The Witcher: Lord of the Empire

Lann took a deep breath. It was unexpected that the gang riot still occurred. Lann had not anticipated that Whoreson Junior, newly ascended to power, would be so crazy.

This cannot continue. Lann needed a prosperous Novigrad as an ally.

However, this accident also comes with gains, which can even be considered a good thing for Lann. After all, as a foreign force, there are not many opportunities to intervene in a city's defense forces to quell chaos, save civilians, and enhance reputation...

Not far ahead, a violent explosion suddenly came, attracting Lann's attention.

These gangsters actually used explosives.

Lann frowned. "Come on, we need to help!"

It was a large yard south of the Hierarch Square, with iron gates closed. After massacring the citizens who failed to hide in the chaos, the gangsters now focused on this place.

In theory, to incite chaos and expand the results as much as possible, the gangs should not pay attention to such closed iron gates but should look for those alleys or flat houses that are easy to break.

But for some reason, these mobsters were extraordinarily interested in this yard, even using alchemical explosives.

The people inside the yard were already trembling in fear from the ruckus outside. Now that the gang has broken into the place, everyone is fleeing in different directions. At a glance, one can see that there are men and women, and even many dwarves and disabled people.

But not everyone is fleeing. There are also brave ones: a few strangely dressed men with swords in hand tried to resist the gang. They are disguised as knights, but their armor is incomplete, and the weapons they carry are made of wood.

These 'knights' in extravagant attire adopt awkward combat stances and cheer themselves on loudly. But when they finally come face to face with the gangsters, their armor is easily broken, and they are quickly killed.

It turns out that this is a theatre, and these 'gentlemen' were only wearing costumes. If they had been allowed to dance on stage, nothing would have happened. But unfortunately, this time their opponents are real criminals.

Seeing their companions die, the theater was filled with screams and cries, which further excited the gang members.

The gang members, dressed as clowns, burst into the colorful theater, as if they were performing a macabre play.

“I want to find Irina! I want her to dress up as a princess!”

“Get out of here, she’s mine! I want her to dress up as a dryad and spend her last moments with me!”

"Come one by one, she belongs to everyone!"

The gang members shout obscenities as they run toward the theater.

The kind-hearted owner of the theatre had taken in many citizens who had nowhere to hide at the beginning of the chaos. Now, they have all become trapped mice, crying with nowhere to escape.

The adults are terrified by the gang's cruelty, but a few young men, unaware of the danger, wield swords and knives, trying to protect the women and innocent citizens of the theater.

A gangster easily knocked down a child, laughing as he grabbed another golden-haired boy. “Haha, what a fun game, brat. Do you know what the fate of knights is?”

The boy fought relentlessly and showed no fear. On his chest, his costume had a roaring lion painted on it. He shouted bravely: “Let me go! I am the Lion of Cintra! I will not allow you to hurt my fellow theatre workers!”

Perhaps because he is rehearsing a new play, the boy is too wrapped up in his role, causing laughter among the gang members.

"The lion of Cintra? Hahaha, how could he care about Novigrad's affairs?"

A woman with brown hair and brown eyes waved a wooden stick, but she was so weak that she was quickly knocked to the ground, and she only had the strength to beg for mercy: "Don't hurt the child, please!"

In addition to people who love art, the troupe occasionally adopts street children as apprentices. For them, the troupe is their home, which is why these young people are braver than adults at this moment.

The men wearing clown masks showed evil light in their eyes. “Don't worry, we will soon hurt you too, Miss Irina.”

The gang members were attracted to the troupe's actresses, so they didn't notice that a child hiding in the crowd suddenly began to tremble.

His body twists and expands, growing to the size of an adult. His hair turns white, long and straight, falling over his shoulders.

The woman lying on the ground saw all this clearly, and she murmured in surprise: "Dudu..."

“I’m sorry, Miss Irina. I’ve enjoyed my days in the theater, but I’m actually a doppler.”

The doppler named Dudu looked at the stunned gang members with amber cat eyes, pulled out the sword behind him, and lunged at them.

His sword moves like the wind, his movements are agile, and his combat techniques seem like those of a veteran swordsman.

His reaction was swift, and his speed was amazing. His left hand would release amazing impact storms from time to time in coordination with his sword moves, easily tearing through the encirclement of the gangsters and defeating them one by one.

The only flaw was that his sword moves were not fierce enough. When faced with many situations that were enough to kill with one blow, he would often hesitate for a while and missed many opportunities.

So after the first few seconds of being shocked by the Doppler changes, the gang members fought back.

Daggers cannot penetrate the tough armor created by the doppler, but some carry axes. Soon, Dudu was wounded and outnumbered.

"Stop, that monster over there!"

Just as Dudu is in trouble, he heard a scream. He jumped to avoid his attackers and turned around, finding an astonishing scene.

The gang leaders, who had retreated to safety, now have hostages.

In addition to the blond boy at the beginning, they also captured a believer of the Eternal Fire who was praying constantly, and there were more gangsters capturing hostages.

Gangs have many ways to ensure victory.

Seeing this, the doppler became very anxious. He made a sign with his left hand and suddenly created a telekinetic impact in front of him. He then lunged at the crowd with his sword and forced the gang members to retreat.

It's not that he doesn't care about the hostages, but the reason for his current body tells him: if he allows himself to be manipulated by the criminals, not only will he not be able to save the hostages, but more of his friends may be sacrificed.

The gang members, surprised by such a decisive action, took a second to react. One of them stabbed the blond boy, making him scream in pain.

"Stop, you dirty monster! If you don't want to let the little devil have more blood holes, stop!"

The believer who was taken hostage was also stabbed, and the voice of his prayer was distorted: "The eternal fire will not let you go!"

The screams of the hostages filled the air. At this moment, the mentality of the person he had copied came into conflict with Dudu’s original personality, and he suddenly froze. His face began to twitch, as if he was resisting something. "Release them, I can spare their lives and let them leave here."

Seeing that the threat worked, the gang member who made the threat relaxed and began to laugh. "This theater actually houses a monster, and it's a doppler! As long as this news spreads, even if we don't return here, the Eternal Fire will turn everything here into ashes!"

He looked at the doppler, with a fierce and greedy light flashing in his eyes. "I have a better idea... Put down the sword and follow us. From now on, this theater is the territory of our Cutups Gang..."

"Dudu, don't worry about me!" The blond boy caught by the gangster suddenly struggled violently and began to bleed profusely from the place where he was stabbed. He still cried out in a broken voice: "I am the Lion of Cintra! Lann Lannister! Don't worry about me!"

After that, he took advantage of the gang member's unpreparedness and bit the other party's hand fiercely, causing the other party to scream in pain.

"Stinky brat!" The gang member, furious, raises his dagger to stab the boy again.

"Stop!" Dudu shouted, running towards them with his sword, but it seems he won't make it in time. Suddenly, the whistling of an arrow is heard.

With a dull sound, a metal arrow pierced the gang member's neck.

The gang members didn't notice the enemy behind them at all. At this moment, they turned back in panic.

At the door of the theater, a blond knight put down the crossbow in his hand. He carried two swords on his back and a majestic lion was painted on his armor.

The people in the place were stunned for a moment. They looked at the blond boy, who had stopped crying and was lying on the ground, and then turned their gaze to the blond knight at the entrance.

At this time, Lann also had time to take a better look at the situation inside the theater.

A child imitating him, and… a Geralt without scars?

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