CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE DARKSENT, PART 4
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“No!” Dante croaked, his charged-up fireball almost at its zenith.
Arkanis glanced upward, looking straight in Dante’s direction. He cracked a smile and then his entire form distorted as he vanished. The next instant, he’d appeared right in front of Dante.
He extended a hand toward Dante but Dante was quick. He gasped and leaped backward making the split decision to repurpose his fireball for escaping. He propelled himself further back with a blast of flame by repurposing his fireball, gaining some distance on Arkanis.
“What did you do to them?!” he demanded.
Arkanis rubbed the back of his neck, still smiling. “I was running low on fuel,” he answered. “I needed a refill. But don’t worry, they’re not going to die. Not straight away, at least. But you…I wish I could say the same for you.”
Arkanis vanished again.
Dante gritted his teeth and exploded flames from the sole of his feet, launching himself upward, a bid to get away from Arkanis’ reach. This didn’t go quite to plan since he flew right into Arkanis and when he spun around to throw a punch, Arkanis seized his neck.
“Goodbye, Flame Child,” the monster grinned manically.
His eyes glowed and Dante started to feel the life ebb right out of him as shadow erupted from him and flowed into Arkanis. All at once, his entire body went limp so he couldn’t even fight against what was happening.
He tried to will his flames out of him, to blast Arkanis away. But his power no longer heeded him.
Then, his vision started to blur out of focus, the world distorting all around him as a coldness filled him. He knew at once that this was death, that it was all about to end.
He heard the roar, a declaration of fury.
The roar seemed to return the life to him. The world refocused. He realized at once that Arkanis had stopped draining him. Something else had gotten the monster’s attention.
Dante followed Arkanis’ gaze and sure enough, on the ground, engulfed in a frightening aura of purple energy, emanating incredible pressure that even Dante could feel from high up in the air was none other than Dang.
His doppelganger took a step forward and Dante felt an electrifying sensation.
What power is this? He thought to himself, his eyes wide both in awe and horror.
He looked at Arkanis and noticed that even the monster looked a little concerned. Dante seized the opportunity to break free. With Arkanis’ attention split, he found that he could move again. He clenched a fist firmly, engulfing it in flame, and then he slammed it right into Arkanis’ face, delivering a powerful right hook.
The punch sent Arkanis a few feet backward and drew the monster’s attention back to Dante. Arkanis snarled and made to lunge at Dante but in a single instant, Dang was there.
Arkanis froze at once, eyes wide with fear, mouth hanging wide open.
Dang had his arms folded, the purple energy coming off him in waves, his eyes glowing with it. He shot Arkanis a look of unmistakable fury.
“Die,” Dang hissed. He flicked a finger at Arkanis, and fired off an incredible explosion that seemed to rattle the entire world.
***
He’s on another level, Dante thought to himself, watching as Dang and Arkanis went all out.
Arkanis had rained down shadow spikes after shadow spikes but without expressing even the slightest bit of concern, Dang had dodged, simply by stepping around the spikes. His speed had gone up another level, but it was his strength that had become most frightening.
Once he’d gotten fed up with evading Arkanis’ attacks, Dang had surged forward. Arkanis hadn’t been able to process his speed quickly enough and so he couldn’t get out of the way to avoid Dang’s strike. Instead, he’d hastily summoned a wall of shadow to shield himself. Dang’s fist had connected with the wall and sent out an incredible shockwave that sent debris rising into the air and blew Dante a few feet backwards.
The wall had crumbled at once but Arkanis had put some distance between himself and Dang. The monster was no longer the cocky bastard he’d been just moments earlier. The fear was evident in his eyes and the manner in which he was attempting to avoid being on the receiving end of direct hits from Dang.
Arkanis was now levitating in the air, about twenty feet above Dang. He summoned a dozen spears of shadow and with the flick of a hand, he sent them shooting at Dang.
Dang glanced up at the incoming spears, scoffed, took a step forward. His form distorted and then he was gone.
He reappeared in the air, right in front of Arkanis. He had one hand in his pocket, and the other hand holding onto one of the spears Arkanis had launched.
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Arkanis froze. “What is this?” he asked hoarsely.
“Did you think you were the only monster on this world?” Dang asked. He chuckled. “You’re funny.”
He swung the spear. It connected with Arkanis’ face with the sort of force that sent out another shockwave and sent Arkanis flying through the air. He hurled the spear after Arkanis and it whipped through the air like a projectile.
Arkanis’ eyes widened and he hastily put up a shadow bubble. The spear struck the bubble and cracked it.
Dang shot forward and slammed a fist into the bubble, shattering it entirely.
Arkanis had been waiting with shadow daggers in hand and as soon as the bubble shattered, he made to stab Dang with them. Dang dodged with ease and slammed a fist into Arkanis’ stomach.
Arkanis gasped as the blow made contact, eyes wide, spit flying from his mouth. The impact launched him upward, sending him flipping uncontrollably.
Dang vanished and reappeared some distance above Arkanis, awaiting him. Arkanis flipped over, saw Dang above him and his eyes went wide in petrification.
What came next was a massacre. Dang unleashed a barrage of blows on Arkanis, faster than even someone like Dante could process. Back on the ground, to Dante, all he could see was blurry movement, flashing lights and incredible wind being generated.
By the time Dang paused, Arkanis had several holes punched into him and was missing a hand. He screamed furiously and swung at Dang with his remaining hand.
Dang caught the punch and spun around in the air. He flung Arkanis straight down at the ground. Arkanis hit the ground hard like a meteor, sending up another wave of debris and leaving a massive crater in the ground. The crater only deepened and expanded when Dang dropped out of the air, landing right onto Arkanis with crushing force.
The shockwave from this impact sent Dante flying, despite his attempt to shield himself. It sent both Daniel and Megan flying too and Dante had had to fashion ropes of flame to grab onto them and prevent any more damage to the two of them.
When the smog and debris settled, Dante made out Dang. His doppelganger was breathing heavily, staring straight upward. His clothes were tattered in places but he looked unhurt. All of his previous wounds had healed.
The purple aura was still engulfing him.
Beneath Dang’s feet, bruised, beaten and broken beyond recognition and twitching uncontrollably was Arkanis. His skin was no longer the pitch black of shadow. It was pale and cracked now, and his hair was a snowy white. His real form had been revealed.
“H-h-how,” Arkanis managed to choke out.
Dang stared down at him, his eyes fierce. He jerked a thumb at his chest. “I’m the strongest,” he declared, a proud smile on his face.
Dang glanced around and spotted Dante with Daniel and Megan, both of whom still looked in frightening condition. His expression became one of concern and he went toward them instead, vanishing and reappearing by them instantaneously, taking Dante by surprise.
“How’d you do that?” Dante asked.
“I don’t know,” Dang admitted. “I used Resonate like normal but there was something about it that was different. The energy got amplified too much within me, it took some time to adapt to it.
“What’s wrong with them?” Dang gestured to Daniel and Megan.
“He drained them,” Dante answered. He placed the back of his palm on both their heads. They were ghostly cold. “I don’t think they’re healing. He needs to undo whatever it was that he did.”
“I don’t think he can do anything right now,” Dang shook his head. He stared down at his own hands and raised one eyebrow over the other, his eyes shining as though he’d just considered an idea. “Can I, do it?”
“What?” Dante asked as he tilted his head to the side with an inquisitive look.
“I’ve still got all this excess energy that’ll take time to wear off,” Dang said. “I can pour it into them, can’t I? Undo what he did?”
“We don’t know that it’s safe. It could kill them.”
“They’re going to die if I don’t try,” Dang pointed out. “This is one of those situations where there’s quite literally nothing to lose.”
Dante considered for a moment then nodded in agreement. “Very well.” He rose to his feet and backed away from Dang and the two of them.
Dang gave him a nod and stepped toward Daniel and Megan. He extended his hands toward them and drew a deep breath. His eyes glowed.
And then, in the manner that shadow had flowed out of them and into Arkanis earlier, purple energy poured out of Dang’s hands, flowing right into the two heroes. At first, it looked like nothing was happening and Dante bit his lips in anxiety, praying silently that the two of them wouldn’t die.
It was Daniel who woke first, letting out a gasp as his eyes reverted to their usual state. Next, the color started to return to his skin. Then, Megan woke too, in the same manner Daniel had.
The two of them looked confused for a moment, with their eyes wild. But once they realized what was going on, they calmed down a little.
As Dang poured the energy into them, the purple aura around him seemed to thin. He was expending much of the energy he’d absorbed and amplified. By the time Daniel and Megan looked back to normal, the aura around Dang had thinned greatly so that it was just a little layer that coated his form.
He bent over once he finished and drew deep breaths, indicating that the effort had taken quite a lot out of him.
Dante helped Daniel and Megan to their feet and was surprised by how incredibly warm the both of them were to the touch.
Daniel flexed his hands once he was on his feet, staring down at his palm, an awestruck expression on his face. “I feel different,” he murmured. A smile crept onto his face and he let out an excited yelp, punching the air as he did. “Ah, thank God, I thought I was done, for sure! I was thinking about all of the things I didn’t get to do. Sheesh, can’t believe I almost died without ever trying a burrito.”
For a moment, there was silence as Dang, Dante and Megan exchanged looks, all three of them clearly surprised by Daniel’s line of thought. And then all at once, as if on cue, the three of them burst into laughter.
Daniel stopped his celebration and stared at them. He blinked in confusion. “Huh? What’s so funny?”
No one answered. They simply continued to laugh. After a few seconds passed, Daniel joined in on the laughter.
Their laughter echoed through the night and must have been heard for miles out. It’d started out as laughter of amusement at Daniel’s sheer insanity. But then it’d quickly turned to one of relief, of victory.
By the time the laughter came to a natural crawl, they were all on the ground, spread-eagled on their backs, exhausted looks on their faces.
Dante was the first to get back on his feet. He walked toward the crater where he expected to find Arkanis knocked out. But the boy was nowhere to be seen.
“Uh, guys,” he called to the others. “That little twit is gone.”
The others hurried to their feet then and joined Dante at the edge of the crater, peering down into the empty hole where shadow looked to have converged at the center of it, no doubt to teleport Arkanis elsewhere.
For a moment, their expressions were grim. But then, Dang shrugged.
“Eh, doesn’t matter,” he said. “If he comes back, he’ll get another ass kicking. I’m pretty sure he knows that.”
“So that’s it then?” Dante asked. “It’s over? We won?”
“Yep,” Dang nodded. “We won.”