Ch.208Fake? (3)

Wedge Samson is a doppelganger born approximately 300 years ago, one of the named doppelgangers who has remained actively operational until now.

The Pantheon’s Inquisition, which tracks him, refers to him as the “Black Man.” This means he’s a famous doppelganger specimen who, while possessing the appearance of a black man in the past, caused all sorts of incidents as a vanguard of the Crawling Chaos.

In particular, Wedge achieved the remarkable(?) feat of instigating civil war between three Electorates of the Holy Empire, an achievement that earned him dedicated pursuit teams from the Inquisition multiple times.

Nevertheless, despite facing the worst possible situation for a spy—having his characteristics and name exposed—Wedge managed to survive for over 300 years, fleeing from those tenacious inquisitors….

The main reason for this is that Wedge Samson, as a devout follower of the Outer God “Crawling Chaos,” engages in unpredictable activities.

The “Crawling Chaos.” Among the countless confirmed Outer Gods, this one is assessed as particularly dangerous, possessing a malevolence comparable to named Outer Gods like the “Yellow King” or the “Lord of the Deep,” though it isn’t as well-known.

What makes the “Crawling Chaos” especially notorious is its fundamental ability to “understand” human thought processes, unlike other Outer Gods.

Basically, Outer Gods, as alien invaders, are different from their very foundational units, with thought process differences comparable to those between animals and plants when compared to the common life forms of this world.

Of course, while they are influenced when crossing the world’s barriers for invasion and enter within the barriers of cognition, their essence doesn’t change, making most Outer Gods entities beyond comprehension.

Just as we cannot understand them, they typically cannot understand us.

However, the “Crawling Chaos” is extremely rare among Outer Gods—one that understands humans despite transcending the realm of cognition.

As a result, the grace that the “Crawling Chaos” bestows upon its followers comes in the form of features created through understanding their characteristics. As a prime example, Wedge Samson has been granted the “Shining Tetrahedron.”

While its effects are quite diverse, the function Wedge frequently uses is unlimited instantaneous spatial movement without any cost.

Using this to casually infiltrate enemy lines in disguise and then escape via spatial movement when discovered has certainly guaranteed his survival—

In fact, he decided to use the same method this time as well.

Wedge Samson’s target was the village ruled by “Lord Camille de Alzar,” who had recently become a topic of conversation for various reasons.

After concealing his appearance through the “Shining Tetrahedron’s” function, he naturally used spatial movement to enter the village. After observing the situation for several days, he identified the optimal transformation target who could bring chaos to the village.

Her name: Gretel Wolfblood. A mid-level witch who was reportedly not only the ruler’s lover but also a key talent in the village.

Without any particular purpose other than “chaos” itself, he determined that transforming into this werewolf would be the best way to bring confusion to the village.

As a result, he effortlessly infiltrated her workshop using the “Shining Tetrahedron’s” function, changed his form, and then naturally caused a “doppelganger commotion,” drawing the attention of the entire village toward himself.

At this point, Wedge’s objectives could be divided into two main goals.

One was to sow seeds of discord and distrust in the village through this doppelganger incident, and the other was to frame the original and have her killed if possible.

For this purpose, Wedge had spent several days engaging in preliminary sabotage activities or manipulating situations using the power of the “Shining Tetrahedron,” preparing to completely collapse the small community of the village.

It was truly the garbage-like behavior befitting someone who had reached a certain level of expertise in causing chaos, but precisely because of this, Wedge failed to predict “it.”

A miraculous power that ignores all logical reasoning and evidence to strike directly at the truth—the power of “super intuition,” which could be considered the ultimate counter to mystery stories.

“—Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

—Crack!

‘….Damn it!’

Along with the knight’s chilling voice, what seized his body was a petrification curse from a magical eye with overwhelming performance that might rival the original Medusa.

This overwhelming power, which instantly captured the body and turned it to stone, naturally began to petrify Wedge’s body.

‘I-Insane….! How can he commit such an act so casually….!!’

Doubt, shock, and bewilderment. To Wedge, who was unaware of the existence of super intuition, it appeared as if Lord Alzar had suddenly accelerated and come up with a completely irrational idea.

Frankly speaking, Lord Alzar’s actions could be considered rational if one knew about “super intuition,” but since Wedge didn’t know about it, it just looked like a wild guess to him.

….Well, to be honest, even excluding the existence of intuition, describing it as a guess isn’t entirely incorrect.

What made Wedge particularly frantic was that this wild guess resulted in him being petrified.

Moreover, the man before him showed no intention of forgiving or sparing Wedge, so it would be no exaggeration to say that Wedge was placed in a completely humiliating and desperate situation of his lifetime.

He could escape using the “Shining Tetrahedron’s” warp function, but he couldn’t withstand the petrification. Considering the intensity of this petrification, he would have to remain in a petrified state for at least several decades to centuries after escaping.

And in this situation, Wedge proved that his 300 years of experience weren’t for nothing by making a Copernican shift in thinking.

‘….Wait, if I transform into that person right now!’

His body was gradually hardening anyway. He intended to use his transformation ability, amplified by the power of the “Shining Tetrahedron,” to transform into the strongest person present, “Camille de Alzar,” who could easily resist the petrification power.

Of course, under normal circumstances, he couldn’t exert even 33%—one-third of such powerful capabilities, and there was the drawback of not being able to use several abilities commonly referred to as “trump cards,” so it wasn’t particularly useful.

However, when using the power of the “Shining Tetrahedron,” he could mimic almost all of the power and equipment, and if so, using that immense power to escape from this place would be no problem.

With that knight’s powerful strength, even if the “Shining Tetrahedron” was neutralized for a while due to recoil, it would actually be better for escaping.

Anyway, for this reason, Wedge made his decision and chose to change his form without hesitation.

His body, reconstructed in a form covered with gray matter, seemed to regain its original appearance in an instant, then covered the radiance of the glowing tetrahedron and transformed its shape into human form in one breath.

“—Hahahahaha! Success!”

Overwhelming power that seemed to burst from his body. That unique skill that seemed ready to cut through everything. A sense that perceived everything almost tens of times more keenly than before.

A feeling of omnipotence, as if he could instantly cut down several mid-level opponents. Captivated by the overwhelming performance of the body that gave him this feeling, “Camille” was about to move to leave his position when….

‘….Huh?’

Camille, Wedge, Camille wearing Wedge’s self, thought. Who am I? What am I? This, this, this….

His sense of self was being eroded and surging up. Notions, concepts, knowledge, experiences were pushing against Wedge’s self like an overlay.

An unfortunate incident caused by the remarkable tool, the Shining Tetrahedron, perfectly copying “everything” about Camille. The “Sword Demon’s” mind was eroding his self, and the self that formed the basis of his skill was, in turn, pushing Wedge away in a strange situation.

In this world, a knight’s skill is the reproduction of his own self.

If so, Wedge, who had equally mimicked such skill, had essentially mimicked the self, and on top of that, the erosion of self was occurring simultaneously.

The manifestation of self, which further amplified the mental chaos that was already confusing as it poured madly into his mind, was an added complication.

【—Oh? What’s this pest?】

And in this strange atmosphere, as Wedge seemed unable to regain his senses due to the overwhelming presence crushing his self….

—Crunch!

His head disappeared as if it had been devoured by someone. As the bloody corpse without a head seemed to fall to the ground, these phenomena began to repeat.

—Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

Arms, legs, torso, and legs again. As body parts disappeared in an instant as if someone was tearing apart and eating a snack, what finally remained in place were just a few pieces of gray flesh with the transformation undone.

And—only the “Shining Tetrahedron,” which had lost its light and turned colorless, clattering as it fell to the floor.