Chapter Forty: Doppelganger
Under the cover of dark clouds.
The sky grew dim, and the rooftop of the teaching building felt especially tranquil.
A cool breeze whirled by, lifting the hair of Alice and Nagi.
The wind carried a damp scent, foretelling the heavy rain to come.
As Alice’s golden bangs were tossed by the wind, Nagi’s figure was clearly reflected in her eyes.
The golden irises shimmered under the dim light, dazzling like pure gold.
But her vertical pupils resembled those of some reptile, giving off a cold and mysterious aura.
In Alice’s view.
Neither Nagi’s charmingly dignified face nor her slender figure appeared distorted; there was no hint of magical energy surrounding her.
This made Alice silently breathe a sigh of relief.
—Phew, it’s great that she has nothing to do with this.
However, in Nagi’s dark eyes, Alice’s golden irises were reflected as well, her face showing a dazed expression.
Alice was not surprised by Nagi’s reaction.
Everyone who sees her eyes for the first time tends to show such a response.
—They must feel disgusted, right?
Alice averted her gaze and raised her hand to lightly cover that eye.
“I’m sorry! Did I scare you?”
—That’s good; even if this child dislikes me, it doesn’t mean she has to be my enemy…
“After seeing this, does Nagi still want to—!?”
A sudden surge of magical energy from behind interrupted Alice’s words.
She quickly turned her head.
From her diagonal rear.
The direction of the west teaching building.
A sudden burst of pitch-black magic seemed to ignite the sky.
—What is that magical response!?
“I’m sorry! Nagi, I have something urgent to attend to—!”
“Ah! Wait! Alice-chan!?”
Alice couldn’t afford to explain to Nagi at that moment and dashed off the rooftop.
Nagi watched Alice descend the stairs at an incredible speed, her starlit eyes returning to a calm demeanor.
Nagi raised her head towards the direction from which the magic had come.
“Verification complete.”
Nagi murmured in a low voice.
Alice Astrea.
In the original work of “Star Guide 2.”
Humans and fantasy creatures can combine and produce offspring.
Alice Astrea is one of those representatives.
With half-dragon blood flowing in her veins, she possesses golden eyes symbolizing the noble lineage of dragons.
In the game, she is referred to as the “Eye of True Sight.”
She has an extremely high spiritual vision.
At the same time, she can see through the magical energy within her targets.
From the description, it seems she can see through the disguise of any being with supernatural abilities.
But this ability is not as useful as it sounds.
First, if a contractor who has made a contract with a fantasy creature is just an ordinary person, then their body will not show any magical response unless they’re using the fantasy creature’s powers.
That’s why she couldn’t see Nagi’s true form just now.
The starlight in Nagi’s eyes does not belong to the supernatural; in fact, it cannot be recognized by ordinary people.
To others, her eyes appear to be just a slightly brighter pair of dark eyes.
This is a special skill she possesses as an evil player, merely a manifestation of maintaining “a certain state.”
In the confrontation with Alice just now, she successfully verified this, allowing her next plan to continue unfolding.
Of course, if she had been discovered earlier, Nagi intended to feign being a doppelganger and jump off the rooftop, placing the blame on the doppelganger.
What a convenient scapegoat~
“A doppelganger might be one of the worst matches for Alice~”
There were still many students in the school.
Alice wouldn’t be able to exert her full strength.
“But since DD-chan is also here, it can surely provide information on how to deal with it~”
Though an enemy that would appear in the later part of the original work.
With Alice’s involvement, there shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Fantasy creature, doppelganger.
One of the offspring of the pseudo-god pale spirit, and also its—betrayer.
……
……
In the corridor of the first floor of the teaching building.
“What… what the heck is that thing?”
Kanade, running wildly, couldn’t help but ask.
Meanwhile, DD-chan floated beside Kanade in its spirit form, serving as his eyes for the moment.
“That’s a doppelganger! Why has that thing returned?”
DD-chan’s voice carried a hint of panic.
As a child of the “mother,” it naturally knew well about the doppelganger’s past and abilities.
It should have been expelled from this city by its mother, yet here it is again?
“Kanade, there’s not much time left. Remember, once the ability wears off, absolutely, absolutely do not look at that thing’s face.”
“—Why?”
“Have you heard the saying that ‘if a person sees their doppelganger, they will die’?”
“That’s one of that thing’s abilities.”
“It can steal the appearance and body of those around it.”
“And the face is its true form.”
“If you see your own face from its true form, you’ll fall into a state of being tormented by death.”
“For a short time, you’ll always be under the threat of death!”
“Any unexpected event could lead to your demise!”
After DD-chan finished explaining, the duration of the ability finally ended.
Kanade’s perspective suddenly switched from third person back to first person, leaving him with a disoriented feeling.
He lost his balance and stumbled to the ground.
The strange sound of something half-human, half-monster scraping across the floor followed right after, leaving him no time to rest.
Kanade struggled to prop himself up, intending to run toward the courtyard of the teaching building.
In such moments, humans always tend to gather with their kind.
But the sound of laughter from students coming from that direction made Kanade halt.
“Damn it!”
After cursing loudly, Kanade turned and dashed toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
This was a very wrong decision.
To escape from such inhuman existence, one should distance horizontally, not vertically.
In the moment Kanade raced up to the second floor.
The doppelganger’s twisted and eerie figure climbed up the outer wall of the teaching building.
Its slender body shattered the window, crashing inside and abruptly blocking Kanade’s path.
Kanade skidded to a stop, scrambling to adjust his direction.
“Where are you going~? Why not come with me?”
A soft and familiar voice reached Kanade’s ears from behind.
It was Nagi’s voice.
“Damn it!!! You bastard! Don’t speak to me in that form!”
Kanade gritted his teeth and shouted angrily.
“Same feeling.”
Another voice suddenly rang out from around the corner.
The next moment, a spear made of bright red blood whizzed past Kanade’s ear, aimed directly at the doppelganger behind him.
But the latter twisted its bizarre body like rubber and dodged it.
Alice stepped out from around the corner.
Her golden eyes first scanned the scene before her, where a frantic Kanade was sitting on the floor.
The residual magical response still lingering on Kanade was clearly reflected in her eyes.
Then Alice’s gaze shifted to the being behind him.
That bizarrely humanoid form and indistinct face exuded an incredibly strange and grotesque aura in the dimly lit corridor shrouded in dark clouds outside the window.
Moreover, the magical response emanating from it made Alice frown involuntarily.
