Chapter 152: A Shadow's Journey Across Antarctica
Entering the tunnel, Sunny let out a sigh of relief as he leaped off and watched as the caravans entered one by one.
Once that was done, Sunny extended seven tendrils from his [Shadow Symbiote], making them erupt from his back. The dark tendrils made the soldiers of the caravan shiver slightly, but they remained silent.
The tendrils reached the ceiling of the entrance and pulled, bringing down debris and rock, sealing it off.
At the same time, Sunny dismissed the shadow rabbit, feeling that it had already taken considerable damage during its fight with the horde.
He could feel that the horde was not entirely destroyed. Sunny and his shadows had delivered a horrifying blow to it, but it was still capable of destroying this caravan, hence why he chose to destroy the tunnel entrance.
Though the mundane rock could not protect them from the horde, so Sunny called upon his Ascended Ability, [Shadow Manifestation], and created two thick walls outside of the entrance and inside.
The convoy stopped soon after entering the tunnel. For a few moments, nothing apart from the muffled blows that continued to rain on the wall of shadows could be heard. Scared and exhausted, the people were all lost and slightly disoriented.
Sunny did feel bad for them, but he was glad they were alive... Well, most of them at least. There were many casualties.
'I did all I could...'
Glancing into the depths of the tunnel to make sure that nothing was attacking them from that direction—at least not yet—he backed up a little and studied the cold stones above him.
Now there was truly no entrance left, leaving only one path forward.
Sunny did not know what awaited them ahead, in the eerie expanse of the old tunnel, which was problematic. After all, there was nothing more horrifying than the fear of the unknown.
The convoy looked... battered, however the vehicles were durable enough to withstand the countless attacks from the horde. Hugo's upgrade was truly a blessing in these hard times.
The people operating them, however, were not as durable, unfortunately. Many of the soldiers had died, and a few civilians as well. There were dozens more injured too.
Quentin had left the Rhino and tended to the people, using the power of his Aspect to heal the injured civilians and soldiers.
Quentin was a mere Awakened, which made his soul essence finite.
Looking at his hands, Sunny suddenly got an idea.
His [Shadow Symbiote] was a powerful Transcendent Devil, one that not only augmented its host's body and soul, but also their Aspect.
Just as it had empowered Sunny's Aspect, it could in theory augment Quentin's.
Temporarily, of course—Sunny would need his companion later.
"Hey Quentin! Come over here for a second."
The young Awakened looked slightly rattled by the call of his Captain, a clearly confused look on his face.
Hurrying over, he looked at Sunny.
"Yes, sir?"
"I'm going to give you something to enhance your Aspect. You'll return to me when you're done."
Quentin was a little taken aback by this, but he had no reason to refuse.
Touching his shoulder, Sunny commanded the [Shadow Symbiote] to switch hosts.
The inky black symbiote slithered towards Quentin, making the young man shiver. It wrapped itself around his armor, making him feel powerful and indestructible.
Quentin was speechless for a moment, looking at his body covered by inky black armor. He felt his soul and Aspect being enhanced by the bond, making him infinitely more potent.
Sunny flicked his forehead, snapping Quentin out of his daze.
"Go and heal the caravans, you idiot."
"Y-yes, sir!"
The young Awakened hurried back to the injured members of the caravan, activating his Aspect once more.
With that done, Sunny sighed. He had already been in a somber mood because of the exhaustion, but now it turned even darker. Perhaps he should be thanking the dead gods that only a few of his men had been killed during the desperate escape from the Devouring Cloud... but Sunny did not feel thankful, not in the slightest.
Through the years, Sunny had grown to become someone obsessed with power, with his desire becoming far more powerful than back when he was a teenager.
However, this desire for power was not all he had gained. Sunny had also developed empathy, making him instinctively want to help those in need.
That was why he had helped clean the streets of the outskirts as a masked vigilante, and that was also why he had felt the need to go to Antarctica, aside from his little fight with Nephis.
So... Seeing people die, people that he was responsible for... Made him feel angry, angry at himself.
It was a bitter, scathing feeling. Why did he have to bear the burden of some stranger's death?
Sunny clenched his fists.
'So... annoying. I'm starting to sound like that fool more and more...'
Truly, the people in his life had influenced him a great deal, whether that influence was positive or negative, he did not know.
In any case, the losses of those people did not impact the convoy physically, so the convoy would have no problem moving forward, especially considering that Quentin's healing was being empowered by the [Shadow Symbiote].
Walking forward, Sunny stared at the endless expanse of the dark tunnel with a grim expression.
He was not foolish enough to let down his guard, now that they had escaped the horde.
The dark tunnel could have all types of terrifying beings within it, ones that had made this place their nest after the Chain of Nightmare Gates.
Up ahead, a long stretch of the tunnel was illuminated by the headlights of the APC. He stared into the darkness beyond and extended his shadow sense as far as he could.
'Damn it...'
He could not see anything.
Not in the sense that there was nothing ahead, but rather that he could not see through the gloom that enveloped the tunnel. Which could mean only one thing.
That this place was not shrouded in shadows, but instead drowned by pure, elemental darkness, his direct counter.
Saint was currently healing in his soul, so he could not call upon her for now.
'There must be a powerful Nightmare Creature up ahead, either a Terror or a Devil of a high rank...'
Thankfully, it seemed to be asleep, as it had not tried to kill them yet.
The convoy was not in any condition to continue moving, as well. The vehicles, despite their durability, needed small repairs, and the wounded had to receive treatment. People desperately needed rest.
The Irregulars were tired too.
Moving back towards the convoy, Sunny informed the soldiers of his decision.
"We'll remain here for a few hours and then move."
With that said, Sunny kept one of his shadows in front of the convoy and entered the Rhino to rest.
He climbed into his bed and let out an exhale.
He really did not have much to do besides sleeping, but he wanted to check on his runes first.
Name: Sunny
True Name: Lost from Light
Rank: Ascended
Class: Tyrant
Shadow Cores: [5/7]
Shadow Fragments: [2/5000]
He had recently formed his fifth core. It had taken far longer than usual, due to the fact that the shadows of the Sacred Treasure consumed shadow fragments of the enemies they slew. So Sunny had to be precise on which enemies he allowed them to kill, and which enemies he killed himself.
Shadows: [Onyx Saint], [Shadow Carapace], [Shadow Symbiote], [Nightmare], [Soul Serpent].
His shadows were all able to rise to the Transcendent rank, aside from Serpent.
The cost to cultivate Saint, the Shadow Symbiote, and the Shadow Carapace was through feeding them Memories, while Nightmare consumed nightmares instead.
The former three had received a lot of Memories, after all Sunny had been a part of the Fire Keepers for two years and was entitled to a large sum of their earnings, so making those three Transcendent was possible.
Nightmare was a little trickier, but fortunately—or unfortunately—Antarctica was filled with horrors, and everyone was having nightmares, making them perfect targets for the terrifying horse.
The Shadow Carapace had remained a Beast, unfortunately, but it had developed aquatic abilities—minor ones—such as the ability to breathe underwater and allowing the person it was bonded to breathe underwater. Sunny did not know how to make it rise in class, however he was considering taking it to the Stormsea, but he never had the chance to do so.
'I'll make sure to go there if I survive the Antarctica campaign...'
Saint was still a Demon, but Sunny knew how to evolve her. He just needed to find a creature of true darkness and make Saint kill and absorb its heart. That was easier said than done, however it seemed that he was in luck, as there was a creature of true darkness nearby.
Lastly, the Shadow Symbiote was still a Devil. Out of all his shadows, it was by far the strangest of them all. Its progression in class seemed to be dependent on bonding with creatures and absorbing something from them. It had absorbed the blood of Solvane in the second nightmare, making it more powerful. Sunny had even requested drops of Nephis's blood, which she provided happily for some reason. So, by now the symbiote had blood from two gods—War God and Sun God—yet it still hadn't evolved into a Tyrant yet.
Still, with time it should become one, but what made Sunny truly happy was something else.
It was that the Shadow Symbiote was the closest to Supremacy out of all his shadows. All it needed was a few dozen more Memories to consume, and it would become Supreme.
Just thinking about having such a creature made Sunny excited, but he made sure not to allow it to get to his head.
Closing his eyes and dismissing the runes, Sunny fell into gentle sleep.
***
Within the vast confines of his Supreme mind, Hugo finally found the answer he was looking for.
After nine hundred simulated attempts of various enchantments, one had proven successful. Or at the very least, this enchantment had the highest probability of surviving against the authority of the Winter Beast.
The enchantment was based on one of Hugo's aliens, Lodestar. It essentially contained three runic names, each coming together to create the enchantment.
The True Name of Magnetism, the True Name of Fields, and the True Name of Disruption.
With those three parts, the enchantment surrounded the sound waves transmitted from the tower with a magnetic field that would disrupt the influence of the Winter Beast slightly enough for the sound waves to pass.
Of course, the disruption of the Winter Beast's authority was only possible due to the nature of that authority and the fact that Saint Tyris was currently holding the Corrupted Titan back.
Writing the last of the runes, Hugo slammed his Omnitrix and detransformed, straining to stand from essence exhaustion and the aftermath of his mind reverting back to being ascended.
'One last touch...'
Hugo rummaged through his pockets and found something he had in storage for a long time.
It was a supreme soul shard, the same one he had found in the chained isles a while ago.
He inserted the crystal at the top of the tower, powering the entire object.
It did not make it a supreme artifact, however it did gave it a nearly endless amount of uses.
If he had to guess, this tower would continue working for centuries.
He slowly climbed down the tower and called Master Davis using his Omnitrix.
The seasoned Master appeared swiftly, looking at the tower with an uncertain expression before turning his gaze towards Hugo.
"Are you sure this thing won't fall off and bring down the entire building with it?"
Hugo shrugged.
"Probably not."
"..." The Master sighed. "Good enough, I suppose... How does it work?"
Hugo got up and stretched a little.
"Just touch it and pour essence into it. Then say what you want. The length of the message will depend on the amount of essence you pour, so be careful you don't exhaust yourself."
People of the Ascended rank had a powerful soul core, undoubtedly. However, they had only one, unlike the Divine Aspect wielders.
'I couldn't imagine using the Omnitrix with one core worth of essence...'
He was already struggling with six cores.
Master Davis approached the tower calmly and placed his hand on it. Then, he poured some essence and spoke:
"Master Davis from the Irregular Company requesting report..."
The tower lit up for a brief moment, then that light suddenly disappeared, as if being teleported elsewhere.
Far away, in the depths of Falcon Scott, one of the communication devices, which had been silent for weeks, suddenly lit up as a message was detected.
That day, communication between the two major strongholds of Antarctica was finally reestablished.