Chapter 195: Grievous News
[You have received a memory]
The seven javelins exploded into a shower of Onyx sparks and were absorbed into Sunny's chest, entering his soul sea and orbiting his five shadow cores.
After hours of work, he had finally weaved the artifact into a memory—a Transcendent memory of the seventh tier.
He had to get the Transcendant soul shards from his own pocket, which was extremely bothersome, but alas, it was done.
Hugo was still meditating in his grey matter form, so Sunny chose not to bother him.
Instead, he pulled up the runes of the javelins:
Memory: [Icebreaker]
Memory rank: Transcendent
Memory tier: VII
Memory type: Weapon
Memory description: [A weapon of hope to slay a calamity.]
Sunny wasn't a poet, but the memory he had just weaved was not any simple memory.
It was not just a powerful weapon to slay a mighty nightmare creature... It was a relic forged by two masters to save millions of innocent lives threatened by a calamity they could not even begin to comprehend.
The name [Icebreaker] was surprisingly good, considering Sunny's terrible naming sense.
As for the enchantments...
Memory enchantments: [Seven chains], [Darkness metal], [Mantle of darkness], [Shadow sense], [Shadow spear], [Shadow leech], [Memory slot]
[Seven chains] enchantment description: [Those chains can be controlled from a distance by the owner of this memory.]
[Darkness metal] enchantment description: [Darkness dwells within this weapon, empowering it.]
[Mantle of darkness] enchantment description: [This weapon is stronger when wielded by creatures of darkness.]
[Shadow sense] enchantment description: [This weapon can sense the shadows of the corrupted and is drawn to them.]
[Shadow spear] enchantment description: [This weapon can impale the shadows of the corrupted.]
[Shadow leech] enchantment description: [This weapon drains the essence of the creatures it impales.]
[Memory slot] enchantment description: [This memory can accommodate a memory and activate its enchantment in the span of seven minutes.]
Memory slot: [Dark soul]
And just like that, the spell had described the memory that would become their salvation...
If they succudedd, that is.
Sunny poked Hugo's small frame with a finger, startling the small alien.
Opening his big blue eyes, hugo noticed that the javelins were no longer on the [Dragon table].
"Is it done?"
Sunny nodded and dismissed the extra pair of arms he had summoned. At the same time, Hugo dismissed the [Dragon table] and detransformed.
Sunny got up and stretched a little, while Hugo extinguished the flames of the crystal forge.
"Alright, there isn't much for us to do here, so let's go to the waking world. We've been gone for a whole day."
Hugo nodded, and the two of them quickly went through the gateway.
The process of constantly passing through a gateway was annoying to Hugo, making him wish to transcend faster to gain the ability to cross the realm boundary on his own.
His Transcendent imprints unfortunately retained the same tether as he did, which was unfortunate.
Hugo felt the pull of the waking world and found himself in his room within Falcon Scott.
Sunny's tether was in the Rhino, so they were not close.
As soon as he got there, a notification sound came from his omnitrix.
Opening it, Hugo found a message from Master Jet—three simple words that made his heart drop a little.
[Skytide has fallen.]
***
Hugo and Sunny met up with Master Jet at the headquarters of the White Feather clan without wasting any time. While the elevator was taking them to the ground level of the government complex, Sunny tried to keep his voice even as he asked:
"Is Skytide alive?"
Jet gritted her teeth.
"I don't know. I've been notified that something went wrong just half an hour ago. Roan sent me a message personally right before you two returned to the waking world... but he didn't go into detail." She looked at their tired expressions and asked in an even voice, "That thing you said you'll make... Is it done?"
Hugo sighed, his expression becoming more sour by the minute.
"Yes. Though I had hoped we'd have more time, and more importantly, that we'd have Skytide with us when we kill the Winter Beast."
Their chances of defeating the winter beast would have been much more better if skytide was there to hold it back.
Jet was clearly skeptical of his claim, and how could she not be? The Winter Beast was not like the usual nightmare creatures they fought, and even someone as exceptional as Hugo could not slay it under regular circumstances.
As they emerged from the underground complex and hurried to the White Feather compound, Hugo shivered again and noticed that it had gotten even colder outside. Before, he had not paid the cold any attention, but now the fall in temperature seemed foreboding.
The guards of the compound seemed to have received instructions, and almost immediately after Sunny, Hugo, and Jet arrived, a familiar woman appeared beside them.
It was Master Winter, whose expression was no longer playful.
She gestured for them to follow, as she had arrived earlier.
After walking for a few moments in complete silence, they reached an isolated room in the depths of the compound. The young Awakened guarding the door give them a somber look, then stepped aside, gesturing for them to come in.
Inside, they saw an empty hall with some medical equipment and a lonely operating table standing in its center. The table, and the floor around it, were marred with blood. On it... Saint Tyris was lying, her eyes closed.
Hugo grimaced. The mighty Transcendent had been reduced to a corpse-like state, but she was alive...
Her whole body was covered in blood and blemished by severe frostbite. Tyris was unconscious, breathing shallowly. Her face was terribly pale, and her lips looked blue. And that... that was, without a doubt, only after the healers of the White Feather clan had tended to her.
Hugo had not known Skytide long—had barely known her at all, really. But she was a mighty warrior, and he held great respect and admiration for her.
To see someone like her in such a state made him feel only anguish.
Roan was standing above her, not looking much better.
When the four of them entered, Roan slowly looked away from his wife and gave them a dull glance.
Soul Reaper gritted her teeth.
"Roan. What the hell happened?!"
He stared at them for a few moments, then turned back to Saint Tyris.
"Isn't it obvious? She lost. Actually, it's a miracle that she was able to hold back that monster for so long. It's also a miracle that she survived."
He remained silent for a while, then added evenly:
"You are asking the wrong question, though."
Master Jet's icy blue eyes widened slightly. She hesitated, then asked coldly:
"...What the hell is going to happen, then?"
Roan lowered his head. Then he straightened his back and looked at them once more.
"I think you know."
His eyes were bleak and tired.
"The Winter Beast is coming, and there's no one to stop it. It's over. Maybe tomorrow, or the day after that, anyone who still remains in this city will die. I'm sorry, Soul Reaper... I know I agreed to that audacious plan yesterday... but that was mere talk, we all know it, deep down. There's nothing else my clan can do."
The meaning of his words was obvious to all of them... Roan and the White Feather clan were leaving Antarctica.
Hugo wanted to refute his words, to speak about duty and heroism, and more importantly, to say that there was still hope.
But in the end, he remained silent. Not because he did not believe in his words, but because he knew it was not his decision to make.
Hugo was willing to throw his life away for a just cause... But expecting anyone else to do the same was madness.
'Ah... I'm such a hypocrite.'
Roan looked at Hugo for a few moments, then gestured for one of the attendants—a young Awakened from the White Feather clan who slightly resembled Tyris—to give Hugo something.
She came closer and handed him a large metallic container.
"There's no point anymore, but a promise is a promise... It's the soul shards we agreed to give you, provided by both the government, the House of Night, and the White Feather clan." He paused for a few moments, then added, "I hope that you can become a Titan and slay the Winter Beast... And I'm sorry that I cannot stay. I cannot place the life of my family on your plan."
Hugo grabbed the container and nodded.
"...We have not known each other for long, Master Roan. However, you were one of the fiercest fighters I've known, and I hope that... we meet again one day, in the near future."
Master roan gave him a somber nod, having nothing left to add.
Sunny, Jet, and Winter briefly spoke with Roan, and were later escorted out after ending their conversations with the master.
The four of them were outside of the compound, and the group walked through the crowded streets of falcon Scott with tired expressions.
All of them had fought so hard... And in the end, their efforts barely made any ff, in the grand schemes of things.
Looking at his companions, Hugo asked:
"...Bloodwave and the House of Night are leaving too, aren't they?"
Jet sighed.
"Yes. Saint Bloodwave is waiting for Tyris to be transported onto a ship right now. They are set to leave immediately."
Winter scoffed.
"How cowardly... But then again, the lives of two saints are worth infinitely more than all of us combined."
Hugo opened the container and absorbed the soul shards.
At the same time, he felt his minions all across the city being destroyed by nightmare creatures and the terrible storm of the winter beast, now that it was longer being held back by saint tyris.
He quickly dismissed his spirit body and Zed, making sure they were both safe.
As for his minions, he commanded those who survived to return to falcon Scott using the [crown of falsehood].
At the same time, he gestured for Sunny to recall Saint and nightmare back to falcon Scott.
Indeed... It was over. The Antarctica campaign, in central Antarctica, was coming to its conclusion.
After battling the harrowing Corrupted Titan for three long months, Saint Tyris of the White Feather clan had finally been defeated. Even though she had miraculously managed to survive, with Skytide incapacitated, there was no one left to stop the Winter Beast from advancing on the city.
The Titan was already moving closer to the largest—and only—siege capital left standing in the region. The temperature was falling, and the winds were picking up, heralding the descent of a terrible blizzard.
Inevitably, a series of disastrous events was bound to happen.
The first of these events, and the catalyst that sparked the chain reaction... was the withdrawal of the White Feather clan from the Antarctic Center. They had been sent here to support the First Evacuation Army on behalf of the great clan Valor, but were not part of it. Naturally, their first priority was to preserve their Saint's life.
Even if the Awakened of White Feather had decided to stay, for whatever reason, Army Command would have insisted that they retreat in haste. The life of an allied Transcendent was too precious a resource for the government, too.
The same was true for bloodwave.
From the messages he was receiving on his omnitrix, Hugo was also being urged to leave Antarctica on the next ship, but he had ignored every single one.
Finishing the last shard, and feeling his titan core finally reform, Hugo said:
"Are you going to stay?"
Sunny looked at him with a deadpan expression.
"Naturally."
Jet and Winter did the same thing.
"Of course."
"You know, Shapeshifter boy, you ask a lot of dumb questions. Of course I'm going to stay here and freeze to death—didn't you know? It's my favorite hobby!"
"My apologies, Master Winter... Well then, shall we discuss our plan?"
The four of them found a local bench and sat there, watching the people as they hurried toward the docks in order to find a spot on the evacuation ships.
"So let me get this straight," Jet said, looking at Hugo like he had grown a second head. "You're planning to go fight a Corrupted Titan inside your soul sea, which could lead to your death, by the way, for the chance to get access to a Transcendent Titan transformation?"
Hugo nodded.
"Yes."
"How are you going to beat the Corrupted Titan in your soul?"
Hugo summoned Zed, his spirit body, and his shadow avatar all at once, making them stand before the group.
He patted Zed gently.
"Zed is a Transcendent devil, I'm an Ascended Titan, my spirit body is an Ascended Titan, and my shadow is also an Ascended Titan. Three of us can assume various forms, and the titan I'm planning to kill has few abilities but extreme physical force."
"So, outnumbering it and using your powers, right?" Master Winter interjected.
"Basically. I was planning to ask Sunny for a custom memory to help in the battle, but we don't have the time or the materials to create a Transcendent item again after the [Icebreaker]."
Jet stared at him for a while, then added:
"Let's say you actually succeed. What's next? Are you planning to throw the artifact you and Sunny made at the Winter Beast to weaken it, and then you're going to what, go punch it?"
He nodded again.
"Yes, actually. One of Sunny's shadows will help—or at least try to. In the worst-case scenario, I manage to damage the Winter Beast badly and die in the process, causing it to retreat. That would give you all time—maybe even a chance to kill it."
Master jet looked at him for a few seconds, then, she slightly smacked him in the head, causing both sunny and winter to look at her with surprise.
"... You are too young to throw away your life like that, trust me, it's not worth it."
He sighed, and looked at the tree.
"I really tried to form a plan to include you guys, but unfortunately none of you are Transcendent."
"Ouch," Winter sighed. "You're right... I guess our final hope is in your hands. Huh..." She suddenly grinned. "Of course it's a man that's going to save us. Hey, Jet, we should form a harem and be all lovey-dovey with him if he lives."
She turned to Sunny, who had remained silent.
"You can join the harem too."
Hugo suddenly stood up and dismissed the three creatures he summoned, and gave Winter an apologetic look.
"I'd rather not, but I'll try to do my best to win. For now, I'm heading off to challenge the DNA trial. We don't have much time left."
Sunny gave Hugo an odd look, then sighed.
"Hold on." He got up and touched Hugo's shoulder, and suddenly something transferred over from his soul into Hugo's.
[You have received a memory: cruel sight]
"You've been lacking a weapon, so this should suffice. I recently made it Transcendant, but I'll except you to give it back once you come back from that pseudo trial."
Hugo gave sunny a grateful expression.
"Thank you..."
Master winter, on the other hand, suddenly brought out her communicator and started... Filming?
"Isn't this the parts where you kiss?"
"..."
"... I'd rather not, but anyway, I should get going."
"Me too... I gotta go force my cohort to leave on the next boar asap."
Sunny and Hugo left master jet and winter alone.
Hugo returned to his chamber, feeling a sense of dread, anticipation, and responsibility all at the same time.
If he survived the DNA trial, he would gain a Transcendent Titan transformation, much more powerful than Pesky Dust.
A form that would give him a chance against the Winter Beast.
However, if he failed... everyone would die.
'... It's like the forgotten shore all over again...'
Reaching his room, he closed the door and sat on the bed.
Hugo closed his eyes and entering his soul sea.
He made his way through the maze, into the third chamber portal, and stepped through.
Without wasting any more time, Hugo walked towards the pod he had been planning to challenge for a while now.
The DNA pod was filled with white and red liquid, with subtle darkness tugging at its end.
It was the DNA pod of a To'kustar.