Chapter 133: Stone Saint
The nightmare Gate rippled once more as more terrifying shapes begun emerging from its depths.
The giants of the second wave were much more frightening than the first, clearly showcasing the difference in strength and powers between the two.
From what Hugo could see, each and every single one of them was of the Fallen rank; however, that did not mean they were all equal.
Hugo had learned that not all creatures of the same rank were truly equal in power—at least, this was true for Noble Creatures and Nightmare Creatures.
'There's more Devils and Demons...'
And their numbers were nothing to scoff at, as well, with almost four hundred abominations.
This was the final wave.
To his side, his shadow had changed forms, assuming the form of Ampfibian and creating more minions.
It was a good idea, as it added diversity to their wounded army. Not only did they have raw strength, but now they also possessed electrical powers as well.
Far in the distance, a new shape emerged from the Gate.
Its face was impossibly beautiful, smooth and pale, with perfectly symmetrical features and empty colorless eyes that never blinked and only showed a serene expression of being in a beautiful and lovely dream. Eight immense black wings emerged from its body in perfect pairs: two from the shoulders, two from the upper back, two from the lower ribs, and the final pair wrapped tightly around its waist and abdomen, as if shielding something that should never be seen.
Every feather was immaculate, absorbing light instead of reflecting it. Its body was a horrific union of smooth pale skin and flawless black feathers. The feathers crept over its shoulders, arms, spine, and legs in elegant patterns, leaving only enough skin visible to resemble a human. Beneath the feathers, its movements were unnervingly fluid, without the subtle shifts and tension of muscles, as though its body ignored the limits of anatomy. Its feet had long since vanished, and below the knees, its legs flowed into a single elongated tail of black feathers wrapped around cords of dark, sinewy flesh. Nothing about it looked monstrous in the usual sense. It was clean, beautiful, and perfectly still. Its chest and most of the upper body were completely kept secret, yet movement was still seen below, as if worms squirmed beneath every feather.
Hugo's expression became more dire as he recognized the rank of that giant.
'A Corrupted Devil...'
Turning his head towards his Omnitrix, he quickly debated which alien he should use.
This time, Hugo was going to engage in battle with the army of abominations, using different tactics and more.
He needed to unleash his full Titanic strength to prepare for the arrival of the gate guardian.
There were two aliens who were proficient at war in his playlists, so naturally Hugo had an idea on which alien he was going to use.
Hugo raised the dial and slammed it. As he did, rocks spread over his body, his skin shifted into grey before it were encased by a terrifying rocky mantle.
Crimson light appeared in his eyes, turning them into two flawless rubies... As a tenaciousness that had never been there instilled itself into his heart.
Hugo exhaled, looking at the world from a new perspective.
From the perspective of a Stone Saint—and not any Stone Saint, but a Stone Saint of the Titan class, a True child of nether.
Imprint: [marble Saint]
Imprint Rank: Ascended
Imprint Class: Titan
Imprint Description: [Deep in the cavernous halls of his dark domain, the Daemon of Destiny had created the Stone Saints from stone to quell the fire burning in his resentful heart. However, that fire only grew hotter. Designed to bring peace, they were instead born into an endless war.]
Imprint Attributes: [Battle Master], [Stalwart], [Weapon Master], [Heart of Darkness]
Imprint Abilities: [Mantle of Darkness], [Blade of Darkness], [Creature of Darkness], [Master of Darkness], [Titan of Darkness]
[Battle Master] Attribute Description: [Born on the battlefield, the Stone Saints are proficient in all forms of combat.]
[Stalwart] Attribute Description: [The Stone Saints are highly resistant to all forms of damage, as well as being fully immune to mind and soul attacks.]
[Weapon Master] Attribute Description: [The Stone Saints are masters of all weapons.]
[Heart of Darkness] Attribute Description: [A pyre of ancient darkness dwells within the hearts of all Stone Saints, granting them tenebrous powers.]
[Mantle of Darkness] Ability Description: [Darkness embraces all of Nether's children. When surrounded by darkness, the Stone Saints grow stronger. In True Darkness, more so.]
[Blade of Darkness] Ability Description: [The True Darkness dwelling in the Stone Saint's heart can be summoned in the form of a fearsome weapon.]
[Creature of Darkness] Ability Description: [The darkness within the Stone Saints can be shaped into living creatures under their command.]
[Master of Darkness] Ability Description: [You can influence True Darkness.]
[Titan of Darkness] Ability Description: [You can imbue your darkness within the world.]
The Stone Saints were peculiar creatures, indeed.
They were not truly Noble Creatures, as they were not created by the gods, but by a Daemon instead. Nether had crafted the Stone Saints himself, granting them many wondrous powers.
However, True Darkness was not the innate element of all Stone Saints. Indeed, after much experimentation and knowledge from the Omnitrix database, Hugo concluded that Stone Saints could cultivate an imitation of an aspect through their hearts. They did so by adopting an element and mastering their powers within that element as they climbed the path of ascension.
True Darkness was granted to his Stone Saint imprint because of the Omnitrix, as it was the element that the stone saint had the most affinity to, even if it was not their innate element. His Stone Saint imprint was strange, to say the least, as it was not like other Stone Saints. It was more Noble Creature than them, and thus it had evolved to adapt to the class system, gaining powers from it.
Though Hugo had a feeling he could change that if he gained more control over the omnitrix inner system and make himself a true Stone Saint, though that wouldn't bring him any good as he was technically at the peak state of all stone saints right now.
After all, he could, in theory, become anything. His array of transformations were not limited to Noble Creatures.
There were many bizzare existences in this world, from creatures that followed neither the path of ascension or corruption, to creatures who were ideas and concepts.
The description of his aspect stated that he had the potential to become anything...
Maybe even creatures of corruption.
He shivered, deciding not to dwell about it.
Hugo summoned [Nothing] and shaped it into a long deadly spear, before creating a shield out of the True Darkness in his heart.
He jumped down from the cliff and landed near the army of his shadow, moving between them calmly. The army of Vaxasaurians and Amperis parted at his presence, allowing him passage.
Wherever he walked, the world suddenly became much darker, despite the fact that it was daytime. That was because he was finally using his Titan ability, changing the world around him as he used it.
Titan abilities were much like will, bending the world to them. But unlike of will, which can do almost anything, Titan abilities could only do a specific thing.
The Stone Saint imprint's Titan ability was to imbue darkness into the world, making it infinitely darker, blinding the enemy and also suppressing them, in other words it gave the world properties of true darkness.
True Darkness was an enemy of most things, after all.
Chilling darkness spread across the battlefield, seeping directly from Hugo's heart. It surrounded everything within a five-mile radius, encompassing both the army of shadows and the army of abominations.
His shadow avatar shivered slightly—after all, True Darkness was an enemy of shadows. To this, Hugo simply focused all of the True Darkness into the enemy and not into the shadows, allowing the shadow's influence to be moved freely alongside his titanic presence.
With that Hugo launched towards the army of giants, augmenting himself with soul essence.
His spear flashed like lightning, piercing the sickly flesh of the confused, blind giants.
[You have slain a Fallen Demon...]
[You have slain a Fallen Devil...]
[You have slain a Fallen Beast...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
[You have slain a Fallen...]
The voice of the Spell became a hurricane in his head as he tore through the army, slicing and ripping them apart before they could even react, using the full power of his Titanic powers. Every single part of his body was like a weapon, made for war and murder.
Not far, the army of Vaxasaurians and Amperis engaged as well. Deep in the darkness, he could see flashes of electricity spread through the giants, who were combating it using the tenacity of their wings.
One giant tried to reach the sky to escape the darkness, only to be pulled down by the tendrils of one of the Amperis.
The remaining Vaxasaurians smashed their enemies, growing in size to match the terrifying giants.
Zed and his shadow were monsters in their own right, ferociously ripping apart the horde of giants on the other side of the battle.
Just as Hugo ripped apart another of the giants, he noticed something in the distance crash into him, sending him flying several kilometers away and destroying his shield of darkness.
Regaining his stance and landing on the ground with a loud thud, Hugo looked through his cracked visor and saw his attacker.
Far away, it was the Corrupted Devil giant.
'It can see in darkness?'
Frowning, Hugo noticed seven flowing shapes behind it. They were not there earlier.
It was as if they were true stars, seven star-shaped orbs made of darkness... But surely that couldn't be true, a creature of the corrupted rank couldn't create a star.
Furthermore, That darkness within them was similar to True Darkness, but it was not it. It was much more corrosive, unlike True Darkness which was more suppressive and oppressive.
Surprisingly, the dreadful Devil did not launch to attack him again; instead, it sent its star orbs in his direction.
'No... Its spreading them throughout the entire area.'
Before his astonished eyes, Hugo saw the influence of the stars on the area of True Darkness he had created. It was corrupting it, corroding it, and turning it into the same darkness the Devil controlled.
More than that, the shadow minions he had—the weaker ones—were targeted by those stars.
Instead of killing them, the stars changed their nature, influencing them and changing their existence, transforming them into similar stars of darkness...
'Bastard...'
He could feel his authority and his shadow's terror influence diminish Infront of the Corrupted Devil's powers. Hugo especially suffered more damage as the True Darkness imbuing the world right now was not just True Darkness, but also him in a way... It was a part of his existence, no different from his soul.
The corroding darkness even found its way deep into him, but it couldn't seriously harm him due to his resistance to soul damage while in this form.
Groaning, Hugo controlled the True Darkness around him, fighting back against the stars. At the same time, Hugo decided to use [Fusion].
'i can't destroy those stars with the power I currently have...'
An audacious plan appeared in his mind, as he channeled his ascended ability.
Hugo did not want to fuse two forms fully, but instead he only partially transformed his hands.
His arms turned into flames, burning brightly in the darkness. Then, twenty balls of fire were unleashed in rapid succession by him, targeting the stars.
Before they could even hit their marks, Hugo augmented his legs with soul essence and rushed forward like a bolt, closing the distance between himself and the giant Devil.
The Devil, having superior physical abilities, brought its fist down upon him.
Just then, [Nothing], which was augmented by the [Nameless Sun], shifted into a shield.
The Transcendent Memory, which was elevated to a Supreme Memory thanks to the [Nameless Sun], held against the attack. Then Hugo shifted the Memory into a spiked shield, piercing the Devil's arm and drawing its blood.
Before it could even react, Hugo shifted his stance, letting go of [Nothing] and using his Heatblast arms to unleash a wave of fire right in the face of the giant.
Of course, that was not enough to kill it.
The giant, injured and engulfed in fire, grabbed Hugo using its gargantuan arms and started crushing him with said hands.
His body begun cracking, but he did not panic.
The fireballs Hugo had sent towards the stars finally reached their marks.
At the same time, Hugo pushed the [Fusion] ability even further, fully fusing with Heatblast, and Transforming into a creature made of fire and darkness, his onxy flames burning the hands of the giant...
The balls of fire did not explode or anything, but strangely they wrapped around the stars of darkness, creating orbs around them.
And then, before anything else could happen, Hugo unsummoned [Zed] and recalled his shadow, turning it back into a regular shadow.
The flames, produced by him, were pulled down, alongside the stars they were attached to.
After all, while Hugo did not control the star, he did have full control over the fire.
Hugo grinned, looking at the corrupted devil, his face made of rock and fire made him look more abominable then the corrupted devil.
"Eat this, you stupid bastards."
And with that, the stars that Hugo had pulled using his control over fire collided with the body of the giant and himself, and the flames of his body exploded forward, causing the stars and the fire within them to also explode.
The entire area within a seven-mile radius was suddenly engulfed in an explosion of darkness and fire, as the darkness imbued within the world detonated as well destroying everything and every creature within the area.