chapter 79: The flames of war III
Ben had made a huge gamble by bringing George with him and giving him the sacred blade, Ascalon, instead of using it himself.
However, that choice had been more efficient due to the simple fact that a supreme, even one with no domain, could use the powers of Ascalon better than he could ever do, even with the ultimate function.
Not to mention, George was a man of "honor," and so he wouldn't turn on Ben, considering he was the one who brought Ascalon to him in the first place.
Still, he was distrustful of his new ally.
The supreme dragon could be dealt with with relative ease; however, George was a different story entirely...
Ben wished it wouldn't get to that point.
That aside, he was truly going to remember this day for as long as he lived, well if he lived and escaped this nightmare.
After all, it was not every day that he and two other supreme beings fought against an unholy domain... Well, there was also the armies of humanity helping, but as far as they were concerned, Albedo was their enemy as well.
It did not matter, in the end.
Scrolling through the aliens in the Ultimatrix, Ben chose Echo Echo to be his main form for now, Morphing into the short white alien in moments and then he immediately activated the ultimate function, transforming in a burst of red light.
Ultimate Echo Echo emerged in a burst of light.
His body was taller now, lean and unsettlingly precise in detail. Blue and black patterns rippled across his form that looked both metallic and organic, as most of his forms did nowadays.
Fifteen speaker-like modules were embedded across his frame, shifting slightly as if they had sentient of their own.
On his chest, the Ultimatrix symbol shined brightly with a crimson red color.
'This brings back memories...'
Ben smiled in his mind, remembering the adventures he, Gwen, Kevin, and countless of his other peers had in this world... The rral version of it, at least.
The battles, the losses and the lessons they learned along the way...
However, Ben could not dwell on that feeling of nostalgia for long, for he still had a battle to fight and Gwen and Kevin were not here to help him today.
Calming his head, Ben floated down next to George and the dragon, unleashing doom upon the beings beneath them, whether they were Forever Knights, humans, or corrupted abominations.
His goal was set... He simply needed to destroy a divine relic and prevent the decent of an unholy being, how hard could that possibly be?
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High up on Mount Rushmore, the [one in red] was looking down calmly upon the raging battlefield below, his face hidden by a terrifying golden mask and his body covered by a crimson red fabric.
His people were fighting down there, all except for the remaining four Forever Kings.
They were still too precious to set loose, after all, for the hour of judgment was close and yet still far.
'Oh?'
The [one in red] noticed three more beings enter the territory of south Dakota, joining the fights against the countless corrupted and great abominations.
One was a Transcendent Titan, a supreme devil, and...
A smirk played under his mask.
"The wielder of Ascalon is here... Perfect, just as my lord envisioned..."
The [one in red] turned his head to the side, and there, standing motionlessly by his side, were the four remaining Forever Kings.
The seat holder of shadow, Sir Enoch
The seat holder of storm, Sir Cyrus
The seat holder of heart, Sir Urien
The seat holder of blood, Sir Driscoll
The seat holder of nightmare, doctor Joseph, had been murdered by Ben Tennyson, while the seat holder of the sun, sir Patrick and the seat holder of war, sir Connor, were both slain by Ben Tennyson's evil twin, the one known as Albedo.
That man was also in this battle, fighting alongside the wielder of Ascalon for some reason.
It did not matter, really. The hands of Armageddon were nearly completed, and those "kings" only served as fuel to it.
Everything from corrupting them to turning them into pseudo-void creatures was for this moment, each and every single one of their void tainted souls were meant to be used as anchors to open the gate through the hands...
The gate to the outer regions of the primordial void, where a single being existed, awaiting for its summon...
'My lord... the almighty God of corruption, Dagon, I beseech you, enlighten me with wisdom before the final hour...'
The [one in red] prayed, as he always did, to receive his revelation.
For a few moments, nothing happened, but then something changed in the world. The four kings felt it, and the supreme beings down below felt it as well.
However, keeping secrets no longer mattered so let them know, they cannot stop it anyway.
Eventually, the seed within the [one in red] ignited with ominous power as his prayers were answered.
The cosmic voice of the unholy god rippled in his head, being a voice and not a voice at the same time
Divine and unholy, soothing and harrowing.
It was the most beautiful voice in existence
It was the most hideous voice in existence, as well.
[Dii unadaan, Zu'u lost nun vahzen. Daar lein los hahnu. Kiindah do hahvulon stav, mu kent vopraan nol un hahnu. Faal Luft-vuldiik, nust los ni nol daar hahnu. Nust los gaat wah un filok. Mein fen tul bo ol mein ahrk. Zu'u fen ufir ahrk du lein... Filok, hahnu do vodahmin rah, saadom...]
The [one in red]'s eyes widened behind his mask; however, he did not dwell on his revelation for long, for he had absolute faith and trust in his lord, no matter what sort of truth he gave.
—————
[You have slain a great tyrant: spawn of doubt]
Maxwell Tennyson frowned as he finally slew the troublesome great tyrant that had slaughtered many of his subjects.
The battle was harrowing and devastating, with the tyrant unleashing its vast army of corrupted creatures and its tyrannical will against him; however, he proved himself superior.
But that was not the end, quite the opposite, actually. It was merely the beginning.
There were hundreds of great abominations roaming South Dakota and thousands upon thousands of corrupted nightmare creatures crammed tightly in a single place, slowly expanding in all directions with the plumber's force field being the only thing keeping them from being released to devour the rest of earth.
He recognized the origin of those creatures well... Many had been his people once, a long time ago, in a different life.
When he was ketzelkan, the winged serpent of Mictlan, the last heir of the sun god. There were also the creatures that great jungle had produced, taken and nurtured by the Forever Knights all for this moment.
Max swore that the fate of the Sun Realm would not befall the Beast Realm; he wouldn't allow it to happen... Both for his ego, Maxwell Tennyson, and the echo he carried, the one belonging to the winged serpent of Mictlan.
Looking at the wake of ruin he left during his battle, Maxwell used his supreme ability and momentarily took the ability of one individual from his domain to heal his wounds.
Then he shot up to the sky, looking at the scene below...
It was not looking goof at all...
Due to the large mass of corrupted creatures entering the Beast Realm, the dimensional barrier separating the Dream Realm and the Beast Realm was growing weaker and as a result, nightmare seeds were blooming everywhere in South Dakota.
Category two and three gates... And even some category four...
Previously, earth was the only place in the entire beast realm that was incapable of producing nightmare seeds. That was because Max's wife, verdona had woven a grand spell on earth before she ventured into the fifth nightmare to attempt apotheosis. That spell, carrying her supreme will managed to protect humanity from the influence of the dream realm even if it was only temporarily.
But now, that grand spell was broken, casuing the seeds of the dream realm to finally seep into earth.
The Transcendants of his domain could not handle this much, and even the supreme noble creatures were not capable of fighting off all of the abominations for long.
'...We might need to evacuate the entirety of America at this point.'
It was the only solution. Abandoning the country was their only option to avoid casualties, especially if a fifth nightmare gate opens.
The Forever Knights... They were also not normal.
No human, no matter how vile and twisted, could bring this much corruption to their world willingly... Their ultimate goal must be truly harrowing if this is simply a part of their plan.
Max was glad that he had sent Kevin and Gwen into their third nightmares, making it so they didn't have to see this madness.
However, max could not revel in that satisfaction, for his doubt which had been implanted by the spawn of doubt was still there...
'Does it really matter at this point? I'm not even real... None of my people are... My family and everyone else I've loved and cared about are also fake...'
The revelation that this world is a nightmare was still bizzare and unnatural, however he knew that it was the truth due to his supreme Nature...
It made him wonder—could he possibly escape the nightmare somehow? He was a supreme being, after all...
'No... Who am I lying to... The spell would not allow such a thing, and a mere supreme cannot possibly defy its will.'
Grimacing, Max unleashed his supreme will once again and descended upon the sea of abominations.
He continued doing what he did best. He killed.
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"..."
Floating over South Dakota in his ship, Hugo's expression twisted into one of horror and shock.
Down there, a war between the corrupted and the Awakened was occurring, it was perhaps the vilest and cruelest war that had ever happened in existence... At least, it was more horrifying than anything Hugo had ever seen.
The Forgotten Shore seemed like a kindergarten compared to it.
Fire rose like pyres, corpses of both Awakened and abominations were creating towers of mangled flesh and the blood of the unholy and the divine was mixing together to create a horrific painting.
Even though the scene was terrifying, Hugo couldn't help but find a slight irony in the situation.
'America in my world was rendered uninhabitable by a category five nightmare gate, unleashing cursed gods upon it... And here, the America of this world is turning into a battlefield...'
It seemed that no matter the era or the realm, America always got the short end of the stick.
'this place must've been cursed...'
Summoning [Zed] and the [spirit body], Hugo transformed into Jetray, and at the same time, the spirit body manifested the [Asura] attribute, arming itself in sleek, beautiful white and blue armor.
Zed, on the other hand, used her Nemetrix for the first time... Hugo had told her to choose a predator with the ability to fly.
He soon regretted that choice.
Zed used her limbs and clicked through the Nemetrix on her collar, opening it to show a dial similar to that of the Omnitrix. However, it only resembled the Omnitrix he had back when he was dormant, showing no holograms whatsoever.
It was also the same dial ben had possessed before his watch had undergone "recalibration".
'I feel nostalgic... Now that I think about it, I wish I had used that watch more...'
Truly, his death in the forgotten shore had ruined his progression quite a bit.
Shaking the thoughts away, Hugo watched Zed rotate through her aliens until she settled on one, and slammed the dial. As she did that, a red aura, more violent than albedo's Omnitrix, erupted from the Nemetrix.
Zed's alien wolf-like body shifted grotesquely and turned purplish grey as thin wings erupted from her back and her limbs extended to resemble those of an insect. Her mouth was like that of a terrifying bee, and her tail split into two, with both of them becoming stingers.
Finally, two antennae appeared on her head, further adding to the whole insect look.
Hugo shivered as he looked at his cute dog, now transformed into a terrifying predator.
'Hmmm.'
His fear was quickly replaced by curiosity as he wondered what kind of abilities this form granted echo...
'maybe the spell would have runes...'
Hugo pulled Zed's runes, hoping that they changed with the transformation.
And fortunately, they did.
Echo: [Zed]
Echo rank: ascended
Echo class: devil
Echo relic: Nemetrix
Echo transformation: [Psycholeopterran]
Transformation description: [The Necrofriggians were monarchs of the skies in their frozen realm, beholden to no one. The goddess of life, unsatisfied by their easy lives, sought to make the peaceful racevalue their lives more...Through suffering and struggle. Thus, the Psycholeopterrans were born, with the sole purpose of hunting the Necrofriggians out of the skies.]
Transformation abilities: [Wings of Predation], [Phantom], [Eyes of Deceit]
[Wings of Predation] ability description: [This transformation grants Psycholeopterrans flight, to hunt their prey easily.]
[Phantom] ability description: [This transformation can turn intangible at will, to rip the Necrofriggians out of their phantom forms.]
[Eyes of Deceit] ability description: [This transformation can hypnotize all creatures, to weave the sweetest of nightmares for the Necrofriggians.]
Hugo stared at the runes and then back at the transformed Zed and gulped.
'Yeah, let's not use Big Chill when she assumes this form...'
Zed seemed to be in control, but Hugo could faintly recognize the fact that Zed had inherited a weakened version of his will —No doubt a side effect of the Nemetrix — making her nature change slightly with each transformation.
The Psycholeopterrans were a race of noble creatures born for the purpose of hunting Necrofriggians, Big Chill's specie, and so there was no telling if Zed could overpower her instincts and not rip her master to shreds if he ever used that form.
'I gotta say, the war goddess' resume looks terrible...'
Why did the goddess of his realm have to be such... an asshole?
Creating a race of noble creatures for the sole purpose of hunting another race of noble creatures simply because their lives were easy..
'Even Sunny is not this petty... well, unless a nightmare creature stole his lunch or something...'
Truly the machinations of gods, and sunny, were beyond his understanding.
Smiling slightly, Hugo dismissed the [Proto-truck] back into his soul sea and dived into the sky alongside the spirit body and Zed.
Hugo opened his wings and used jetray's abilities to open a wormhole through space, bypassing the barrier the plumbers had set up through teleportation.
At long last, the last player had joined the war that would determine the fate of this realm...
And all of existence, naturally.
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Note: dagon speech is from a real language... Hehehe, find out what it is! (Hint: it's not a language spoken by humans)