The Howling Dark, Part 5

"If You're Finished With Your Round Table I'd Very Much Like To Get Back To Killing You So I Can Finish My Conversation With My Younger Self!," A Deep, reverberating, and angry voice hissed.

The three remaining protectors rallied around Aaron and prepared to fight for their lives. The Magnificent Ebony Goddess held out her hands which began to glow. The Pirate Captain swished his sword artfully through the air, a ripple of red following the path of the blade and vanishing the moment it stopped moving. The Priest who looked even paler than usual steeled himself and began activating a series of martial arts skills as he called out their names., "Limit Breaker... Ability Boost... Greater Ability Boost... Dull Pain... Reinforce Armor...," A dense aura enveloping him and glowing brighter with each skill he activated.

The face of Aaron's Doppelganger split in a sadistic grin before be spoke., "Martial Arts? You can't be serious! You can't beat me with your powers and you want to use fists... Are you seriously trying to make me laugh myself to ****?"

"It may be useless but we just need to buy a little more time.," Exclaimed The Goddess, her hands glowing even brighter.

The Priest and The Pirate Captain rushed forward with incredible speed while The Goddess remained where she was, firing volleyball-sized blasts of energy between them at their shared enemy. The Doppelganger dodged right with a smug smirk and was nearly impaled by The Captain's magnificent sword only to grab it with its clawed hand. While The Captain attempted to wrest control of his sword from the grip of the monster in front of him The Priest jumped into the air and spun, attempting to kick his opponent in the back of the head but this attack too was blocked by an oddly bent limb which caught him by the ankle and hoisted him up into the air before slamming him into ground with bone-shattering ****. The Priest tried to prevent himself from being completely crushed by the attack catching himself with his hands, the ground beneath him cracked and cratered, and The Priest himself winced in pain as he face contorted in agony but he didn't let that keep him from leaping free the moment he made contact with the ground.

The Doppelganger's head spun around and he hissed ominously with his eyes literally on fire at The Priest who bounded to his feet several yards away, blood dripped from both of his hands and the leg The Doppelganger had grabbed was visibly injured.

Meanwhile, The Captain who was still fighting to get his sword free took the opportunity to attack his distracted foe, thrusting his empty hand forward at blinding speed before drawing it back almost as fast. A second later, a series of loud booms like balloons popping could be heard and fourteen bleeding wounds opened along The Doppelganger's chest.

The Doppelganger roared in pain as the shadows around it writhed in pain and its head whipped around to stare at The Captain who manged to finally free his sword and leap up to avoid an explosion of inky tendrils. In an acrobatic maneuver that many would consider impossible, He performed a second leap up as if he were standing on something solid then thrust both feet out and flipped backward landing several yards back from where he had been.

"Acrobatic Fleas are still JuSt FlEaS In ThE END!," Came The Doppelganger's angry and distorted voice.

The Pirate smirked and stepped to the side just as an enormous blast came hurtling his way. The Doppelganger's fiery eyes widened just before the blast impacted, engulfing him in ravenous flame.

"Burn In HELL MONSTER!," Screamed The Goddess as she sent blast after blast flying his way. At the same time, The Priest **** his injured body into motion, running toward his burning adversary but before he could get close enough to attack several of the flaming tentacles began lashing out seemingly at random.

"Greater Evasion!," Yelled The Priest, activating another Martial Arts Skill which allowed him to effortlessly dodge the flaming, flailing appendages. A couple of back flips later and he was safely out of range. Both The Priest and his Pirate Comrade watched for any opening they could exploit when suddenly the feral, bubbling mass of darkness and flame stopped writhing and flailing, Its many tendrils falling limp all around it.

It remained unmoving for some minutes and it seemed like it might actually be dead but then the top of the creature's head burst open and began spewing a writhing liquid darkness all over the burning monstrosity's horribly deformed body, smothering the fire in a matter of seconds.

"SHIT!," Exclaimed The Goddess, smoke rising from her trembling hands., "I guess he's not The Prophesied One for nothing."

The bubbling mass of Living Darkness began squirming and contorting as it started to take on a more humanoid shape., "JuSt WhAt I'd ExPeCt FrOm ThE Kin'rit BlOoDlInE...," The hideous mound of shapeless black slowly resumed its original appearance as a taller, more muscular version of Aaron but with crackling azure-colored eyes., "You are indeed strong and if it was anyone else you would probably win but I am not just anyone I am... The Strongest!"

The Roar of Aaron's Doppelganger shook the entire space and Aaron's remaining protectors found it difficult to remain standing but they managed to stay on their feet., "I've Had Enough of You Annoying Pests!"

The three braced themselves.

"This Is Between Aaron and MEEEEEEEEEE!," Snarled The Doppelganger, an enormous sphere of Darkness coalescing in his left hand before transforming into a five foot long blade with a crackling red edge that appeared to cleave the very air around it.

"A Sword...," The Pirate Captain bellowed as he took a step forward., "... This is my wheel house Brothers and Sister."

But before he could do anything though, The Priest who had rejoined his comrades stopped him with a hand on his shoulder., "I think I'll go first if you don't mind."

The Captain was about to protest but his friend was already dashing toward the Aaron-esque horror with all the speed he could muster.

Aaron's Doppelganger smiled sinisterly showing his razor-sharp, shark-like teeth as he swung his sword out in front of him, leveling it at The Priest speeding toward him like a runaway train., "I know what you're planning Priest and it won't Work!"

The Doppelganger twisted his sword and raised it high into the air. The Priest stopped in front of his foe and lifted his arms into the air and crossed them, making the shape of an 'X'. The sword descended like a falling star, causing the air to catch fire, the space in the path of its downward arc to tear, and the ground beneath The Priest to quite literally explode in a small tidal wave of molten slag.

The Priest was seemingly unharmed as he blocked the sword. The sword on the other hand had been damaged, thin but still visible cracks had formed all along its length. As you are no doubt wondering, the reason why The Priest was able to weather such a titanic blow was because just a millisecond before the sword's impact he was able to quietly activate another martial arts skill., "Impenetrable Fortress."

The Pirate Captain who was right behind his much faster comrade activated a skill of his own to close the gap., "Shave!," He instantly blurred from view, vanishing and reappearing at random as he closed in on his target.

"I̶̻͖͓͓̖͊v̸͙͈̣̜͒̓̑o̴͉͚̬̅̃̊k̷̢͓̳̭̅̔̒͝... S̴̘̲̑̌e̶̪̮͂͗̅̎͝l̵̻͈͙̩̇͘͝ȇ̶̡̖̥̥̀̈́͑n̶̬̤͆̎ẻ̶͙̟̒̾͜͝... Now!," Yelled The Priest who was beginning to buckle under the sheer demonic aura radiating from his opponent's blade.

"Struggle all you want Priest but you know as well as I do that I am Inevitable!.," Aaron's Doppelganger sneered at the overwhelmed Priest who had been **** down to one knee, the heat from the molten ground causing his clothes to catch fire and his skin to blacken.

"Go! To!... Hell!... MONSTER!," The Priest roared, forcing his battered body back to its feet. At the same time, The Pirate appeared behind The Other Aaron and prepared to run him through with his Rapier.

Smiling, Aaron's Doppelganger dispelled his sword and grabbed The Priest by the throat as he spun to face the sneak attack head on. Using The Priest as a meat shield he was impaled on The Pirate Captain's sword. The Doppelganger's hideous smile grew as he watched The Priest violently cough up blood but the satisfaction he felt quickly faded when The Priest began smiling.

"I... [Coughs Up Blood]... Bet you didn't see this... [Coughs Up Blood]... Coming!," The Priest managed to get out, laughing once he finished.

The Pirate quickly withdrew his sword, causing blood to squirt everywhere and nimbly leaped backward. Barely a fraction of a second later, a loud screeching whistle could be heard and it was getting louder. The Doppelganger looked over to The Goddess who returned his fearsome gaze with one of her own... One of utter contempt. He looked up with a disdainful sniff and saw a massive volley of energy blasts descending on his position.

"Clever...," The Doppelganger snarled, lifting The Priest up to look him in his weary, half-closed eyes., "... But such tricks won't help you against Me!"

Without another word, The Doppelganger slammed The Priest into the ground and held up his blood covered hands, a nearly transparent dome solidifying around him as the blasts closed in. When the smoke cleared moments later, He stood unharmed.

Aaron's Doppelganger looked down at its feet and saw The Priest was gone. A visible shudder traveled through its rippling body and it sniffed the air dismissively before looking around.

The Pirate Captain had retrieved his comrade seconds before the volley had landed and was now at the side of The Goddess who was attempting to heal him with her power but that was of little concern at the moment because Aaron's Doppelganger found itself surrounded by three strange figures which had encircled it at a distance.

All three were dressed in nearly identical black robes adorned with red clouds and at least two of them had pale blank faces which were heavily pierced. There were two Men and a Woman who stood between the two Men. She bore long red hair while the Man to her left was bald save for the conical metal spikes sticking out of his skull. The last Man was a mystery, It was obvious he was Male from his build but his face was obscured by a hood that cast an impenetrable shadow over his face but the same eerie eyes as the other two stared back out of the dark.

Their eyes were the strangest thing about them... They had red sclerae and irides with a rippling pattern spreading over the entirety of each eye and nine comma-shaped tomoe.

"I See... So you've summoned more toys for me to play with.," "But what's this?... I only see three of the ten roads.," The Doppelganger cackled with amusement.