Chapter 163: Fall
Hugo's wings encompassed the skies and were like a world in of themselves.
Their brilliance illuminated the world, and yet they were not enough to stop Malware.
Hugo had assumed that Malware could only manifest his true body, which possessed the qualities of a corrupted terror, in one vessel at a time.
The assumption was based on their previous fight and unfortunately, it was false.
The dreadful creature could manifest five more Bodies using his vessels, making the total number six.
It likely corresponded with Malware's class...
He was already struggling against one corrupted terror in one of his strongest forms, the stone titan, and now he has to deal with six at once.
Hugo decided to continue using the divine flame element as it was the most effective against corrupted creatures.
Forty two tentacles of darkness and crimson erupted from the six incarnations of Malware, each and every one of them rising like chains to chase after the magnificent dragon.
His body was a big target but it was fast, incredibly so.
His wings soared high in the sky and tore through the clouds, as the vicious tentacles gave chase.
Hugo made sure to stall as much as he could, and so, he decided to make the corrupted terror chase him harder.
He dove down and turned his large body around. Then, using his current source element Hugo produced rings of white incandescent flames, sending each of them at the tentacles.
The vile tendrils were burnt and nearly reduced to ash but more took their place.
It seemed that Malware had already realized how dangerous the white flames were and so, he made sure to disconnect all the tentacles that got hit.
'The body of a galvanic mechamorph but the mind of a galvan...'
It made sense, after all was it not the galvans that gave birth to the galvanic mechamorphs? They had done something only the gods and daemons could do and created a new race of noble creatures.
Just as the ancient humans sought to be like the gods, the galvanic mechamorphs sought out to be just like their creators.
'Ah, but the gods did not really create us humans.'
Hugo suddenly felt puzzled. Why was he thinking about such things in such a dangerous situation?
Creating more rings, he made sure to flip his body around to regain momentum and fly high once again.
Crimson missiles scraped his scales, passing by it by an inch. Those were the energy projectiles that Malware was unleashing at him through multiple avatars, leaving him no time to rest.
Until suddenly, Hugo felt his speed decrease and at the same time, his tail suddenly felt sore...
Looking back, he saw that one of the tentacles had managed to latch into him and was now desperately trying to stop him.
He could try cutting the tail but doing so would give Malware an opportunity to create a clone dragon, which he did not want to deal with now.
Hugo manifested a portion of the white flames into his tail but then, a new set of tentacles rose from the other side, hitting his neck and bringing him down.
Before he could even blink, dozens of tentacles grabbed into his radiant body and brought it down forcefully.
It looked like something out a painting, like an angel being dragged into the depths of hell.
As Hugo hit the ground two of Malware's avatars grabbed his mighty body, making sure he could not go up once again.
A fist to the head nearly knocked him out, but then a sickly dark and red blade cut his right wing, making him scream in agony.
Losing a wing was no different from losing an arm.
His other wing was ripped apart as well, and three other avatars bombarded Hugo with various projectiles, ripping holes into his radiant body.
Using his arm, he hit the Omnitrix and changed forms once again before his body was destroyed.
He shrunk in size and escaped the grasp of Malware's incarnations, becoming Swampfire.
His tree like body grew back in a few moments, healing his broken body parts.
Malware looked at the small creature from above, and laughed.
His own form shrunk as well, until all six of his incarnations returned to their original size.
There was suddenly nowhere to go, as the six avatars of Malware surrounded him in a narrow circle.
Six enemies with the powers of a corrupted terror...
Hugo looked at them with disgust and hate burning behind his eyes, and then two bright flames sprouted from his arms.
And from the holes in his bodies, terrifying gas began to leak, then in the next moment, everything exploded.
Hugo used the time the explosion gave him to leap towards one of Malware's incarnations and land a direct knee kick in the face and shift forms into Spider Monkey.
He crawled on Malware's body like a spider, using the moment of confusion and pain to form webs over the abomination.
Then, he shifted forms into Four Arms and grabbed the trapped Malware. Enhancing himself with soul essence, Hugo threw him as far as he could towards two other incarnations of Malware.
The remaining three incarnations seemed to have regained their senses from the explosion Hugo had caused as Swampfire and so, they charged at him, each having transformed their bodies into terrifying weapons of mass destruction.
A blade cut Hugo's fourth arm, a punch broke his bones and a vicious blast nearly tore out his torso.
His battle experience as Four Arms allowed him to fight against beings of higher ranks, and the fact that Malware, despite his sickly Intelligence, was still an abomination at the end of the day.
He fought savagely and so, predicting his movements was not that hard for any experienced fighter.
Predicting and dodging were different things, unfortunately.
Hugo was grabbed by one of Malware by the neck, holding up in the ground and choking him to death, his sickly tendrils spread through his body and almost consumed him.
Last moment, he slammed the Omnitrix and his skin was caught on fire.
Flames erupted everywhere and Malware was burnt by them, causing the incarnation to back off.
Heatblast was not the best form to use in this battle, but it had the ability of burning Malware's flesh, which was something.
The incarnation that had been webbed earlier got up and Broke out of its trap, and rejoined the battle.
Six incarnations were upon him once again, their blades and weapons moving in unison to destroy his flaming flesh.
Hugo twisted the Omnitrix and activated his Omni-kiks armor, giving him extra protection and enhancing his Abilities as Heatblast.
He was knocked down by a punch from Malware and sent flying by another. Then, within that small timeframe of being sent flying, he raised his arm canon and gathered as much fire as he could, before sending it all in one big explosion of flames.
Two of Malware's incarnations were severely burnt by the fire and then... The unexpected happened.
Their dark and crimson flesh retreated... The flames did a lot of damage, yes but it was not supposed to be enough to do this much damage.
Hugo's eyes widened as he realized what Malware was doing.
"No!!!"
Malware's flesh retreated, revealing the innocent humans inside that he was using as vessels. It was the little girl from earlier and the Awakened soldier that Hugo spoke with in the bunker.
The flames burned their bodies, scorching their flesh and boiling their blood.
Hugo raised his arm and tried controlling the fire, but just as he did that, Malware grabbed him and picked up his body raising him high to the ground.
Before Hugo could do anything, Hugo's Omni-kiks armor was completely torn and, Malware pulled his body apart.
His torso and legs were stretched and then-
CRACK!
His body was snapped in half like a twig, which caused molten lava to spill on the ice.
Malware threw the legs away, and made him watch the two humans burn...
The girl died first, after all her body was mundane and fragile and so in a moment she was simply gone.
The Awakened human lasted a bit longer due to his rank, but in the end he was ash too.
They were gone, just like that.
Two brilliant humans who could have done so many things in this world... The girl could have grown up to be a valiant Awakened, or perhaps a scientist... But now, she was gone forever.
The Awakened could have risen in ranks and became a saint, defending countless innocents and saving a myriad of souls... But he was gone, too.
"You bastard! I'll kill you, I'll tear you limb from limb!"
Hugo screamed, desperately trying to change forms again...
But his Omnitrix did not work, his aspect did not work. None of his abilities worked anymore. Looking down, he realized the Omnitrix badge on his chest, he saw that it was covered with Malware's corrosive liquid, just like the rest of his body.
"N-no..."
He tried to do anything else, like summoning his shadow, Zed or a memory but none of it worked. Nothing in his Arsenal was working, as if being suppressed by something and in a sense, it was.
His body was completely consumed and then, Malware absorbed everything, leaving him with nothing.
His body, his spirit, his shadow, his soul... All of it was pulled inward, leaving nothing.