Chapter 111: Hugo? No, I'm Santa Claus!
After Sunny's shadows had slain all the Nightmare Creatures in the ruins of the Red Colosseum, Hugo landed the ship on the island and began harvesting the soul shards from the dead creatures.
He and Sunny split the loot, with Sunny taking 70% and Hugo getting 30%—which was incredibly generous, considering Hugo didn't really do anything.
While collecting the shards, Hugo examined the arena's runic array or rather, what little remained of it.
The enchantment it held couldn't be recognized anymore, but the format and the quality still held even after thousands of years, clearly showing that the sorcerer who created this array was a master at their craft.
It was similar to what Hugo had done in the Forgotten Shore, creating a runic circle to keep abominations away from human settlements. Of course, this array was far more powerful than his, not to mention one that possessed an opposite version of his array as it kept creatures in instead of keeping them out.
'How interesting. Enchanting a large area would require a very strong power source, and there's still some power left...'
Hugo had used the [Polymorphic Crystal] back then, but now, he did not see any such power source.
He tried using his shadow sense, but his wasn't as refined as Sunny's, so he could not sense anything aside from the ruins.
"What's wrong?" Sunny asked, seeing Hugo's thoughtful expression.
"I'm just wondering about the battery they used to power this runic array. It had to be at least Transcendent to do the job... You know what, Sunny, back away a little."
Sunny looked at him with a dubious expression. "Okay...?"
He didn't ask any questions and backed away from Hugo.
Hugo walked towards the centre of the arena and activated his Omnitrix, circling through his forms until he reached the one he needed.
He slammed the Omnitrix, and felt his body shift and morph once again. His body enlarged, his skin suddenly becoming metallic yellow.
In a flash of blue, Hugo became a yellow, ten-foot-tall alien with an armored, mechanical-looking body. His head resembled a Greek Corinthian helmet with two ear-like protrusions, giving him the distinct appearance of an armadillo. A gray tail extended from his back, and jackhammer-like appendages covered his elbows, wrists, and hands—making him look like a digging robot. Despite the mechanical appearance, every part of him was biological, natural to his species.
"Armodrillo!" Hugo shouted his alien name.
Sunny, from afar, looked at him with an almost annoyed expression.
"Seriously, how many forms do you have?! You shapeshifting bastard..."
Hugo thought about it for a moment, then answered.
"Thirty-eight for now!" Hugo shouted. "Alright, let's get to work."
Armodrillo possessed abilities and attributes that enhanced his physical body, and granted him the ability to shift his arms into either a drill or a jackhammer. The alien did not have many mystical abilities, but he had affinity to destruction and earth.
Hugo activated his ability and transformed his arms into a drill, before slamming the rotating drill to the ground, digging through it.
He went deep into the island, to the point Hugo was almost afraid he'd end up on the other side and fall into the sly below.
Eventually, he stopped, as his drills slammed into something he couldn't break.
Hugo grinned mentally, despite not having human lips to do so right now.
"Found it!"
Hugo detransformed, grabbed his prize and climbed upward using his hands.
"So, what did you find?" Sunny asked, intrigued.
"Oh nothing much, really. Just this little shard here." He showed the soul shard he had found in the ground—the very same one that powered the enchantment for this place a long time ago.
Sunny's eyes widened... "That's... A..."
Hugo nodded. "A Supreme soul shard! Indeed, Sunny, you are a walking luck charm! Remind me to always go with you on your expeditions!"
—————
The return to the Ivory Tower was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that Sunny was grumbling all the way there due to the fact that he wasn't the one who had found the supreme soul shard.
Hugo, on the other hand, was over the roof with himself. He had gotten a bunch of awakened soul shards that he could sell and a Supreme soul shard, which could only be dropped from a Supreme or Great being, something that he could never hope to kill as he is right now.
This Supreme shard costs billions of credits in the waking world, but Hugo was not an idiot. He was definitely going to keep it to himself for the future, for a very big project.
The shard itself seemed to have come from a Supreme creature, either a Supreme beast that Solvane had killed or perhaps a gift from the Lord of Light himself. Either way, it was Hugo's now.
As they finally reached the Ivory Tower, Hugo parked his [Proto-Truck] and got out of it alongside Sunny, then dismissed it as they headed inside the tower.
The two of them headed towards the tower after greeting the Fire Keepers there and ascended the floors.
They made their way to the first level of the tower and then went higher. Some of the upper levels were currently inhabited by the Fire Keepers. Due to the lack of space, Nephis and Cassie were planning to create small settlements on the other side of the pagoda for the Fire Keepers which was something Hugo was planning to help with in the future.
The second level, the third level, the fourth... Finally, they arrived at the fifth, second-to-last level of the pagoda. It was separated into many halls and chambers, some of which had been recently refurbished to serve various purposes. It all resembled the interior of a beautiful, but rather bare-bones manor.
Behind the door was a brightly lit hall that was made into a kitchen. Someone had put a lot of effort into either building cooking appliances or bringing them here from the waking world—the latter could only be done by a Master, of course.
Although most advanced technology did not work in the Dream Realm, similar to how it failed in the vicinity of Nightmare Gates, more primitive devices functioned perfectly well. There were expensive, but much more convenient speltech solutions, too. So while you couldn't really have something like an electric stove or a refrigerator here, you could have a wood stove or an icebox, as well as analogs that worked on essence.
Hugo also noticed several large crates of cooking ingredients, beverages, and snacks, which had obviously been delivered from the waking world by the members of the cohort.
He did not pay that much attention, though, because there were three people sitting at the nearby table.
They were Cassie, Effie and Kai, engaged in conversation, while Nephis was standing in front of the stove, stirring something that radiated delicious aroma, a generous amount of fried rice that was being cooked in a bowl-shaped frying pan.
Hearing their steps, the cohort waved at the two masters.
"Where did you two go? Oh wait don't tell me, let me guess... was it a secret lovers' date!?" Effie said, a hint of curiosity and mischief in her eyes.
Sunny scowled. "No. I will never be caught on a date with this guy."
Hugo gasped at this, offended. "Unbelievable! For your information, I'm considered a beauty by the standards of every species in existence. Just say you don't have taste, you gremlin. "
Sunny wasn't convinced by that at all.
"But seriously though, where were you two?" Kai asked.
"Nothing much, we just flew by the Red Colosseum and killed the abominations there... Well, technically Sunny did. I just tagged along to see him fight."
"Oh," Cassie said, realizing that sunny had fulfilled her request. "Thanks for doing what I asked, Sunny. It's really helpful."
The blind seer now could go and examine the runic array in the ancient arena... She would just need to be careful not to fall into the hole Hugo had made.
"No problem." Sunny said, taking a seat.
Hugo followed soon, relaxing into his own seat.
Effie looked at all of them for a while, before saying in an oddly calm voice, which was strange for the boisterous huntress:
"You know, this feels surreal... I remember when we were back on the Shore. Back then I would have never imagined that I would live long enough to become a master while also living in a tower made by a Daemon..."
"We really did come a long way since then," Kai said, also seeming nostalgic."Even if it was... A harsh road, to say the least."
"You know, I sometimes miss the simplicity of the Forgotten Shore. Back then there was no politics and no complications, just survive or be die." Sunny added, he too seemed to have a strange form of nostalgia for the forgotten shore.
Cassie remained silence, keeping to herself...
Hugo looked at the group with an uncertain expression.
He himself did not miss his time on the Forgotten Shore in the slightest... It was a very painful and traumatic era of his life, and he was sure none of the cohort did.
Feeling nostalgic did not mean you missed something but Hugo still couldn't grasp that feeling, at least not yet. He was happy with where he was in life right now. Some might call it the bare minimum but even that was a luxury for Hugo.
Nephis seemed to have finished cooking, and put a plate of rice in front of them, distracting them from the conversation.
"Thanks for the food," Hugo said, before devouring the rice.
The cohort went on to have a pleasant meal together, exchanging conversations and having a fun time. They were not laughing and smiling every two seconds, as some of the moments felt a bit awkward but still, Hugo was happy that he could be here with them.
After they were done, Hugo was about to get up to help wash the dishes but he suddenly remembered something.
"Oh right, I almost forgot."
Hugo partially transformed his legs into that of XLR8 and raced down to the lower floors, grabbing the items he had made earlier and returning a few moments later.
Hugo put the items on the now clean table and opened his arms.
"Tada! Gifts from yours truly. I know, I know, I'm awesome."
"Are those Memories?" Effie asked, looking at the advanced-looking items with curiosity.
Hugo sighed, shaking his head. "Unfortunately not. They are enchanted artifacts that are extremely powerful. It's a little something I call Galvan technology, which isn't effected by nightmare gates and nightmare creatures."
He grabbed the white and black sword hilt and threw it to Nephis, then gave the bow to Kai and the boots and gauntlets to Effie, before handing the leg bracelet to Cassie.
"Now, just pour your essence into them to charge the batteries and then think about activating them."
The cohort seemed confused but did so nonetheless, As they did, their eyes suddenly widened.
Nephis's hilt suddenly ignited a streaming white plasma from the hilt, shaping it into a blade of pure white fire.
Kai's bow unfolded to become a sleek futuristic bow. As he pulled the string, a green arrow suddenly manifested from nowhere, channeling the essence Kai had poured into the battery.
Effie had the biggest reaction out of them. As she wore the boots and gauntlets and activated them, they suddenly spread through her body mechanically, covering her entire body in a white, black and orange exoskeleton that connected the boots and gauntlets together The suit even covered her face, giving her the look of a truly menacing warrior.
Cassie seemed to have a more restrained as she activated her item, when she did, the blind seer felt the sounds of the entire room, making her gasp for a moment.
The item not only allowed her to subtly perceive the world without her aspect but it also gave her an affinity to sound, increasing her already heightened senses to a new level.
"Woah!" Effie shouted, moving around in her armor. "It's light as a feather!"
Kai tested the accuracy of the bow, testing its draw weight, draw length, eye dominance and flexibility. It was beautifully crafted and was decent in all of the archery areas, making it a solid pick for any archer even without its enchantments.
"It's incredible..." The archer was fascinated by his gift. Its main boon was that it saved Kai from having to constantly use arrows.
Nephis's reaction was... well, Hugo could not discern her reaction, but she did seem excited as she swung the sword.
"It's nice, thank you, Hugo." The silver haired girl said.
Cassie gave Hugo a smile. "Mine's good too. It should help me in combat and work Thank you."
Hugo was glad to see that everyone was enjoying their gifts, he had worked hard making them, after all.
"Hoho, I guess you can call me Santa Claus."
Sunny looked at Hugo for a long moment, then coughed.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?"
Hugo raised an eyebrow. "No? I gave them all something—Cassie, Effie, Kai and Nephis."
Sunny sighed. "I meant me, you dingus."
Hugo laughed. "Ah, you're funny, Sunny. Of course I didn't make anything for you... I already gave you plenty of stuff in the past. Besides, I couldn't really think of anything that would be useful to you."
Sunny gave Hugo a deadpan stare. "...Whatever, it's not like I want—" He suddenly couldn't continue his sentence, likely due to his flaw.
Hugo simply smiled. "Don't worry, Sunny. I will prepare something for you next time!"
"I hat-" sunny gronaed and walked towards nephis and helped her wash the dishes in frustration.
Meanwhile, Hugo looked at the time on his Omnitrix network tab, which he had calibrated to waking world time, and sighed.
"I would like to stay while you guys try all of this out, but unfortunately I have some business in the waking world. Sorry, you all."
"Alright, stay safe," Effie said, still drooling over her gift.
Kai and Cassie gave him a goodbye wave while Nephis and Sunny told him to be careful.
Hugo was still the centre of attention in the world, so it was likely everywhere he went in the waking world would be tracked and spied on.
Hugo simply nodded, parting ways with them and entering the gateway.
He appeared in the waking world where he had placed his tether—in his room.
Hugo dismissed the [Asura] mantle and took a shower, before wearing new clothes. He put on some jeans, a black shirt and a light blue jacket, alongside a cape, some glasses and a disposable face mask to hide his features.
He was not stupid enough to exit from the main door of the Immortal Flame Manor, considering there were still dozens of journalists and people outside. So, he transformed into Ghostfreak and slipped out of the public eye before reappearing in a closed alley.
As he did, Hugo detransformed, raised his Omnitrix, and activated the Network tab. He scrolled to contacts and called one of the few numbers he had in his phone.
Wake of Ruin.
"Hey, Saint Cor. I made my decision. Is it possible for us to meet right now?"