning gathering around his body "At least that's what I say, and I'm sure Ben 10 over here agrees with me."

"Is that so? Well what either of you say is no longer of any true significance, your fates have been sealed." he fired off a barrage of energy blasts.

"Not a chance! Heatblast!" Ben quickly changed into Heatblast and unleashed a stream of fire as he burst forward at full speed.

Vilgax dodged by moving between dimensions with ease "The ruination of this universe is at last at hand, the Diagon will come!"

"And so will this! Cosmic Lightning… THUNDER FIST!" Adam dealt Vilgax a lightning enhanced fist, wounding him heavily just as as Bridgette and the others arrived to back them up.

Sir George rose his sword "Come no further Diagon, if you do break the seal then you will taste the metal of my sword!"

"And the voltage of my lightning!"

"Do not address the Diagon, direct your mesley threats to me!" Vilgax fired a large purple energy blast, sending Sir George skidding backwards.

"Cosmic Lightning… THUNDEROUS HALBERD!" Adam unleashed a very large trident made of pure lightning and hurtled it forward, with Heatblast unleashing a blast of fire in conjunction with it, engulfing Vilgax in a massive explosion.

"I thought Vilgax was dead." Kevin muttered.

"Which time, the last time you fought him or the dozen or so times you fought him before and either kicked his ass or got your ass handed to you?"

"...I like you."

"A lot of people do."

"But not me." Vilgax emerged from the flames with burn marks all over his body "My master is growing ever closer to this dimension, the moment is at last at hand!" this was followed by a psychic wave being unleashed from within the seal, forcing Gwen to put up a Mana shield to protect everyone.

"Oh crap."

"What's going on?" asked Heatblast.

"It's Diagon, he's using his power to turn every single human being in the world into one of his Esoterica followers."

"But that's insane!"

"Doesn't mean it's not true."

"It is." Vilgax let out a malicious grin of triumph "The master has prevailed and now all living beings on Earth serve him!"

"Told ya."

Gwen was quick to check it out with her Mana powers "It's true Ben, there are billions of lives across the Earth that I can't sense anymore."

"Every human on Earth except for us, Julie and most of the Forever Knights has been turned into an Esoterica."

"Indeed they have, behold the true power of the Diagon!" Vilgax held up his hands in worship of the Diagon.

"And now the seal is starting to look wobbly."

"And now you shall at last meet your demise!" Vilgax fired a large blast of energy.

"Everyone get back!" believe it or not Bridgette was the one who stepped forward and formed a Water Dome to support Gwen's Mana shield, only for the force of the blast to overwhelm them and fry both of them, though Bridgette got the worst of it and was knocked out cold.

"Bridgette!" Adam quickly caught her in his arms before she hit the ground "She's alright, just unconscious. Alejandro take the offensive with Ben, I'll get Bridgette somewhere safe."

"Understood. White Dragon's Roar!" Alejandro hit Vilgax dead on with his White Dragon's Roar.

Heatblast took this chance to melt the ground beneath Vilgax's feet in order to prevent him from getting away "I don't care how strong you might be, you don't have any sort of leverage in there."

"And now for the finisher." Adam prepared to finish off Vilgax with a blast of lightning at point blank range, only for Ben to stop him "What the hell?"

"We don't kill guys like Vilgax, that's not what heroes do even if they deserve it. That's what makes us heroes."

"Yeah well that's the difference between us Tennyson, I'm not a hero. I'm a knight."

"What does that matter? There's still a line not to cross, I know that nobody wants you to cross that line." he gestured to everyone around them "You said that you don't want your vengeance to consume you so don't let it, remember the people in your life that you swore to protect and keep your heart strong if only for their sake.

"...Yeah, yeah you're right. Sorry." he retracted his blast of lightning "This is what I was afraid of, I slip into those habits way too easily."

"Just don't forget what's important to you and you'll do just fine." this was followed by another tremor as the seal began cracking even further "Gwen."

"I'm on it, a spell to hold off the Diagon." and so Gwen rushed off to prepare the spell.

Vilgax took this chance to try and get his hands on even more power "Hear me my master, grant your humble and obedient servant even more power! The Earth must be prepared for your arrival and conquest!"

"Granted, show the Earth the power of Diagon." a blue light suddenly engulfed Vilgax, causing him to bulk up slightly.

"Yes, yes I can feel it!"

"This is bad." Adam muttered "His power is shooting up like a rocket, I might have to transform in order to beat him."

"YES!" with a burst of blue energy, Vilgax burst upwards from the ground and broke free, his body crackling with electricity "I can feel the power coursing through me!" he started firing off random energy blasts at the three of them.

'Crap. Guys I've got an idea, I'll need you to buy me some time."

"Gotcha. Eatle!" Ben transformed into Eatle and charged forward, with Sir George following right behind with Ascalon pointed forward.

Vilgax merely backhanded Eatle away and blocked a number of attacks from Ascalon "Is that the best that you can do?"

"Have at thee monster!" Sir George charged at Vilgax and erected a force field with an energy beam, trapping him inside.

Vilgax grabbed Sir George by the energy blade and swung him around, slamming him into the wall of the cave "So who wants to die first?"

"How about you! Crimson Jaguar Secret Art: CRIMSON NOVA!" Alejandro unleashed his Holy Nova blast and hit Vilgax dead on, sending him flying through the portal and crashing into a large tower.

"What has happened out there? Speak servant."

"Your servant speaks no more Diagon, he has been vanquished."

"Is that so?" Vilgax rose up from beneath the rubble and picked up a massive tower standing over the rest of the area "You are gravely mistaken boy, I speak for my master and that makes me more powerful than ever before!" he threw the tower at them.

"Guys look out!" Eatle was able to cover both Sir George and Alejandro just before they got crushed underneath the tower.

"At last, those pests are out of the way."

"Excellent now free me."

"Consider it done my master." Vilgax started breaking apart the seal, only to notice that Adam was still standing "Still coming back for more are you?"

Adam looked up and shot him a smirk "Well I've never been one to give up very easily or at all for that matter. Now then, not really sorry but you're gonna have to die. This is one of my most powerful attacks Vilgax, and you're about to eat all of that shit! Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!" he unleashed a massive blast of lightning, engulfing Vilgax and the seal and everything else in a massive explosion.

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At the same time, Gwen and Kevin had taken the Rustbucket 3 back to Bellwood to get one of her spellbooks, only to be attacked by hundreds of Esoterica soldiers, and they were barely able to hold them off long enough to enter Gwen's house and for Gwen to put up a large dome of Mana energy in order to keep the Esoterica at bay and buy them some time.

Unfortunately they didn't have any luck finding a containment spell strong enough to cast across dimensions, forcing them to improvise while fighting the Esoterica, which ended up taking a turn for the worst when Gwen was once again taken over by Diagon.

As it turns out, thanks to previously being controlled by a Lucubra, Diagon had now established a mental connection with her, and now she was being forced to race towards him, with Kevin following her in a car that he had stolen.

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By this point, Adam had been forced to one knee panting heavily "Dammit…"

"Adam?" that was when Bridgette came to "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, that attack just takes up a lot of energy is all."

"Your power, it is strong child. Perhaps stronger than even mine."

"I'm flattered." his tone was oozing sarcasm.

"Your power is far beyond that of my useless servant, the power that I had granted him was more than enough and yet he still fails me."

"Hey you made the choice to make Vilgax your herald even after he tried to steal your heart for himself, chances are this is gonna backfire even more later on."

"BE SILENT BOY!" a pissed off but heavily burned and badly wounded Vilgax burst up from the rubble again "I will not let you stop me from freeing my master, it is my duty as a vessel."

"Vessel? I thought you were a herald."

"He is merely a pawn of the dragon." Sir George rose up from within the rubble, with Alejandro and Ben right behind him.

"Are you guys alright?"

"We shall live, and whether this world survives or not Vilgax shall not."

"Took the words right out of my mouth

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Vilgax started firing random energy blasts in a blind rage.

"You guys take over for a minute, I need to recover my strength after the Roaring Thunder okay?"

"Just rest, you'll need it. Water Slicer!" Bridgette fired off a barrage of water blades at high speeds towards Vilgax, hitting him dead on and leaving various shallow cuts "It's at least five on one Vilgax, you're outmatch and outnumbered."

"That's where you're wrong girl." Vilgax snarled "The number of Esoterica on this planet is nearly infinite, nearly every other being on this planet serves the Diagon just as I do."

"Oh yeah sure you are." Eatle let out a loud snort "If you're really the Vilgax I know then you're not serving anyone but yourself."

"I've had enough of your lies Tennyson!" Vilgax fired another energy blast at Eatle, sending him flying into one of the other towers "I'm going to make you eat those words!"

"What of it, he has already eaten everything else." Sir George pointed out, earning looks from everyone present "Jocularity in the face of danger, I find that it helps to increase one's moral significantly."

"And now you may perish with your head held high!" Vilgax furiously fired off a barrage of energy blasts.

"Stay back young ones, let me show you what the first knight is capable of!" with his sword raised Sir George charged forward "Wind Scar!" he fired off a large blast of wind, quickly engulfing Vilgax in an explosion "I may have taken one or two pages from the book known as anime, that Inuyasha story for instance quickly caught my attention."

"And so will this!" Vilgax fired off one massive blast of energy at the group with a sadistic grin on his face.

"Humungousaur!" Ben transformed into Humungousaur to protect everyone from the blast, only for them to be forced on the defensive by Vilgax continuously bombing them with energy blasts.

"I have to give you credit, I'm finally starting to enjoy myself."

"And so am I! Cosmic Lightning… ROAR!" Adam unleashed a powerful blast of lightning from his mouth, sending Vilgax hurting back across the cave just as Kevin came speeding into the cave in the same stolen car "Oh crap I forgot about that part."

"What part is that exactly?"

"The part where Gwen got brain f*cked by Diagon and now he plans to use her anodite powers to break the seal since Vilgax has done such a crappy job of it up to this point."

"The boy speaks the truth. My so called herald has repeatedly failed to use the power that I have given him to break the seal."

"Did I call it? Yeah I totally called it."

"Fortunately, one of the most powerful beings in your world is at my command. Destroy the seal, my Anodite."

"Yes my master, such as task is easy enough." still under the control of Diagon, Gwen transformed into her Anodite form and swatted Humungousaur aside like a fly "The seal shall soon break, the great one shall make his return and the Diagon shall rule!"

"Take it easy Gwen, I don't want to hurt you." Humungousaur was met with a sinister chuckle in the voice of the Diagon "Well that's disturbing."

"You, hurt me?" Gwen brought Humungousaur to his knees with just a wave of her hand, causing him to revert back into Ben, then went onto breaking the seal.

"Water Slicer!" a barrage of water blades hit Gwen and sent her skidding backwards, courtesy of Bridgette "You know I hate fighting in pretty much every sense of it but Adam is way too chivalrous to hit a lady, but that doesn't mean that I can't protect him the way that he protects everyone else. Come on girlfriend, I'm your opponent now!" she charged in and unleashed a barrage of water bullets.

Gwen cranked her neck to the side to dodge them and dealt Bridgette a swift two punches and one kick to the gut, sending her skidding backwards "You cannot break the control that I hold over this vessel."

"We'll see about that. Water Whip!" Bridgette extended whips made of pure water energy from her hands and started lashing them around.

Gwen overpowered the water whips with a quick blast of Mana, sending Bridgette stumbling backwards, only to notice a strange energy radiating from her "This power, could it be? You hold within you the power of a single Cosmic Lacrima."

"So you noticed. I guess that means I don't have to hold this back anymore." with a surprising roar, Bridgette was suddenly engulfed in a blue light.

Adam was taken aback by this transformation "Wow, just… damn."

When the light dissipated, it revealed Bridgette, her body now surrounded by a blue aura with her eyes a deep ocean blue "You like it? This is my own Cosmic Force transformation, I mean it's not completed like Adam's is but it'll get the job done. Plus it lets me do this. Cosmic Water ROAR!" she unleashed a blast of water from her mouth, sending Gwen flying backwards and crashing into another tower in Diagon's dimension, causing Bridgette to fall to one knee as the transformation quickly subsided "Okay… that may not… have been… the best idea."

"Yeah well it bailed our asses out of the fire for a minute." Adam helped her back to her feet "So when did you learn you could do that?"

"Just now."

"...You just took a page from my book of anime references, I don't think I've ever been so turned on and so proud at the same time." this was followed by yet another tremor coming from the seal.

"Soon, very soon all of you shall face my wrath."

"Yeah whatever lets you sleep at night big guy." and cue another tremor "Yeah okay I feel like I'm to blame for that one."

"You kind of are." Ben told him dryly, now sporting an iron helmet.

"Where'd you get the head gear?"

"From Kevin before he went off to play prince charming with my cousin, which is why I'm gonna use Swampfire on his ass later."

"...I really do like you man."

"Your efforts are wasted." Vilgax told them "When the Diagon comes to this world, you shall be the first to die by his hand."

"Then you're gonna tell us how to stop that from happening and change all of the Esoterica back to human or we're gonna beat the answers out of you."

"Your taunts do not intimidate me, Master Diagon I need more power to crush those who would dare to stand against you!" but nothing happened "Master? Hello?"

"Looks like your 30 day trial with Diagon has expired." Adam received a number of looks from everyone present "Oh come on that one was a gimme!"

Ben nodded "Crappy pun aside you're totally on your own now."

"Not entirely actually, you know how I said I saw this before on TV?"

"Yeah?" this was followed by the sound of a ship landing.

"I know who's landing outside right now."

"So then you know what I plan to do." Vilgax blitzed over to the ship before any of them could stop him "You took your time to do what I asked you to do… Psyphon."

Sure enough, Psyphon stepped out of the ship and got down on one knee in front of Vilgax "My humble apologies master, gathering everything that you had required took much longer than I had anticipated. I-"

"I don't have time to listen to you prattling now where is it?"

"My apologies, I have it right here. Shall I-"

"No, not yet."

"Yeah he's right space dwarf, I've gotta kick his ass first." Adam got into a stance "Guys, prepare to start playing the main theme for Fairy Tail! I'm gonna transform and take Squid Lips down." he was about to do just that when there was another tremor, and he looked back to see a golden light engulfing the seal "Oh crap."

"At long last, the time is at hand."

"Yep we're f*cked."

"Indeed dragon, now it begins!" Sir George raised his sword.

"So tell me Sir George, did he…?"

"Indeed he did Young Master Anderson, tis the moment the Forever Knights have been preparing for for over one thousand years. The dragon has at last freed himself." this was followed by the seal crumbling into pieces and scattering away into the wind "So then where…"

"Take a look outside, this is why it pays to be a comic book nerd."

"Guys!" that was when Cody suddenly bolted into the cave "Man you guys are not gonna believe this, I got that kid over to Aurora and got back just in time to see the Diagon outside hovering over the battlefield and I nearly peed myself!"

"...Didn't need to know that Codemeister, where the hell is it?"

"Where am I, you ask?" a sinister chuckle ran through the air.

"And just like that." Adam and the others all rushed out of the cave back into the canyon "Yeah we're f*cked."

Sure enough, the massive form of the Diagon was looking down on all of them with its massive and intimidating gaze "I… am… EVERYWHERE!"

"And just like that I'm in the same position as Cody."

"At last, I am free. I am the Diagon. Behold my power, and tremble before it as your insignificant lives come to an end."

"Have at thee Dragon! Backlash Wave!" Sir George promptly fired off a Backlash Wave from the blade of Ascalon "What was it you would say Young Master Anderson, that's going to leave a mark?"

"Insignificant spec! You dare strike the Diagon? Vilgax, make amends for your previous failure and dispose of these specs." Diagon looked over, only to find that Vilgax was nowhere to be seen "Vilgax, show yourself to your master."

"Your herald as always is the first to arrive at the conclusion Diagon, you have already lost and he has abandoned you!"

"Fool, my resources are not limited to merely Vilgax. Every living being on this planet is at my command." and to prove this point, Diagon summoned 10 or so Esoterica, which promptly charged at the group in order to obey their master's command.

"Alright guys, you know what we've gotta do. Protect George." Ben prepared to slam down on the Ultimatrix.

"And what are you gonna do?" asked Adam.

"Something big."

"Good enough for me. Cosmic Tempest ROAR!" Adam unleashed a powerful blast of wind from his mouth and hit the Esoterica simultaneously, causing them to retreat between dimensions, only for several more Esoterica to appear in their place.

Ben took this opportunity to transform "WAY BIG! Hey Diagon, what do you say you try and pick on someone your own size? I-"

"You are a slightly larger spec than the rest of the specs infesting this world, but despite that you are still beneath my notice."

"You didn't let me finish my sentence." Way Big pressed the symbol on his chest, causing him to evolve into his ultimate form "ULTIMATE WAY BIG!" he charged at Diagon and hit him square in the nose.

"Impossible!"

"We're just getting started! NOW!"

"You heard him guys, hit him with your strongest attacks!"" Adam quickly flashed into his Cosmic Force form "Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!" he unleashed a powerful blast of lightning in one hand "Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: Shattered Light: SKY DRILL!" he unleashed a powerful blast of wind in the other hand, both blasts combining into one and slamming into Diagon "Come on guys I can't do this alone!"

"You don't have to Adam, I'm with you all the way! HERO'S LIGHT!" Cody unleashed his blast of Hero's Light, combining with Adam's wind and lightning attacks.

"Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: Crimson Nova!" Alejandro unleashed a blast of Holy Nova, hitting the Diagon dead on.

"Cosmic Water Cryo Bow!" Bridgette powered up to her semi Cosmic Force form and unleashed a large purple bow made of pure ice and hit Diagon, dead on.

"PUSH IT FURTHER!" Adam packed more power into his blast, the combined force of all four attacks along with Ultimate Waybig's attack blowing Diagon clear out of the skies and sending him crashing into a nearby damn, destroying it and flooding the entire canyon.

Diagon suddenly blitzed back in front of them, covered in clear wounds and burns all over with several of his tentacles missing "Insignificant specs, you dare to strike the mighty Diagon and expect to live to tell the tale?" he regenerated his wounds and tentacles within seconds "I cannot be destroyed. You, on the other hand…" he grabbed Ultimate Way Big using one of his tentacles and held him in place as he struck him with his Eye Beams, causing Ultimate Way Big to cry out in pain.

"Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: DIVINE THUNDERCLAP!" using the last of his strength that he could summon, Adam rose a hand up to the sky and a bolt of lightning struck him, yet he was able to control it, and guided it down so that it would strike Diagon, engulfing him in a massive explosion, cutting off several of his tentacles and forcing him to let go of Ultimate Way Big, leaving him to fall to the ground.

When the smoke cleared, Diagon was clearly injured, but he was able to regenerate within a matter of seconds "Still you continue to fight on boy. Tell me, is this sublime bravery or are you simply so unintelligent that you cannot even realize how hopeless your struggle truly is?"

Adam had now been forced back into his normal form, but that didn't cause his spirits to waver even the slightest bit "It doesn't really make that much of a difference now does it? Either way I'm gonna protect my friends and you're gonna get your ass kicked, depending on whether or not you actually have an ass in that pile of noodles and ugly that you call a face. God dammit now I want ramen. You know what screw it, just call it a metaphor. Cosmic Lightning… ANNIHILATION FIST BARRAGE!" he fired off a reasonably large fist made up of pure lightning, followed by several more follow up attacks, string the Diagon head on but not damaging him in the slightest "Yeah that's right, you have enough yet?"

"I most assuredly have." again with the nearly omnipotent powers, Diagon summoned a massive cloud of literal acid rain and lightning.

"Oh that's just bullshit!" Adam raised both of his hands and absorbed a blast of lightning from within the clouds that Diagon had summoned, and he channels that energy into hitting Diagon with another blast of Roaring Thunder "You know I've gotta give you props Almighty Serpent Squid, that little pick me up was just what I needed to get back to 100%. Who would've thought that I could absorb wind and lightning just like a Dragon Slayer straight out of Fairy Tail."

"Such is the nature of one who wields the power of a Cosmic Elemental." Diagon suddenly disappeared from view.

"Oh crap."

"Hold it!" Ultimate Way Big finally pulled himself back to his feet "Come back here… and fight me!"

"Do you truly believe that I would dare to run?" Diagon materialized in front of them, now in his basic squid like form "Why would I bother to leave and miss your demise before my conquest begins at last?" this was followed by the acid rain finally getting to Ultimate Way Big, causing him to collapse forward and revert back to Ben "And thus this world's greatest hope has fallen."

"Not by a long shot ugly! Cosmic Hurricane ROAR!" Adam breathed out a massive blast of both wind and lightning, striking Diagon but not hurting him.

"Your antics cease to be amusing." Diagon quickly caught Adam with his Eye Beams, reverting him back to his base form and sending him flying "Such is the fate of all who would ever dare to defy the great Diagon."

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Cody and the others continued fighting off the Esoterica, only for them to see Diagon looming over head "Whatever Adam and Ben did it didn't take, we've still got a giant angry space squid looming overhead."

"I don't see either of them." Bridgette muttered "You don't think Diagon…"

"Don't jump to conclusions, we know better than anyone that Adam would never go down as easily as that."

"Their admirable and honorable efforts were able to earn us this respite, I will not allow their efforts to go to waste! Hear me Diagon, taste the metal of my sword!" Sir George took this chance to charge at Diagon at full speed.

"You grow exponentially tiresome knight, and now this game draws to a close." Diagon fired a barrage of Eye Beams down at him.

Sir George deflected every blast with Ascalon and continued his charge without stopping or slowing down for even a second just as Ultimate Wildmutt charged back onto the battlefield and began literally tearing apart one Esoterica after another.

Adam quickly blitzed onto the scene "You guys better conserve your strength, call it gut instinct but I have a feeling we're gonna need it before the night is over."

Alejandro was the first one to catch onto what he meant "You're still worried about Vilgax and his henchman are you not?"

"I think it's a bad idea to ignore the giant octopus raining down Dragon Ball style energy beams from above us and leave that to a knight with a magic tech sword but if there's one thing that I've learned from binging on cartoons for years it's that when Vilgax is involved you can never take your eyes off of him even for a second."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Vilgax is up to something, but saving the world from the Diagon should come first, at least for now."

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The fated rematch between the Saint and the Dragon continued to rage on.

Diagon ceased with his relentless eye beams and looked down on Sir George with eyes filled with clear disdain "No threats, no clever and advanced words. Tell me George the Triumphant, are you tiring?"

Sure enough, Sir George was covered in slight wounds, panting heavily "My body may be slowing but my spirit and my conviction will never waver! Not until I see you dead and this world safe from your influence!"

"Then you shall die with those dreams in mind." Diagon fired off another barrage of Eye Beams.

"Chromastone!" that was when Chromastone blitzed in front of Sir George and absorbed the energy of the attack "Hey give him a break would you? The guy is over 2,000 years old and he's been fighting fire lightning ninjas all day, how could he not be tired? Frankly I think the old guy deserves at least some credit doesn't he?" he fired an energy blast at Diagon and cast a quick glance back at Sir George "Hey listen, if you've got any juice left in the magic sword then now would be the perfect time to use it!"

"Wise words, there may just be hope for you yet Young Master Tennyson. BACKLASH WAVE!" Sir George brought down Ascalon and fired off a Backlash Wave just as Chromastone stopped firing energy blasts.

"That's it, I'm tapped out of energy."

"Maybe not, how much power can you absorb in that form?" asked Gwen.

"A lot, wait what are you doing? Is this gonna hurt?"

"Just be quiet and let me improvise! Magnus Vox!" Gwen used one of her spells in order to charge up Chromastone with her power.

"...Yeah okay works for me." and so Chromastone went back to firing a barrage of energy blasts at Diagon alongside Sir George firing energy blasts from Ascalon, only for the former to soon be swatted aside like a fly by Diagon.

"That is enough! This shall not continue!" now beginning to lose his cool, Diagon summoned another group of dark clouds that began looming overhead.

Sir George stood in place unafraid "And pray tell Dragon what sorcery is this? Clouds cannot protect you from the spirit of a true knight!"

"Do not fear the clouds George, fear the lightning!" Diagon's eyes began glowing red.

"Is that so?"

"No you stay back, let me deal with this." Adam prepared to take the blast of lightning full force himself.

"No, it is not your place to Young Master Anderson."

"You've seen what happens thanks to Aurora, if you don't let me take this attack for you then you will die."

"It is fine, I am content with my fate. As a knight, we must be prepared to die in the defence of those we hold dear, which I believe you always have been Young Master… I mean, Adam. When I first met you held so little faith in yourself, and I saw that you had to force your conviction not to waver. But when I gazed upon you and saw you valiantly fight back against Vilgax when he wielded my sword Ascalon I saw you for what you truly held within you, the spirit of a dragon and a heart as strong as a lion and twice as big. As I watched you fight and persevere it was not your overwhelming power that impressed me, what you showed me over the past several days was something far more valuable than that. Creativity, versatility, intelligence, the spirit of protection, an unwavering soul that resolves itself over and over again. These are the traits that define not a great hero like Young Master Tennyson, but a great knight who protects his king to his dying breath, and these are the traits that define you. You once claimed that you did not believe yourself to be worthy, however I believe you are more worthy than any man that I have ever met before. More worthy than even me. When I looked at you, it was as if I saw the spirit of my past self, and now it makes me regret the mistakes that I had made even more, and yet it also made me feel a strong sense of true joy and happiness, something that I had not felt in a very long time. When I had lived my first lifetime before I had been made aware of my curse of immortality, I had always hoped that I would be able to one day inspire people, perhaps even become a legend in myself. That indescribable feeling of exhilaration and anxiety, seeing you brought back that feeling for me and for that I give you my thanks. Adam, a difficult path lies ahead for you to forge down, but never let your resolve waver and let your conviction stay strong and true. Let your heart stay true until your last breath. Remember these words Adam if none others, become a knight the likes of which the 10 dimensions themselves have never seen. Your resolve, your conviction, your iron will, never let them fade or waver for even a moment." he rose Ascalon high into the air "Come Diagon, strike me down now if you fear me as little as you claim!"

"Fear means nothing when faced with a mere spec. Now… DIE!" Diagon rained down a massive bolt of crimson colored lightning.

Sir George tried to stop the attack with Ascalon, but when the lightning had subsided he had lost both his armor and his youth, having been reverted back to his old man form, and he gave Adam a small sad smile "With these… final words… I bid you farewell… Sir Cosmic Knight." and with that, his body crumbled into ash and scattered into the wind, leaving only the sword behind where he once stood.

Adam hung his head, his hair covering his eyes as his fists both clenched so tightly that his hands began bleeding "I will, I give you my word. I always keep my word, and I will always protect my friends." his head snapped upwards, his eyes radiating with pure resolve "That's who I am and I'm not gonna let go of that!"

"Yeah yeah enough with the heroic speech for now already." Chromastone turned back into Ben and pulled himself back to his feet "It was working pretty well there for awhile, until Gwen's Mana ran out."

"Ben… Sir George, he didn't make it."

"Then that means that it's up to the seven of us."

"More like you guys are gonna watch the main act." Adam pressed his hand against the blade of Ascalon, the electricity stored within the blade being used to recharge himself, and his body began crackling with crimson electricity "Oh yeah that's the stuff. Anyway, if my memory serves me correctly, then that means that some major shit is gonna go down in the next few minutes or so."

"Shit of what variety exactly?"

"The universe destroying kind."

Diagon looked down on them as Sir George's remains finished scattering to the wind "Such is the fate of all who would ever dare to defy the will of Diagon."

"And yet despite that little display I'm still skeptical." that was when Vilgax finally showed himself again "My so called Master."

"Tell me Vilgax, do you presume yourself even remotely capable of betraying me? The one who granted you the power that you now possess?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"I have won a great victory here today, and at the moment I am currently overflowing with generosity. Beg me for forgiveness, debase yourself before my magnificence and unimaginable power and I just may grant you a demise that is quick and free of agony."

"Tell me something Diagon, did you really think that I was going to just stand by and let you conquer my universe? That right belongs to me and me alone, after I destroy you I'm going to rule yours along with this one."

"You truly are a fool, I am going to destroy your precious weapon and then condemn you to an eternity of pain and agony the likes of which you have never felt before."

"Then go ahead and strike me down."

"Very well, if you wish to die then I shall oblige you!" Diagon started firing his Eye Beams at the machine, only for it to start absorbing the energy.

"Arrogant fool, even I wouldn't let down my guard like that."

"What… What is this? I cannot stop!"

"Of course you can't. That machine isn't a weapon, it's a faux maniculous."

Psyphon nodded "Under any sort of normal circumstances this machine is simply meant to absorb power and draw it into itself."

"But my substance IS power!"

"Exactly, not the most fortunate truth for you at the moment."

"You… You WRETCHED FOOL! I swear by the might and glory of Diagon, you will pay for this treachery!" and with that, Diagon was sucked into the machine.

"It is you who is the fool for believing that my master Vilgax would ever stoop so low as to be a slave to anyone."

"You know what to do Psyphon." Vilgax left himself wide open "Do it."

"Of course master." Psyphon prepared to hit Vilgax with the power drainer.

"You do realize what's gonna happen right?" Adam pointed out "I mean with the Diagon's power added onto his own that's gonna make Vilgax unstoppable."

"Yes, I am aware. After all that is the purpose of my being here."

"And you realize that if he has the powers of a god or a demon or whatever the hell Diagon is then he'll no longer have any use for you."

"If that is my fate then so be it, I have dedicated my life to the servitude of my master and if I must die so that he reaches the level of power that he deserves then that was my intended destiny."

"And you're fine with that?"

"I am."

"...Just checking, now fire that sucker up. I want the chance to take Vilgax down when he's at his best."

"We shall see about that soon enough." and so Psyphon activated the machine, bathing Vilgax in a crimson light and causing his form to shoot up into the clouds looming overhead.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna be good."

"No!" Ben, Gwen and Kevin looked on in horror.

"The Esoterica once worshipped me because I looked like the Diagon." from within the clouds emerged none other than Vilgax, having now taken the form that Diagon had once possessed "Now I AM the Diagon! At long last Ben Tennyson, the universe is once more within my grasp! You will never thwart me again." and to add emphasis to the claim, he fired a pair of Eye Beams at the Ben 10 team.

"Eo Recedentia!" Gwen grabbed onto both Ben and Kevin and surrounded the three of them in a Mana dome just before the beams hit them, and when the blast subsided the three of them were gone, in their place being a large crater.

"Yes, YES! This power, it's greater than I could ever have dreamt of! With this power at my command, no one shall stand in my way!"

"That's where you're wrong." Adam stepped up to face him as his body began crackling with electricity, with Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro standing by his side "You of all people should know better than anyone that Ben 10 would never go down as easily as that, but you should also know by now that if you wanna get to Ben then you've gotta go through the four of us."

"Is that so?" at the declaration of this new challenge, Vilgax returned to his original Lucubra merged form, only now with blood red eyes instead of purple ones, and now his body was surrounded by a fiery glow "This flesh, this power, it is something that I have long for for so long! The time has come for me to at last begin the task of restoring my empire by destroying all of my enemies, starting with all of you! I will say that you've done an admirable job of surviving up to this point, but now you have ceased to be amusing." his raw aura alone was shaking the entire canyon.

"Oh man this guy's got some serious power backing him up, I should feel scared but the prospect is kind of exciting."

"Only you would say that." Alejandro noted dryly.

"But that doesn't mean it's not true."

"Now who shall die first?" Vilgax looked around rather mockingly "I think… the girl! Dark Capriccio!" he fired a large energy blast in Bridgette's direction.

Alejandro was to blitz in front of Bridgette and try to hold off the attack "You would dare to harm a senorita? You truly are nothing but a despicable coward!"

"Nonsense and pointless chivalrous ideals! Spare me your false beliefs boy!" Vilgax was quick to overpower Alejandro, sending him tumbling backwards "I take great pleasure in destroying all of those who would dare to defy me, why should some worthless human girl be an exception to that rule!"

"Because you just tried to fry my girlfriend! Cosmic Lightning THUNDER FIST!" Adam burst upwards from behind Vilgax and launched forward a fist made of lightning "Now go ahead and fry yourself squid lips!"

"I think not boy." Vilgax touched Adam's chest with a mere finger, the force of which sent him hurtling backwards and crashing into Alejandro.

Bridgette on the other hand found herself frozen in place 'I… I don't know what to do… I'm so terrified of this guy it's like… like he petrified me with just a glance.'

"Bridgette." Cody quickly snapped her out of her stupor "I know how scared you are right now and I know because I am too, but Adam never gave up on us and he never gave up in general so neither can we. He's protected us, now it's our turn to protect him. HERO'S LIGHT!" and so to prove his point, he fired his Hero's Light attack.

Vilgax was pushed back a few feet, but in the end he deflected it "An admirable effort but useless in the long run." he promptly hit Cody and Bridgette with a blast of crimson energy, sending them flying backwards and leaving all four of them in a heap.

Psyphon was quick to try and kiss Vilgax's ass "Excellent as always master, you have adapted flawlessly to the power of Diagon as I had expected. A single sweep of your hand and even the mightiest this world has to offer crumble before your unimaginable power-"

"Be silent Psyphon, you have done well in your task but do not test my patience. Besides, that was not the decisive blow that was necessary. Those humans are all still breathing." Vilgax grew a sadistic grin across his face "So then that means that I may continue to relish in the pain and suffering they feel, such is the fate of all who dare to defy Vilgax! I will conquer this universe for myself and bathe in the blood of all of those who would dare to stand in my way! All that is standing must fall by my hands and their bones be ground to dust beneath my feet!"

"You wanna bet Squid Face?" despite coughing up a good amount of blood, Adam was able to pull himself back to his feet and slammed his fist into the ground.

Cody was able to soon follow, panting heavily "I'm right… with you…"

"Cody, listen to me very carefully. I want you to take Bridgette and Alejandro and get out of here right now, I'm gonna have another crack at fighting Vilgax all by myself."

"What? But Adam-"

"No buts, I can't go all out knowing you guys are so close and can't defend yourselves or else I'll end up risking you getting caught in the crossfire. Take them and go rendezvous with Ben and his team at Mount Rushmore, see if you can find a way to turn the Esoterica soldiers back into humans."

"...Just promise me one thing. Kick his ass to kingdom come."

"Sure thing, and afterwards what do you say I take you and the others bowling to celebrate this win?"

"Yeah sure, just deal with this before then." so he grabbed Bridgette and Alejandro as well as his Yin Yang staff "You'd better not die on me Adam or I'll never forgive you." and so the three of them disappeared in a golden light.

"Oh trust me, I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"A promise you will never be able to keep." Vilgax let out a malicious chuckle "You may have been looking for a fight but one of us just signed our death warrant."

"Which raises the question Vilgax. Which one of us will make it out of here alive, you or me and my friends?"

"Only one way to find out."

"I guess so. Cosmic Tempest TALON!" Adam blitzed towards Vilgax and fired off a barrage of wind enhanced kicks.

Vilgax merely ducked underneath the attack, leaving Adam to sore overhead, which was just what he had wanted.

"Cosmic Lightning ROAR!" Adam breathed out a blast of lightning from his mouth, the blast hitting Vilgax at nearly point blank range.

When the smoke cleared, Vilgax had a few light burns across his face but aside from that he was nearly completely unharmed "Most impressive, I can see that you're clearly far more agile than you were a moment ago."

"Well now that it's just you and me I don't have to worry about hurting the others so that means that I can fight without having to hold back."

"An issue that I never had to deal with. Dark Capriccio!" Vilgax fired a dark blast of energy from his fingertips.

Adam managed to force himself out of the way right before the blast hit him, causing it to drill a hole into the side of the canyon.

"As you can see I'm ten times stronger now that the power of the Diagon belongs to me." and to prove this point, Vilgax waved his hand and the Dark Capriccio burst upwards from beneath the ground and decked Adam in the jaw, then began manipulating it through the air to strike him over and over again "You said before you were wondering which of us was going to make it out alive did you not? I think this display makes my point quite clear, the one that will survive this fight will not be you!"

"You wanna bet?! Cosmic Lightning THUNDER FIST!" Adam charged his fist with lightning and slammed it into the Dark Capriccio, straining to stop the attack as he was sent skidding backwards by the force, but eventually he was able to stop himself and dissolve the attack "Yeah that's not happening Squid Lips."

"I must say I am surprised that you were able to stop my attack with just one hand, but don't think something like that will be anywhere near enough for you to defeat me."

"Save me the arrogant spiel, I got enough of that from K'Vathrak and Lord Dregg as it is. I do have one thing to say first though." Adam got into a stance "I've never thought of myself as a hero or a savior or any of that, I didn't know what I was and for a long time I was just going with the flow of things. But a good man showed me that I can become something beyond a hero, a warrior who dedicates himself not to saving the world, but protecting what they hold dear and what they believe in."

Venit aveus ille

O Messiah, O Messiah

"The man who taught me this was a good man and a great knight, one who died the death of a true knight protecting his king."

Yuduliya ~ Vele

Yuduliya ~ Vele

Yuduliya ~ Vele

Yuduliya Iyaliya

"His name was Sir George, the first and true Forever Knight, and as thanks for what he taught me I will finish what he started." and so with a furious strain filled roar, Adam was engulfed in a massive white light and a force that shook the entire canyon.

Feel it drawing nearer

An endless fear that takes you hold

Feel it getting closer

Revealing such an evil soul

Vilgax was forced to brace himself so he wouldn't be blown away by "This power… What is he?!"

I can't surrender at the turning point of destiny

Right now it's do or die; my life is on the line and I will not flee

By my power

Woah-woah, it's clear to me!

My spirit grows and I will face this demon

Woah-woah, with burning energy

The day of fate has finally come!

The light dissipated to reveal Adam standing there, his hair now a shade of electric blue with silver colored stripes running through it, his eyes the same shade of blue, lightning bolt marks appearing down his arms and legs with his body crackling with electricity "I hope you're ready for this Vilgax, now the real fight is about to begin. This is what I've been saving up since this war against you, the Diagon and the Esoterica began. Even when I transformed before I was holding back because I didn't want Sir George or Bridgette or any of the others to get caught in the crossfire, but now that they're gone I can finally cut loose a little bit. And just for you I've pulled out all of the stops, and now I'm giving you what I know you've been yearning for. Every last ounce of my maximum power has been brought to the surface, and now I'm gonna use it to take you down Vilgax, once and for all."

"Is that so?" Vilgax shot him a look of disdain "You've made a great mistake boy by daring to challenge me all on your own, I hold a power greater than anything else in this universe and even now you dare to stand against me."

"You don't scare me Vilgax, you didn't before and you don't now. I know that I'm not perfect by any means but that's what it means to put your trust in others, you understand and accept one another faults and all and you grow stronger together. My friends are what give me strength, the strength I need to take down scum like you!" with the ground shattering beneath his feet with every step he took, Adam blitzed forward and dealt Vilgax a vicious headbutt, followed by a sharp kick to the gut, sending him crashing through the wall of the canyon.

Vilgax bolted to his feet and fired another Dark Capriccio blast.

Adam backhanded it away with one hand without even flinching, and he charged forward and dealt Vilgax a rapid barrage of punches and kicks, receiving a kick to the jaw in the process, but he quickly rebounded and responded with a kick to the torso.

"DIE!" Vilgax backhanded Adam straight across the face.

"Cosmic Lightning… ROAR!" Adam breathed out a blast of lightning at Vilgax at point blank range, sending him soaring into the air before he crashed to the ground in a heap.

'This power… No, it couldn't be…' Vilgax pulled himself back to his feet and studied Adam for a moment, and he seemed to see the silhouette of what looked like a hulking dragon creature appear behind him 'This is the power of the legends, the Cosmic Force!'

Adam took a moment to get a grip on his newfound power 'Man this is insane, I knew that each time I transformed before I was holding back so that I wouldn't accidentally hurt the others but I had no idea I had this much power left over. My power must be double what it was when I fought against Metallum, maybe even triple that!'

"I never expected you to be able to master such a power. The Cosmic Force is the ultimate level of power that can be achieved by one who holds a Cosmic Lacrima, from what I understand it gives the user destructive power greater than any other force in the universe. I must say the prospect of seeing what this power is capable of is quite intriguing, so show me what the power of a Cosmic Elemental is truly capable of!"

"Are you sure you want me to do that?"

"The power of a Cosmic Elemental against the power of Diagon, or rather I suppose now I should say the power of Vilgax. The concept intrigues me. Show me."

"Fine, but you asked for it! Cosmic Lightning ANNIHILATION FIST!" Adam fired off a massive fist made of pure lightning.

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At the same time, Cody materialized with Bridgette and Alejandro inside the Plumbers' base at Mount Rushmore "Good, looks like we made it."

"You guys alright?" Ben helped them to their feet.

"More or less. So this is the base inside of Mount Rushmore, that's gotta be some kind of record."

"Across a normal planet sure, believe it or not that takes a lot more energy than it does to travel across dimensions."

"Makes sense, I mean other dimension or not you're still technically standing in the same spot as before." Ben handed him a glass of juice "You'd better get something in you, you've gotta be wasted after that."

"Thanks."

"Sure. So what's the ETA on Vilgax?"

"We fought him all at once but he wasted us without even batting an eye, Adam made me take these two away while he fought Vilgax one on one."

"Is he nuts?"

"Quite the opposite, I know Adam and I know as well as him that he couldn't go all out knowing we were still there. We was trying to protect us so that we wouldn't get caught in the crossfire and now he must be giving Vilgax a run for his money."

"Huh. Makes sense."

"So where are Gwen and Kevin?"

"They're outside fighting off Vilgax's Esoterica, I'm staying here to wait for you guys and see if you need help."

"Well now you don't have to worry, I'm gonna go back and help him. After all we can't let him kill Vilgax or…"

"Yeah I know, plus they're the fact that we've gotta get the power of Diagon out of Vilgax somehow."

"I think I have the answer to that." Ben picked up something that he had collected before he was teleported away from the battlefield, in the form of Ascalon, and he used the sword to cut open a portal "I'll send some kind of flare when the battle is over." and he disappeared into the portal, which then closed behind him.

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The battle between the dragon and the Cosmic Knight raged on.

Vilgax was able to block Adam's Cosmic Lightning Thunder Fist, but just barely, and he promptly slammed his hands into the ground "You will never be able to defeat me! Dark Gravity!" he slammed his hands onto the ground and shattered it, causing Adam to fall into some sort of underground chasm, causing Vilgax to smirk sadistically "Don't tell me that I was able to defeat you as quickly as this, I expected more from the mighty Cosmic Elemental." and he leapt into the chasm himself.

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Adam found himself lying near a large hole filled with molten lava "Hot damn he threw me really far down into that hole.

"Dark Deletion!" Vilgax burst downwards towards him.

Adam was able to use a blast of wind from his Wind Stormers to push himself back up to the surface, narrowly avoiding being hit by the attack.

"Zero Slash!" Vilgax summoned a Dark Capriccio and used it like a whip.

Adam managed to maneuver his way around the attack "Cosmic Tempest ROAR!" he breathed out a blast of wind and hit Vilgax in the fact at point blank range.

"Dark Delete!" Vilgax burst out from the rubble and fired a barrage of energy blasts, managing to hit Adam with it as the marks across his body began to fade, and then Vilgax followed up by hitting Adam square in the chest with a Dark Capriccio, sending him tumbling backwards "Is this all of the power the might Cosmic Elemental is capable of?"

"NOT EVEN CLOSE!" Adam burst out from beneath the rubble and clashed with Vilgax, their fists colliding in a massive shockwave that shattered the cliffs of the canyon, but it quickly backfired as Adam's Cosmic Knight form suddenly ran out, leaving him at Vilgax's mercy 'This is bad, I guess my body must've reached its limit.'

Now in complete domination over the battle, Vilgax looked down on Adam and began stomping on his back "Are you telling me this is the best the almighty Cosmic Force is capable of? The legendary Cosmic Elementals once ruled over the universe and this is the extent of their so called unrivalled power?! Such a travesty is nothing but ludicrous, and this embarrassment of a battle shall be forgotten." he fired an energy blast and prepared to finish Adam off, only for a figure to deflect it, one that Vilgax recognized all too well "So you've returned… Ben Tennyson."

Sure enough, Ben stood before him holding Ascalon pointed at his adversary "You didn't really think I was just gonna up and run did you Vilgax?"

"Of course not, I was merely occupying myself with that boy. As if he could ever hope to defeat me, power of Diagon or not. I am far more powerful that a mere brat like him could ever dream of being."

"And yet you could never defeat me."

"Which leads us to where we are now, here once again. Me, more powerful than ever and on the cusp of total and utter victory and domination. You, the last man standing and the only slim hope left for this world this universe as a whole. Tell me, what will it be? Diamondhead or Swampfire, or perhaps one of your tiresome ultimate aliens? Perhaps you have yet another new irritating transformation to spring on me?"

"No transformations, not this time at least. But I do have one last surprise." he raised Ascalon up for emphasis.

"The sword that Azmuth gave to the old man."

"Yep, goes nicely with the watch don't you think?" he gestured to the Ultimatrix "Kind of a matching set."

"...I'm going to miss these little get togethers of ours." and so Vilgax fired another Dark Capriccio.

Ben cut the blast in half using Ascalon "Hot damn this is a good sword."

"I'm not afraid of you Tennyson, I never have been and I never will be!"

"Yeah well if you were smart then you would be Vilgax, you see I just figured out how to use this thing." and to prove his point Ben was suddenly clad in a knight's armor, only it was green like the Ultimatrix, and Ascalon had turned green as well "Now them, it's Hero Time-"

"Hold it." despite some struggles, Adam was able to pull himself back to his feet with blood pouring from his wounds "You know something Vilgax, what you said before has really been bugging me."

"Is that so?" Vilgax looked on at Adam with disdain "And what would that be?"

"You said that my strength comes from the Cosmic Lacrima within me, but that could be further from the truth. It's not the Cosmic power or anything like that that gives me strength, it's the knowledge that my friends are alive and well that's more than enough to keep me going. I can feel them in spirit cheering me on, I can hear their voices loud and clear and they're telling me that no matter what happens I can't give up on this fight. My friends are what keeps me going, encouraging me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. They're the only reason I'm still drawing breath!" and as if on cue, Adam's Cosmic Knight form roared back into life "Their spirits are so strong, I can feel their power and spirits flowing into me, their strength overflowing in my soul! MY FRIENDS ARE MY REASON FOR LIVING!" and his power level exploded even higher "Ben stay back, I wanna finish this one myself."

"Spare me the theatrics. If there were some way, if I could harness the power of your Cosmic Force for myself. Unfortunately such a thing is not possible, but since I no longer have any use for you I shall unleash my ultimate attack and return you to the nothingness from once you came! GENESIS ZERO!" he formed a ring of black and green energy "And now you shall be dragged into the depths of nothingness!"

"Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: SHATTERED LIGHT: LIGHTNING DRILL!" using every ounce of power he could muster, Adam unleashed his Shattered Light: Sky Drill, only with lightning energy mixed into it, and with another mighty roar he burst forward.

"This universe shall come to an end before me very eyes, within a matter of moments my new era of nothingness shall be ushered in! Genesis… ZERO!" using the Genesis Zero, Vilgax summoned a horde of black demonic spirits "Now open, portal of the traveller's wails! Go travellers of the void between dimensions, I want you to consume the soul of that boy as well as his memory! Consume his very existence!" and so the souls that were lost between dimensions engulfed Adam and snuffed out his attack, engulfing him before they disappeared "And now you too are one of the souls trapped between dimensions in the infinite void, farewell." then he turned to Ben "I didn't expect you to actually stay out of it, isn't it like a hero to swoop in and help someone in need?"

"Maybe like a hero, but that would mean disrespecting a knight's honor. Adam is a brave knight who protects what he believes in, so it was only right to let him have a go." Ben proceeded to raise Ascalon "Now then, as my old friend Sir George used to say, and as my new friend Adam has adopted from him, have at thee!" he pulled down the visor on his helmet and charged forward.

Vilgax met his charge, resulting in a blinding white light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Adam found himself in the void between dimensions, his mind drifting with the endlessness of the void 'What the hell… What is this? This sucks, I can't see anything and I can't hear anything except for my own thoughts. I don't have any strength left, and even if I did Vilgax made it pretty clear that it wouldn't be enough to take him out. But Bridgette, Cody and Alejandro, and Ben and the others too, they're all counting on me, and now Ben is fighting Vilgax on his own. What the hell am I supposed to do?'

"What you're supposed to do is get a grip you peon." a hauntingly familiar voice echoed throughout the void "What the hell happened to you? How could you let some stupid squid man defeat you so easily? Such a letdown, and to think you once managed to defeat me?"

'That voice… No way, it can't be… Mal."

Sure enough, a silhouette of Mal appeared before him, but he didn't appear as malicious or hateful as he once had and he also lacked the same shadowy presence that had always accompanied him, instead he appeared rather benevolent "Was all that talk about protecting those you hold dear just a load of hot air? And you think you can protect them, especially Mike, when your willpower is so weak that you let him take you down? I thought you knew how to take pride in your resolve."

"Of course I do. You know something Mal, for the first few years after our first fight I thought that beating you was the only reason I had to live, but thanks to the people in my life like Carlos and Bridgette and everyone else I now have a reason to live past it, a reason to actually want to survive. I strayed from the path you tried to set me on, and now I'm forging a new path, one that I carved myself. When you show yourself I'm gonna fight you just like you want but I won't fight for the sake of revenge, it'll be for the reason I promised myself years ago: to save my friend, and I won't let you drag me back onto that path. Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta find a way to get back to the battlefield."

"Why do you think I'm here? Listen up peon, I'm gonna go ahead and give you a hand this time around."

"What you wanna take me over the way that you did Mike, is that it? Forget it, I already told you that I'm not your pawn and I never will be-"

"Spare me your noble speech on heroics or whatever, my motives are totally selfish and all I'm gonna do is give you a small portion of my power. You already know as well as I do that you coming into Mike's life is the main reason why he's suffered as much as he has, you're the one who forced my hand. But still despite that the last thing I need is for Mike to be turned into some mindless Esoterica. Plus I hate that giant Diagon lizard thing, I'd rather have to deal with you than him. Besides, if anyone is going to kill you then it's gonna be me. That right belongs to me and me alone, you got that?"

"...Fine, what do you have in mind?"

"This." Mal slammed his fist directly into Adam's chest, flames covering his arm and being transferred into Adam's body "Now go get him. Oh and one last word of advice, keep an eye out for the shadow and make sure it doesn't mess with you any more than it already has." and with that, Mal faded away.

Adam stared at his hands, which were now covered in crimson flames, and he gripped his fists tightly "Right!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The battle raged onwards.

Vilgax ducked underneath a slash from Ascalon and dealt Ben a solid uppercut, sending him skidding backwards "You think you have what it takes to defeat me?"

"I don't think it, I know it!" Ben charged at Vilgax and fired off a barrage of slashes from his sword.

Vilgax blitzed in front of Ben and attempted to smash him down into the ground, and he fired off a barrage of energy blasts.

Ben managed to cut through all of them in one clean stroke "You sure you wanna keep going like this?"

"Even with the power of Azmuth's sword you're far too weak, you'll always be weak. After all of these years my darkest shame can be wiped from the face of the universe forever."

"You're talking to me about being weak? You're the one who stole Diagon's powers in order to beat me but you couldn't even beat Adam."

"That boy is lost between dimensions, he will never see the light of day again."

"YOU WANNA BET?!" a thunderous voice roared.

Vilgax was suddenly slammed in the jaw by a bolt of lightning "What?!"

Ben looked back and smirked "Well well, took your sweet time getting back. I've gotta say I like the new look Adam."

Sure enough, before them stood Adam, now back in his Cosmic Knight form but with one noticeable difference, that being that half of the silver strikes through his electric blue hair had turned a deep shade of crimson "Looks like that fiery little jumpstart was more than enough to get me back here."

"What up with the change in appearance though?"

"The last person I expected to see showed up in my head and he gave me some of his powers for the fight, he said that if anyone was gonna take me down then it was gonna be him. You'd better stand back Ben, this bastard is mine."

"...Kick his ass to kingdom come." so Ben backed off.

"I plan to." Adam's body began crackling with electricity, a strong wind surrounding him as well, along with a barrier of crimson colored flames "Get ready for round 3 Vilgax, you're gonna pay for what you've done to my friends and to everyone else. This power is amazing, I've never felt anything like it!'

"Don't think you can intimidate me boy!" Vilgax fired off a Dark Capriccio, only for it to suddenly dissipate "What?!"

"YOU'RE MINE!" Adam surged forward and slugged Vilgax directly across the face, sending him crashing into the wall of the canyon "Cosmic Tempest TALON!" he followed up with a wind enhanced kick to the face, which was followed by Vilgax being hit out of nowhere by a bolt of lightning, followed by Adam dealing him a barrage of punches and kicks enhanced by wind, lightning and fire in that order, the pattern repeating itself "This is what happens to anyone who messes with my friends! This is for Bridgette, for Cody, for Alejandro, for Sir George, and for everyone you and the Diagon and his Esoterica have hurt! BURN IN HELL VILGAX!"

"YOU GO FIRST!" Vilgax prepared to fire off another Genesis Zero, only for the energy blast to dissipate before it could even form "What?!"

Yeah as it turns out, Ben had managed to cut through the attack using Ascalon "I've had just about enough of you."

"TENNYSON!"

"Now's your chance Adam, finish it!"

"RIGHT!" with a mighty roar, Adam's triple elemental Cosmic Knight form began radiating even greater power as he surged forward.

"You come any closer and I'll kill you where you stand!" Vilgax began desperately firing a barrage of energy blasts.

Adam powered through all of them without even batting an eye and blitzed behind Vilgax before he could react "Cosmic Tempest CYCLONE STRIKE!" he dealt Vilgax a two handed wind attack from behind, sending him flying high into the air.

"I wanna get in on this too!" Ben charged at Vilgax in mid air and slashed him across his torso using Ascalon, before following up with a large barrage of slashes, sending Vilgax crashing to the ground "Now Adam, deal the finishing blow!"

"Right! And now Vilgax, this battle ends! Advanced Cosmic Elemental Secret Art: Cosmic Lotus: EXPLODING HURRICANE BLADE!" using every last ounce of power that he could muster, blowing Vilgax away in a massive explosion that engulfed the entire canyon and the surrounding area.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cody looked out from the Plumbers' base inside Mount Rushmore and saw the explosion in the distance 'Looks like they ended this.' he looked back to where Bridgette and Alejandro were coming too "You guys ready?"

Bridgette nodded "We're ready, they're gonna need our help."

"I doubt that but we should still hurry, let's go get Gwen and Kevin and head back to the battlefield."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The dark clouds overlooking the canyon seemed to dissipate along with the smoke from the ensuing explosion.

The battle was over, and the heroes, or rather hero and knight, had won at long last.

Vilgax had been left on the ground in a bloody and burnt heap, his aura from the power he had stolen from Diagon flickering out of existence "That power… it gives you… the power of… a Cosmic Elemental… and in turn… the power to defeat them as well… You truly are… the warrior of the universal prophecy… the Warrior of the Hurricane…"

"We've been over this before Vilgax, but clearly you still don't get it." Adam finally dropped back to his normal form "My strength doesn't come from the Cosmic Lacrima, sure it's what gives me these insanely badass elemental powers but what gives me the strength to use those powers is my burning desire to protect my friends. That's something you never did really understand." he coughed up some blood 'No more doubting myself, no more fearing the what ifs of the choices I make. From now on it's non stop fighting and protecting until I know that my friends are safe. I never thought I'd say this but… thank you Mal.'

"I… suppose not…"

"And you know something else? This right here is something that someone should've done a long time ago." out of nowhere, Ben stabbed Vilgax in the torso with Ascalon, bathing the are in a white light.

When the light dissipated, it revealed Vilgax, now back in his normal form, still drained of any power "You… You stabbed me!"

"Don't act like such a wimp, all I did was use the sword to absorb all of the power that you stole from Diagon. Oh yeah, and I absorbed the powers that you stole from the heroes of those ten worlds that you conquered."

"You know I've gotta admit, I'm glad you came back." Adam commented "I mean if it wasn't for you then I doubt I would've been able to defeat him."

"Yeah well my victories usually aren't solo."

"Then you… truly are a fool…" Vilgax's tone was laced with venom and mischief "You have the Ultimatrix, the sword of Azmuth and the power of Diagon, all at your fingertips."

"Yeah what's your point?"

"You claim to be a hero… now that you have all of this power at your disposal…what do intend to do with it?"

"Well the first thing I'm gonna do is turn every Esoterica on Earth back into humans and undo what was done by Diagon."

"You always… think too small… Tennyson… We are alike… you and I… we take the universe… in our hands… and mold it… to our will… You say you want peace and justice… I say you use your power, with little more than a single thought you could wipe out all evil…"

"...I really could couldn't I?"

"Yes… do it…"

"Back it the hell up a minute Tennyson." Adam cut him off "I think we've both seen enough movies to know that if the bad guy is making sense then you know that something is seriously wrong."

"Do you not… see it boy? Adam? The end of… your struggles… is at hand… He can create… whatever universe… he imagines… You could wipe out… all evil… Do it."

"Tennyson you can't really be thinking about taking moral advice from Vilgax? Do I really need to point out how stupid that sounds? And I'm pretty sure that your girlfriend is here to prove my point."

Sure enough, at that moment Julie dropped down from the sky covered by Ship in the form of a suit of armor, with Cody and the others appearing not far behind her "I thought we agreed that we were gonna make all of our big decisions together."

"Ship's a good hunting dog, I'm guessing that's how you found us right?" Ben was answered with a bark from Ship.

"You know we all love you Ben, you know that I love you. That's why we can't let you do this, if you try to then you're the same as Vilgax or Diagon or Aggregor or any of the other bad guys you've beaten so far."

"You would try and stop me?"

"I'd take you down without a second thought." Adam's tone was flat.

"And you're not afraid of me?"

"We've never had any reason to be afraid of you, least of all me."

"Oh please. Julie you're always telling me that I should use my technology and power to help more people, well now I can help everyone at once."

"There's a line with these things Tennyson, I don't know where it is exactly but I've come close to crossing it enough times to know that this is way on the wrong side of it."

But Vilgax wasn't done trying to tempt him "Power is meaningless if it isn't used, do it."

"Yeah okay I've had more than enough of you." and without even looking at him, Adam proceeded to hit Vilgax with a blast of lightning at point blank range, atomizing him before he even had time to scream, ending his reign of terror "Don't you get it yet Tennyson? It's the power, it's messing with your head. You're tempted like Gwen was tempted to go full Anotide or like when Kevin threw a huge destructive tantrum after he absorbed the power of the Ultimatrix in order to stop Aggregor. You can't force your answers on everyone. After everything that you've accomplished, everything you've been through, is this really how you want all of that to end?"

"That's enough! Just stop talking, I need to think!" and so Ben walked off a short distance away to think.

'Huh. So he really is voiced by the same guy that voiced Sasuke Uchiha, now I'm really starting to hear it.'

Ben began reminiscing on the events over the past two years, from putting the Omnitrix back on to losing it to Vilgax and putting on the Ultimatrix, and from his secret identity being revealed to the world to the present 'No, this isn't how the story of a hero ends.' so with his resolve solidified, Ben placed both of his hands on Ascalon and held up the sword as a white light emerged from the blade that covered the entire planet, before the light disappeared "And that's how we do it when it's Hero Time."

"So what did you do?"

"What I said I was going to do, turn every Esoterica on Earth back into humans, with all of the free will that goes along with that." and so he retracted his armor back into Ascalon, with the sword returning to normal as well and dropped the sword to the ground.

"I knew you wouldn't let us down Ben." Julie ran up to Ben as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a heated kiss.

"And now I'm sure, that was totally worth giving up all of that power."

"Yeah but getting to keep both the power and the girl is awesome too." Adam was promptly nudged in the gut by Bridgette "But still I knew you would do the right thing, way to be the hero."

"Well being a knight doesn't look so bad either. I've really gotta thank you Adam, if it wasn't for you then this could've turned out a lot worse than it actually was."

"Well it turned out better than it did in the TV version, that battle was super anticlimactic and it only lasted for like a minute. Plus in that version Winston died and Vilgax was only arrested."

"You just offed him."

"Did the universe a favor."

"And in this version that kid survived, so I guess your presence has a lot more of an impact than either of us had thought." Ben looked down at Ascalon "So that raises the question, what are we gonna do with this?"

"Aurora said that she arranged with Azmuth for me to have that, but I think the main goal was for me to awaken my Cosmic Knight form."

"Indeed it was." that was when Azmuth appeared before them "I suggest you return that sword to its creator. Aurora did speak the truth about the sword being intended for the Warrior of the Hurricane, but before that I have to make some modifications to it. Only then will I allow you to wield it."

"Fine, whatever you've gotta do."

"Very well. Now then, Ben Tennyson."

"Way ahead of you." Ben held out Ascalon to Azmuth, which prompted him to touch it and send it off into the stars "You were right, that's too much power for any-" he paused when he noticed that Azmuth was expecting something else "What?"

"The Ultimatrix, give it to me."

"...Okay." so Ben held out his wrist, causing the Ultimatrix to fall off and disappear, much to his surprise "But Azmuth I thought I proved that I was worthy."

"As usual you don't understand, you have proven your worth but this inferior copy of my Omnitrix isn't worthy of you."

"I… I don't-"

"Oh for the love of- Will you just look at your wrist already?"

Ben looked down at his wrist and noticed a certain something attached to him "No way, is this a new Omnitrix?"

"That's not just any Omnitrix, this is the Omnitrix. Or more accurately it's an improved version that I've been working on ever since you gained the prototype six years ago."

"I don't know how I can even begin to thank you."

"You can thank me by continuing to do the right thing."

"...I don't suppose you'd be willing to give me the Master Control?"

"Ask me again on your eighteenth birthday." and with that, he disappeared.

Ben looked over at Julie, Gwen and Kevin, then down at his new Omnitrix "So then I guess the adventure continues."

"And in the meantime, we've gotta be heading back." Adam took this chance to shake hands with Ben "If you ever need help again then just call."

"The same to you, Cosmic Knight. You take care now."

"You too Mr Hero Time." and with that, he, Cody, Bridgette and Alejandro all took their leave back to their dimension.

A/N:

Now that Adam has gained his Cosmic Knight form and a good portion of his Cosmic Knight armor, I figured it was time to wrap up the Diagon plot from the Ben 10 dimension, with an epic battle between Adam and Vilgax to go with it. I mean sure the ending of Ultimate Alien was kickass but I've noticed some people point out that the final battle between Ben (with Ascalon) and Vilgax (with the power of Diagon) was a little bit lackluster. So yeah, Cosmic Knight Adam vs Diagon Vilgax with Adam just barely losing and Vilgax being weakened enough to the point where he would lose to Ben for the umpteenth time in the end.

I gave Alejandro the ability to manipulate light energy (or Chi, Ki, whatever the hell you want to call it) because I figured he needed something so that he could keep up with the others, that and I thought it would be both cool and fitting for him to have a pair of energy claws like Black Panther (only able to fire off blasts of energy from the tips of the claws) since his Crimson Jaguar power is based on that of the Black Panther.

I gave Bridgette her own Cosmic Force semi transformation (she only has one Cosmic Lacrima in her body during the actual battle) early because I wanted to make sure she could keep up with Adam and the others, and to further make sure of this also gave her ice manipulation abilities.

The speech that Sir George gave Adam right before his death was a combination of two speeches from two shows, or one show and one anime: the speech that Piandao (the Fire Nation master swordsman) gave Sokka in Avatar: the Last Airbender when he gave him his sword, and the speech that Obito gave Naruto and Kakashi right before his death in Naruto: Shippuden.

I decided to let Winston survive this time because I actually kind of liked him, and I figured that with Sir George gone now someone needed to be able to lead the Forever Knights. I mean aside from the missing arm that is, but I'll go into that next chapter.

I figured that part of the reason for the final fight being so lackluster was because of how Ben didn't even use the power of the Ultimatrix and just stabbed Vilgax using the sword, so I decided to come up with something somewhat new: the Ultimatrix altering the effects of Ascalon so that Ben's armor is green instead of silver, plus the blade of Ascalon turns green with the Ultimatrix symbol on the blade. Pretty cool right?

Adam gaining Ascalon after everything is all said and done was an idea that I came up with a while ago, I was just going to let him keep Shatterstorm but I decided that a battleaxe like that wasn't very knight like so I cut out Shatterstorm in his last battle with Metallum and decided to give him Ascalon instead. I was going to just have him forge his own sword out of a meteorite like Sokka did in that one episode of Avatar: the Last Airbender, but I figured this was better.

The scene where Adam transforms for his final battle with Vilgax features lyrics from the Team Four Star cover of Day of Fate that they used in DBZ Abridged. I thought it was fitting for the scene and it was a good homage to Team Four Star.

Mal appearing in Adam's subconscious to spur him on was an idea that I came up with at the last minute, it's meant to do three things:

First off all, it's based on Kurama giving Naruto some of his power during the initial encounter with Madara.

Secondly, it's meant to give Mal some character development. Seriously, the last thing I want is for my big bad to have such a one dimensional personality. Plus I have a plot twist in mind for later that I came up with while I was watching Fairy Tail.

Thirdly, it's meant to give Adam something totally kickass.