Chapter 215. To the Dungeon of the Doppelganger (3)
There was a legend that meeting one's doppelganger meant death, and that wasn't entirely baseless. Only a rare few doppelgangers could mimic someone simply by observing them without killing them, and those few were all extraordinarily powerful beings.
But this case was a little different.
"Sir Luke, are you certain of what you saw?" Caron asked Luke quietly.
They were talking about a doppelganger of Cain Latorre.
If what Halo had said was true, that Cain Latorre's corpse lay in the North Sea,then his doppelganger shouldn't have existed in the first place. That was why Caron assumed Luke had simply mistaken someone else for him.
However, Luke shook his head firmly.
"He wielded the Imperial Sword more perfectly than the current Imperial Guards. And most importantly... it was unmistakably Sir Cain's face," Luke answered.
"Sir Cain lived over fifty years ago. Couldn't you have been mistaken, Sir Luke?" Caron asked.
"...There is a portrait of Sir Cain in the underground halls of the Imperial Guards' headquarters. I have seen that face more times than I can count. I swear it's the same person," Luke answered.
"Well now... Isn't that interesting?" Caron remarked with a chuckle.
The thought of a doppelganger walking around with Cain Latorre's face left him quite amused. Reincarnation was already absurd, but to reincarnate and then run into his previous life's doppelganger... That was a rare experience indeed.
"He carried Rigor in his hand," Luke added.
"So, judging by the circumstances, he's their leader?" Caron asked.
"That's my assumption," Luke answered.
"Hmm," Caron responded.
He had no idea how the bastard had managed to take on Cain's form. He'd have to see it with his own eyes to believe it. But if what Luke said was true...
Was my grave robbed? Caron thought. He couldn't rule out the possibility that Cain's grave in the North Sea had been desecrated.
No matter how skilled a doppelganger was, unless it absorbed the corpse completely, its imitation wouldn't be perfect. If that doppelganger truly wielded the Imperial Sword flawlessly, as Luke claimed, then it could have absorbed the body as well.
While Caron was chuckling in disbelief, a cold voice murmured from behind him.
"...How dare he insult Sir Cain Latorre's honor...?" Amy said in a voice laced with anger. She had admired Cain since childhood, and the very thought of a doppelganger imitating him was enough to set her blood boiling.
Caron, however, only shrugged and remarked, "What does it matter whose face he wears?"
In the end, he just had to cut off the bastard's head.
Pulling two vials of elixir from his pouch of dimensional space, he handed them to Amy, then said, "Amy, take care of the wounded."
The dead could wait. Right now, the living took priority. The Imperial Guards who had been trapped in the banquet hall were in terrible shape. It was a miracle they were still breathing.
"Thank you so much," Luke said as he accepted an elixir from Amy without hesitation and drank it down. Then, he slumped to the floor, saying, "I need to cultivate my mana for a moment to stabilize my core."
"We'll stand guard, so take your time. The other knights should do the same," Caron suggested.
The surviving Imperial Guards nodded silently and settled into their stances, beginning mana cultivation.
Thud.
Caron planted Guillotine into the floor, then clenched and unclenched his fist.
Seeing that, Leo muttered in a low voice, "You good? You look kinda pissed."
"No, I wouldn't say I'm pissed... More like... I'm looking forward to it," Caron replied.
"To what?" Leo asked.
"They say he's wearing Sir Cain Latorre's face. Our grandfather killed Sir Cain. If we end up killing him again, wouldn't that mean we've executed him across three generations? That sounds fun," Caron explained.
It was a joke that only Caron could make.
Leo clicked his tongue and shook his head, then said, "You're out of your damn mind."
"Thanks for the compliment," Caron said.
A doppelganger's combat strength depended not only on the dark mana it held, but also on the abilities of the corpse it had absorbed. If that doppelganger had truly absorbed Cain Latorre's body...
...That could be dangerous, Caron thought.
This wasn't an opponent to be taken lightly. Even Luke, who had reached 7-Star, had been overwhelmed without being able to put up a proper fight.
Cain Latorre was an 8-Star knight, and if the doppelganger was also wielding Rigor, the legendary sword, then countless unpredictable variables could arise. Variables even Caron couldn't anticipate.
"Leo," Caron finally said after some thought. "If anything happens, take Amy and the Imperial Guards and retreat."
"What about you?" Leo asked.
"There's something I need to check," Caron answered.
Leo gave Caron a long, scrutinizing look. He had no idea what was going on in his cousin's head. He couldn't tell if Caron was angry or genuinely intrigued.
...Caron has been strangely fixated on Sir Cain since he was a child, Leo thought. It was something he simply couldn't understand.
Cain Latorre had died protecting the Malevolent Emperor. Even though his grandfather had later caused the man's legacy to be reassessed, to the Ducal Family of Leston, Cain had been an enemy.
Leo had no clue why Caron was so obsessed with that person, but one thing was certain.
That face... If I leave him alone, he's bound to do something reckless, he thought.
Their grandfather had asked him to stop Caron whenever he attempted anything crazy, so there was no way he could just stand by and watch.
Leo let out a quiet sigh, then shook his head slowly and said, "If we're going to kill him, let's do it together. I can actually be of use now. If that bastard is the leader of the doppelgangers, you might not be able to handle him alone."
"So you're staying?" Caron asked.
"You've said that we're in this together, you idiot. If I leave you behind, you'd hold it over my head and nag me for three years straight. No thanks," Leo answered.
"Oh, so you're staying just because you don't want me to nag? I won't this time, I swear," Caron replied.
"...Seriously?" Leo asked, surprised.
"I'll only nag for one year. Given the circumstances, I think that's fair," Caron answered.
As always, the two cousins exchanged jokes, easing the tension between them. People like them found comfort just in each other's company.
Guillotine, Caron called out internally.
"Stop rushing me. I'm still sending mana your way," Guillotine said.
They had slain a great number of doppelgangers on their way here. As a result, they had absorbed a substantial amount of dark mana.
Caron closed his eyes and quietly took in the mana that Guillotine sent him. The Ocean Conquest Arts thrived in situations like this, distributing the mana from Guillotine swiftly throughout his body.
Whoosh.
Caron focused on the flow of mana, keeping his eyes closed.
After a while, Guillotine's low voice rang in his mind, giving him a warning. "Owner."
Caron slowly opened his eyes, asking, "Oh? Is that bastard coming all the way here so I wouldn't have to look for him? How considerate."
Just in case, he had spread Pluto's mana throughout the corridors.
Someone had just stepped into its detection range—someone who had dark mana. Not just any dark mana, either; it was pure and undiluted.
The intruder moved toward the banquet hall, neither hurried nor slow.
Caron pulled Guillotine from the floor, a sharp grin spreading across his lips as he stepped forward and said, "Nice to meet you."
The corridor outside the banquet hall was filled with smoke. And from the far end, a gust of wind rushed forth.
Swish!
A sharp slash of dark mana cut through the space, and massive crescent moons rushed forward, devouring the surroundings.
However, they were invisible moons. It was impossible to tell how many there were or where they were flying from, their trajectories unreadable to the eye.
But Caron knew those moons well.
How could I not know about these moons? he thought.
These moons were the same ones that had risen on countless battlefields over fifty years ago.
They were Cain Latorre's moons... And once, Caron Leston's own.
On the surface, the swordsmanship appeared flawless—an impeccable sword technique where neither the moons nor the wielder behind them could be seen.
Caron's eyes gleamed as he remarked, "If you were going to imitate it, you should've done it right."
In truth, those moons weren't perfect. Fifty years ago, perhaps Caron wouldn't have noticed their flaws. But after all this time, he could see them clearly now.
Whoosh.
Azure Mana gathered along Guillotine's blade, a foreboding, dark blue glow forming at its tip—its aura was chilling and ominous.
"You were just a damn faker. And here I was, thinking you were something," Caron said.
The dim lights inside the castle were swallowed by the doppelganger's moons, yet Guillotine's glow remained unwavering.
Rumble!
Cain Latorre's moon was a technique only Cain Latorre could truly complete. But this thing—this doppelganger—was not Cain Latorre.
Its moon lacked the hatred Cain's Moonlight should have carried. It was merely a hollow imitation, nothing more.
It didn't carry the hatred that Caron had developed from living his entire previous life as a slave. Evidently, the doppelgänger couldn't imitate even Cain's emotions.
And so, Caron swung his sword down with a grin.
Squelch!
"Did you really think pulling at my emotions with that face would change anything? You cheap knockoff bastard," Caron remarked.
The energy wave of his slash split the corridor in two, cutting through the formless moons.
And in that instant, the doppelganger's true form was revealed. It had a familiar face that bore a startled expression. The person had dark hair and deep black eyes.
"...Did I look like that?" Caron asked himself. He couldn't even remember his own face from his previous life.
The visage flickered in front of him, but Caron merely shook his head with a smirk. It wasn't a face worth remembering.
The past didn't matter. The present did.
"Did you think replicating me would send me down memory lane? How predictable. You always were a boring bastard, Demon King of Havoc," Caron remarked.
"My name is—" the doppelganger began, but Caron didn't allow him to finish his sentence.
"I don't care if your name is Cain or whatever. You're just a doppelganger, you worthless parasite," Caron interrupted.
Guillotine gleamed.
The white sword in the doppelganger's hand slowly turned black. Petals drifted from the blade, slicing across Caron's skin—but his grin only widened.
"Putting on quite the show, aren't you?" Caron remarked.
It was an opening, a gaping weak spot.
Caron thrust his blade forward.
The doppelganger's white sword pierced through Caron's side, but he only smiled, his smirk dripping with malice.
"You know, the beastkin have a punishment called 'lingchi.' It's a method of execution where they slice a person alive, piece by piece," Caron began.
The doppelganger stuttered, "I... I..."
"Before I carve you up, I just want to say one thing," Caron continued. His eyes glowed with sheer madness.
"You have a hell of a ugly face," Caron concluded.
***
" Cough! " the doppelganger responded.
Caron spat blood onto the doppelganger's face and grinned, then asked, "Do you like it?"
"You... crazy... bastard..." the doppelganger stuttered.
A white sword was buried in Caron's abdomen, its tip dripping with blood. But instead of turning into a wince, his grin only deepened.
"Caron!" Leo called out.
"Ah, Leo," Caron said, waving a dismissive hand and pushing away Leo. "I'm fine. Step back for now. I still have unfinished business with this bastard."
Just then, Guillotine's voice echoed in his mind. "Owner, are you alright?"
"Hey, Guillotine, why's this bastard so damn ugly?" Caron muttered.
"Owner, that's your old face. And yeah, it's ugly as hell. Oh, right. There's something you should know," Guillotine said.
Whoosh.
Guillotine was still embedded in the doppelganger's chest. It explained, "This thing is a Doppelganger Lord, a high-ranking demon that leads doppelgangers."
"A Lord? Then why's it so weak?" Caron asked.
"That's because it's a doppelganger. How strong could a parasite that only knows how to mimic others possibly be? And its replication... Well, it wasn't exactly perfect. Seems like it could only copy a small portion of your body. But that's not even the important part right now," Guillotine answered.
Whoosh!
Once more, Guillotine flared with light, a chilling, dark blue radiance. The light, which had previously just extended outward, suddenly began to take shape.
"I picked up an interesting ability. Thanks to the Authority of Slaughter I absorbed last time—" Guillotine continued.
"Get to the point," Caron interrupted.
"The duration is short, but now I can do this," Guillotine said.
Flash!
Dark blue mana condensed in midair.
And then...
Thud.
A figure stepped out from within that ominous glow.
It was a man. One who looked exactly like Caron.
Caron blinked, staring at the bizarre sight. As he tried to grasp what he was witnessing, Guillotine continued its explanation.
"The Doppelganger Lord's power is replication. Think of it as creating a clone. Thanks to the meticulous way you sliced it up, I was able to devour its ability. Hehe," Guillotine said.
Caron studied his duplicate, grinning as if entertained.
The clone even had blood trickling from the corner of its mouth, just like him. But that hardly mattered.
"How's the performance?" Caron asked.
"It'll take a little time to get used to, but it's pretty simple. It mirrors your actions by default... but you can also give it independent control if you want. That's as much as I've figured out so far," Guillotine explained.
That was all Caron needed to hear.
"Oh."
A short, satisfied exclamation slipped from his lips.
Leo, watching the entire exchange, trembled as he muttered, "There are two Carons now?"
Caron couldn't explain how, but one thing was clear.
Without a doubt, a hellish disaster had just begun.
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