“Are you really John Doe? You sound completely different than before, though?”
I couldn’t help but to ask.
The change was too radical.
It was hard to believe it.
However, it didn’t mean I didn't understand at all.
While their speech’s tones were different, the voice itself was the same.
I suspected the early weak attitude was just acting, but I didn’t see any meaning of doing so.
Despite my suspicion, John Doe spoke through the magic tool.
“It’s annoyin’ to call me John Doe all the time so, call me John.”
“Then, John. Who are you?”“Bluntly, it’s just a case of split personality. Ya know what I’m saying?”
“Ah, I know.”
I was convinced by his explanation and nodded.
The split personality referred to a person who embodied more than a single personality.
I’ve never actually met one, but I heard there were rarely such people out there.
I thought it was just nonsense when I first heard of it, but now that I’ve spoken with one, I could believe it.
It really felt as if I was talking to a different person.
It was more believable than him trying to deceive me through clever acting.
“The main one was the wuss a while ago. He’s snoozing now though. It was always like this. Whenever he feels cornered, we swap.”
“So, he becomes you when he switches personalities?”
“That’s right. He only vaguely recognized me. He knows I’m there but doesnt wanna talk about it. How pathetic. That’s how isolated the guy is.”
John happily muttered.
He talked as if it was none of his business.
No, it was really someone else's problem from his perspective.
They just happened to share the same body.
“This guy is an orphan, yah see. I’ve kept an eye over him since. I sometimes took over to help out, good times.”
John kept on talking.
His voice sounded as if he was dwelling on the past.
Although they were very different people, he seemed quite attached to the main personality.
At the very least, he wasn’t hostile to him.
Even though their personalities were the opposite, it didn’t seem like he hated him.
The impression I got from listening to his rambling, it felt like a friend or a childhood friend.
“John Doe’s the name that happens to share the same meaning of ‘unidentified corpse’. How is it, does it sound like a pun?
“In other words, the main personality has a different name?”
“Yeah. Well, it’s hardly used though. When I became a civil employee, I was in control of the body at the time. So I introduced myself as John Doe. Since then, so has he.”
John told the story in his memory with a wry laugh.
If that story was to be believed, it seemed that John Doe was a pseudonym.
In actuality, it was the other personality who named himself, and it ended up permeating into his own personal name.
Since the main personality didn’t correct it, it ended up as it was now.
Then I came up with a possibility.
I asked John since I was curious about it.
“Don’t tell me, you’re the one who provides knowledge for weapon development?”
“Oh, yer sharp. When this guy was in control, I whispered it to him as a flash of inspiration. I also casually write down the notes of ideas.”
John proudly spoke.
While the details were unknown, he seemed to have various types of knowledge.
Was that a characteristic of a split personality?
I didn’t know since I wasn’t familiar with it.
“It’s just, till recently everythings been downhill. All of the ideas I gave ended up failing and it was a mess. Everything went wrong due to lack of necessary skills and knowledge.”
“So you’re in great shape these days.”
“That’s right! Ever since you, the Demon Lord, showed up, everything just worked. It wasn’t like I changed anything, but my research and development began to succeed. I‘m sure it was God's guidance or something.”
God’s guidance.
As I heard that word, I felt an anomaly in my chest.
As expected, was there some kind of power working against me?
According to what I knew prior, John began to succeed during the same period I became the Demon Lord.
On top of that, the person himself didn’t know what caused it to happen.
It was a mysterious phenomenon.
Although its shape differed, there was something that matched with the awakening of Heroes and Saint.
Was the will of the world involved in it?
“The weapons to kill you steadily started working. Honestly, some parts didn’t make sense, but I left it alone since it worked. It looks like fate wants to destroy the Demon Lord.”
“…”
“What’s up? Cat got your tongue? I get that.”
John spoke with a gentle voice.
Rather than serious concern, it was more of pity and sarcasm.
I replied while looking back on the battle so far.
“I’m being hated by fate, is it? It isn’t something new. I’m used to it.”
“Hahah, as expected of the Demon Lord of the World. It seems you’re prepared for it. Well, enough chit-chat. Imma say it upfront, you’ll die soon, cause I’ll be the one to do you in.”
John declared that with confidence.
He had no doubt of his victory.
He was the exact opposite of the main personality.
“You sound very confident about it.”
“I’ve got enough under my sleeves to be confident. Thought to settle it with persuasion as the main personality though, but such naïve development was impossible, right?”
“Obviously, we have to reclaim the mystic stone.”
That part couldn’t be changed regardless what words he spoke of.
If the Great Spirit rampaged, it would hinder my plans.
I had to stop it at all cost.
“I heard, but are you seriously going to return it to the Great Spirit?”
“Indeed.”
“You serious?! You sure are a good person despite looking all evil! That one sure cracked me up.”
John loudly laughed as he said that.
He was making a fool of me, but I didn’t get angry about it.
John’s claim was correct, because it was weird for a Demon Lord to do something like that.
He must have found that really funny.
After he laughed, John exhaled deeply.
“…Well, it doesn’t matter what your goal is. My only job as the world’s greatest inventor is to kill the Demon Lord. I don’t want any money, status, or fame, but I do wanna have my name carved into the history books. That sounds like a good achievement for my second life.”
He shut up after saying that.
After a short pause, John told me.
“Look and behold, this is our masterpiece.”
At the end of that word, the magic tool ceased to function.
I couldn’t hear his voice after he left disturbing words.
Logan, who happened to finish sensing at the same time, looked at me with a tense expression.
“Dwight.”
“Where are they?”
I asked briefly.
Logan took a breath and replied quietly.
“—It was underground.”
Immediately after that, a sudden rumbling occurred.
I sensed a magic reaction deep below me.
It wasn’t on the level of the golems, but had more eccentric mass.
It clearly contained the mystical stone.
The shaking became so great that we had a hard time standing properly.
I pulled Logan’s hand and evacuated to the sky.
Immediately, a deep crack ran in the ground, and the buildings below us began to collapse one after another.
The high-rise building we were about to enter has also begun to tilt.
The broken stone pavement collapsed, and the fault shifted vertically.
What on earth…
I deployed protection magic around me, to prepare against any incoming attack.
The situation remained unclear.
I shouldn’t move unnecessarily in this situation.
Soon, the entire ground exploded.
The rubble soared above.
The collapsed buildings flew in the air.
The area around could no longer be recognized.
While the rubble rained, I found the object that broke through the ground.
That thing that looked like a tower at a glance was a huge metal arm with five fingers.