The Last Clone
“Phew. Looks like I made it just in time.”
The bandaged clone smiled at Hilde standing before him. Beside Hilde stood the shadow clone that had swallowed him moments earlier and then been struck by the hero, now looking perfectly intact once more.
—If you were that worried, why didn’t you flee earlier?
“Couldn’t do that. As the last remaining clone of Ryban, we have a duty to witness our brothers’ final moments.”
—Final moments?
“…Besides, even if it was only a faint echo, watching the hero fight made it impossible for the Ryban inside me to stay calm.”
Hilde nodded, yet turned his head toward the shadow-formed clone. The bandaged clone’s claim of being the last one had already unsettled him, but it had been three days since he and this shadow clone had left Minasid together under the bandaged clone’s orders. Though not a long time, the terror he had felt during those days was not something easily put into words.
With no clear consciousness or will of its own, the clone merely issued commands of blind obedience and ordered him to run faster. Every time Hilde tried to pause or snatch a brief rest, he was tormented by the fear that the shadow would devour him at any moment.
Moreover, the fate awaiting him after completing his mission only deepened that anxiety and dread.
He did not know why he had been made to travel with this shadow, but the moment he was deemed no longer useful, he would surely meet the same end as Togas.
Furthermore, the shadow had eaten nothing during the past three days.
The bandaged clone, noticing Hilde’s gaze, summoned the shadow closer as if to reassure him.
“No need to worry. You’re far more important than you think.”
Hilde felt the magic stones embedded in his body glow, sending mana trembling through his entire frame. Following that light, the shadow clone’s body also began to vibrate slightly.
The vibration grew stronger until the shadow swelled and gradually took on a hazy but recognizable resemblance to the bandaged clone’s form.
—……!
Hilde instinctively took a step back. The emotions radiating from the transformed shadow were far more savage and unrefined than anything he had felt before—raw domination, malice, and an endless hunger.
“That’s enough.”
The bandaged clone tossed a piece of the facial bandage he had torn off earlier in front of the hero toward the new form. The bandage vanished into the shadow, and the torrent of emotions Hilde had been sensing rapidly faded.
But it was not over. Strange runes rose around the bandaged clone, and shining chains began to bind the newly formed shadow.
—Wh-what?
Hilde could not comprehend what was happening before his eyes. Yet his confusion mattered little. At the bandaged clone’s gesture, the chained shadow was slowly drawn toward him. Purple characters appeared across the bandages wrapping his body.
They were densely written spells, each designed to stabilize unstable mana or serve as seals.
The moment the purple characters on the bandages shone brightest, the shadow was sucked into the bandages and disappeared. The glowing characters gradually faded as well.
“…It’s a bit of a burden, but from now on I won’t have the luxury of splitting my power anyway.”
Hilde held his breath and watched the clone’s movements. After absorbing the shadow, the bandaged clone looked more fatigued than before, yet the ominous aura emanating from him had grown far deeper and thicker.
“Well then, let’s be on our way.”
—…Where to?
“South. There’s something I need to find at the Daramutu Trench.”
* * *
“So you’re saying you didn’t feel any cutting sensation at all?”
“Yeah. None whatsoever.”
Rowell nodded at my question. Though we had been watching from a distance, we had clearly seen Rowell slash through both the bandaged clone and the shadow that had swallowed him. We had assumed it was merely a final flourish, but Rowell’s account suggested otherwise.
‘Did they actually escape right in front of Rowell?’
Of course, escaping from a Rowell who wasn’t going all out wasn’t impossible. High-ranking demons and certain individuals with special abilities sometimes moved through far stranger and more wondrous methods than simple teleportation or portals.
“Maybe your strike was so powerful that both of them were annihilated?”
I didn’t really think so, but it was still a possibility.
“No, I definitely held back.”
“Then maybe the shadow got him after all?”
“He only vanished from sight for a brief moment. That’s not nearly enough time for something like that to happen to him. Besides, when he looked at the shadow engulfing him, there was no trace of confusion in his eyes.”
So they had been prepared. Since they hadn’t used it during the fight, it was probably an ability that required time to prepare or had limited uses. Either way, it was a power we had never seen from Ryban.
“It wouldn’t be strange for one such individual to exist among dozens of clones.”
Medrup lightly examined the space where the clone had disappeared, but it seemed to be a method different from teleportation or portals.
“It’s fortunate that the enemy no longer has any will to fight, but… this old man’s workload has increased again.”
After all, they were a different race. Even if their will to fight had vanished, there was no guarantee they would live peacefully alongside humans or other races.
“Then we’ll help search as well. There’s still the matter of the Dark Temple……”
“No. It’s all right, Aegina. They won’t make any moves right away. Leave the Dark Temple and the remaining clones to me, Kainaxnus, and Neiku.”
“Me too.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, Bagloros, but for now, stay with your companions. That would be better for you.”
Medrup said this while looking at me. Though the words were directed at Bagloros, I could tell they were also meant for me.
“Then what about us……?”
“Follow the original plan and return to the Ayman Kingdom. Spend some time catching up with your families.”
“But……”
“I’ll inform the other kingdoms and nations that the situation has been roughly resolved. Even though everything isn’t truly over, as you all know, prolonged unnecessary anxiety isn’t good for the current international climate.”
After a brief pause, Medrup added with a bitter smile.
“Of course, in case the truth comes to light unexpectedly, I’ll have to inform a few select individuals.”
And those words, too.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you and the others, Medrup, but right now, rather than meeting our families……”
Rowell’s expression was somewhat dark, perhaps because they had let the final clone escape. He probably thought it was the result of his own unnecessary stubbornness.
“No need to feel responsible, Rowell. It wasn’t just you—we all fought. If anything, they would’ve escaped even faster if we’d all gone at them together.”
And honestly, from my perspective, even if we had all fought together, what I would have been doing wouldn’t have been much different from before.
“Yes, Anak is right. Even if we had all fought together, it would’ve only taken a little less time—nothing would have changed significantly. You made the right choice, both for yourself and for them. And meeting your families is far more important than you think. Especially at a time like this.”
“A time like this?”
We all looked at Medrup at those meaningful words, but he offered no further explanation.
“You’ll understand once you get there. I don’t need to spell it out. Well, I should be heading back to the research lab for now.”
When Medrup raised his staff, the earth rumbled and began filling in the cracks and deep gouges left by the recent battle.
However, no trace of the castle that had once stood here remained. Though the area where the barrier had been cast still looked unnatural, the surrounding land had been completely sheared away by the explosion.
Even if soil was brought in from elsewhere, it was impossible to perfectly match the elevation. In the end, the entire area had become a sunken depression far lower than the surrounding terrain.
“Hmm. Still a bit lacking. But this is the limit if I want to avoid greatly disturbing the surrounding soil and environment. Should I pull some rocks from that mountain over there?”
The sight of Medrup seriously contemplating this reminded me of Petohalge, the god of the Eight Islands who had supposedly carved out Delmua Island from part of Mount Delmaka.
“No, Medrup. This should be fine. It’s not like we’re rebuilding a castle here right away.”
Ah, now that I thought about it, if we were going to build a new castle anyway, we could use this depression to create a moat. Though building the castle higher than the moat might be more difficult.
“Hmm. That’s true, but since the magical beasts are gone, I’d like to make it easier for future settlers who come here to establish themselves. A sunken terrain like this would be vulnerable to external attacks, and there are also temperature and environmental factors……”
As Medrup continued speaking, his eyes suddenly lit up as if he had thought of something.
“Then how about turning it into a lake instead?”
Oh. Was this really something a human should be saying? Of course, I had heard stories of kings and queens creating massive lakes over several years purely for entertainment, but Medrup was talking about doing it alone, right now.
“Hmm, then I’d need to introduce fish, vegetation, and develop the surrounding forest……”
Faced with his increasingly passionate artisan spirit, Rowell, Aegina, and I quickly stopped him. Come to think of it, the last time I asked him to make a golem for summoning, he had started designing something resembling a magical weapon instead. (And it had turned out quite powerful, though it took longer than expected.)
“M-Medrup! Let’s just head back for now and discuss this later……”
“Yes! That’s right! The others are waiting for us!”
In the end, our desperate dissuasion postponed the lake and terrain modification, but judging by his reluctant expression, it seemed certain that the map of this area would need to be redrawn sooner rather than later.