Absorption

Briefcase Solar System,

James' True Lab

James stood clad in armor made entirely of Tenth Metal, his hands outstretched as two red orbs floated before him.

One orb was the size of a wrecking ball, while the other was as large as a tank. The smaller orb contained James Jaspers' powers, and the larger one held Matthew's.

The difference in size was a clear indicator of who possessed more raw power.

At the moment, James was conditioning the two orbs to suit his physiology.

His body was far more advanced than both Jaspers' and Matthew's, but manipulating powers of this magnitude required more than just physical adaptation.

Since both orbs contained abilities at least on a universal scale, James needed multiversal-level reality warping to reconfigure them.

Fortunately, the Tenth Metal armor he wore allowed him to warp reality on a universal scale at minimum, making it the perfect tool for the task.

"That should do it," James said, lowering his hands. Despite his efforts, the orbs appeared unchanged.

"Paris, wish me luck," James said as he returned most of the Tenth Metal to the Resource Dimension.

Even though he trusted Paris completely, caution was necessary. Paris was a sentient being, and while he doubted she would ever betray him, he didn't want to risk her gaining access to Tenth Metal.

Who knew what she could achieve with it? She might even perfect her cosmic body by merging with the metal, achieving true nigh-omnipotence.

In this omniverse, only the One Above All was truly omnipotent. Everyone else, including the Beyonders, was nigh-omnipotent at best.

[You don't need luck when we both know you'll survive easily,] Paris replied, sitting nearby and watching with 3D glasses on.

"Why are you wearing those glasses?" James asked.

[So I can enjoy the show better,] Paris responded without hesitation.

"..."

"I'm just going to ignore that for now," James said, turning his attention back to the massive orbs.

For safety, James started with Matthew's orb. He placed his bare hands on it, and almost immediately, a surge of energy broke through the orb's surface, aggressively flowing into his body.

Thanks to the Tenth Metal ring stabilizing the chaotic energy, James felt nothing.

He stood still for an entire hour as the orb was absorbed into his body, yet he didn't feel any different.

This wasn't surprising. The ring granted him omnipotence within a specific radius, so he was essentially using it to contain the new power.

Adding infinite power to infinite power still resulted in infinity, so James felt no change.

However, he knew that once he removed the ring, the absorbed power would manifest.

After an hour, the orb had completely disappeared, its energy now part of James' small frame.

He took a moment to adjust to the new power before turning to the smaller orb containing James Jaspers' reality-warping abilities.

Despite its size, absorbing this orb took nearly as long as Matthew's. Jaspers was a multiversal-level threat, so James expected the process to be more challenging.

Once both orbs were fully absorbed, James sat down to calibrate his mind and body.

He had wielded power capable of creating and destroying multiverses and omniverses without losing his sanity, but this time was different.

When he created this solar system, he had experimented with multiple options.

He created a multiverse but destroyed it because it was too vast, and he didn't want the responsibility of overseeing quadrillions of lives.

He then created a universe, only to realize it was still too large. Finally, he settled on a solar system, which he also destroyed after reconsidering his plans.