Chapter 120
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Revolution and Destruction Are a Hair's Breadth Apart. (2)
“You... were a double agent?”
Chairman Stick asked, as if he couldn't believe his ears.
“That's ridiculous!”
For Parus, this was enough to make him lose his mind and jump in frustration.
A double agent?
What kind of nonsense was that?
He had already received power from the demons and was deeply entangled in their plans.
There was no way the Karr Empire would just let that slide.
“Think about it. If I really were a double agent, would they say something like that, exposing my identity?!”
Exactly.
If Parus Remnant were a double agent for the Karr Empire, there would be no reason for the empire to risk exposing him like that.
They would have kept his identity hidden and continued his double-agent activities.
Besides, if Parus had received any hint of it, he wouldn't be this flustered.
“......”
s his excitement subsided and his composure returned, it became clear there were far too many inconsistencies.
Chairman Stick thought to himself.
There were two possibilities.
The first one.
‘No more need for him as a double agent?’
Perhaps they had decided to eliminate everyone connected to the demons in the Mera Union.
Or maybe there was no more information to gather.
For some reason, the double agent Parus was no longer needed, so they planned to dispose of him entirely—even the part that had gained demonic power through his double-agent work.
But that didn't make sense.
Even if everything came to light and war broke out, they could still send Parus back to the Mera Union to rot from the inside.
Why discard him on purpose?
That was strange.
Besides, if they had already obtained all the information on the Mera Union or planned to start a war outright.
They wouldn't have suddenly shown up talking about rescuing the Pacific Kingdom like this.
‘Or do they know the Pacific Kingdom incident was our doing...?’
It was possible, but even then.
If the Karr Empire had solid proof that the Mera Union was deeply tied to demons enough to abandon a double agent.
He doubted they would resort to such a complicated and troublesome scheme.
The second possibility.
‘They were just fishing?’
They didn't have a precise grasp on the Mera Union's dark secrets.
Nor did they fully know about Parus Remnant's connections.
But they had suspicions, so they were testing the waters.
‘In that case, Parus is truly innocent.’
This might even be an attempt to sow discord between Parus and Stick, making them distrust each other.
‘That one feels more convincing.’
It would also explain why the Karr Empire went to such convoluted lengths.
‘So, our course of action should be...’
As Chairman Stick pondered how to proceed against the Karr Empire.
Parus Remnant was on the verge of going mad with frustration.
‘What the hell? How did they know I was here?’
He had definitely slipped out of the Karr Empire without anyone noticing.
They might quickly realize Parus was missing.
But they had no reason to suspect he had come to the Mera Union.
He hadn't left a single trace.
Yet the official envoy from the Karr Empire had mentioned him by name... which meant the emperor knew exactly what Parus was up to.
‘The emperor? How?’
There shouldn't have been any leaks...
Suddenly, Parus's body froze stiff.
There was one.
Exactly one.
A leak.
“......”
Parus's neck turned stiffly, as if creaking with every movement.
His gaze finally settled on...
“......”
Mersenne Remnant.
His own son, quietly observing the situation as if he knew something.
Memories from before coming to the Mera Union flooded back.
‘Isn't there a way to live longer...? I don't want to die so young.’
‘It's unfair. Someone as needed by the world as me. The Hero of Light! To die after barely 50 years.’
‘If there was a way to extend my lifespan. No, to live without dying. What would you do?’
Parus had made the proposal himself.
But Mersenne was the one who first brought up lifespan.
As if deliberately leading him there.
‘Why didn't you tell me, even though you knew? Why didn't you tell the other heroes?’
‘I'm dissatisfied. You send me to the Mera Union without properly informing me...’
‘...Extending lifespan means accepting the demons' power, doesn't it?’
Come to think of it, strangely enough, during those talks.
Mersenne often seemed angry.
As if furious that demonic power could extend lifespan.
‘No way...’
Was there another double agent?
Once the suspicion took root, it snowballed uncontrollably.
Thinking back, it was odd.
The Hero of Light.
He had seemed a bit off lately after meeting Kane, but fundamentally, his head was filled only with slaying evil—a stubborn zealot.
For such a man to suddenly worry about his lifespan and fret over a future more than ten years away?
Because he was his son.
Because Parus had wrestled with the same concerns himself.
Parus hadn't harbored a shred of doubt.
But Parus himself hadn't started worrying until his thirties turned to forties.
When his body began to ache little by little.
Mersenne hadn't devoted himself to heroic duties like that.
Parus had always put himself first.
So for Mersenne, who walked a completely heroic path unlike him.
To suddenly worry about his remaining lifespan at such a young age.
And even accept the idea of gaining power from demons, coming all the way here.
Above all, that face now—like he knew something.
Suspicion turned to certainty.
‘...Mersenne Remnant. You dare.’
Mersenne Remnant had betrayed him.
To uncover the Mera Union's secrets.
He had used his own father.
And he had witnessed the entire demon summoning ritual.
“Damn it, the summoning time's almost up. You doing the ritual or not?”
Right behind them stood an upper demon in spider form, frowning at the sudden turn of events.
At that moment, Chairman Stick spoke up.
“The envoys are looking for you two. Better go before they find some excuse to nitpick.”
The summoned upper demon was now pointless, but they couldn't complain to Stick over it.
The being this spider demon served—the Curse Demon King Kraksus.
Stick was his closest confidant.
As Chairman Stick led Mersenne and Parus toward the council building.
“Wait.”
Parus blocked his path.
“No, we're busy right now...”
Stick started to snap irritably, but Parus cut him off.
“I need to check something first.”
“What? What are you...”
As Stick furrowed his brow in confusion.
Parus closed his eyes, as if pondering.
‘Mersenne...’
The moment he revealed Mersenne as a double agent here.
He wouldn't escape death.
He had already seen the contract with the demons.
And he might have recorded it somehow.
Even if they let Mersenne go nicely, the Mera Union's darkness would eventually be fully exposed.
Better to claim he went missing or something and take the suspicion.
Without concrete evidence, the Karr Empire couldn't act too overtly.
“......”
His son.
His proud son.
Even if he betrayed his father, was it right to kill him here?
Parus wrestled with the question in his heart over and over.
Save his son and die himself?
Or kill his son and live?
Even after selling his soul to demons, he didn't stop loving his child.
Mersenne's life was as precious as his own.
That's why he had casually shared the Mera Union stories.
The demon stories.
“Hey, hey! What are you checking?!”
As Stick's patience reached its limit.
“...Mersenne, you.”
Having made up his mind, Parus glared murderously at Mersenne and said.
“You've betrayed your father.”
He had decided.
To live himself.
‘I gained lifespan and power by offering my soul to the demons.’
He couldn't let it go now.
With that thought, Parus pointed at Mersenne.
“My son... no, Mersenne Remnant is the double agent. He brought the envoys here.”
“......”
Mersenne, accused, didn't panic at all.
As if he had known this would happen.
“Father, you're evil to the end.”
Thump!
But unlike his calm expression.
Inside, his heart boiled with rage.
The father he respected most had sold his soul to evil.
And in the end, he threw away even the chance for final repentance, choosing evil.
Anger, loss, sorrow, disappointment.
Intense emotions began to swirl within him.
Dark feelings that demons adored.
Yet paradoxically, they began to amplify his light mana.
Caught in intense emotions, his mana amplified and grew.
Drawing out the depths of his potential.
Mana output surged to extremes.
Mana rampage.
Before, the one Mersenne called the Ice Witch, 'Rin,' had rampaged and subdued him in an instant.
Now, swept up in intense emotions, he entered the same state.
His light mana went berserk.
A brilliant aura of light, as if to devour all the world's evil, began to bloom around him.
“...Hey, isn't this getting dangerous?”
Even the upper demon, the spider demon, said it seriously.
Of course, as a pure-blooded demon especially vulnerable to light mana, and with only part of his soul summoned, he felt it more acutely.
Still, the fact that his power had become tremendously stronger was undeniable.
Swoooosh—
Before he knew it, a sword was in Mersenne's hand.
Not a physical blade, but one formed from gathered light mana.
A sword of light, literally.
It radiated a holy light that seemed to purify everything in the world.
“I will purify all of you.”
Mersenne declared, thrusting the sword of light forward.