Chapter 205: I Don't Want to Fight You, I Want to Fight Ben Tennyson!
Thwack! Crack! Thud!
The rhythmic, meaty sounds of a completely one-sided beatdown echoed through the ruined courtyard.
Smack! Bang!
"I said... wait!" Albedo gasped, his voice cracking under the strain. He planted his scraped palms against the dirt, his trembling legs pushing off the ground. He forced himself upright, enduring the relentless barrage of kicks and punches raining down from the trio.
Seeing Albedo actually manage to stand, Klein, Ben, and Kevin paused their assault, momentarily caught off guard.
Albedo glared at them. His eyes held five parts humiliation, three parts stubborn determination, one part burning fury, and one part the secret thrill of a villain about to have his grand awakening. He wiped a streak of dirt from his cheek and spoke in a low, dramatic gravel. "You... do not go too far..."
He fully expected them to step back in awe. Instead, Klein casually stepped forward and delivered a swift, brutal kick straight to his face, sending Albedo sprawling flat on his nose.
"We are going too far! What are you going to do about it, huh?" Klein mocked, dusting off his pant leg.
"Oh, look at you being so tough!" Ben chimed in, winding up for another punch.
"Still trying to have an explosive power-up moment?" Klein scoffed, rubbing his heel into the dirt next to Albedo's ear. "Do you honestly think you have a protagonist's halo? You do not even qualify for a background character's plot armor!"
Without missing a beat, Klein and the other two piled back onto Albedo, pressing him into the mud and rubbing his face in the gravel.
Albedo's left arm was pinned beneath a heavy boot, his right hand desperately clutching the back of his head to shield himself. "Ben Tennyson!" he shrieked, his voice breaking. "If you have any guts at all, fight me one-on-one!"
"Still begging for a one-on-one?" Kevin asked, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. "Do you mean you fighting all of us, or all of us fighting you?"
Klein was even more pragmatic. "Brothers, the situation is dire. Let's just beat Albedo to death right now and save ourselves the headache."
Hearing Klein's utterly deadpan suggestion, Albedo froze in sheer disbelief. 'No, is this how heroes operate?! If you just murder people in cold blood at the drop of a hat, who would ever dare to be a villain?!'
He had always prided himself on his supreme Galvan intellect. He never expected his grand destiny would end today, beaten to death in a ditch by three street thugs. At the same time, a chilling realization washed over him. Klein's terrifying reputation across the galaxy was entirely well-deserved.
"Sorry, Albedo. My cousin told me to beat you to death, so I have to do it," Ben said, his expression twisting into an exaggerated mask of sorrow. "Plus... I am way too young to die! I haven't even lived my life yet!" Ben's kicks grew heavier and more enthusiastic with every word.
Standing a few paces away, Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose. She was already scanning the perimeter, calculating the optimal depth to bury a Galvan-human hybrid to avoid local soil contamination.
"Can't you just let me transform?!" Albedo wailed, genuine tears of frustration welling in his eyes. 'Is my screen time really this short? Not even three chapters?!'
Klein paused, his foot hovering over Albedo's ribs. He knew he couldn't let the villain die too quickly. If the fight ended now, people would complain the plot was too rushed. Besides, this arrogant clone could still provide some solid entertainment.
"Fine, I will let you struggle a bit more," Klein declared, waving a hand dismissively. "Kevin! Dweeb! Dork! Fall back."
He signaled for Ben and the others to release their captive. He was going to give Albedo a true, one-on-one showdown.
"Oh, this kid is so dead," Ben whispered, practically sprinting away from the blast zone.
"At least it is not us getting styled on for once," Kevin muttered back, rubbing his hands together in gleeful anticipation. Having served as Klein's personal punching bags in the past, the two boys were more than happy to watch someone else suffer.
Gwen shot the two boys a look of utter disgust and subtly floated a few feet away from them, not wanting to be associated with their gloating.
Realizing this was his one and only chance at survival, Albedo decided to stop holding back. He needed his absolute strongest alien.
Albedo slammed his hand down on his red Omnitrix dial. "Way Big!"
A brilliant flash of emerald light erupted. The ground quaked as a towering, thirty-meter-tall cosmic giant materialized in the center of the ruins, casting a massive shadow over the battlefield.
Under normal circumstances, a To'kustar stood at roughly thirty meters tall. The only exception was Klein's version, which always looked like it had been fed experimental growth hormones, towering at a staggering fifty meters in its base form.
"Oh? Interesting," Klein murmured, tilting his head up to inspect the giant. He casually slapped the faceplate of his Another Omnitrix. "Way Big!"
A blinding flash of dark blue light swallowed the clearing. The earth groaned under a sudden, immense weight as a fifty-meter-tall cosmic titan appeared, dwarfing Albedo's transformation entirely.
Albedo's Way Big tilted his massive, finned head all the way back, staring up at the chest of Klein's Way Big. A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the battlefield.
"No, seriously, do you just love cheating?!" Albedo roared, his booming voice echoing with pure indignation. How was he supposed to fight a monster nearly twice his size?
"No, this is not cheating," Klein's Way Big replied, his voice a deep, resonant rumble that shook the clouds. He slowly raised a colossal hand and pointed a finger at the dark blue dial resting on his chest. "This is cheating!"
He slammed his palm into the symbol.
A volatile, blinding surge of dark blue energy exploded outward. The fifty-meter giant rapidly expanded, armor plating shifting and spikes erupting from his form until a one-hundred-meter-tall Ultimate Way Big stood imposing against the sky.
'Sumimasen, Klein-san, I admit I spoke a bit loudly just now,' Albedo thought, his cosmic eyes wide with sheer despair.
Standing barely as tall as Ultimate Way Big's calf, Albedo could only shake his head, a bitter, helpless smile forming on his face. What else could he possibly do? Jump up and try to punch his kneecap?
'Your knee-san is too high! I cannot reach it!'
Albedo prepared to drop to his knees and beg for his life. "Great Lord Klein! Please forgive this foolish Albedo who had eyes but failed to see Mount Tai—"
Before Albedo could finish his plea, Ultimate Way Big's voice thundered from the heavens. "Entertain me to your heart's content, Albedo!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Ultimate Way Big crossed his massive arms. The glowing X-shape on his forearms flared with a dazzling, volatile blue light. It was the unmistakable wind-up for a devastating Cosmic Ray.
'No, am I really going to die today?!'
With no time left to beg, Albedo threw his massive body sideways with every ounce of strength he possessed.
A blindingly thick beam of blue cosmic energy erupted from Ultimate Way Big's arms. It completely obliterated the already damaged remains of the Forever Knights' castle behind Albedo, vaporizing stone and steel instantly. The beam gouged a terrifying, bottomless crater several tens of meters in diameter into the earth.
And that was only the result of Ultimate Way Big pulling his punch at the last second after seeing Albedo dodge.
Looking back at the molten, glowing abyss where the castle used to be, Albedo swallowed hard. If he had hesitated for even a fraction of a second, he would be space dust.
"Albedo! Take another Cosmic Ray!" Ultimate Way Big boomed, clearly having no intention of letting his prey rest.
'Do not push your luck!'Driven by pure, adrenaline-fueled rage, Albedo roared and lunged forward, aiming a desperate tackle right at Ultimate Way Big's leg.'Watch me jump up and break your knee!'But he grasped nothing but empty air. Stumbling forward, Albedo looked up in confusion. Ultimate Way Big was hovering high in the sky, looking down at him with glowing blue eyes.'Damn it, you can fly too?! Are you just messing with me?! What is even the point of fighting anymore?!'
Albedo stood in the dirt, his massive shoulders slumping in defeat. He remained silent for a long time before finally calling out, "Can we be fair?"
"Interesting. I will give you a chance," Ultimate Way Big replied smoothly. He floated down from the sky, his massive feet touching the earth with a heavy thud.
The second he landed, Albedo lunged forward with a furious battle cry.
Ultimate Way Big did not even brace himself. He simply raised one colossal hand and calmly slapped downward.
Smack!
Albedo was swatted out of the air like a bothersome insect, slamming face-first into the dirt with enough force to trigger a localized earthquake. A flash of green light illuminated the crater, and the giant vanished, leaving a bruised and battered Albedo lying in the mud.
Curled up on the ground, Albedo was openly sobbing. 'This is not how you bully people! Wuwuwu...'
A dark blue flash rippled across the sky, and Ultimate Way Big reverted back into Klein, who landed softly on the edge of the crater with his hands tucked into his pockets.
At that moment, a shimmering dome of purple mana descended from the sky, gently touching down on the grass. Ben, Kevin, and Gwen stepped out from behind the barrier. Gwen had dragged the two boys high into the air the moment the fight started to shield them from the apocalyptic shockwaves.
Gwen lowered her hands, the purple energy dissipating. She looked down at the weeping Albedo in utter confusion. "What is wrong with him?"
"It is fine, this is just a normal Tuesday," Ben said, waving his hand nonchalantly.
"Yeah, fighting Klein does that to a guy," Kevin agreed sagely, crossing his arms. As veterans of Klein's training sessions, they both knew the feeling well. It was completely normal to be beaten to the point of deeply questioning your own right to exist.
"Ben Tennyson!!!"
Albedo struggled to his feet, his clothes torn and his face covered in dirt and tears. He pointed a trembling finger at Ben. "I do not want to fight him! What I want is a one-on-one with you!"
"Still dreaming about a one-on-one?" Kevin scoffed, cracking his knuckles as he stepped forward, fully intending to kick Albedo while he was down. "Keep dreaming, buddy!"
But Klein reached out and grabbed Kevin's shoulder, holding him back. He did not care about Albedo's bruised ego; he only stopped Kevin because he wanted to see if Ben would actually accept the challenge. If his cousin wanted to handle his own rogue clone, Klein was more than happy to watch.
"I am done playing," Klein said, turning his lazy gaze toward Ben. "Do you want a turn?"
Hearing this, Ben cracked a confident smile. He nodded once, adjusted his jacket, and stepped down into the crater toward Albedo.
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