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Dismas, the head of the Western Army and the one who was the one to start this civil war, was overpowered on the first day of their advance to the West.
This was quite an amazing achievement, but the atmosphere among the emperor’s chief executives was not very celebrative, since Dismas was still alive.
“Why are we keeping him alive?”
Pavan was particularly dissatisfied with this.
“We can’t even torture Dismas to find out useful information because he’s someone who regularly butchers himself. And, that makes him quite a bad hostage too, since he will definitely show his hostility toward His Majesty. Then what is the purpose of keeping him alive? To edify him or something?”
“Captain Pavan, calm down,” Lenly stopped Pavan from spouting out his complaints.
Pavan closed his mouth, but he wasn’t the only person who didn’t understand the situation. The same was also true of Lenly and Sina; they were also puzzled.
Juan only tapped on the desk without a single word, causing Pavan to once again begin raising his complaints.
“There are many people throughout the empire who are suffering due to the Cainheryars created by Dismas even now—not to mention our comrades who are still fighting against them. We must kill him right now to…”
“It is unclear as to whether killing Dismas will stop the Cainheryars or not,” Juan answered in a calm manner.
Pavan closed his mouth once again and looked at Juan.
“Spirit Calling does not stop just because the user dies. It only slows down gradually. If Cainheryars are operated by some kind of Spirit Calling, we have to make that clear.” Juan explained.
“Then do you plan to persuade Dismas, Your Majesty?”
“I mean, why not? After all, I’ve never had a proper conversation with him.”
Pavan opened his mouth wide and looked at Juan with a surprised expression.
Meanwhile, Juan frowned upon understanding why Pavan was shocked by his decision.
“...I’m not doing this due to my personal feelings toward my son. He will get the punishment he deserves for putting the empire at risk, and I will make sure that everyone is satisfied with his punishment. But we can’t let him die while believing that he is a martyr, not to mention that we still have a lot to figure out about the Cainheryars. We need to make him realize his mistakes.”
“Your Majesty probably already knows this, but… whether one dies while reflecting on their actions, denying their sins, or being falsely accused and getting killed unjustly, none of that matters once they are dead.”
“I can see that you prefer a quick and easy revenge,” Juan sighed.
“Master Hela taught me to triumphantly mock the enemies from right in front of their severed heads.”
Pavan did not deny that what he wanted was revenge. Juan somewhat agreed with him; he also thought that he must accurately and quickly kill the enemy when he had to—although the part about ridiculing the enemy was not exactly to his taste.
If someone asked him, Juan would not hesitate to say that Dismas did not deserve to live, but now was not the right time. If Dismas was being manipulated by someone, he had to find out who it was that was manipulating Dismas and how.
It would make everything a lot easier if he was simply being manipulated with the help of a mental domination magic, but in reality, there was a high possibility that Dismas was deceived by someone’s false enticement.
Although he had gone insane, Dismas’ agony and will were completely sincere. Yet he was an adult who was capable of making his own decisions and held a position where he shouldn't be making reckless decisions. It was only right for him to take responsibility for his decisions.
“I will be the one to decide the disposition of Dismas,” Juan said firmly.
Pavan did not hide his dissatisfaction at Juan’s words.
“But Your Majesty, considering his ability to quickly regenerate, he will try to escape whenever he has a chance, despite the fact that we have fully unarmed him. After all, the Order of Surtr, Imil Ilde, and the Pope are still alive and intact.”
At that moment, Pavan paused as if he had thought of something and then continued to speak.
“Is it because he can’t be killed, Your Majesty?”
“What do you mean?” Juan asked.
“He has Your Majesty’s essence, which has maximized his regenerative ability. Not only Dismas, but even General Nienna is also not aging at all. Does everyone who has the essence of the emperor have the power of immortality?”
“Your Majesty.”
When Juan tried to open his mouth to answer Pavan, Lenly suddenly stepped forward.
“There is no need to answer him, Your Majesty. This is also a matter related to Your Majesty’s safety. It looks like Captain Pavan needs to calm down a little, considering that he made a reckless comment about such a serious matter. I think it would be better for you to take a break for a while, Captain Pavan,” Lenly said as he glared at Pavan with sharp eyes.
Only then did Pavan realize that he was asking about the emperor’s weaknesses and quickly admitted his fault. Pavan knelt in front of Juan and bowed his head to ask for forgiveness.
“Please forgive me for my careless question.”
“It’s all right. Lenly, I appreciate you coming forward for me, but I choose what I have to say. Not you,” Juan said firmly.
“Please forgive me, Your Majesty,” Lenly apologized.
“Pavan, this is probably one of the things you wanted to ask. Didn’t I get revived after death? Doesn’t that already go beyond not aging? I will answer this question.”
Juan lit a small flame at his fingertip.
“In conclusion, yes. Those with the emperor’s essence can be killed. There is a very difficult but easy way and a very comfortable but difficult way. Of these, all you can try to do is the former. Even with the emperor’s essence, one’s regenerative ability is limited. What you can do is completely neutralize them and then chop them up into fine pieces.”
Lenly frowned and turned his head away.
“And this is true for any human being. The only difference is that those with the emperor’s essence are much harder to kill. But those who simply took over my essence—like Nienna, would be easier to kill. Lenly, there’s nothing to be offended about. Pavan won’t put this knowledge in action,” Juan said as he looked around at Pavan, as well as everyone else gathered in the room.
“The reason why I answered this question is to answer a question that has been asked by many people for a long time. The question is: Is the emperor an immortal god? I was asked that question countless times even before I died.”
No one in the room knew the answer to that question. Juan not only destroyed a fortress with the help of Sutra and destroyed the gods, but he also came back to life after his death. It was clear that he was no ordinary human being.
“The answer is no. I’m just a human being like one of you, but the only difference is that I have reached the absolute peak, since I was given a special opportunity.”
Juan recalled Aruntal telling him the exact same words ever since he was young. Aruntal was also being deceived by Dane at that time, but Juan lived by those words and considered it his life motto—that he was no god, but just a temporary agent and a guardian of humanity.
“My adopted children have only shared some of my power, but the power I shared with them is not a blessing. I didn’t share my power with my children to make them immortal and reign like gods, nor did I share my power with them to make sure that they can govern the people well. That power is nothing more than a shackle. You’ll know what I mean soon enough, Pavan.”
***
Crush!
Upon hearing a faint noise, Dismas opened his eyes while suffering from a headache. As he tried to take a big breath, he realized that he couldn’t move his body at all. He blinked his eyes upon realizing that someone was right in front of him.
The face of the man standing in front of Dismas was barely visible under the moonlight that shone through the window bars.
“Are you finally awake?”
It was Juan.
Dismas tried to say something, but he couldn’t even speak, since he couldn’t move his jaw properly.
At that moment, Juan reached his hand out and pulled out something sharp from both of Dismas’ cheeks. When the sharp metal rods that had been plugging the severed parts of the jaw were pulled out, the parts quickly healed to allow movement once again.
“What happened to me? I’ve never fainted for this long before,” Dismas asked.
“I blocked those of your nerves that connect your brain and spine to make sure you can’t regain consciousness even after you fully recover,” Juan shrugged.
Restraining him was of no use, since no chains could ever bind Dismas—he was too powerful. Therefore, Juan chose a much more difficult and primitive method of embedding foreign substances into Dismas’ joints, major nerves, and muscles throughout his entire body after cutting through them.
Thanks to Juan’s clever methods, Dismas couldn’t feel anything, let alone move his hands and feet. The only thing that he could properly move was his tongue.
Dismas tried to turn his head, but soon gave up and helplessly looked up at the ceiling as if he was in despair.
Then, Dismas opened his mouth with a curious look on his face.
“Wait, we are not in Torra. We’re still in the West, right? Where are we right now? I don’t think we are at the Arkul gate right now.”
“I targeted Bangkang gate right after I caught you, since I figured that it would be good to finish everything while the enemy is still under-prepared. But how did you know that we are still in the West?”
Dismas stuck out his tongue instead of answering.
Upon realizing that he was pointing at something with his tongue and not ridiculing him, Juan looked at the direction where the tongue was pointing.
In the direction pointed by Dismas’ tongue was a symbol of the emperor that was made with wood hanging on the wall. However, it seemed a little different from the symbol that he usually saw.
“It is the symbol of the broken emperor—it’s supposed to symbolize His Majesty, who was betrayed by humans and suffered at their hands. I came up with it on my own and all the symbols in the West look like that. I also tried to make sure the broken pattern looks as natural as possible.”
“Well, the reason for my suffering is different right now.”
“‘My’ suffering, you say?”
Dismas burst into laughter for a long time.
“You really are an interesting opponent, fake emperor. You’re so shameless that I can now somewhat understand how you were able to trick my sister. Your appearance, your voice, your tone, your attitude, and your eyes… it all reminds me of my father. It’s just unbelievable.”
“Can’t you just acknowledge me as the emperor at this point?”
Dismas was still laughing.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve attended my own father’s funeral, saw his corpse, and mourned him for forty-eight years. If you were put in my shoes, would you believe a stranger who just appeared out of nowhere is your father, just because he looks like your father? I even had his corpse next to me.”
Juan felt something strange from Dismas’ words.
All the fanatics of the Church that he had met so far had believed that the emperor was still alive and the fact that his power was granted to them in the form of Grace was the evidence to support their belief.
However, Dismas was convinced that the emperor was already dead. It was quite an odd stance for someone who worshiped the emperor the most other than the Pope.
“Even the Pope can bring the dead back to life as far as I know. Do you really think that the emperor can’t overcome death?” Juan asked.
“The Pope can bring back the dead, but His Majesty can’t. To be exact, he won’t. Resurrection is something that goes against not only His Majesty, but also against all living beings. His Majesty’s lifelong pursuit was to build the empire for human beings only. It doesn’t make sense for His Majesty himself to set up a false precedent, even if he was assassinated through unfair means.”
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Juan began to feel increasingly strange. Dismas was the first person who trusted and talked about Juan’s values so seriously. Even now, everyone secretly hoped for Juan to continue ruling the empire, since they thought that he was strong and the resurrection of the emperor. Even his colleagues that were following him thought so.
“His Majesty is not a god—he is just a viceroy who has reached the peak of humanity. His only hope was for this empire of humans to stay intact. If he were to be resurrected and come back to life, then he would no longer be an emperor—he would be a god. Then, every time there is a crisis, humans will believe that the emperor will return and save them rather than looking for a solution on their own.”
Juan remained silent, since there was nothing wrong about Dismas’ words. But he couldn’t understand how Dismas came to become so extremely twisted even when he understood Juan’s will so well. After all, Dismas’ actions were directly opposing his will.
“...It is up to you to believe whether I’m really the emperor or not. I’m not going to try to convince you about that. But what if I really am your father? How would you think and act if your father was watching you right now?”
Dismas quietly closed his eyes upon hearing Juan’s question.
“My father would be very angry. He would either kill me or beat me to death.”
“At least you know that you have messed up.”
“Of course I do. There’s no way my father would approve of my plan to thrust most of the people of the empire to the battlefield. But my father is no longer here to scold me; I’m too deep in the mire now. Who knows? Maybe I’m also waiting for my father to come back running to save the empire that is now in crisis…”
Juan looked at Dismas without a word and slowly lowered his head. Dismas’ eyes were filled with a mix of unbearable agitation and distress.
Juan slowly pat Dismas’ head and then placed his forehead against Dismas’.
“Dismas.”
Dismas did not answer.
“You lying piece of shit.”
At the same time Juan swung his fist at Dismas, Dismas spat out something that he had kept hidden in his mouth. A sharp piece of metal brushed against Juan’s cheek in an instant.
At the same time, Juan’s fist smashed into Dismas’ right cheek, and then Juan glared at Dismas while healing the wound on his cheek.
Dismas, who had been lying quietly with his eyes closed, almost as if he was reflecting on himself, was laughing at Juan, mocking him.
“Ha, haha! I was so close to tricking you! Haha! How did you know that I was lying? I thought you were completely convinced upon seeing that sad expression on your face!”
Dismas laughed to the extent he ran out of breath.
“I thought you just might fall for it when I saw just how obsessed you were with that stupid fake emperor act you are putting on! What a shame… I had even expected you to just let me go if I pretended to reflect on myself like that!”
Juan clenched his teeth and grabbed Dismas by the collar.
“Why?! Why are you doing this?! You even understand the will of the emperor so well… So, why?!”
“The emperor is dead, you dumbass!”
Dismas laughed and snapped at Juan.
“My father was killed by my brother’s sword while I was getting drunk and having fun! You think the emperor is the only one who died back then? No… The entire empire died with him. Nienna, Ras, and I… all of us died that day! That’s when I realized that the empire established by an emperor also falls when the emperor falls. If you are truly the emperor, then it’s not you who was resurrected, but it’s the empire that died and found its place right beside you! All I did was show everyone what hell is supposed to look like!”
Juan trembled and glared at Dismas. He could kill Dismas right away or he could torture him horribly. But neither of them held any meaning to him.
“Are you saying that you turning the empire into this hell has something to do with Gerard?” Juan asked.
“Of course it has to do with Gerard? I have wanted to kill him every single day.”
Dismas could lie as much as he wanted, but Juan was certain that this time he was telling the truth. Dismas truly didn’t know anything about Gerard—all he seemed to be interested in was how to passionately ruin the empire.
Juan knocked Dismas to the ground and glared at him.
“I’ll give you a moratorium until the sun rises.”
“What kind of bullshit are you spouting?”
“Either tell me how to stop the Cainheryars or surrender. Otherwise, I will kill you.”
Dismas snorted, dumbfounded.
“What makes you think that you have the right to judge me?”
“I don’t. It will be the people you killed who will judge you, not me.”
Juan whispered in a cold voice.
“My job is to send you to them.”