Chapter 166: A New Ally
"What are they holding hostage?"
At those words, the Association's watcher completely lost his composure.
Agitation and shock were written all over his face.
"...How did you...?"
It was completely different from the look of hatred and indescribable emotion he had shown me before.
There had been plenty of clues that allowed me to deduce that the Association was holding something precious to him hostage.
Starting with the fact that, despite hating Demons, he had volunteered to monitor me.
The way he visibly wavered after hearing everything I had done for the Academy.
More importantly...
Hadn't that Demon said it during our conversation?
That he carried the despair of having lost something precious, while at the same time being driven by desperation.
He hadn't denied those words.
And from that moment on, I had a good idea what was being used against him.
"Your family?
The precious people the Association is holding hostage."
Family.
It was a word that stirred many thoughts.
Neither in my previous life nor in this one had I ever truly had a family.
The only person I could have called family...
For an instant, the image of the Heavenly Demon flashed through my mind.
She had sacrificed herself for me.
His family must have been just as precious to him if it had reduced him to a puppet.
"As you already know, you're the one at a disadvantage here.
With my testimony, it'll only be a matter of time before the Association's schemes are exposed."
"...Are you threatening me?"
"Not a threat.
I'm just asking you to face reality."
"What exactly are you after?"
He regained the composure he had momentarily lost and looked at me warily once more.
"If we wait until the other Heroes arrive, things are only going to become troublesome for both of us, aren't they?
We'll end up arguing over whose lies are actually the truth."
"..."
"I don't want to waste time on something like that.
Besides, it doesn't seem like you're truly loyal to the Association either."
His face twisted into a frown.
As though he found my proposal utterly offensive.
"So you're telling me to abandon my daughter?"
A powerful aura suddenly erupted from his body.
The murderous pressure weighed down on me, making my skin sting.
"I think you're misunderstanding what I mean.
I'm not telling you to abandon your daughter.
Quite the opposite.
I'm telling you not to."
"What do you mean?"
"It means...
We'll save your daughter."
As soon as those words left my mouth, the aura pouring from him gradually subsided.
Did that get through to him?
From his perspective, it wasn't an offer he had any reason to reject.
But...
I had underestimated the depth of his hatred toward Demons.
Shing.
Without warning, he drew his sword and growled.
"Don't stand there acting as if you know everything!
You know nothing!
Nothing about my suffering...
Or the suffering my daughter has endured!"
"..."
"You'll save my daughter?
Do you honestly think you have the right to say that?
Demon...!
The reason I became the Association's dog...
The reason my wife died...
The reason my daughter has been bedridden...
It's all because of your kind!"
At some point, his eyes had become bloodshot.
He finally poured all of his accumulated anger onto me.
"My daughter was corrupted by Demonic Energy.
She can't stay alive without mana transfusions.
She hasn't regained consciousness for years.
I bowed my head to that man in the Association...
Clinging to the tiny hope that one day she might wake up."
Demonic Energy Corrosion.
So that was the reason he obeyed the Association.
I already knew about it.
It was the same reason Kang Jae-seok had remained trapped in a coma.
Demonic Energy was a destructive force derived from Demons.
And it wasn't something the human body could endure.
There was a reason those who wielded Demonic Energy were called Demons.
No matter how powerful a Hero was, once they were corrupted by Demonic Energy, there was no cure.
The Demonic Energy invading the body gradually consumed its host...
Eventually transforming them into a monster that was neither human nor Demon.
Mana transfusion devices could delay the process.
But such devices were incredibly rare treasures, with only a handful existing in the entire world.
That was why even an upper-ranking Hero who lacked neither wealth nor fame had bowed his head before the Association.
Simply to prolong his daughter's life.
It was a tragic story.
Ironically...
It was precisely because of that tragedy that I became certain I could recruit him.
"I understand why you hate me.
But...
I think I can cure your daughter's Demonic Energy Corrosion."
"Impossible.
Modern medicine can never cure Demonic Energy Corrosion."
"It isn't actually impossible.
The truth simply never had a chance to come to light."
"What do you mean...?"
"Have you heard the recent news?
About a Hero who woke up from a coma caused by Demonic Energy Corrosion?"
I had already treated Demonic Energy Corrosion once before.
Kang Jae-seok's coma.
His entire body had been saturated with Demonic Energy, leaving him unable to recover or even regain consciousness.
It had certainly been a complicated process.
But it wasn't something that demanded an extraordinary price.
After all...
Demonic Energy Corrosion was a condition any Demon skilled in controlling Demonic Energy could cure.
Because in the end, Demonic Energy Corrosion was simply a severe condition caused by Demonic Energy invading the body.
Of course...
The fact that very few Demons possessed that level of mastery...
And that no Demon had any reason to cure humans...
Was an entirely different matter.
His eyes wavered after hearing my words.
It seemed something had clicked in his mind.
"Then...
Instructor Kang Jae-seok's gratitude..."
After meeting the Sword Emperor, the first person I had seen afterward was Kang Jae-seok.
He had thanked me.
For my dedication to the Academy.
And for saving his life.
Most people present had probably assumed he was referring to healing the hole in his chest during Hell Manifestation.
In truth, that injury had nearly killed him and had also become the source of his Demonic Energy Corrosion.
But his gratitude had carried another meaning as well.
Only Chun Ga-eun and I knew the true reason Kang Jae-seok had recovered.
That incident had become the foundation of our cooperation.
Realizing the truth, the watcher's knees began trembling.
His tightly shut eyes made it obvious just how conflicted he was.
Clang.
At last, the sword slipped from his hand.
Then he fell to his knees before me.
"I beg you.
Use me however you wish.
Treat me like a dog...
Or a slave...
Just please...
Save my daughter..."
Still kneeling, he bowed his head deeply.
His voice trembled pitifully.
Watching him like that left a bitter taste in my mouth.
"What I want isn't anything extraordinary.
Give me everything you know about the person you're serving.
And everyone close to him."
"...Is that really all?"
"If you've got information about all the corruption they've committed...
And their connections to Pandemonium...
Even better."
It was finally time to uproot the rotten foundation of Hero society.
Pandemonium's Sanctuary.
There, the ruler of Pandemonium remained in a deep slumber.
His spiritual body, formed from an enormous mass of Demonic Energy, had noticeably shrunk compared to before.
His battle against the Heavenly Demon had left not only the High-ranking Executives but even himself gravely wounded.
Although he was recovering his strength, the wounds she had carved into him by burning away her own life refused to disappear.
But there was something even more humiliating.
He had failed to kill the Heavenly Demon with his own hands.
In the end, she had torn open the fabric of the Sanctuary itself and fallen into the Void Space beyond.
Refusing to allow even her own life to be taken by her enemy...
That arrogance suited the Heavenly Demon perfectly.
He never believed she had survived.
Had she fallen onto Earth, perhaps.
But she had disappeared into the Void Space beyond the cracks between dimensions.
That was no different from throwing oneself into the middle of a raging sea.
Even if she somehow survived...
She would never escape from there.
At that moment, a Demon entered the Sanctuary.
The ruler slowly turned his spiritual body toward it.
[What is it?]
The Demon trembled in fear under the ruler's gaze.
"The retrieval of the Devil Knight...
Has failed."
[...]
The ruler of Pandemonium fell silent.
That silence only made the Demon tremble even harder as it bowed its head.
"I-I'm sor—"
Before it could even finish making excuses...
Its body exploded.
Silence once again returned to the Sanctuary.
The ruler wasn't angry.
The Demon's death was simply punishment for its incompetence.
From the beginning, he had never believed that level of threat would be enough to bring back the Devil Knight.
Even so, he had permitted the greedy pig within the Association to carry out the operation for a reason.
To remind the Devil Knight that they still existed.
It had merely been a warning.
He no longer regarded the Devil Knight as a pawn he could control whenever he wished.
Rather...
He had accepted him as his destined rival.
There was no other choice.
From the moment he had been weak, the Devil Knight had patiently built his foundation to destroy Pandemonium's grand design.
And in the end...
His plan had succeeded.
At some point, the flow of the Heavenly Secrets had gradually become distorted.
Now...
The Heavenly Secrets had disappeared altogether.
Which meant...
Even the ruler of Pandemonium could no longer foresee the future.
Plans he had spent decades constructing by reading the Heavenly Secrets had become completely meaningless.
It should have filled him with rage.
Instead...
His heart felt strangely at ease.
Because now...
Their role had become perfectly clear.
Even if decades of planning had crumbled...
Their objective remained unchanged.
The revival of the End.
And opening the Hell Gate.
[Father...
I eagerly await the day we are reunited.
And you as well...
My ancient rival, Baek Hyun-joong.]
The ruler of Pandemonium had ears everywhere.
Naturally...
He already knew the Devil Knight was searching for Baek Hyun-joong.
Although the Heavenly Secrets revealed nothing about Baek Hyun-joong's existence...
He instinctively knew the man was still alive.
It was the intuition of someone who had once fought him as an equal.
Just as he himself had discarded his physical body and continued existing as a spiritual entity...
Baek Hyun-joong had surely prolonged his life through some similarly pitiful method.
He was waiting for Baek Hyun-joong and Yoo Sung-woo to meet.
Of course...
The reunion of his ancient rival and his current rival wasn't something to celebrate.
But long ago, Baek Hyun-joong had burned away his own life to erect an immensely powerful barrier that prevented anyone from entering the Gate.
At the same time, he concealed its very existence.
Allowing only those he acknowledged to enter.
That was also why Pandemonium had never launched an all-out assault against the Academy.
Instead, they planted spies and caused countless incidents from the shadows.
By reading the Heavenly Secrets, they created unrest within the Academy while searching for the key that would reveal the path leading to the Gate.
But now...
Everything had changed.
The Devil Knight had disrupted the Heavenly Secrets.
And he was now searching for Baek Hyun-joong.
The ruler of Pandemonium already knew.
The day his rival of the past met his rival of the present...
The Gate they had searched for all these years would finally reveal itself.
And that day...
Would become the beginning of a magnificent destiny.
'The end of fate has already been written.
In the end...
Everything shall find its peace within Father's embrace.'
The ruler's spiritual body, formed entirely of Demonic Energy, began writhing violently.
The Sanctuary amplified his Demonic Energy before transmitting his will to every Demon.
[Wise ones...
At long last, the time has come.
Prepare yourselves for the beginning of the Prophecy!]