“I will owe you nothing but a quicker death than the rest of your species,” Vilgax snarled. “Agreed.”

Ben grinned, blood at the corner of his mouth. “I made you temporary .”

Vilgax’s flesh rippled. Armor grew over armor. His damaged eye regenerated as a tri-lens, predatory and cold. Spines of black crystal erupted from his knuckles. He rose, ten feet tall, a god of war rebuilt.

Then the sky really broke.