Chapter 81: The Flames of War V
Seven metallic discs glided through the battlefield, unleashing earth shattering sonic waves wherever they landed.
Those discs belonged to none other than Ben Tennyson, the real one.
Ben was fighting alongside George and the supreme dragon, who were both unleashing their wills against the world, Ben however could not do that as he could not risk Transforming into a supreme being. That would damage his soul too much, however he could handle Being a Transcendent Titan, which made him capable of battling the stronger abominations such as the Corrupted and Great Ones.
And right now, Ben had just reached the heart of a harrowing titan.
Exhaling—or whatever the alternative for Ultimate Echo Echo was—Ben raised his hands and unleashed another blast of sonic attacks, completely exploding the insides of the Titan.
Then, without looking back, he flew away from the exploding mass of flames that was the Titan, barely avoiding the damage himself.
This abomination had been a powerful one, being a massive tree of fire and chaos, and one that was capable of infecting other creatures, no less. Making it a truly harrowing foe for Weaker beings.
But alas, it could not withstand him, for he was Superior
Looking up, ben caught glimpses of the four category gates not far ahead and felt the maddening call of the nightmare...
Grimacing, he saw George approaching him, cleaning Ascalon from the blood of a great creature.
The ancient supreme looked at Ben, his face hidden by his helmet.
"How long until we reach the heart of this region?"
Ben shrugged a little as he cleaned blood from his metallic body.
"We're nearly in the heart of Mount Rushmore... Which means we're about to encounter only Great Ones from now on, alongside the Seeds of Nightmare, of course."
Tilting his head, George watched the battlefield for a moment as the supreme dragon landed near them, wounded but still able to fight.
"How are they surviving the maddening call of the Forgotten One...?" George said, referring to the forever knights.
"The easiest answer is that they're no longer humans. Their unholy god has left not a single trace of divinity within them, so if anything, they're probably empowered when they're close to the seeds," Ben said as he looked at the myriad of seeds appearing in the distance. "Will you do the pleasure?"
Nodding, George moved to the front and raised Ascalon.
"Gladly. Ascalon shall cleanse the path for us to build a better future"
The sacred blade... well, it was not truly sacred in the regular sense. Rather, it was functioning at the output of the sacred rank.
Indeed, the blade was created by azmuth, the first thinker and so it being anything less then divine would be shameful for such a great mind.
However, that caused other problems to emerge for the wielders of this blade.
Just like the omnitrix, Ascalon was not meant to be wielded by mortals, even by supreme demigods.
as a supreme, George had only been able to draw its full power once, when he had banished Dagon outside of this realm centuries ago. But even that had cost him dearly, as it has put him in a disabled state for hundreds of years.
Thankfully, that was not needed here, at least not yet.
Light emitted from Ascalon and built up inside of it, swelling more and more untill Transformed the blade into pure energy...
The concept held within the blade was purification, which was most potent against corruption.
Taking a step forward, George brought down the blade and unleashed a terrible arc of blinding energy towards the seeds and the nightmare creatures coming out from them.
That arc consumed everything it came across, the nightmare gates, the abominations and even the fabric of the world itself.
Ben watched in awe as a single attack destroyed dozens of nightmare seeds, a feat which was considered impossible for anyone else.
And finally, the arc reached Mount Rushmore, cutting the entire mountain in half.
And as it did, three figures descended to the ground, miles away...
Of course, Ben knew exactly who they were.
The two remaining Forever Kings—
And...
—————
Hugo wanted to scream.
Hundreds of wails echoed in his vast mind, as each of his minions died or received a fatal wound from the two rampaging monsters.
The seat holder of shadow was an insidious opponent, who was capable of teleporting through the shadows and multiplying his numbers by mating with himself.
Indeed, the shadow beetles... They grew in size by giving birth to each other, which was a detail Hugo had noticed when a couple of them had mated inside of one of the bodies of his minions...
The Seat Holder of Storm, on the other hand, was a terrifying foe—a dragon of obsidian and thunder, rampaging across the battlefield and destroying his minions with ease, tearing them apart with his unholy powers.
Hugo had grown overconfident in this nightmare, assuming that beings like this wouldn't be that much of a threat to him, but he was wrong.
He was so dreadfully wrong.
A terrifying roar shook the battlefield as the obsidian dragon spread its wings wide, sending a hurricane that shredded large numbers of Hugo's minions.
The obsidian dragon, in all its majesty, gathered a vast amount of lightning into its maw, ready to fire it towards Hugo.
Hugo was not sure he would survive that attack unscathed... especially considering Amphibian's ability to control electricity did not work here, as the electricity here was created from a being more powerful than Hugo.
On the other side, there was the terrifying swarm of shadow beetles, who were devouring more of his minions by the second.
Groaning, Hugo flew upward and generated electricity in his body, burning through a large number of his soul essence.
Then, using his innate connection to his minions, he spread that electricity through the minions's bodies, transforming them into conduits of his will.
The bioelectricity gathered at their center, which was where the soul core was placed...
It grew slowly, increasing in size like a raging storm.
And then, it reached critical mass, and as it did, the bodies of the hundred remaining Amperis exploded into pillars of blue lightning, swallowing the land around them.
The shadow beetles were consumed by the wave of energy, unable to escape it.
The obsidian dragon's own lightning breath tore through the explosions; however, quantity defeated quality and soon enough it was consumed alongside its master.
"I'm sorry..."
Hugo felt a tear form in his strange jellyfish-like eyes as he apologized to his minions for sacrificing them...
They had died to save their creator... And in a way, their father.
It was a bizarre sensation, really, considering he could only feel this parental attachment when he's in this form.
But then again, could he call it fake? As far as he was concerned, all of his transformations were the real him. They were just different forms but all of them were equally real.
And so, this feeling of regret sadness will never disappear. Instead it will remain a part of him, forever.
And Hugo was happy about that. He never wants to forget that part of himself, not now and not ever.
Not far away, the spirit body and Zed were hovering around him, looking down at the devastated northern side of South Dakota...
"Damnation..." the spirit body said with a hesitant voice. "We really are good at killing the things we love, aren't we..."
From his main body, Hugo's voice sounded alien and bizarre:
"We are... But speaking to ourselves like this is pointless, you know. People might think we are crazy."
"Well... aren't we?"
He paused for a moment, then said:
"No comment."
Zed looked in confusion between its master, unsure why he was talking to himself.
Down below, the devastation Hugo had caused was slowly dying out, and as it did, something terrifying revealed itself.
The Seat Holder of Storm did not perish in this hellish assault, but he was wounded by it.
His right torso was nearly gone, with one of his mighty wings having completely disappeared, However, the ghastly sight was not what horrified Hugo. Rather, it was the fact that the dragon was... being parasitized.
The dark beetles, which Hugo recognized as the Seat Holder of Shadow, had wrapped themselves around the Seat Holder of Storm tightly, entering through his wounds and mouth In order to survive.
In fact, the beetles could be seen through the gaping hole in the dragon's chest, replacing the blood and organs entirely.
Then, before his astonished eyes, the beetles leaked out, forming a new left torso for the Seat Holder of Storm, restoring his wing.
At the same time, they wrapped around him, forming an armor from their black carcasses, becoming a truly terrifying being, worthy of being called a king...
The dragon looked at Hugo for a long moment, like a hunter stalking his prey... Then it leaped off the ground, beating its dark wings towards Hugo.
Seeing this, Hugo let out an exhale.
"Fuck it."
With that, he dismissed Zed and the spirit body and rotated the Omnitrix, activating the [Omni-kix] armor. As he did, plates of armor ignited from the Omnitrix, wrapping around Amphibian's skin smoothly.
He gained a new set of cannons placed directly on his shoulders, and at the same time, Hugo noticed that the plates of armor surrounding him were different from the usual ones.
They were not grey or green—rather, they were the color of rainbow, an amalgamation of all colors, some that the human eye could not preceive.
But he could not dwell on that for long.
He let out a sigh and gathered all the remaining electricity into his body, looking at the dragon, who was slowly ascending to meet him like a promise of doom.
More bioelectricity gathered inside his body, amplified by the Omni-kix armor, until Hugo became a living beacon of light, attracting the sights of numerous Awakened and, at the same time, numerous nightmare creatures.
After his body could no longer bear any more, Hugo descended upon the hideous fusion of the two Forever Kings, shooting down like a fallen star of pure lightning...
'A star, huh... Perhaps I'm the real changing star, after all.'
Could Nephis even explode like he did?
As far as he knew, no. So he was by far the true star among them.
After a moment, the dragon collided with Hugo, and the moment they did, he released all of the built-up bioelectricity within him, not leaving a single trace of it.
He was attempting to create the biggest explosion he could—one so big that it would devour the entirety of South Dakota.m, or at least the northern side of it.
And an explosion he made...
The dragon's eyes widened as it saw the explosion in front of it and felt its true mass...
It tried to run away, through some aspect ability, no doubt.
But it was too late. It was the closest being to the explosion, after all.
And so, it was consumed.
[You have slain an unknown]
[You have slain an unknown]
"It hurts..." Hugo felt the explosion spreading outward while being at the center of it, and despite the fact that electricity did not harm ampfibian body, he still was being damaged by the pressure, feeling his body literally falling apart...
He tried to dismiss the explosion now that it had done its job... But as usual, things did not go as planned.
It never stopped; instead, it kept increasing in size, slowly consuming the northern side of South Dakota...
More nightmare creatures and even random Awakened in the battlefield were caught by it.
[You have slain an awakened monster]
[You have slain a fallen devil]
[You have slain a fallen beast]
[You have slain an ascended human]
[You have slain a corrupted beast]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
The voice of the spell nearly drove Hugo mad as it credited him for the hundreds of souls that were caught in the explosions And as it did, the soul fragments Hugo was getting increased...
After all, humans gained fragments when killing their own kind... However, Hugo's soul was unique, as he wasn't truly human anymore and as such He did not gain fragments from only killing humans; instead, he gained fragments from killing all races that were stored in the Omnitrix... Of course, that did not include corrupted ones, but any other noble creature was on the table...
And now, Hugo had killed dozens of them, alongside other humans... Due to that, his seventh core was forming, slowly starting his evolution into a Titan.
The world shook slightly, and then, from somewhere else, a pillar of white light engulfed everything. In the next few seconds, Mount Rushmore was cut in half by the same pillars.
—————
Ben recoiled slightly as he saw beams of energy rise into the sky like great pyres of doom, consuming everything in their path.
From another side, Mount Rushmore was collapsing on itself, cut by Sir George's blade.
Somewhere else, reality was being reshaped as Max Tennyson battled a great Titan not far from here.
It was utter chaos, everywhere he turned.
"At this rate, Earth won't survive this war..."
It was funny, considering this exact scenario had happened in his realm, in the real world. Which meant that even if they stopped the end, their Earth was doomed to end either way...
And once again, Ben had failed to stop it.
'no no, I shouldn't be thinking about this right now...'
Shaking his head, Ben focused on the situation at hand.
They were at the heart of Mount Rushmore, protected from the debris by the supreme dragon's will.
Not far away, three figures revealed themselves in the rubles, protected from the destruction around them by a terrifying will of their own.
It was the Seat Holders of Beast and Heart. Their faces and appearances seemed dull and blurry, as if their very existence was coming undone.
Of course, Ben knew the truth. It wasn't that they were being erased; rather, they were being sucked in by something...
The hands of Armageddon.
The third figure—the one in red—approached with calm steps, clapping their hands together, their visage hidden by a demon-like mask.
"Ah, if it isn't Sir George himself. It's an honor to have you here, in the end. My lord would want to punish you himself, considering you were the pest that halted his descent all those years ago."
Sir George's face hardened as he listened carefully to the [one in red], his eyes blazing with hatred within them.
"So you are the one who corrupted my domain for that abomination... Mark my words abomination, I will rip you apart, and nothing, not even your dark deity would be able to save you from my wrath"
The [one in red] then turned their head towards Ben, completely ignoring George's speech.
"And you... brat, will you ever stop being a thorn in my side? Even after all those years?"
Ben couldn't help but smile a little, feeling a wave of nostalgia hit him.
"I guess I can't help it. My favorite thing to do is stopping your schemes, after all. However, this time, I want to make it a little special. I want to kill you once and for all."
Ben hovered near him, still in the form of Ultimate Echo Echo, however, his voice twisted to reveal the hatred laced deep within it.
"I bet you want to do the same, don't you? Vilgax?"