บท 157: Chapter 154: D-Humans, Curses, and Secrets, Part 3

Watching the playback further, the Sue that was on the bed coddling my head to her breast got up and approached the other Sue that came in through the [Portal]. That was when I paused the video and compared the two of them close together. Other than the attire, they were both totally identical, eyes, hair, body, and all.

"What the fuck is going on?! Does Sue have a twin sister?!" I exclaimed, "We may not have heard of her saying she's an only child, but this is the second case of twin siblings I've experienced today!" The other case was mentioned by Yukino about her own twin that she'd rather not talk about.

"Twin Kitsunes, twin Devils. What are the … hold on, the shock of seeing this was so great that I nearly forgot something," Nyra said, "Can you continue playing the video?"

I obliged and the two of us watched the two Sues interact. The nearly naked one, whose [Devil Eyes] have deactivated, looked annoyed at the calm, fully-clothed one over something, but the latter was smiling and in a good mood as she was dressing down for some reason. When the near-naked one gave up on arguing further, she stripped out of her gloves and stockings before passing them over to her twin. The both of them were now totally naked, only the two matching pendants each of them had remained hanging around their necks before something unexpected happened.

The Sue who got out of bed changed her appearance, becoming a figure made up of only maroon and cyan colors swirling like unmixable paint. The figure then became an amorphous blob before enveloping itself over the other Sue, getting absorbed before the disguised Devil remained.

"GANGBANG!" Nyra suddenly yelled, making me jump in my seat and pause the video out of surprise.

"Where the heck did that come from, Nyra?" I asked.

"I remember now, Jinma! What was bugging me about Sue's 'blood' when I marked her with my magic earlier!" Nyra exclaimed, "That wasn't really Sue at all! It was a copy of Sue made from the [Clone] Null Spell!"

"[Clone]?" I repeated.

"The spell takes everything about you in appearance, including what you're wearing, takes up a percentage of your life force, and makes an inferior copy of yourself!" she explained, "It will have all the skills and spells you're able to use, but its overall stats will only be a percentage of what you gave up to create it! I knew of this because one of the people I possessed knew a guy who had that Null Spell, and he was known for using his clones to give gangbangs to his lovers! When I learned that, I thought, 'Wow, if I had that Null Spell and a number of strap-ons, I could literally fuck myself in a gangbang,' and I couldn't have been more jealous of that guy since then! Anyway! Do you know what all this means, Jinma?!"

"That … this whole time, the Sue who's been with us up to now has been a clone and the real one is watching in from someplace else?" I asked in disbelief.

"... Okay, that's one thing, but the GANGBANG, man! Now that you know [Clone] and what it does, you can satisfy all your girls at once—Owwwww!" Nyra cried as I gave a light tsukkomi chop on her head.

"I won't deny that it would be useful, but I'm afraid it won't be a while until I actually use it," I said.

"Why not?!"

"Sue seems unusually informed about us Champions, it's possible she knows that we can get items, skills, Null Spells, and abilities by converting money into Bless Points (BP). She hadn't seen me use [Clone] when I tended to her, Kalline, and Erizora last night, so won't she get suspicious if I suddenly use [Clone] from out of nowhere?"

"Guh … you have a point, but orgies … and gangbangs …" Nyra whined.

{Seriously, are those some of her favorite kinks or something?}

Suddenly, Obina sighed, "Since you know that much now, I might as well tell you that to have your clones come back and regain your original strength, there's either defeating the clones and wait for it all to recover the next day, or chant [Merge] no matter where they are. Those who know the [Clone] Null Spell on their own would normally know [Merge] to make such a thing possible."

{Ah, so it's like Erizora knowing [Shrink] and [Grow].}

"Your clones will copy your skills, personality, and thought processes enough to move independently, and they will move about for as long as you, the original, is conscious and awake," Obina continued, "Once you die, faint, or even fall asleep, your clones will immediately lose their tangible forms and return to you. No matter how they return to you, you'll receive all the memories of what they experienced up to the end of their time, and you'll receive the experience points they got from defeating opponents."

"Isn't that kind of broken?" I asked.

"It would, if you have the strength of multiple people by yourself," Obina answered, "Your overall stats decrease the more clones you pop out, and you can produce fifty of them at max while you're left with fifty percent of your strength. An average human would produce very weak clones that couldn't accomplish much."

That meant if a clone had one percent of my power, I could have up to fifty of them with that same percentage. At the same time, I could have one clone hold the entire other half of my power. If I produce the same number of clones as the classes I can assign, I could have a totally balanced party if I assigned each of them different roles. That might be another reason why I shouldn't use [Clone] much if my party would feel they're replaced by my own self. {Yeah, other than emergencies, it's best I just use [Clone] for fun adult times, huh?}

With that settled, we moved on to the playback and watched Sue after her clone merged back with her. Just as Obina said, the original Sue put on the stockings her clone was wearing before sliding under the covers and cuddled next to me to fall asleep, looking happy all the while. I then fast-forward the playback to the next morning—as in earlier today—when Mametama and I got up first and left the room for my early morning training after we got cleaned and geared up. Some time after we left, though, Sue got up next and stripped out of her stockings, leaving nothing but her necklaces on before casting [Clone] to produce a copy. After the original looked to have given the clone instructions, the latter got to dressing into her usual attire while the former used [Portal] to leave the room, still butt naked. When the clone was left alone, she stepped out to do something else before Kalline and Erizora woke up later.

I confirmed with Obina that all the clothes and gear we have on, as well as their enchanted effects while casting [Clone] would be copied, but the clones won't be able to take them off. It seems they're able to dress themselves when they're cloned naked, but any clothes and gear they have on when they were forced back to the original would be left behind.

"So, Sue only had the necklaces copied when she clones herself, huh? That meant she couldn't get them off when we had that foreplay last night," I deduced.

I then fast-forward the playback to the point where I interrogated Sue—specifically, her clone—for messing with mine and Nyra's memories. Nyra's sneaky scratch to the back of Sue's neck was also amazingly recorded. I momentarily stopped the video where I had her at knifepoint, threatening her should she mess with me or my party again. I noticed how the effects of my [Devil Eyes] skill were trying to fill up one of my eyes, but were seemingly pushed down. Even if I didn't have the skill activated, I never saw myself looking so frightening from a bystander's viewpoint before. It made me uneasy wondering if I looked that bad from the other times I got aggressive and violent. For a moment, Creep, the uncannily dark side of me that I've seen in my dreams, flashed in my mind, specifically his face in a manic smile.

{If I don't want to lose control from the [Devil Eye's] influence, I should try to remember this, reminding myself what I shouldn't lower myself to become. I don't want to scare Ume and the others away like I had with many others back home.}

Nyra and Obina were quiet as I was reflecting. They both seem to read me enough to know what I was thinking and respectfully not comment on it, like they didn't need to say anything that I already know. I was grateful for their silence.

After I made my resolve to not let the [Devil Eyes] get the better of me, I continued playing the video. It was when my interrogation was finished and I left the room while slamming the door closed in anger. Immediately afterwards, Sue looked to have casted [Soundproof] as we watched a familiar, amorphous field filling the room before she collapsed on the floor out of exhaustion.

{[Clone], [Portal], [Clean], [Soundproof], and let's not forget the Null Spells that disguised her as an Arch Imp, stopped Nyra from waking me and altered our memories. Sue, just how powerful are … you?}

As I was thinking deeply while watching, I saw something unexpected.

"Is Sue … masturbating?" I asked aloud.

"Damn, I knew she was scaroused, but I didn't think it was that bad," Nyra commented.

We watched the disguised Devil clone snap herself out of her sexual daydream before she started pacing around the room in serious, deep thought. Then, unexpectedly, Sue looked like she was having a breakdown as she had a terrified, pained look on her face. She couldn't keep herself standing as she dropped to the floor again in a fetal position and broke into tears with her [Devil Eyes] activated. I didn't think something like that was possible, since my episodes were from my angry fits. Sue then looked to be yelling about something, I didn't know what since the audio was muted. Still, this was the most I've ever seen from Sue's emotions, and it was surprising as I remembered her looking totally normal when I checked on her later.

I then remembered Nyra's report on Sue's mood changes earlier today. They seem to fall in line with what we've seen in the video before the screen blacked out.

"That's everything I'm allowed to show you," Obina said, "What are your thoughts, you two? Remember that I can neither confirm, nor deny anything that's contained in the video."

"Well, she certainly has more surprises than I thought, but if there's one thing I was right on? That girl's got some serious issues," Nyra summarized before she and Obina turned to me, waiting for my response.

I stood up and started pacing around the room, thinking deeply, "So, the Demon King, a Devil, had Sue, another Devil disguised as an Arch Imp, come to find me to not only escort me to her, but also get a sample of my blood. Other than my flashy performance in Dondegarm, I don't know how they figured out it was me enough to scatter all those flyers across the Demon-Kin's Territory. Those same flyers not only served to notify the closing of the Demon King's Champion Hunt, which was her previous means of finding me, but to send a message to me. According to Ume, the Rune Magic that was used for this can identify my mana signature enough to reveal that message, but it needed a sample of my mana signature, which can be found through anything that comes from my body, in order for it to identify me in the first place. This means that, until last night, they didn't have a sample from me in order for that Rune Magic to work properly.

"How they got a sample of my mana signature before that and why they needed my blood, I don't know yet. Sue seems to have high personal stakes in this, though, if she was as emotionally invested as we've just seen her. The recording stopped before we got to see Sue conversing with the Demon King for the remaining time I gave her, so it doesn't look like we'll know what her motives are until I get more info," I said.

"That does seem to be the case. Can we come up with theories involving Sue from what we learned?" Nyra asked.

I nodded, "I was getting to that. As mentioned before, Sue seems to have close relations to the Demon King, closer than those with the Ministry and even her secret service, the 'Dark Wind'. Ah, now that I think about it, if Sue could use [Clone], could she have had a hand in making those fliers? If that was something the Ministry wasn't aware of until then, and the Demon King destroyed the stamp that made the magic circles, then Sue making copies of herself doing the labor work would keep leaking information to a minimum."

"Of course! What would normally be a twenty-ish man operation would immediately be brought down to two if the majority of them were clones!" Nyra exclaimed.

"Right," I agreed, "So the Demon King must have high faith in Sue if the operation was only limited to the two of them. Still, what kind of relationship would they share that's special enough for Sue to disguise herself and keep her identity a ... secret from the public." Muttering those last words, I felt something click in my mind.

Some of the behaviors I've seen from Sue today and what she has told me, including The Blink. An unnoticeable phenomenon where the records and identities of Demon King F and Shining Teaset, as well as Demon King D's name, were erased from the entire world. This was likely planned by F to keep such a great secret from leaking out. What was that secret? Sue seems to hold the key if she knows that much. The more I was making connections in my mind, even if they were just guesses, the more uneasy I got.

"Did you figure something out?" Nyra asked.

"I … have two theories," I said while holding up said number of fingers. I wondered if I was in the right state of mind to come up with them, though, "One, which I honestly think is more likely, is Sue being an illegitimate child of Demon King F, making her Demon King D's sister."

"Interesting," Nyra said while crossing her arms and looking down, "If that's the case, it would explain why Sue's so powerful. She'd have to be in the same league as D to pull off all those stunts last night. Also, even if Sue isn't considered royalty, she could still use her influence responsibly and discreetly if she and D are close sisters. So, what's the other 'less likely' theory?"

"... That Sue is D, the current Demon King," I answered after hesitating.

Nyra blinked with widened eyes, "That … might also be the case, yes, but why would you think that's less likely?"

"Well, she's the Demon King. I know nothing about politics or what monarchs do, but I can't even imagine the power it takes to run a kingdom whose citizens can be hungry for violence. She'd have to spare enough energy to send a clone to watch over me on top of overseeing her royal duties, unless she somehow uses her authority to take a vacation, but even that can only do so much. Since I forced her clone to be under surveillance at every passing moment, there's no way she could switch places unless we were knocked out. Moreover, she'd have to stay constantly awake in order to keep her clone mobile, and we'll be going into a dungeon that will take who knows how long to clear it."

Nyra looked up and thought, "Well, I can see your points, but if the Demon King is as powerful as what we've heard, would it really be less likely?"

To be honest, I said it was 'less likely' to partially fool myself. In actuality, I didn't want it to be the truth, but there were too many hints that wouldn't suggest otherwise after mulling over my times with Sue. If she really is Demon King D, then that opens many doors leading to other questions that I find myself afraid to figure out.

One question, for example, why did Sue's father, Demon King F, know of the D-Humans' and the Kurokichi Clan's origins? But the biggest question I'm hesitant to find out is why Sue had done so much for the last four years of her monarchy to find me, a D-Human who knew next to nothing about his own lineage until very recently.

I can guess why I was put under an oath to secrecy to not bring up what I learned to Sue, but honestly, I was grateful for it. I can just put this to the back of my mind and think about it more on my own time while I focus on the mission ahead.

"It looks like you came to some conclusion, Jinma. Have you found what you've seen in the video satisfactory?" Obina asked.

"... Can I just ask what you think of all this? That is my original intent on coming here, after all," I said.

Obina closed her eyes and thought deeply, "If you want my honest opinion, the way Sue's going about all this is almost convoluted and I wasn't very fond of how she messed with your memories. However, from my experience watching her grow, I know she had a complicated upbringing, and she was shoved with many heavy responsibilities despite being young. Seeing her after she started traveling with you was the first time I've ever seen her, well, child-like. Despite her screw-up last night, I know for certain that Sue cherishes you to high degrees. The only thing I can say is that no matter what happens, I hope she'll learn something from this whole experience. That girl still has a long life ahead of her."

{Heavy responsibility from a young age … that could go in either direction of my theories.}

I admit that while we're only a few years apart and from different kin, Sue's at an age that can resemble a very confusing time for humans. I, myself, was no exception, and it was especially hard when Hyo-chan, Komi, and one of my aunts who was our homeroom teacher, Mitsuki Towa, died in that bus accident. We're more likely to make irrational mistakes during emotional periods, whether said emotions were negative or positive. Seeing how happy Sue was in the recording, she probably wasn't thinking ahead how her actions would put her in a bad light.

I'm not letting Sue off the hook that easily, of course. I'm still going to keep an eye on her like a hawk, but my motivations may have changed somewhat after seeing Sue's side of these weird circumstances. I may have to be more cautious of my actions towards her now than I was this morning.

{The illegitimate sister or the monarch herself. Whichever Sue's real identity ends up being … will drastically change our relationship moving forward. Should I contemplate what to do in either case when that time comes?}