Demon Lord Shapeshifting System

The terrible, incomprehensible thing turned its head towards the direction of the sound. But before it even did that, Harker wasted no time and ran, dragging Artea along.

Surely, this thing wouldn't follow them out into the public with everyone around…..

Wait.

Where did everyone go?

Harker scanned the area, and it was all empty. Not a single person in sight. Not just that, but there didn't seem to be any sign of life anywhere.

The plants and the trees looked too shiny, and he realized they were made of plastic. The squirrels that jumped about in the dark had a metallic sound to them, along with a whirring that led him to believe they could be animatronics. 

Harker soon realized that he asked the wrong question. 

Where are they?

They kept running and hid behind the library building. Artea was very much afraid, but besides the shout, she didn't make any sounds. 

Instead she was whimpering and crying very quietly. She covered her mouth and clung tighter on Harker's arm.

"I'm sorry." She mouthed to him.

Harker shook his head, not willing to risk making noise and drawing the attention of the Imposter. The lights in this strange, lifeless place were flickering just like it did with the dumpsters where the murders had been.

Soon, they would be engulfed in total darkness. Which was not a problem to Harker before, but…..

He could sense now that he had lost night vision.

He swallowed hard, thinking of what else he could lose. He tried to call Yan in his mind…..

But there was no response. Harker was already expecting that, because he couldn't feel its presence. Even when it's invisible, he could always feel its presence nearby.

He had no powers and was stuck in some strange domain.

This didn't feel like his dream. That one was different, but at the same time, they both feel like not part of either reality or not reality. They were an in-between, and yet he felt that in that distorted, twisted dream, any injury he sustained mentally would stay even in the real world. In fact, if it weren't for the spider, Harker was sure he would have gone insane. 

Yet as for this one…..

Could it be the opposite? Could it be that anything that happened to him physically here, in the Imposter's domain…..

Would also manifest in the real world?

He came into the harrowing conclusion that this must be where the actual murders happen. In this awfully wrong alternate version of their world. 

"My friiieeeenddsssss….. Whereeeee areeee youuuuu?"

His blood almost became frozen within his veins when he heard that voice. The Imposter still used Kian's voice, but it was wrong. Not distorted, but just….. wrong. Fake, the same way robotic voices felt fake and emotionless.

It was trying to emulate a sing-songy tone, with hints of amusement. But it wasn't real. 

"There's no need to hide…. I know you have been watching me for a long time. Ivan told me about you, and I know now from my mother that we had been working in the same burger joint before. Isn't that right, Harker Jones?"

Harker tried to think of what he could do. He can't use his powers, and even if he could, the Succubus and Snake skill never take effect on these unreal creatures. 

Still, his expanding hair could have been useful, or the ferocity of the Wendigo, or even his ability to dissolve as those zombified fleshy worms. 

But here, he was just the same as any weak human. 

It felt hopeless. He could only try to fight, but does he have any chance in fighting that….. thing?

It stretched with its long limbs, having a humanoid figure yet far too thin and far too malleable. It moved almost like a puppet, its feet barely touching the ground, movements blocky and rough.

Wait a minute…..

It's a puppet. If it's a puppet, then once he cut off its strings…..

He remembered how the ring mistress just attached strings all over Ivan's body and controlled it. If he cut this Imposter's strings, the Mother of Puppets, the Queen of Deception might just re-attach it again. 

He looked at the book that the Imposter was carrying. Maybe if he took the book, he could get out of here. 

He turned to Artea, and whispered. "Where do you think we could find any sharp objects? Scissors, shears, knives…. Anything that could cut?"

Artea was shivering in fear and trying hard not to make a sound, and it took a while to make her snap out of it. 

She worriedly glanced over the looming shadow of the Imposter searching languidly in the park, almost purposefully too slow. She knew it was just toying with him by taking its time. 

"The gardener's tool shed... I know where it is."

Harker nodded. "Good. We're going to slowly make our way there. Then, we would have to choose which of us will be the bait."

"Bait?" She frowned. 

Harker shushed her. "I'll explain later once we're inside the gardener's shed. Come on."

They tiptoed their way to the school's gardens, ducking behind walls and hedges while the Imposter was not looking at their way. 

The Imposter was still looking around slowly and calmly as usual, wearing that wide smile on his face. 

"Come out, come out, my friendsss….. There's no point in hiding. I promise that your faces will find wonderful new owners soon."

Harker and Artea finally approached the toolshed. It was locked, but there was a small window that was open by just a crack.

He cursed under his breath. "Fuck…. Okay. We have to find those scissors quickly. This is going to be loud."

He tried to push the creaky window as much as he could. It was heavy, but he had some muscle hypertrophy from fighting muscles before even if he had lost his powers as a demon lord. 

He only managed to push the window up until it's big enough for Artea to go in.  In that instant, he knew what he had to do. He motioned for her to go in.

"It's decided then. I'll be the bait. You take some scissors, and when the time is right, you go cut the strings attached to that thing. You understand?"

"What?" She exclaimed.

"Just go now! Hurry!"

He started running away from the toolshed, but as soon as he did...

A hand had already firmly grasped him, emerging from the shadows. His guess was right. 

It was him that the Imposter was after, not Artea. So he was the only one who could bait it. 

"There you are, my handsome friend." The Kian imposter looked at him with its empty, unblinking orbs for an eye. 

Harker grinned. "You want my face, right? Come get it before I ruin it for you."

He suddenly took a tree branch, and used it to scratch his face!

The Imposter quickly yanked it away from him before the scratch could be deep enough. It growled and pinned down Harker's hands with its large, abnormal ones. 

"Ah, what a bad friend. You shouldn't waste such a pretty face."

Harker looked behind him, seeing the looming figure of a mad woman holding gigantic shears in her hands. 

SNIP!