Chapter 28: Developments
The last sparks of life fled the Carapace Centurion's body as it's head was cut off by a certain treacherous shadow.
It went limp in Hugo's gargantuan grasp, its thrashing ceasing as the light died in its multifaceted eyes. Hugo, still in his Vilgax form tossed the heavy carcass aside with a grunt, the impact sending a tremor through the ground. He wrenched his trident free and turned to his companions, his expression a bit stiffer then usual.
"...To think a single Awakened Monster could push us this far" Hugo rumbled, his voice low and tired.
Sunny gasped for air, his body still trembling from the exertion of delivering the final blow.
"Well, Sleepers like us don't have any business fighting Awakened Monsters in the first place so It's natural they'd feel this powerful."
Changing Star simply nodded, her expression one of grim acceptance. This was the natural order of things. Sleepers like them were incredibly weak, the very bottom of the food chain.
But Hugo didn't—couldn't—accept that. He was not an average Sleeper. He was a wielder of a Divine Aspect, a phenomenon unheard of in recorded history. His very existence broke multiple rules imposed by the nightmare spell.
He could become an Awakened creature himself even if it was only for ten minutes, through this he effectively skipped ranks that constrained others turning him into an awakened.
For a Sleeper to struggle against a Monster was understandable. For an Awakened to struggle was a mark of failure.
The thought curdled in his gut causing a deep, sharp disappointment in himself. He wasn't utilizing his true potential. He needed more knowledge, more skill, more power. He needed to excel in every facet of the terrible powers he carried.
After all, For a wretch like him, there was no other path forward.
---
Back at their makeshift camp on the cliffside, the cohort huddled together for warmth against the storm's residual chill. Hugo, still transformed into his massive Vilgax form, served as a living windbreak, his colossal size allowing the others to find a pocket of relative comfort until the storm finally abated and he reverted to his human form with a familiar flash of red light.
In the battle's aftermath, Sunny had received a Memory—a sturdy, grey armor—from the slain Centurion and in a move that surprised no one more than himself, had given it to Nephis.
Her [Chitinous Flesh] had been shattered in the fight, leaving her exposed.
The timing was strangely perfect but Hugo didn't really mind.
The soul shards on the other hands were split between Nephis and Hugo; Sunny had easily relinquished his share despite being the one to land the killing blow.
Now human again, Hugo sat apart, gazing at the oppressive, grey sky with a mix of uncertainty in his eyes.
He recounted the strange events of his life, realizing how The last month of his life had been simply unreal.
He had been infected by the nightmare Spell, survived a First Nightmare by bonding with a mysterious Divine Relic, gained a Divine Aspect and a True Name, traveled to the Awakned academy and became the youngest practitioner of runic sorcery and was now trapped in this hellish labyrinth, traveling with a disgraced Legacy princess, a paranoid shadow gremlin and a blind seer.
The speed of it all was dizzying, forcing him to confront everything he had once believed about himself, things like His old dreams and goals felt distant and blurred as if they were dreams he faintly remembered.
The hatred for the Spell and the Nightmare Creatures was a constant burning coal in his heart but a clear, his ultimate goal still eluded him.
Hugo was not a naive fool, and so he knew that even if he spent a lifetime killing abominations across the dream realm, he wouldn't even make a dent in their infinite numbers.
But things would be different if he conquered the Third Nightmare becoming one of the few Transcendent champion of humanity , one wielding a Divine Aspect no less.
His breath hitched slightly as he imagined how powerful that version of himself would be. With that kind of harrowing power, he could probably challenge the Fourth nightmare, perhaps even become humanity's very first Supreme. The glory of such achievements held no allure for him.
What he craved more then anything in this world was power.
the power to never again be weak and vulnerable again.
The power to never be subjected to the torment he endured in his First Nightmare.
And most importantly the powerful to never relive the torment of his mother's death.
It was this burning need that led him to attempt a very dangerous gamble..
---
He found Sunny sitting alone on the cliff's edge, staring into the abyss below. Hugo sat down beside him, the silence stretching for a moment before he spoke, his voice calm but firm.
"Hey, Sunny. Can you do me a favor?"
The shadow's gaze instantly hardened, his pale face shifting into a mask of familiar, calculating distrust Yet, Hugo clearly noticed something strange... the edges of that suspicion seemed slightly less sharper than before as if tempered by a hint of weary contemplation.
'Color me surprised,' Hugo thought.
Sunny shrugged, not looking at him. "Well, that depends entirely on what this 'favor' is."
Hugo sighed, searching for the right words. "It's not really that complicated... I just need you to kill me if I turn into a Nightmare Creature. You know, if I get corrupted."
Sunny nearly toppled over the cliff's edge. He whipped his head around, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Come again? I think I misheard you. I thought you just asked me to kill y—"
"Yes, Sunny. I did just ask you to kill me."
"WHY?!"
It was a reasonable reaction. Hugo's request stemmed from his decision to challenge another pseudo-Nightmare trial to gain a new Imprint to his arsenal , Had he been alone, he would have ventured in without a second thought But he wasn't alone anymore. These people relied on him and he too, relied on them.
The problem itself was unknown...
What happened if he failed one of the trials? Would he be ejected unharmed, or would the corruption he was purging instead turn him into an abomination?
In either case, He wasn't willing to bet their lives on that answer I If he was to be consumed, he would rather be put down by someone he'd asked than live as a profane nightmare creature.
Of course, this wasn't a plan for suicide as Hugo was not planning on dying.
"...I'm about to do something that might be really dangerous," Hugo explained, his gaze unwavering. "If it goes wrong, I turn into something... wrong and I want you to kill me. For everyone's safety."
Sunny scoffed, unconvinced. "Let's say I believe you. Do you really have to do this thing that might turn you into an abomination?"
"Yes," Hugo's reply was immediate and sharp, leaving no room for argument. "It must be done. No matter what."
Sunny held his gaze for a long, tense moment before letting out a resigned sigh. "Why me?"
"Well, Sunny... how do I put this?" Hugo said, a grim smile touching his lips. "You have something Nephis doesn't."
"Oh? And what might that be?"
"...You're dangerous, Sunny. I could tell from the moment I saw you in the academy. If you knew something was a direct threat to your life, you would stop at anything to eliminate it and That's a fact I'm certain of." his expression fell slightly before adding " I don't know Nephis well enough to be sure she'd make that call."
Sunny's sharp eyes swept over Hugo, dissecting every word. He seemed momentarily taken aback that someone had seen through his true colors but he didn't bother to deny it.
"Fine," Sunny said finally "I'll do it. But let's say you do this mysterious thing, turn into a monster and I kill you. What the hell am I supposed to tell Nephis and Cassie?"
Hugo lingered for a moment before sitting in a meditative pose.
" Well... Figure that out."
With that, he closed his eyes and dove into his soul sea leaving the treacherous shadow on the cliff edge with an expression of profound and utter annoyance.
---
Hugo found himself once more in the vast, blue maze of his soul, this time He easily navigated the maze due to having memorized the paths and turns, soon arriving before the shimmering aetherial rift.
Stepping through, hugo entered the cold sterile chamber with its ten monolithic pods.
Nine of them still swirled with their respective liquids each one containing a vile seed of corruption at its heart.
' so Which one do I go for...?' he pondered, his hand on his chin. 'Red, green, grey, blue...'
Logically, the harder the battle, the greater the reward but Hugo wasn't really sure if he wanted to face something too powerful yet.
Out of all the pods, he felt that The blue one practically called to him, its color a comforting echo of the Omnitrix's energy not to mention that blue was his favorite color...
but an instinctual warning flared in his mind, that one felt... different. Deeper and More alien.
He remembered how difficult the pyronite trial was, and so fighting a creature that seemed too unique was not something he was willing to ristk...
Eventually after looking around, His eyes settled on a pod filled with a vibrant, almost aggressive vermilion liquid. The form within seemed solid and powerful but the reason Hugo felt drawn to it was because it resembled human blood strangely enough.
He approached pod, peering into its depths until he spotted the dark, malevolent seed pulsating within it.
Steeling himself, hugo reached out and pressed his hand against the cool, invisible surface of the glad, His body phasing through as if it was water.
[Corrupted DNA sample detected.]
[Corruption detected...]
[Purifying corruption...]
[Purification impossible...]
[Failsafe activated.]
[Generating a trial...]
[Wielder of the Omnitrix! Prepare for your trial!]
---
The familiar void appeared before Hugo followed by the azure star of the Omnitrix erupting from his arm. It consumed the nothingness, rewriting reality once again, When the light faded, Hugo stood in the center of a colossal, circular arena carved from dark. crimson stone. Tiered seating rose around him into a hazy, orange sky, empty and uttuerly devoid of life.
This was a place of combat, a gladiator's pit on a scale that was both grand and deeply unnerving.
Before he could fully take in his surroundings, a figure materialized on the opposite end of the arena making Hugo's breath caught in his throat.
It was a monstrous humanoid, easily twelve feet tall, with skin the color of dried blood. Its most horrifying feature was its four arms, each one thick with corded muscle and ending in four-fingered clawed hands. Its head was elongated, with a pronounced cranium and a face that was almost a mockery of life itself, featuring four predatory yellow eyes that burned with a familiar, profane blackness.
The creature's posture was one of pure, unadulterated aggression, and the corruption that wreathed it made Hugo's skin crawl. It was repulsive and a perversion of all things sane.
Without a moment's hesitation, Hugo slammed the Omnitrix dial. Blue light enveloped him, his bones and flesh cracking and reshaping before transforming completely.
In an instant, the form of a Chimera Sui Generis stood where the human had been.
This was the form he knew best, the one whose instincts were now his own in battle.
The four-armed abomination didn't make a single sound. It simply charged, its powerful legs eating up the distance with terrifying speed. Hugo met the charge, his trident ready.
As the creature lunged, all four of its fists swung in a devastating simultaneous pummel.
Hugo brought his trident up in a cross-block, but the force of the impact was unbelievable. The shaft of his weapon groaned under the strain, and he was thrown backward, skidding across the rough stone.
'Strong. Far stronger than the Pyronite...'
The creature was on him again, its movements practically a blur. Hugo this time, swung his trident in a wide arc, forcing it to duck under the blow. He tried to counter with a thrust, but one of its lower arms snaked out, grabbing the trident's shaft with an iron grip. The other three arms rained blows on his torso and head.
His Rock-like skin cracked under the assault. Hugo roared in pain and fury, releasing the trident and tackling the creature low who was smaller then him, wrapping his tentacled arms around its legs. Raising them upward before slamming it's body on the ground over and over again, eventually spinning it and sending it flying towards one of the colosol walls.
The Paragon of purity grabbed it's spear and rushed towards the abomination like a herald of death, thrusting his spear into it's right shoulder and impaling it to the wall.
Just as Hugo was about to unleash his might on the abomination, it begun doing something bizzare.
The creature instead of struggling to free itself simply pulled away from the trident, ripping away one of its four arms.
Hugo eyes widened before a terrible punch hit him with the force of a mountain sending him flying upwards.
The creature did not stop, it leaped upward with a terrible speed reaching Hugo mid fall and tacking him in the sky, punching him again and again untill his blood was spilled.
'damn it!' Hugo cursed as he spinned in the air, trying to swat away the red abomination, but it never relented. Eventually slamming into the ground with Hugo under it.
They tumbled together in a furious tangle of limbs. The abomination's free hands hammered into his back, each blow a localized earthquake. Hugo responded by sinking his teeth into its shoulder, tasting something foul and oily as he ripped apart a portion of its other arm.
The creature shrieked—a sound of pure, corrupted rage—and used its two remaining free hands to pry him off, hurling him across the arena. Hugo crashed into the base of the spectator stands, stone splintering around him. He pushed himself up, his body screaming in protest in pain.
It was clear to him now that This wasn't working. He was stronger than most thing he'd faced so far but this thing was a pure brawler, and it was winning.
As it stalked toward him, Hugo unsummoned and resummoned his trident back into his hand, taking his usual combat stance.
Hugo knew that he had to change tactics. He couldn't win a direct contest of strength so he simply needed to be smarter which was fairly simple to do.
The wounded creature leaped upward again attempting to reach Hugo.
In turn, Hugo simply waited not moving a single muscle...
'not yet...'
The creature figure grew Closer...
'not yet...'
Then right as he was mere inches away from it, Hugo dodged the attack by simply stepping out of it's way, letting the creature slam head first into the broken seats.
Then, Hugo didn't attack it, he simply raised his trident and pointed at it at the ceiling of the Colosseum building.
His trident who was fused with [polymorphic crystal] gaining it's enchantments...
[Envy] flared up, releasing a wave of kinetic energy that destroyed a large portion of the area.
All the debris fell right on top of the confused abomination burying it under the immense weight.
Hugo himself jumped out of there before the impact hit, watching from afar as the entire building begun to collapse...
"comon..."
He mumbled, then he heard the mechanical voice of the Omnitrix speak:
Corruption purged.]
[DNA sample purified.]
[You have acquired an Essence Imprint.]
[Wake up, Paragon of Purity.]
–––
Hugo opened his eyes finding himself in the strange room within his soul sea once again.
He let out a long sigh of relief at surviving the trial...
Without wasting any more time he summoned the runes:
Imprint: [Tetramand]
Imprint rank: awakened
Imprint class: beast
Imprint description: [the most powerful champions of the red Colosseum, the true children of war knew no equal in battle, their sheer might alone rivaling all other nobel creature but they too found the mercy of shadow once the daughter of war, solvane unleashed the madness of hope upok them]
Imprint attributes: [titan blood], [brawler], [acrobatic], [battle master]
Imprint abilities: —
Hugo looked at the description offered by the spell with a curious expression, he did not know who solvane was and what madness the spell referred to but the fact that the spell bothered to mention her name meant she was quite important.
'so this imprint has a relation to war god, who's also the god of advancement...'
He wondered if the small Galvans had any relation to war god, which would make the Tetramand and the galvan technically siblings....
'well that's certainly a thought...'
Hugo ignored the useless ideas forming in his childish mind and read the description of the attributes:
[Titanic blood] description: [theTetramand raw physical power is unmatched]
[Brawler] description : [ The Tetramand's battle art is engraved within their blood]
[Acrobatics] description: [the Tetramand mastered wars, eventually reaching the conclusion that mastering the movement of the body was the key to winning any battle]
[Battle master] description : [ a Tetramand intiligence shines brighter in battle]
Hugo smiled a little as he existed his soul sea.
Immediately he saw sunny holding his azure blade looking at him with a sharp gaze.
Before the shadow could cut off his head, Hugo raised his hands.
"relax I'm fine"
Strangle enough, sunny stiffened as if dissapointed by that fact.
'rude!'
Hugo got up stretching a little.
"hey sunny, how about we have a little spar?"