Chapter : Time for a War

On the nightmare world of Harken, Excelsor Hades paced before his throne of flayed bones and pulsating flesh. His four demonic eyes burned from the depths of his skeletal face as he glared at the kneeling, broken form of Ezekiel.

"You insult Arkhon's glory with this failure, wretch!" Hades' voice was a subterranean growl that shook the obsidian chamber.

Ezekiel wheezed, his burned carapace barely rising with each agonized breath. "Excelsor...I faced an enemy beyond any--"

"Silence!" With a contemptuous backhand, Hades sent Ezekiel crashing into the steps.

The fallen Ark leader struggled to raise his head, eyes already dimming. "An alien...with the power to split the atom itself..."

A disbelieving rumble built in Hades' chest. "No mere offworlder could possess such might! Unless..."

His furious roar shook Harken to its core. Hades raised a taloned claw, summoning ethereal energies that enveloped Ezekiel and began shredding away at his life force.

"Excelsor...no...I beg you..." The Ark's agonized pleas dissolved into a soundless scream as his essence was wholly consumed.

"Pathetic worm," Hades growled, calling the vortex energies back into himself. "If you could not handle this alien, I will attend to it myself!"

A towering silhouette separated itself from the shadows at the back of the throne room. "So the cycle of destruction begins anew, Excelsor."

Hades spun with a liquid shoulder movement despite his immense size. "Who dares--"

The intruder's voice was deep, resonant, and utterly devoid of inflection. "I am Omega. A scion of the Celestialsapiens, progenitors of your forebears...and your future razing."

On the surface of Xundar, the surviving Evolep had erected glowing shield domes around their cities' shattered remnants. But no sooner had the arcane barriers taken shape than a brilliant cerulean flare split the ashen sky.

Hades' colossal dreadnaught descended like a vengeful leviathan from the stars, its obsidian hull crawling with endless geometries of gibbering madness. Arrays of unfathomable eldritch weaponry burned to pyrophoric life along its kilometers-long body.

King Bo stood resolute atop one of the fortified domes, clutching his staff tightly as the shadow of the Arkhon vessel passed over them all. He turned to Ben, grim determination on his face.

"You must depart this place immediately, young hero. The mad Excelsor himself comes to raze these stars from existence!"

Ben glanced at the Omnitrix, its emerald glow reflecting in his determined eyes. "No way. This is exactly the kind of crazy, universe-threatening stuff I live for. I'm not running anywhere!"

An avatar of Hades, a towering construct of hatred and cruelty gibbered across a planar frequency from the hovering dreadnaught. "Hear me, Ben Tennyson! I am Excelsor Hades, supreme lord of the infinite Arkhost, and I will have your fealty...or your absolute oblivion!"

Activating the Omnitrix, Ben broke into a cocky grin as he cycled through the galactic forms. "Yeah? Well you Arkweirdos better get ready for a beatdown!"

He slammed down the dial and assumed the powerful alien form of Atomix in a blinding vortex of nuclear energy. 

"It's hero time!"