Chapter 184: A Most Dangerous Hex
According to the diviners of the first evacuation army, the Devouring Cloud is a swarm entity. It is not a powerful Nightmare Creature but most likely the remains of a long dead Terror, whose brood had somehow remained and Transformed into the cloud.
Its main consciousness had been destroyed at some point in the past, either by an ancient awakened or a fellow nightmare creature.
That said, that did not mean the abominations making up the swarm were weak. Quite the opposite. They were powerful nightmare creatures who possessed not one, but two tyrants within it.
Hugo took a deep breath... He had encountered the horde once, back when he was a terror running across Antarctica and destroying every abomination in his sight.
Back then, the horde had been made of awakened and fallen abominations, but he could not destroy all of them due to their numbers and abilities.
Sunny had also encountered them once, but now, it seemed they had grown stronger.
There were much more fallen ones this time and even a few corrupted in there.
Hugo sighed and raised his blade. All around him, the Awakened were terrified and shaken, except for a few brave ones.
The wind hit his hair and his blue eyes focused on the swarm.
He touched his Omnitrix and activated his Ascended ability, fusing Four Arms and Humungousaur.
His body grew big and mighty, and his physical power became so overwhelming that it could be compared to saints.
He immediately activated his abilities, enhancing his physical prowse and also augmenting the people around him.
All around the battlefield, the Awakened and the mundane soldiers piloting exoskeletons felt their bodies be augmented and empowered beyond what was physically possible.
Even Saint Bloodwave felt tenacious power running through his veins.
The effects even extended to the horde, however instead of augmenting them, it drained their physical power... Courtesy of humangasaur's powers. The influence of his ability could not encompass all of them but that was enough to weaken a large portion of the bat like creatures.
Hugo shot into the sky, wielding a great sword forged by the [mechamoprhic asura] and engaged the ghastly creatures in battle.
He used their bodies as platforms, killing and jumping off to another to increase his momentum. Each strike of his sword unleashed shockwaves, destabilizing the eastern side of the horde.
His showcase of power was impressive... But he could not keep it for long, not with this many creatures.
Before he could be overwhelmed, another explosion was seen within the horde as countless bodies were disintegrated and cut in pieces.
Saint Bloodwave had joined Hugo, and the two of them held off the stronger nightmare creatures within the horde.
But hundreds still managed to slip past them, falling upon the army down below.
Roan frowned and called upon his aspect, at the same time he turned to members of the White Feather clan.
"Soldiers with me!"
Strong gusts of winds could be felt, and suddenly small vortexes were born within the hordes, making the wings of the nightmare creatures up in the sky lose their trajectory.
The White Feather clan was known for having Awakened and Masters capable of manipulating wind, and they, thanks to their many years of training, were perfectly in synch when it came to using their aspects.
This made them especially deadly when facing flying abominations.
Jet, Sunny, Winter and the members of the House of Night also engaged in battle, some used their long range weapons while others like Sunny and jet leaped across the battlefield, rising to kill the ghastly creatures using melee weapons.
In truth, one did not need to rise to their levels as the vile nightmare creatures descended towards the humans, anyway.
Hugo could not stay in the air for long, not with his large body, so he fell back to the ground and continued his rampage.
Out of all the warriors present, he was the one surrounded by nightmare creatures the most. The devouring horde were practically fused with him, making it impossible for anyone from afar to spot him.
Using his incredible strength and his multitude of arms, he managed to decapitate the flying bat like creatures one by one.
[You have slain an awakened monster: Brood of the Devouring Cloud]
[You have slain a fallen demon: brood of...]
[You have slain a corrupted beast...]
[You have slain...]
Dozens of creatures, hundreds even, all fell to his blades, but their numbers simply refused to drop down.
'Someone needs to destroy the tyrant...'
His blade flashed horizontally, taking down five awakened demons at once, at the same time his two lower arms crushed a fallen devil.
He himself did not seem close to the tyrant so he had to entrust of killing it to his comrades.
***
Saint Bloodwave's ebony skin was stained with the crimson blood of the Devouring Horde as his two curved swords fell upon the beasts.
His indigo eyes shone with bloodlust and controlled brutality.
Each swing was calculated and even the amount of force used in his strikes was taken into consideration, showcasing his incredible skills as a saint.
He augmented his body with soul essence and gained a slight advantage, then leaped into the sky and cut multiple abominations in half before falling back down gracefully— and doing the same thing a few more times.
Besides Bloodwave, three of his most powerful echoes were fighting alongside him. One was a giant crab the size of a house, the other was a golem made of clay and lastly, an almost invisible creature made of fog.
The first two were Ascended, while the last was a powerful Transcendent echo, so each of them were capable of holding their own against the horde.
'Just where are you...'
His senses had been greatly enhanced by his Transcendence, which allowed him to detect nightmare creatures both in the ocean and on the ground even better than before.
There was the blood of storm god, as well, which gave him an innate affinity to navigation and finding his Targets.
The combination of his Transcendent powers, his lineage and his aspect made him a dangerous predator.
And after a few minutes of careful searching while tearing down the horde, his indigo eyes finally detected the tyrant through a narrow gap between the hundreds of beasts falling down upon him.
'There you are.'
Bloodwave augmented his body with soul essence once again, then rushed towards his crab echo. He mentally commanded it to lower itself slightly, and jumped on it.
The crab shot upward, boosting the power of his jump and sending him flying like a missile.
His Transcendent body tore through the nightmare creatures one by one and drowned him in blood.
Bloodwave was already used to this, after all, drowning in blood was not new to him.
After a few dozens abominations impaled, he finally reached his Target and latched into its back.
The first tyrant of the Devouring Horde had a leathery-winged, lean body with six segmented legs, a tail that ended in a long, jagged stinger, and three long necks, each ending in harrowing circular maws. The abomination looked like a mix between a wyvern, a worm, and a scorpion. It was large, formidable, and utterly hideous...
It was of the corrupted rank, which did not match what the diviners had told them.
'It must've evolved recently....'
He gritted his teeth and grabbed into the abomination hard, using all his Transcendent strength to stay atop it as the tyrant flew deeper into the horde, killing some of its minions along the way.
Bloodwave activated the enchantment of his curved swords, and fused them together. The beautiful blades were a prize he had attained in the depths of his third nightmare, they were a single memory capable of fusing together.
The first blade was capable of inflicting soul damage and the second was capable of inflicting spirit damage.
When fused together, the blade would gain both of the enchantments of its predecessors however it will also take a considerable amount of essence to maintain, even for a saint.
The blades glowed with azure light, forming into a beautiful ethereal blade.
Bloodwave moved upward, reaching towards the tyrant's neck and in one swift move, he brought it down and cut the tyrant in half.
In the depths of its profane soul, a single slash tore the boundaries of its soul, even reaching towards its spirit.
[You have slain a corrupted tyrant: first remnant of the Devouring Cloud.]
Suddenly, the thousands of abominations within the devouring horde seemed to have lost their purpose, becoming aimless and confused.
At least, the western half of the horde did, the eastern side seemed to have retained their monarch.
The correct move would have been to go slay the second tyrant, but Bloodwave decided to destroy the leaderless army first, as it would save more people in the long-term.
He also had hope that one of the exceptional young Awakened would be able to slay it.
With a sigh, he unfused his blade into two swords once again and leaped off, becoming a torrent of death wherever he passed.
***
Hugo abandoned his blade and switched to his strongest weapon. His hands.
Each blow unleashed from his Monsterous body caused a shockwave, destroying three abominations at once.
He was a killing machine, drowning in blood and chaos, and destroying everything in his sight.
But even then, the horde simply never stopped.
The ghastly bat like creatures continued descending upon him to no end, and as more of them fell, something strange begun to happen.
The other members of the horde begun consuming their fallen brethren and grew stronger as a result. Their wounds were healed and sometimes, their ranks and classes even increased.
There were more fallen abominations and a few new corrupted.
Hugo could not leave his position and look for the tyrant, as that would cause the horde to devour the soldiers nearby.
The worst of the assaults were aimed at him and he would like it to stay that way.
However, that did not mean he had no other means of destroying the tyrant.
He summoned his spirit body and made it assume an ethereal form.
***
Within his spirit body, Hugo found it strange to control two bodies once again, after all he had gotten used to being only one entity at a time.
That said, he waved through the horde and went near his shadow avatar, who was still in the form of a stone saint, destroying every abomination with tenacious might.
Hugo mentally sent his shadow a message. A few moments later, it gave him a taciturn nod.
It hit its shadowtrix and in a flash of black light, it became an onyx serpent with long and beautiful scales.
His shadow killed one of the abominations and in the next moment, it changed into one of the horde thanks to the [Soul Serpent] unique ability.
The two of them flew through the horde, navigating through it in search of the tyrant and soon enough they found the bastard, hidden deep within the endless cloud.
It wasn't moving, though and the corrupted presence of its soul was growing stronger.
'It's evolving to the corrupted rank...'
Hugo's spirit body assumed a physical form, and then, it activated [Mechamorphic Asura] and created an armor around it.
An arm cannon formed from his hand as he jumped at the tyrant's back and activated his spirit body's most powerful ability — the manipulation of souls.
While Hugo had been reduced to an ascended devil, his spirit body was still an ascended Titan, and so it was capable of influencing the soul of a fallen tyrant — so much so that it stopped its evolution and began actively breaking its soul down.
His shadow became a great serpent once again and wrapped around the disgusting body of the tyrant, as well.
In two swift moves, Hugo blew its head out, and the shadow squeezed its body and drove its fangs into the head area.
The amalgamation of all those attacks destroyed its body and soul without allowing it any chance of resistance.
[You have slain a fallen tyrant: second remnant of the Devouring Cloud]
With the tyrant dead, Hugo dismissed his spirit body and made his shadow flow back to him.
He took a shaky breath and looked up. High above, the Devouring Cloud seemed… aimless and lost. Without malevolent purpose guiding the swarm of brood beasts, they were being slowly obliterated by the city defenses and the Awakeneds.
To the western side, the abominations were in the same state, which meant that Saint Bloodwave had managed to deal with the first tyrant.
'No matter.'
Hugo called Zed near him, and the two continued finishing off the horde, one by one.
To the Awakened watching, Hugo was no different from the other abominations, in fact he was even Monsterous than all of them.
***
Sunny took a heavy breath as he assumed his human form and leaned on the Sin of Solace.
He was standing atop hundreds of dead bodies, killed by him and his most loyal companion, Saint.
The dark knight was standing with her head raised, killing any abomination that dared threaten her master's life.
As for the horde, they were weak and aimless, which can only mean one thing.
'The tyrants are dead...'
But why wasn't he feeling happy?
By all accounts, he was supposed to feel jubilation and relief. Even though the battle was not over, the Irregulars had accomplished their task, and four tyrants were dead today.
It was a monumental achievement, one that would undoubtedly be remembered in the future.
However, Sunny did not feel relieved.
Instead, he felt… cold. Very, very cold.
And frightened.
'What the hell is this feeling?'
Struggling against a deep sense of unease, Sunny shivered and turned to the black waves of the far ocean, his hand reaching for the hilt of the Sin of Solace.
Just as he did, the water parted, and something… someone… appeared from below it.
Sunny froze, staring with wide eyes. His face paled terribly.
There was a man walking out of the ocean, water flowing from his armor. He was tall, with a powerful build. His hair was dark, and his bloodless face… was empty, not a hint of emotion hiding in his hollow eyes.
Instead, there was something different in them. Something vast, alien, and terrifying.
The man slowly appeared from the water and took a firm step toward Sunny, looming above him like a hollow wraith. The empty stare of his glassy eyes fell down.
Sunny's hand shook.
Stunned, he tried to crawl back and whispered in a faint, trembling voice:
"...V—Verne?"
For a moment or two, Sunny's mind was empty. He took a step back, looking at the familiar figure towering above him.
Verne… it was Verne. There was no mistake in it. That man was the same master that had been consumed by the terror of LO49.
It was either him or something wearing Verne's corpse...
His shadow was much more vast and dreadful than a human's shadow was supposed to be.
The hollow gaze of the dead Master pursued Sunny, his face still and unmoving like a mask. Behind him, the dark waves stirred, and more figures rose from the water. Men, women, children… dozens of them, hundreds even. They marched forward like an army of the dead, silent and emotionless, their eyes drowning in darkness.
All their shadows were wrong.
The people of LO49 that Sunny had left to die. He recognized all of them, staring at the undulating surface of the ocean in horror.
'The… the Terror…'
The Sin of Solace laughed at Sunny, making his face darken...
It seemed Sunny's sins had finally caught up to him, and they came at the worst possible time...