Chapter 53: The Sisters

'That was unexpected!'

Aku said as he was deep within a pile of rock.

*Swift*

*Swift*

Aku forced his Aspect backward, propelling himself forward out of the wall he'd just been slammed into. He faced the two monsters before him, nearly identical in appearance. They both seemed around his age, with long hair and eyes devoid of color. Their strange clothing looked almost artificial, and small horns adorned their heads. One of the creatures grinned fiercely, locking eyes with Aku.

'Was that her ability that sent me into the wall? If so, do they both have their own, separate abilities?'

Aku jumped back, watching as the sisters clashed against each other, each trying to attack him from opposite sides. They both turned to him, raising a hand toward him. "Die!" they shouted in unison, and an ice spike shot up from the ground beneath Aku as he remained midair.

'Ice? From where?'

Aku surrounded his right foot with his Aspect before kicking the ice away with ease.

'Their Aspects are just like mine! Even though they're nearly identical, I can still see a slight difference between them!'

The sister on the right side of Aku's view had a rampant, rough edge to her Aspect, while the one on the left had sleek, smooth edges to hers. Aku landed on his feet, falling silent as he closed his eyes to focus on their Aspects. Even when he was young, Aku had always been renowned for his heightened senses. He opened his left eye, and his Shiryoku flared with intense power. His Aspect pulsed around his body as Kuroi Inazuma crackled across him sporadically.

"Come on…"

Aku smiled as he cocked his head at the twins. The two looked at him with smiles.

"Make your move monsters, I'm itching to kill one of you."

His cold demeanor had little effect on the twins, as the Smooth Twin's Aspect seemed to grow out of her body, spreading throughout the entire cave. The temperature dropped to below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

***

Yaki could see her breathe as she watched over her brother. She suddenly felt a cloth be thrown on her.

"Huh?"

"You're gonna need it, the lowest the temperature could drop is about -12 degrees."

"What!"

Yaki panicked as she put the heavy coat on, while Tarin remained calm.

"Don't worry we shouldn't feel the brunt of it! Most of it will be focused on their target."

Yaki looked back down at Aku.

"Can he survive these levels of temperature?"

***

'Feels like my muscles are freezing!'

Aku clashed with the sister who had the rough Aspect while spreading his Aspect around his body to prevent himself from freezing to death. He maneuvered his katana, driving the handle into the sister's face. Suddenly, a spike of ice erupted through her body, colliding with Aku's Aspect. The spike continued to grow, forcing him against a nearby wall of the cave. Aku focused all his energy on holding back what seemed like an unstoppable force.

"AHHHHHHH!"

His shiryoku burnt out as a flash of black lightning occurred where he was.

"We did it!"

The sisters looked over at Aku, who was stabbed through the lower left of his stomach. His frozen body appeared nearly lifeless, and the sight made Yaki quiver in fear.

"Is he dead?"

The ice that had frozen Aku then cracked as his breath became visible. He felt his sister's presence at the top of the cave.

'That bastard...'

*CRASH*

Aku went at a shocking speed, slicing the calm sister's head off and the rampant one in half.

'He brought my sister to watch.'

"HAHAHAHA! You know it's not too often we get visitors!"

Aku turned back, his hair now slightly frozen. He maintained his Aspect around his body, it was the only way to prevent his organs from freezing. Ice formed on his body, but it fell off each time he moved or his Aspect melted it away. His heavy breathing was visible in the cold air.

"Can you just die already?"

Aku was annoyed as he got ready, sensing the two sisters' Aspects still being very active. The Rampant one grew a new lower half as she stood up with a smile looking at Aku.

"None of them have been as exciting as you!"

Aku stabbed the object heading toward him at an alarming speed. He looked to see the dry, lifeless head of the calm sister, who had already regrown her head.

"He doesn't look half bad either! How do you think he'll taste?"

The Calm sister stared at Aku with more than just casual interest. Aku swung his katana toward the ground, sending the dried-up head flying. The two sisters stood facing him, their expressions vastly different. The rampant one then licked her lips, ready to speak.

"You're right he does look tasty, I think once we're done with him I'll do much more than just eat him!"

Aku ignored the grotesque nature of the beings before him. His Aspect flared up once again, visible to everyone watching. He bent his knees slightly, holding his katana in his right hand.

"Ladies,"

He appeared behind the two sisters in a blur.

"I'm not a piece of meat."

He swung his Katana at the Rampant Sister and his katana was fully engulfed by his Kuroi Inazuma within seconds. She ducked, attempting to sweep his legs. Aku jumped ever so slightly as he pivoted mid-air, he used his left leg to kick her in the face with unimaginable force. The impact sent her flying, but she pulled a stone wall from the ground to halt her momentum. As Aku landed, the Calm Sister directed a kick towards him. He let go of his katana, catching her leg in one fluid motion. Aku kicked downward, sending his katana flying into the air. In one swift motion, he caught it with his left hand and, without hesitation, sliced cleanly through the sister's leg. He tossed the severed leg aside. The Calm Sister hopped on one foot, as a new leg regenerated back into place in an instant. "Damn demon!" She said as the cave floor was then manipulated, shooting out rock beams that covered her arms completely in rock. The Rampant demon jumped back into battle with a blade similar to Aku's but it was made of ice and rock from the cave around them.

"You think you can challenge me with a blade?"

Aku asked his question with a cold tone as the three faced off once again. The Calm one to his right and the Rampant one to his left. His breath misted in the air as the ice on his body began to melt.

"So you can still keep up with us in the cold?"

The calm one asked as her Aspect fluctuated. This confirmed something for Aku.

'The calm one is the one I should kill first, she manipulates the conditions of the cave, explaining this cold air. The other is manipulating the cave's physical conditions, such as altering the position of the rocks or, as a way to enhance the calm one like creating gauntlets.'

The air started to feel like it was being cooked.

'It's nearly 100 degrees or more already!'

Aku clashed blades with the Rampant one as the Calm Sister attacked from behind. He maneuvered the Rampant sister's blade, causing it to stab into the ground and shatter.

"You were better off with your fists!"

Aku was sweating from what felt like nearly every pore of his body. The calm sister suddenly struck him at the back of his head, causing him to stagger. Quickly regaining his balance, he forced his Aspect into the back of his right heel, driving his foot into what he thought was the sister's face. But he soon realized that the Rampant Sister had caught his foot, sending him into a spin. Using his Aspect to halt his momentum, Aku swung his blade toward her torso.

*CLANK*

'Barbaric!'

Aku looked at the rampant sister who had caught his blade with her teeth. Rock formed in her mouth, trapping the blade, which she then ripped from Aku's hand. Aku drew back his right fist, enveloping it in Kuroi Inazuma.

"Hands off."

His calm words were soon followed by his fist slamming into the Rampant Sister's face. A flash of black and white surrounded them for a moment, and her jaw shattered completely. The Calm Sister forced the Rampant One's head down while using her rock gauntlets to try and land a hit on Aku, but she couldn't.

"Give up."

Aku dodged her attacks effortlessly as he was fully in the zone of the battle. He knew everything he needed to know about the two. Which one did what, and what the two's weaknesses were. Now all he had to do was finish it.

"NEVER! NOW SISTER!"

Aku felt the floor beneath him launch him upward in an instant. He leaped off the rock, already nearly 20 feet in the air.

'Where'd they go?'

Aku looked for the sisters using his Shiryoku and nose but couldn't sense them anywhere. They saw him however, they were together within the rock they had just shot up.

'This should kill him!'

*BOOM*

***

Yaki heard an explosion but she didn't see one, what she did see however puzzled her.

'Aku's not moving?'

She looked closely as it appeared whatever was surrounding Aku's body was burning off.

"What happened, Tarin?"

Tarin seemed almost enthralled watching the fight at hand.

"What just happened is your brother just survived the twin's strongest attack! When all the conditions are met for the two they can converge all of their energy to fill up the cave. When this happens they can create an attack that is nearly impossible to dodge!"

Yaki was still confused by his explanation.

"What does that mean exactly?"

"They spread all of their energy and then manipulated it to all collapse on its target! Your brother was just hit with all of the heat they had spread around the cave throughout this battle."

"How hot is that exactly?"

Tarin put his hand on his chin and thought for a second.

"If I were to guess, since the twins seemed rather flustered it would be on the lesser side so probably around 4000 degrees Fahrenheit."

The number brought nothing but horror to Yaki as she looked back at her brother who seemed to be half dead despite surviving the attack.

'He survived that?'

***

"Don't know when to quit, do ya?"

The Rampant Sister walked towards Aku like a wolf to its prey.

'If it wasn't for my recent practice with my Aspect I would have been nothing but a crisp right now…Still, there is another problem I have to deal with now.'

"Oh ho ho! DON'T TELL ME!"

The Rampant Sister yelled in excitement as she got right up next to Aku.

"YOU CAN'T MOVE! CAN'T YOU?"

'Shit! She realized!'

"Aku felt completely immobilized, having used his Aspect to completely nullify the attack that had just hit him. His Shiryoku faded as he dropped his katana to his side, and his Aspect core was thrust into a shock-like state, forcing his body to bear the brunt of it.

'What do I do?'

Aku watched as the Rampant sister stood right in front of his face licking her lips.

"You look even better when you're helpless!"

She licked his face slowly as he flinched slightly.

"Hey now don't start without me!"

Aku watched as the Calm Sister walked over.

'I'm gonna die.'

"Where should we start first?"

The Rampant Sister asked, feeling up on Aku's abdomen. Yaki looked away as she tugged on Tarin to do something, he ignored her as he remembered something only he knew of.

"I think we should eat those big strong arms of his, first!"

The Sister's giggles ran on repeat in Aku's mind.

'I'm gonna die? I'm gonna die? I'm gonna die? I'm gonna die?'

The Rampant Sister then brought his arm out presenting it like a fish on a cutting board, she began to bring down her arm like a knife.

'MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!'

"I can't wait to get a bite!"

She started to swing her arm down. Tarin flinched for a moment as he felt the need to step in; he bargained with himself, however.

***

-0830, October 6th, Ms. Ezzy's house-

Tarin lay with Delilah on his chest in her bed.

"Delilah?"

She groaned tiredly.

"I don't think I can go again Tarin, I need a little bit of sleep at least."

Tarin went red as he chuckled slightly.

"No no no, I need to tell you something."

Delilah smiled as she opened her eyes and looked up at Tarin.

"Yes?"

Tarin fell silent for a moment before continuing as he thought of Aku.

"The night I met Aku…There was something I didn't mention."

"What is it?"

"When I first came across him he was almost at death's door, the only thing keeping him going was the will to keep his sister alive, but when we got up to the roof…"

Tarin sat up slightly.

"...I could sense a darkness within him, a darkness I've only ever felt in one man before him. The only man that made me learn what fear was."

Tarin thought back to a demon known as "The Black Reaper".

"His Father."

***

Tarin looked down at the unholy sight of Aku's Aspect with a smile.

-Desperation-

*SPLURT*

The Rampant Sister's head exploded from a singular blow from Aku.

'What?'

The Calm Sister was in shock looking at Aku and her sister. Aku was in a state only the weak could touch, a state he found himself relying on so much throughout his life. Aku's dark and what now seemed like endless Aspect, made The Calm Sister quiver in fear as it brought about a sense of dread and hopelessness.

'Why does it feel like if I move I die?'

The Rampant Sister's head regrew as she fell to her knees, fear overtaking her at the sight of the true monster before her. His body remained functional only through the power of his Aspect. Kuroi Inazuma enveloped him entirely, with sparks of black lightning flashing around him. His Aspect forced his joints to move, compensating for the movements he had lost.

"I…."

Aku spoke as cold as ice.

"I will kill you 1000 times before you touch me again!"

His Aspect moved his foot forward as The Rampant Sister squirmed backward on the ground trying to move away. Aku's Aspect seemed to have been almost suffocating the two sisters. It was hopeless to try to do anything other than surrender. The calm sister stood behind the other watching in fear as her thoughts spelled out nothing but despair.

'This Demon is more of a monster than we are!'