Chapter 73: True Power.
Hugo's body rapidly grew in size, expanding beyond the limits of human anatomy. His skin hardened into rock, and his neck elongated, twisting into something resembling that of a dinosaur.
A tail grew from his lower back, while his legs and lower torso twisted into something monstrous.
The transformation was swift, and when it ended, Hugo was in the form of Humungousaur.
This time, however, he did not shout the alien's name controlling the childish urge.
The Spirit body and [Zed] moved closer, the former raising the emitters in its hands and the latter baring their teeth against Ben.
Ben, however, remained unbothered, looking at the trio.
Eventually, he only clapped.
"I've got to say, that was quite a show, but seriously you took like a full minute to transform, what are you? A Power Ranger?"
Hugo did not know what a Power Ranger was and he did not care, what he did care about, on the other hand, was the extents of Ben's power.
Ben Tennyson was one of the greatest champions in the Beast Realm, contending with Ascended and Transcendants while he himself was merely an Awakened. Not only that, he also did not possess the Nightmare Spell, making everything he did far more difficult than what normal Awakened could achieve.
But what disturbed Hugo the most was that the person standing in front of him possessed all of his powers and more.
Ben naturally had more time with the Omnitrix than Hugo did, more experience, and more imprints unlocked...
He was also a Titan, while Hugo was a Terror—a gap that, while not as large as the one between ranks, was still significant.
And so he was naturally wary of him, perhaps more than any opponent he had faced in the past.
just as he was about to move, Ben slammed the red Omnitrix on his arm, and a flash of red light engulfed the world, and when it disappeared, Ben was standing in the form of Humungousaur, nearly identical to Hugo's except for the fact that his eyes and the Omnitrix symbol were red instead of green.
There were some minor differences due to the fact that Ben was a Titan as well.
It was almost as if Ben was mocking Hugo, saying that he could defeat him in the same form.
But Hugo was not done yet as he still had one final trick up his sleeve.
Without wasting time, he twisted the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, and as he did, thick orange and black plates erupted from the Omnitrix, spreading across his torso. They slammed into place with heavy, metallic clunks than massive shoulder plates snapped outward, glowing faintly with green energy.
Segmented armor spiraled down into his arms, forming into gauntlets and later expanding into heavy, angular plating. His claws, which had been nearly non-existent, extended, becoming sharper, more metallic, and more lethal.
At the same time, a helmet folded over his skull, and his jaw was reinforced into a plated maw capable of crushing the sturdiest of metal. Green eyes burned brighter behind his new visor, then from his back, spikes extended and sharpened, shifting outward like deployed weapons. This was perhaps the most important upgrade the Omni-kiks could have offered the Humungousaur form.
Eventually, the armor dropped over his thighs and shins, causing his feet to grow heavier, tank-like and become more built for impact.
And lastly, his tail elongated, with its tip assembling into a spiked, mace-like weapon with a final click sound.
Hugo stood in his Omni-Kix armor, feeling his body being saturated with power, being an ascended terror with the extra enhancement, Hugo felt like he could crush mountains with his palmw.
In truth, the Omni-Kix was far superior to the [Asura] due to the fact it gave all the things the [Asura] attribute provided and even more, adding specific abilities to help each of his transformations specifically, which is why no two Omni-kiks armors were the same.
Hugo, looking at Ben, couldn't help but smirk under his visor, regaining some of personality.
"Bet you can't do this, can't you ? For all your talk about me being a copy of you, you sure seem to be the inferior one, right now."
At this, Ben simply let out a loud laugh, looking at Hugo with a mocking smile.
"Oh that's hilarious, but sure, sure, I can't do that," he suddenly touched his Omnitrix, and the dial popped out from his chest which was bizzare considering Hugo had never seen his omnitrix do that... "But you seem to be under a misconception. As of now, not only do I possess the Omnitrix Albedo wielded at this point of time but I also upgraded it to the Ultimatrix, courtesy of being omnipotent for a decade."
"What?" Hugo asked, confused... He did not know what the Ultimatrix was, but he did not like the sound of it at all.
Something was telling him that it was far more powerful than the normal Omnitrix, and that alone was a dreadful thought.
"I forgot that you're a little slow so let me put it in a simple way for you, not only can I transform into anything you can but I can also evolve those creatures to their ultimate forms."
Hugo's eyes widened, and at that moment both he, his spirit body, and [Zed] launched towards Ben in an attempt to stop him.
But it was too late, he had already pressed the dial of the Ultimatrix...
A wave of red energy exploded from the Ultimatrix, and Ben was engulfed in it, and just like that, his body began to morph. Humungousaur's body took on a greener tone, and metallic-like parts grew on his body, mainly on his chest and back.
The morph lasted but a second, and when it ended, a humanoid, dinosaur-like creature stood there, clad in dark blue armor similar to that of an Ankylosaurus. He was more burly and muscular than his pre-evolved form, looking more like a war machine then a living creature.
He had camo-green skin, and his helmet, or skull, featured three silver spikes running down the top of it, along with two downward-pointing black horns on the sides. His back armor had long spikes running down each side, while his plated chest and torso were dark blue with five spikes on each end, and his tail ended in a blue mace lined with silver spikes.
And finally, his knuckles had silver barrels on them, looking like they were waiting to shoot something from them.
Ben Tennyson's presence, which had been subtle and dormant, awoke like a slumbering beast washing over Hugo and making him feel feeble, weak and incredibly small compared to the mighty giant.
Hugo halted mid-launch, commanding both the Spirit body and [Zed] to stop immediately...
After all, if they engaged right now, they would all die.
Cold sweat formed inside his Omni-Kix armor as Hugo felt something he believed he would never feel again after everything he had endured...
true terror...
'T-That's… a Transcendent Titan…'
Before, Hugo had thought he could bridge the gap between an Ascended Titan and an Ascended Terror with the help of the Spirit body, Zed and the Omni-Kix armor empowering himp... But now, upon realizing that Ben possessed a power like this… all his hopes of winning this confrontation had collapsed.
"Meet Ultimate Humungousaur!" A deep metallic voice rang out, and then, without giving the startled Hugo any time to process, Ben used his transcendent speed to appear right in front of Hugo and swung his gigantic fist at him, sending him flying in a single strike like he was an insect.
At the same time, Ben spun and used his evolved hammer like tail to deliver a blow to the Spirit body, sending it flying as well and causing cracks to appear on the [Asura] suit.
For [Zed]... Ben simply looked at it, and the alien dog, despite being a soulless echo, shuddered at the gaze of the transcendent Titan, feeling all of its strength being sapped away... and then something unexpected happened...
The Ascended Echo dismissed itself into Hugo's soul sea, refusing to come out.
Hugo, slammed into the mountainside, rose to face the Transcendent Titan once more. But as he looked up, he saw Ben in the sky, having leapt a great distance to reach him.
It was if he was floating in the air remaining in the sky by some strange force.
His arms were pointed down, and suddenly they transformed into... arm cannons ?
Dozens—perhaps even hundreds—of missiles, crafted from a strange bone-like material descended upon Hugo at the speed of of a blink.
Seeing this, he simply frowned and made a "I hate my life" face...
Why couldn't he get an alien that shoots rockets?
Even as that thought crossed his mind, Hugo pushed Humungousaur's augmentation to its limits hoping to use its powers to survive the impact then he spun around and sprinted as far as he could, looking almost comical due to his enormous size.
The rockets, however, just like Ultimate Humungousaur, were of the transcendent rank, so even a single one of them was far more potent than any human bomb could ever hope to achieve, causing the impact to spread over the mountain range and reach Hugo in matter of seconds rendering his attempts to escape futile.
"Agh!" Hugo screamed in pain as he felt his body being thrown around due to the myriads of explosions erupting from all over the place.
This would have likely vaporized his body before, but with the Omni-Kix armor, Humungousaur's augmentation and the passive [Asura] attribute, Hugo managed to survive, barely.
As the shower of explosions stopped, he tried to rise from the ground, but just then, a shadow suddenly enveloped him drowning the world in darkness.
Looking up, Hugo was met with Ultimate Humungousaur falling towards him at top speed...
THUD
CRUNCH
THUD
The shockwave rippled across the devastated mountains, and Ben, his eyes fixed on the exhausted Hugo, began pounding him relentlessly.
He hit and hit, each punch like a mighty hammer, slowly breaking the Omni-Kix armor in an attempt to tear out Hugo's body from under it.
However, just then, a blast of concentrated soul essence struck Ben's head, making it jerk slightly, though it caused no damage to the Transcendent Titan.
The Spirit body, controlled by Hugo, was using the [Asura] trait to send blasts of soul essence from its emitters, it was perhaps the only way for it to do anything as its Abilities naturally are not powerful enough to affect ben at all.
One because ben was a fellow omnitrix wielder, thus immune to mind attacks.
And second because he was a Transcendant Titan right now and the spirit body was an ascended terror.
Ben, as a result, simply unleashed a mighty roar... however, that roar was not a normal one, instead it was an ability of sorts, carrying Ben's... will?
The oppressive will washed over the Spirit body, causing the body inside the [Asura], which was that of an Ascended Terror, to freeze and fall helplessly, completely dominated by Ben's power.
However, it had done its job well, for that single moment had bought Hugo enough time to do something.
He opened his maw, and as he did, the spikes on his back ignited with green light, generating an ocean of soul essence that surged toward his maw.
Of course, this essence was being generated by the Omni-Kix armor ability, which converted physical strength into essence that could be shot.
But the process did not matter much, what did was the fact that Hugo was right next to Ben.
And so, he unleashed the beam of concentrated energy, which surged forward and engulfed the Transcendent Titan.