Chapter 61: The Daily Life of Ben Tennyson (3)
Imprint: [Vaxasaurian] [Codename: Humungousaur]
Imprint Rank: Ascended
Imprint Class: Terror
Imprint Description: [The most powerful noble creatures in terms of raw strength. The Vaxasaurians were born from the flames of the war goddess, born to be the most destructive creatures in the galaxy. Strength to shatter the heavens! Bodies to survive the wrath of the gods! And a will mighty enough to swallow entire worlds! Truly a marvelous to behold.]
Imprint Attributes: [Mighty II], [Durable IV], [Resistance II]
Imprint Abilities: [Strengthen II], [Growth], [Armor], [Empower II], [Concept of Strength]
[Mighty II] Attribute Description:
[The Vaxasaurians are naturally stronger than most races.]
[Durable IV] Attribute Description:
[A Vaxasaurian's skin cannot be pierced through normal means.]
[Resistance II] Attribute Description:
[The Vaxasaurians can survive the most harrowing of attacks.]
[Strengthen II] Ability Description:
[You can empower yourself beyond your limits.]
[Growth] Ability Description:
[You can increase the size of your body.]
[Armor] Ability Description:
[You can generate armored scales around your body.]
[Empower II] Ability Description:
[You can empower your minions with your abilities.]
[Concept of Strength] Ability Description:
[You can control the strength of others.]
————
Those were the runes the spell offered for the Vaxasaurian imprint. The spell depicted this race of naturally born warriors as mighty and powerful, with the sole purpose of their existence being to fight and grow stronger.
Naturally, the abilities granted to them as they climbed the path of ascension fulfilled that wish, offering them many avenues to the power they desired.
A Vaxasaurian who managed to form their fifth and sixth soul cores would be particularly powerful in this case, granting them the ability to share their powers with their minions and even control the strength of their opponents—of course, the latter only applied to opponents of a relative or lower rank —and for all of this, Hugo was particularly interested in this imprint.
It reminded him of his Four Arms transformation, which he had relied on heavily back in the days of the Forgotten Shore, in terms of both origin and abilities.
Although there was a slight difference between the two races as one was built for battle and war, while the other focused more on raw strength rather than combat technique.
Either way, it did not matter, as Hugo had chosen this form to use against the Forever Knights.
————
Letting out steam from his mouth and nose, Hugo rushed toward the Forever Knight who was being attacked by [Zed], grabbing him by the legs like a child would pick up a toy.
Then, unceremoniously, he began hammering the Ascended warrior into the ground with devastating force, making the earth shatter wherever he swung the prideful knight. Even the supposedly unbreakable Forever Knight armor began to crack from the impact.
It only took a dozen repetitions for the knight to fall unconscious, which was around the time Hugo finally stopped his relentless assault.
Hugo stared at the unconscious knight in his hand, then looked toward the other Ascended knight, who was watching the scene with unease written all over his body language.
Upon closer inspection, one could even see that he was shaking in terror.
"Your turn" Hugo said with a smile as he tossed the knight toward him.
BAM!
The Forever Knight, showing no camaraderie toward his fellow knight, dodged the flying body of his fellow knight and then did something Hugo hadn't expected.
He started running in the opposite direction.
————
[Alternative pov]
Ragna had always been an outstanding Awakened in the realm of beast goddess.
He was one of the few people who had lived before the descent of the Nightmare Spell and awakened during those times, slowly increasing both his power and lifespan naturally.
However, his simple life had taken a turn when the Nightmare Spell descended upon this world.
The harrowing phenomenon that plagued the entire world brought with it dire changes to civilization. First, it introduced the Dream Realm, which was an amalgamation of dead realms that was somehow fused together and infested with corruption.
It also brought with it nightmares, which aided the residents of this world in their ascension, vastly increasing the power of the Awakeneds.
However, [They] had also arrived when the Nightmare Spell emerged.
Noble creatures, as they were called. Most people referred to them as aliens—a more modern term, really. Within mere years, they invaded Earth and humanity was no longer the dominant force on the planet but instead became one of many leading forces in it's own home.
They too, like the Nightmare Spell, brought many changes although none of them were positive.
They brought hatred, deceit, theft, and chaos to the earth, chosing to plague it like maggots for their own survival.
And unlike the spell, they brought nothing beneficial whatsoever.
At least, that was what Ragna and many others like him believed.
And so, when the Forever Knights emerged a couple of years ago, Ragna—who had always hated aliens and their existence on Earth—immediately joined their ranks, protesting against the mass migration of aliens to their planet.
At first, Ragna believed the Forever Knight's methods were… too extreme. Yet all his doubts were erased when the Forever Kings revealed to him the existence of [Him] and the salvation [He] would bring.
And so, when Ragna was tasked with capturing Ben Tennyson himself, he accepted without hesitation.
————
Ragna ran as fast as he could, his speed pushing beyond what was considered normal for his rank, gradually surpassing the limits of what an Ascended was capable of.
Was it because of adrenaline? Or it was perhaps due to the manyexperiments Dr. Joseph Chadwick had done to him and his fellow knights?
Either way, one thing was certain, Ragna knight was running for his life.
Ben Tennyson, being an Ascended Terror while transformed, moved with terrifying speed for his size, breaking the ground beneath his steps as he closed the distance at an alarming rate.
It was a scene straight out of a horror movie, where it would display a virtuous Awakened fleeing from a monstrous nightmare creature.
Reaching an alleyway, Ragna rushed through the narrow space, waiting for the moment that he could catch his breath and pull on his tether to the Dream Realm.
However, that chance never came.
A gigantic hand tore through one of the walls with ease, savagely clawing at the area as it searched for him.
'This is bad…' Ragna thought as he resorted to scaling a building and climbing onto the rooftop.
The entire mission had gone terribly wrong despite the fact that it had been planned rather diligently.
They had based their plan on the following assumptions:
Ben Tennyson's inexperience fighting in his human form
Ben Tennyson's inability to summon Memories and Echoes
And lastly, The time his Device required to recharge.
The last assumption proved to be true but the first two were a lie nearly causing the failure of the mission.
In truth, the plan was never going to be simple. After all, they were dealing with Ben Tennyson himself.
The champion of humanity, who had fended off beings that would give even the most powerful Transcendents nightmares and he had done all of that as a mere Awakened...
Nonetheless, Ragna had accepted the mission given by his order to capture Ben Tennyson to aid them in killing a [certain creature].
It was the Forever King's order, after all. And when such an order was given, all Forever Knights—regardless of rank—were required to obey.
It was the only way they could find [It] and expel the filthy aliens from their planet.
————
Running across the rooftops, Ragna witnessed a horrifying sight.
Ben Tennyson, in his Vaxasaurian form, leaped from the streets down below and launched himself toward him at an inhuman speed.
Moments later, Ben Tennyson's fist collided with Ragna's shield—which he had summoned at the last possible moment to avoid being killed—and sent him flying through the sky like a rocket.
'This is insane! He's trying to kill me!' Ragna thought in outrage as he activated the jetpack embedded in his armor, stopping his fall and fleeing from the monster pursuing him.
Realizing that he couldn't escape to the dream realm, Ragna decided to use the thing that had been entrusted to him by the order.
Thus, He only needed to stall for a few more minutes—just enough time to activate his aspect.
'Almost there!'
All Ragna needed to do was lead Ben Tennyson out of Bellwood to avoid the interference of the plumbers.
However, at that moment, Ragna heard a clicking sound than someone shouted from behind him.
"Jetray!"
A red blur slammed into him midair at a speed even he—a powerful Ascended—couldn't react to.
That blur was none other than Ben Tennyson, now in a new form: a red, humanoid manta ray–like alien with green eyes, black markings on his face, yellow horns extending from his nose, gills beneath his arms, and yellow patagia that were most likely used for flight and gliding. Two black lightning-bolt patterns ran from his shoulders to the Omnitrix symbol on his chest giving him the appereance of a dreadful predator.
Even after transforming again, Ben Tennyson didn't hold back, delivering blow after blow as they descended toward the barren outskirts of Bellwood.
Ragna, drawing on his experience, summoned the strongest Forever Knight blade in his soul arsenal and drove the Transcendent weapon toward Ben Tennyson's head.
However, due to their position, his grip slightly faltered and the blade pierced Ben's shoulder instead, causing a spray of crimson blood to burst forth coloring Ragna's armor red.
Strangely, Ben Tennyson didn't seem to care about the pain. Instead, he opened his eyes wide and unleashed a concentrated beam of green energy from them, instantly melting Ragna's helmet and burning straight through to his eyes.
"MY EYES! OH GODS!" Ragna screamed in terror as his eye sockets begun to melt.
This level of damage wasn't enough to kill an Ascended but it was agony all the same.
Ragna reeled back and struck Ben Tennyson's head with a mighty blow, interrupting the beam long enough to reinforce his eyes with soul essence but it was already too late.
CRASH!!!
The devilish red creature and the blinded knight slammed into the ground, rolling violently across the land.
Neither of them was dead yet
————
[Hugo's pov]
Hugo groaned as he pushed himself up from the ground feeling incredibly dazed. He glanced down at the blade lodged in his shoulder with an annoyed expression on his alien face.
Than, Without hesitation, he grabbed the hilt and ripped it out of his shoulder causing pain to surge through his body.
'This whole chase went really bad…'
Hugo had intended to use Humungousaur to quickly subdue the knights and interrogate them to know why they were after him.
Instead, this particular Forever Knight had proven troublesome, dragging him hundreds of miles away from Bellwood.
'I should've used Big Chill, that would've saved me trouble' not only would it have made the confrontation easier but big chill was far more suited for a chasing scenario than jetray.
Hugo cursed himself for his carelessness.
This fight had nearly cost him his life, all because he wanted to try a new alien.
In his defense, Jetray had super speed, flight, and eye lasers...
What wasn't there to like?
It even reminded him of his old XLR8 form.
'Focus, Hugo…'
Looking around, Hugo realized he was in a barren, desert-like region with no signs of life. Even the roads were empty—with no vehicles being in sight—which was strange for such an advanced civilization.
What was even More bizarre was the massive dark castle standing alone in the distance.
For some unexplainable reason, That castle gave Hugo a bad feeling.
'I'll deal with him first, then investigate' he thought, turning toward the Forever Knight.
The man's armor was shattered, revealing his broken body underneath riddled with terrible wounds. his helmet had melted and fused to his face, leaving two scorched holes where his eyes had been.
He was in terrible condition.
Yet suddenly, a chill ran down Hugo's spine as he looked deeper into the man's face.
"You lunatic..." Hugo said with a frown.
The Forever Knight was smiling.
"I suppose this is it…" the knight said, forming a strange hand gesture. "It was good fighting you, kid. But unfortunately for you, the conditions to activate my Aspect have just been met."
Sensing danger, Hugo surged forward, burning soul essence to augment his body and even using jetray's awakened ability which increased his speed, pushing himself close to the speed of sound.
It wasn't enough.
The world abruptly turned pitch black, freezing him in place.
Than, from the knight's grotesque lips, five simple words came out:
"With this treasure, I summon…"