The Demon of Mimicry

Lunch had long since come and gone, but Elia still sat in a deserted corner of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the academy park, staring blankly into space.

What do I do? I made Lola angry.

Nothing like this had ever happened to her. Seeing the hatred in a friend's eyes hurt far worse than any of her doubts about X — a pain deeper and more unbearable than she knew how to name.

Lola's medal... I just took it.

A brass brooch medal rested in her palm. She had fled in such a panic that she'd never gotten the chance to give it back. Every time her eyes fell on it, the guilt in her chest swelled a little more.

I've become a bad student, and I still don't know what to do.

A good student didn't skip class. She knew that. She just couldn't find the courage to go back to the classroom. Facing that look in Lola's eyes again was more than she could bear.

She had been sitting there thinking for over five hours, and she still hadn't reached a single conclusion.

Because I'm an idiot.

She knew that now. How stupid she was. How pitifully low her intelligence sat. How much Lola and everyone around her had been looking out for her. The Goddess's power had shown her all of it, laid out in numbers she couldn't argue with.

"Ah..."

Her Intelligence wouldn't go up. Only Vitality, Agility, and Mana ever rose. And for some reason, her Luck had dropped.

Does that mean I don't deserve to have luck?

A sudden loneliness washed over her. The kind that felt like being cut off from the entire world. Even Elysia — the one thing she had believed in — no longer answered.

That was it, then. The Goddess had abandoned her too.

It was just like when she was little—

Wait. Did something like this happen when I was little?

The question flickered through her mind and snagged on something wrong in her memories. Elia began tracing them back, piece by piece.

Mother's name was Yus. But...

Yus. A beautiful maid. Caught up in a conspiracy and vanished. Pink hair and a lovely face. And yet she couldn't remember the face at all—

"Oh, so this is where you were~"

In that instant, something of terrible malice came rushing in.

Enemy.

Elia seized whatever was behind her on pure instinct. Monstrous strength and astonishing reflexes shattered the attacker's offense in a single motion. Through her Heavenly Intuition she knew the weak point without thinking, and her hand closed around its throat. A surprise assault, and she had flipped it — she held the power of life and death in her grip.

"Ghk, ghk... Ah~ so that's why they told me not to pick a fight~"

"Who are you?"

It was something misshapen. The overall shape was that of a schoolgirl, but grotesque tentacles and blade-like spines glistened across its entire body — a form built for burrowing into something else. There was only one kind of creature like this in Elia's mind.

"A demon, then?"

"Correct~ Ghk, ghk..."

"I see. Please die now."

Elia delivered the sentence without a flicker of emotion. She was in no mood to enjoy a trial. The only demon she needed to deal with was X. One was enough.

Not that I even know if X is a demon anymore...

She tightened her grip, about to crush the thing at its source—

"Elysia."

"...!"

A word that should never have come from that mouth. In this entire world, only she and X were supposed to know that name. And yet the demon in front of her had said it, soft and almost gentle.

"H-how do you know that name..."

The strength went out of her hand. If she had squeezed just a fraction sooner, she would have snapped its neck.

"It's a message from the Goddess, you see~"

The demon slipped from her grip as easily as water. She leaned in, lips at Elia's ear, and whispered.

"Ah... ahh..."

Those words poured into the hollow place in Elia's heart and filled it to the brim. The Goddess's warmth. The thing she had wanted more than anything.

"She's been watching you the whole time, you know. Watching you suffer after you fell for X's wicked sweet-talk — all of it."

"The God...dess... was watching me..."

"It hurt her so much to see that she sent me. She said you shouldn't have to suffer all alone anymore."

She had wanted someone — anyone — to tell her she was doing all right. Even if the words came from a demon, she didn't care. That was how close Elia was to falling apart.

"Ahem~"

The demon read the feeling on her, licked her lips, and drifted back. By the time Elia looked again, she had already taken the shape of an ordinary schoolgirl. Long, straight black hair. Soft, languid eyes. A beautiful girl marked by dark chestnut irises, speaking in a voice like a whisper.

"The Goddess said this, too."

"W-what did she say...?"

"That you are to obey the words of her apostle, Gremory. Do that, and everything from here on will become so much easier."

"G-Gremory? Who is that?"

"Gremory is the fifty-sixth-seated demon, known as the Demon of Mimicry. Duke of Lower Hell. And as for who that is..."

The girl — Gremory — smiled, slow and sweet.

"That's me~"

At those words, the light in the medal Elia still clutched in her hand began to fade.

Elia didn't come back for the rest of the day's classes. Lola's face had crumpled into a miserable pout, her eyes welling up so full that a single poke would have set her off for certain.

"She wasn't in the dorm either?"

"She wasn't there..."

"Next time we see her, we should buy her a Mana Phone."

"Mm..."

It wasn't just the two of them. The martial arts professors were looking for Elia as well. Professor Hans, who taught Introduction to Protego Swordsmanship that day, wailed as if the sky itself had fallen when he learned she'd been absent.

"Elia, my studeeeent—!!! Where aaaaare you—!!!"

X was putting on a show of calm, but he was just as uneasy. He'd confirmed Gremory's information today, which only made it worse.

Elia — low intelligence, overwhelming strength. Gremory — the power to mimic.

The worst possibility was that Gremory would take Elia's body. The restriction that she couldn't do it to someone stronger made the odds low. He still couldn't shake the thought.

She'll be fine. The academy's security and defenses aren't so sloppy they'd let a demon walk in.

So it would be fine. If only his own Luck weren't sitting at zero.

"Elia!"

Lola finally spotted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her. More precisely, Elia was walking toward them.

"Where have you been all this time?!"

Lola ran to her with a face caught between joy and apology.

"Do you know how worried we—"

She had been about to welcome her.

"We were..."

Elia walked straight past her. She didn't glance at Lola even once, as if the other girl simply wasn't there.

"Elia...?"

From the first moment to the last, Elia's eyes were locked on X. He read every dark, heavy thing packed into that gaze. Loathing. Hatred. Rage. Confusion. Despair. Defeat.

And strangely, Elia was smiling — brightly, as if that were the only expression her face still knew how to make. She stopped in front of him. Beaming the way she always did, she spoke.

"X. You really are a being who deserves to die."

This wasn't her doubling down on something she already believed. This was a new certainty, built on new information.

"It would be best to kill you right now... but that wouldn't make for a proper story, would it?"

"A story, you say?"

"I heard everything. From Goddess Elysia herself."

X's eyes narrowed.

A message from Elysia. Now, of all times?

It was too convenient. Too staged. Like a plot point that had been written in advance. Elia smiled at his silence and went on.

"So I've decided I won't be fooled anymore. We won't be going around together after this. I don't like liars."

"Liars, huh..."

His hand had been fully exposed. That much was certain. The one mercy was that no Probability Penalty had triggered.

So System holders are exempt from the penalty rules?

He filed that away and let out a breath.

"So when are you planning to kill ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me? Right here?"

"You promised we'd settle it in the tournament finals. The end of a story belongs on a stage like that, don't you think? Of course, that doesn't mean I won't kill you before then."

In other words: if things went south, she would end him whenever she felt like it. And in that moment, X was sure. There was only one reason her attitude would flip this suddenly.

"Gremory?"

"..."

"So that's what the Probability Penalty was..."

"What are you talking about? I am Elia."

At least it wasn't the worst-case scenario. That didn't make the situation any better. Gremory had stolen the one Elia depended on. They'd dodged the catastrophe, and landed in the next-worst thing instead.

Of all the timing...

He barely had a moment to curse it. Elia passed by his side and said,

"Don't pretend you know me from now on. Because I find you utterly hateful, repulsive, and disgusting."

"Does it have to be this way?"

"You and I are fated to kill each other. That's just how it is."

And with that, Elia crossed past him and kept walking. They were complete strangers now.

"Let me ask you one thing."

There were still words that had to be said. Whatever else happened, he needed to hear this answer.

"I'll allow it, considering what we've been through. What is it?"

"Don't you have anything to say?"

"Say what? I have nothing left to say to you, X—"

"Not to me."

The moment he tried to get the rest out, anger surged up so hard he had to clench his teeth to hold it down. What finally forced its way between them came out raw.

"To Lola. Don't you have anything to say to her?"

Lola's shoulders had slumped completely. Her arms were folded in tight, and he could see her fighting not to break into tears. He could accept Elia cutting things off with him. He had been lying to her this whole time — that much was true. But she didn't get to end it with Lola like this. Lola had never told a single lie.

"..."

Whatever she made of that, she only stood there in silence. Instead, he heard the sound of a fist clenching tight.

"That was all it amounted to, huh. Fine. I'll give up too."

"..."

"Yeah. Get lost. Don't you ever pretend you know Lola again."

There was nothing left to see here. X left Elia where she stood and hurried to Lola, who was already crying. He gathered her in, and she buried her face against his chest and finally let the tears come.

Elia watched it happen, then turned her head away. She walked the darkened path alone, her teeth ground together.

The look on Elia's face was ugly beyond words.

"All of you...!"

It was the first time Elia had ever set a goal of her own.

He spent a long time comforting Lola before sending her back to her room. Only then did he have a moment to think. He returned to his own quarters and started piecing the situation together, slowly and carefully.

One thing is certain.

Put together, the information so far looked like this. Gremory was without a doubt Elysia's apostle. Gremory had infiltrated the academy, and he had no idea who she was wearing. Gremory had made contact with Elia, and the initiative had been ripped out of his hands. And Gremory knew a great deal about X.

Meaning I'm overwhelmingly outmatched on information.

He didn't know how Elysia communicated with the characters of this world. What he did know was that information would keep leaking. Still, he could guess at a few advantages.

Why couldn't Elia reach Elysia?

At some point, Elia had started acting as if the connection had simply been cut. That state had held long enough for him to shake her convictions. And he could guess when it had started without much trouble.

The moment she arrived at the academy.

He held that thought and pushed one step further. The System's power was not omnipotent. For the most part, it was obsessed with Probability. Wanting something was not the same as making it happen.

If she could have killed me easily, she would have just messaged the villains and the major players. "X is a demon." Done.

She hadn't. She had gone out of her way to use Elia and Gremory. Which meant she couldn't.

There are conditions on her interference.

So what were those conditions? Thinking back to Elia's case, he arrived at one conclusion.

She can only interfere if the target isn't at the academy?

The evidence was thin as paper, but his gut was telling him this was probably true.

"If you've got a hypothesis, you test it."

X called Seri at once.

"Use Setting Editor. Send Lola a message that says, 'you okay?'"

Seri was silent for a moment. Then she answered.

What that answer meant was obvious.

The hypothesis was right!

Whether a message could be received depended on location. If the target was on the "Main Stage," it couldn't be sent. That much was confirmed. The satisfaction lasted about a second. Seri ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't finished.

"...Ugh!"

Ten thousand points, gone in a single message attempt. Steep, for the cost of confirming a hypothesis.

"If it's not an official function, that means I'll be able to use it later, right?"

"Figures..."

If that was how it worked, the situation wasn't entirely bad.

If Gremory infiltrated the academy, getting back out just got a lot harder. The alert level hasn't been lowered yet.

Entry and exit at the academy were tightly controlled. Gremory's infiltration was nothing more than an adjustment forced by the Probability Penalty. He still didn't know who she was mimicking, but if she'd taken a student's form, leaving would be difficult. Which meant there was a strong chance Gremory was currently cut off from Elysia.

If so, there was only one move to make.

I need to meet the Crown Prince. Right now.

He hadn't told Andras what he actually planned to say in that meeting. So the only information Gremory had was that he "intended to deceive the Crown Prince." The claim that he was going to deceive the Crown Prince had been a lie to begin with. Gremory was working off bad intelligence.

Which meant this was the opening.

X headed outside at once. His destination was the Crown Prince's office on academy grounds — toward the Empire's highest authority, and its most formidable source of information.