Chapter 165: False Saint
Transcendence is a profound transformation where a mortal assumes the first qualities of the divine and makes their first step in the path of ascension. It involves transforming the soul essence to become much more potent and the soul core has to become much more voluminous, something which Hugo had succeeded in doing.
The Ascended must become one with the world and be recognized by it. Their soul has to be expanded beyond the confines of the body and fused, to a small extent, with the world, allowing it to be recognized. This connection is not all-encompassing, but rather a connection to one or, very rarely, several aspects of the world, such as water, wind, shadow, light or something else entirely...
Hugo had failed in doing that. His soul had indeed expanded beyond the confines of his body and soul however it did not fuse with the world nor did he form any connection with his source element.
In fact, he had failed to recognize his source element entirely.
After all, Hugo could Transform into all kinds of creatures so wouldn't his source element be everything?
Due to this, he had not unsealed a Transcendent ability at all and every fiber of his being, especially his soul was hurting terribly.
All his soul cores were destroyed and the last one remaining was shaking and unstable.
"Ah...."
This Transcendent power, even if incomplete and unmastered, should still be enough to do the job...
'This power will be gone soon...'
His Transcendence has flawed and unstable, and so it would not be long before his soul core reverts to being Ascended, or worse, completely shatter.
Either way, he needed to do something.
Hugo was still within Malware, deep within his being, drowning in the sea of corruption.
'His soul cores... They should still be here...'
He closed his eyes and expanded his titan consciousness. It was one of the few innate abilities that he could use right now.
He pushed himself forward and swam towards them. He exploded forward like a bolt of lightning.
'Incredible...'
He has never had this much power in his human form and so this was a pleasant surprise.
As he swam further, the tide of corruption was attempting to seep into him and corrupt him but his body was covered by rocks and omni energy, leaving no room for the corruption to take him over.
But that was not the only danger he was facing...
Malware had absorbed him, after all. And it would not take long for him to assimilate the Omnitrix and in turn, assimilate Hugo, which meant that he was on a strict schedule.
'My aspect is still blocked... Damnation...'
It was then that he suddenly noticed a dark crimson light in the distance, glowing with malevolent energy.
Hugo suddenly felt a chill run through his body as the place suddenly became much more oppressive.
There, not far away, six cores of dark light were seating high above like magnificent suns.
All around them were strange dots that Hugo could not recognize.
His expression grew more confused as he pushed deeper...
'...'
All around the six cores, a nearly endless amount of people was floating, completely unconscious.
'They must be the souls of his vessels...'
He let out a sigh of relief. This meant that their souls, and in turn spirits, were not gone and that they could be saved.
He just needed to reach the cores and destroy them...
Hugo swam towards them quickly and just as he was about to destroy the cores, a laughing sound suddenly resounded through the world.
At the same time, a figure descended from the six cores... It was a young man with long black hair, who looked identical to Hugo. An exact copy of him made from dark and crimson.
Hugo gave him a dark glance, but he was not panicked, in fact he was glad the big bastard had shown up himself.
"I must say, Daemon of Change, you are just as annoying as the last Omnitrix wielder I've fought."
Hugo did not care about his speech, or whatever he was trying to say but he was almost certain that the last Omnitrix wielder Malware had fought was Eurys of the Nine, or someone that had gotten the Omnitrix after him.
That was a long time ago, before he or even Ben Tennyson were born.
"But you are not nearly as powerful as he was. After all, that boy was responsible for killing an avatar of war. Unlike you... Who is so pitiful, so weak and so small... When have you done anything deserving of that watch you're so boldly carrying around?"
"Are you done with this pathetic attempt at buying time?" A dark smile formed on Hugo's face "Bastard, I know what you're trying to do."
Hugo launched towards his dark clone, and grabbed him by the neck and head-butted the dark clone before pushing him with all of his might.
He augmented himself with soul essence, allowing his body to be engulfed with Transcendent essence, and shot forward like a missile towards one of the soul cores.
Tentacles of darkness and crimson chased after him, desperately trying to stop him but it was too late.
His fist, engulfed in rock and omni energy, collided with one of the cores. Splinters quickly spread through the dark crimson crystal and then-
CRACK!
It exploded into thousands of shards and at the same time, the entire space they were in, which Hugo assumed was Malware's soul sea, began to tremble violently as Malware's soul dropped in class.
Down below, Malware in the form of Hugo let out a terrifying, inhuman scream and his form shifted between multiple creatures.
Hugo's own soul was leaking as well, and his core was losing its energy.
The pain was tolerable, but he was still being assimilated by Malware so he shot over towards another core, aiming to destroy it and turn Malware into a devil but before he could do that, tentacles of darkness grabbed his legs, dragging him down towards Malware who had recovered briefly.
"You insolent wretch! Just accept your fate and become my Omnitrix!"
Hugo gritted his teeth and suddenly had an idea...
His omni energy was a part of his body right now, so who was to say he could not control it like his Fulmini form?
He focused and then, a small beam of blue light escaped from his fingertips, slowly forming into a beam of energy.
Hugo shot it immediately as it finished forming and his target was two of Malware's cores.
CRACK
And just like that, an explosion of omni energy destroyed two of his cores, transforming Malware into a corrupted demon and making him scream in pain once again.
Hugo created a blade of omni energy and cut the tentacles holding him. The soul sea shook even more and strangely, it seemed to be shrinking down due to the loss of the cores.
The cores were the pillars of the soul, without them, the soul would grow weak and die.
He used his blade and destroyed the fourth core, causing a shower of crystals to go flying.
CRACK
He swung once again, destroying another one.
CRACK
Hugo rushed forward towards the last core. His own soul was causing him agony and pain and his core was almost about to explode.
The torrent of omni energy encasing his body was about to run out as well, so he needed to destroy it right now.
Just as he was about to swing his blade, something big and strong smashed into him from behind, knocking him off balance.
Malware and Hugo were suddenly locked in a fierce struggle as the abomination attempted to tear Hugo apart.
Hugo stabbed Malware in the chest and slammed his fists into its face, which mirrored his face.
'I really should stop punching people who look like me...'
Malware savagely bit his arm, breaking the rocky armor and reaching for his flesh.
In response to this, Hugo bit Malware in the neck and grabbed his blade—Which was still inside of Malware—and brought it down, splitting the bastard in half and destroying the blade at the same time.
With his current form gone, Malware became a formless mass of dark liquid.
Hugo, recognizing the danger, flew away as he did not want to give the bastard a chance to parasitize him further, if that was even possible.
The final core was so close, yet so far.
'Just a little longer!'
Malware chased after him desperately, just like a starving predator.
Hugo finally reached the core but before he could destroy it, Malware slammed into him again, making the two of them roll across the crimson crystal.
They fiercely harmed one another. Malware's tentacles tore into Hugo's torso from his mouth and ears, while Malware's dark flesh was ripped apart by Hugo's savage hands.
Hugo flipped the formless creature over and punched it again and again, feeling pain in his soul and body.
He was slowly fading away, as Malware was almost done assimilating him, but he did not stop, could not stop.
It was as if everything had disappeared, and there was only him and Malware left in it and his only objective was to kill the abomination, even if it cost him his own life.
"Just die already!!!!"
A face manifested on the formless mass, it was pain, yet somehow so unexplainably happy.
"After I'm done with you, I'll tear this continent atom by atom until nothing is left! Your whole world will die and when I'm done, I'll bring you back to show you the ashes of your world."
His laughter resounded through the soul sea, nearly breaking Hugo's eardrums.
The pressure on the core increased and it began to show cracks under its crimson light, at the same time Hugo's soul was losing its Transcendent might...
At the same time, something was happening in the deepest parts of his soul.
His aspect, which had been elevated into a rank beyond all others was suddenly growing weaker.
At the same time Malware started glowing with blue energy... Omni energy.
"What have you done?!"
"Isn't that obvious?! I'm fixing myself! Just like Azmuth had promised me thousands of years ago! Now I understand First Thinker, this was your final gift to me!"
Hugo felt his limbs going numb, and then... He suddenly lost all reason
"Fine you bastard, take all of it then!"
He brought down his arm with the Omnitrix and drove it into Malware's formless form, giving up all resistance.
Malware's soul core began shining with blue light and the corruption it had been holding for thousands of years was no more.
"Yes! At long last!!"
The soul sea quaked once again and the darkness left his soul and was replaced by omni energy...
But it refused to stop, even after Malware was no longer a creature of corruption. It continued growing and filling Malware's soul core until it could no longer do anything else.
"N-no! Stop no more!!"
The Transcendent beast tried to escape the influx of omni energy but it had nowhere to escape to... After all, it had been the one to bring Hugo into its soul.
Malware tried to defend himself with all of his powers but it was of no use... His rebirth as a noble creature was not meant to pass and so, only death was left.
"Azmuth... Why...."
With those words, his formless body exploded and at the same time, his core illuminated the soul sea like a beacon of light, as if it was about to rise into the throne of supremacy and become a demigod, the first of its people and the only one...
But instead of supremacy, the core exploded and took everything with it.
[You have slain a Transcendent beast: Malware]
[You have received a memory]