Chapter 137: New Task

"What do you want, Reaper?"

Hugo accepted the call, answering Jet immediately.

He too was in no mood for anything other than business.

"... We have a bit of a problem. There is a Category Three Gate blocking the path of one of the evacuation teams, guarded by a powerful Corrupted creature. From the initial observation, it is at least a Devil... however, it could also be a Tyrant. Winter can’t handle it alone. You, Sunny, and I are the closest, so... buckle up. Move south-east at full speed until you reach the rendezvous point. It’s about sixty kilometers away from your current position."

’A Corrupted Tyrant...’

Such creatures could be killed by Hugo, barely, back when he was a Titan... But he was no longer one.

He would need to damage himself greatly to repeat such a feat, and if he did that, the legions in his control would remain inactive for a while, causing lives to be lost.

’Perhaps sending the dragons would help... No... The dragon legion has received the most casualties out of all the legions so far... And distraction can’t really work here anyway...’

In other words, he’d need to go himself.

He sighed, letting his hand roam through his hair.

"Reaper, are you overestimating me? I know I’ve been helpful in this campaign so far and I do want to help with this mission, but are we enough to take on a Category Three alone?"

With Sunny and Jet, it’d definitely make it possible. But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the fact that Hugo would exhaust too much of himself in that battle.

"Worry not. We aren’t dealing with that Gate alone... A Saint is coming to help us."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Wake of Ruin? I thought he was busy."

Indeed, Saint Wake of Ruin had too much responsibility to join the campaign this early. Not only was he responsible for maintaining the government citadels, but also with defending other siege capitals in the waking world, specifically the Southern and Western siege capitals.

"No, actually. The old man isn’t joining. Instead, it’s a much more... good-looking Saint. Say, have you ever heard of Sky Tide of the White Feather Clan? You’re friends with Sunny, right? The two of them have history together."

’Tyris of the White Feather Clan...’ Hugo recognized her by her True Name.

The formidable Saint of Valor responsible for slaying Cormac to defend Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie in their escape from the Night Temple.

That caused a rather large political scandal that resulted in Nephis and the Fire Keepers joining Valor and, apparently, the banishment of the White Feather Clan.

Hugo had known about the second part from the espionage files that the government had on Valor. Only he, and people of similar rank, had access to said files.

And now, he knew that the White Feather Clan had been banished here.

"I do know of her... It would be interesting, fighting alongside a Saint."

"Indeed. Now then, I happen to be a little busy. So, I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point. Stay safe."

Soul Reaper ended the call, leaving Hugo alone with his thoughts once more.

But that was not the end. Alongside the rendezvous point, Soul Reaper also sent some other locations that had Nightmare Gates in them.

She had done so so that he could send his minions there.

Jet was one of the few people who knew that he was the master of the inhuman legions, and she was making sure to use those legions well. In fact, there was a whole government department made specifically to manage the battles of those legions. Of course, their job was to only locate the areas that had a lot of Nightmare Creatures and ones that were near human settlements. Hugo still had to do most of the planning on his own.

With a sigh, his shadow melted back into the ground beside him. Hugo activated his Omnitrix, and quickly transformed into Big Chill before jumping off the cliff.

At the same time, the legions of minions that belonged to his shadow were quickly reabsorbed by the shadow.

And somewhere far away, Hugo’s own minions moved to battle once again.

---

The lands of the Antarctic Center passed in a blur from Hugo’s perspective, as his soft blue wings flapped high, guiding him towards the rendezvous point.

’I have become much too accustomed to multitasking...’

His Spirit Body was helping evacuate people through the sea, while his mind was divided into four, controlling four different generals and commanding each of their legions.

Terrors are beings that spread themselves through the world. Some did not even have a fixed physical body, instead existing in multiple like a virus.

Hugo was one such Terror now. Granted, he was not doing so thanks to his internal powers, as both the Spirit Body and the [Crown of Falsehood] had been granted to him by the Nightmare Spell and they were the ones allowing him to perform such feats.

Yet it was exactly what his existence as a Terror needed, making him much more familiar with his existence as one.

The class Hugo was most proficient at using was Devil, as he had spent the most time as one.

He was decent at being a Tyrant, but not so much.

Titan was the class he had the least experience with, as he did not know how to control his powers at that class.

Terror, on the other hand... He was becoming very proficient at being one.

That aside, most of the journey was uneventful. He only had to kill a few stray abominations, which was not too hard considering he could drop down, grab them, fly into the sky, and drop them, allowing them to fall to their deaths.

By noon, the ruins of a small outpost became clearer to Hugo’s eyes. Down there, there were three large vehicles—the Rhinos—parked in the shadow of a broken wall. A handful of people could be seen gathered around a fire, having a cozy meal.

Hugo landed on the ground, causing the people there—who were likely the military cohort of Sunny, Winter, and Jet—to suddenly get up and summon their weapons, assuming he’s a nightmare creature.

He sighed. Such a reaction was to be expected from them.

"At ease, soldiers! He’s one of our own."

A voice resounded from afar. It was Soul Reaper, standing beside Sunny and Winter some distance away, having a conversation.

Detransforming could’ve done the job, but Hugo had found himself preferring to stay in his alien forms these days, fully abusing the Lifeform Lock feature.

He looked at the Irregulars Company soldiers with a cold expression, before folding his wings on his body, making them resemble cloth.

Calmly, he walked towards the three Masters, and realized that Sunny and Winter were engrossed in a conversation.

"I’m telling you, Mongrel is definitely not a lady. I’m one hundred percent sure."

Sunny said, with an annoyed expression.

"No, you and Reaper are wrong. Mongrel is definitely a woman, one that’s hot as hell as well."

A vein could be seen on Sunny’s head, however he choose to remain silent, and at that moment the three Masters turned their attention to the new arrival.

Winter whistled.

"Mr. Nightmare Creature... Can’t you release your Aspect already? It’d be a shame to hide such a pretty face behind such an ugly look."

Hugo shook his head.

"I prefer it this way." He turned to Sunny, looking at the young Master with a calm expression. "Hello Sunny. I trust you’ve been doing fine with your cohort?"

"Hello to you too, and... I wouldn’t call it doing fine, but no one has died yet so I guess that’s something."

Sunny could undoubtedly survive this campgain as his strength was already evident before the gate crisis, and now, thanks to this calamity, he has the chance to grow even more powerful.

His original five Shadows—Saint, Serpent, Shadow Symbiote, Shadow Carapace, and Nightmare—were already powerful on their own, with most of them being Transcendent already, besides Nightmare. But now they had the opportunity to grow even further, perhaps even reaching the Supreme rank.

The shadows granted by the Sacred Treasure were perhaps the most to benefita out of the Antarctica campaign, as some of them must have already reached the Ascended rank, granting Sunny a variety of abilities to fuse with and use. Granted, those shadows are weaker than his original five, but they were still useful in the sense that Sunny could wield a fraction of their powers by fusing with them.

Sunny still had other wells of power within him, such as his battle art, Shadow Dance, and the sorcery of weaving, which must’ve progressed a lot. He undoubtedly altered the Memories of his cohort.

His friend was growing powerful as well, which was a good thing. Hugo only hoped that Nephis and the others were also growing in power.

"Good to hear," Hugo said, turning his sight to the Gate.

It was placed right on top of a menacing mountain that loomed above them, directly situated on its peak.

"Any plans?" He asked.

Jet nodded.

"Yep. The Irregulars and us will deal with the minions, and Sky Tide will deal with the Tyrant."

Just as she said those words, Hugo tilted his head, and as he did, he heard the rustle of a thousand wings. At the same time, a large shadow covered the massive outpost.

Sky Tide of the White Feather Clan had arrived.