The broken pieces of the throne scattered across the ground, showing that the dark god had truly fallen. Knull, stripped of his armor and powers, lay on the ground, staring up at Ben with fear and defeat in his eyes.
"This is what always happens when you challenge me," Ben said, looking down at him with a smirk.
Knull, now a shadow of his former self, admitted defeat. Earth was free from the grip of the Living Abyss. The heroes, finally released, stood united behind Ben, who remained calm and powerful.
"You may have won this battle, but the Void's victory is inevitable," Knull growled, eyes filled with hate.
He tried to regain control over the symbiotes that Ben had captured.
"How many times do I have to tell you? You can't win. You want your symbiotes back? Then take a look," Ben replied, mocking Knull's failed attempt.
Ben snapped his fingers, and from the sky descended a giant green Symbiote Dragon, formed from the very symbiotes Knull had once ruled.
But now, they were different—fused with Ben's DNA. They only obeyed him.
Knull's eyes widened in horror. "What have you done to my symbiotes? This goes against the natural order!" he shouted, furious.
In one last act of desperation, Knull summoned every last drop of his power. He screamed, launching waves of darkness at Ben, hoping to escape.
But it was too late.
Ben let the darkness hit him—but it did nothing. Calmly, he stepped forward, his body glowing with cosmic light.
"Your reign ends here, Knull. There's no escape. This is the end."
Ben raised his hand and, with a single strike, shattered both the Necrosword and the Ebony Blade, the sources of Knull's power.
He then slammed Knull into the ground. The impact shook the earth and echoed like a bell marking the end of war.
"My death doesn't matter. The Void is forever. I will return!" Knull spat, laughing in defeat.
Ben looked down at him coldly. "Even Oblivion fears to face me. You're just an avatar. So if you ever return... pray you never see me again."
Ben knew once again in the future Knull will be reborn, but it was not his problem.
Ben turned away as the green Symbiote Dragon circled above. Knull lay beaten, the world saved—for now.
Knull made one last move. In a final attempt to stay in control, he tried to take over Dylan Brock, hoping to use him as a new vessel.
But Ben, with a simple flick of his finger, stopped the plan before it could even begin.
Then, with a powerful surge of divine energy, Ben unleashed one final, earth-shaking strike. Knull screamed as the cosmic blast hit him, erasing the god of darkness in a blinding flash of light.
Though Knull was gone, Ben knew the truth—Knull would return someday. And before fading away, even Knull whispered a desperate prayer to Oblivion, begging never to meet Ben again.
The battlefield was quiet now. The skies cleared. The darkness lifted.
Suddenly, the Bifrost opened in a blaze of colors. From it stepped Thor, just back from Asgard.
"Ah, Midgardians!" Thor boomed with a proud smile. "I have returned in time to defeat the darkness! Surely, you needed the mighty Thor!"
The other heroes looked at each other, some raising eyebrows or holding back laughs. Thor was late—but they didn't hold it against him.
Instead, they all turned to Ben, who stood tall among them. The real hero. The one who had saved them all.
---
The Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four—all tired and marked from the big fight—gathered around Ben to thank him.
"Ben, you didn't just save Earth. You saved the whole universe. We're all grateful," said Captain America, giving a respectful nod.
"Your powers were amazing, Ben. We couldn't have done it without you," said Mr. Fantastic, pushing up his glasses.
"The balance of magic is safe again, thanks to you," said Doctor Strange, his cloak flowing around him.
Spider-Man, always quick with a joke, added, "Looks like you're the real MVP today, Ben."
Eddie Brock, finally free from Knull's control, walked up and said sincerely, "You didn't just save the world. You saved me too. Thank you."
Scarlet Witch softly said, "Even when darkness surrounds us, you remind us that light always has a chance to win."
Ben just gave a calm nod. Then, glancing at Wanda, he remembered something he'd learned from another universe. Dual Cultivating with Wanda could help him grow even stronger as an Anodite.
He turned to her with a grin. "No need to thank me, really," he said. "But... you could thank me in other ways."
Wanda raised an eyebrow, curious. "Oh? What kind of ways?"
Ben smiled. "Come with me."
He looked at the others and waved. "Take care, everyone."
With that, Ben climbed onto his glowing space Harley. Wanda hopped on behind him. The engine roared softly with cosmic energy.
The heroes watched as the bike rose into the sky and vanished into the stars.
Thor crossed his arms and nodded. "That one's something special. I'll have to thank him properly next time."
The heroes turned back to their lives, stronger and more united than before. And the memory of Ben's victory over Knull would stay with them forever—a reminder of what true courage looks like.
---
Fact About Knull. It is not important to read.
Knull has Divine Physiology. A primordial god of darkness, he possesses superhuman attributes and powers far exceeding those of humans and even most other deities. As the creator of All-Black the Necrosword, he apparently possesses the same powers it bestows upon its hosts but to a greater extent.
Divine Physiology also grants him Superhuman Strength and Superhuman Durability. Knull is strong enough to decapitate a Celestial with a single blow, and singlehandedly slaughtered entire armies of gods augmented by the Uni-Power.
Superhuman Durability: Knull is durable enough to survive being blasted by Celestials; he was only left unconscious after being stabbed through the head. Silver Surfer's Cosmic power and being blasted by Ego's psionic beams was not able to severely injure him. Knull can also withstand being immersed in stellar plasma without permanent injury.
Knull possesses the ability to create, control, and manipulate a fount of eldritch darkness. With it he created the parasitic symbiotes, Mister E, Exolon, All-Black, the Void Knight. During his invasion of Earth, Knull was able to engulf the entire Earth in a dome of living abyss, blocking out all light.
Symbiote Creation: Experimenting with and honing this aspect of his powers over the eons, he formed a suit of symbiote-armor, constructed an artificial planet, and amassed a horde of wyvern-like monsters from the living abyss.
Symbiote Domination: As the divine progenitor of the symbiotes and the nexus of their hive-mind, Knull is able to mentally influence and dominate symbiotes even while sealed away; driving them insane with bloodlust and hunger.
Dark Energy Manipulation: Knull was capable of conjuring fiery purple energy; wreathing himself and All-Black in an aura of it, firing it as flak and homing projectiles from artillery constructs manifested from the SymbioteThroneworld.
Self-Sustenance: Knull is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space unaided, and does not appear to need food, water, or sleep to survive.
Shapeshifting: Knull is capable of transforming his mouth into a fanged maw with a prehensile serpentine tongue, a trait he passed down to the symbiotes.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Knull is capable of not only surviving injuries that would kill other gods, but eventually recovering from them. After Thor blasted a hole in his hand, Knull regenerated within the space of a few seconds.
Flight: Knull can manifest a pair of large dragon-like wings that allow him to fly.
Temporal Manipulation: Knull was able to reach backwards through the timestream to resurrect Mister E and create a barrier of living abyss around the sun; also communicating through time with Mister E and restoring his full power in a bid to prematurely free his past self from Klyntar using the Ebony Blade.
Knull has Amortality, so he is purportedly unable to be truly killed and has existed for over 13.7 billion years, having come into existence prior to the beginning of the seventh iteration of the universe.
However, he can be injured to the point of incapacitation: after being impaled through the head and falling from space to the surface of a planet, he required centuries to fully heal from his injuries.
Even after his body was completely disintegrated by Ben, Knull attempted to take over Dylan Brock before being foiled by Ben and seemingly destroyed once-and-for-all.
Despite this, however, he can not truly die as he is an avatar of Oblivion. So he will be reborn in an unknown future.