shadow slave: Omnitrix

Chapter 174: Brought Down

Hex’s body hit the floor, and the dark sorcerer found himself unable to stand up, no matter how hard he tried.

It was as if gravity itself had turned against him and pinned him down to the ground, but no, that was not the case.

This was Albedo’s doing, who had changed forms once again. His body had grown and his head had enlarged, fusing with his torso and becoming a silicon-based lifeform, known as a Galilean, or Gravattack in simpler terms.

In this form, Albedo was a living planet — a large, bulky, reddish-brown alien with rocky skin, but a planet nonetheless.

But more importantly, in this form he controlled gravity and so, he crushed Hex into the ground.

Any supreme would have been able to use their will and resist his ability easily. After all, Albedo was a mere Transcendent titan and so he could not do much against demigods who can bend reality...

Hex, however, was not a true demigod. Albedo had realized that from their battle, and after thinking about it for a while, he wondered how he hadn’t seen it sooner.

The dark sorcerer had not become supreme, but instead he had turned into a corrupted abomination and then descended further into profanity to become a great beast.

His will was chaotic and unstable, unable to be guided properly. Moreover, Hex was clearly using his sorcery to improve on his abilities and will, showing how unreliable his will is without any augmentation.

Albedo had thought about it through the entire battle. What was Hex’s authority?

The answer was simple. He possessed no authority at all, how could he when he was a mere beast who had never been supreme before?

But that was the tricky part. Hex should have been able to develop an authority, or at least a pseudo authority over sorcery or another element, but he hadn’t.

That was because, even though Hex’s soul, body and shadow had been twisted by corruption, his spirit and mind had been protected from its madness, allowing him to exist in his current state.

He was using sacrificial sorcery—the same one used by ’heroes’ of the ancient past—to keep his mind and spirit sane.

Will was an expression of the spirit, and the mind was its conduit. Those parts fused with the aspect to form an authority once a creature reached the supreme rank, but Hex had attempted to trick his way into becoming a demigod and had failed — leaving his unholy will flawed and unstable, held together only by sorcery.

Albedo had managed to figure this out due to the fact that he was knowledgeable about beings of the supreme rank, and more importantly, Hex had told him about this mad plan once, a long time ago.

The sorcerer was not satisfied with the path of ascension, and so he attempted to harness powers from the path of profanity as well, much like the Nephilim of the ancient past... Of course, back then, Albedo had called him foolish and ignored his mad ramblings, writing them off as nothing but the crazed dreams of a sorcerer... But now, he had to swallow his pride and admit that Hex’s method of cultivating corruption had worked, flawed as it might be.

None of this mattered now, though. The sorcerer would take a long time to get up thanks to how messed up his will was.

The ground quaked as Albedo poured more soul essence into his gravitational force, pulling Hex down even more.

Hex’s will fought desperately against Albedo’s ability, trying to resist it, but it couldn’t. His will, which had already been weak and imperfect, was spread too thin between animating his body and resisting the gravitational force.

Albedo’s eyes darted towards the wall where Revel had been launched to...

The dark dancer was no longer there, which made Albedo smile.

’Smart move....’

It seemed he had underestimated the Transcendants of the war realm. In the end, they were smart — to a degree...

After all, they were the children of progress and development. And so Revel must’ve figured out Hex’s weakness as well.

***

A cloud of darkness entered the dark tower, which was destroyed and broken down now.

Revel manifested into a physical form and released her Transcendent transformation.

She needed to conserve her soul essence as the battle was long from being over.

Walking a little deeper, Lightslayer quickly found what she was looking for.

’Well aren’t you one big ugly bastard...’

It was the corpse of the great abomination she had seen when they entered the tower. It was still hung up in crimson chains, confirming her theory.

The body had gained new bruises and injuries in its various parts, which was impossible under normal circumstances as no one had been there to inflict them.

Hex had indeed been transferring his wounds to the corpse and making him invincible. No doubt through the help of his aspect and sorcery.

Now that she was taking a closer look, she noticed that there were runes inscribed on its skin which likely functioned as the runic array responsible for transferring the damage.

Strangely, there were runes inscribed on the walls as well, but they seemed to be unrelated to the beast.

’The runes on the great one must be for the damage transfer, but why are there runes in the walls...’

Revel had studied runic language numerous times in the past. Her mother had made sure to bring her, and her sisters, the best tutors in the world.

Even if she was not a sorcerer, this was still a skill that every Saint needed to have, especially one who was a princess of Song.

This type of runic language though... It was alien and fragmented but she could make out a few words.

[Long travel...]

[Lonely.]

[Slumbering deity.]

Revel did not know what that madman had written here or why, but she knew one thing. She can’t keep messing around any longer.

Hex would overpower Albedo soon and so she needed to cut off the runic array quickly.

Looking up at the hanged parts of the giant great beast, Revel sighed and summoned her tachi.

She jumped and cut off the chains holding each body part, causing them to fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

The crimson runes were still glowing though, which meant that the sorcery was still active.

’What to do...’

Then it suddenly hit her.

Why was she trying to solve this problem like a sorcerer, when she could simply solve it like a brute?

Brandishing her tachi, Revel stabbed the corpse, cutting it into even more pieces and ruining the sorcery inscribed on it.

Her blade was a memory of the supreme rank, a gift from her mother, so she could Pierce the flesh with a bit of struggle.

The crimson runes glowed one final time, and then they lost all of their brilliance.

***

Hex pushed against the gravitational force one final time using his will and broke free from its confines.

Hex floated once more and rushed towards Albedo like a missile, aiming to pierce his body and rip him in half.

Albedo’s body glowed with a crimson light as Hex passed through it...

The dark sorcerer expected to feel the rocky skin of the shapeshifting bastard, or perhaps the intestines... But instead he felt a sticky substance spread through his skin.

Stopping mid flight and looking at his body, Hex found himself covered in crimson goo...

The goo peeled off his skin and fused together, forming into a strange alien like shape.

"Wanna try that again?"

Albedo laughed at Hex, causing the sorcerer to jump at him once again. Hex’s palm found its way to Albedo’s body, obliterating half of it with ease.

But it had no effect, as Albedo simply reformed himself.

Hex’s chains transformed into a blade once again and he cut Albedo but that, too, had no effect.

The dark sorcerer looked at Albedo with a hateful expression, his eyes burning with malice and scorn.

"Very well then, two can play this game."

A crimson aura manifested around Albedo’s body, locking him in place. At the same time Hex started chanting something.

A staff made of bones appeared in a shower of dark Essence, glowing with crimson energy.

"Ag fin sil Naal dii fen."

Albedo’s Transcendent soul suddenly ignited on fire, something that was supposed to be impossible, but was somehow made so by Hex’s sorcery.

Albedo screamed in pain, feeling his soul sea catch on fire... His seven soul cores were shaking violently as the very soul essence within them was burning.

Before his soul turned to ash, a tachi stabbed Hex in the exact same spot he had been stabbed earlier...

This time, however, Hex felt the pain and the damage was not transferred.

"W-what..."

He ignored Revel, who was driving her blade deeper into him and looked at the tower.

A dark gleam appeared on Hex’s face, as He realized that his sorcery had been broken.

"You..."

Before he could do anything else, Albedo managed to break free from Hex’s sorcery and transform once more, becoming a creature of fire and magma.

A flaming fist found its way to Hex’s face, causing it to snap towards the other direction and burning half of his face off.

Revel assumed her Transcendent form and followed up on the attack, grabbing Hex’s body and lifting it to the ground.

She slammed the sorcerer into the ground again and again, then, she grabbed him and put him in front of Albedo, who had assumed the form of a pyronite.

"All yours."

Albedo’s hands grabbed into Hex’s face and he unleashed a torrent of crimson flames from them.

Hex’s screams were drowned by fire as his eyes melted in their sockets and his face turned into magma...

Before his head could explode, Hex called upon the last remnant of his will and sent out a shockwave that knocked both Revel and Albedo away in opposite directions.

Albedo tumbled through the ground and used his flames to catch himself.

Looking at the dark sorcerer... Hex was in a miserable state. His face was burning, and his body had a gaping hole in it. Within that terrible wound, all kinds of sickly poisons were spreading through his blood — courtesy of Revel’s blade.

The old man was already animating that body using his will, but now, he was practically running on fumes.

’Bastard... Even after all of that, he’s still standing.’

Hex was not even someone who had any combat related abilities. His aspect was made for sorcery, and his Transcendent ability allowed him to transform written runic sorcery into floating runes, creating his "spells"

In simple terms, his entire fighting style was a more complex form of shaping.

The type of sorcery he used was not too different from the ones the anodites used, which involved shaping and the Transformation of soul essence into a substance they called "mana."

Hex had used the body of the great beast as a way of transferring damage done to his main body to someone else, but that sorcery was destroyed and so, he was no longer invulnerable.

That should have made the battle easier, and it did, but they still haven’t found a way to kill him yet.

’What to do...’

Albedo’s soul was still damaged and Revel had received multiple blows by now. They were both in a pretty rough state and they likely could not keep this battle going for much longer.

Hex’s insidious will spread through the world once again, forcing Albedo and Revel to withstand its influence once more.

Revel and Albedo looked at each other, and then, Albedo formed a blade of fire. At the same time, Revel raised her tachi.

They both rushed towards Hex at subsonic speed and swung their blades at the wounded sorcerer.

Hex, blinded and burnt, managed to evade their combined assault. Their blades cut the air, leaving trails of fire and darkness behind them.

’He’s moving slower than before...’

Hex’s movements had become sluggish and slow thanks to Revel’s poisonous blade, allowing the two to match his speed.

Saints were not meant to fight against great abominations, but the two of them were no regular Transcendants.

Revel wielded an aspect with a darkness affinity, which was already rare in of itself. She also possessed the lineage of beast god which further enhanced her physical body and made her abilities even more potent.

Albedo on the other hand, was a Transcendent Titan who was capable of changing forms at will.

Albedo’s physical abilities put him ahead of Revel, allowing him to leave more cuts on Hex’s body, but Revel was far more skilled with the blade than he was, making it so her attacks always hit deeper.

As the two of brought down their blades again, Hex called upon the power of his aspect and manifested his chains, making both Albedo and Revel step back in a hurry.

Revel was slower than Albedo and so she had failed to evade the chains in time. The chains wrapped around her body and slammed her away.

Using the opportunity he had made for himself, Hex evaded another blow from Albedo’s fiery sword and landed a palm strike to his arm.

Flames and rock exploded everywhere as Albedo’s arm was completely disintegrated by that one single attack.

’Damnation...’

Before Hex could land another blow, Albedo opened his mouth and spewed magma on Hex, drowning him in liquid fire.

He then jumped backwards and launched flames from his feet, propelling him back and burning Hex in the process.

Getting a good distance away, Albedo shifted forms once again, turning into a Methanosian, known as Swampfire by inferiors, and regenerated his arm quickly.

Green liquid poured from his wound, and his arm was reborn in a few seconds.

’What to do...’

Lightslayer engaged Hex in combat again, stalling him for a while while Albedo thought of a plan.

’I could try becoming a To’kustar and stepping on him but that probably wouldn’t work...’

The bastard could still fly and stab him, so in this situation Albedo would just be making himself a bigger target.

Hex was strong for an abomination of the great rank, especially since he had protected his mind from the whispers of the void. He was not as powerful as great tyrants, but a combination of his abilities, sorcery and intelligence allowed him to be as strong as a great devil.

Albedo shook the terrifying thought from his mind and focused on the battle. He created a few seeds from his arm, then threw them, sprouting long vines that snuck up on Hex.

The vines grabbed his legs, stopping the sorcerer, and allowing Revel to stab him once again.

Hex grabbed her arm, and just as he was about to cut it off, Albedo grabbed the vines and pulled with all of his Transcendent strength, yanking Hex midair.

He slammed him to the ground beside him, and jumped on top of him. Albedo turned his hands into roots and wrapped them around Hex to pin the sorcerer to the ground.

Toxic gas spread from Albedo’s pores and seeped into Hex’s body, poisoning him further.

Hex struggled ferociously and cut off Albedo’s roots but just then, he noticed that something had changed...

The smell of the gas had grown fouler, as if it was... methane.

Albedo snapped his fingers, and the world exploded from all sides.