Chapter 105: Odd Tasks
A few days have passed since Hugo's return, and his life has been one messy rollercoaster ever since.
The world, instead of calming down about him, had only gotten much more excited and interested in the new hero. To the point that the Immortal Flame Manor was constantly surrounded by people and reporters.
The Fire Keepers, and Hugo himself, were exhausted by this but they couldn't do anything about it.
Hugo did feel bad for causing this much trouble, but he made up for his mistakes through various ways.
Firstly, he granted certain Fire Keepers blessings through some of his imprints' tyrant abilities, granting them incredible boosts to their bodies, souls and even minds.
This has allowed the awakened and ascended Fire Keepers to be more efficient at hunting and increasing their proficiency at other tasks such as making utility aspect wielders more creative and better suited for learning sorcery.
In fact, Grey Matter's tyrant ability, which increased the intelligence of people, had even helped Cassie advance her mastery at runic sorcery.
The blind seer was experimenting with that type of sorcery, increasing her skills. She had apparently been taught by someone called Noctis, the Beast of Twilight.
He was a Transcendent sorcerer that they had encountered in their second nightmare. Hugo felt a bit envious, considering that Noctis sounded like a great person to learn from. His Grey Matter self was definitely bitter about that.
Aside from this, Hugo was mainly testing his powers and training in how to use his new body.
He was one of the most dangerous ascended on earth when it comes to raw power, so learning to control it, while honing his own skill and battle art, was his main priority right now.
And thankfully, he had a perfect training partner.
It was his shadow. Who possessed the ability to manifest into a shadow copy of Hugo, identical to him in aspect and rank.
The whole situation was a bit peculiar, the more he thought about it.
Hugo himself did not feel like he was the heir of Shadow God, despite the fact that he had been boosted by the lineage.
Instead, Hugo felt as if the entire lineage had been absorbed by his shadow, and now his shadow was basically that lineage.
So, it was technically the heir of Shadow God, and not him...
That was only a theory of course, but Hugo strongly believed in its legitimacy.
Currently, Hugo was in the underground dojo once again, fighting against his shadow copy.
Hugo himself had assumed his Stone Saint transformation, using it at the devil class, which was the most optimal one for combat.
His shadow, on the other hand, had assumed the form of Heatblast, also limiting itself to the level of an ascended devil.
They clashed violently in the dojo. The true darkness within Hugo's Stone Saint form poured like a waterfall, aiming to blind his shadow copy.
The dark flames of his shadow's Heatblast were not to be underestimated, though.
Heatblast had always been one of the most powerful creatures in his arsenal, as the species itself was created by Sun God.
In fact, now that Hugo was thinking about it, he had formed the theory that his Omnitrix only offered him the best alien out of the million and few thousand imprints it had.
Not all noble creatures were bound to be powerful, so it made sense that the Omnitrix offered only the best.
Of course, Hugo was still interested in gaining as many forms as possible, but he did not want to practice using one million transformations. That was far too much.
So, the aliens offered by the playlists should be enough for him for now.
After a long fight, his shadow copy was sprawled on the ground, detransformed and utterly defeated.
Hugo was holding his spear of true darkness, breathing heavily in his Stone Saint form. His mighty armor had been broken down and cracked by the intensity of the flames, which wounded his Stone Saint pride a great deal.
He was a mighty Stone Saint, created by his father Nether, after all... And he would not be defeated by his shadow, even if it was divine.
In that moment, he even considered striking it down...
But Hugo quickly snapped out of it, slamming his Omnitrix and detransforming before it was too late.
He breathed, sitting on the ground beside his shadow.
'Shit... My flaw is still there.'
He had easily forgotten about his flaw, which made him act more like the race he was transformed into the more he remained in that form.
In the past, Hugo had not felt the need to combat his flaw. After all, he was stuck alone in the Dream Realm, so any change in personality did not matter. In fact, forms that made him more violent were often preferable considering they got the job done.
But he was a part of society now, so he could not keep such tendencies.
Commanding his shadow to return to him, Hugo went to the elevator and left the underground dojo, going upstairs to the manor.
He did feel a bit uncomfortable living with so many people but it was honestly nice. He always had company, even if he was not friends with a lot of the Fire Keepers.
Hugo headed towards one of the kitchens and prepared a small meal for himself.
Today was an important day.
It was the day he would be taken to the Dream Realm to tether himself in a citadel.
The current Saint ruling the Chained Isles was going to take him there today.
Apparently, Sky Tide and her clan, the White Feather Clan, were rulers of that region but unfortunately, for the crimes of helping Sunny against Saint Cormac, their territory was taken away from them and they were punished by Clan Valor.
Sunny and the cohort felt terrible about that fact, but there was nothing they could do.
Learning this, Hugo was now certain that he was not going to join Valor. Which left Clan Song, Clan Night and the government...
He needed to learn more about the three of them before making a coherent choice.
But either way, he wanted to establish a tether in the Ivory Tower.
"Have you been training?" Nephis's voice broke him out of his thoughts, as she entered the kitchen.
Changing Star was her usual self, however signs of fatigue and stress were clearly evident on her face.
After all, she was the leader of the Fire Keepers, and the one that Clan Valor was putting pressure on the most.
Hugo nodded, drinking his coffee, which he absolutely hated but it made him look more mature, so he drank it anyway.
"Yes. I still haven't really gotten the hang of my new abilities."
Hugo said, showing Nephis his arm, then he shifted it into that of a certain alien of his, Water Hazard. His flesh turned into metallic crimson metal, and his blood became actual water.
"Take this for example. You would assume it's currently functioning at the same level of power as me, right? Unfortunately, it isn't. Whenever I use partial transformations, the level of power they produce ranges from that of a Titan to that of a Terror. In other words, they are a bit too strong for my human form, which is problematic considering I'm trying to control my powers right now."
He reverted his arm back into that of a human, and waited for Nephis to answer.
Changing Star gave him a long look, as she grabbed a cup of coffee for herself and sat on the opposite end of the table from him.
"I remember having similar problems with my own flames back when I awakened. The qualitative increase in power they had received had become too destructive, which is why I had resorted to using a unique torch memory instead of my flames. The fact that my own soul was empowered by the Sun lineage did not help either."
Hugo listened carefully.
Indeed, her flames had always been extremely powerful. In fact, Nephis's aspect itself was focused on raw power.
"How did you control it then?" Hugo asked.
Nephis shrugged "It was simple. I meditated for prolonged durations while using my aspect, until I achieved a near perfect mastery over it."
"Wait, crap like meditation actually worked?" Hugo asked, baffled.
He had thought all of that stuff were actually just things used in Chinese cultivation novels, not an actual thing that was useful for people, much less an awakened.
Nephis might have been offended by this, but if she did, she was not showing it.
"Yes, that actually works. When you tether yourself to the Dream Realm, I will gladly teach you in the Ivory Tower," she said.
Hugo smiled "Thanks Neph, you're the best."
She nodded."...You're welcome. I should get going now, I have another meeting with Morgan of Valor. The Saint responsible for taking you to the Dream Realm should arrive soon, so be prepared."
With that, Nephis left.
Hugo felt satisfied by this interaction, however he did feel a bit guilty about something.
Hugo had given the Sacred Treasure to Sunny, massively increasing his powers, but he had neglected to offer Nephis and Cassie anything of similar value.
The blessings they got from him were useful, but that was something everyone had. Hugo had wanted to give Nephis and Cassie, and even Kai and Effie, special gifts designed for each of them.
But he unfortunately did not possess anything like that in his soul sea, so he would have to make it.
'Grey Matter and Upgrade should be able to improve their memories or make something decent for them... Oh, there's also Brainstorm, and the other ascended aliens I have, which are great for craftsmanship.'
Hugo could not utilize his aliens comfortably in the manor, considering he would be risking destroying it and he did not want to make his friends homeless.
So he was saving his crafting for when he gets to the Dream Realm... Hehe.
'Oh right, there is something I could do here in the waking world.'
—————
The Fire Keepers had seen many bizarre things in their lives. From their days at the Forgotten Shore, to their journeys in the Chained Isles and the second nightmare.
But they have never encountered something as absurd as what they were seeing right now.
Hugo, the Paragon of Purity, the most popular man in the world currently, and one of the most powerful ascended, was currently standing in the backyard of the Immortal Flame Manor.
In front of him was a strange vehicle from before the dark ages. A truck.
Some of the Keepers had even claimed that they saw him summon the truck, which meant it was a Memory.
How he had gotten such a thing, no one knows.
But currently, he was surrounded by spray paint cans, specifically blue and black.
The truck itself was orange and white, and Hugo had started painting it.
Moreover, he had not gone about it normally. Instead, he had transformed into a small white alien that looked like he was made of fabric, and then, to everyone's shock, he duplicated himself into ten.
The clones each picked up a can of spray, and started painting the truck blue and black.
The process did not take long, considering there were many of the clones, and in around ten minutes, they fully finished working on the truck, while adding a blue and black hourglass symbol on the side of the truck.
One of the Keepers drinking their coffee early in the morning took one look at this, and decided to enter back into the manor, not even wanting to know what was happening...
—————
"Oof!" Hugo said, as he fused back with his Echo Echo clones and pressed the Omnitrix symbol, detransforming.
The color of the [Proto-Truck] had always bothered him. After all, orange was not a good color in Hugo's opinion. Blue was much prettier, not to mention it fit his style.
Hugo had wanted to buy a Memory that was capable of changing the colors of other Memories, but he unfortunately had no money to do so. And even if he did, no Memory like that existed on the market.
So, he did the next best thing and bought a lot of spray cans. Well, he didn't really buy them, but instead he simply asked the Fire Keepers to get him some and they happily agreed to do so.
'Now for the real test.'
Hugo closed his eyes, dismissing the Memory and then summoning it once again.
It was still blue!
"Yes!"
The spray had stayed on even after it was returned to his soul sea!
'Victory!' Hugo stretched, then he moved towards the truck, wanting to try it out.
But before he could get the chance, his Omnitrix suddenly made a peeping sound.
It was not because it had any errors, instead it was because someone was calling him. He had basically turned the Omnitrix into his private communicator.
It was one of the Fire Keepers, specifically Sid who he had encountered back on the Forgotten Shore.
He answered the call and brought his Omnitrix near his mouth, saying:
"Yes?"
Sid answered from her other side "Master Hugo, the Saint assigned with taking you to the Dream Realm has arrived. He is currently at the entrance of the manor, and I recommend getting here quickly. He does not seem patient."
"Alright, I'm coming. Thanks for telling me."
He closed the call, and looked at his lovely truck, sighing deeply.
"Another time my love, another time..."
With that, he reluctantly dismissed it, and headed towards the other side of the Immortal Flame Manor.
—————
Saint Gilead had experienced many eventful events this last year, being a knight of Valor.
The son of the King of Swords had escaped from his imprisonment and even became a Master, conquering the second nightmare.
The people responsible for his escape were now being pressured into joining Valor, which was only suitable, considering the damage Lady Nephis and her cohort had done to Valor, causing them to lose a citadel and hundreds of awakened, alongside two Masters.
But she had a way of paying it back, after all she had her Fire Keepers, half are ascended while the other half are awakened. A group of three hundred warriors, each exceptional on their own. Not to mention her main cohort itself, and the Ivory Tower which she somehow managed to gain access to, a feat that not even the King of Swords had managed to do.
All was going well, for a time, until the one known as the Paragon of Purity had returned from the dead, flipping the world on its head.
Such a figure, comparable to Changing Star in worth, was something the great clans were interested in. Especially considering that he was thought to be another wielder of a divine aspect.
The King of Swords had not given Gilead any instructions about the Paragon of Purity, however the elders of Clan Valor had told Gilead to make sure that boy doesn't join Clan Song.
War was coming and they couldn't allow Song to possess such a powerful piece.
For now, he was waiting to transport the Paragon of Purity into the Dream Realm, and tether him there.
Gilead was currently in the Immortal Flame Manor, staring at a painting of his childhood hero, Broken Sword.
He had always admired the first Saint of humanity and the immortal flame clan, despite the fact that valor was the main cause for their downfall. He often found himself lost in such thoughts, wondering how his life might have been different if he had joined the Immortal Flame instead of Valor.
Alas, such thoughts were not necessary... But they were nice to have.
Gilead turned his attention to the side, sensing a certain figure approach him.
It was none other than Ascended Hugo, the Paragon of Purity. The young man was certainly a strange individual...
His features were almost otherworldly, not in the sense that he was extremely beautiful, but in the sense that he didn't seem to belong to this world at all.
The young man also had an interesting device on his wrist, which was a manifestation of his aspect, if the reports were to be trusted.
The Paragon of Purity was desired by the great clans exactly for his aspect, which allowed him to transform into a myriad of creatures. The extent of his abilities and transformations was not known, but if he was able to do a lot as a sleeper, one could only imagine his current abilities.
"Hello, I'm Ascended Hugo." The young man said, offering a handshake.
Gilead accepted the handshake, and nodded "I'm Saint Gilead. I've heard a lot about you, young man."
The young man smiled, "Only good things, I hope."
"Naturally," Gilead said, as he finally broke the handshake "Let's not waste time now, we are both extremely busy. So come closer."
"Alright," Hugo responded, moving closer to the Saint.
Strangely...
Gilead could not teleport Hugo, like he usually does with other ascended.
"Hmmm, your soul is very strange, young man."
As he said those words, Gilead noticed that Hugo had stiffened. From his body movement, he could tell that he was hiding something.
Nothing could escape the sight of a Saint...
'That confirms it, he must possess multiple soul cores, just like Prince Mordret.'
The third divine aspect wielder had emerged, which was a sign that the world was definitely going to change.
'The King would like to hear this.'
Gilead got closer, putting his hand on Hugo's shoulder.
"Don't worry, it's not the first time I met someone like you."
He was not lying, he had felt the weight of a soul like this once.
And with that, the two disappeared from the waking world.