"A Doppelganger?"
"Huh, what's that?"
The soldiers murmured. Balbaca, or rather, the doppelganger's eyes shook. However, it quickly erased the shock on its face as soon as it appeared and clenched it's teeth.
"You're talking about a type of extinct demon! The demons were kicked out of the world a long time ago. You're spouting complete bullshit!"
"Stop acting."
Asher put his hand in his pocket and spoke.
"Yes, there's no way to prove you're a doppelganger unless I use a special method. This special method requires some very particular ingredients, and what was interesting when trying to procure the materials in the territory, was that they were long banned from being circulated in the territory. Almost as if Balbaca the Great Hero wanted to shield even a demon. However, no matter how kind Balbaca was, he would never shield demons. Which only leads to one other conclusion."
Asher pulled a small pouch out of his pocket..
"Take it."
Asher opened the pouch. He dug around inside the pouch and sprinkled some gray dust in the air.
"This powder was processed with dried birch. You like it, don't you?"
(T/N : Birch is a type of tree just letting you know.)
"You! You! You!"
Balbaca struggled and yelled, but Asher's grip was as firm as steel.
"A Doppelganger is a demon that utilizes mana to mimic humans from their appearances all the way down to their memories. They were active back when the era of war was present, but they were supposed to have been driven out of the continent over 20 years ago. But, there was one fatal flaw with doppelgangers, since no matter how hard they try, they can never fully mimic or imitate another human being perfectly."
Doppelgangers were demons that knew how to mask their presence and appearance through the work of mana and were difficult to identify. However, during the warring era, they were eradicated after much difficulty and the humans finally developed a method to identify them easier.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Balbaca's figure started to twist and distort. It's right arm bent outwards in a sharp and unnatural angle and the shape of the human face contorted unnaturally. The soldiers' faces turned pale at the transformation happening in front of their very eyes.
"I thought he was just being crazy…."
Charon clenched his teeth and murmured under his breath. A dark and murky aura of mana started to creep up from the corners of the room.
– …you bastard freak, who are you?
A shrill voice rang out. The Doppelganger 's body shook as it spoke through the mana. Asher let go of his hand with a completely different expression of wariness apparent on his face. The Doppelganger frowned in a distorted form at Asher.
– How can you remember us, when our kind has been hiding for the past twenty years as you've said?
"Some people still remember."
Balbaca's appearance finally started to stop the transformation, showing the doppelganger's original form. The form of the Doppelganger was completely eerie. It had the figure of a human being, but had no facial features whatsoever, and was colored in a pitch black. Its one feature however, was a mouth that was sewn shut.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Oh, my God!"
The soldiers fell into panic at the frightening appearance. Boros and Charon fell into shock as they couldn't believe the hideous and sudden appearance of the demon species.
The Doppelganger glanced at them and then turned its gaze back to Asher again.
– You did a good job figuring that all out on your own. It's surprising that a mere human being child could do such a thing.
The thick and murky dark mana spread around the flesh of the Doppelganger.
"Well, then I guess we should reintroduce ourselves properly. I'm Asher."
***
'Is this the second time I've seen a demon in this life?'
The first one was a minor demonic species that fed off the shadows of individuals, but it was repelled right away by Van Ester, so there was no time to observe it properly. Asher looked at the watery figure of the Doppelganger wrapped around in a coating of mana.
There was nothing different from the past. The body and movement of the demonic mana were the same. Asher observed it closely as he didn't want to jump to any conclusions about it's strength, as it had been twenty years after all and he wasn't sure if the demons had evolved in any way.
The Doppelganger grinned maliciously and looked towards Boros as it spoke through the waves of mana.
– Hello, my proud son.
"…oh! AHHH"
Feeling his anxiety heightened to unreal extremes, Boros let out a shriek.
"My father… What did you do to my father?!"
– Your father? Oh that stupid, innocent idiot?
The Doppelganger laughed at Boros.
– He's probably just a pile of bones now.
"…Die!"
Boros took out the sword from the sheath by his waist and swung it, losing his reason. The Doppelganger blurred it's figure and reappeared right in front of Boros, as it struck its hand out and grabbed Boros by the neck.
"Young Master Boros!"
"You, you wicked demon!"
The soldiers grabbed their spears, but their young lord was caught by the Doppelganger and they didn't want to endanger their lord's safety by irritating the doppelganger with threatening movements. The Doppelganger lifted Boros' body by his neck and spoke in an irritated tone.
– It was very annoying to imitate your father. I've always wanted to kill you since you were such an annoying chore. Ah! but there was one thing that was fun.
The doppelganger laughed.
– Killing your father's lover. It was a lot of fun. Especially seeing your reaction to it when you were so horrified. It was so funny seeing you still think I was your father after that.
"…AHHHH!"
Boros screamed in anger and resentment at the Doppelganger. As this happened, Charon rushed in. In an instant, he narrowed the distance and slapped the hand away that was gripping Boros by the neck and kicked the Doppelganger square in the stomach. The Doppelganger was struck with the firm kick and flew into the wall behind them as Boros' figure dropped down.
"Father…."