Chapter 100: Divine Lineage
Sunny didn't think his eyes could widen anymore today, but Hugo simply was full of surprises.
Usually, Sunny would not accept a trade so easily, but he always made exceptions when it came to Hugo for two reasons.
One, he was someone that Sunny could trust with his life, and he had proved that he was worthy of that trust multiple times already.
The second reason was much more... nefarious. Hugo had always given Sunny good things, such as the Shadow Symbiote which ended up being one of Sunny's most powerful shadows and one that had saved his life multiple times by now.
And now... he was talking about trading him something that was made by Shadow God himself.
It could be a divine memory, or something even better.
Sunny looked at his friend thoroughly, and crossed his arms.
"Well then, what exactly are you offering?"
Hugo simply smiled, as he raised his arms.
Then, he summoned a strange thing... It was a golden wheel, roughly the size of a palm with nine balls decorating its exterior side and a single ball in the middle that served as the tenth.
Sunny's intuition nearly exploded, the one granted to him by the [Fated] attribute. And not only that, his shadow sense was screaming at him to get it.
There, in the depths of this bizarre artifact, were ten extremely powerful shadow creatures... But more than that, they were... powerful, brimming with unlimited potential.
"What the hell is that..." Sunny asked, enthralled by it.
"This is a little thing is called the Ten Shadows. It's a sacred treasure created by Shadow God himself, and within it, are ten immensely powerful shadow creatures. Each capable of giving your own shadows a run for their money. I got it from a certain... Insane individual, yeah, let's leave it that."
Hugo said, letting the wheel spin a little, as it floated above his hand.
"I couldn't bond with the relic myself, as I was not compatible with it and my Omnitrix did not allow me to do so. So, I thought I would trade it with you for something I could use. Trading it is Much better than letting it gather dust in my soul sea."
Hugo's logic was sound, and the fact that he wanted something in exchange for it was much more preferable to him handing it out to Sunny for free.
'Do I have anything good enough for that?'
No, that question was wrong. Sunny did possess many valuable things of equal worth as this sacred treasure. Artifacts that could change humanity as a whole if they were ever revealed to the public and the great clans. However, he was not willing to part with any of them right now...
His Shadow Lantern and Weaver's Mask were both too valuable... And his other memories were all below the supreme rank...
'Oh right, I still have that.'
That was one valuable thing in his soul sea that he could not use, one that was probably even more valuable than the sacred treasure...
It was the lineage of Shadow God, which he had kept in his soul sea after Cassie told him not to consume it.
Apparently, if he had consumed it, the Weaver's lineage within him would have consumed Shadow God's lineage, making it lost forever.
Sunny trusted Cassie... But he was still uncertain about the whole thing...
"How does this sacred treasure work?" Sunny asked.
One had to know about the product they were buying.
"It has ten shadows inside of it of various ranks and classes, the most powerful one is an immensely powerful Transcendent devil that's capable of adapting to almost anything. To use each shadow, you must summon them and kill them in battle, then you would be able to use them yourself whenever... But Sunny, you still haven't offered me anything good, you know."
Sunny processed his words, before sighing slightly and summoning the drop of ichor he had received from his aspect legacy.
The underground dojo was submerged in darkness, and as soon as Sunny willed the drop of ichor to manifest itself into reality, that darkness suddenly came to life. Countless shadows moved and danced around him, forming an invisible whirlpool. Their movements were strange and erratic, fraught with anticipation, excitement, and longing.
Slowly, golden sparks of light appeared in the air in front of him and then shot toward a single point in space, coalescing into a small radiant dot. However, the Memory did not appear yet. Instead, more and more sparks flew into it, thousands upon thousands of them, until, at last, it seemed as though wide streams of brilliant golden light were constantly flowing into the slowly growing sphere of radiance.
This continued for almost an entire minute, and when the sparks finally disappeared, a brilliant drop of golden liquid was floating in the air in front of Sunny and Hugo. It was suffused with a beautiful light that didn't seem blinding, but was somehow able to illuminate the entire expanse of the underground basement.
…However, there was also something dark about the shining drop of divine blood. Contrasted against its golden radiance, the shadows around them were now suddenly much deeper, darker, and starkly pronounced. All their movement ceased, as though they were frozen still by awe and reverence.
Hugo's eyes widened, as he suddenly felt extreme cold from the memory.
"What is that?"
This time, it was Sunny's turn to explain.
"This is the divine blood of Shadow God, or at least a drop of it that I received from my aspect legacy. Those types of memories are called lineage memories, and they are capable of turning people into descendants of the gods. Said descendants are more powerful than then most awakened, and they naturally possses more potential, much similar to us divine aspect wielders. In our realm, multiple lineages have already been found. With Nephis's grandfather finding the Sun lineage, and Nephis herself inheriting it. That's one of the reasons why she's so strong."
Hugo absorbed this new wave of informations.
Divine lineages... From what Sunny said, they must offer a substantial amount of power to their wielders, increasing their potential even further than before.
Although there was something that Hugo did not understand.
"If you have such a powerful thing, why don't you consume it yourself? Your aspect is related to shadows, so it should make you incredibly powerful."
Sunny sighed. "I wouldn't be offering it as a trade if I could consume it, would I? I can't consume this lineage because I already have another divine lineage within my body... The lineage of Weaver, the Daemon of Fate."
Hugo's expression shifted slightly, and he shivered once again... He remembered the terrifying visage of the Daemon of Fate in the second nightmare, and how he had killed them.
But there was something else as well... It was as if the name of the Daemon of Fate was related to him in a deep way that he could not explain.
It was as if...
As if....
'Huh? What was I thinking about?'
Hugo suddenly felt himself space out, as he completely forgot what he was thinking about so deeply.
"Hello," Sunny flicked his fingers near Hugo's face, snapping him out of his frozen state "You've been staring at me for seven minutes. Are you alright?"
"Yeah... I just spaced out... So, are you sure about this? That divine lineage sounds pretty good to give up, even if you can't use it yourself."
Sunny sighed again "I'm not sure entirely, my greed is telling me to keep it, however the sacred treasure you mentioned will grant me more shadows, so it's more beneficial in the long run."
"Alright then, grab my arm," Hugo said.
They shook hands, and they both felt something go through their bodies.
For Sunny, he felt an artifact that was not truly a memory find its way into his soul sea while Hugo felt a memory of immense weight reach its way into his soul.
Sunny heard:
[You have transferred a memory]
[You have received a Sacred Treasure: Ten Shadows]
While Hugo heard:
[You have lost a Sacred Treasure]
[You have received a Memory]
Immediately Sunny summoned his runes, to check on the new treasure. He was quite surprised by what he saw:
[Sacred Treasure: Ten Shadows]
??: ??
??: ??
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Description: [When Shadow made death, he became death. All that Shadow consumed perished, and all that perished was consumed by Shadow. Death was an absolute law, rendering the everchanging unchanging. Time was an absolute law, rendering the everlasting finite. Space was an absolute law, rendering the endless bounded. Wielding time, space, and death, the gods vanquished and imprisoned their foes.
Yet, the Shadow God was not content with being the universe's grim reaper. Like his siblings, he desired creation. Thus, the god of death, shadows, solace, mysteries, and peace fashioned his first Ten Shadows from the depths of his dark flame, creating the prototypes of all shadows, mundane and divine, that would follow.
These ten Shadows reside within this treasure.]
It seemed that even the Nightmare Spell did not know what to designate this bizarre treasure.
Hugo's runes were no less bizarre, as he read the memory description of the drop of ichor:
Memory: [Drop of Ichor].
Memory Rank: Unknown
Memory Tier: Unknown
Memory Type: Unknown
Memory Description: [Before, there was only boundless, eternal void. From that dark abyss, the -unknown- were born. Just like chaos itself, they were endless and everlasting, vast and forever changing. But then came desire, and with it came direction. From it, the gods were born.
When gods appeared, the void was not eternal anymore.
When gods appeared, the darkness was not endless anymore.
When gods appeared, the chaos was not orderless anymore.
The gods appeared, and brought with them war. This drop of divine blood was spilled by Shadow on one of the battlefields of that war, before the void was bound.]
Hugo let out a whistle, as he read the description:
"Shadow God was quite the menace, wasn't he?"
"It seems so... Both the divine lineage and the sacred treasure offer valuable insight into him... Ah, right before I forget, prepare yourself before consuming the lineage. It's going to hurt, and I mean really really hurt," Sunny said, before looking at the time on his communicator. "I gotta go now, I'll assimilate the treasure later when I have free time... And before I forget, do you have a communicator on you?"
Hugo extended his arm, the one with the Omnitrix, and activated the inner system screen, entering into the Network tab. Then he simply scanned Sunny's communicator, getting its contacts.
"Well isn't that convenient..." Sunny muttered, jealous of Hugo's omnitrix before moving to the shadows "I'll see you later then, you should go get some rest."
With that, Sunny dissolved into the shadows, teleporting away from the underground dojo, leaving Hugo alone.
'Alone once again...' Hugo sighed.
It seemed he had become quite autophobic ever since his return...
Thankfully, he had a way of dealing with that.
Hugo summoned Zed, and watched as the blue alien wolf manifested from white sparks.
As she did, she launched at Hugo, hugging him and licking him, in the face.
Hugo chuckled, patting her. "Easy there girl, I missed you too... Say, how about you watch over me while I do something very dangerous... Then after that, we could get you some snacks."
The alien wolf nodded in excitement, before backing away slightly.
Hugo exhaled, looking at the [Drop of Ichor] description one final time.
[You have acquired a Drop of Ichor. Do you wish to consume it?]
"Yes," he said hesitantly, unsure of how painful it would be.
[…So be it.]
"This again, seriously?"
The golden drop suddenly separated into three equal parts, which then shot toward his chest, abdomen, and head. The radiant droplets entered his seven Omni-Cores and disappeared, dissolving into the azure light of his soul.
The shadows surrounding him exploded with motion, and at the same time, the azure light inside of him seethed.
He felt something entering his bloodstream, a cold and unfamiliar energy that brought with it both pain and euphoria.
'This is... Terrifying...'
He lowered himself to the floor, preparing for the torturous process of transformation. The cold energy spread through his entire body, reaching every corner of it. It surged, on the cusp of assimilating into the very essence of his being…
Then, his body suddenly began to change, shifting violently and uncontrollably. Hugo was accustomed to changing forms, however such permanent change like this was extremely painful.
Hugo screamed, clutching his head.
"Aghhhhhh! Oh god!!"
He fell to the ground, clutching his chest in agony. As he writhed on the floor...
Something began to change within him, and Hugo felt every single bit of it.
After all, he was a Titan, and he possessed the consciousness of one. So, he naturally felt more than most people do.
It felt as though every muscle, every fiber, every molecule of his body was being torn apart and reassembled, only to be torn apart again. His eyes turned completely dark, as if there were two black holes instead of eyeballs in there and he felt as though he was about to die, actually die.
His Omnitrix glowed with a blue light, although it did not interfere with the process, instead it seemed to scan the blood that was in Hugo's bloodstream...
he felt the insidious influence of Shadow lineage finally reach into his own shadow.
[Shadow-Rend] made his shadow abnormally large, and it made it possess a consciousness of its own, even if it was small.
And now, his shadow changed entirely, reshaping and adapting to the lineage.
[You have lost an Attribute]
[You have acquired a new Attribute.]
And just like that [Shadow-Rend] was gone, replaced by something vaster, something larger and more powerful.
Hugo fell unconscious, and the last thing he saw was Zed rushing over to him...
Besides him, his shadow moved slightly, as if it had gained a consciousness of its own.