The GATE Academy [Please read description]

Chapter 49: Doppelgängers

Following after Hayden through the labyrinth of Hiei's castle to the exit, we encountered several more enemies along the way. We ran into an airborne species of essentially demonic bugs that were reminiscent of the insectoid demons we ran into before during our battle at Kazekuya. I would hate living in Hell if it meant dealing with semi-sentient bugs the size of children.

Though we ran into a horde of demonic bugs, we continued to advance while those of us with area-consuming attacks proceeded to clear paths for us. Zor, Irakal, and I mainly took care of the bugs with our fire powers.

"Zor, put that down now!" Irakal scolded him as the giant ran with a scorched demon bug raised to his mouth.

Zor looked to Irakal as he bit into the midsection of the bug, who was actually still slightly alive. The bug twitched before letting go. Zor tossed aside said bug's body and chewed on what he had taken from it. I couldn't believe what... well, actually no, I could believe. This is Zor I'm talking about.

Zor shrugged as he finished chewing the insect.

"Too much salty and crunch, bitter taste after..." he said nonchalantly as we continued.

As we neared the exit to the castle, we stopped upon entering the room in which the exit stood across a large, empty floor. The room was silent, which threw most of us off. Everywhere we had been before was filled with the noise of snarls and screeches from the hideous monsters we had encountered, but now, it was silent.

"If this was a video game, I think this is the part where where the boss comes out..." Peyton said lowly, but due to the silence, it was heard by the group. I don't speak for just myself when I say that most of us agreed with him.

The doors to the exit opened up and... I walked into the castle.

After the clone of some sort of me walked in, he was followed by two towering figures: Zor and Irakal. The remainder of our group filed into the large room until it was evident that the entire group had been replicated. At first, our twins were exactly identical to us, but then, as if by some twisted magic, they all lifted their heads up the ceiling and closed their eyes, as if they were standing together in a light rain. After doing so, our replicas' skins tanned slightly and, upon lowering their heads and opening their eyes, the pupils of their eyes went entirely black. With this darker transformation, our duplicates carried airs of grave seriousness.

"Who are you guys?" I said, stepping up to the group.

"We are you." the group said in unison, each one matching the tone of our own voices.

I looked back to my fellow students and friends and nodded.

"I think we know what we need to do..."

After receiving a few nods in agreement, I faced back to our doppelgängers, finding that they had already started their assault.

I went for the one who I was most familiar with: myself. Everyone else did the same and, upon our initial contact with our copies, scattered in different directions. I personally engaged with my clone right where the two groups initially met.

I reared my back right arm and emblazoned it in a flurry of bright red fire. My clone did the same and, upon reaching each other, we both threw our punches at the other, our fists becoming locked together. I pressed into him with more strength, but I was met with equal force. With a yell, I forced an explosion of fire out of my elbow to propel my fist forward, but my clone did the same, resulting into a horizontal explosion from our fists.

I let up my attack and leapt back, just as the other me, I suppose I could call him Pseudo-Shizuo for now, did the same. I furrowed my brows as I scowled at this unexpected enemy.