Chapter 70: Spirited Away
Hugo's Spirit, which had fused and transformed with the evolved [Spirit Seed], reshaped itself as it descended next to Hugo.
It shaped itself into the silhouette of a man, Then the essence it was made of reformed to become something else—it became flesh.
The transformation happened in an instant, and Hugo found himself standing before a peculiar young man.
He was Surprisingly handsome supporting a short beard and long blond hair that gave him somewhat of an Irish look. He looked young—no older than twenty-seven...
Hugo's contorted into a grimmice... for he recognized that man.
It was Gunlaug.
The Bright Lord of the Bright Castle himself. The tyrant who had committed countless atrocities upon the sleepers of the Forgotten Shore...
So many children gone... and so many more had their purity stolen away from them by this vile man.
But in the end, the Spirit Seed had consumed him, and now his body and soul had become a tool for Hugo to use.
It was quite a bizarre sensation, but Hugo felt no remorse for it. After all he had seen first hand what this monster had done and so it was only a fitting end for someone like him...
Hugo summoned the runes of the Nightmare Spell, which functioned due to the fact that the sorcery outside only restricted his ability to summon echoes and memories not his ability to check his runes.
He scrolled down to find the runes about the Spirit Body... But surprisingly, it was neither in the Echo section nor the Attributes section. Rather, it was in its own section.
Spirits: [Spirit Body]
Spirit: [Spirit Body]
Spirit Rank: Ascended
Spirit Class: Terror
Spirit Cores: [6/7]
Spirit Description: [The Spirit Seed defied the Laws of the Nightmare Spell. First, it merged irrevocably with the tyrannical Bright Lord, consuming his soul and will. Then, it gorged upon the myriad souls of a long-extinct civilization within the Crimson Spire, draining their power and leaving their weakened shadows to roam the Shadow Realm for eternal rest. And through this forbidden feast, it has undergone a cataclysmic evolution, shedding its seed form to become like its mother—a true avatar of a being greater than itself.]
Spirit Attributes: [Hunger], [Sacred], [Spirit], [Heartwood], [Phaseform]
Spirit Abilities: [Enthrall], [Harvest], [Soul Fruit], [Soul Weaver], [Bright Lord Legacy], [Awakened]
[Hunger] Attribute Description:
[As a child of Heart, its appetite for growth is insatiable. It must consume to evolve.]
Soul Shards: [0/6000]
[Sacred] Attribute Description:
[This Spirit is of a sacred origin, possessing a connection to the domain of Heart.]
[Spirit] Attribute Description:
[This entity exists as a Spirit. Its master can project their consciousness into it, directly controlling its actions and sharing its senses across any distance.]
[Heartwood] Attribute Description:
[This Spirit Core possesses numerous sacred qualities.]
[Phaseform] Attribute Description:
[This Spirit can shift between a specter-like form and a fully physical form at will.]
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[Enthrall] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can manipulate the minds of all creatures.]
[Harvest] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can absorb the souls of the fallen.]
Souls Harvested: [0/1000]
[Soul Fruit] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can transform harvested souls into Soul Fruits.]
[Soul Weaver] Ability Description:
[This Spirit can manipulate the souls of weaker creatures.]
[Bright Lord Legacy] Ability Description:
[Having absorbed the Bright Lord, this Spirit can breathe and maneuver perfectly underwater.]
[Awakened] Ability Description:
[This Spirit has the innate abilities of a carrier of the Spell.]
Hugo stared at the runes for a moment and than his lips curled upward as an excited expression appeared on his face.
How long had it been since he had gotten a good reward from the Nightmare Spell that he could use?
The newly evolved Spirit had not only reached the Ascended Rank, but it had also undergone a powerful evolution gaining two new attributes and two abilities in the process..
The [Spirit] attribute allowed it to function as a second body of sorts, capable of being controlled by Hugo across any distance...
That was a powerful ability, something that everyone in the Dream Realm, wether awakened or supreme would undoubtedly covet for their own.
Infact the very idea of having a second body was probably a dream to all awakened in history.
Its second attribute, [Phaseform], allowed it to shift between a spectral and a physical form, which was another added boon granting it greater mobility.
Hugo was strangely reminded of the infamous ascended hero, smile of heaven, nephis's mother who possessed such an aspect once before becoming a hollow.
'lets hope nephis won't take offense...'
There was also the fact that the [hunger] attribute seemed to grant the Spirit body the same innate ability of any divine aspect wielder which was the ability to form multiple cores. Although Hugo had paled when he had seen the [0/6000] soul shard requirement...
'looks like I'm not becoming a Titan in any of these bodies anytime soon....'
It was not a problem, either way, as being a Terror had a lot of benefits in the first place.
As for its abilities, they had remained the same , except for two new ones.
first there was [Bright Lord Legacy], which was directly inherited from Gunlaug's absorbed body, granting it powerful aquatic prowess...
It was not as flashy as the other abilities but it was certainly useful. If he ever left this nightmare, he could join the House of Night to receive numerous opportunities...
But that would have to wait for later.
As for its last ability... it was perhaps the most powerful and potent ability any creature could wish for in this era.
The [Awakened] ability granted the Spirit Body the innate properties of a carrier of the Nightmare Spell, no doubt inherited from Gunlaug—making it capable of not only wielding Memories and Echoes, but also receiving them...
And even conquering Nightmares.
Hugo wondered what would happen if he made his Spirit Body enter a third or fourth Nightmares... Perhaps he could find a shortcut to higher ranks through the spirit but he doubted anything would be that easy when the Nightmare Spell was involved.
"Now... the runes outside stop me from summoning Memories and Echoes... but they shouldn't be able to stop me from summoning a Spirit..."
He remembered that Sunny had told him that his Shadows felt more like a part of him than the Spell itself, and so Hugo assumed the Spirit Body would be no different.
Hugo willed the [Spirit] attribute to activate, and suddenly—
His vision split.
He was both looking at himself in his original body and looking at the physical Spirit body, which was gunlaug's.
It was a bizarre sensation, different from when he used Echo Echo yet inherently similar.
Even though his current existence was extremely bizarre and uncomfortable, he was still the most adaptable human—or perhaps creature—in not two, but three whole worlds and so, adjusting to his new form was easier than expected.
However through this whole exchange, Hugo was not heartless.
Gunlaug, just like the souls of the Forgotten Shore civilization, had been completely absorbed by the Spirit Seed.
Hugo did not feel that bad about it because of who gunlaug was... and also because of the Spirit Body's description, which stated that their shadows now roamed the Shadow Realm.
The same applied to Gunlaug, which meant that the real him was dead alongside his spirit and shadow.
Through the knowledge Hugo had gained from Sunny, Azarax, Eurys, and—most surprisingly—Dr. Joseph in his mad ramblings, he realized that after death, the shadows of all living beings were sent to a place called the Shadow Realm. How or why, he did not know.
But even with that realization, Hugo still felt uneasy whenever he looked at the Spirit Body he was currently possessing...
The body he wore had committed countless atrocities against children... including murder and other unspeakable acts he did not want to remember...
"No... no. I should stop being an idiot. I have to use this... It's my Spirit now, after all."
Taking one final look, Hugo gazed into the Spirit Body's eyes, as if addressing the echo of Gunlaug.
"May you find peace in the mercy of death, bastard. Even if you did not deserve it."
And with that, he summoned the Spirit Body into the physical world.
—————
In Joseph's laboratory, the mad scientist was preparing for another experiment on the being who had mantled Ben Tennyson, humming an upbeat tune as he prepared his equipments.
His objective was not to only break the being's mind, after all.
It was to find a way to unbind that hideous device from him,which was protecting his soul and body from being destroyed. And after that was done, he would tear out the spirit of this bizzare creature unraveling its identity.
And just as he approached Ben's hanging body, he suddenly froze...
A chill ran down his spine as he felt something terrifying crawl into the depths of his profane soul and mind...
It was so insidious and so fleeting that anyone else would not have even noticed... But he did, for her was the most dangerous forever king, even if he was not the most powerful.
And so he knew what he needed to do.
'I need to—!'
He dropped the tray containing the experimental tools and rushed toward the other side of the lab, heading for another strange device of his.
Said device was a mechanical chair as big as a car, fitted with a strange headset while being connected to another gigantic computer.
Joseph activated the device and sat on the chair, ready to put on the headset—but just as he was about to do so, he suddenly paused again.
"What the—?" He looked around in confusion, examining his hands as if he was a newborn infant. "What the hell am I doing?"
He got up with an annoyed expression, as if he forgot about his previous fear entirely. "I shouldn't be wasting time like this when such a fabulous subject is in my grasp."
And with that, he went back to experimenting on Hugo's body... completely unaware of the insidious hex crawling inside his mind.
————
It had been a few days since the bizarre incident, and Dr. Joseph had noticed many similar occurrences happening throughout the entire facility. He would occasionally find himself in strange positions, seemingly about to do something, only to forget what it was moments later...
Was he experiencing amnesia?
No, that was not possible. Even if he was a Corrupted-rank abomination tainted by the Void instead of a true Transcendent, he was still someone whose physical body was saturated with Void essence—which meant that no mundane disease could affect him.
'So strange! It's like I'm going insane all over again!'
It was true that Dr. Joseph had gone insane when he was first corrupted; however, that did not mean he would undergo it again—at least not until he advanced to the Great Rank.
And more importantly, it was not only him who was acting strangely. It was also the batch of Forever Knights assigned to this place... There were around a thousand of them, with most being Awakened...
And all of them were acting oddly as well, constantly gazing at the doctor for long periods of time, despite the fact that none of them had ever dared to meet his eyes before!
It was as if they threatening him...
But surely that was wrong, after all they themselves should be hexed by the sorcery the Forever kings had created. And so even if they were not tainted by the void like the higher ranked members, they still shouldn't be showing such strange symptoms.
'That's it! Something unnatural is happening here!'
And that thing had only started happening when he captured and brought ben Tennyson into his laboratory...
Joseph stomped violently as he made his way toward the captured body of Ben Tennyson and grabbed him by the face, nearly ripping apart his jaw.
"Tell me, boy! What the hell are you doing to me?!"
He screamed at the half-conscious Ben Tennyson, knowing for certain this abominable creature had done something.
The young man stirred slightly before opening his mouth.
"Nothing... I don't know what you're talking about..."
His voice was hollow and exhausted... clearly showing mental fatigue he had accumulated over the last two months of torture.
In any other situation, Dr. Joseph would have killed ben Tennyson, or whatever being was posssesing him, just to be sure...
However, this time, he felt inclined to believe the words of the helpless boy.
He was so precious, after all... So delicate and so beautiful...
even if he carried that abominable device...
'I... I should taint him with my seed... after I figure out how to take that watch off, yes that is the only way possible to make him mine...'
Joseph thought, letting go of Ben's face before resuming his work.
It was only natural that he was stressed especially considering that the plans of the forever knights was reaching its conclusion. And so he shouldn't let his anger and frustration on the poor boy.
After all, Everything was going just as planned...