Chapter 44: Nightmare Siege
[Sunny's POV]
Sunny found himself standing within the belly of a gargantuan vessel. Around him, hundreds of Sleepers sat or stood in small clusters, their faces etched with a mixture of awe and stark disbelief as they examined their alien surroundings.
The spaceship—because that was the only word for it—was a marvel that defied all logic even by the world of the nightmare spell standards.
Its main chamber was vast enough to hold them all appearing as a single cavernous room of iridescent metal that glowed with a soft green light. Along the curved walls, smaller archways hinted at other compartments, their purposes known only to the ship's master.
Speaking of the master...
Sunny weaved through the clusters of people until he reached the center of the chamber. There, a fifteen-foot-tall creature of green tentacles stood surrounded by people although no one was approaching him, strangely enough.
Sunny looked up, a dumbfounded expression on his face.
"Where the spell did you even get a spaceship as a Memory?" he said , keeping his voice low.
The idea was ludicrous and that was putting it mildly.
For the Spell to grant such a thing to a mere Awakened was unthinkable.
It implied that Hugo had either slain something of Great or higher rank—a feat Sunny knew was borderline suicidal even for Hugo—or he was secretly scion of a Legacy clan hiding his true nature.
Then again, Sunny was hardly one to talk, given the divine secrets he carried in his own soul...
The tall, green creature glanced down, his crimson eyes glinting, then he moved his shoulder and shrugged.
"It's nothing special, really."
Sunny's eye twitched slightly, his fingers curling into fists as he resisted the powerful urge to punch the Awakened Tyrant.
"Nothing special? I don't recall 'nothing special' being able to transport a thousand Sleepers across a death zone without a single abomination so much as scratching the hull."
He turned to look at a section of the wall that was currently transparent, offering a dizzying view of the dead grey landscape rushing beneath them. They were moving at a steady speed toward the distant crimson needle of the Spire.
However, The complete absence of attacks was the most unsettling part, it was as if the nightmare creatures didn't even perceive thier existence.
'a muffling enchantment maybe? Like weaver's mask...'
Sunny sighed as he wondered if this was what Kai felt whenever he talked to him.
He looked back at his friend, his tone losing its edge replaced by genuine concern.
"Listen, I know your Memories are your business... But be careful, You may have good intentions, but if we survive the Spire and return to the waking world… a lot of powerful people are going to be very curious about this ship of yours, And you, being a shapeshifting nightmare creature who can turn into anything, definitely won't help your case. They'll stop at nothing to get you on their side... or make sure you don't get on the side of their rivals."
At the mention of the waking world, Hugo's broad shoulders slumped almost imperceptibly for some reason.
His sharp, crimson gaze swept over the crowded Sleepers—the hopeful, the weary and the terrified all looking at him as if he was their salvation.
"Thanks for caring, Sunny. But… I guess I just wanted to help as much as I possibly could. With this ship, we can avert losing hundreds of people and make sure they all get out of this hell.... " he paused for a moment before looking at sunny, a strange expression on his face
"What I'm trying to say is, I want to save these people. All of them."
Sunny scoffed, eying the giant . "What, don't tell me you developed a savior complex when you came back from the dead?"
Hugo shook his head "It's not that... Sunny, let's say you had the power to save people, a lot of people, but using it openly would put you in… difficult, dangerous situations. Would you still save them?"
Sunny exhaled slowly, his own eyes finding Nephis, Cassie, kai and Effie in the crowd trying to calm the sleepers.... His friends.
"If you're asking what I would have done in your situation… then I'm not sure. I may have saved people but I would've asked Nephis to pretend the Memory was hers To take the spotlight and the danger off me."
Hugo paused, looking at Sunny as if he'd grown a second head, then A slow, genuine smile spread across his alien features.
"Sunny, you are probably the most treacherously practical and devious person I know."
Sunny chuckled . "Well, thank you! I worked hard to earn that reputation… ugh, I guess I worked hard to hide it which is practically the same thing in my case but oh well."
Hugo's smile remained, but a strange silence fell between them, broken only by the sounds of the sleepers mummuring.
In that silence, Sunny glimpsed something deep within Hugo's crimson eyes—a complex whirl of sadness, hope and a longing for something vast and unnameable... What that something was, Sunny did not know although he still felt that something was deeply wrong with Hugo..
"Well," Hugo began again, his voice softer this time.
"If I had to give a reason to why I'm helping this much… I guess it's because I want to. You see, before the Spell infected me, I was someone who never cared for others. Never tried to help anyone and never let anyone help me in return. A truly, utterly selfish person if you will, . But now… I'm not sure I want to be that person anymore... Not after getting to know more people. Especially you, Neph, and Cassie."
Sunny fell silent, turning the words over in his mind.
His understanding of Hugo had been simple: a middle-class kid from a stable background who lacked nothing, living in a world away from the brutal life of the outskirts.
Such people, in Sunny's eyes, had no need for the cutthroat selfishness that was survival's first language in the slums, Yet Hugo claimed he had been selfish anyway, and by choice.
That was fascinating, confusing and almost impossible in Sunny's head.
He simply could not understand it.
Why would someone be selfish without reason?
'No,' Sunny corrected himself . 'That's not right. He must have had his own personal reasons and battles...'
The nature of those battles remained hidden but their outcome was clear to sunny : Hugo was trying to change And he was citing them—his cohort—as the catalyst of that change.
The notion that he was part of the reason someone was striving to be better was deeply unsettling for sunny.
It was an alien responsibility... a weight he hadn't asked for nor did he want.
But that weight also made his skin prickle with an unexplainable warmth.
beneath that unease, hidden in a deep, guarded part of him, it also felt… nice.
———
[Hugo's POV]
After his philosophical conversation with Sunny, Hugo moved to the ship's forward section, which functioned as an impromptu command center of sorts.
Nephis, Cassie, and a few of the more capable Sleepers from the Bright Castle were there, their faces illuminated by the soft glow of the central console which was a flat, liquid-metal panel that responded to his mental commands.
They were finalizing the plan for the siege and discussing the important things such as deployment, resource management, and contingencies in case something goes wrong.
Food was not an issue as they had packed every edible meat from the Castle. Water was also plentiful thanks to several utility Memories among the Sleepers that could produce it. .
"So, once we reach the Spire, we remain in the ship the entire time?" Cassie asked, her head tilted slightly as if not believing him.
"Correct," Hugo confirmed, a tentacle gesturing towards the paper drawing containing a hardly drawn representation of the spire and the area around it.
"There's no reason to risk a single life on the ground until all the abominations are dead, by using the ship as an impregnable artillery platform" he paused and pointed at one side of the ship "We can open selective ports for archers, drop projectiles and even deploy some of my minions directly onto the stronger abominations, then if it gets too dangerous, we can always run away and come back another day to repate the process."
The cohort stared at him, their bewilderment evident on their faces.
The simplicity of it and the sheer unfair advantage seemed almost blasphemous against the Spell's harsh cruelty.
The only true variable was the Fallen Terror within the Spire.
Hugo wasn't confident about facing it alone, but with Nephis and Sunny's ruthless cunning? They had a chance.
There was also the ship's own weapon system, the weapon enchantment of [Azmuth's Ship] if all else failed
But hugo prayed he would not have to use it now for multiple reasons.
Firstly, it was an active enchantment of a Divine Memory. Activating it would drain his five Awakened cores in a heartbea leaving him a useless at the most critical moment.
Second, and more critically, a Divine-rank attack wouldn't just annihilate the nightmare creatures in the proximity, it would also vaporize the Spire, the gateway and likely a significant portion of the Forgotten Shore's crust.
It was a solution akin to using a supernova to light a candle.
But thankfully, he had another memory that he could use in the battle.
Hugo summoned his runes, taking a final look before the storm.
Name: Hugo
True Name:Paragon of Purity
Rank:Awakened
Class:Tyrant
Omni-Cores:[5/7]
Soul Fragments:[3850/5000]
Attributes:[Mutant], [Extraordinary Memory], [Flames of Divinity], [Anatomica], [Shadow-Rend], [Spirit-Core], [Soul-Bound]
Memories:[Proto-Tech Armor], [Conqueror's Wrath], [Polymorphic Crystal], [Emerald Spyglass], [Heart Compass], [Sunlight Rings]… [Azmuth's Ship], [Silver Tear]
He focused on his newest memory
Memory: [Silver Tear]
Rank:Transcendent
Tier:II
Type:Utility
Memory Description:[The God of beasts possessed many descendants, as all gods did. Some were mighty beasts, some were cunning hunters, some were mighty sorcerers but none matched the twin-born Klyntarians.
The golden one was valiant and wise, bonding with all manner of hosts to guide them toward the path of ascension. The silver one was mighty and elusive, keeping only to itself. But one truth trampled over all others, they loved each other fiercely and in the end, when they were separated, they never stopped searching for one another.]
Memory Enchantments:[Life], [Tears]
[Life] Enchantment Description:[The descendant of the moon not only guided creatures on the path of ascension but also healed their wounds with its essence.]
[Tears] Enchantment Description:[The tears shed for its lost brother will never fade. Even in death, these same silver tears retain the power to drown all that is unholy and corrupt.]
This was the memory he had gotten from the corrupted devil that was parasitizing the iron spider matriarch.
It was a bit funny how two of his transcendant memories were utility type and one tier lower then they should be but alas there was nothing he could do about that.
It manifested as a small unassuming silver vial that was cool to the touch. Its enchantments were straightforward: healing and 'drown' the corrupted via the contained tear.
'How tragic,' Hugo thought... No matter how many times he read this memory description, he never stopped finding it's tragic ending bitter and sad.
The golden twin was almost certainly the creature Gunlaug's Echo had come from meaning it was another noble being consumed by the Corruption, just like it's silver twin.
In the past, Hugo might have felt nothing for these abominations.
But now, knowing that many Nightmare Creatures were once sentient Nobel creatures...
it made him see them in a different light.
He pitied them, which was something so insane that it could unite the entirety of the human race just to criticize him.
This pity was born from the intimate, horrifying knowledge that Hugo was plagued with...
After all, he had tasted Corruption himself.
He had felt its maddening pain, heard its profound wrong call in the depths of his soul,
Sometimes he could feel that the call was there, only suppressed by the omnitrix...
Hugo shook his head, Now was not the time for that.
Turning to the expectant faces of the Sleepers, he raised the Omnitrix dial and slammed it.
A beautiful azure light flashed, and where the tentacled behemoth stood, a creature made of living multifaceted crystal now gleamed in it's place
a [Petrosapien].
"Well," his voice now had a strange crystalline chime to it "Operation O begins now."
Sunny, leaning against one of the walls, gave him an amused look. "Why 'O'?"
"...Unnecessary questions will not be answered" Hugo chimed back, a little embarrassed.
The shadowy Sleeper just scoffed.
———
On the dead, grey plain before the Crimson Spire, a terrifying scene of was unfolding.
Hundreds, thousands of abominations all of the awakened and Fallen rank clawed, slithered and moved around the structure's base, circling around it as if they were worshipping an unholy god.
And then an anomaly appeared in the grey sky.
A sleek, metallic ship of silver and green, utterly alien to this broken world floated with silent grace high above the gathered horde.
It was a stark, beautiful contradiction that would've made an amazing painting.
On the ship's open upper hull, a figure of shimmering prismatic crystal stood proud.
His arms were extended weaving a complex lattice of crystals.
Behind him, a gigantic perfectly smooth crystal sphere nearly as large as the ship itself had been constructed.
From it, a network of crystalline tubes snaked all around the ship forming a maze of strange tunnels.
At the sphere's apex, Sunny, sweating slightly despite the chilly air carefully poured the last of the translucent silver liquid from the [Silver Tear] vial into the sphere, The liquid glowing with a soft translucent light.
"Do you really think this is going to work?"
Sunny asked gulping as his eyes darted to the sea of nightmares below.
"The enchantment says it drowns the unholy" Hugo said . "If nightmare creatures aren't considered 'unholy' then I don't know what is."
"Still. What if it fails?"
"Then we switch to Phase Two: arrow bombardment, retreat, repair, repeat." Hugo gestured with a crystal hand. "Seriously, Sunny, have you never been to a war?"
"Of course not! Why would I have been to a war?"
Hugo gave a shrug that sent light scattering in rainbows across his form.
"I don't knon, With all the crazy things that happen to you, I wouldn't be surprised if you told me you'd been a foot soldier in a war between gods."
Sunny sighed watching the last drop fall.
The sphere was now full, glowing from within like a captive moon.
"I guess I'm about to fight in my first war."
Hugo smiled as He dismissed the empty [Silver Tear] vial to his soul sea to replenish it, then he extended a graceful crystal staircase for Sunny to descend back into the safety of the ship.
"Let's make sure it's not your last."
Once Sunny was inside, Hugo sealed the hatch and turned his multifaceted gaze back to the abominations below.
A strange pang of sorrow hit him. These were beautiful creatures once... now reduced to maddened husks.
"I… I hope death grants you solace" he whispered. His past self would have been outraged by the sentiment but that self was gone now.
He had changed.
Hugo raised his crystalline arms, Using [Crystalkinesis], he willed the pathways within the tubes connected to the sphere to open.
The result was instantaneous and breathtaking.
From dozens of points along the ship's rim, torrents of brilliant silver liquid cascaded down in the ground like a deadly waterfall.
The ship began a slow, circular glide around the Spire's perimeter turning the localized deluge into a sweeping mass of silver rain.
Wherever the silver tears fell, hell erupted on the abominations.
A symphony of pained roars, shrieks and hisses rose from the horde as The liquid did came in contact with the flesh of the abominations.
It seeped into cracks in carapaces, flowed into the jaws and eye sockets and wherever it touched corrupted flesh, that flesh burned, dissolved and sloughed away disgustingly.
Awakened creatures withered in seconds while the Fallen ones thrashed, resisting the silver tears.
But alas, their greater resilience only prolonging the agony.
Inside Hugo's mind, the Spell's voice became a torrent that nearly shattered his focus.
[You have slain a Fallen Beast…]
[You have slain an Awakened Demon…]
[You have slain an Awakened Monster…]
[You have slain a fallen demon]
[You have slain an awakened devil]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
[You have slain...]
The stream of text blurred as the relentless scroll of death was credited to him.
It was both glorious and uttuerly horrifying.
Yet, it wasn't enough, The tears no matter how powerful were finite and the sphere was already draining.
And just As the silver downpour began to weaken, Hugo issued a mental command to [Azmuth's ship].
Sections of the ship's hull irised open at designated points, revealing protected slots.
Behind each one, a Sleeper armed with a bow or a throwing Memory took position.
Hugo decided to hold back for now and not join the assault as his fire power would be needed later.
The silver rain ceased, the last drops falling like dying stars...
The horde was decimated with more than half its number dead But sadly for the sleepers, hundreds of them still remained, many of them Fallen, wounded and enraged.
Phase One was complete.
Now for Phase Two.
———
[Flashback - Two Days Prior]
"Are you sure this is going to work?"
Kido, the chief artisan of the Bright Castle, wiped a sweat from her brow, her Aspect—[Green Thumb]—allowing her to accelerate the growth of the strange, noxious fungi in the clay pots before her.
Hugo, in his [Florana] form—a humanoid plant with bark-like skin and leaves for hair—studied a pulsating fungal node with his single, large eye.
"The biological structure is stable and my abilities would make sure nothing fails, So, yes."
Kido sighed. "Let me rephrase then, Are you sure this is safe?"
He rotated his eye to look at her.
"Oh, absolutely not, But 'safety' lost all meaning the moment we were transported to this shore."
Funnily enough, the odd due resembled actual scientist from the waking world right now, as they were crafting a devious type of a plant in a makeshift lab, working from the parasitic toxic fungus used to kill the Lord of the Dead.
Hugo's [Florana] abilities gave him an intimate connection to plant, with the first ability allowing him to manipulate all types of plant life and the second one allowing him to generate any type of plant from his own body, currently he was using these two abilities at the same time to create and modify the parasitic fungus.
Kido's knowledge of real-world botany provided an incredible help to the process.
She had described many dangerous extinct plants such Dictamnus albus nicknamed as the "burning bush" a plant that created a volatile flammable oil within it.
Hugo had woven that genetic potential into the fungus's parasitic core by following kido description of how it was possible. He then, through trial and error, combined it with traits that produced hydrogen sulfide and other lethal compounds creating a hideous new hybrid.
The result was a triple-threat biological weapon: a fast-sporing airborne parasite, a potent neurotoxin and a volatile flammable highly explosive gaz, all bundled into one package.
This was where the Omnitrix's true potential shone, after all, not just in raw power but in the versatile synergy that could be created with the help of other awakened.
Kido exhaled, looking at the quivering, oily-green fungus with a mixture of horror and pride.
"You're really just as crazy as they say, you know."
Hugo plucked a mature pod carefully then raised his one eyebrow
"They call me crazy ? How rude."
———
[Present]
Back on the ship, Hugo slammed the Omnitrix symbol, his crystalline form melting away into the vibrant green of the [Florana].
He then summoned [Nothing], the shapeless mist had been acting as a storage hold for a few days now and carefully extracted the hundreds of carefully cultivated fungal pods.
His arms elongated as the vines making up his body weaved themselves into an organic slingshot.
He moved to a newly opened port, loaded a cluster of pods and took aim.
Thwip.
Thwip.
Thwip.
One after another, the fungal bombs arced down into the midst of the surviving, confused abominations. They landed with soft, squelching pops releasing no fire, only a thick emerald-green mist that spread with alarming speed clinging to the ground and the creatures themselves.
Most nightmare creatures needed to breathe and so They foolishly inhaled the toxic mist causing The parasitic spores to take root instantly.
The infection was visible as sickly green veins spreading under their skin and scale. The abominations slowly began to convulse, their movements growing sluggish and unnatural.
The Fallen ones were affected but resisted the full paralysis as the toxin was, after all, born from the power of an Awakened tyrant.
"Well, no helping it..." Hugo as he retreated inside into the ship, the port sealing behind him swiftly.
He found Nephis standing ready, her expression grim and serious...
"Nephis, do it."
Changing Star nodded as She took up one of the simple crystal bows Hugo had fashioned, drawing curious looks from the other archers who had been ordered to stop their assault.
She walked to a special, larger port. Nocking an arrow, then she took a deep breath.
her eyes suddenly ignited.
Pure, incandescent white flames erupted from her pupils racing down her arms and engulfing the arrow in a blinding shroud of divine fire. The heat in the chamber suddenly spiked, then, She drew her bow, aiming at the heart of the green mist clouding the battlefield.
SWOOSH.
The port snapped shut the moment the arrow cleared the hull with Every Sleeper rushing towards the translucent wall to view what was happening.
They watched, their breath held in anticipation as the arrow of brilliant white flame descended like a fallen star, a stark beacon of purity against the polluted ground below.
It struck the center of the mist.
The air itself seemed to hold its breath for a single, agonizing heartbeat after Nephis's arrow vanished into the emerald mist.
Then, all hell broke loose.
The first explosion was small and pitiful, merely destroying a small piece of the land... then, that same explosion gave birth to a cataclysm chain of explosions that spread through the entirety of the battlefield.
the world outside turned into a storm of light encompassing the entire world.
Accompanying the explosions were Terrifying blossoms of white-hot fire that too spread, across the battlefield rapidly.
One, then five, then twenty then a hundred. In less than three seconds, the entire plain below was consumed. Hundreds of explosions tore through the nightmare horde simultaneously as one continuous crescendo of annihilation.
The land itself seemed to liquefy and heave with Craters overlapping craters, changing the very geography of the land.
A rolling shockwave of dirt, fragmented coral, and disintegrating abominations expanded outwardly slamming into the base of the Crimson Spire with enough force to make the ancient stone shiver and shake slightly.
Inside the ship, the Sleepers were first blinded, the translucent wall washing out into pure white. Then the sound hit as a deep roar that vibrated in their bones and rattled their teeth even with the divine memory dampening the effects.
They stumbled back, hands over ears, their eyes wide with a terror that quickly morphed into stunned awe.
Hugo, still in his Florana form, watched the catastrophic chain reaction he had engineered. It was a grim, terrifying and resembled the horros the waking world had witnessed during the dark ages... But there was a brutal sort of beauty to it...
'I might really be crazy for thinking anything about this is beautiful...'
Hugo felt no triumph, only a wave of satisfaction because the plan was working smoothly so far.
Not far away inside the ship, Sunny had sidled up next to Nephis, who was staring intently at the holocaust below, the white flames in her eyes having died down by now.
Suddenly, Sunny leaned in between them , his voice barely a whisper under the fading thunder.
"Hey, Neph. Hugo. Quick question." He gestured vaguely at the apocalyptic event down below
"Using a bio-engineered, parasitic, chemical weapon that we then ignite with divine fire… isn't that technically a war crime?"
Nephis didn't even glance at him. "There are no wars here, Sunny. Only survival, And no laws exist but the Spell's..."
Hugo's vine-like mouth twitched slightly "And the Spell's only law is 'kill or be killed.' so I'd say we're good... I mean, unless you're guilty about commiting crimes against nightmare creatures... then I'd advise therapy."
But even as he said it, his attention was quickly pulled back to Nephis.
Her frown had returned, deeper this time. The euphoria of the massive kill that was supposed to be granted to her from killing all these creatures was absent from her expression, replaced only by confusion.
"Did they survive?" Hugo shouted, his voice fighting against the ringing echoes of the explosions still rumbling through the landscape.
"No," Nephis replied, her tone clipped and sure. "I received the Spell notifications for the kills. But… I did not receive a single soul fragment."
Hugo frowned deeply as he heard that. That detail was wrong. Fundamentally and logically wrong. He had specifically told nephis to be the one to start the fire due to the sheer power of her aspect and the fact that her innate ability allowed her to consume a portion of fragments from whatever she killed, which would give her more cores.
Empowering one of their strongest soldiers was not a bad idea right now but it seemed that plan failed.
Hugo had known their plan couldn't be perfect but he had expected something more obvious
This small detail felt more ominous than a counter-attack, It was almost like the Spell itself was warning them about something...
Hugo felt a chill run down his spine from that chain of thoughts and looked back at his companions
"...Let's continue with the plan and see what happens."
———
Around two hours later, the last of the violent tremors subsided and the acrid smoke began to slowly thin, pulled apart by the ghostly wind of the Forgotten Shore.
The scene revealed was one of utter desolation.
Where thousands of nightmares had seethed, there now lay a shattered, smoldering dark plain. Hundreds of overlapping craters pockmarked the earth, filled with ash, blackened bone, and viscous flesh. The air that filtered into the ship via its environmental systems carried the clashing scents of ozone, burnt chitin, and the sickly-sweet tang of the neutralized fungal toxin.
All the abominations were dead, just like that.
The odd mix of puification, parasitic consumption and divine ignition had created an effect greater than the sum of its parts.
And While a Fallen creature could indeed survive the physical force of a nuclear explosion, this one had been an assault created from magical, biological, and spiritual components all at once that came from an awakened tyrant.
With the creatures dead, The path to the Crimson Spire was clear.
With a silent mental command, Hugo guided Azmuth's Ship into a smooth descent.
It settled on the scarred earth not fifty paces from the base of the cyclopean structure, its shadow mingling with the tower's immense darkness giving it a terrifying look, then A section of the hull irised open, forming a wide gentle ramp. No longer spectators, the Sleepers now poured forth, a river of determined humans armed with memories and desperate hope that glowed brighter then any explosion.
They formed ranks with a discipline forged in the horrors of the Bright Castle, their eyes fixed on the solitary entrance to the Spire.
Hugo stood at the forefront with Nephis Cassie, and Sunny Watching the Sleepers advance.
He couldn't believe he was seeing such a sught... they were about to succeed...
But at that moment, a fragment of memory surfaced with crystal clarity in his mind: Cassie's vision, described to them in hushed tones a year ago on the cursed beach.
"I saw a towering spire of crimson stone, bleeding darkness into the sky. I saw a siege without end, a horde that was drowning the land. And I saw seven keys turning in seven locks, while a shadow fought a giant of coral and blood beneath a bleeding sun."
The accuracy was almost chilling now that The towering spire was before them.
One of the greatest The sieges in the history of humanity had officially ended, with zero casualties on the human side.
the horde of abominations were dead and The seven keys were now inside Sunny's soul. Only the final part remained now.
The sleepers eyes glimmered as they saw the entrance of the spire, the eerily terrifying structure was left wide open for some strange reason
Cassie's hand suddenly gripped sunny's arm, her fingers tight enough to dig into his flesh. "The keys," she whispered urgently, tilting her head as if listening to something only she could hear. "please hurry and insert then inside the locks."
Sunny nodded at the blind girl as the human forces begun to move towards the spire entrance.
———
From his position coordinating the flow of Sleepers, Hugo had a partial view of the coral bridge seperating the spire from the rest of the land. Thankfully crossing it wasn't that much of a problem with his [petrosapien] form, although he made sure not to waste too much essence.
Soon enough, the sleepers poured into the inside of the spire, rushing inside the eerie darkness.
Sunny moved carefully, reaching the seven severed heads guarding the lock.
Then, Something had changed on the inside of the spire, A cold wind suddenly howled, throwing bits of coral into the air.
Those pieces of did not fall down, Instead, more and more of the crimson shards flew up, slowly forming into seven twisted silhouettes.
Hugo and the cohort frowned in unison as they readied their weapons.
A few seconds later, seven golems of crimson coral stood in front of him and Saint, blocking the path to the star sigil. He recognized their shapes.
The armored figure of the Knight. The slender figure of the Slayer. The graceful figure of the Priestess…
Vile, corrupted facsimiles of the seven heroes slowly moved, raising their weapons to point at him. Their movements were crude and inhuman, but radiated a sense of terrible, profane power. Despite their outward appearance, these creatures were desecrating the memory of the ancient heroes instead of manifesting as them.
Unluckily for them... There was an entire army infront of them.
Hugo easily took out three of them without even using the omnitrix, while sunny and his stone echo delt with the knight, and lastly nephis and the cohort killed the last three.
Then, sunny rushed towards the locks inserting the keys one by one.
Just as he put in the last key... Nothing happened?
"I expected something more... Flashy, ah well nothing bad happened"
Hugo looked at sunny with a horrified expression, knowing the shadowy sleeper had a habit of jinxing stuff...
Then before he could retort, The whole Forgotten Shore trembled.
The terrible storm outside seemed to have ended as suddenly as it had appeared, dissipating into nothingness like a fragile mirage.
…And then, the dark veil of clouds was broken by a blindingly bright ray of sunlight.
As soon as it happened, the restless black water stopped rising, and then flowed in reverse.
The cursed sea was retreating.
"It worked! It actually worked!" Hugo shouted, excitedly.
sunny had done it!
He had sealed the dark sea.
———
"It's time to go. Gather your strength. We are almost there!" Nephis shouted at the crowd.
The Sleepers looked at her with focused eyes, the light of hope igniting in them with r strength moving with a fast pace.
Soon, the procession of humans headed deeper into the Spire. Nephis was walking at the front, holding Cassie by the hand while Hugo and Sunny were besides them examining the structure of the spire.
"We're really here..." sunny said, not believing himself as he looked at Hugo.
"I guess we are..." the green giant said, his expression a bit lost for some reason...
That small fact unsettled sunny, he did not know if that unease came from his worry for his friends or from his own paranoia...
"Hey... Thanks, for everything " Hugo said, smiling a little.
"What are you thanking me for? We're friends, aren't we?" sunny said, feeling a bit giddy by that statement.
Hugo nodded without adding much to the conversation.
After all they weren't done with the spire just yet.
There Infront of the all the sleepers, the dark sea was imprisoned under an indomitable seal.
In front of them was a vast pool of black water. Its surface was perfectly still and flat, like that of a harrowing mirror made from pure darkness. Although the water was opaque and no one could see how far down that gargantuan well went, the sleepers felt as though it was unimaginably deep.
As they watched in solemn silence, a subtle ripple spread across the surface of the imprisoned sea. It was as though it was straining to spill over the edges of the pool and break free. However, the invisible powers that held it down were too mighty to overcome, even for this vast, boundless, inconceivable creature.
Turning away from the eerie black mirror, Sunny peered into the darkness and frowned.
Hidden in the shadows, far away from the light of human lanterns, countless figures were standing motionlessly, staring at them
countless coral golems were staring mindlessly into the distance, a lot expression on their faces.
They were very similar to the creatures he had fought to get to the Star Sigil, but also different.
Because they weren't copies of ancient heroes… just that of mundane people.
Sunny had told him about the history of the forgotten shore... How the darkness plagued their land and devoured the sun.
how the seven heroes rose and created the spire... Eventually sacrificing themselves to keep the artificial sun intact.
It was all a sad story... As all things in world of the nightmare spell were.
That made Hugo wonder if there was truly any salvation left in the world. After all, what made so different from the people of the forgotten shore?
Shaking his head, Hugo returned to the task of finding the gateway.
Now that they had a better understanding of the ground level of the Crimson Spire, it became clear that the Gateway was not on it. To find it, the remains of the Dreamer Army were going to have to ascend higher.
There were no stairs or lifting mechanisms in sight, but luckily, many of the twisting coral pillars were wide enough for several people to walk on them, and there was also the fact that they had a humanoid crystal factory with them to make suitable stairs for the sleepers. .
…However, as soon as the sleepers stepped forward, Hugo eyes suddenly widened as he saw something descend from the peak of the spire.
"Everyone, retreat!"
Just a moment later, a wide ray of blinding light fell from somewhere above and swiped across the interior of the Crimson Spire, annihilating the tranquil darkness.
Hugo created a large dome of crystal around the sleepers, reflecting the light somewhere else And giving enough time for the sleepers to fall back to the embrace of shadows.
Hugo frowned as he looked upward, there at the end was... A terrifying sun, and a mass of flesh bonded to it in a terrifying, grotesque manner...
His eyes looked at sunny, who had a horrified expression on his face as he looked at the terrifying amalgamation...
Then, sunny whispered two words that made Hugo hope crumble...
"A corrupted terror..."