Chapter 145: Soul flame
Hugo's battle art, in the form of Ghostfreak, had undergone a drastic transformation.
While in this form, he lacked weight, size and durability. But on the other hand, he gained speed, agility, intangibility and flight, becoming swift and deadly.
The battle art he had been cultivating, which relied on extreme defense and violent offense, could not work in this form. The part that relied on violent offense could be applied perfectly, with only little modification needed to add in the soul damage and the swiftness.
The part that required firm defense, however, could not be incorporated in this form. At best, the intangibility could be used to avoid attacks but the nature of this transformation did not allow for that type of defense.
So, Hugo had found himself needing to adapt a more savage version of his battle art, one that resembled master jet battle art.
he lunged at the abomination with his scythe in hand, ready to destroy it entirely.
His movement speed was simply unmatched in this form, as his scythe cut through the air aiming to tear apart the menacing Terror.
This creature, Malware, possessing the superior rank, easily dodged his attack by taking a step to the side. Then, the arm cannon in its hand was directly pointed in Hugo's face, firing a crimson red blast.
Hugo activated his intangibility at the last moment, allowing it to pass through his body, before reappearing in a physical form and swinging again at a terrifying speed making sure to make his attack violent and fast.
This time, the scythe of [Nothing], enhanced by the [Nameless Sun], found its mark. More than that, it reached deep into Malware's being, wounding his soul thanks to the innate nature of Ghostfreak.
In this form, Hugo's vision was abnormal and eerie, allowing him to see the shape of the soul. Thanks to this ability, he knew which parts he should hit.
However, the creature he was fighting against was not going to sit idly and watch as its soul get destroyed.
The terrifying bastard melted into the floor after the first attack and rushed away from Hugo, before manifesting back as a gigantic wave of inky material. It was attempting to drown him...
Hugo used his intangibility once again to pass through the floor and rushed up somewhere else, keeping his flight and distance.
'Playing cat and mouse...'
The terrifying creature had abilities of shapeshifting, energy projection, and...
Before his astonished eyes, the creature rushed through the floor once again, ignoring the myriads of humans it had enthralled, and reached one of the military exoskeletons.
It touched the metallic surface and suddenly, the machine was entirely consumed by the abomination, being swallowed whole by it.
The creature's body changed a little, as an exoskeleton made from its skin manifested around its bulky frame.
Without any hesitation, it began firing dozens of blasts from its arms, using the function of the exoskeleton—which allowed it to incorporate many small firearms—to its advantage.
'So the arm cannon wasn't enough for you...'
Hugo flew through the main area of the bunker, dodging and weaving between the projectiles mid-flight.
'Assimilating technology...'
At that moment, everything suddenly became clear.
The sense of familiarity—or déjà vu—he had felt when he first saw its true form had occured because of one simple thing.
He knew what race this creature belonged to now, More than that, he had the exact same transformation.
Malware belonged to the Galvanic Mechamorphs—to the species of Upgrade.
But he didn't seem like a regular Galvanic Mechamorph. Instead, he seemed to be a mutant, capable of assimilating various forms of technology instead of upgrading them.
Moreover, his powers had been honed and perverted even further by corruption, allowing malware to assimilate people as well.
'... Does that mean the people are gone?'
No, it couldn't be... After all, their souls was still intact...
Using that as a way to determine wether they can be saved or not was foolish thinking, but it was all he had at the moment.
A bright idea suddenly appeared in his mind.
A Galvanic Mechamorph did all of this to those poor people, so who was to say another Galvanic Mechamorph couldn't reverse it?
But Hugo couldn't assume his Upgrade form right now, as he was too busy trying to survive against this creature.
But his shadow could.
It would be a dangerous gamble, as his shadow could be destroyed and cause Hugo to die as well... But it did not matter. As long as there was hope of saving those people, he must try, no matter what.
'I'll need to distract the bastard first... Or take him outside.'
Looking deep within him, Hugo called upon his Ascended Ability [Fusion].
Ghostfreak alone was not enough to distract this creature, as it did not have the firepower necessary to do so.
But there was a creature who knew all too well about firepower.
Flames erupted all around his body. This time they were not crimson red or orange; instead they were sickly purple, influenced by the power of Ghostfreak. The skin that made up Ghostfreak became dark purple rock, as the plasma-like matter fused with the magmatic body of Heatblast.
Hugo had activated the third stage of his [Fusion] ability, fully mixing the DNA of Heatblast and Ghostfreak.
Hugo felt tenebrous power spread through his body, saturating him with unnatural tenacity. The [Flames of Divinity] within his soul empowered his body, which was currently fused with the soul, making him more powerful than he usually was.
Hugo raised the heat of his flames, the air around him boiled and bubbled violently. The purple flames were a weapon in of themselves, capable of reaching the soul.
This fusion was his last hope of destroying malware, of at least distracting him.
Hugo shot down like a comet and slammed into Malware, crashing him through the walls of the bunker again and again until they were outside.
The desolate coldness of Antarctica seemed to welcome Hugo back, as if it had missed him.
Though he did not care about the dreadful cold right now as he was more wary of the abomination Infront of him. Still, he had gotten him outside, away from the people and away from any weapons the bunker could offer.
The two monstrous beings engaged in another terrifying clash, racing down to destroy each other.
Unbeknownst to the Corrupted Terror, Hugo was currently casting no shadow.
***
Hugo's shadow had been secretly left behind by its master and entrusted with the dire task of trying of saving those people from the influence of a corrupted terror.
Its master possessed a heroic soul, constantly trying to save people even in such a terrible situation... In a way, the shadow admired that trait, but it couldn't help but find it naive.
Which was ironic, considering the shadow itself was only a few months old.
It still did not know how to feel about most things, as it was a strange being.
The shadow had once been an abnormal shadow—not powerful or unique, but a shadow that was considered a cripple to other shadows. That was thanks to the fact that it was saturated with Omni-Energy during the First Nightmare of its master.
Later on, the shadow absorbed the lineage of Shadow God, becoming the physical manifestation of Shadow God's blood.
It was not the same as it was back then, perhaps it was a completely new shadow.
In simple words, the shadow was confused about its role in existence, as it had freedom to think but not enough freedom to act on its own...
No matter, it still had a job to do.
The shadow rose and assumed a physical form, looking at the thralls of the Corrupted Terror.
While the main body of malware was occupied in battle, those thralls seemed to be in a state of stasis... Which was good, as the shadow would've had to kill or overpower them otherwise.
It reached towards its Shadowtrix, touching the faceplate and scrolling through the list of aliens it possessed before reaching Upgrade.
The shadow slammed its watch and felt its body morph and change in bizarre ways.
Shadows were formless by nature, however, experiencing such transformations often was... Surreal to say the least.
The shadow assumed the form of Upgrade, its colors black and grey instead of white and blue.
Without wasting any time, it moved towards the thralls and allowed its hands to melt into their bodies.
It started with the body of a young girl.
The darkness that was Malware was terrifying and ancient, holding great and dark powers within its depths and those powers had taken root in the souls of those poor creatures... Still, the shadow persisted, using its abilities as a Galvanic Mechamorph in an attempt to cleanse the inky darkness of Malware.
***
Outside, the snow was melting as Hugo's flames burned brightly, clashing with the Corrupted Terror in various ways.
His body and soul groaned, rattled by wounds too terrible for any other Ascended to endure.
A blade of darkness and crimson light cut into his chest, causing more pain to overcome him. In response, a wave of fire was unleashed from Hugo's mouth, drowning the Terror's head in purple flames and making it shudder in pain.
The violet flames reached deep into its soul with every moment, making them far more dangerous then any attack within the arsenal of the terror.
Hugo used the intangibility he inherited from his Ghostfreak side and allowed the blade to exit his body, before grabbing his scythe firmly and coating it in purple flames.
He swung at the chest of the abomination, cutting it in half with one simple cut.
But that did not stop the Corrupted Terror, as its two separated parts transformed into chains, anchoring themselves to the ground and latching towards Hugo like hungry leeches.
Most of the dark chains missed their marks, however some managed to scratch, wound, and even chain Hugo down, before being burnt into ash by the flames.
He nearly collapsed from the pain as each chain was infused with Malware's corrosive power, slightly creeping into his soul and threatening to consume him.
More than that, his attacks were also damaging his soul as well.
The two exchanged dozens of strikes, with Hugo desperately evading the powerful attacks and attempting to destroy at least one of malware soul cores.
'Why... Why won't you just die already...'
Hugo was using [Nothing], a Transcendent Memory with the power of a Supreme Memory thanks to the [Nameless Sun] enhancing it. Moreover, he was using the powerful purple flames that burned the soul...
Each of his attacks was a devastating strike that should have killed most creatures of the fallen and corrupted rank that were not Titans... And yet the Corrupted soul endured, with only minor cracks appearing on its surface.
This was not some powerful ability or any form of immortality... Instead The soul of this Corrupted Creature was simply that strong, capable of enduring his attacks.
A blast of energy hit Hugo's chest once again, sending him rolling through the snow of Antarctica.
Malware followed up by jumping high and crashing down into Hugo's body like a meteorite, burying him further in the ground.
Hugo became intangible once again, avoiding more attacks.
All of this happened in two seconds.
As he used his intangibility to evade more attacks, he suddenly felt something in his omni-cores...
His soul essence reserves could not handle this much waste, as each soul attack, each burst of flame, and each evasion through intangibility had cost him soul essence.
This battle was so horrible that he had to dismiss his Spirit Body secretly and leave his minions to their own devices, focusing his entire mind solely on this battle.
If he didn't... then he would die.
Right as he became tangible and lunged for another attack, Malware's hand shot out and seized his scythe and before Hugo could even react, a chill ran down his non existing spine as the indifferent voice of the Spell echoed in his mind.
[You have lost a Memory.]