The Howling Dark, Part 7

Tagaidō leaned into the attack and within a few seconds began to slow before beginning to press forward, turning his opponents attacks to the side and rushing forward., "Fifth Form - The Sword of Poison!"

Almost Immediately a form rose from behind Tagaidō and as it took form it became a creature of Titanic proportions. One might be tempted to describe this creature as a Dragon or a Hydra but in truth both descriptions paled in comparison to the terrifying being rising behind Tagaidō. It's body was so massive that it was impossible to see all of it at once. It was wider than a raging river and its gargantuan body stretched far into the distance and beyond sight. It was held up by innumerable pairs of mountainous column-like legs but by far the most menacing thing about this ferocious creature were its many heads. It didn't have one or two or even a dozen but thousands upon thousands with more and more rising up from behind Tagaidō by the second. Each head was nearly identical with slimy, sickly-looking greenish-yellow skin and cold, lifeless milky white eyes.

Once the creature had fully manifested itself, It towered over everything thoroughly dominating the landscape with its massive presence making even the largest mountains on Earth look like insignificant pimples on a budding Teenager's face. There was no true way to completely convey its grandeur nor the malicious aura that it gave off, making the air around it thick and heavy.

Every one of the many thousands upon thousands of terrifying heads all looked in unison in the direction of Aaron's Doppelganger and roared in complete unanimity and everywhere within the space reddish-white cracks and tears were forcefully ripped open like gaping wounds in the fabric of reality through which could be seen stars and beautiful alien skies but also to Aaron's shock he saw scenes from his own life and the lives of those that were trying so desperately to save him from the seemingly unstoppable horror trying to kill him or convert him... He wasn't sure which. He couldn't make any sense of what he was seeing as the scenes unfolding before his bleeding eyes came in overlapping disjointed ripples. Aaron wanted to look away but he couldn't.

Aaron wanted to cover his ears but he couldn't, The colossal beast's ear-splitting roar made him want to rip off his own ears and gouge his own eardrums out with something sharp so I guess it was really fortunate that he couldn't do that but it was still a horrifically painful experience and it didn't end there because from each of its many mouths spewed forth a strange phenomenon. It was somewhere between a fog and a flame but it was white, so blindingly white that it froze everyone that saw it in unblinking horror and seared everything its sublime radiance fell upon.

The torrent of misty white light washed over Aaron's Doppelganger and a sound like wood crackling in a blazing fire rose up followed almost immediately by a pained roar that shook the entire space. When the blinding light finally subsided The Other Aaron was in a ghastly state... The living shadows forming the basis of his clothes had evaporated under the onslaught while portions of his flesh had been liquefied and were dripping to ground like a leak in a broken tap but it was even worse than it first appeared because beyond the liquefied flesh could be seen partially petrified muscle and areas where the exposed bone appeared to be burning from the inside out and still there was a gaping hole in his ribcage where several of his organs could be seen but it was as if they were being gnawed upon by some unseen predator so even as he tried to heal himself he was constantly being devoured both within and without by unseen forces.

Despite the damage inflicted, The Knight who was watching everything with his strange eyes knew that this battle wasn't even close to over and that it would take much more than what his three subordinates could do to end the battle. If only he weren't already weakened by a massive battle before he entered The Howling Dark he might be able to subdue his foe or at the very least mount a better defense than the infantile resistance he was putting up now., "C̶̭̍à̴͈͌͜l̸̰̓ͅ Is Still ****, R̶̛͇̅͛o̵̰̿k̶̀͛͘͜͝é̶͉͎̀̈̔g̶̹̮̞̦̖̅̇ Is Badly Injured, Ş̷̠̲̖̪́̅͆̀è̸̮͕̟l̴̢͍̀̄̄e̴̩̽n̷̼̽e̷̢͙̭̋ Is Using All of Her Power For Healing, Ī̷̙͌̂́̂v̵̖͇̘͝ͅó̸̳̱̓̽̚k̴̢̬͈̰͂͌̕͝ Is Weak Away From The Sea, and I'm Afraid What Reserves I Have Won't Last Much Longer. What Should I Do?"

The Knight's thoughts came to a screeching halt as The Doppelganger's disjointed voice cut through the air like the slash of a sword through the yielding flesh of a Man's neck., "I-IS ThAT All YoU CAn dO?!," It was difficult for him to speak as his lower jaw was barely attached thanks to numerous corrosive poisons unleashed by The Demonic Sword Technique of The Nine Hell's Fifth Form, dissolving huge tracts of flesh while damaging and destroying everything else they came in contact with in an innumerable amount of ways. It was a testament to The Doppelganger's strength that it hadn't simply evaporated in the initial attack.

The gargantuan beast summoned by Tagaidō's Sword Strike quietly receded back into his shadow, several of the heads bowing in respect as they vanished from sight and with them the rips and cracks in the space their attack created. Tagaidō pointed his sword at his foe threateningly.

Meanwhile, Shuradō who lay on the ground in pieces was slowly putting himself back together... cables, wires, and veins reaching out to each individual component regardless of distance while the other gears and mechanisms shifted and repaired themselves as his robes and outer shell mended themselves.

Aaron's Doppelganger took a step toward Tagaidō who hadn't lowered his sword but the joint in his left leg was almost completely melted and in the process of taking the aforementioned step pulled free and toppled to the side with a wet thud but instead of tumbling forward a new lower leg sprouted swiftly from the rotten and bloody stump.

Aaron's Doppelganger **** his jaw back into place with bony fingers even as part of his bicep fell to the floor in a bubbling chunk and darted forward toward Tagaidō who didn't move. Aaron's Doppelganger found himself ensnared in wires before he could make it to where Tagaidō stood unmoving. Steam rose from where the wires made contact while a purple liquid dripped from the wires and a sound like a tender steak being seared in a hot pan could be heard.

The Other Aaron struggled against the high-tensile wires coming from Shuradō's fingertips and Shuradō fought to keep him from advancing. Tagaidō slowly lowered his sword and jumped back several feet a loud, shrill whistling sound shook the air and The Other Aaron looked up to see a black cloud of bowling ball-sized cannonballs rushing down on him from above. At the last moment, His body expanded in size, snapping the wires and allowing him to rush toward Tagaidō. He was **** to take an indirect route to his prey giving him the appearance of a rushing stream continuously changing course as flaming arrows, kunai and even more cannonballs rained down like a swarm of locusts in the desert, seeking to devouring everything in their path.

Aaron's Doppelganger growled in annoyance but he didn't quit advancing and in fact sped up, darting from side to side. He rushed forward while Tagaidō merely stepped to the side as a blast of flames materialized out of no where and bathed The Other Aaron in a scorching tide of fire. Shuradō ran forward and opened his mouth firing a barrage of kunai and needles at The Doppelganger's back at the same time a Katana-like blade emerged from the palm of each hand but before he could use them the ground erupted in a wave of black spikes that impaled the helpless Shuradō.

The Doppelganger sneered and pressed forward against the hellish flames but before he could do anything else five large spears skewered him like an all you can eat shishkabob platter. He gripped the spears as the flames died down and shattered them in his grip while tendrils of deep black licked at his back, removing the kunai and needles launched at him by Shuradō.

The Doppelganger slung his arm to the side like a whip, forming a scythe-like blade that was about to cleave Tagaidō in two but the sudden appearance of a pair of enormous spiked iron balls directly in the scythe's path slowed it just enough to allow Tagaidō to leap out of the way. Angered by the flies buzzing in his ear, The Doppelganger let loose a frightening roar and thrust his hand out in front of him and gripped the air. In a matter of seconds an enormous Chameleon-like beast materialized in his grip, its long whip-like tail lunged toward his face revealing a snake's head at its tip which opened its jaws wide, sending a torrent of flame and metal hurling his way

"THERE YOU ARE!," The Doppelganger hissed, twisting his wrist and ripping the creature's head off and tossing it over his shoulder like so much garbage. Chikushōdō who had been hiding in the creature's mouth to launch sneak attacks leaped free of the severed head and landed next to Tagaidō.

Shuradō who had broken free from his impalement and repaired himself, joined Chikushōdō and Tagaidō. The three of them faced their foe with Shuradō and Tagaidō giving the buxom Chikushōdō some space. Chikushōdō smiled cruelly, the first hint of any real emotion from either of the three since they first appeared as a series of explosions erupted behind the beautiful Chikushōdō and her companions. Out of the ensuing smoke appeared several huge animals of similar size with the biggest being as large as a twenty-story building but their size was the least intimidating thing about them oddly enough because each one had large deep red irises that took up the entire visible portion of the eye made of concentric rippling circles and a number of comma-shaped tomoe and even more shocking was that each was a horrifying abomination that looked like it came straight out of one of Frankenstein's Nightmares.

In the front were two Snake-Tailed Chameleons just like the one The Other Aaron had beheaded moments ago and on either side of the pair was a gigantic Two-Headed Oxen while behind them was an enormous Crab-like Crustacean and the largest of them at least in terms of height was a huge bird with a massive drill for a beak and encircling this monstrous horror show like a living wall was a absolutely titanic centipede about 150 Meters (492.1 Feet) long. The creatures were obviously deadly war machines and that was made abundantly clear as the two Snake-Tailed Chameleons ambled forward, their tails whipping about before slithering through the air, the same strange eyes present in their sockets. The two snakes flicked their tongues and turned toward each other before facing Aaron's Doppelganger and unhinging their huge jaws to reveal a massive Gatling Gun.

"Are You Ready Fam?!," For the first time Chikushōdō's voice could be heard and it was as beautiful as an Angel's Song and as malicious as a Demon's Curse.

Chikushōdō's summoned animals snorted and growled in response and began moving. The two Snake-Tailed Chameleons opened fire with their Gatling Guns, firing boulder-sized shot that exploded the moment it impacted with anything solid. This was it, Things would soon be decided one way or another and all Aaron could do was watch from the sidelines.

Talk about a captive audience.