Chapter 38: Doppelganger
"This is the first time we meet. I am Duke Perv Asshat of Oriana. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Claude." Perv shook my hand as he introduced himself.
"Likewise, Duke Perv." Hmmphh… My face is stiff… Must… not… laugh…
"I heard you bested Princess Iris years ago. Will you win again today?"
"I will."
"How confident. Iris has made a name for herself years after you defeated her while you haven't done much." A familiar taunt. It won't affect me again, good sir.
"I was busy with many things."
"Ho? What kind of things?"
"Secret and serious things." Like deciding what to do to your kingdom. Should I do what the Chinese Communist Party did to Tibet? Or do the Tiananmen Square Massacre? Or just plain ol' Holocaust? I have to make a note to massacre civilian protesters at some point in the future.
"Perhaps you're still trying to fight Necromancer? I heard he appeared in your school."
"Indeed he did."
"It must be frustrating for you that he was so out of your reach."
"…." I couldn't reply as I clenched my fist. Must… not… laugh…
"Oh, I'm sorry. That was insensitive of me." Perv said with a smug smile as if he managed to offend me. My face is stiff due to holding back my laughter that I was unable to properly respond to his Verbal Fencing. That name is just unfair!
I took a deep breath while he smirked triumphantly.
"Battle start!" Shouted the announcer.
"Ho. So the battle has started." He said as our attention are now focused on the match.
Annerose launched herself to strike him in an instant. She's fast but Mundane Mann blocked her slash.
"Ho? That Mundane Mann is more competent than I thought." Perv commented.
I didn't reply as I kept watch on my minion, my zombie Mundane Mann as he fought against Annerose. He was formerly an aristocrat from Altena Empire who were disowned by his own family for being lazy and incompetent. He died years ago when he was contracted to guard a cargo of Possessed from Velgalta, presumably killed by Shadow Garden.
I turned him into a zombie simply because even when he's alive he already somewhat resembled zombies with how pale he was. Just a random mood I had. Despite his weak body I put too much work on him and made him stronger than he could ever dream of when he was alive. But sadly he remains the weakest among my Seven Wraiths, even with the addition of Sherry.
When I saw that fake Mundane Mann on the street that day, I knew I had to bring the real one here to have fun with his imposter. Now then, how will you respond, imposter?
Mundane Mann countered Annerose's strike with a brutal slash. Annerose was bewildered. The man before her isn't the same man she has spoken to before. He was even more silent than usual and yet his sword style… it felt wrong to her. He wasn't as subtle and quick as he was before.
"Could it be… Mundane… You….?" Annerose muttered.
Mundane Mann frowns slightly. Has she figured it out? What a pain in the- He thought before being interrupted.
"DID YOU PUT ON MORE WEIGHTS, MUNDANE!?" She shouted.
"What…?" Mundane Mann said confusedly.
"How sly of you! I can't believe you would underestimate me that much! What an insult! As a former member of the Seven Swords of Velgalta, I'll show you your folly!" Annerose charged again, this time aiming to attack him from his left side.
Mundane Mann thrusts his blade on the direction she's coming but she deflected the thrust with her own blade and got into position to slash him, he barely dodged her attack and was grazed in his cheek.
"Why… Why did you hold back against me…?" Annerose, who's supposed to be happy after landing an injury to her opponent, no matter how miniscule, was instead feeling humiliated.
"Am I not worthy to be your opponent? Is that it!?" She shouted angrily and charged again, going for a high speed thrust, which he dodged. But in his haste to dodge her attacks, he failed to dodge her other thrusts, which damaged his armor and drew some blood.
He responded by launching a wide horizontal slash with his sword aiming at her neck. She dodged it easily by cracking her neck. "See? I told you I can do this too!" She said while smiling proudly, further confusing Mundane Mann.
"Hahh… This is too troublesome for me." Mundane Mann muttered lazily.
"Wha… So I'm still… not worth your time…?" Muttered Annerose angrily.
Mundane Mann was about to prepare himself for her next strikes before he heard the voice of his master in his head.
"What are you doing?"
"M-Master!?" Mundane Mann exclaimed, his body trembles in fear but Annerose noticed that his fear is not caused by her.
What's going on? She thought.
"Stop playing around and finish her!"
"Y-Yes, master." His previously lazy expression is now replaced with a determined one as he released a terrifying aura.
"I see what's happening to you. Someone is controlling you, isn't it?" Annerose muttered sadly as Mundane Mann wordlessly charged in at high speed and prepared an uppercut.
It's fast! Annerose barely dodged the sudden attack but she took advantage of Mundane Mann's opening to retaliate with a thrust, which he caught with his hand.
He's stronger too! She was unable to remove her sword which was caught in his hand as he moved to give her a headbutt on the face, knocking her away.
"Aghhh!" Annerose fell to the ground. Mundane Mann threw her sword away and moved to finish her.
"Not yet!" She shouted as she suddenly rolled away to dodge his stab, which sent dust and pieces of soil flying in the air upon impact.
She dashed to retrieve her sword as he gave chase. She was not fast enough as he reached her immediately and was about to decapitate her with an overhead slash.
So this is it. Annerose thought as she closed her eyes and prepared herself for death… only to hear a clanging sound of blade against blade.
"Huh?" She opened her eyes to an unexpected sight… the sight of another Mundane Mann facing the Mundane Mann who was about to kill her just seconds ago.
Here he comes. The imposter Mundane Mann. He parried the strike meant to decapitate Annerose and they now stood in front of each other, staring into each other's soul while the audience are bewildered at this unexpected arrival.
"What!?" Alexia exclaimed.
"Another Mundane Mann? But how?" Iris said.
"Are they twins?"
"What happened?"
"What are the guards doing?"
"Isn't that illegal?"
"Two of them?"
"Did he use an Artifact?"
I heard mumbles from unimportant background characters as I kept my eyes on the imposter.
"Hoo… How unexpected. To think that another Mundane Mann would appear." Muttered Perv almost losing his smug smile.
"Perhaps one of them is an imposter." I said.
"I see. Which one do you think is the imposter, Mr. Claude?" Perv asked me.
"Hard to say when we hardly know the man. Perhaps whoever stood victorious in the end could be the considered the real one."
"Hm. I like how you think, Mr. Claude."
Now… Show me your power, imposter.
I was about to let this other Mundane Mann to fight in my place but… damn! The way he fights is so sloppy! Ruining my ideal image of Mundane Mann! He let Annerose hurt him a few times! It's almost as if he doesn't even want to be there. At least until he began powering up.
You may be trying to redeem yourself by powering up, another Mundane Mann, but I already decided to not let this go any further. That's why while everyone's attention was occupied by the fight, I sneaked out, changed into my Mundane Mann disguise, and entered the arena stylishly.
I know that you're like me, someone who wants to join the tournament with a fake identity too, but I cannot forgive you for stealing my thunder and being bad at it. I shall teach you how a true Eminence in Shadow does things!
Though at least I have to be grateful to you for providing me with a good scenario for my shadowbroker play. Who is this second Mundane Mann? Where did he come from? Who is stronger between the two of them? Questions like that are no doubt flying around the people's minds right now.
"You…" He stared at me hatefully.
Annerose stared at us both with confusion before she suddenly realized something and shouted.
"I see! So you two are twin brothers! And…" She turned towards me. "And you joined Bushin Festival in order to lure your brother out and… to save him from enslavement!" Hooo. Not a bad scenario. Let's roll with it.
I turned towards her and said "This is my fight."
"Alright. But you owe me a proper fight later!" She said as she backed down.
"U-Um… Which one of you is the real Mundane Mann?" The referee asked as he walked close to us.
"We're about to settle it. Don't interfere." I said as I charged in and locked blades with the other Mundane Mann.
"M-Miss Annerose. I shall disqualify them and—" I heard the referee said.
"No. Let them be. It won't take long." Annerose said with a hint of sadness.
We wordlessly exchanged several blows. Despite his power up, the other Mundane Mann wasn't able to keep up as slash wounds starts appearing on his body.
"Ughh…!" He grunted as I pushed him away with a strong blow that he blocked.
He charged again for a slash, which hits me…
"It's only an afterimage." I said as I appeared behind him, unharmed by his slash, before kicking him in the butt, which sends him away. He grows more frustrated as he stood back up and powers up once again.
"His power… it's still rising!?" I heard Annerose exclaimed as we saw dark aura enveloping him.
He moved at higher speed to try and match mine but as he sent another naïve slash, I dodged his slash within a hair's breadth and counter attacked immediately, giving him a massive gash on his chest and sent him flying once again.
"Ughhh…!" He merely grunted as he stood back up. It didn't seem to hurt him that much. What an amazing pain tolerance. As he stood back up I noticed something. His anger and frustration slowly dissipates and his expression becomes calmer. I could've sworn I saw the corner of his lips rising slightly.
"Such huge wounds and yet he…!?" Annerose exclaimed again with her hand covering her mouth.
I knew he was smiling not because he found this battle exciting. I could tell from how his strikes become slower, sloppier and more unrefined than before, as if he's barely trying. I deflected all his attack as I observed him.
I stared at his tired eyes and saw how much he wants to go away and sleep.
I don't even want to be here. I just wanna sleep, man. His face seems to imply.
"Very well. I shall grant you your wish." I said as I moved in an instant and decapitated him. I saw him smiling as his head rolled on the ground.
Author's Note:
According to Master of Garden, Annerose is so gullible and thus is ripe for misunderstandings, hence I made her misunderstand the two Mundane Manns. It sorta fits her surname Fucianas/Nichtsehen. I hope it was entertaining for you all.
Hexylen: Nice, multiple chapters back-to-back, while maintaining and even increasing in quality is hard for many authors, glad to see you keeping it together.
Cid is correct, gacha is hell (RATE UP IS A LIE!)
With the current part for the anime out (clips and spoilers are too numerous to count on social media) I can't help but wonder if you could introduce a new alter ego for our dear malicious Necromancer?
You have the mafia boss in Don Jon for the Lawless City arc, and the Evil Overlord in Necromancer, but what about another of the tried and true villainous archetypes, the Consummate Politician? I recommend Sheev Palpatine, also known as Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the most successful Sith in Star Wars history.
Could introduce him as an old land owner from the countryside or from another kingdom (an established Republic would be ironically appropriate as well), looking to expand his influence in politics with another country, maybe forge some documents and have the Cult plant false witnesses to get him on their side?
If the needs must, you could even have Sidious take the fall as Necromancer if it comes to it.
Who would people believe is the creepy, cackling, monstrous serial killer-turned-dark wizard more, the polite, kind, charismatic noble heir Claude Norman, or the old, politically invested, foreign, secret keeping Sheev Palpatine? Food for thought.
Answer: Thanks. Keeping many drafts before releasing helps with editing some details for teasing future plotlines.
I made him dislike gacha to make it ironic considering how lucky he is.
For now, I only have one alter ego planned for him besides Don Jon but I'm still trying to find a way to fit it into the timeline of future arcs.
J-More: As a Cid x Alexia maniac, I'm overjoyed!
Answer: One of the canon relationships I wanted to leave intact in my fanfic. I like writing parts where she called him Pooch.
BetweenIandGirl: now this plot deviate completely gonna shock us in plot departemen
Answer: Hope to surprise you with more plot deviation.
ACogintheSystem: Why do I get the feeling that Claude intends to break his hold on King Oriana to have the "Your Love breaks Mind Control" only for Necromancer to appear and murder the king right in front of Rose?
Answer: Hmm…. Maybe.
primenidus: What the hell just happened
Answer: Find out on this week's episode of The Emine- The Necromancer in Shadow!
Wholesome07: How much can he hold his laughter against Perv Asshat?
Answer: Long enough.