Here is the translation of the provided text into English, adhering strictly to the given glossary terms and maintaining the original formatting and structure without additional comments:
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368 – The Underground of the School is Home to a Demon #4
Crackle—
As I tossed another log into the fire, the flames grew fiercer.
Thanks to that, the light brightened, and the chilly air in the dining hall gradually warmed. Fire and food—both are essential to soothe tense nerves.
Thud.
I placed a small basket on the table.
“There was some food left in the kitchen. Since dinner’s long over, let’s at least eat something.”
It was provisions I’d found while gathering firewood—flatbread, ham, thin slices of cheese, apples, and the like. Enough to revive our exhausted, drooping party.
“Let’s eat quick, then head to the library. There’s gotta be a book there on how to summon or counter whatever that demon is.”
I spoke like a seasoned group project leader. My casual tone seemed to calm Marda and Paranoi, who had been shivering uncontrollably.
And so, we began our meal.
“Bread, lettuce, ham, cheese, tomato, and bread again…! This, this is the perfect recipe of Paranoiiiii—!”
Paranoi was overjoyed with the sandwich she’d assembled. A classic combination—no way it could taste bad.
“Marda, why are you wasting ingredients like that…?”
Paranoi frowned deeply at the sandwich-like thing Marda was making.
Plop, plop—
Marda placed ham on her palm, then layered cheese, lettuce, tomato, bread in the middle, and then more ham and cheese on top.
“That’s just backwards! It won’t taste good like thaaaat—!”
“But, but I like it this way! I get twice the ham!”
“That’s no gooood—! Only evil spirits do things backwards! They love reversing everything, don’t theyeeeee—!”
At Paranoi’s bizarre outcry, Marda reluctantly flipped it back to normal. Amused, Antiope clapped her hands.
Clap, clap—
Honestly, I didn’t care how Marda ate her sandwich.
“Well, this is entertaining.”
But I froze when I saw how Antiope was clapping—she was smacking the backs of her hands together.
Tap, tap, tap—
Hand-back clapping?
This was seriously weird.
Sure, it might be good for health, but in a world where massage and wellness are overlooked, I doubted Antiope did it for that reason.
“H-Hassan…?”
“Shh, quiet.”
I silenced Paranoi before she could speak further. Then, as if nothing was wrong, I asked Antiope:
“You not eating?”
“Not hungry. You guys go ahead.”
“Suit yourself.”
We finished our meal quickly.
One hypothesis formed in my mind: This Antiope might not be Antiope.
I recalled the moment I’d gone to the warehouse for firewood.
Listening closely to the scraping sounds from below, I’d heard something—a scream, calling out to me.
Help! I’m trapped underground!
It was Antiope’s voice.
For a moment, I suspected it was a trick to lure me down alone.
Hassan, is that you up there? There’s something really weird down here! Help me! Open the door! It won’t open from the inside!
Her desperate pleas made it impossible to ignore.
“Prove you’re the real Antiope. You’re the fake here.”
Huh? Fake? The one with you right now is the fake! Doubt me if you want! I’m the real one!
Doubt me if you want?
The Antiope who had come up from the basement had been acting strange.
She’d fearlessly spoken up in front of Bacchus before, yet suddenly she was scared of the basement, shutting the door and trying to keep us away. Suspicious, considering Antiope was usually as bold as an unchained pitbull.
And now, the hand-back clapping raised my suspicions to the max.
The probability that Antiope had been swapped underground.
The real Antiope might still be trapped below, while the one who came up with the lantern was an impostor.
Shiver—
The thought sent a chill down my spine.
But I kept my composure and addressed the group.
“Alright, if we’re done eating, let’s head back to the Underground.”
Antiope’s brow furrowed.
“We agreed to go tomorrow morning. Weren’t we heading to the library? Going down there in the dark is dangerous.”
She seemed worried about us venturing into the pitch-black Underground.
But to me, it looked less like concern and more like she didn’t want us going down there.
I wanted to ask, “Got a reason we shouldn’t go?” But provoking this possible demon in disguise might not be wise.
Maybe this was all just my paranoia.
I wasn’t sure.
“Um, Hassan.”
Paranoi leaned in and whispered.
“Hassan, something’s really off about Antiope…!”
“You noticed too?”
“I think she might’ve been swapped when she came up from underground! The one with us now could be a faaaake—!”
Seems Paranoi had picked up on my suspicions instantly. Truly, a worthy right hand.
“What should we do?”
“First, we should open the Underground door and go inside, right…?”
Makes sense.
“Hey, what are you two whispering about? Excluding me?”
Antiope cut in, forcing us to stop our secret talk.
But we’d already covered the essentials.
So, we headed back to the Underground door.
Had it been too long since Antiope went down?
Creak, clunk—
When I opened the door again, an unnatural chill rushed out, enveloping my face.
At the same time, something burst forth from inside—
Thud!
“Ugh, I thought I’d d*e! Why’d you take so long?!”
It was another Antiope.
Catching her breath, she scanned us—then spotted the woman standing behind us.
“What the…? She looks just like me.”
“And you are…? Why do you look like me? Some kind of demon?”
The two Antiopes glared at each other.
“W-What is this?! There are two of the same person?!”
Marda nearly fainted at the bizarre doppelgänger phenomenon. Honestly, I felt the same.
Now it was clear—there were two Antiopes.
“What the hell are you?!”
The moment they locked eyes, they clashed like sworn enemies. Fists flew, kicks landed—both equally vicious.
They say when you meet a doppelgänger, one must d*e. Maybe this was why?
Antiope punched Antiope.
Dodging, the other Antiope struck upward. Blocking, the first Antiope—
d*mn it, this is confusing! Two identical people fighting is hard to describe!
Watching this, Paranoi declared:
“The survivor is the real oneee! Fight harder, make it more desperate! The loser is the faaaake! Prove yourself by enduring!”
Her words were as cold as Instructor Musat’s. But she was right. The one left standing would be the real Antiope. The loser? Just a fake.
Then, the Antiope in mount position grabbed the other’s throat and squeezed.
“d*e, you fake!”
“Ghk—!”
The pinned Antiope flailed, reaching out to us.
“H-Help…! I’m… the real one…! Senior, please…! Candy… I’ll give you candy…!”
At the word candy, Paranoi gasped.
“T-The one below is the fake, then! We must help heeeer—!”
But the Antiope on top shouted:
“What?! I’ll give you two more!”
“Eeek! Then the one on top is the real one! Fake, accept your deaaath—!”
“Gaaah—! Curse you! I’ll curse you all! You arrogant gods, you bastards—!”
Finally, the pinned Antiope’s tongue lolled out, foam bubbling at her mouth.
“Your era ends here! Only ashes will remain—! I curse you! I am the incarnation of Wrath! The ender born of the abyss and earth—! Gah, ugh—!”
Watching my acquaintance strangled to d*ath, I wondered if I should stop it.
Bubble, bubble—
The pinned Antiope’s body dissolved into dark, bl**d-like droplets, vanishing entirely.
All that remained was a small note.
Paranoi picked it up.
“A paper doll! The fake was a paper dooooll!”
“Phew. That fake was annoying. Didn’t stand a chance.”
The real Antiope—probably the one who’d just burst from underground—brushed off her hands.
“Ugh, what a nightmare. Pitch black down there. Glad you opened the door when you did. Any longer, and it would’ve been bad. Ugh, my heart’s still racing.”
She zipped up her half-open leather jacket. Paranoi turned to her.
“What’s down theeeere?”
“A full-on dungeon. Seals everywhere. Things you don’t wanna mess with. Let’s close the door and come back tomorrow.”
Slither—
My brow furrowed.
“You’re a fake too.”
“Huh? What nonsense is that?”
“The real Antiope would never say ‘let’s come back later.’ Clap your hands.”
“Clap? What’s gotten into you? You sick or something?”
“You can fool others, but not me. Fake.”
I raised a finger—then drove it straight into Antiope’s chest.
Stab.
“H-Hassan, why—?”
Gurgle—
bl**d gushed from her mouth. A fatal blow, straight to the heart while she was off-guard.
Thud.
“Hassan—!”
Paranoi screamed as Antiope collapsed, bl**d pouring from every orifice.
“Hassan, what madness is this?! You—you killed her! Antiope was our ally—!”
But soon, her body bubbled away, leaving only a paper doll.
“…A fake ally, then! I knew you’d see through it! Truly, the wise and all-knowing God you aaaare!”
“Shut it, idiot.”
I was glad the doppelgänger was Antiope and not Paranoi.
If fake Paranois had popped up everywhere, my mind would’ve shattered.
I picked up the paper doll and tore it apart.
Every Amazon we’d met so far had been fake.
“But… how did you know?”
Paranoi stared in awe.
“Her chest was too small.”
“Her… chest?”
“Yeah.”
I recalled the zipper the two Antiopes had tugged during their fight.
For a moment, her chest had been exposed—and even in the dark, my trained eyes caught it in slow motion.
But hers was way too small. An A-cup. The real Antiope was a full D-cup—I knew from firsthand experience.
If I hadn’t felt them before, I might’ve been fooled. The thought sent chills down my spine.
“Then where is the real one? You know, don’t you? What the hell is happening in this school?!”
At Marda’s frantic question, I stared into the dark Underground.
“We’ll have to find out. But be careful. Whatever’s down there really doesn’t want us going in.”
Slither—
I drew my club.
“But now that we know its tricks, it doesn’t matter.”
I swung the massive weapon—heavier than solid iron—down onto the floor with all my might.
Whoosh—
Boom!
Crash—!
The sound of shattering and collapsing—
!!
The entire building shook with a deafening roar, like an earthquake or the scream of something colossal.
“Aha.”
Now I knew what I was dealing with.
“I knew this wasn’t a normal building.”
Channeling a bit of aura, my club glowed red like a warning beacon.
Hummm—
This was my ultimate technique.
Bankai: d*ath Beam Saber.
A forbidden art only the true Sultan of Hell, master of the harem, could wield. With this, fear vanished—and my attack power doubled.
“‘The ender born of the abyss and earth’? So you’re Wrath’s Gigas?”
Khhh…
The building itself seemed to laugh in response.
Pluto’s son, Zigress. The whispering winds, the birds perched on trees—they told me of you. You should’ve fled like your coward father, far from this land.
“You know about my father?”
Oh yes. I know all about you, Zigress. The misplaced guest. I was there the day you arrived in these lands, cast away from the forsaken forest—!
“The day I arrived here?”
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