"What dost thou detect, Pinna?"
"Multiple entities detected. Count: ten. I cannot measure their threat level. All I can state with confidence is… these might be the worst possible enemies for us to encounter in every sense."
Just as ten figures emerge in front of Motegi and the girls, their eyes widen in an instant, and they're clearly shaking. Each figure is gray as weathered stone, their skin dull and lifeless, their hair faded like dried ash. But what truly chills the group is each stone-skinned figure bears the exact features of someone in their party, from clothing to equipment.
Yomogi freezes as her eyes land on a figure with fluffy ears, a loose robe, and hand wraps. She steps back without realizing it.
"Oh no…"
Chantal's eyes sharpen, locking onto a lean, lithe figure with cropped hair and twin daggers in hand, daggers just like hers. Her mouth tightens and her grip weakens.
"No way…"
Kimberly's breath stills as a woman in a dress stands across from her. The sight leaves a weight in her chest, like watching a portrait come to life and lose all warmth.
"What… is this…"
Pinna is shaken as her eyes land on a figure equipped with a hovering orb and circular disk, her Observer and Crawler Units, duplicated with flawless precision.
"This is impossible. Zero percent deviation. Visual data sync absolute."
Salacia's heart skips as a woman stands just ahead with identical tentacle-like hair and a bikini.
"Why…? Why is it so similar to me…?"
Manas tightens her grip on her shield as she witnesses a figure standing tall, wielding a shield with exacting symmetry. And she can only growl with fury.
"How dare this abomination mimic mine form…"
Lilith has no smile formed as her eyes scan the figure ahead, a woman with similar clothing and glasses like her.
"So what can this thing do…?"
Brunhild narrows her eyes. She stares at the pale imitation of herself with a massive greatsword held firm in two gray-toned hands.
"So they have finally come. The Doppelgangers."
Motegi's breath catches because, unlike the others, he sees not one reflection, but two.
One of the male figures stands with a katana nearly identical to Yamitsuki, and the other stands bare-handed.
"You can't be serious, right?"
The labyrinth still follows the exponential growth... so in this final floor, it has ten monsters. But Motegi's party only has nine, which makes him and the girls outnumbered. And worse than that, they have to face their own perfect reflections.
And for Motegi, the labyrinth made one final distinction because it does not treat him as a single entity. The sword-wielding Motegi and the element-wielding Motegi are seen as different classes, Swordsman and Mage, independently.
Then, all at once, both sides charge.
Ten Doppelgangers rush forward with perfect synchronization, and Motegi's party responds immediately.
Motegi is the first to act as he activates [Temporary Boost] to set everyone's stats to infinity. At the same time, he also casts Dome spell, enveloping Kimberly, Pinna, Lilith, and Salacia, as they're the support core of the party... because if the healer, crowd controllers, and tech strategist fall, the rest of the battle collapses in moments.
But still, it isn't enough. The Doppelgangers are exact replicas of their base selves, so the battle locks into a brutal stalemate.
"Grrrrrr!"
Yomogi crashes into her reflection, grappling raw-handed as their arms tangle and their bodies strain.
"I won't lose to myself!"
She snaps through gritted teeth as the grapple continues, perfectly matched.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Chantal's twin daggers slam into her own doppelganger's again and again, sparks flying with each impact.
"Heh! As expected of me! So resilient as always, I love it!"
Motegi darts toward three targets, simply planning to disarm the doppelgangers of Pinna, Salacia, and Lilith. But before he reaches them…
CLANG!
A massive greatsword collides with Yamitsuki mid-swing, sending a tremor up his arm that leaves Motegi smirking.
"Of course it's got to be you... right, Brunhild?"
Standing towering before him is the doppelganger of Brunhild. And they both clash again.
Meanwhile, the real Brunhild is locked in her own struggle.
CLANG!
CLANG!
She swings her massive greatsword, but it slams into an immovable object: Manas's doppelganger and her great pavise shield.
"You will not let me through, will you?"
But the imitation stands firm with shield raised as Brunhild lunges again.
As for Manas herself, she is fending off the doppelganger of Motegi, the swordsman version. The Yamitsuki copycat clashes again and again against her shield, leaving her furious.
"Thou pale mockery! Mine king is no reflection such as thee!"
Within the dome, the struggle continues.
"Wind... Javelin..."
Kimberly raises one hand, the spell firing only to fizzle and vanish as it's stopped by an unseen barrier lifted by her own doppelganger ahead. And then, the second threat comes as Motegi's mage doppelganger releases a blast from outside, slamming into the dome with a shockwave.
"Why… does this keep… happening…?"
As a type of monster, Doppelgangers also don't possess elements and rely on unique abilities, which is why their "magic" is either cancellations or invisible blasts.
Pinna's Crawler Unit intercepts a wave of marble-like projectiles sent by her own doppelganger's device, and then the marbles explode. Gas spews next as the copied unit retaliates with its own fog, and her own Crawler counter-fires with tear gas.
"How is this possible? Identical deployment. Identical response. Variable control should not allow this…"
Lilith lifts her arm, and her reflection does the same. Nothing visibly happens yet tension crackles between them as they're engaged in a stalemate of minds. Lilith can only laugh dryly.
"Heh… I'm really such a pain in the ass. What a temptress."
The truth stings, even if it amuses her.
These doppelgangers can replicate enemy-disabling abilities. Lilith's illusions. Pinna's wires, explosions, and gas. Which is why Motegi also had already cast Light Wall over everyone but himself and Lilith, protecting them from illusions and disabling effects.
Meanwhile, Salacia raises her hands and casts a healing spell she's never used before.
"Wide Rejuvenation!"
A pulse of luminous blue light baths Motegi and the others, sealing their wounds and washing away their fatigue.
However, her doppelganger does the same as an identically invisible effect flows to its own allies, keeping the doppelgangers from exhaustion.
And Salacia's voice rises with determined fury.
"I won't forgive you. For hurting my darling and for daring to wound my precious sisters! Wide Rejuvenation!"
After a suffocating and relentless stalemate, someone finally chooses to shatter it.
"Sorry, honey. But I don't want everyone to lose today."
Lilith murmurs quietly for one person as her fingers rise to remove her glasses, and in an instant, pure, overwhelming charm floods out from her crimson eyes. And for the first time after four millennia, this unrestrained power is unleashed on a battlefield.
Every doppelganger goes still, and one by one, all ten replicas lock in place. Lilith then calmly slides her glasses back on, sealing her power once more.
The doppelgangers have recorded every battle, every motion, and every technique from the moment Motegi and his girls first stepped into the labyrinth. But since Lilith had never once removed her glasses, the labyrinth considered they were merely accessories and not seals.
The entire party is shocked, but no one asks questions because this is their only chance.
Yomogi moves first.
"Rrraaahhh!!!"
She lunges forward, wraps her arms around her frozen double, and suplexes it into the stone floor violently.
"Still a million years too early to reach me!"
Chantal stabs her own doppelganger once, twice, and again and again.
"Forgive me… Motegi-sama…"
Kimberly raises her hand...
"Wind... Arrow..."
A large, arrow-shaped gust is released from her palm, bursting forward with a high-pitched whistle and streaking into the ceiling before curving sharply downward toward her own doppelganger and Motegi's mage copy.
"Engage."
BOOM!
Pinna's Crawler Unit releases its exploding marbles, detonating her doppelganger and its devices.
"Target eliminated."
Manas lifts her hand furiously.
"Fire Stratos!"
Layered flames descend upon the frozen swordsman doppelganger of Motegi, consuming it completely. When the fire fades, she mutters with disdain.
"None save mine king hath the right to raise steel 'gainst me…"
Brunhild rips the shield from Manas's frozen copy and hurls it aside.
"Begone."
Her greatsword cleaves through the body in one decisive stroke. Then, she coldly turns next to Lilith's doppelganger...
"I have always despised that foul demon. But I despise this abomination even more for daring to copy her."
...and her blade answers for her.
Finally, Motegi smiles at Brunhild's frozen double.
"Nice spar today, but the real Brunhild's still better."
Yamitsuki finishes it off before Motegi stops at Salacia's copy...
"Sorry, Salacia."
...and ends it with one clean slash.
Then, everyone collapses to their knees and breathes heavily. Motegi then turns toward Salacia.
"Sorry, Salacia... can you still do it?"
Salacia looks up at him, looking strained.
"I'm a little spent, darling... but yes, I can."
She raises both hands forward into the air with a slight tremble, but she gathers herself.
"Wide Rejuvenation."
Once again, a soft blue light vanishes the group's bruises and soreness and clears their minds.
"Thank you, Salacia."
"Appreciate it."
"You've done... well."
"Indeed, we are in your debt."
Salacia breathes out.
"I'm just glad everyone's okay."
Despite their stats being boosted to infinity during that fight, the toll wasn't on their numbers, but it was on their very selves. The disorientation of facing their own doppelgangers, matching how they fought, and the never-ending mental warfare of strategy and counter-strategy had worn them down more than physical damage ever could. Even Salacia, who had been healing relentlessly, feels it.
Motegi turns to Lilith next.
"Lilith..."
But before he can speak again, she blurts out to him.
"Honey, I'm sorry..."
"It's okay. That was urgent. You did what needed to be done. You can take them off anytime you want, if we're in a spot like that again."
"Yes... I understand..."
From the moment the doppelgangers froze mid-attack, he actually understood the source, and he knew it wasn't an illusion... but it was Lilith's true, sealed weapon.
Then, he notices something where the Doppelganger falls, which is a solid stone plate with incomplete, cropped engraving on its surface like a piece of a puzzle. He picks that up and turns to Brunhild.
"Hey, Brunhild... what's this?"
"That is one of the five keys required to unlock the last boss' chamber, my Lord. We must collect all five on this floor."
"Last boss, huh?"
All labyrinths in this world follow the same rule, which is five waves per floor, no matter how many monsters appear inside. Normally, every defeated monster would drop an item. But the doppelgangers are the only exception, as they only dropped a single item after each wave was cleared.
Then, he asks again, and her answer surprises him.
"Do you know what the last boss might be?"
"It is... Jashin."
"Jashin, you say?!"
For Motegi, "Jashin" simply means an evil god in Japanese.
But Brunhild then explained that Jashin wasn't just that, but he was the irregular god who had waged war against Acrusse.
Long ago, Acrusse had created a world filled only with ancient humans and beasts. At some point, that clash between the two divine beings happened, and he was obliterated — body, mind, and soul — and erased from existence.
After Jashin's defeat, the goddess gave the world new guardians in the form of the eight elements — Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Water, Cosmic, Light, and Dark — to purify the world of Jashin's lingering influence.
And in their wake, everything changed. Ancient humans and beasts who bonded successfully with a single element became something new: Fire birthed ogres and dragons, Earth gave rise to dwarves and wolfkin, Lightning sparked cyclopes and pantherkin, Wind breathed life into elves and birdfolk, Water shaped merfolk and krakens, Cosmic birthed the automata and harekin, Light formed angels and unicorns, and Dark brought forth demons and arachnes.
Meanwhile, the ancient humans who survived exposure to more than one element evolved into the modern humans seen today. However, since Motegi is an otherworlder, he is the only exception, as he wields all eight elements, compared to humans in Acrusse that have two to three elements.
As for the ancient beasts that failed to bond with elements, they simply remained as modern animals due to their lack of minds like humans have.
But despite the eight elements' existence, some of Jashin's anomalous energy is still polluting the world. So when animals or plants absorbed it, they twisted into what people called monsters. And in some cases, that same anomaly gave rise to the labyrinths, a place where massive concentrations of anomalous energy existed... and where Jashin's fragments rested.
Once Brunhild finishes her explanation, he finally comes up with an answer.
"I see..."
Ever since Kimberly mentioned evolved beasts, he always had a theory that this world somehow might've been like prehistoric Earth. And with Brunhild's confirmation, it all seemed to be truth. Although if the evolution on Earth was by mass extinction, this one here was driven by elements.
Moments later, the group takes a moment to reflect on that unnerving experience through the sip of Salacia's restorative potions as they discuss their next move. And from these recollections, four conclusions come to light.
First, they agree on their opening targets: Pinna's, Salacia's, and Lilith's doppelgangers, along with Motegi's own mage version.
Second, Motegi's [Temporary Boost] remains active, and there's a reason for this. That skill is even considered by the labyrinth as an anomaly, which is their advantage.
Third, Pinna reveals that her duplicate never once used something like her Crawler Unit's gravitational marbles, which she can exploit to strike those four targets. Gravity, along with Time and Space, forms the foundation of Cosmic element... and since monsters like Doppelgangers don't possess elements, this is also the crucial point.
Fourth, with that plan, Lilith has a choice to remove her glasses again or keep them on. But she prefers the latter.
Pinna then speaks first.
"The duplicates of myself, Salacia, Lilith, and your mage copy will be my first targets. I will neutralize them before they react, Master."
"Good."
Then, Yomogi, Chantal, and Kimberly repeat the identical opinion.
"So, I have to battle my own again, right?"
"Me too."
"I must face… mine again… as well."
Motegi asks the three of them.
"You still good to fight, right?"
All three nod without hesitation.
"Good."
Manas speaks next, followed by Brunhild.
"So thou meaneth I still must hold the line… 'gainst Brunhild's twin, or thy other aberration, mine king?"
"Yes. And either me or Brunhild will handle your copy."
"With this plan in motion, we shall possess the advantage, my Lord. Nine against six."
"Correct."
Then, he turns next to Lilith.
"You sure about it, Lilith?"
"Yes, honey. I trust Pinna for this."
"Okay."
Last, he shifts to Salacia.
"We'll fight as efficiently as we can. You're our asset, so we don't want you overworking yourself."
"Thank you, darling… and thank you, everyone."
Then, they all rise, and Motegi asks one final question.
"So, you girls ready?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, let's go!"
And with that, they continue forward.