Chapter 190: Dream shaper.

Chapter 189: Dream Shaper

Hugo felt his soul transform and change its nature, before escaping the confines of his body to be recognized by the world itself.

His source element... he still did not know it, however the source element of Pesky Dust became clear to him.

It was dreams and so his body molded itself into the image of a beautiful fairy, with fair blue skin, and a small frame with two small butterfly like wings.

His body, soul and spirit all underwent Transcendence, elevating the quality of his essence and his five soul cores.

It was surreal, feeling such power after he had longed for it this long.

The sensation of Transcending filled him with ecstasy and changed his Ascended mind, making it far more capable than that of mortals.

Hugo noticed that Imprints of the Transcendent rank required a longer transformation time, as the Omnitrix had to manually make his soul Transcend.

After it was all said and done, He made sure to hold his breath and brutally dispatch the abominations that were near him.

Far away, Sunny, Bloodwave and Neave were fighting against the thralls of the terror, and its influence, as well.

They did not seem to be doing well, as the mind hex was slowly eroding their minds and the thralls were simply too much for them to handle in this situation.

If it had been any other terror, they would have easily destroyed it, but alas luck was not on their sides.

’Damnation.’

Despite the terrible situation, Hugo knew that he could count on them to hold on for a little more.

He quickly passed through the thralls using his newfound Transcendent speed and used [Dreamwalker] to enter the dream of the terror, wasting no time.

Nightmare creatures did dream, this was something he had learned from Sunny, who had ownership over a powerful shadow creature with dream like abilities.

The nightmares of corrupted creatures were mad, just like them, and filled with endless corruption, Hugo would need to be careful, not to get corrupted.

No matter. The plan was to enter the dream of the terror and destroy its consciousness before it finishes its evolution to the titan class.

Whether it was instinctual knowledge, or something handed to him by the spell of the Omnitrix, he did not know, but Hugo was certain that if the creatures he fought died in a dream, then their consciousness dies, as well.

The same was true for him, as he was not invincible within the boundaries of a nightmare.

Hugo felt himself drown in an endless sea of profanity as he passed the terror’s influence and dove deeper into the sea of dreams.

In moments, Hugo experienced being a living dream...

’How sinister...’

Out of all the existences he had been before, this was by far the most insidious. It felt... Wrong, from a human perspective, that is.

Images quickly flashed through Hugo’s mind.

He saw a young priestess, devoting her life in service to the great gods... She grew strong and powerful, attaining Transcendence after many years of hardships.

Her dream was long, just like her life and many things happened within that dream, from love stories to brutal bloodshed in the name of the gods but soon enough, Hugo saw a place he knew all too well.

The nightmare desert, Ariel’s hell...

Thousands of people were crossing towards it, heading towards a great tomb.

’The tomb of Ariel...’

Hugo frowned.

When he had been in the desert, he had been unable to reach the great pyramid because of the deathless, and of course, the skinwalker.

Eurys and Azarax had told him that it was not impossible, but they also warned him to never go to that tomb.

But it seemed that those people, whoever they were, had no such problems.

The scene quickly changed in a blur, becoming an endless river in the shape of a great serpent devouring its own tail.

Corruption plagued the river and time drowned everything within it.

Soon enough, the woman he had been dreaming about, a Sybil of fallen grace whose name had long been forgotten, succumbed to corruption, becoming a beautiful flower that enthralled the minds of her people...

The dream shifted into darkness and death, with the figure of the terror drifting gracefully in that endless ocean of profanity.

At the same time, the nightmare settled into a great area of water, surrounded by fog. In that endless fog, the terror was swimming through the waters like a Monsterous leviathan.

Hugo utilized Pesky Dust’s ability and took authority over the dream. The corrupted terror fought at first, but it was not capable of wielding will nor did it have any dream related powers.

Thanks to them being of equal ranks, Hugo easily took control.

He assumed a physical form within the dream, and parted the water to meet the Sybil face to face.

It was madness, confronting a corrupted terror like that.

He looked at her for a few moments, then spoke in a gentle voice.

"You can understand me... Right?"

He had sensed it thanks to his dream powers.

This particular abomination was more sentient than other abominations, thanks to her rank and class.

The Sybil stared at him for a while, then her flower like body disappeared, opening like a white lotus, before revealing a breathtakingly beautiful woman in a white dress.

"... Speaking with a creature touched by the void... How bold of you, child of nightmare."

’She didn’t detect my Omnitrix...’

She must have mistaken him for a noble creature of the Nemuina species.

Somewhere in the distance, a man with long hair and golden eyes was staring at them, sitting calmly on the surface of the water, but both Hugo and the Sybil ignored his existence, as if he didn’t exist at all.

Hugo shrugged.

"You are within my domain. In this place, I control everything. From what you say, to what you do. There is nothing you can do that would harm me."

He had made sure to use his new powers to set certain "laws" within this dream, which had become a part of his authority.

Parasitizing and taking control of the dream was easy, what came next was putting laws that stopped her from harming him, corrupting him or saying anything that would sprout corruption in his soul.

He had been warned about the fact that knowledge can corrupt.

As for why he has chosen to converse with her...

"Being a creature of corruption... What is your ultimate goal?"

Hugo, despite the dangerous situation, was interested in how the creatures of corruption functioned, simply on the account of him being a creature of change.

So, before killing her, he wanted to know what she and all others that drowned in corruption sought after.

Was it to become an unholy titan, the pinnacle of corruption, or was it to simply extinguish all that had not been touched by corruption?

Other Awakened did not have time to contemplate such questions, but Hugo felt that he was inclined to do so.

After all, there was a large chance he would end up being devoured by the seeds of corruption in his soul, in the far future.

If that happens... Hugo would be no different from this creature, and so he wanted to understand the creatures of corruption, to an extent.

The Sybil looked at Hugo with a calm expression.

"Not so different from being a child of the flame, really. We exist within a world that devours the weak, a world where losing everything that you cherish isn’t just a possibility, but a certainty, instead. Although, thanks to the powers I gained from the path of profanity, I managed to find solace in my children."

Hugo’s face turned into one of disgust.

"Your children? You mean the countless people you’ve killed and consumed?"

The Sybil nodded.

"Yes." She looked at her arms for a few moments and added. "In truth, I’m the corpse of the first Sybil, who had been dead for a long time now. The time when I was a human is distant and blurry, like a dream that belonged to someone else... Back then, I wanted to save my people and uncover the secrets of the gods, but now I want to gain power, and make all of you my children."

It was truly astounding. How a creature of such sentience could be so cruel.

The concept of other creatures, from different races, being kind and non-hostile is valid within Hugo’s mind as he was aware of the existence of kind hearted noble creatures.

Still, morality was a tricky subject, one that can change and transform when seen through certain lenses.

That was true for both humans and other creatures.

But meeting such a being, one who had no regard for life and did such cruel acts under the justification of being lonely... It was just so banal.

He was tired of this endless cruelty, both from humans and creatures alike, but in the end, he did not judge the creature before him too much.

After all... No matter how sentient she was, she was still a nightmare creature.

A being who did not have a choice, a vessel of corruption whose only purpose is to devour all that was not profane.

That was the truth about corruption, and the corrupted.

"Very well then. Prepare to die."

The still water they were standing on shifted slightly, and suddenly, a storm raged from the skies, and the human form the Sybil had assumed became dark and repulsive, retreating into her flower like body.

Hugo, on the other hand, utilized his Transcendent powers, taking control of the dream once again.

His hands caught the weaves of reality, and influenced them, causing the water they were in to rise like a torrent, becoming stairs leading to the depths.

Vague Shapes emerged from those depths, they were numerous people and creatures that the terror had slain and taken over the years, all conjured here by Hugo’s abilities.

After all, this was a dream and anything was possible within the boundaries of a dream.

The illusion of those people attacked the Sybil, driving their talons, teeth and claws into it.

The terror tore each and every one of them apart, showcasing its incredible tenacity and ferociousness.

’Even after being stripped of your powers, you’re still this strong...’

Those conjurations were illusions, so they would not be affected by the terror’s influence, while Hugo had [Omni-Mind], rendering the mind hex useless.

For the first time in his life, Hugo felt like he was toying with a creature, instead of having an all out battle with it.

’If only this form had more minions...’

Even though Hugo was a Transcendent tyrant right now, he felt like a devil, as he did not have any minions with him.

To gain minions in this form, Hugo needed to subdue dreams and nightmares, turning them into a minion.

He was still figuring out the new abilities of this transformation, but he knew that the minions ability could not help him now as he did not meet the requirements of using it.

Eventually, he conjured a spear from the air, one made of mist, and lunged at the Sybil himself.

He slammed into the creature with his small, fairy like body, before stabbing it with the mist spear, and pushing it towards the countless corpses it had torn apart, causing it to shake and fall deeper into the water.

Hugo, despite being a Transcendent tyrant, had a limited amount of soul essence, and so he could not allow himself to exhaust all of it. He needed to use it efficiently to kill the terror, once and for all.

Once it died here, it would be in a vegetative state, losing its mind and dying quickly after.

In simple terms, he was killing its spirit.

And what better way to kill it, than to become a creature of death?

Hugo’s dream incarnation shifted, turning into a long black serpent with onyx scales, and diving deep into the water to wrestle with the terror.

To anyone else, it might seem like he had changed forms using his dormant ability, but he had not done that at all, instead Hugo had simply used his control over dreams to transform his body, which was a part of the dream.

His fangs bit through the flowery body, tearing it apart as his serpentine form coiled around it, shocking the abomination.

Hugo would have attacked its shadow, but it did not exist in this nightmare. No matter, the innate abilities of the shadow serpent still possessed a mystic affinity to death, making it perfect for killing things.

The Sybil struggled against him, and using her superior class, she briefly overpowered him and swam away, prompting Hugo to chase after her.

His visage changed once again, becoming that of Ripjaws.

White tentacles shot towards him, desperately trying to chase him away, but Hugo, like a deadly predator, did not relent, tearing them apart and chasing after it.

They escaped the water, and Hugo’s form changed into Jetray as he followed the flying flower through the dream.

They soared through the sky and Hugo could feel the terror attempting to wrestle the control of the dream from his clutches to no avail.

However, it was able to briefly alter the surroundings.

There was a beautiful river, bathing under the radiance of seven suns.

They clashed through it and Hugo made sure to drive the flower through one of the suns, destroying the sun in the process.

They found themselves under the heat of the desert, and Hugo changed forms once again, turning into Heatblast and burning the petals like tentacles.

A shower of flaming swords cut through the world and reached the flesh of the terror, incinerating its body and rendering it weak and helpless.

And yet, the petal like tentacles still attempted to take over his body, causing a fierce struggle between the two.

The two of them slammed through a dozen more scenes from the life of the Sybil, and in the end, Hugo decided to do something audacious.

His body changed forms once again, but it did not become another alien within his Omnitrix, instead it became something far more powerful.

His form expanded, reaching towards the heavens themselves and dwarfing the size of the terror, making it seem like an infant child.

Hugo had assumed the form of the dark sea, replicating it from memory. It was much harder to envision as Hugo had never been transformed into the dark sea before, but it was still enough to drown the terror, and Pierce its body.

Eventually, it washed over into a shore, one that resembled the forgotten shore, weak and pathetic.

Moments later, a vague human shape emerged from the black waters, walking calmly towards its broken body.

Truly, he had never imagined that he could humiliate a corrupted terror like this in battle... but alas, he could not replicate such a feat in the real world.

Only within the boundaries of dreams could he do such things, and even then, if he comes across creatures that could manipulate dreams, or had firm will, he would be brutally defeated.

Thankfully, this creature had none of those things and so it had lost terribly to him.

Looking down at it with his myriad of faces, Hugo spoke with a calm voice:

"May you find peace in the mercy of death."

With that, he crushed its head.

The dream quickly begun crumbling, as the consciousness of the terror, which in turn was its spirit, died and lost its connection to the dream, leaving the terror as a hollow shell.

Hugo dismissed his physical form and turned into a dream, leaving the dying world, but before he did, he made sure to use his tyrant ability.

A portion of his soul was cut from his being, making him feel slightly weaker, and fused with the dying dream.

The crumbling world around them condensed, and suddenly purple light shone brightly, fusing with the entirety of existence and becoming a small orb of light.

[You have gained a dream.]

’Huh?’

This was the first time that the spell had notified him about creating a minion which was odd and unusual.

Moreover, the dream of the Sybil had turned into an orb of purple light that entered his soul.

’I’ll investigate later.’

For now, Hugo simply left the dream and returned to the physical world.

***

Back in the ocean of Falcon Scott, the body of the corrupted terror was falling into the depths, as if it had suddenly lost all senses, confusing the three warriors that had been arduously battling it.

Its unholy authority had disappeared, and with it, the countless thralls it possessed simply lost focus, becoming lifeless and without purpose.

Sunny, still in his killer whale form, stared at the scene with confusion as he ate the flesh of a dead nightmare creature.

’What is the meaning of this...’

Feeling bloodlust overcome him, he shook his head and quickly released his shadow incarnation, reverting to his human form.

Bloodwave, seeing the scene, swam towards Sunny in his Transcendent form and gestured for him to hop on his back.

Following the saint’s instructions, Sunny swam upward, grabbing Neave along the way.

The three of them left the water and landed on the shore, struggling to breathe despite the fact that they all possessed some form of aquatic memory.

Bloodwave released his transformation, while Sunny and Neave collapsed to the ground.

"Are you two alright?" Neave asked, as he summoned a memory to patch his wounds.

Sunny nodded.

"I didn’t take much damage during the battle thanks to Saint Bloodwave."

As for the legendary nightwalker, he simply glanced at them, nodded, then jumped to the water, likely to retrieve Hugo.

Sunny looked towards Saint and Hugo’s shadow, who had finished the thralls and were now simply standing there, waiting for any abomination to show up so they could tear it apart. Their magnificent steeds were intimidating as well.

Neave, despite the dangerous situation they were in, couldn’t help but chuckle.

"Sunny... You and your friend really have strange echoes."

Sunny wanted to correct him that three of those creatures were shadows and only one was an echo, but chose not to, simply agreeing with him in silence.

Hugo’s shadow, and Saint on the other hand, continued having a staring contest.

***

Hugo, still transformed into Pesky Dust, felt a sharp pain in his body and soul.

He had been a Transcendent for about ten minutes now, and his Omnitrix was beeping, signaling that his time was running out.

This was a Transcendent imprint and so he could not stay in this form indefinitely like his Ascended transformations, lest he wanted his soul to crumble.

That said, Hugo was not going upward, instead he was descending down, towards the terror’s body.

Its spirit was dead yes, but its soul wasn’t.

If he killed it, there was a large chance he could get a memory from the spell or better yet, an echo.

Some might say that Hugo was being greedy, and in a way, he was, but an opportunity like this could not be allowed to be missed out on as it would increase his personal power.

Finally reaching the body of the terror, he manifested a spear from the [Mechamorphic Asura] and swam besides it.

There he saw the corpse of a woman, wrapped in silk within the seemingly endless body of the terror.

He felt sorry for the Sybil, who had suffered the loss of her people and eventually, corruption for thousands of years.

Even if he did not know her full story, he still felt sad for her.

With a mournful expression, Hugo stabbed the corpse and ripped it apart.

The voice of the Spell resounded in the boundless darkness of the ocean:

[You have slain a Corrupted Terror, Sybil of the Fallen Grace.]

As the veiled body drifted down, wreathed in billowing white silk, one last whisper brushed against his ears:

[You have received a Memory.]

’A memory... Good.’

Hugo’s Omnitrix beeped with red light, before shining through his body and detransforming him.

He felt his soul drop from the Transcendent rank to the Ascended rank, losing its light, his source element and his powers.

Holding his breath, Hugo struggled to breathe and desperately tried to swim upward, feeling strength seep from his bones.

’Just a little more...’

Water entered his lungs, and just as he was about to drown, a strong arm grabbed him by the arm and carried him upward.

Saint Bloodwave quickly swam in the ocean, and got Hugo out of the water using his speed, taking both of them to the shore.

Hugo took a deep breath as he fell to the ground, deeply tired and exhausted.

He coughed, letting the water leave his lungs.

’Finally... It’s done.’

Hugo closed his eyes and was about to doze off into the sweet embrace of sleep, this time with no corrupted terror trying to devour him, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Ahem ahem."

Opening an eye, he found Sunny, Neave, and Bloodwave all staring down at him with tired expressions, wounds marring their beautiful faces.

"So? Is the terror dead?"

Sunny was the first to ask.

Hugo nodded.

"Yes, I heard the voice of the spell. It’s definitely dead, and before you suspect it was hexing me, just know that I’m resistance to mind attacks."

Even though they were tired, Hugo could see that they were relieved by his words.

Although Saint Bloodwave kept staring at him for a while longer.

"How exactly did you kill a corrupted terror? Your file did say that you were impressive, but it did not say you were capable of killing terrors in such a way."

Hugo raised an eyebrow, as he called his shadow and Zed back to him.

’Oh right... I almost forgot that the house of night has its own politics.’

They were a great clan, after all even though they did not possses a sovereign.

Saint bloodwave was an elder of house night, and so any piece of information given to him must be carefully worded.

Hugo petted the alien wolf, who had assumed her regular form once again, and shrugged.

"How else does one go about slaying a corrupted terror? I simply took a nap, dreamt a little, attained Transcendence and then went inside its nightmare and killed it. Oh, after that I simply killed its physical body using a spear."

Bloodwave held his gaze for a few seconds, expecting him to elaborate further, but in the end, the old saint simply sighed.

"... You are very childish, young man."

The nightwalker sighed, then, without wasting any time, he disappeared from sight at subsonic speed, heading towards the other side of Falcon Scott to protect the ships.

Neave brushed his hair and looked at Hugo with a Strained smile.

"Excuse my uncle, ascended Hugo, he isn’t the biggest fan of comedy." Turning back to Sunny, he continued: "I’ll get going now. You two should head back as well, now that the battle is over, we’ll need to regroup and calculate our next move."

Sunny gave him a curt nod.

"Will do. Thanks for your help."

"Don’t mention it."

The House of Night master summoned a flying echo and headed towards Falcon Scott, leaving Hugo, Sunny, Zed and Saint alone.

Turning back to his friend, Hugo said:

"... Hey Sunny, I’m sorry if I stole your kill. You probably wanted to kill the terror yourself, considering your past together."

Sunny shrugged.

"It’s alright. As long as it’s dead, then I’m satisfied. If anything, I’m grateful that you managed to kill it before it devoured all of us."

He dismissed Saint and Nightmare, before helping Hugo stand up.

"We better head back."

With that, the two masters returned inside the gates of Falcon Scott, returning with great news of victory.

Today, many of the threats looming above them were slain, leaving the people of Antarctica, and the soldiers of the first evacuation army, room to breathe.

Perhaps the future was not so dark and cold after all.