Chapter 75

I slowly opened my eyes.

Where am I?

I couldn’t get a grasp of it at all.

It felt as if I had been drinking—my head was dizzy, and my vision was hazy. My body had no strength, and my stomach felt nauseous and stuffy.

But that was only for a moment.

[Mr. Aaron…… hurry and take…… you out!]

Beyond the glass wall surrounding me, I saw a small figure. Soon, the greenish something blocking my view slid downwards.

Suddenly, I felt gravity.

Whatever had been supporting me disappeared, and I had to stand on my own legs. The glass wall opened to both sides like curtains.

For a moment, my legs gave way and I almost collapsed, but before that, someone caught me.

“Are, are you okay? Miyu, what’s wrong with this?”

“It’s because you just got out of the culture fluid…… You’ll be fine soon……”

Just as she said.

Soon, I adapted to the gravity and stood up on my own.

As I repeatedly drew in and exhaled deep breaths, strength quickly began to spread throughout my body.

Everything was normalizing.

The daze in my head cleared, the blur in my vision brightened, and I felt an indescribable surge of strength welling up through my whole body.

“……Here.”

Only then did my surroundings come into view.

Iri, who was supporting me, Miyu, watching with worry beside her, and Silence, standing a bit away with a cynical gaze.

“Ah…… so that’s how it was……”

I muttered as if sighing.

I was a replica.

-Let’s do one last check! Please respond and move as quickly as possible to the signal I’m sending now! One, two.

-Ugh!

-0.12 seconds. Looks like optimization still isn’t enough. I’ll adjust the programming again!

Right after I woke up, Miyu’s dorm room had completely turned into a hideout.

While the other Academy students were busy with classes and training, Iri, Silence, and Miyu continued preparing to stop ‘Aaron Stingray’.

‘It progressed faster than I thought.’

The memories stored in me cut off at the point when I headed to the Violet Hunting Ground… in other words, during Part 1 Act 2, right in the middle of the exam period.

At that time, Silence still couldn’t get out of bed, but the fact that he was here now meant the ‘main body’ side had successfully persuaded him.

And right after that, I woke up barely half a day later. Which meant Part 1 Act 4 had begun even faster than I expected.

Because of that, time was tight to prepare the kids. So I began teaching Iri and Silence the most efficient things right away.

“Ah, Mr. Aaron, is this good enough?”

“Iri, try moving.”

“L-like this?”

“It feels awkward. Is there still something uncomfortable?”

“My shoulders and chest area……”

“You’ll have to bear with the chest plate. Miyu, just adjust the shoulders a bit.”

“Ah, yes!”

Miyu quickly stuck to Iri’s side, using that ‘Multi-Tool’ to make fine adjustments. Contrary to its appearance, it really was an all-purpose tool, which had shocked me at first.

Anyway.

Given Iri’s current specs, charging into the battlefield would be nothing but a pointless death, so to make up for her shortcomings, I had prepared a Level 4 Powered Armor.

I removed the aerial mobility device entirely—since she wouldn’t be able to use it anyway—and instead increased the armor’s defense. At the same time, I widened the joints’ range of motion so that the armor wouldn’t hinder her agile movements.

Of course, I never once thought that even with these improvements they could defeat the ‘main body’ side alone. But at least it would increase her survivability.

“I-it’s done!”

“Good. How is it?”

“It suddenly feels much more comfortable. I like it.”

Iri nodded.

Fully armed, she now looked like a knight. Holding a shield in one hand and encased in solid armor, she seemed like she would fit right in the middle of a medieval fantasy battlefield.

I tapped her armor a few times and smiled in satisfaction.

“Good. Now it’s Silence’s turn.”

“……”

Unlike Iri, Silence focused on stealth and mobility over defense. He also wore a Level 4 Powered Armor, but its plating was absurdly thin compared to Iri’s.

The design leaned more toward ‘assassin’ than ‘knight’, and the coloring mainly used black and gray paint to blend easily into the environment.

“Try using the Cloaking Module.”

“[Okay.]”

Syncing with the module he activated, his entire armor became transparent. Moving made almost no sound, and it erased his biological signals so well that detecting his presence became nearly impossible.

“How is it?”

“[No problem.]”

Silence replied curtly to my question. Judging by his eyes, the ‘main body’ must have really gotten on his bad side, so his gaze toward me wasn’t all that friendly.

Well, even so, the fact that he was participating in this operation without complaint meant he had crossed over to ‘this side’ to some extent.

‘I can work on Silence’s favorability after we safely finish Part 1.’

The problem was whether we could survive this greatest crisis—Part 1 Act 4.

No matter how talented Iri and Silence were, they were still just students. Throwing them into a battlefield overflowing with high-level Adaptees seasoned by countless battles might well be insane.

‘If I could, I’d rather handle everything alone and come back……’

But if these kids didn’t grow, there was a chance Part 1 Act 4 wouldn’t end.

Even if that weren’t the case, fighting Aaron Stingray for real, risking their lives, would drastically boost their abilities.

In the original work too, they had grown rapidly while waging desperate battles.

‘If we miss this chance, their development might slow down considerably.’

I’d have to cover their inexperience as much as possible, while taking on the protagonist’s role myself to stop the ‘main body’.

As I was mulling over this—

“Ah, Mr. Aaron, are you okay?”

“I’m in good condition.”

I had inherited almost all the modules the ‘main body’ had been using. Our genetic data matched 99.9%, so there were no compatibility issues.

In terms of specs alone, it wouldn’t have been strange for me to completely overwhelm the main body.

But there was one thing bothering me……

“I just have a few questions.”

“Uh, what’s the issue……?”

“Why have I gotten so much younger?”

My body as a replica.

In other words, this body was considerably younger compared to the main body. My height had decreased by a few centimeters, and my face looked completely youthful.

Age-wise… late teens?

A high school student… or, if you went low, maybe even a senior middle schooler. Put simply, just in terms of appearance, I looked younger than Iri.

At that moment, my gaze happened to meet Iri’s.

“What is it?”

“N-no, it’s nothing.”

Iri quickly turned her head away.

She was wearing a helmet, but thanks to the [Trauma Scanner] module, her expression was perfectly visible. Seeing her slightly redden told me exactly what she was thinking, and a mischievous urge rose up.

“Was younger your type?”

“Eh?! Wh-what… that’s not it!”

“Touching a minor is a crime.”

“I-I said it’s not like that!”

Perhaps feeling pricked, Iri reacted far more strongly than necessary. In truth, it wasn’t that she preferred younger men—she was probably just intrigued by my ‘younger appearance’.

Knowing that, I still decided to tease her on purpose. But then I suddenly felt a sense of incongruity.

‘Has… my personality changed a bit?’

Before, whenever I made this kind of joke, I’d feel a subtle discomfort or embarrassment deep down. As if someone was scolding me, saying, Aaron Stingray doesn’t talk like that!

But now, that restriction seemed gone. I could speak freely, say whatever came to mind, and feel nothing strange. It felt like something that had been crowding my head had quietly slipped away.

‘Has my original personality come back a little?’

Realizing that I had, without knowing it, been influenced by the ‘Aaron’ ego, I turned back to Miyu.

Teasing and having fun was fine, but there wasn’t much time.

“So why exactly have I gotten younger?”

“It couldn’t be helped because we were short on time……”

Apparently, I was supposed to stay in the culture fluid for a few more days, but they had taken me out far too early.

According to Miyu, my specs themselves hadn’t changed much, but in things like height, I might feel a slight sense of incongruity.

But I didn’t mind—it actually made my height closer to the ‘me from the other world’.

Having already possessed ‘Aaron Stingray’ once before, suddenly changing height wasn’t hard to adapt to.

‘Well, I am a replica after all.’

Thinking that way brought a strange sense of melancholy, but now wasn’t the time for sentiment.

“Then there’s one more thing besides age.”

“Wh-what else is wrong…?”

“I’m missing a few combat modules.”

All the other modules were neatly packed in their boxes, yet for some reason, several were gone.

“The missing ones are [Corpse Eater] and [Cell Generator], huh. And the [Cloud Spider] is the Dwarf-made replica type still left.”

“T-that can’t be…!”

Miyu reacted in shock.

From her expression, she hadn’t touched them—most likely, the ‘main body’ had taken them. But I couldn’t guess why.

‘Why take only those modules?’

If, upon ‘awakening’ as a villain, he had wanted to completely overturn his plans, there would’ve been no reason to take just two or three modules.

On the other hand, if something urgent had forced him to revise his plans before awakening, why wouldn’t he share even that change with his replica—me?

‘…I don’t know.’

I was a replica.

A different existence from the ‘me’ that had become Aaron Stingray. Predicting how I would act, now that my way of thinking had shifted under this world’s influence, wasn’t an easy task.

‘Just what was he thinking?’

What was his goal?

What exactly did he intend to do with just those modules?

No matter how much I thought about it, no answer came. The only thing I could do was hurry and finish my preparations to stop ‘me’.

‘Condition’s not bad.’

My head felt strangely light.

Maybe it was because I had broken free from the will of the world that wanted to make me a ‘villain’, but I felt more at ease than I had since coming here.

‘Well, maybe it’s just my imagination.’

Once again, I reminded myself—I was a replica.

When this plan was over, I’d be a useless replica that would vanish. Everything I felt could be nothing more than an illusion born from copied memories and a ‘fake’ body.

But it didn’t matter.

I had a role to play.

And the time came.

To kill Aaron Stingray and take the Crown Prince’s seat, Benedict Stingray moved his forces.

I hurriedly led the special scholarship students to the battlefield.

Since it was their first time in a battle of this scale, I gave them advance warning so they wouldn’t get flustered and swept away, then headed for the battlefield ahead of them.

On the way, I intercepted the Stingray soldiers’ wireless comms—the situation seemed to be growing quite urgent.

‘As expected, just the real [Cloud Spider] and [Corpse Eater] modules alone were enough to completely overwhelm Benedict’s side.’

Miyu had once told me—well, told my ‘main body’—that my pure specs were on par with the average mid-level Adaptee. Because of that, just a few combat modules would let me demonstrate tremendous power.

‘So having two Game-Changer-level modules… no wonder they can’t compete for initiative.’

It seemed Benedict’s troops hadn’t yet clashed directly with the main body.

Although they’d spent plenty of ammunition, their only direct combat loss was a single sniper.

But the fact that their opponent was Aaron Stingray and that their attacks hadn’t worked at all had already scared them into retreat.

And.

I wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Where does everyone think they’re running off to?”

I strode quickly into the middle of the battlefield and spoke over the soldiers’ internal comms. At that, the atmosphere of the battlefield they had formed shifted instantly.

[ Y-you are…! ]

“Nobody leaves their position. The battle isn’t over yet.”

The soldiers were flustered.

But I ignored them and continued walking straight toward where the main body was.

Soon, we were close enough to see each other’s expressions with the naked eye—and our gazes met.

The corner of his mouth curled up.

“So the fake finally makes his entrance.”

Blood covered his cheek.

His family’s signature golden eyes gleamed like those of a starving predator. Even so, his body still exuded aristocratic grace—every small gesture and step seemed to carry authority.

An overwhelming charisma.

If even I could feel it this strongly, how much more must the others have felt?

I couldn’t really blame Benedict’s soldiers for trying to flee without even fighting properly. At this level, not being scared would be strange.

He tilted his head slightly as he looked at me.

“……Why the younger appearance?”

“Guess I didn’t get enough sleep during my growth period. Since someone started rampaging earlier than expected.”

Even as I said it, I felt it again.

Indeed, my original personality and manner of speaking seemed to have grown stronger. And perhaps sensing that fact too, the ‘main body’ narrowed his brows in displeasure.

“Flippant.”

“You should probably stop with the self-loathing.”

“Seeing you like this, I almost think it’s fortunate things turned out this way. Were you always this frivolous a man?”

“Looks like this appearance is stirring up some embarrassing childhood memories for you?”

“……”

Aaron’s eyes twitched.

Just as I thought.

From his manner of speech, the ‘main body’ had been almost completely devoured by Aaron Stingray’s ego.

His identity as ‘me’ still remained, but his actions, tone, and way of thinking had become even more similar to the original Aaron.

After finishing that assessment, I asked again.

“Why did you take the [Cloud Spider], [Corpse Eater], and [Cell Generator]? Didn’t that ruin your plan?”

“I have no obligation to tell you. And they were originally mine. How I use them is my decision.”

“Then who are you right now? ‘Me’? Or ‘Aaron Stingray’?”

“A meaningless question.”

Aaron smiled.

“I am Aaron Stingray.”

“……I see.”

That was enough to grasp the situation.

“There’s no point in continuing this conversation.”

“……”

I spoke, and Aaron didn’t answer.

Instead, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

The smile of a murderer.

A gaze that alone could freeze the prey in its tracks—the gaze of a top predator.

The time had come.

We spoke at the same time.

“Module Online [Cloud Spider]”

“Module Online [Cloud Spider]”

“Module Online [Techblade]”

“Module Online [Techblade]”

A black glove covered each of our hands.

At the same time, a blade formed in our right hands, created by nanomachines.

Holding the same weapon, we glared at each other.

And in the very next moment when our breathing aligned—

“……!”

Our weapons clashed.

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