Doppelgänger

Limbo: The Demon Realm capital city - after being destroyed almost entirely by the Celestial Mage attackers - had been evacuated completely. Not even the immortal remained, having set off on his journey to the Human Realm, alongside his childhood friend, Kasumi Niwa, as well as her brother, and friend, Aki Ide. However, they would not go by these names in the human realm, instead they would use aliases that are not far off from their real names, this is due to likelihood that their surnames could be recognised as from the demon race.

"Shinji Natsuki, Aki Suzuki, Kasumi Abiko" Shinji says, "They will be our human names."

The trio are currently flying, covering the distance from Limbo to the, scarcely traversed through, Human Realm Border.

"It's good that you thought of that, Shinji," Aki says, "But when are you going to hide your aura?" He asks, knowing that his aura would tell the humans that he's a demon of immense strength, in comparison to themselves of course.

Shinji stopped mid-flight, leading to the others doing the same. He was annoyed at himself for forgetting such a simple but important factor. "The thing is… I don't know how to hide it." Shinji shows a guilty grin, looking at his friends. Aki sighs, "Don't worry, I'll cast aura stealth on you too."

Kasumi giggles at Shinji making such a basic mistake, despite his monumental goal. They had all managed to distract themselves from the devastation they had just witnessed, not too long ago.

The trio continued forward, passing over multiple towns that were lucky to not be targeted by the Celestials. "Now that we're fully prepared," Shinji speaks, out of the blue, "I think it's time I told you my full plan to Kill the Demon King, that I've pretty much just come up with."

Kasumi looks at Aki, confused as to why he chose now to explain but she doesn't question it any further. "Go on then." Aki says.

"In that case, my plan goes as such," Shinji begins to explain, "To even stand a chance in meeting the Demon King, I need to attract the attention of either him or, most likely, the True Demon Lord. For that to happen, I'm going to need to obtain a position of power and great authority; but there are those who indirectly oppose that, which makes this even more difficult, those who have instigated war - The Celestial Mages, more specifically their leader. My goal in the human realm is to establish some form of relations with the Celestials, in order to overthrow their system and take over as their leader, most likely by killing the vast majority of them, if possible. From there I will strive to become a Demon Lord, increasing my chances of meeting with the True Demon Lord. If I can kill him, the one demon that has met with the Demon King more than anyone else, I will no doubt be able to come face to face with the being himself." Shinji finishes, as they see and approach the border ahead of them. "I, of course, don't expect to achieve any of this anytime soon." He adds, "After all, I'm nowhere near strong enough to do any of that at this point." He smiles.

"However long it takes, we'll be there with you, Shinji!" Kasumi supports her friend, Aki nods and agrees.

"Thank you, I really, truly couldn't do it without you both." Shinji smiles again.

Finally arriving at the border, the trio float to the ground and continue on foot. To their surprise, there is nothing monitoring or controlling the border, and so they freely walk through. The border itself is a physical entity of pure teleportation magic. It seamlessly connects the two realms together, when in reality they are a dimension apart. The border has existed for multiple millennia, ever since the reinstatement of the Demon-Human peace pact after the ancient war between the two races - the same one that has just been broken, for the second time, by the humans.

Passing through the border, concealing their wings yet again, the three of them discover a vast grassland, filled with a wide range of flowers, creatures and plants - but no humans in sight.

"It's actually… quite beautiful." Aki says, with his expectations succeeded.

"I can agree with you on that one, their natural environment is a lot nicer than what we have in the Demon Realm - everything's so much brighter here." Shinji says, captured by the natural beauty in front of him.

"We can admire the surroundings all we like as there's nothing else for a while." Kasumi says, looking at her universal map.

…

After traversing through the fields of the human realm, enjoying the change in scenery, Shinji, Kasumi and Aki come across a small village with a road that led straight to their destination- the multi-cultural city of Tesmuth. Despite entering a human village, there were still no humans to be seen. It wasn't until they travelled along the road, passing by connecting villages, that they started to see their first humans, not including the Celestials.

"L-Lord Hirohiko!? Is that you?" A merchant, who had just left Tesmuth, asks Shinji. "Lady Gina has been awaiting your return!"

- Lady Gina? Who the hell is Gina? And why does this human think I'm this Lord Hirohiko person? -

"I haven't heard of those names before, they must be insignificant…"

- What a helpful Master you are -

"No, actually, I'm not. I get that a lot hahaha." Shinji tones his acting skills.

"Oh, my apologies sir." The merchant says, "You do look identical to the prince, almost a doppelgänger, I must say." The merchant apologises, skeptical of Shinji's denial, believing that he was actually the prince, but leaves without saying anything more.

"Identical to the Prince of Tesmuth, who is yet to return from whatever affairs he is attending to." Shinji speaks outloud. "Fascinating."

As they continue to traverse to Tesmuth, they are surrounded by whispers and speculation - it was not a one off occasion. People on benches spoke amongst themselves: "Is that the Prince? Who is he with?", "Lord Hirohiko is back already!?",

"Should I speak to him?", "It's the Prince!".

Shinji really was the doppelgänger of the nation's prince.

Arriving in Tesmuth, they were greeted with the same, but Shinji was too busy admiring the human town to take any notice. The strangely shaped, compared to the demon realm's, buildings, the grandness of them all, the busy Main Street, the wide variety of locals, the behemoth of a castle, risen on a man-made mountain in the centre of the city. "So this is a human city. It's different to what I expected." Aki says, ignoring the crowd that had formed around them.

"It's almost as nice as this realm's nature" Shinji adds, "I'm impressed with these humans, so far!"

- What… what am I saying!? These are the same creatures that massacred my family!? My hometown, my classmates, my home. -

- How have I almost… forgotten what they have done!? It's… disgusting! They don't deserve this realm! They don't DESERVE this city, these grasslands, this clean air. -

- They destroy MY home, MY mother, MY father, MY LIFE, and they get away with it? They get to have all of THIS!? Humans are DISGUSTING creatures, I wouldn't doubt that they all stem from one another. They are the evil ones, I must NEVER forget that. -

As Shinji was realising the change he had undergone, trying to overcome his own mindset, one of the humans from beyond the crowd approached him.

"Lord Hirohiko!" The boy exclaimed, "Thank god you're here! There's trouble at the trading guild!" He says, looking distressed, "They'll surely back down with your presence!"

- Now that I remember, humans have these established groups known as "guilds", the largest being the adventurers guild. If I, or we, can get recognised as an established high rank in one of these guilds, it's surely to help in getting us to the Celestials. -

"I'll help you, don't worry, take us to the problem." Shinji responds, acting how he thinks the person he has been perceived as would act.

"Thank God, please follow me, are those two coming as well?" The boy asks.

"Yes, they are my… loyal friends." Shinji responds. As the four of them leave towards the trading guild, the crowd starts to disperse.

"Hey, is that really Prince Hirohiko, his forehead scar was definitely missing?" A human asks her friend. "Yeah that's what I was thinking, but realistically, who else would it be?"

…

The boy, who given a second look was actually a dwarf man, took the trio to the trading guild front desk. This guild was a minor one, unbeknownst to Shinji, and was established with the purpose of kickstarting young merchant's careers. The Dwarf man nods at the older woman behind the desk, signalling her to lead them to the basement stairs.

Now suspicious of his intentions, Aki looks at Shinji, as if asking for permission to retaliate, to which Shinji responds with a stern look and a subtle shake of the head.

"We need your help down here." The dwarf says.

"We?" Kasumi questions.

"Yes, me and my buddies!" The dwarf turns the light on after reaching the bottom of the stairs, revealing a room full of muscular, strong-looking human men - exactly 40 in total, crammed into the room, still leaving enough space for their visitors.

"A big catch today boss, Lady Gina's younger brother, otherwise known as Prince Hirohiko, as well as his rich looking friends." The dwarf speaks to his boss.

"Good. Restrain them." The boss responds.

- Typical of humans, they truly are disgusting creatures -

…

..

.

"Oh my, Darling have you seen what's in the paper!?" A shocked elderly man asks his wife, presenting the lead story in the newspaper he had picked up.

"I know Honey, it's truly awful isn't it?" His wife responds, "Tesmuth hasn't had anything nearly as horrific as this happen in its history! All thanks to Lady Gina, it's been such a safe place, until now that is."

'43 INNOCENTS DEAD IN BRUTAL TESMUTH TRADING GUILD MASSACRE'