Chapter 40: Friendliest Monster
Hugo's eyes fluttered open, his consciousness returning slowly.
By all means He shouldn't have been knocked out by a few cuts and shallow injuries as his Awakened Devil biology could handle far worse then that.
The true reason for losing his consciousnes t was the mental strain of his fighting against his flaw and the innate nature of the Herald imprint.
He'd used the Blessed Herald form for a whole month by now, The attraction to shiny things was a known quirk of the imprint that developed into an annoyance he'd managed.
It had never erupted into that ravenous madness before which made Hugo about What had been different this time?
What exactly were the strings he was so enticed by?
Looking up, he found six pairs of eyes fixed on him, their expressions ranging from wary curiosity to outright suspicion. He tried to move but felt a familiar, binding pressure.
A golden rope was wrapped tightly around his massive limbs which Hugo instantly recognized as Cassie's rope.
Hugo let out a sigh that sounded like steam escaping a valve.
"Really? You think this can hold me? It's a waste of a perfectly good Memory."
Sunny's eyes, sharp and assessing narrowed slightly "It's better than nothing Besides," he added, his voice flat "if you're who you claim to be, you won't mind staying in this position for a while."
Hugo snarled "Let me guess. Now comes the interrogation part ? 'Prove you're you?' 'What's your mother's maiden name?', quite frankly I don't think any of you knows that much about me in the first place."
Sunny was about to make a comeback but he realized Hugo was right leaving him speechless for a moment, then It was Nephis who spoke next, her tone as cool and measured as ever.
"Before that, why don't you assume your human form? You're… unsettling our newer companions." She gestured slightly to the three unfamiliar Sleepers besides Cassie.
Hugo went very still. The request, so simple for her was like a knife twist for him.
"I can't," he said grunting.
"What do you mean, you can't?" Sunny's voice was sharper now.
"I mean exactly that. I cannot turn into a human again, at least Not here in the Dream Realm."
It was the Truth, although they would be mislead by the fact that he needed to return to the waking world to regain his human form, not that he had to conquer a second nightmare seed and gain a new body.
Sunny studied him for a moment then glanced at one of the young men, who was unnaturally beautifully that it almost seemed like he was glowing .
The man gave a slight nod as if confirming something
"Start from the beginning, then," Sunny said, his voice colder now "How are you alive?"
It was A fair question. To them, he was a corpse that had just tried to kill them...
"Where do I even start…" Hugo began, shifting against the ropes. "you remember the mist creature that came out of the dark sea that night ?"
The trio—Sunny, Nephis, Cassie—all grew tense. It seemed The terrifying memory was clearly still engraved on their minds which was only natural.
"What about it?" Nephis asked.
"It's not that I was alive" Hugo said, meeting their gazes with his own red eyes . "It's that I died and then came back."
Sunny's eyes flicked to the handsome young man again, who nodded once more. "This is Kai by the way " Sunny explained tersely. "He can tell truth from lies, anyways, Continue."
"so you see, while I was dead, my soul was actually trapped in my soul sea which has strange properties because of my aspect. But unfortunately for me I wasn't the only in there, the hateful abomination had followed me there and so for a long amount of time, I played cat and mouse with it untill I managed to set up a trap for it"
Hugo grimmiced remmebring the unpleasant memory of the creature of nothingness...
"Long story short, I managed to kill it, then with a mix of lucky attributes and my aspect, I managed to come back to life"
Kai with his eyes widened nodded again confirming the truth.
"When I woke up" Hugo finished, his voice dropping slightly "I was a thrall for the Soul Devourer which was Inconvenient to me, So I burned it."
Sunny's face lost all its guarded composure. "You killed that fiend?! Alone?"
"It was using my body as a puppet and I took quite the offense to that" Hugo added.
Nephis absorbed his words before speaking again "And then you journeyed west? Alone?"
Hugo shrugged again "it was Bumpy ride sure, A Titan might have taken a personal interest in me for a while but I managed to survive, Turns out I'm quite the stubborn cockroach." he looked at sunny " Now, will you take this rope off before I have destroy it?"
Cassie, who had been silent for a while sighed then With a thought, the golden rope dissolved into motes of white Sparks.
Hugo rose to his full, imposing height and stretched, the motion unnervingly non-human.
He glanced at the silent Omnitrix on his arm a little with a new found... wary before returning his gaze to the six Sleepers. "My turn for questions, What have you all been doing?"
Nephis shook her head . "There is one more matter. Why did you attack us?"
There it was. The question he'd been dreading...
To explain the true reason was to lay his Flaw bare was the same as exposing his greatest vulnerability and although Hugo trusted nephis, Cassie and sunny, he did not feel like he wanted to share his flaw with.
"It's… complicated," he said, choosing his words carefully. "Each transformation I had is unique. The one I was using… caused me to have poor control of its instincts and I apologize for putting you in harm way." The admission stung his warlord's pride but less than he expected.
After all, He wasn't truly in his chimera sui generis imprint considering the lack of Abilities and such, but he wasn't truly human either, he was somehow in the middle making him a true mutant.
Quite fitting considering that was his innate attribute...
But even with all of this said, Hugo was truly sorry for almost harming them.
Nephis watched him for a long moment, her expression unreadable before she added "I would normally have no issue welcoming you back But it would be disrespectful to our new companions not to consider their opinions." She turned to the group. "If you'll excuse us."
She gestured to the second young man, who summoned a small, intricate orb. He tapped it and a sphere of distorted air encapsulated the six of them, silencing all sound from within.
"How rude," Hugo rumbled to no one In particular.
———
Inside the silent bubble, Nephis spoke first.
"So, what do you guys think?"
"I mean, he's your friend, right?" Effie said, stretching her arms with a yawn. "Seems quite harsh to ditch him right after he crossed an entire hellscape to meet you guys again But, you know, he also tried to turn us into bird food So I'm fifty-fifty about this situation"
Kai was next, his charming facade replaced by a hesitant expression as he nodded.
"I agree with Effie's… He did attack us even if he wasn't in control, But for what it's worth, he didn't tell a single lie just now. That has to count for something right?"
"Hugo is our friend," Cassie stated softly but firmly. " I think We should let him rejoin us . But we must discuss the… volatility of his transformations, of course."
Nephis nodded taking in their opinions which left only Sunny and Caster.
Sunny's face was a storm of conflict. Guilt, suspicion and a faint reluctant hope all brewing inside of him as he contimpliated the myriad of emotions in his mind.
After all he still blamed himself for Hugo's supposed death and now that his friend was alive once again... he did not know how to act.
Sunny Cassie's hand briefly touch his shoulder which made him relax slightly
Then Caster spoke, his voice respectful but the words never reached his eyes. "With all due respect, Lady Nephis, are we prepared to incorporate an uncontrollable element into our cohort? I acknowledge his might, but what value is a sword that cuts it's wielder? Our plan is too delicate and we are too close right now, letting him join might ruin it."
Nephis nodded briefly as she turned to sunny.
"And you? What do you think?"
Sunny scowled. "I'm a hired mercenary, remember? I don't recall getting paid to decide who should join your cohort or not."
"I still want your judgment on this " Nephis replied, her voice unwavering.
Sunny looked away for a moment, remmebring Hugo dead body at the base of the soul devourer and how he had buried it there...
"Fine... I say we let him in as long as he controls his transformations"
Nephis nodded. "Effie and Kai are neutral. Caster opposes and Sunny and Cassie are in favor while I side with them."
Caster bowed his head. "I understand your decision, Lady Nephis."
———
The sound-dampening bubble vanished as The cohort turned to face Hugo, who had been studying the bleak landscape with apparent fascination.
"Hey, Tentacle Boy!" Effie called, a forced grin on her face. "You're in!"
Hugo looked down at her, a low chuckle vibrating his chest which sounded quite terrifying
"I never doubted it, After all, who could refuse me? I'm the friendliest monster in the whole world!" He paused for dramatic effect.
"Two worlds, even !"
The cohort—aside from Caster—shot horrified glances at Sunny, their expressions screaming:
'There are two of him now?'
Sunny shrugged as a dark smile appeared on his face.
"We're on our way to kill a particularly nasty Fallen Devil, you're Feel free to tag along, of course."
Hugo's terrifying smile also widened.
"Never thought I'd hear you of all people excited about fighting a strong nightmare creature."
"A lot can change in three months," Sunny said, his voice slightly reminiscent.
"We should move" Nephis interjected, her voice cutting through the moment. "We've already lost enough time as it is."
Hugo and sunny nodded, stopping the short banter.
———
The cohort moved swiftly through the labyrinth, carefully dealing with any abominations that came in their way.
Truthfully, Hugo wanted to transform into a herald and just fly them back to the dark city but he decided against it for obvious reasons.
Which turned out to be a good thing because, As they traveled, Hugo had begun piecing together their story from snippets of conversation.
He learned of how they escapd from the Soul Devourer and then sailed the dark sea on a boat made entirely of carapace—a feat that impressed even him—and their arrival at the dark city.
Then, the story begun to grow slightly strained with each word...
He learned of how Nephis had begun her campaign in the outer settlement, providing food and cultivating fragile hope in the hearts of the sleepers who were considered dead. This he already knew considering he had heard a lot from the outer settlement hunters and how great lady changing star was.
But what had shocked them was that Sunny had left them midway, He had disappeared into the dark city living alone in the ruined cathedral for an entire month... Alone.
The wall that went up behind Sunny's eyes when that period was mentioned was absolute, hinting at how sensitive the subject was.
And so Hugo, respecting his friend's boundary stored the question away for a later time.
The reason was clearly tied to Nephis and her methods... Which he would have to learn more about eventually.
What was More pressing right now was their objective. Cassie's visions had revealed the existence of the seven unique Memories called the shard memories which are the keys to the Gateway.
The cohort had spent months hunting for them.
But funnily enough, the fallen devil they were going to kill was not one of the Creatures that held a shard memory, instead it was meant to be Sunny's recompensation for joining them on this expedition.
Hugo's interest piqued at the mention of The Black Knight considering it was on his own mental list of high-priority targets on the dark city, so The chance to help Sunny settle a personal grudge while killing the abomination seemed really inticing to him.
"Just remember," Sunny said to him as they discussed the topic "The killing blow is mine."
"Wouldn't dream of stealing your vengeance" Hugo replied noitcing that sunny seemed more deranged....
But internally, he was already strategizing on how to assist The cohort plan which was built around Nephis's light and Effie's incredible defense.
His own unique abilities could slot perfectly into that framework and thankfully He had a lot ideas when it comes to light.
———
Two days later, they entered the Dark City once again.
The cohort scaled the grey wall at dusk and took shelter in one of its watchtowers, just as Sunny, Neph, Hugo and Cassie had done a lifetime ago.
When dawn's pale light filtered through the eternal haze, they moved toward the ruined cathedral.
Hugo had spent the last two days listening intently as Sunny outlined the Black Knight's tactics and it's strange nature.
Soon, the cathedral's broken spires clawed at the sky ahead of them. The cohort halted a safe distance away, the weight of the coming fight settling upon them. The journey had been uneventful, thanks to Effie's guidance and the shadow Sunny sent slinking ahead to scout.
But the true danger lay within those stone walls.
Turning to them, Sunny's face was set in hard lines. "Remember—the final blow is mine. It's important."
Kai sighed, his charming demeanor frayed by tension. "Sunny, this obsession… is it truly necessary? Wouldn't discretion be wiser?"
Sunny offered him a smile devoid of all warmth. "Have you ever been gutted, Kai? I don't mean your feelings. I mean a sharp length of steel opening you up from navel to neck?"
The archer paled. "No. You… were?"
The smile vanished. "Yes. That bastard in there did it. Left me bleeding out in a pile of rubble. So, it's only fair I return the favor. Simple as that." The law of the outskirts, brutal and absolute, echoed in his words.
"Then how did you survive?" Kai whispered.
"Good Memories and Strong Attributes." Sunny's hand went unconsciously to his abdomen. "Most of me did, anyway." He shook his head, the anger a cold fire in his veins. "Enough talk. You know the plan. Hugo, you remember your role?"
The towering figure nodded, his red eyes glinting. "Disrupt and contain. Leave the finale to you."
"Then let's get this over with."
———
Inside the cavernous, lightless belly of the cathedral, darkness was a physical presence. It clung to the soaring pillars and swallowed the vast space whole. The weak beams from their lantern Memories fought a losing battle, only deepening the surrounding gloom.
Six humans and one monstrous ally stepped into the temple's maw. The silence was profound, a weight against the ears.
And then, Nephis's voice, clear as a bell, shattered it. "Now!"
She raised her sword. Not with a battle cry, but with an act of pure creation. A sun was born in the heart of the darkness. A silent, expanding wave of brilliant, purifying white light erupted from her blade. It did not push the shadows back; it annihilated them, scouring the grand hall clean in an instant.
Revealed, caught in the act of a silent, deadly lunge, was the Black Knight. A giant clad in slag-black armor, its greatsword—a slab of darkness given lethal form—already mid-descent, aimed to cleave the interlopers in two.
The plan held. The light had robbed it of its ambush.
But not of its speed or its terrible strength. The sword fell, a vertical executioner's strike aimed now at Nephis, the source of the blinding offense.
What could stop it?
The Dusk Shard could.
Effie was already moving, a blur of motion. She planted her feet, raised the legendary shield, and met the descending darkness with a defiance carved from stone and memory.
The sound was not a clang, but a catastrophic BOOM—the toll of a monstrous bell. The shield held. The stone floor beneath Effie's feet exploded into a web of fractures. A cry of pain and effort was torn from her lips as she was driven backward, skidding through debris.
The Black Knight, momentarily stunned by the obliteration of its shroud and the solidity of the defense, recovered with horrifying speed. It disregarded the staggered huntress, its hollow gaze locking onto Nephis. It shifted its weight for a second, obliterating strike.
But its timing was off. The new variable had entered the equation.
Before the devil could commit, a storm of fireballs rained down from above, not aimed at the Knight itself, but at the ground between it and Nephis, suppressing it's darkness even more.
They erupted from the shadows of the high ceiling, a sudden, jagged barrier. Hugo, having scaled the wall in his pyronite form during the moment of illumination was taking the role of a shooter.
The Knight halted, its charge broken by the flame but It was only a second of confusion.
A second was all the stone Saint needed.
A massive chunk of pillar, hurled with the force of a siege engine, smashed into the Black Knight's side. The giant staggered, not from pain, but from sheer, unexpected momentum. Through the cloud of stone dust, the Saint advanced, a relentless force of nature, her ruby eyes burning. She did not attack to kill, but to occupy, to press, to fulfill her role as the anvil.
The plan was in motion. The hammer would soon fall. And Sunny, wrapped in shadows and cold fury, was waiting for his opening.
———
The entire cathedral was jaggered and broken, a mix of white and red flames illuminating the burned stone structure.
Five exhausted figures were sprawled on the ground panting greatly as they tossed around [Endless spring] amongst each other.
Not far away, sunny was sitting atop the broken remains of the dark knight, his carapace shadow receding back into his shadow as he took large breath in.
They had done it, and just as planned, sunny had taken the final kill —with his shadow taking the strange dark core from its corpse— which left his face contorted with a smile despite how tired he was.
"That's creepy" Hugo said as he descended from the ceiling with a jump, still in his pyronite form.
"Said the Shapeshifter " sunny snickered as nephis tossed him [Endless spring]
Hugo rolled his non existence eyebrows and said
"so... now that your Vendetta is over, what's next?"
Sunny paused for a moment as he thought
"You should go with nephis and the rest back to the outer settlement considering gunlaug will definitely make a move soon... I'll join you guys in a while"
Hugo sighed
"Take care of yourself sunny"
Sunny In Response just waved at him.
———
The cohort minus sunny returned to the outer settlement, nephis and her cohort were instantly rushed with cheers and praises.
The sight was almost repulsive to Hugo, these people seemed to worship nephis almost as if they were under a hex...
'Hope is truly the most terrifying thing of all...' was the only thing that came across his mind...
Hugo knew that nephis was planning to face gunlaug and kill him which would probably end up in a big massacre causing a lot of death...
Deaths that Hugo could stop.
———
After sunny joined them, Hugo requested that they all gather.
Hugo exhaled as he looked at the six people in the room.
"I have a plan regarding gunlaug and his men but it's morally questionable at best..."
Sunny couldn't help but chuckle dryly
"oh please, what could be worse then causing an internal fight inside the castle?"
The rest of the cohort also seemed to share his thoughts process eagerly awaiting Hugo proposal...
Hugo summoned [Spirit seed] in his arm, which confused them even more.
"This is an echo... The echo of the soul devourer to be precise "
Nephis, Cassie and sunny eyes widened in shock as they quickly realized what Hugo was implying
"That's the big evil tree?" Effie said, raising an eyebrow "It's smaller then I expected..." her voice seemed to a little dissapointed for some reason.
"One of the reason that creature was harrowing is because it's an awakened terror capable of casting a mind hex. It easily was able to enthrall an awakened abomination and a couple of sleepers..."
Sunny expression hardened...
"You're sick you know that..."
Kai and Effie also seemed to frown deeply as Hugo continued speaking.
Sunny's reaction was a mix of his own experience with the soul devourer and the fact that he considered personal freedom as something sacred and so having a hand in stripping hundreds of people of their free will was not something he could agree to so easily...
"It's the only alternative. Either we lull them into cooperating with us or we kill each other, which side is the lesser evil to you?"
Nephis expression, while stiff was not as contemplative as Sunny's. She seemed to like the idea of not killing hundreds of people...
"Are you certain that it'll work?"
Sunny eyes widened as he heard nephis voice.
"You can't be serious..."
Nephis raised her eyebrow "im perfectly serious, sunny. think about it, if we can have gunlaug and his army join us without bloodshed then we would be able to conquer the spire with triple the forces we currently have"
Her logic was cold but sound.
And deep within, sunny knew that this fate was less cruel then starting a massacre but still, going through with this will shatter everything that he believed in.
"... How about this, gunlaug is the one in control right? Then I'll simply command my echo to enthrall him and he can command the other sleepers under him too cooperate with neph" Hugo said.
Appeasing sunny was not his priority but it would leave a bitter taste in his mouth if he had a fall out with him right now.
Sunny looked at Hugo with an unreadable expression, a myriad of thoughts on his mind.
Eventually he scoffed "Do as you wish..."
Nephis ket out an exhale of relief when she heard that, then she turned tl the rest of the cohort.
" does any of you object to this?"
Effie groaned " Honestly, I'm more interested in slaughtering the cruel bastards but you're right princess, having more numbers would boost our chances of getting the fuck out of here"
Kai had an uneasy expression "I suppose it's the lesser evil of the two..."
While caster simply nodded, not sharing his thoughts.
"that settles it then" Hugo said, smiling but that smile didn't reach his eyes "Let's go Enthrall a tryant"