Chapter 63: Exploded
In an instant, Hugo found himself back in his body. The memories of the forever knight called Ragna having flashed through his mind in an instant...
Despite the fact that the summoning ritual ability was still happening in front of him and he was frozen in place, his head went completely blank for a moment...
'... Sun, shadow, beast, heart, storm, war and...'
What was the seventh seat?
'... Dream...'
In an instant, blood erupted from Hugo's seven orifices as the profane knowledge of the seventh god entered his mind fully.
Not only that, but his mind was also reeling from the other [Greater Being] that he saw the forever knights worship.
Not only did they sacrifice people to [It], but they also ate the bodies of their victimes consuming both of their bodies and souls, just like nightmare creatures do.
'All of them... All of them are monsters...'
Both in the literal and moral sense... They are nightmare creatures.
And not just any nightmare creatures, but ones so profane and corrupted that not a single trace of divinity remains inside of their souls, and thus they have no madness plaguing their minds.
CREEK
The cocoon behind Ragna suddenly erupted as a pale white hand pierced through its thick hide. The white hand began peeling the cocoon with intense ferocity until the being inside fully revealed itself.
The creature was a towering, muscular humanoid figure with four wings protruding from its eye sockets and a tail-like appendage extending from the back of its head. Hovering just above it was a large eight-handled wheel (法ほう陣じん, hōjin?) that seemed to rotate slightly as soon as it laid its "eyes" on Hugo.
The creature also sported black hakama bottoms and a white sash around its waist to cover most of its lower body for some
reason.
Ragna, his face mad with glee, looked at Hugo's frozen body.
"So full of life and divinity... You represent all that is wrong with humanity... And because of that, you will die today, bastard. Even if it means defying one of the kings orders—"
Just as he said that, the white giant suddenly slammed Ragna to the side, as if dealing with a pitiful insect that was not even worth its time.
That strike... It was all it took to kill Ragna.
Hugo could see the process of his death with his own eyes.
His soul sea was suddenly purified from corruption and his soul core drained from the sickly purple energy before it completely shattered, destroying the black space and finally freeing Hugo.
At the same time, the towering devil turned its head towards Hugo.
"Oh shi—"
A gigantic white fist collided with Hugo's face, breaking it and sending his body flying miles away at an incredible speed.
'It's a Transcendent...'
Hugo frowned at that realization, enduring the hellish pain of the blow and using Jetray's natural ability to fly to stabilize himself in the air.
From the distance, he could see the white devil rushing at him at a terrifying speed, leaping in long bounds to reach Hugo like a mad predator.
Hugo quickly recalled Jetray's abilities as he processed his situation.
Imprint name: [Aerophibian]
Imprint rank: ascended
Imprint class: terror
Imprint description: [The goddess of black skies was not only the goddess of storms, but she was also the goddess of space and travel. To represent her other domains better, she created the Aerophibians in the deepest parts of space, granting them the natural abilities to traverse the stars and survive vastness of the universe.]
Imprint attributes: [Radiation immunity], [survivalist], [elemental immunity], [Blessing of travel]
Imprint abilities: [Levitation], [Super speed], [wormhole], [Minions], [Neuroshock]
[Radiation immunity] attribute description: [Being accustomed to the harsh nature of space, the Aerophibian developed resistance to all types of radiation]
[survivalist] attribute description: [The Aerophibian can survive in all types of environments]
[Elemental immunity] attribute description: [The Aerophibians are immune to all elements]
[Blessing of travel] attribute description: [An Aerophibian always knows how to reach their destination]
[Levitation] ability description: [You can levitate your body]
[Super speed] ability description: [You can accelerate your body to achieve new heights of speed]
[Wormhole] ability description: [The goddess of black skies bent space to create wormholes for her children to traverse. You have unlocked that ability, granting you safe passage and travel through any wormhole.]
[Minions] ability description: [You can create lesser versions of yourself]
[Neuroshock] ability description: [You can generate Neuroshock energy from your body]
[Author's note: Finally made Jetray's runes. Now I only need to make Swampfire, and the rest should be done later. Also, [Minions] is a tyrant ability while [Neuroshock] is a terror ability. The other three abilities are dormant, awakened, and ascended abilities that noble creatures get when they reach the devil class. The number of devil abilities increases once per rank, but only with devil abilities.]
Hugo's eyes ignited with terrifying green light as he activated the [Neuroshock] ability, sending a wave of dangerous green light toward the creature below.
The white devil held its hands up in a defensive position, blocking the blast.
However, a terror ability is not something any creature of a relevant rank can brush off easily or hope to defend against.
The Neuroshock energy began to peel the white devil's skin, burning it and infecting its hideous body with radiation.
Seeing his strategy work, Hugo poured more of his soul essence into the blast and used his tail to create more energy, blasting the ugly bastard to oblivion.
The white devil's hands were practically fried chicken by this point, nearly crumbling to dust from the pressure of the neuroshock.
It was then that it happened.
The golden wheel behind its head suddenly made a clicking sound. Then it rotated I a full circle once.
In mere seconds, the creature's hands, which had been completely burned just a moment ago, suddenly regenerated to their normal size.
Not only that, it didn't seem bothered by the blast anymore
'Regeneration...'
Hugo's eyes narrowed as he realized the creature he was dealing with was no simple being. and in a moment, the creature leaped into the sky, launching itself towards Hugo like a rocket. Before Hugo could even react, it grabbed him by the tail and plunged downward, carrying Hugo like a toddler would carry a broken toy. Then it slammed him into the ground, burying him deep in a rock.
Than, just as Hugo was about to retaliate, it brought its fists down on his buried body, punching him hundreds of times in the span of moments, bringing a storm of pain with each devastating punch. And with that pain, Hugo also felt his ascended body being pounded by a terrible force turning his bones into dust.
Gritting his non-existent teeth, Hugo gathered all of the Neuroshock energy inside his body and circulated it through himself.
The energy was simply soul essence, transformed by jetray's ability into energy. Said energy could be circulated through the body naturally, but could only be released from the tail hole or the eye sockets due to the unique biology of an Aerophibian.
However, Hugo couldn't release the built-up energy from there, and so he did the next best thing.
He let that energy accumulate until his entire exploded.
BAM!
A green pillar of energy lit up the dark night sky, rising to reach the height of a skyscraper. At the same time, The pillar slowly expanded in size, swallowing the land and the white devil alongside it.
Though, as expected, the white devil didn't even get a single scratch on its body from the body, having adapted to the neuroshock energy perfectly.
A few minutes passed as the earth beneath kept shaking violently and than, after the explosion subsided, the white devil rose from the debris searching for its prey with through it's sensory wings.
There, some distance away, among the rubbles lay a pile of ash and a round Omnitrix dial on the ground.
Indeed, Hugo had literally exploded his body, causing everything from his flesh to bones to disintegrate.
Well, everything apart from the omnitrix, of course.
The Omnitrix remained as it was for a couple of moments. Then its artificial intelligence spoke:
[Failsafe activated]
The Omnitrix shone with brilliant emerald light. Then it levitated off the ground and exploded into a mass of green energy.
The light then formed tendrils, which wrapped themselves around the omnitrix, than Those tendrils transformed into strange roots, colliding and wrapping around each other until they, eventually, they formed into a humanoid plant-like alien with a green and black body.
"Swampfire!"
Hugo screamed the alien's name instinctively as his body finished regenerating.
He didn't really think that exploding his body using Neuroshock was a good idea, but it was the only way to avoid being crushed to death by the transcendant creature.
He also trusted the Omnitrix capability bringing him back using Swampfire's regenerative attribute, which is why he took the risk in the first place.
Narrowing his eyes, Hugo looked through the dust and debris, eventually locating the body of the white devil.
His dark face turned into a deep frown as he saw that it was completely unharmed...
'Regeneration and invincibility... No, it clearly wasn't invincible moments ago.'
Although Hugo was lost in thoughts, trying to decipher the creature's ability,bhe also realized that he couldn't let his guard down again.
And so, without much delay, Hugo activated Swampfire's dormant ability, releasing a bunch of toxic gas from his arms. Then, using the awakened ability, he exploded it and transformed it into fire.
A terrible wave of flame was launched at the white devil, which was already rushing at Hugo. When it met the abomination, the flames — which were created by an ascended terror — tore through the transcendant creature's skin, burning it alive.
'Not invincibility... Then... Adaptation?'
Just as he thought that, he noticed the creature's skin slowly healing.
'So not instant adaptation... And it also must be related to that wheel behind it's head and it also must be a transcendant devil, considering I'm not that inferior in terms of strength...'
Realizing that, Hugo stopped the torrent of flames and positioned his hands backward, unleashing the torrent again, although this time to propel himself toward the creature.
At the same time, the white devil rushed forward with its gigantic fist ready to clobber Hugo's body like a bug.
BAM!
Hugo's fist, engulfed in fire, collided with the transcendant devil, unleashing a terrible shockwave throughout the entire region and devastating it further.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
The two alien creatures exchanged dozens more blows at a terrifying speed, each looking for a blind spot in their opponent's defense as they moved throughout the broken terrain.
Hugo was using the regenerative ability of Swampfire to his advantage so that he didn't have to worry about getting fatally injured and trick the devil into hitting him.
The white devil, however, seemed to let itself get injured on purpose not bothering to dodge or block any of Hugo's hits.
'Of course, its adaptation ability doesn't just work on direct abilities... It seems it can adapt to any and all phenomena to grow stronger... Including regular punches.'
Meaning, if he wanted to destroy it, he would need a single powerful attack that would kill it at once.
If he had heatblast, that wouldn't have been a problem but he didn't have access to it right now.
So now, which of his current aliens — excluding alien x— could do that?
Hugo wasn't really proficient with Ben Tennyson's aliens, but from the ones he knew, there were a couple of options.
First, there was Big Chill, who possessed the ability to freeze anything.
Secondly, there was Swampfire, who could unleash an explosion equal to a small nuclear blast at full power.
Thirdly, there was an alien called Echo Echo, whose main power revolved around sonic attacks.
And lasty, there was Chromastone who absorbed all types energy and produced a special type of it that is pretty powerful.
The rest weren't enough to do the job, either lacking firepower or not possessing any at all.
After a particularly powerful punch to the stomach, Hugo created seven seeds from his own body and shot them at the feet of the white devil. The seeds quickly opened, revealing the veins inside, which quickly rose to capture the white devil and freeze him in place giving Hugo a moment of repose.
'Alright, now or never.'
Hugo backed away with a long leap and then exhaled.
His essence reserves were growing dangerously low, with four out of his six cores already drained from the constant usage of Abilities.
With that knowledge in mind, Hugo slammed the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, utilizing his true awakened ability to change forms.
His body shifted and grew shorter, losing its plant-like nature and dissolving into pure sound weaves. Then said weaves were engulfed by white fabric resembling skin, forming "tissues" and "bones" through the body.
A small, white humanoid alien made of silicon stood on the shattered battlefield. His body was natural, although he strongly resembled a robot with green ears and the inside being completely green.
"Echo Echo!"
Hugo shouted the alien's name as usual.
Then he went further beyond.
He twisted the Omnitrix symbol, drawing upon the power of the [Omni-Kix] trait.
The Omnitrix symbol on his chest flashed briefly. Then segments of Omni-Kix armor materialized from the watch, wrapping around Echo Echo's small body.
Plates formed around his torso first, locking into place over his chest and back. A collar-like unit sealed around his neck, followed by reinforced shoulder pads attaching on both sides.
The helmet structure built upward from the collar, enclosing his head fully. Then a smooth visor slid into place across the front, covering his face. Circular speaker-like modules extended and locked onto the sides of the helmet.
Armored gauntlets formed over his forearms and hands, while thick plating covered his small legs and mechanical boots assembled around his feet, sealing with a soft clicking sound.
Hugo paused for a moment, feeling the power inside his body. This was the first time he had used the [Omni-Kix] on an ascended imprint, after all, and so it was bound to be extremely powerful than his usual forms.
Especially on Echo Echo, who possessed a powerful set of abilities.
Imprint: [Sonorosian]
Imprint rank: ascended
Imprint class: terror
Imprint description: [In the depths of the newly born universe, sound was among the first concepts that were created by the gods. Yet among those sounds, some were more bizarre than others. They were alive, in a way, possessing powerful wills and the capacity for thought making unique among the natural weaves of sounds. All beings shoned those strange existences, with many trying to capture or eliminate them completely. However, The daemon of repose, seeing this wonderful existence, took inspiration from her sister, the daemon of imagination, and grabbed those weaves with her hands, which transcended the mortal plane. She gave the beautiful music and sound life, bringing their souls into existence, and then through her divine power, she gave them bodies to manifest themselves fully. From that point, the Sonorosians, the strange yet wonderfully mysterious race of noble creatures, followed the daemon of repose on her journey through the realms atop the Nightgarden until The [Unknown] was set free.]
Imprint attributes: [sound weaves], [star of divinity], [ears of a fox]
Imprint abilities: [sonic weave], [Echo location], [levitation], [duplication], [Sound manipulation]
[Sound weaves] attribute description: [A Sonorosian's body is made of pure sound]
[Star of divinity] attribute description: [The Sonorosians possess more divinity than most noble creatures, with their divinity burning like a star in the night sky.]
[Ear of a fox] attribute description: [Being made of sound, Sonorosians can hear and detect all types of sounds]
[Sonic weave] ability description:[You can produce powerful sonic weaves]
[Echo location] ability description: [You can locate anything through sound]
[Levitation] ability description: [Being made of pure sound, you can manipulate your body to levitate temporarily.]
[Duplication] ability description: [Unlike all tyrants, your minions are you and you are your Minions]
[Sound manipulation] ability description: [You can manipulate all sounds]
Echo Echo possessed a vastly unique set of powers compared to most aliens Hugo had possessed since he conquered his first nightmare, which was exactly what made it fitting for what Hugo was about to do next.
Hugo drew upon Echo Echo's tyrant ability, [Duplication], and created dozens of copies of himself, which in turn created even more copies, eventually reaching hundreds, then a thousand in mere moments. All of the clones surrounded the white devil in a perfect circle, leaving no path of escape.
Having this much numbers against a transcendant devil was definitely advantagous, however what made this ability so deadly was the fact that each clone did not share the same soul and soul cores. Rather, each clone possessed its own copied soul cores and soul, all connected to the same consciousness.
And so without hesitation, Hugo used the features added by the [Omni-Kix] armor and formed a microphone near his mouth, and spoke a single word:
"Die."
What proceeded next was a terrible array of sonic weaves that could be heard throughout the entirety of America.