Chapter 125: Will You Be a Hero?
Seishan, the former lieutenant of the Bright Lord Gunlaug and leader of the handmaidens, stood before them with a calm smile. She was one of the adopted daughters of Ki Song, ruler of the great Song clan—a fact that made her presence at a Valor ball deeply intentional.
'Let's hope her mother isn't in her blood or anything like that...'
The power Supremes possessed over their subjects was much too similar to that of Tyrants and Terrors over their minions, so the chances of Ki Song herself observing him at this very moment were not zero.
"Lady Nephis, Athena, Kai, Cassia… Sunless. It is good to see you doing well, too,. she said.
Effie gave her a long look, then shrugged.
"Likewise. How have you and your girls been?"
"We are doing well." Seishan replied. "My clan embraced us with open arms. After reuniting with my sisters, I was able to bring a lot of value to the Song clan with my unique knowledge and experience… the long years I had spent on the Forgotten Shore were not for naught, though not to the extent of you five. Reaching Ascension with an army of Awakened is quite a feat... And you too, Paragon of Purity. Your accomplishments do not need any mentioning, as they are speak of themselves."
"Uh, thanks. But they were more necessities than achievements, really. So praising them isn't as deserved compared to what my cohort has done."
"Oh my, how humble..."
She had been stuck on the Forgotten Shore for nearly a decade. Surviving that long spoke volumes about her resourcefulness, even if she was not as powerful as the Divine Aspect wielders.
Seishan's smile turned wistful. "I will be going away to challenge my own Second Nightmare in a few days. This ball is the last opportunity I have to experience the wonders of the waking world before that."
Kai offered her a reassuring smile. "I am sure you will triumph."
"Good luck, I suppose... Ah, be aware of scientists..." Hugo said without elaborating.
"Why would there be scientists in a Second Nightmare... You know what, never mind. I'll make sure to be prepared for them..."
Before Seishan could add anything else, Nephis spoke. "I have to admit… I am surprised to see you here."
Seishan lingered for a moment. "Despite the recent disharmony between Song and Valor, it is still important to present a united front. I am here to keep up appearances."
Nephis nodded slowly. "However, I find it curious that a junior member like you was chosen above more senior representatives. One can't help but wonder what message such a choice is intended to deliver."
'Politics this, politics that...' Hugo felt like he was about to melt at the intensity of their silent debate... It was really unpleasant, to say the least.
Seishan's smile widened, her pearly teeth glistening. "Well… it is not my place to question the decisions of the elders. In any case, I am very happy that I got the chance to see you all again. While we were never truly friends, I value what you have done for me and my wards a great deal."
The underlying message behind her words was clear: stay away from Valor, or else.
It was specifically targeted at Nephis and the Fire Keepers...
Before they could exchange any more words, the atmosphere in the great hall suddenly changed. The hum of voices grew quiet, and many of the guests shifted, turning to a particular spot. As the cohort and Seishan watched, a tall figure appeared on a wide balcony above them.
The man was strong and severe, with a sharp face and even sharper, cold eyes. His black hair was touched by silver at the temples. He was wearing an elegant attire that somehow looked like a suit of impregnable armor despite being made of nothing but black fabric. His vermilion cloak moved slightly, as if touched by invisible wind.
Hugo recognized that man, he was saint madoc of valor, the public leader of clan valor... His government files made him out to be....less honorable then he truly was.
"Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests. Welcome to the annual ball of the great clan Valor. It is my honor and pleasure to welcome you all under our roof once again. In the past year, many things have happened. Some of our brothers and sisters... are not with us anymore."
A look of somberness fell over the ball.
Despite their fakeness and honeyed words, the sadness and pain that had been inflicted by the Nightmare Spell united every single human in the world.
"...Despite that, it pleases me to see many new faces among you. Humanity has grown stronger yet again! New heroes rose to carry the torch for those who had fallen in battle. With champions like these, our world has nothing to fear! Despite it all, we persevere. But more than that… we rise. Nothing can stop our ascension!"
He looked at the guests, and then sighed.
"Well, those of you who know me also know that I am not one for long speeches. To be honest… this one was actually written by my beloved wife, who is far more eloquent and wise than me. Not to mention more pleasant to look at."
A wave of polite chuckles spread through the crowd. Saint Madoc smiled once again.
"Today is not a day for sorrow. Today is a day for joy. And so… let the ball commence!"
As soon as he said that, the space in the middle of the hall was cleared, and the musicians started to play a magnificent and emotional composition. Whispering Blade danced the first dance himself, accompanied by a beautiful, mature woman. Moving with elegance and grace, they both looked breathtakingly splendid.
Other couples engaged, with many people finding their dancing partner.
Before Hugo could say anything, Seishan looked at him with a charming smile, before saying:
"Master Hugo, would you honor me with a dance?"
Hugo suddenly froze in his place, unsure if he was hearing correctly.
He looked back at Effie and Kai, who were giving him a thumbs up. Cassie, Nephis, and Sunny didn't seem to communicate anything to him, but even they seemed surprised.
On the ground, Hugo saw his shadow smile and giggle, happy by this development.
'Fool...'
"Accept her invitation, Hugo!" A sudden feminine voice appeared near his ear, which belonged to none other than Serena.
Of course, no one else besides him could see her...
The personalities of alien x had a habit of appearing randomly to chat with him whenever they were bored, unfortunately.
'...I hate my life.'
He smiled back at her, before saying:
"It would be my pleasure."
He got up and took her hand, mimicking the movement of the other guests. Briefly, he even saw Sunny giving his hand to Nephis, offering her a dance.
'Sunny, you dawg...'
Happy for his friend, Hugo turned to his partner.
He was not the most proficient at dancing, but thankfully Kai had taught him a little bit earlier.
The flesh of the Song Princess was pale and delicate, yet it held immense strength beneath it. It was only natural, considering she held the lineage of Beast Goddess.
The two of them danced together, causing many people to steal glances at the two.
The young Paragon of Purity and the eldest Princess of Song was certainly an odd match. The members of Clan Valor certainly did not like any of this, and they didn't bother to hide that fact.
After all, they could pressure Changing Star and the Fire Keepers into joining them, but they could not get Hugo onto their side unless he agreed to that himself.
The possibility of Song taking the young champion was there, and he was just as much of a prize as Changing Star.
Seishan was trying to do just that, no doubt.
"I heard you and my sister have been in contact with each other. Is that true?" She asked, with a calm look on her face.
Hugo paled slightly at this... Nearly tripping and falling to the ground.
'Damn you, Revel... Couldn't you even keep a secret?!'
"Well yes, she and I share many hobbies."
"Hmm... Is that what you see in her? I suppose some people would want a partner that shares their interests. Revel, despite her... Lazy hobbies, is still a marvelous woman."
Now, Hugo was completely lost.
Did she think that he was pursuing her sister?!
"No no no! Lady Seishan, you seem to be under the wrong impression. I'm not pursuing your sister romantically, nor am I interested in her becoming my partner. We aren't even close friends, we just talk about novels from time to time. Nothing else."
The daughter of Song looked at him, as if determining if he was lying or embarrassed. But no such emotions were in Hugo's head right now.
"So you're telling me you're not interested in my sister romantically? Not the least bit?"
Hugo shrugged, leading her through the dance slowly and gently.
"Lady Seishan, the only things I care about are getting stronger, gaining more transformations and protecting people. I have no place for romance right now, nor am I interested in it. I see Saint Revel as a friend who shares my hobbies. Nothing more, nothing less."
She studied him for a long moment, her grey eyes unreadable.
"...You are a strange man, Paragon of Purity. Very, very strange. Most men would have already sworn allegiance to Song for the chance at gaining the heart of a Song Princess."
Naturally, all of the Song Princesses were of the Transcendent rank so their beauty, skills, and powers were simply unmatched on the entire planet.
Hugo raised an eyebrow at her words.
"That's a bit misandrist of you, Lady Seishan. Judging others by their gender isn't right."
"Perhaps..." She smiled, which made Hugo think she was ready to eat him. "By the way... What happened to that marvelous ship of yours? The one you used to carry us to the Spire?"
Hugo's expression flickered briefly as he resisted the urge to look away and shed tears.
"...It got stolen from me... by a Sacred Spirit in my second nightmare."
Seishan's dance steps faltered for just a moment as she looked at him with a dubious expression.
"...A Sacred stole your ship? A literal god?"
"Yes."
She was silent for a few seconds...
"I see..."
She was either thinking he was lying, or that he was insane.
Thankfully, Hugo was neither! He was the sanest person he knew, and he also wasn't lying.
After the dance, Hugo excused himself and found a quiet balcony, away from the music and the chatter.
Looking into the night skies, he smiled...
'This is terribly political but it isn't so bad... '
Indeed, life had been surprisingly nice to him those last few days.
As he was thinking about that, his Omnitrix suddenly buzzed, indicating that someone was calling him.
Jet's name appeared on the azure screen.
"Hugo." Her voice was offely grim this time. "I'm defying direct orders from the old man directly by calling you right now... But I wouldn't be able to think straight if I didn't tell you this."
Hugo frowned at her words.
Did something happen to the Dream Merchant? Or was he himself getting fired?
"Asia, Antarctica, Africa, and Australia are the four remaining bastions of our civilization, forming the Northern, Southern, Western, and Eastern quadrants... Very soon, these four bastions of humanity I mentioned are about to become three..."
"What?" Hugo's expression shifted, as he realized this was a serious matter.
Was a Category Five Gate about to open in one of them?
"You read the files about the Obel Scale, right?"
As an agent of the government, learning about things such as the Obel Scale was mandatory as it helped predict Gates. It was the first file he read when he became an agent.
"Naturally." Hugo responded.
"The Obel Scale has recently detected abnormal frequencies... Back when we lost North America, something similar happened. The Obel Scale went out of alignment, making its detection scope unreliable. In the end, a Category Five Gate appeared, and after that, everything went back to normal. However, a few years ago the government noticed growing irregularities in the readings again. After studying these irregularities for some time, we came to the conclusion that something massive was going to happen again."
He couldn't see her right now, but she pursed her lips.
"This time, it is going to be different. Instead of one gargantuan Gate, there is going to be a chain reaction, of sorts. Hundreds of smaller Gates are going to open in relatively quick succession, allowing countless Nightmare Creatures to invade the real world. And all that is going to take place…"
A moment of tense silence passed before she finished the sentence:
"...In Antarctica."
"...That means that millions of... No, hundreds of millions of people are going to die..." Hugo paled at the realization...
The disaster that he had witnessed at the end of his nightmare, where the entire world was destroyed by Dagon—there, billions had died. But Hugo had felt pain andorrow for those lives because that tragedy did happen to the real beast realm, killing the majority of the population.
Now, millions were going to die, brutally and savagely, making it a tragedy no less horrific then what befell the beast realm.
"Then what the hell is the government doing?! Can't we throw enough troops and Awakened there to contain the chain reaction?"
She hesitated for a few moments, then let out a wistful sigh.
"...Sure. If we mobilize all our forces—and I mean all of them—and get the Great Clans to fully support the operation, we might keep hold of Antarctica. However, it is not that simple. Everything has a cost, Hugo. There are three other continents we have to protect, and sending so many Awakened into the meat grinder will leave them defenseless. After all, the fact that hundreds of Gates will open in Antarctica does not mean that they will stop appearing everywhere else. Overextending our resources to protect one quadrant will doom all of them. Even if that doesn't happen immediately, in the long term, humanity will cease to exist on Earth."
Master Jet said.
"That does not mean that we are going to remain idle, however. In fact, the government has been preparing a massive operation for the past two years. It's just that… the situation changed much quicker than anyone could have expected. The timetable has been brought forward by several years, at least. Our current preparations are entirely insufficient."
She grew silent, then added in a neutral tone:
"We thought that there would be much more time to get everything ready. But there isn't, not anymore. So… it's going to be a damn mess of epic proportions."
Hugo scowled, not entirely sure what that was supposed to mean. He could barely accept the fact that sacrificing one of the four continents was considered an acceptable price for preserving the other three. Humanity had already lost North America, after all, and had persisted despite the loss, arguably growing more powerful in the process
But if the government was willing to let Nightmare Creatures conquer Antarctica, what operation could it be possibly planning?
"...What exactly is the government going to do? Answer me honestly..."
Master Jet remained silent... Before saying:
"Why, what else? We are going to evacuate nine hundred million people from the doomed continent while a never-ending horde of Nightmare Creatures is pursuing us. Or… we will try, at least. To be honest, I think that most of those who try will probably die..."
Hugo's head throbbed from all of this. It hadn't even been two months since his return to the waking world, and the third biggest catastrophe in the history of humanity was looming over their heads.
In the end, he simply sighed.
"Why wasn't I informed of this earlier?"
"In truth, the old man did not want you there because your recklessness would likely end up getting you killed... And more importantly, because you disobey orders."
"What? Does he care about me all of a sudden?"
"It's less care and more of the fact that he needs you to shape you into the ultimate weapon of the government... I know, I know, creepy and all... But Hugo, I'm giving you the chance now. I want you to drop everything you are doing right now and come with me to Antarctica to fight against hundreds of thousands of terrifying abominations... What I'm trying to say is... Will you be the hero you told me you want to become?"
He had wanted to help people yes... But he did not see this as an opportunity, after all he would rather this whole mess to simply not happen.
But it was happening, and he had the choice to use his powers for a good cause.
Hugo closed his eyes, looking at the night sky... Then he opened them, the azure light of his eyes reflecting the world in them.
"Yes."