Ohhhh, BOY, the last chapter of the Atlas arc! This is really something.

So, on the schedule for the next few months; back to single chapter releases. Aiming to air them on Saturdays for that feeling of waking up on a Saturday and watching Ben 10 / RWBY air. The Ever After arc is pretty intense here, and probably one of the few arcs to be written a few months after the canon one came out.

I'm glad I was able to release it here? I'm going on vacation soon and the timezone in Hawaii is wonky.

Thank you all for reading so far! I only wish this was Chapter 200

Anyways, here's your chapter. Here's the Discord: /cgFmXz3qJ5

Cinder's eyes went wide and her anger finally boiled over when she saw Ruby vanish. She flipped over Winter's Beowolf claws and kicked the elder Schnee daughter and summoned an explosive sigil beneath her feet. The magical landmine detonated and launched Winter away, giving Cinder the opening she needed. Flames erupted beneath her feet as Cinder rushed forward, burning past Vilgax. She spared the tyrant a single glance of hatred before she moved beyond him, gunning right for Ben.

"Vilgax might want you to suffer, but I just want you DEAD!" Cinder hissed, summoning one of her glass blades and moving to just impale Ben this time.

Ben was hearing white noise. His mind was stuck, screaming at him for his own stupidity. Why wasn't he faster? Why wasn't he stronger?! Why wasn't he ENOUGH in this case?

Why...

Did everything fall apart...

For the guy who had the power of a God on his wrist?

...

It was a weird time to remember Vengeance in all of his muddled thoughts.

Cinder was mere inches away from Ben, a mad grin on her face. This was it. This was where she got her revenge, where Ben Tennyson and Ruby Rose died! Finally!

Ben blinked as he figured it out.

Oh.

This is where he lost everyone...

The realization almost felt...strange. Like he'd known this was the case the whole time. It didn't help the pain in his heart, but...

It gave him a second to turn to Cinder and smash her in the face.

Cinder was caught off guard as Ben's fist connected with her face, sending her stumbling back. She was momentarily disoriented, but quickly regained her focus, her eyes burning with fury.

"You think a little punch is going to stop me?" she sneered, lashing out with her glass blade.

Ben just stared back at her blankly.

"...Winter." the wielder of the Omnitrix called out, his voice hoarse.

Winter, after having been blasted back by Cinder's previous mine, had rushed over to check on Penny's sister. She'd fallen to her knees, cradling the body of Eunice. She looked over her shoulder, to see Ben, with the most broken smile imaginable painted across his face.

"I cannot destroy." Ben quoted. "Remember...Ambrosius said that."

Winter's eyes widened as Ben took a step back.

"If there's...even a chance...that they're all still alive..." Ben trailed off.

"Ben, don't-!" Winter yelled.

"I'm sorry." Ben wiped a tear coming down his cheek. "I have to know. I have to risk it-"

"BEN!" Winter screamed.

"I'll...I'll call. I'll call Ceres. The second I get back. I promise!" Ben insisted. "Just...I need to KNOW!"

Before Cinder could even leap back into action, her eyes widened as Ben stepped off the path. The Fall Maiden looked over the side and watched her enemy fall into certain oblivion on his own volition. She growled and formed up her bow, knocking an arrow and taking aim before letting it fly. The glass arrow flew straight, aimed right at Ben. Cinder would not let Ben just take the coward's-!

She watched as Ben scattered into golden dust, the arrow flying right past where the Omnitrix user had been and continuing on into nothingness.

"NO!" Cinder screeched.

Ben recalled the time Ruby explained the Beacon initiation, how the teams were formed. She said they were launched through the air and then landed somewhere random in the Emerald Forest. Ben always thought it sounded too extreme, but then again, it was Ruby's life. That was normal.

Normal.

There it was again, that funny little word. Would anyone 'normal' take a risk so big, just to maybe see their friends again? Probably not.

But again, the most normal thing Ben had was...his friends and family. Both here...

And wherever he'd end up.

Cinder growled, ready to fire another arrow uselessly into the void, but Vilgax put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"We have what we came for," Vilgax said, holding up the golden Lamp.

Cinder took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The anger, still burning inside of her, even more so now that she'd been denied, had to be contained. While she didn't like it, the Fall Maiden managed to slap a lid on her fury. For now, at least.

"...fine." Cinder finally spoke, shooting one last look into the void.

"A tragedy, really. Tennyson truly didn't have the resolve to live after losing." Vilgax shook his head.

"You heard him. He said this place 'is incapable' of destruction." Cinder frowned.

"Words spoken by a creation of twin deceiver Gods. Put no faith in them. But…should they indeed ring true, whatever may exist down there," the warlord turned and began to walk away, "could very well destroy everything he holds dear."

The central location suddenly shook, accompanied by another wrathful scream. Vilgax and Cinder both steadied themselves to ensure they didn't fall into the void as well. The Fall Maiden looked back to see Winter, still cradling the lifeless body of Eunice and decided against going after her. It would've been simple to end her, sure, but she was practically being summoned by her master.

"...then we leave them to it. You have what you wanted, right?" Cinder asked, only to be answered by VIlgax holding up the still bloody core.

"Good. Then let's go. We have a report to give," though, for a moment, Cinder stared at the core. "...may I?"

Vilgax presented the piece of Galvan tech to her. "This device is far beyond any human engineering capabilities, able to store DNA of various different species. Only up to 12 at a time."

"Like a revolver. Sort of." Cinder mused.

"Indeed...a start, but one that can be expanded upon," Vilgax smirked, turning and marching to the nearest entrance portal, the one that led back to the Vault.

Cinder shot one last glance back to the weeping Winter and smiled.

I didn't get to kill Tennyson or Rose personally...but still. Their little plan is a failure. Cinder reflected. Overall, not a big loss.

With that, the Fall Maiden dispelled the couplings and took hold of the Staff. The ornate Relic expanded out into its usable form and she grinned, stepping through the portal after Vilgax.

Winter weakly picked up the broken body of Eunice and turned to the Vacuo portal. She looked down to the body, her arms still covered in the energy replicas of Beowolf claws before she began walking towards the exit as quickly as she could.

Winter didn't want to know how the others were doing on the other side. She was the bearer of bad news here, quite literally.

She didn't want to even imagine how Penny would take it.

Elm and Cammie pulled the bomb out of the cargo ship and shoved it over to one side of the hangar, the new engineer of the Ace-Ops having disarmed the payload just in case. With Watts somewhere in the building, they needed some extra precautions. Harriet was off in one corner of the hangar, just sitting on top of a crate while the others were getting ready for take-off. Atlas still had some time before it started to get dangerously low. While the others were helping, Harriet was just sitting there, stewing in her own negative thoughts.

Rex was just staring off into the arctic, clearly rocked by everything he'd just heard. At first, he knew he had a brother. Then he learned his parents were a part of some big project- and that Ironwood knew. Then...the Alpha Nanite-

God.

"You doing ok?" Robyn asked as she walked up to him from behind.

"As...ok as I can be, I guess," Rex admitted, "Just...got a lot on my mind."

"All because of an Ace-Op that came back from the dead," Robyn stood next to Rex, looking out of the hangar but at the frozen horizon that seemed to stretch on forever. No, her gaze was shifted downwards to the industrial city that she called home. It seemed like yesterday she was down there raiding old military warehouses and turning them into shelters for those who were down on their luck, when she first met the real Weiss Schnee and not just the one people heard rumors about. She knew it was kinda moot now, but she couldn't stop herself from wondering. Was there a way to do this differently? Could Ironwood have somehow been persuaded into helping them?

Or was she just trying to be optimistic in a dire situation?

"Just...where do you really go from here?" Rex asked. "I've been lied to my whole life- or what I can remember of my life. I just wish I knew there was some way to know what was real and fake."

"That's a lot to take in," Robyn sympathized. "But at least now you know the truth. And maybe, just maybe, it can help you in some way."

"Maybe, yeah..." Rex muttered, before he looked over to Harriet. He didn't say it, but he couldn't help but think: But who's gonna help Hare?

Harriet was focused on the blood stains on the ground, where Vine once lay. They'd taken him to the morgue, he'd lay resting next to Clover for the time being. Harriet just clenched her fists in her anger.

No way was she stopping now- if it hadn't been for those brats, she'd-

...she'd...

Harriet blinked, and in a moment of clarity, thought, 'why am I blaming them?'

The person she should be blaming...was...someone she considered a sister a long time ago. Maybe she just didn't want to accept that yet. Was there any easy way to accept that someone you were so close to, who you spent so long mourning, came back to you and they were just an entirely different person? Sure, Marion was strict, but she wasn't cruel, not like this. This Marion…no, whatever had decided to slip her face on and use it as a mask loved toying with them, with Harriet specifically. And...god, it almost worked. Black Knight wanted to drop the bomb on Mantle, wipe out who knows how many people and Harriet was ready to be a good little soldier and say "yes, sir."

"What the fuck is wrong with me," Harriet muttered, hoping no one heard her.

No one did.

No one would.

Qrow was also feeling like something was off. Like something had gone horribly wrong. He tried to distract himself by looking through a few photos, the only ones he had on his Scroll. They were mainly just of him, Ruby, Yang and sometimes that Ben kid.

The photos spanned the years, from when he had to watch Ruby and Yang when Tai and Summer were needed on a mission, the day that both nieces got their acceptance letters into Signal, the day Ruby got back from that summer vacation that introduced him to that damned watch boy. Damned was being thought of with all the best of intentions now, by the way. It was funny. At one point, he was the overprotective dad figure while Tai was totally ok with Ruby and Ben being together.

"What universe am I in where I'm overprotective," Qrow muttered to himself, "They're fine...they have to be. Right?"

Maybe Qrow was worried about something Ben asked him a while back. It was after the mission in Hela Minor, on the flight back. The two of them were sort of keeping distance between them, and after the ridiculous events of today? Who could blame him.

Ben's eyes darted over at Qrow a few times, before returning back to his phone. Qrow met his gaze a few times, and didn't really care until he noticed how...frequent they were.

"...you know, you're not being subtle with that," Qrow sighed, finally deciding to break the awkward silence, "What is it?"

Ben looked back at his phone. "I...it's nothing. I get it. You don't like me. I'm not gonna even bother asking at this point."

"Just ask. Might surprise you," Qrow shrugged.

Ben made a face, and closed his eyes. He took a large, deep breath and exhaled. It looked like he had something serious to say.

"...I've been thinking of asking Ruby to...marry me one day."

"...huh..."

"That...that's it? Just a 'huh?'" Ben asked, honestly expecting a completely different reaction.

"Honestly? Yeah, just 'huh.' Did you forget Tai had to ask me about marrying my sister? Was tempted to use those rocket lockers and bring out Harbinger then and there," Ruby's uncle explained.

"They still had those back then?"

"Yeah, but that's besides the point. I might not be too fond of you...but I don't hate you. It's more like...I dunno, just an irrational annoyance. Don't really get it myself. And...from everything I've seen, you make her happy, happier than anyone who'd try for that could. That's how it was with Tai and Raven...that's how it was with Summer and Tai."

Ben blinked. "S-seriously? No issues whatsoever? No 'I'm gonna hurt you if you hurt her' type deals?"

Qrow glared at him. "I'm not above THAT scenario."

"There it is..." Ben sighed.

"Not above it...but starting to think it won't even come to that. Again, like what happened with Tai. It took me a bit to warm up to him but...in the end, I came around. And just like with Tai, the exact wording of that little approval stay private. I have an image to keep," Qrow scoffed, only half-joking.

"I won't blab." Ben chuckled. "...but, seriously. Do you think I should? I know we're...young and stupid, but I've never felt this way about anyone before."

"If you're just asking her 'do you wanna get married in a few years' then...don't see the harm in it. Ruby always was one for fairy tale endings like that," Qrow said, "All in the wording, really."

"Well, I wanna take it...further beyond that. Like...a ring or something." Ben said. Qrow gave him a weird look.

"...you're serious about that, huh." Qrow frowned.

"Y-yeah." Ben started to sweat nervously.

"...bit of advice. Don't do it the usual way. A ring's nice and all but...is that really 'Ruby' enough?" Qrow asked.

Ben paused for a moment to think. "...a knife?"

"There you go," Qrow smirked.

"Huh...do things the Archimedian way...why didn't I think of that?" Ben muttered.

"Maybe it's a side effect of being in that little form of yours, Ditto," Qrow joked.

"There's the Qrow we all know."

Qrow took a deep breath, and closed his Scroll, snapping out of the memories. He was worrying over nothing. Everything was going according to plan, wasn't it?

Wasn't it?

"Cammie, we good to go?" Marrow asked.

"All...set!" Cammie confirmed after putting in her access code, unlocking the piloting controls. With that, the Faunus Ace-Op turned and walked over to the still distant Harriet.

"Harriet?" Marrow spoke up.

Harriet didn't say anything as she got on the ship. No eye contact was made. She just hid herself in the best corner she could get to.

"Hare, wai-" Marrow reached out, but stopped himself. He told himself she just needed time. A lot happened for her in barely a few hours. The wolf Faunus sighed and walked aboard the ship as well.

"Alright. Where to?" Cammie asked.

"...Hela Minor," Marrow answered, "Home."

"What about Vacuo?" Rex asked. "What about Ben and the others?"

"Slow your roll, Rex. They'll be there when we get there. I think...we need a small break before we head over. For the sake of our health." Marrow sighed.

"Oh..." Rex said, realizing what he meant, "Right..."

"Hela Minor...I...don't think I'm familiar with it," Cammie admitted.

"I am," Qrow and Marrow said at the same time, the latter a little surprised by that admission.

"When did you-?" Marrow asked.

"Long story," Qrow said, "Tell you later."

"...fine. Let's just get moving. The sooner we decompress...the sooner we get to Vacuo." Rex said, getting in. "Come on."

Cammie quickly started the take-off sequence was everyone was aboard...only for her attention to be grabbed by something else. She paused for a moment as she could smell...was that smoke?

Back in the military command center, now littered with bodies and broken consoles, save one, a fire had seemingly started out of nowhere. In reality, Cinder had decided to be a little petty and, on her way out, set fire to both Atlas Academy and the Atlesian command center.

Ironwood huffed as he was shoved to his knees by a robotic arm. After his final conversation with Winter, where he learned that Atlas was *falling, he and Jacques were just forced to sit in those cells in silence for what felt like hours. Eventually, a small squad made up of Praetors and Knights marched into the brig, all of them sporting crimson visors. Under the command of Watts, one mechanical soldier destroyed two of Ironwood's weapons, the black revolver and the DNA cannon, before grabbing the third revolver. The two prisoners were taken from their prisons and escorted down. And now he was totally defeated, this whole war ending where he should've won, the Vault.

Jacques was forced to kneel next to him, looking absolutely defeated, while Watts looked smugly down on both of them, holding the general's remaining weapon. Oh the words the good doctor could throw Ironwood's way, but he held off. His master would do a far better job of rubbing verbal salt into that wound. Ironwood was holding on to a few last embers of anger, ready to snap into action and disarm one of the mechanical guards, but that plan was ripped away from him when he heard footsteps approaching. Cinder and Vilgax walked down the stairs that lead to the Vault's door, the former wearing a triumphant smirk on her face. The Fall Maiden, much to Ironwood's horror, was carrying the Relic of Creation, while the Murrian warlord carried the Lamp of Knowledge. Cinder took in the sight of the defeated and felt a spark of pride grow in her chest. Right when she was about to say something, she noticed something. Vilgax and Watts took notice as well, the villainous trio's eyes slowly drifting upwards, taking in the sight of a foreboding black cloud of smoke swirling down the elevator shaft and towards them. The Fall Maiden's pride shrank just a little, replaced by subservient loyalty.

"I… I failed you again, master. They used the Staff to save thousands. We…lost Mercury in the fight. And what's worse, they revealed to us that they used the Lamp's final question. They no doubt saw it as a way to gloat…" Cinder lied.

Vilgax played along. "But Tennyson and many of his allies are dead. The wielder of the Omnitrix committed suicide after seeing Rose fall into the void."

The smoke swirled together in front of Cinder, materializing into Salem herself. Her eyes narrowed as she listened to Cinder and Vilgax's words.

Cinder kneeled before Salem, presenting the Lamp and Staff to her. After a pause, Salem leaned down and took the Relic of Knowledge from her follower.

"In pursuit of a new world, no cost is too great," Salem said, holding the Lamp, "You've done well, Cinder."

"And what about my end of the deal?" Vilgax asked.

"Of course. Cinder...give him the Staff," the Grimm Queen commanded. Cinder nodded and handed the Relic to her newest ally.

"Good to know we've won. Now, let's get out of here. This place is going to fall any minute now-" Watts began.

Salem suddenly grabbed Watt's face,"I'm afraid...our work relationship ends here, Arthur," the witch said, holding his chin in her hands, "You served me well…and you've served the purpose I needed you to. I'm afraid your role of technical support is no longer needed. Both Kundo and Marion will be taking your place."

"That bumpkin doesn't even like technology and that Nanite infested bitch is only in it for revenge! Both of them combined couldn't even copy half of what I'm capable of! And you would dare replace me with them!?" Watts spat back, but his master squeezed his face, her nails digging into his flesh.

"Yes. In fact, I'd do it in a heartbeat." Salem threatened, "if I still had one."

"M-marion." Ironwood muttered, turning his head. "She's alive?"

"Why so shocked? I thought you wanted her dead." Salem mocked. Ironwood grit his teeth again before his eyes went back to Vilgax. The newest member of Salem's cabal held the immensely powerful item and time came to a halt. Cinder blinked, standing close to Vilgax when he activated it. The warlord watched the avatar of the staff come out before the creative genie of the staff raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting set of customers today, it seems." Ambrosius mused. "Here I thought that bridge to Vacuo would be the only thing I'd build for quite a whi-"

"Silence." Vilgax cut the architect off, "I was told you could create anything."

"That's right. Why, what do you wa-" Ambrosius froze when he saw Vilgax hold up Eunice's core, still stained in red, "...where did you get that?"

"Irrelevant," Vilgax answered coldly.

"Irrelevant? You think I'm blind? She was new! A new life, barely created, and you just...you just-!"

"You sound upset. I'm surprised," Cinder taunted, "Didn't think you were capable."

"Oh I will show you what I'm capable of you disrespectful little-G-GAAAAH!" Ambrosius suddenly cried out in pain. Some of Vilgax's tendrils had wrapped around the crystal that topped the Staff and began crushing it in their grip.

"I summoned you for a reason, spirit and that was not to mourn a facsimile of life," Vilgax growled, "You are a builder...so I would have you build. Simple as that."

Ambrosius clenched his fists, and took a deep breath. "Those kids. Some of them fell in, didn't they?"

Vilgax's silence was the only answer Ambrosius needed. He held his hand out to take the Unitrix and shook his head once it was placed in his palm.

"I can only build what I'm asked. What...are your plans for her?"

"I'd build this in my own time, but I'm impatient to find the parts." Vilgax opened his palm and projected some blueprints from a small projector. "I reverse-engineered the designs from looking at the original device, substituted a more sustainable and stable power core from the original and added in...some personal touches."

Ambrosius stared at the blueprints, examining with his well-trained eye.

"Well?" Vilgax growled.

The spirit made a disgruntled face, before slamming his hands together and making a ball of light. He took the Unitrix core and dropped it inside the orb. Within seconds, the device was made, the orb forming into a large gauntlet, resembling Albedo's Ultimatrix. It had a digital readout on the front and a large red dial on the side. The knock off Omnitrix was also adorned with a number of spikes and protrusions, giving it a more menacing appearance.

"There...it's done," Ambrosius said, crestfallen at this turn of events. The device hovered down to the tyrannical Murrian who slipped the gauntlet on and clenched his fist.

"The power of the building blocks of life itself... all compacted into a little, wrist mounted device. Azmuth was a fool not to use his creation as I will," Vilgax grinned, "Thank you for your service, Spirit of Creation."

"I hope it rusts on you..."

Time resumed its flow and Vilgax was now holding his creation.

"You...made an Omnitrix." Ironwood gasped, eyes wide with horror.

"Yes." Vilgax snarled, equipping it onto his arm. He presented it to the audience, those quite literally captive and not, before him. Looks of horror were trained onto the device save for Salem, who looked rather amused.

"Cinder, come now. We should let Vilgax take care of the rest of Atlas." Salem ordered as she dropped Watts to the ground, forcing him to drop the stolen revolver. The Grimm queen began to walk away and Cinder followed, smirking. Ironwood, unable to get up, helplessly watched them pass him. He noticed the white Due Process and began crawling towards it. Salem, without even turning her head, merely smiled. Ironwood tried to aim his revolver at the two villains. On hearing the sound of its hammer, Cinder glanced back at him and smirked.

"Vilgax...can I stay for a brief demonstration?" the Fall Maiden asked.

"...you may," Vilgax allowed, already scrolling through his options. The icons that appeared were monstrous, even compared to the mutated and altered forms of the AntiTrix and Ultimatrix.

"Oh the options...the possibilities," the Murrian chuckled madly.

Vilgax held up his device and clenched his fist. A bright red flash surrounded his body, before gunmetal material enveloped Vilgax's form, making his menacing presence even bigger than it already was. His limbs were segmented, with red energy holding them together. His shoulders grew, and his skull detached from his neck. The Murrian's eyes lit up...

Ironwood looked horrified at the alien Vilgax had selected. A Biot-savartian. Masters of magnetism.

"W-what the hell is that!?" Jacques yelled. The glow in the warlord's eyes intensified, as a piece of metal was ripped off from the wall behind him. The metal went flying past him and slammed into Jacques.

The Atlesian businessman was no more than just a red stain on the wall in the end. Watts began breathing heavily as he scrambled to his feet, turning to face Salem.

"PLEASE! I CAN BE OF USE!" the doctor yelled, not caring if his desperation was unbecoming. He needed to survive, he had to, otherwise this entire plot was pointless. What good was besting Ironwood if he couldn't enjoy it?

Salem made no effort to observe the doctor's death, though. Ironwood's arm was suddenly gripped by a magnetic force and forced to aim at Watts. Vilgax made a simple gesture with his own finger and forced the Atlesian general to fire. Watts was shot in the face by the following bullet. The impact it left on Watts' face was...haunting, perhaps because of the type of Dust used or because of some extra spin that Vilgax put on the projectile itself.

Ironwood dropped his gun as Vilgax hovered over to him. "I'm afraid this is all I can show with you two here." Vilgax said. "Salem, if you could please take Cinder somewhere with a…nice view."

"Better make the rest of this a spectacle," Cinder said as she and Salem took off, the latter using magical mist to fly while the former simply ignited two flames beneath her feet and flew out. Both of the villainesses flew up through the elevator shaft, leaving the general and the tyrant behind. Vilgax looked down at the broken and beaten general and chuckled.

"You should've kept Tennyson on your side, general. Your city might have survived..." Vilgax taunted.

Ironwood frowned. "I have...my own counter for you-"

Vilgax pinched his claws together, and immediately crushed Ironwood's hand into an unusable state. Ironwood winced in pain, barely holding back a scream, and he stared at the prosthetic in stunned disbelief.

"I know very little of the conflict you and Tennyson were engaged in and it infuriates me I actually side with him in what was, no doubt, the root of your schism. You are not a true leader. A leader performs best when their labor is over and the desired outcome has been achieved." Vilgax growled, getting closer and closer, "You wished for the world to see everything you did and you focused on that selfish vision, instead of trying to save your people. You'll get your wish, a lasting legacy. The world will remember you as the general, the tyrant who abandoned his people, threw away his family and made all the wrong choices. The next generation will not try to be anything like you. They will know better."

"You're wrong." Ironwood said, trying to back away. "The world will know that I tried to make a difference, that I fought for what I believed in. That's all that matters."

"And what will they say of Tennyson? Or Rose?" Vilgax asked. "What will they say of the people who actually made a difference?"

Ironwood was silent.

"I don't know." the general finally admitted.

"Then the final nail in your coffin…is ready.

"Just kill me already." Ironwood scoffed.

"Killing you here...would be too kind," Vilax growled, walking past the broken tin man and tearing open a hole in the bottom of the floating island, "Allow me…to prepare your burial."

Salem and Cinder watched the city from afar. Atlas was still floating for now. Cinder wondered what Vilgax was going to do.

Her curiosity was answered when the city began to implode on itself. The floating island of Atlas was being sucked into a central point, forcibly compressed into a small orb. Cinder's eyes lit up as she watched it. To see the place that truly shaped her, to see it get destroyed so completely, so utterly.

Her smile couldn't be wider. She even subtly brought her out her Scroll to record the entire event for Cass to watch when they met up. Salem did take notice of her subordinate's glee and couldn't help but smirk herself, even if she did have some lingering questions. For now, she'd just let Cinder enjoy this victory. In a matter of moments, Atlas shook and twisted before it was completely sucked into oblivion.

It was beautiful.

When it was all said and done, and the city was gone, Vilgax returned to them. He floated over, holding a simple metal orb, the size of a baseball.

"Behold, the city of Atlas." Vilgax declared, handing it to his new master. She tossed it up and down a few times, and smiled before giving it to Cinder.

"Cinder, if you'd please dispose of it."

Cinder held the orb in her hands. She started to heat it up, the effects of her Semblance acting quickly. The Maiden watched as the city faded away in her hands, reducing it to nothing but ashes.

"That. Felt. Amazing," Cinder chuckled, watching what was left of the city scatter on the cold northern winds.

"Your creation, Vilgax. Tell me...have you named it?" Salem questioned.

"A name…it is only fitting, isn't it? To make it stand out amid the other devices. Omni, Ulti, Anti. Mine shall be dubbed…the Galactrix." Vilgax proclaimed as he reverted back to his usual imposing self.

"An interesting name. Why?" Salem asked.

"A symbol of my ultimate power and dominance over the cosmos. Once I finish my work here," Vilgax clenched his fist. "the next to fall will be the Fulmini, along with any other real threat to my dominion."

"I see," Salem nodded, knowing that his loyalty had been cemented as well, "Good." The Grimm Queen turned and began walking off into the tundra, motioning for her remaining disciples to follow her. In moments, she would fly off and prepare for her invasion of Vacuo.

Without the Silver Eyes and the Omnitrix to stand in her way.