I Don’t Need a Guillotine for My Revolution

Chapter 218: Abyssal Holy War - Paimon

Episode 218. Abyssal Holy War - Paimon

Abyss Corporation, Capital City Pandemonium.

“Gyaaaaaaargh!”

A gruesome scream echoed through the underground prison of a towering spire.

“Hm, hhm, hm hm hm~”

And from that same space, a hum that couldn't seem to hide its delight flowed in stark contrast.

“Paimon, you crazy son of a bitch! Just kill me!”

His once-neat hair was completely disheveled, and the glasses he always wore had long since been shattered and lost.

Vassago, left with only a torso after his limbs were cut off, screamed with all his might, but as Paimon stirred something with a horrifying noise from the tool in his hand, he could do nothing but shriek again.

“Uwaaaargh-!”Paimon listened to Vassago's screams with delight, as if savoring them, then opened his mouth in excitement.

“Did you know, Vassago? I once admired you.”

Vassago was struggling just to stay conscious, but Paimon paid him no mind.

“You cooperated with Baal even before Abyss Corporation existed and made a great contribution to the collapse of the Demon King's Army, so you were guaranteed considerable authority within the corporation.”

His voice, utterly cheerful as if chatting with a friend, continued.

“Unlike me, who was trapped in the role of ‘Sloth,’ wasting my years away, only able to develop the Drones by using the ridiculous excuse of ‘implementing true sloth.’”

Paimon moved the tool in his hand once more, and Vassago screamed.

“Gyaaaaargh!”

“You leisurely enjoyed your ‘amusements,’ sowing the seeds of betrayal and discord across the continent. So when you cast a vote in favor of stripping me of my position as CEO, it was truly delightful.”

Paimon smiled brightly as he watched the mana of negative emotions, squeezed out of the groaning Vassago, flow through the implanted tubes and into the tower.

“So don’t resent me too much. Since I've already earned your grudge, I can't just waste the mana of a CEO-class demon, can I? Ah, I'm also quite impressed by how effective these tools you developed are. The assets of ‘Greed’ Inc. are there to be used, after all.”

“Kgh, hehehe, Paimon. Do you think I betrayed you?”

“Did you not?”

Vassago cackled, but as Paimon raised the tool in his hand again, he immediately strained the veins in his neck and shouted.

“It was you!”

“What was?”

“Did you think I wouldn't know it was you who, over a long time, slowly twisted Abyss Corporation’s policies to provoke the Central Continent and instill an obsession in Baal?”

“Oh, indeed. Just as expected from the one who served as Abyss Corporation’s brain.”

“That wasn't betrayal, Paimon. Our hero mistakenly thought we had fallen into corruption, but it was Baal who was corrupted because of you! Just because you failed once in Iberica, you think we punished you—Uwaaaargh!”

Vassago screamed before he could finish his sentence, and Paimon grinned slyly and said.

“Even so, you’re just a fool who, intoxicated by ‘amusement’ for hundreds of years, deluded yourself into thinking Baal would meekly step down if you drove him out according to the rules of Abyss Corporation. In the end, that's the limit of this Abyss Corporation's level.”

“Keuk, ughhh….”

Paimon lifted Vassago’s groaning face with his hand, turning it this way and that, his eyes gleaming.

“Ah, so this is the face of one stained by betrayal and pain. Indeed, I can understand losing one’s former wisdom while intoxicated by the greed that enjoys and craves such faces on foolish, inferior scum.”

“Kheheh, you madman….”

“Oh, thank you for the praise. To hear such words from someone so wonderfully mad, I suppose my demon life hasn't been in vain. Hahaha….”

“You… you aren't loyal to Baal, are you? What on earth are you thinking? Are you planning to bring Abyss Corporation to ruin?”

Paimon, receiving Vassago’s question, smiled slyly and replied.

“Oh, dear. Bringing Abyss Corporation to ruin is what you call an idiot who goes around leaving traces like you did. I believe I told you why the Krafte Kingdom joined their side, didn't I?”

As Vassago was left speechless, Paimon let go of his chin and rose from his seat, saying.

“My, look at the time. Well then, rest well. I’ll be seeing you again soon.”

“Just kill me, damn it, kill me!”

Vassago screamed, but Paimon, humming as he headed for the door, turned only his head to ask.

“Didn't I tell you? Why would I wastefully dispose of a resource from which I can squeeze out the mana of hundreds of people with just a little fun? Ah, how is it? What are your thoughts on experiencing firsthand that ‘moment of betrayal’ you so greedily craved?”

“I’ll kill you, you bastard, I swear I’ll kill you—!”

Paimon savored Vassago’s desperate cries with delight and left him there, a mere torso, as he headed outside.

*

Paimon walked through the spires of Abyss Corporation in a very cheerful mood.

“Hm, hm hmm~”

This is fun.

It's delightful.

400 years.

The time wasted, bound by the shackles of ‘Sloth,’ a role I neither wanted nor suited.

As I revel in the freedom and chaos finally obtained at the end of that long time, I am filled with nothing but pleasure and joy.

Paimon walked briskly down the hallway before pausing to look out the glass window at the sky, shrouded in a purple mist.

Paimon felt nothing but ecstasy, as if this gloomy sky was a symbol of the chaos he had unleashed spreading across the world.

Then, he lowered his gaze.

The streets, once filled with countless demons and various races, were now empty.

Baal’s loyal demons had gone to the battlefield, and the demons not loyal to him, along with other races whose utility had run out, had all become Drones and were likewise on the battlefield.

That silence, a testament to the countless sacrifices made for his ambition, also gave Paimon a deep sense of satisfaction.

Paimon raised his gaze again, looking at his own reflection in the glass window.

A beautiful face with long, flowing red hair, wearing a researcher’s white coat over a purple dress.

At the sight of the chillingly ecstatic smile on that face, the corners of Paimon's mouth drew into an even deeper smile.

“Though there is one single flaw….”

Paimon said, touching his severed horn with his hand, then spun around and quickened his pace.

And not long after.

Paimon reached the throne.

As Paimon slowly approached the front of the throne and lightly knelt on one knee, the new Demon King opened his mouth.

“They have begun construction of the ‘Gate,’ Paimon.”

Paimon lifted his gaze and smiled brightly at Baal, who sat arrogantly wearing the Demon King's Crown.

The arrogant one, who sat on a throne fit for a king in Abyss Corporation—a place with no ‘King’—and considered it his natural right.

The hero of the demon race who brought down Pandemonium and created Abyss Corporation.

A former hero, once loved and praised by all demons, now fallen and isolated on a lonely throne.

It took a whole 400 years to lead him to this point.

If, right now.

In this moment, when almost the entire population of Abyss Corporation has been ground up into Drones.

Could he challenge Baal and defeat him?

Paimon recalled the sight of Baal that had once made his entire body tremble.

Could that great hero truly destroy those countless Drones and strike off Paimon’s head?

Is that why he so arrogantly turned even his former followers into Drones so easily?

Paimon thrilled at the sensation, the mere thought of it a jolt of ecstasy that seemed to wrap around his spine and pickle his brain.

But—

“Leave it to me, Baal. Isn't Abyss Corporation’s motto customer satisfaction? Hahaha….”

Not now.

After waiting for so long, I have finally obtained this position.

His desires were far too lofty to throw away all that effort for a single moment of pleasure.

Wouldn't it be far too empty to finally defeat Baal, only to be executed by the allied forces of the Central Continent?

And above all, does an anticipation and ecstasy rivaling that of Baal not await?

And so, Paimon bowed his head with an exquisitely beautiful smile. So impeccably that anyone would have seen him as a loyal vassal.

Baal looked down at Paimon with an indifferent face, then gave a slight nod.

“Yes, do not disappoint me.”

“As you command, my lord.”

Emerging from the throne room, Paimon once again began to walk, his footsteps echoing in the hallway.

Not the pleasant smile he had worn before Baal.

A smile stained with his inherent madness and ecstasy, not that of a loyal subject, naturally overflowed.

Paimon raised his hand to the chilling sensation and caressed the cross-section of his severed horn.

-You must've thought you lured me in by using yourself as bait to satisfy your own curiosity, but I was the real bait.

Marquis Lafayette’s voice, still so clear in his memory, and the howls of the insignificant beasts that had rushed in from all directions.

-You only watched me. As if no one else had any value.

I admit it. I was careless.

-That's why you lost.

The sensation of his horn being severed, his entire body ablaze with the condensed mana of suffering souls, was unforgettable.

But….

“Haha, ahaha, ahahahahaha….”

In the end, Paimon could not hold back his overflowing laughter and let it pour out freely.

Who would have known?

I had only expected him to add a tiny crack to Paimon's 400-year-long plan.

That a mere human, thought to be nothing more than an ‘anomaly.’

Had shattered the stagnant order of power in Abyss Corporation, something Paimon couldn't achieve even in 400 years.

Perhaps, if a being called God exists, was this not a fate that had been ordained?

Paimon had lost so meaninglessly because he was careless and didn't use his full power, and because of that, both he and Marquis Lafayette were able to come this far.

The power he seized in the great cataclysm of Abyss Corporation, the infinite army that would allow him to challenge Baal if he so chose.

Even Paimon himself, reborn after a meaningless defeat, burning in a storm of mana.

All of it was achieved by that one, single human.

And now, that man has come right here.

A long time ago.

Back when he wasn't even a marquis, when he was called the ‘Shame of the Nobility’ by inferior scum who couldn't recognize a pearl.

The man whose value only Paimon recognized has, after all this long time, answered his invitation and come to Abyss Corporation.

“Aah….”

How should I convey this gratitude?

How can I possibly repay this grace?

Could this be love?

If this isn't love, then what could be?

Paimon exited the building with a near-sprinting gait.

His one remaining horn glowed, and the connection to his infinite army coursed through his body, his brain screaming from an exhaustion that felt like it was on fire.

This only added to his pleasure and ecstasy, and Paimon, lost in a trance, cupped his cheeks with both hands.

Let me pour out everything I have and atone for the arrogance of daring to ignore him.

To the human who achieved more than my 400-year struggle, let me present him with the jealousy of my entire demon life.

Let me take revenge for my severed horn, filled with a rage more fervent than a volcano.

Let me love him, and love him, and love him again. Let me gift him the lust of defiling everyone he holds dear right before his eyes.

When I gluttonously devour everything he has built—

Even a single drop of his tears, a single fragment of his scream, will satisfy my greed.

When at last he despairs, gives up everything, loses that flame and sinks into sloth, that will be the ultimate collector's piece.

Paimon issued a command to all the Drones under his control, kicked off the earth, and muttered with a chilling smile.

Filled with arrogance, jealousy, rage, lust, gluttony, craving, and sloth—

“I’m on my way to meet you now.”