Chapter 172: An Old Face
An endless expanse of white stretched as far as the eye could see. The sky itself was cracked, and shards of nothingness leaked into reality like a waterfall. A familiar white mist blanketed everything, but something unsettling seemed to hide in its depths...
This was the Frozen Wasteland — or rather, its very edges.
The sky and the lands split at a crosspoint, separating the ashen volcanic lands of Ravenheart from the icy wasteland.
On the other side of the volcano, near the edges of the hollow mountains, a strange shape was protruding from the side.
It was a black tower, which had recently appeared after the fog of nothingness had retreated a little, revealing the the citadel... Or perhaps, the citadel had simply appeared that out of nowhere.
No one knew how the hollow mountains worked, and so anything was possible.
The dark tower was the citadel that Ki Song wanted to add to her domain, which would increase spread her authority in the hollow mountains and also the Frozen Wasteland.
A pool of blood crawled near the citadel before stopping and rising to the size of a human. The blood Transformed itself into the shape of a human boy, with beautiful golden hair.
This was Ki Song's puppet, who had arrived earlier than the other two.
A month like grey blue alien landed besides her,wrapping his terrifying wings around himself like a cloak.
On his chest, a red badge could be seen.
Of course, that was not the Omnitrix and this was not Ben Tennyson, nor was it Hugo.
It was Albedo, in the form of a Necrofriggian, otherwise known as bigchil by ridiculous fools.
And finally, a tall demoness landed beside them, her raven hair was long and dark, and two obsidian horns protruded from her head, curving slightly at the end. She had black, bat-like wings crowned with obsidian spikes that flapped beautifully. Her flawless alabaster skin and tenebrous eyes made her a beautiful demon or fallen angel.
She was Lightslayer, the dark dancer of clan Song and the daughter of Ki Song, who had assumed her Transcendent form.
'I sometimes forget human Transcendants possessed transformations when they reached that rank...'
Noble creatures usually only had one form, unless they had unique abilities suited for transformations.
But humans seemed to always gain a transformation of some kind when they Transcend... Albedo would have assumed it was to imitate noble creatures, but that did not seem to be the case, as humans were born before the great gods made noble beasts.
Their transformations seemed to be related to the nature of their aspects and also the nature of their world.
Looking at the citadel, Albedo's senses as a Titan felt the presence of a great abomination nearby
The queen was suppressing her authority, but the beast was not and so picking off its presence was easy.
"It's merely a beast, so it wouldn't have an authority, right?"
Rebelasked looking at her mother.
Ki Song shrugged.
"Depends on what kind of creature it was in the past. If it had been a noble creature of the beast class than no, it wouldn't have had an authority. But if it had been a supreme, than it would most likely retain traces of its former power."
"Great... Simply wonderful."
Revel sighed, and at the same time she summoned a memory in the form of a tachi.
Albedo on the other hand, simply walked forward without summoning any weapons.
Ki Song stood behind and observed the two closely.
Revel glanced at Albedo and said in a calm voice:
"You can change forms at will, correct?"
Albedo nodded.
"There is a limit to how many forms I have, but yes."
"Then, do you have any form that isn't affected by true darkness? My aspect would most certainly blind you if I use it during the battle."
Albedo thought about it for a moment, then he touched his stabilizer and changed forms.
His smooth moth like skin turned ashen and grey, and dark carapace of stone poured from his flesh, encasing his body in a dark mantle.
Two crimson flames lit in his eyes, before they were encased by a dark helmet as well.
Albedo exhaled, as he assumed the form of a stone saint, one of Nether's children.
At this rank, he would be called an onyx saint, but alas the difference barely mattered.
Albedo manifested a blade made of darkness from the depths of his heart, and a shield to accompany it.
Revel glanced at him for a few moments then turned her attention towards the citadels.
"Very well then, shall we go kill a great one?"
"That we shall do, daughter of song."
In the blink of an eye, both of them disappeared — or at least, they moved so fast that it seemed like they were teleporting.
Ki Song remained outside, but the further she spread her supreme senses, the more she realized that something was wrong.
'... This might be interesting after all...'
Of course, she was not risking the life of her daughter as she was certain that she could save her in case anything happened, but still, this was a strange twist of events.
***
Albedo jumped high into the sky, leaping over the tall walls of the citadel and landing in the inner keep with a loud thud.
Revel on the other hand, simply flew over the gates and landed gracefully on the ground.
The dark tower was the center of the citadel and it was likely where the gateway was located but it was not the only thing in the citadel.
There was a large space between the gates and the tower, and that space... It was filled with corpses.
Countless corpses of various nightmare creatures was laying around, torn apart savagely by an unknown force.
Albedo and Revel walked forward, not caring about the destruction around them.
"Strange. It seems like there was a battle here." Revel smelled the fresh blood and continued. "Quite recent too."
"Great ones are known to be territorial by nature so this doesn't surprise me. It must've slaughtered all of the other abominations and claimed the citadel for itself."
Revel was not terrified by the scene, after all she had seen far worse in her nightmares, however she was curious about something.
"It's not unusual for nightmare creatures to kill each other... But it is weird, you know. Those abominations are one and the same, and yet they keep killing each other savagely."
Albedo raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about, heir of beast? We creatures of the flame kill each other all the time, sometimes for no reason at all. Those creatures are no different from us in that regard. Just because two beings are of the same nature doesn't mean they wouldn't harm and tear each other apart. "
Revel shrugged at his words, despite the fact that there was merit to them.
"No matter, the great one would still die all the same, regardless of why it had slain those abominations."
They went deeper into the keep, passing by more corpses.
The citadel itself seemed to have been a fort of some kind, a long time ago. Perhaps it was a military outpost in a long forgotten mortal realm, or perhaps it had been the castle of a sorcerer.
That would explain all the destroyed traps.
Albedo and Revel finally reached the entrance of the tower.
From this distance, the tower looked like a skyscraper rising towards the heavens to challenge the gods themselves.
'Whoever built this must have been quite bold...' Albedo thought.
After all, the skies had been sun god's domain once and he did not take lightly to anyone who challenged his authority.
The daemon of hope could attest to that.
"Give me a hand."
The two of them pushed the gates together using their Transcendent might. It refused to budge at first, but after they augmented their bodies with soul essence, the doors quaked and moved open.
At this point, the unusual pair was expecting a giant nightmare creature to jump at them at any moment. But none of that had happened yet, strangely enough.
When the doors fully swung open, and light crept into the room... There was a shocking scene.
Albedo and Revel backed down and raised their weapons, ready to flee, or fight.
In front of the two was a massive nightmare creature, with four wings protruding from its back and seven horns on its head. Its body was masculine and enormous, like that of a terrifying demon...
But that was not what had terrified them. What did was the fact that it was dead...
The great beast had been torn apart, its legs, arms, torso and head hung together in ethereal crimson chains connected to the inner walls of the castle.
Below the massive hanging corpse was a figure hidden in shadows, floating in a meditative position.
It seemed to be a man, with grey skin and black and crimson robes. His skin was inscribed with inky black tattoos that gave off an eerie feeling — as if looking at them for too long would cause a seed of corruption to spawn within one's soul.
"... What is the meaning of this..."
Revel was not easily shocked by anything these days, but this had deeply disturbed her.
There was only a few individuals capable of killing a great beast and taking over a citadel on their own. They could be counted on one hand though, and this person was clearly not one of them.
"Identify yourself, whoever you are. You are trespassing on the domain of Song!"
"There is no point in shouting, Lightslayer." Albedo took a step forward. "That person is not a man, it's a creature of corruption."
His senses had not failed him earlier. He had indeed felt the nascent will of a great one, except he had been wrong about one thing.
Albedo had thought he would be battling an abomination of the ancient past, one that he did not know, nor had any relation to... But he had been wrong.
It was someone he had briefly met during his time in the realm of beast.
The dark sorcerer, Hex, who was once a Transcendent champion of the beast realm.
Except that had been hundreds of years ago, now Hex was no longer a mere Transcendent, nor was he a man...
He had become a creature of corruption, a great beast.
At that moment, Hex's eyes opened, revealing the darkness within them. A darkness so deep and so revolting that it made true darkness seem pitiful in comparison.
It was the darkness of corruption.