Chapter 107 Surviving Is Winning (End)
While Basil, Xiu Li, and Kimberley were chasing every students in their vicinity, ten people were watching the scene from afar. They were the people who had separated themselves from the crowd, and no longer fighting.
"What in the bloody hell is happening?"
At the muttering of the person, the other watching people looked at his direction.
"What do you mean? Can't you even see what is happening?" A blond haired young man asked the green haired young man who had just muttered to himself. "Why don't you enlighten me, if you have completely grasped the situation, then?" He replied.
"Hmph! This is the reason why you shall never eat too much vegetables. You get stupid when it goes to your head."
"Do you even have the right to call me stupid, if you think my green hair comes from eating too much vegetables?"
"That doesn't matter, Green."
"Hoh? What matters now, Blonde?"
Both of them looked at each other's eyes fiercely. They seemed ready to rip each other's throats in no time. When the heat became unbearable, there was finally someone stepping up to diffuse the situation.
"Kuhum!" He cleared his throat. "I believe quarrelling amongst ourselves will not solve anything at all." He gazed at the two young men alternatingly. "Therefore, let's share the information each of us has grasped civilly."
The two young men, who had been staring at each other's eyes fiercely earlier, turned their head to the direction of the speaker. The speaker was a light blue haired young man.
"We both are sharing information civilly." Green nodded his head. "You were just shouting at each other." Blue looked at Blonde in confusion. "A good discussion exchanges words and blows," Blonde replied.
At Blonde's word, even Green couldn't help himself from blushing. The thing Blonde had said was too far fetched to be called a logical reasoning.
"Kuhum! Anyway, we were really discussing earlier," Green said. "Very well. May I know the content of the discussion?" Blue asked. "Of course, mate. The content of our discussion is simple." He stopped, then looked at Blue seriously. "Everyone is a Doppelganger."
At Blonde's word, the other eight people looked at him in confusion. He and Green had done nothing more than just quarreling. No information was exchanged between them. Therefore, when that word came out, they were instantly bewildered.
"What do you mean?"
"It is simple actually." Green looked at Blue. "Randalvine Magic Institute has done something to the Doppelgangers, they don't even know they are one. Therefore, there will surely be a Doppelganger or two amongst us."
Blue widened his eyes. Quickly turning his head to the crowd's direction, he could finally get what Basil, Xiu Li, and Kimberley were doing.
"Do you mean...?"
"Yes, we are going to kill each other until we are sure who the Doppelganger is."
Right after Green spoke, he materialized his Grimoire and sent a ball of light with destructive aura at him. Blue widened his eyes in disbelief.
Boom!
Surely, Blue didn't have any plan to stay idle. He quickly utilized his Magic Circles. Three Major Circles floated behind him. With a quick movement, he swung his sword he had just pulled out at the incoming attack.
Boom!
The attack was fended, and surprisingly, it wasn't as lethal as Blue had thought. It did cover his vision briefly. However, it didn't diminish his fighting capability in the least.
When the light died down, Green stood in front of him with a smile. "Welcome to the gang, Blue." Green extended his hand. "Huh? What do you mean? Also, I am Cloud, not Blue." At that, Green laughed merrily.
"Timothy! This one is human." Green looked to Blonde.
"I know. I can see it plainly, Green." Timothy waved his hand dismissively.
Cloud had his eyes widened. "You are really Green?!" Green was taken aback by the question. "Yeah, I am. Is that something to be surprised about?"
Yes it is. However, Cloud didn't say that.
"Anyway, help us determining who are the Doppelgangers."
"What do you want me to do?"
Instead of Green, Timothy was the one who answered Cloud. "Look at those people." Timothy motioned to the seven people scurrying away from them. "If they utilize their Magic Circles when you attack them, they are human."
"Wait, how can you be..." Cloud couldn't finish his word, as Timothy already on his way to attack the seven people. "Don't worry, Cloud. Even if you accidentally kill someone, you are not to be blamed. It is done for the purpose of surviving." Green patted his back.
Followed by that, Green prepared his attack. Cloud was left befuddled. He didn't like what was going on. However, he wanted to secure his place in Randalvine Magic Institute. Therefore, he sighed helplessly.
Cupping his hand, he bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Bless your soul, the innocent people who will unfortunately die by my hands." Then, he set forward.
...
Howl!
A high pressured wind coming out of Deacon's mouth was sent at the Doppelgangers coming at him. Basil, who was mounting on Deacon, observed the entire hall calmly.
Out of the 300 students entering the hall, 198 of them had been proven to be Doppelgangers. The situation was quite awkward, as the "students" that had been attacked by the Doppelgangers were actually Doppelgangers.
Randalvine Magic Institute had captured a lot of Doppelgangers, bewitched them, and sent them here to pretend to be the students. The Spell they had used to bewitch them was so effective, even the Doppelgangers were confused by their identity.
Luckily, because of this, a huge amount of Doppelgangers didn't expose themselves at the same time. If they did, a massacre would actually happen.
Basil was sure none of the people in the hall could withstand the mental pressure exuded by hundreds of Doppelgangers. Even Kimberley, who had [Pure Mind] on her, would start to struggle withstanding the pressure.
'Darling, won't you do something?' Vagus asked Basil curiously.
"Why would I?"
'I mean, you often help people lately. So, why don't you also help these kids?'
Basil snorted softly.
Now that Vagus reminded him. He did have helped many people lately. When he had seen his classmates had struggled in something, he had taken the initiative to teach them the thing they didn't understand in Magic Battle.
Of course, he hadn't been the one who had challenged them. He had always made sure to influence them to challenge him in some way, either by mildly provoking them, or insulting their pride.
He had been confused by this action of him for a quite long time. He didn't do any of that out of kindness. He did all of that because something in himself had encouraged him. It had always felt like he was obliged to do that.
He had never had any of this feeling in his past life. It all started only after his return to the past.
He was reminded of the tablet he had found on the altar of the secret chamber in the Obelisk of Bael that had just disappeared after he had touched it.
It had the most probability to be the thing that had made him escape the Circle of Reincarnation, before sending him back to the past. With that being said, the change in himself might be attributed to it.
'Darling?'
"Hm?"
'You are dazing.'
"Hm. I got some thinking to do."
Vagus quirked her eyebrow in wonderment. She was sitting on the porch of the wooden house in Basil's Mindscape, and she couldn't help the eagerness to get outside.
She really wanted to shower him with her love, so Basil didn't have to think about unnecessary things.
"Vagus."
'Yes, Darling?'
"Keep your dirty thought to yourself."
Vagus awkwardly smiled. She forgot she was actually residing in Basil's Mindscape, therefore Basil could know what she was thinking.
Basil always cut his connection with her whenever he wanted some privacy — which was almost everytime. However, she had often forgotten doing so. Luckily, Basil was a very understanding person.
Surely, it was merely her thought. Basil had been seriously thinking about when he should get rid of Vagus from his Mindscape. However, he had always dismissed it as he deemed Vagus was too useful to be cast away.
'Are you thinking of something bad about me, Darling?'
"You know I will never do that."
'Hm. Must be my imagination.'
Vagus was a little bit unsure of Basil's answer. However, Basil didn't care about it. He merely looked to his front, and found every Doppelgangers had revealed themselves. Out of the 300 students entering the hall, only 10 of them were human.
There were around 76 living Doppelgangers, and the 9 students, who had been fighting the Doppelgangers far away from him, were inching closer toward him.
They were making a great decision. Basil was the only person who was rarely approached by the Doppelgangers, thanks to Deacon. Not only was Deacon intimidating the Doppelgangers, but he also wasn't affected by their intimidation.
Surely, it all happened because Deacon's [Link] with Basil. Basil, whose mental wasn't affected by the intimidation, protected Deacon's from experiencing any fear.
Although a King Saberwolf like Deacon had a higher class than a Doppelganger, facing tens of them would be a struggle too. They didn't have any Mental Protection Spell on them, after all.
When all of the nine people heading toward Basil's way had arrived by his side, Deacon asked Basil something.
[Master, should I exterminate them too?] He was referring to the people other than Xiu Li and Kimberley. He had deemed the two as Basil's ally.
Instead of answering, Basil looked down at the nine people.
"Are you not ashamed of latching onto someone's tail to get out of your predicament?" Basil asked in faint amusement.
Green looked up to Basil. "Surviving is winning, Sire. As long as I win, I do not care of the method I have to use."
"A very human like answer." Basil snorted in amusement.
Pointing Kusanagi to the front, wind quickly gathered around him. The wind was so strong, all of the people had to use a Spell to keep themselves attached on the ground. Even Kimberley, who was on top of Acacia, had to grasp Acacia tightly to not fall off.
Basil stared at the incoming horde of Doppelgangers in disdain. He twisted Kusanagi, and a powerful whirlwind was sent at them horizontally. Not stopping there, he flicked his finger lightly, and fire was sparked.
Then, the whirlwind was ignited.