Chapter 181: A Helping Hand
Hugo stared at the new visitor with a tired expression on his injured face.
It was a young man with pale skin and onyx hair. His eyes were like two bottomless pools of darkness that had no end and no beginning.
Sunny stared at Hugo for a few moments without saying anything. He did not seem too surprised that he was sprawled on the ground.
"...You're awake."
"Barely."
The two remained in awkward silence for a moment, then Sunny sighed.
"... I'm sorry I left you alone in Erebus Field."
Hugo shrugged but groaned slightly due to the pain.
"Don't stress about it. We would've both died if you had stayed, so this is by far the better outcome... That aside, what's the situation?"
Sunny was not the sentimental type but he did seem to pity Hugo, but alas they were not in the situation to get all emotional.
This was the age of the nightmare spell, and tragedy was a constant thing that walked alongside everyone.
Sunny helped his friend stand up and summoned the shadow chair, at the same time he manifested another chair made of shadows for Hugo and brought out some refreshments from the Covetous Coffer.
"Where to start..." Sunny sighed. "As you know, Goliath, the Heart of Darkness and your corrupted terror has been neutralized, which lessened the strain on the evacuation army. However there's still several high ranked threats in Antarctica. The devouring horde, the terror of LO49, the Winter Beast... And recently, three new corrupted tyrants appeared from the gates that opened in Erebus Field. Skytide is holding the line against the Winter Beast and we're currently warding off the rest of the abominations from Falcon Scott but Hugo... Antarctica is lost. Nearly everywhere that's not Falcon Scott has been reduced to ash by nightmare creatures and all of our outposts are gone."
Hugo took a few moments to process all of this.
All that work, all that blood spilled and the countless soldiers that died fighting on this godforsaken land...
And for what? The continent was lost anyway.
It made his efforts and the efforts of thousands of people seem meaningless.
"How many people are being evacuated per day?"
Hugo asked, trying to assess the situation.
Sunny took a sip of his coffee.
"Perhaps a few thousand thanks to the House of Night. But that's still not enough. There's millions of people in Falcon Scott."
"And the Irregulars?"
"... Most of them are dead."
The captains of the first Irregular Company were not Hugo's friends but they were his colleagues... Their deaths still saddened him greatly.
'Their nightmare is over...'
Drinking some of the warm coffee Sunny had given him, Hugo sighed.
"Shit... We're really screwed, aren't we?"
Sunny shrugged.
"It's bad but it's not the worst case scenario, at least not yet."
"True..." Hugo groaned slightly, feeling pain aching from every part of his being.
Sunny looked at him for a few moments, then seemed to peer into his soul using his strange abilities.
He must've seen the terrible state of his soul.
"Still pretty messed up?"
"Yeah, I'm going to the dream realm. Nephis is probably the only one capable of healing me right now."
"... In that case I might as well come with you. All my duties are over right now."
"Alright pull on your tether in..."
Before he could finish his sentence Sunny disappeared from the waking world, prompting Hugo to sigh.
He placed his tether in this room and focused inwardly.
Before he could teleport to the dream realm, Hugo took a look at his clothes and sighed.
He could not exactly go to the dream realm like this.
Hugo opened the Omnitrix inner system panel, which was damaged and worn down, but still worked relatively enough.
He clicked the mode tabs and selected the costume mode, causing a white, black and blue suit to manifest over his broken body.
He still had burn marks on his face but that wasn't that big of a deal.
A few seconds later, he disappeared into the dream realm as well.
***
On the beautiful pagoda of the Ivory Island, there was a bustling sea of people moving around the great tower of hope.
They were fire keepers, accompanied by knights of Valor.
Though the strangest thing was the fact that the whole islandisland was was moving, heading towards the boundary of the chained isles.
Two new figures appeared in front of the great tower, feeling the warm weather of the chained isles.
Taking a look at the island, sunny seemed slightly surprised by the number of people.
"It's way more crowded than last time."
"Indeed..."
Hugo mused at how alive this place was... He had not been in such a place since the start of the Antarctica campaign.
Sunny on the other hand, seemed to be slightly bothered by the crowd.
Not because of their numbers though.
"Valor soldiers..."
Hugo raised an eyebrow
"How did you know?"
Sunny looked at him with a deadpan expression.
"I've been with the Fire Keepers for almost four years now. I know every single one of them by name, and also, take a good look at their armors."
Some of the Awakened present had armors inscribed with the symbol of a hammer and an anvil... It was the universal crest of Valor, known by all.
And more importantly, the soldiers of Valor were looking at them with strange expressions.
'...'
Ignoring the hostile looks, Hugo and Sunny walked towards the tower and greeted some of the fire keepers along the way.
Eventually they found Shim, who was beaming with joy at their appearance.
"Sunny, Hugo! It's good to see you guys!"
Shim had been Sunny's friend for a while now, and he was also a good colleague to Hugo, though they were not the closest, they still respected and liked each other to a certain extent.
"Good to see you too shim... But excuse me for being rude, but is Nephis around?"
Shim took a look at Hugo's face and his expression became a little somber.
"Oh of course, she's in the third floor kitchen. Actually, she was waiting for you guys."
Cassie must've informed nephis of their visit...
Speaking of Cassie... Hugo could not shake off the uncomfortable feeling every time her name was brought up.
She knew of Malware and the fall of Erebus, but she did not warn him...
In truth, warning him would not have changed the outcome, not at all, but still.
It was her words that lead Hugo to attempt false Transcendance and kill malware in the end.
If not for her, he would have been dead by now, consumed by malware.
'Just what are you planning... Cassie...'
Sunny nodded.
"Alright, take care of yourself."
"You too!"
Sunny and Hugo ascended the stairs of the tower, until they reached the third floor and walked towards the kitchen door.
The smell of food spread through the floor, making both of their stomachs grumble.
Opening the door, they were a little surprised to see Nephis in an apron, cooking a meal.
This was the second time they saw her like this, but it was still an odd sight to see.
"Ahem ahem." Sunny coughed slightly.
Turning to the sound, Nephis waved a hand at them.
"Take a seat."
Without arguing with the silver haired woman, they both sat down at the wooden table and relaxed into their seats.
Nephis quickly finished the dish and poured rice for each of them, but she made sure to give Sunny the bigger filling.
'... Lovebirds.'
Hugo reached for the chopsticks and was about to eat, but suddenly, he winced from the pain.
Nephis stared at him for a moment then walked towards his seat and placed a hand on his shoulder.
White flames manifested from her pale arm and slowly spread through his body. His scars, burns and some remaining fractures all mended and were restored to their original State.
The flames consumed Hugo, washing away his pain, his guilt and his tired spirit... It reached deep within his being, until it invaded the confines of his soul sea.
The divine flames washed over the broken blue maze, fixing and bringing life to it once more.
It reached his omni-core and erased the cracks within it. It even reached into the depths of his Omnitrix, fixing its broken parts.
Nephis seemed to feel pain from using her flames, but she endured it and removed her hand when it was all done.
Hugo exhaled deeply, and took a look at his body... It had been fixed, but it was still weaker than before.
Which was only natural, considering the fact that he was an Ascended beast right now.
His Omnitrix seemed to be back to normal, at least.
Hugo looked at Nephis with a grateful expression.
"Thank you."
She gave him a taciturn nod.
"Don't mention it."
She poured a bowl of rice for herself and sat beside them.
"Come on, let's eat before it gets cold."
Hugo and Sunny stared at each other for a moment, then got to devouring their food.
Hugo savored every bite, grateful to enjoy real food once again.
In the last few months, he had remained in his alien forms for days on end. Thanks to his biology constantly changing, he found himself eating various things...
Bugs, rocks, raw nightmare creatures and stuff he was too traumatized to remember.
So, getting normal human food for once was a great change.
"So, how have you two been?" Nephis asked, which was unusual for her.
Was she trying to socialize?
Regardless, Sunny was the first to answer...
"Terrible. We've lost a lot of people..." He briefly glanced at Hugo, who wore a somber expression. "Only Falcon Scott remains in Antarctica tight now, and we're dealing with a lot of abominations."
Nephis expression turned sorrowful.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you two. Valor are taking their time to show up..."
The great clan were barely concerned about the safety of the people in Antarctica, after all they only cared about was their war with Song.
Nephis was not in a position to leave for Antarctica, being a part of the great clan herself.
The three remained silent for a few minutes, then, Nephis gave Sunny a nod.
Understanding her words, Sunny summoned a lute like memory, and begun... singing?
A small bubble formed around the room.
Hugo quickly caught on to what they were doing.
'Hiding our voices from any listeners... Good idea.'
It also meant that Nephis was going to discuss something important with them.
"I'll cut right to the chase. The real reason Valor and Song are taking this long to enter Antarctica isn't because they lack the manpower or anything of the sort." She gave Hugo and Sunny a meaningful look. "It's because they're preparing for war with the Song clan, and they intend to use Antarctica as their battlefield."
Sunny's expression became slightly twisted by her words, while Hugo...
He had the look of a murderer for a few moments.
Hugo had his suspicions about the war, its location and its cause. He had gotten some information from Sunny and Nephis, and the rest from the government archives he had access to.
But they were only that. Suspicions.
Now... They were confirmed. The slight hope he had for those suspicions being false was crushed now.
All of those deaths could have been avoided if they had deployed people to Antarctica, or even better, if the sovereigns themselves descended upon the waking world, the Winter Beast would have been destroyed and Malware would not have been a problem at all.
All of the people that Hugo had failed to save would have been alive, too.
Gritting his teeth, he asked Nephis something that had been bothering him.
"... Do you know the reason?"
Nephis nodded somberly.
"I do... But before that, Hugo, do you know what domains are?"
Hugo hesitated for a few moments before nodding.
"The ability Awakened receive when they reach the supreme rank. It vastly increases the power of a sovereign and can be expanded. I've encountered a supreme being in my second nightmare before."
More than that, Hugo had gotten knowledge about domains from Azarax himself, back when they were in the white desert together.
And more importantly... He had briefly experienced possessing a domain when he was Alien x. A divine domain, but a domain nonetheless.
"The sovereigns of Valor and Song... Anvil and Ki Song are fighting because they believe that two monarchs of humanity can't coexist... Or in simple terms, both of them want to have all of humanity under one all powerful domain, which would make them invincible."
Hugo listened to her words carefully.
He could not rationalize the thought process of a supreme.
What exactly were they hoping to achieve after they claim all of humanity? Do they want to protect it from future threats, or are they expanding their domains for the fifth nightmare?
"Do you know why they want to do that?"
Nephis sighed.
"That, I haven't been able to figure out. At least, not yet." Nephis took a sip from her drink and looked at her hands with a tired expression.
They remained silent for a few moments, then Hugo remembered that there was still something else he was curious about.
"Nephis, excuse my rashness, but the sovereigns... They killed your father, didn't they?"
Her expression darkened a little, and white flames danced in her eyes, holding a melevalont anger within them.
"Yes. They conquered the third and fourth nightmares together and turned on my father in the end... Aster, Vale and Ki Song. Though... The fact that they killed my father is only one of the reasons I despise them." She looked at Sunny and Hugo with a determined look. "They are cowards who refused to ascend further in the path of ascension, and are actively suppressing humanity's growth."
'Ah... I had almost forgotten.'
Nephis, deep down, was insane.
Much like Hugo, she too wanted to ascend further and conquer all nightmares... All to destroy the nightmare spell.
The sovereigns are simply obstacles in her way.
But still, she must have a deeper grudge. They killed her father, ruined her clan and attempted to kill her as a child multiple times.
"Nephis... The reason you joined Valor was to destabilize the clan from the inside... Right?"
She nodded.
"..." Hugo paused for a few moments then continued "Do you plan to kill them?"
A mere master ascending high enough to slay demigods was a fairytale, really... But haven't more outlandish things happened already?
Hugo himself had briefly become a god once, fought an unholy terror, slain a great creature as a mere master and killed two Titans, and multiple corrupted tyrants and terrors.
This already dwarfed the achievements of various people from the ancient past.
Nephis was a divine aspect wielder, on the same level as Hugo and Sunny, with her destructive and restorative abilities.
She was definitely capable of conquering the third and fourth nightmares and becoming supreme one day...
But even then, she would not be able to kill them both on her own. Anvil and Ki Song had been supremes for two decades now and they spent those years building their domain and expanding their supreme powers.
She would need help, a lot of it.
Nephis looked at them with a Stern look, then nodded.
"Yes. Ki Song, Anvil and Asterion... I want to kill them all, and I will." She looked slightly inhuman for a brief moment. "I've already told Sunny and Cassie about this, and now you know it, as well."
Hugo crossed his hands for a few seconds, then shrugged.
"Alright"
Sunny and Nephis looked at him with a bewildered expression.
"What?"
"I said alright. Let's kill the sovereigns." He took a sip from his drink."It'll take a long time... And a lot of planning, but it'll be for the greater good of humanity... Of course, I would like to learn more about them as we go on. Their abilities, their flaws, their fears... All of it."
Nephis held his gaze for a while then, looked at Sunny.
He had been silent for a while and now they were both looking at him, waiting for his answer.
He sighed and let out a loud groan.
"You two are crazy...but what the hell? I'm already too deep into this anyway."
That day, three divine aspect wielders made a decision that will forever change humanity.
Whether it's for the better or for the worst, that remained to be seen.