Chapter 166: Nothing left to save
A hand suddenly emerged from Malware's lifeless body and clawed its way outside.
It was almost as if the abomination was being reborn, but that was not the case.
Hugo breathed heavily and dropped on the ice, moaning in pain and agony.
His arm was gone, his bones were broken and his mind was facing a dangerous concession...
His soul was losing its light and trembling violently, making him scream in pain.
He glanced at the corpse he had emerged from... It seemed like it once belonged to one of Malware's vessels.
"... I'm sorry..."
The corpse could have been anyone, a man, a woman, a child, an adult, an elderly person... It could have been anyone, but now they were gone.
Barely breathing, he pulled out his runes to check on what was happening to him.
Name: Hugo
True name: Daemon of Change
Rank: Tran... Asc...
The runes describing his ranks were shifting and changing, dropping between Transcendent and Ascended... But strangely there was something else that was different with his runes.
Aspect: [Omnitrix]
Aspect rank: Divine
His aspect had reverted to being divine once again, losing its mighty power...
His Omnitrix had been unique in the sense that it was made by First Thinker, the greatest of minds, and bonded with a human, becoming their aspect. That was already nearly impossible, but the nightmare spell later on upgraded that aspect, and in turn upgraded the Omnitrix.
The Omnitrix was made into a perfect device by the spell, but now, thanks to the damage Malware had done to it and Hugo's recklessness, the watch had devolved into the divine rank.
'... What a shame.'
He was not too beat up about it, after all, he had managed to finally kill Malware and save countless people from his grasp...
Hugo looked at the devastation that his fight with Malware had caused. The outside of Erebus Field would never be rebuilt, at least not this lifetime.
His breaths were heavy and labored and his gaze then moved behind the ashes, towards the sea of vessels.
There, thousands of the people that Malware had possessed were standing in confusion.
'They're free…'
A wave of relief overcame him and he fell to his knees, his Soul was causing excruciating agony to spread through his body, but he was still relieved.
He had actually managed to save the people, it was difficult and arduous but it was done.
His mind thought back to the few people he had managed to escape with when he fought Malware for the first time... They had all lost their families and friends, but now they had a chance of reuniting with them.
As he looked at the people, his eyes focused on a woman that had looked in his direction, her eyes were a beautiful blue.
Her greyish blond hair stood out even more thanks to her azure eyes and her supple face was pristine and without any of the horrible signs of being Malware's minion present.
However, the relief he felt vanished, her face grew from confused to horrified as tears of blood streamed down her face.
"Kah.. ple…"
Her whispers could be heard by him, due to his senses as a titan... but right now, Hugo wished that he was blind and deaf.
In the next moment, before he could do anything, her face squirmed unnaturally, and her eyes began to redden as if a waterfall of blood were pouring over them.
Then her hands squirmed, and in the next moment, they were brutally snapped, and her bones were exposed to the cold winds of Antarctica.
'No… No… no!' Hugo tried to leap that distance and hold the woman, but his body was far too exhausted to do anything and so he could only watch.
He watched as the flesh on her body distorted and small bubbles grew on every part of her body before exploding into gore.
Her head grew and she tried to desperately hold it, as if to prevent it from expanding, However her hands were no longer there, as they exploded into bits of flesh and bone. Her eyes quivered and an agonized and inhuman scream left her mouth.
Once her head exploded, this same occurrence started happening with the others.
Women, men, children, the elderly, the thousands of people exploded one by one in a chain of horror and the ice was painted red by their blood.
And just like that, they were all dead.
Hugo remained in his position, shocked and unsure of what to do.
He tried to make sense of what happened, looking around and seeing nothing but red everywhere.
Perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him? Perhaps an abomination had attacked the people while he was fighting Malware?
No... The answer was much simpler.
Their mundane bodies could not handle the aftermath of being assimilated by a corrupted terror and so, they crumbled after Malware's influence over them was lifted.
All This death... All this loss.
Hugo remained in his knees for a long time, as if he was frozen, but then he suddenly felt something change all around the world.
He looked up into the beautiful night sky of Antarctica.
There didn't seem to be anything there.
...Except for a strange, rippling darkness.
For a few moments, the entire world seemed to grow still.
And then, the sky crumbled and split apart into four corners, devoured by abyssal rifts that seemed to be leading to the very depths of hell.
An invisible shockwave rolled outward from the point where the gargantuan rift touched the ground, exerting an almost irresistible force through the entire area, making everyone in Erebus Field, who had not evacuated yet, feel an almost maddening call.
Hugo's mind was drowned by the deafening, cacophonous howling of the Call — it was many times louder, more unbearable, and maddeningly demanding than it had ever been before.
Four category three nightmare gates had opened outside of Erebus Field, and from within them, an endless army of abominations poured out.
There was nothing between the gates and Erebus Field except for Hugo, who was in no shape to fight...
Still, he tried to get up and when that didn't work, he smashed his Omnitrix trying to activate his aspect.
The Omnitrix showed him a red dial, and sparks of electricity were playing around it. Even a fool could tell it was not functioning properly.
Hugo crawled towards the gates, almost as if he wished to be swallowed by them...
Just then, his Omnitrix glowed bright blue and its shape suddenly changed back to its first appearance, that of a black device with white lines and a blue dial.
He did not care for its appearance, nor did he care about its appearance. He tried to smash the watch again, but this time, its ai suddenly spoke:
[Host's life in danger]
The army of nightmare creatures finally reached Hugo and drowned him in their endless hunger.
His body was bit and chipped, and the Savage beasts began eating him alive, making Hugo lose all consciousness.
Just then -
[Failsafe activated]
A beacon of blue light washed over his body and then Hugo suddenly flew high into the sky, shooting past the nightmare gates at once and leaving the area...
Left without its greatest protector, Erebus Field was assaulted by the legion of corruption.
The mighty walls fell and nightmare creatures entered the city, killing every man, woman and child there.
The Awakened could not stop them, and they too died.
Master Davis was the last to go, watching the city he was assigned to protect crumble and fall...
For the first time in his career, Master Davis had failed a mission and it cost him his life.
***
A blue star flew across the skies of Antarctica, passing through countless creatures like a comet.
It reached the last citadel of humanity within Antarctica, Falcon Scott.
***
"Mommy look, it's a falling star!"
A little boy said to their mother, as they passed the streets of Falcon Scott, looking for medicine.
The mother, tired and weak from the countless days spent waiting for their turn to be evacuated, looked to the stars in hope of seeing hope.
"Yes it is..."
She looked closer and her face suddenly became more confused as she noticed the falling star getting closer and closer...
Her eyes widened and she immediately grabbed her child and ran away from the spot where the star was falling.
It was not a real star that was falling, but a strange shape instead. This was the world of the nightmare spell, so the possibility of it being a nightmare creature was extremely probable.
The comet crashed onto the streets, leaving a trail for miles away.
Most people were sleeping right now, and so it did not harm or kill anyone in sight, however it damaged the entire street.
An alarm went off through the entire city and Awakened were quickly deployed, led by Master Jet herself.
She made it past the debris and reached its source with her scythe ready to kill...
But what she found there was no abomination, but instead a burned corpse, missing an arm, legs and half of its torso.
Looking closer, Jet recognized the watch it was wearing and her eyes widened.
"Colonel, what is it?!" One of the Awakened asked, terrified and yet ready for battle.
"... What do you think?" Jet's expression darkened as she was suddenly reminded of a certain conversation she had a few months ago. "A naive boy with a fancy watch."
[End of Part I: a hero's folly.]