Eon's Scheme

Back at Ben 10k's HQ, the entire chamber convulsed as reality quaked beneath the shockwave. Consoles sputtered mid-broadcast, holo-displays wavered like heat mirages, and Eon staggered back, his robes fraying at the edges of existence.

Fred straightened, cosmic sparkles dancing across his brow. "You're way out of your depth now, Eon," he muttered, voice low but fierce.

Eon's masked lips curved into a shadowy smile. "Did you truly believe—child—that your little parlor trick was my undoing?" He stepped forward, robes flickering through fractured time. "You outsiders flaunt your stolen future-knowledge like a trophy, don't you?" With a motion too swift to follow, he crushed a silver pill between finger and thumb. "But you're all naïve—too young to grasp the millennia of experience Inhave." He said while swallowing a mysterious pill.

Fred's heart raced. Does he know I'm a transmigrator? he wondered—before Eon blurred past him with predatory speed. Fred's reflexes snapped: a golden halo of energy erupted around him, and in a heartbeat he transformed into an Angel, a form similar to Whis. Fred then moved in a flicker of light, blocking Eon's strike meant for young Ben. But the figure before him was only a clone—a phantom of time.

Infront of Ben, another Eon clone materialized, angular and cruel, slamming into Ben's ribcage with bone-shaking force. In an instant, Ben's luminous skin dulled to ash—his Diamondhead form turned grey, turning into dust. He collapsed, the Omnitrix on his wrist started flickering violet as consciousness fled him.

Fred's dropped to one knee to snatch the clone's arm as it lunged again. With a vicious twist, he snapped the clone's elbow and sent him sprawling into a stack of control panels that crumpled like paper. But more Eons poured from the fracture—dozens of them, each a perfect wraith of purple lightning. They swarmed, swirling about Fred.

One clone's voice hissed through the hum of interlaced chronal energies, "This is finally…interesting." They glowed brighter, purple power coalescing at their fists as they charged in unison.

Yet Fred stood unshaken. In his current form he stood confident, he moved like time itself—each dodge was a dance, each strike a flawless. A clone swung a fractal blade; Fred sidestepped, pivoted midair, and delivered an Kick that punched through the clone's chest, sending him reeling backward. Another launched a swarm of temporal daggers; Fred traced a single arcane symbol beneath his feet—Temporal Distortion—which slowed the daggers' flight, letting him pluck each one out of the air and sling them back like glowing arrows.

He dropped into a spinning backflip, as his staff erupted with ghostly light, cleaving through three clones at once. They exploded into cracked mirrors of violet glass, shards evaporating into nothingness. A lone clone barreled at him, fists echoing with timequake vibrations—but Fred caught each punch on his forearms in a seamless block sequence, wrists snapping outward in Iron Lotus parries that sent shockwaves across the floor. He pressed forward with a volley of ki blasts, pinpoint shots that wobbled the clone's form until it collapsed on a broken console.

When the last clone hit the floor, black sparks fizzled, and the chamber's tremors stilled. For a heartbeat, only the hiss of cooling fans remained—until a single wry chuckle swelled in the growing silence.

Then: a thunderous explosion blossomed behind him as fallen clones and hidden charges detonated in tandem. Purple light flooded Fred's vision, washing the world in eerie violet. He covered his eyes until a voice—hoarse, familiar—echoed: "I knew you'd outlast them, Fred."

Blinking through blurs of starlight, Fred lowered an arm. Over him hovered Frederick, his future self, luminous and battered, cosmic-pink shards drifting from his fingertips like dying stars. Frederick's voice cracked as he uttered a few words.

Frederick collapsed, his form unraveling into cosmic ashes that drifted upward into a void of floating earthfragments—shards of continents suspended in vacuous silence. Fred staggered to his feet on broken ground, heart pounding. Around him hovered shards of crumbling landscapes: vast mountains sheared in half, deserts intertwined with ocean fragments, each piece floating like islands in an impossible cosmos.

From a swirling portal of violet chronal mist stepped Eon—older, more war-ravaged—his visage akin to the Omniverse's version, but a vicious scar marred his left cheek. "It took centuries of meticulous planning to forge this plan," Eon intoned, voice cold as cosmic void. "Parasitic interlopers—world-hoppers—you all are the bane of my existence. And you, Fred Rodwell, are the anchor. Destroying you, will finally set me free."

Fred's chest tightened. He really did know I'm a transmigrator… he realized, mind racing. Eon's gaze bore into him, unblinking and merciless. "You're my prime target. Even if your future self shields you, you cannot move." Eon's staff glowed, fractal runes spinning. Fred's limbs froze—temporal shackles locked around his ankles.

"You see," Eon continued, stepping closer, boots hovering above fractured earth, "You might not know it but your existence is linked to quite a few alternative timelines, just like a parasite in the multiverse. And because of that I've been having a tougher time in my goals. Normally only Ben is the anchor of his timeline but you... You Fred you've made things more complicated for me…each timeline this Ben is linked to you are there making things difficult for but this time… I've come prepared. By removing the original—you—then things will be easier for me."

Fred's muttered to himself. "Basically he means killing me will somehow eliminate all my alternate selves?" he wondered.

Eon's lips curled into a feral grin. "All the years, the hardships and finally..." He raised his staff, charged with purple light, and the floating earthfragments trembled. Fred braced himself as the very foundations of the shattered reality seemed to shake as Eon was about to land the final blow.

Also, if you enjoy my writing and want to support me, consider subscribing to my Patreon: [patreon.com/Writing_when_bored].