-Stand (STAND).
In the popular culture Roland knew, this term had long since become a systematic power framework.
But in Type-Moon, which had no JoJo, the name still retained its most classical, primordial meaning.
A literal "stand-in," in other words, a doppelgänger.
However, despite their similar names, unlike Kirie Fujou's Double Existence, which was fundamentally an esper ability, a doppelgänger referred more to a paranormal phenomenon.
That was, suddenly encountering another self in everyday life, identical in both appearance and memories.
They would ruin the originals' lives, steal what mattered most to them, and ultimately even kill and replace them.
If the originals tried to kill them instead, any injuries inflicted on the doppelgängers would be reproduced on their own bodies.
And this anomalous concept was precisely why Narbareck remained unscathed despite having just been killed once.
At some point, a square, blood-colored book had appeared in her hand.
Every inch of the book exuded an unsettling dark red, yet showed not the slightest suppleness. Even an ordinary person, however, would not think of something as occult as human skin upon seeing it.
-Because the pages spontaneously moving at its corners, writhing like living creatures, had already carried it into a far more terrifying realm.
Rather than leather that had undergone further processing, this thing looked, by any measure, like an organ freshly harvested alive.
But Roland lost interest after a mere glance and instead raised his head to stare behind Narbareck.
This book was only a terminal; the true nature of what lay behind it was what actually interested him.
"So that's how it is..."
Beyond the great maw woven with intersecting spaces as its teeth lay a scene as pitch-black as the abyss.
Against the crimson sky, that boundless darkness resembled the opened eyes of greedy fiends.
They