"Let them come."
The minions of Darkness - snarling drooling beasts with claws that could block steel and fangs that could tear flesh like it was butter - surged as one, a collective mind of evil. But he stood his ground, not flinching or betraying any sign of fear. A lesser man would have died from the sheer terror of it all he supposed, but a lesser man would also not find himself in this situation.
In a second, the first beast had reached him, claws ready to tear his head off and devour entrails. In the second after, the beast found the odd experience of seeing double that slowly slid apart. In the third second the next beast saw something shining in the moonlight before seeing nothing else. In the fourth second, the minions saw the spray of blood from the first two beasts.
They all paused, as if a silent command had been issued, and then they parted to make way for two more beasts clutching weapons. At last the shining death in his hands formed itself into a sword, straighter than straight and now tinged with a hint of red. He slowly bowed his head, a formal invitation for the champions to attack.
And attack they did. Coordinated, elegantly and brutally, they came at him with the grace and poise he would have expected from a ballerina, not beasts of the Darkness. Metal clanged with metal as he blocked their attacks, drawing them slowly away from the main body of the horde before him. But he had made his mistake at last. The Darkness didn't need to rely on numbers to win, and the beasts knew this.
Now surrounded by outcroppings of rock, the beasts bounced around, opening up new angles of attack to unleash. They came at him, as one, from different angles and swung. Their attacks were good, but the Darkness had assumed wrong, and he suddenly push off of the outcropping of rocks he had backed himself onto. The minions outside saw only sparks as the blades connected harshly for brief seconds.
It all faded away, and seconds evolved into minutes. A figure emerged, but the Darkness was not surprised to see him, it knew he had slain the two champions. The Darkness had fully expected him to do so, the question was the amount of time it would take. The minions leapt to attack, all of them at once, a surge of blackness so absolute it blocked the moonlight.
The beasts halted their attacks, dropping to the ground after stalling in mid-air. <We can sense your divine will ...>
It was an evil and oily voice that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere. <We can sense it, and the potential within you.>
"Then you know why I have come."
<There is more than one way to defeat an enemy.>
A chill settled in his shoulders, and it felt as oily as the voice speaking to him. "But death is usually the most absolute. I will do what I can, what I must."
<So noble, so brave, so heroic, and yet it will grant you nothing more than a death at the hands of my minions. A death so brutal, so gruesome that they will not be able to sing songs about it for generations to come.>
"Songs are not why I am here, not do I hold any fantasies about my death. I am here to end the threat you pose."
<And we can aid you with what you seek.>
And for a second, he saw the truth in their words. Enemies did not always have to be enemies, evil could be harnessed for good, as it had in the past. Should it get out of hand, someone else would rise to the challenge and finish it. "You would sacrifice yourselves to aid me?"
<We have never truly died.>
<Only lived in many different forms.>
As the spoke, the chills in his shoulders erupted, letting two black oily snakes emerge, their teeth oversized and glistening with saliva, their eyes glowing red. "So you are the Darkness."
<We are all the Darkness.>
He felt power and confidence. The minions were his to control, his will was now what mattered. His will was now what they would obey.
They were the voices of the Devil's Advocate, able to see things he alone could not. He bared his teeth. "They will try, and they will fail. Even without your help I can handle them."
"Let them come."
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