Chapter 178 Two Sides

'System, Hestia, which side do you think is correct?' Jason questioned.

[ What do you exactly mean by correct, host? ]

[ Same question. ]

'Who do you think is telling the truth? Both sides portray the other as wrong yet both seem to be telling the truth in their own regards. Who will you both trust?'

[ The demons. ] Hestia replied without thinking ahead. [ You can call my choice to be a bit biased but at least I know the demons much better than the humans. ]

[ I will remain neutral in both matters. Though we have the basic rundown of both sides, nothing is certain yet. Let's gather more information before making any big decision. ]

Jason listened to both of them before sighing. Currently, he was looking at a big black void since Nero had went to sleep.

Most of the memories after the meeting with Lucius had haywired and he wasn't able to see any of them.

'Well, let's see what else I will get to see here.' Jason thought before relaxing back.

p The memories continued to move forward without him needing to find any more clues. Most of what he learned was pretty useless considering how the memories were appearing in random portions.

'Wait, how am I able to understand them so easily? Don't they speak a different language there?' Jason suddenly questioned.

[ They do butt did you forget that you are a demon as well. Plus it would be too much of a hassle for you to learn an entire language from the core just to understand the memories. ]

'Sounds like a convenient plot material.' Jason mused.

He continued to look at the memories before something interesting finally showed up. Nero was once again present in the throne room yet beads of sweat lined his forehead.

"What happened?' Lucius asked with a grim expression.

"From what I have gotten to know, Julian is trying to bring all the human kingdoms under one banner. If he succeeds, we might be facing the wrath of the entire human race at once." Nero replied before wiping the sweat of his forehead.

Jason was surprised to see that the demon commander was behaving in this manner. From what he knew about Nero, the demon was always smug and calm-headed.

"He is going to form 'contracts' with them, isn't he?" Lucius asked with a bittersweet smile.

Nero simply nodded and waited for Lucius's orders. The king of demons paced around the room before finally looking at Nero.

"Go and gather some more information," he ordered.

Nero bowed once and started walking towards the door. However, Lucius was looking at his back with an amused smile.

"Wait, there is one more thing I would like to know," he called out. "If you don't mind answering it, that is."

Nero halted and turned back with a confused expression. "Sure, go ahead and ask whatever you want."

"I want to know why an apex guardian like you is paying double sides." Lucius smiled. "Nice to meet you, guardian of Mistopia."

…

"The fk! Show what happens next!" Jason shouted the moment the memory blacked out.

It was like showing the suspenseful scene without providing the climax to a movie.

Jason patiently waited for a few minutes but the next scene wasn't to his liking. It simply showed Nero eating his dinner with a dazed expression.

[ That was why I was getting a weird feeling. The memories we are watching belong to Hecate, not Nero. ] Hestia muttered.

'Does that mean that Hecate has been living on the demon continent this entire time and sharing information with Julian?'

[ That's obvious but what irks me is the fact that Lucius stated that Hecate was playing both sides. Perhaps all the information she is sharing with the demons was actually correct. ]

'That does make me question why she is doing that.'

[ For that, you have to talk to her but these are just sets of memories. The further we go, the less they will make sense since the mist inside Zara was just a small fragment connected to Hecate. ]

'Might as well wait for them to finish.' Jason sighed and continued to watch the memories play.

Just like Hestia had said, the memories started getting even less in number. They soon turned into pictureframes that Jason glanced at for a minute or two.

'Wait, was that Hecate?' Jason paused when he saw a beautiful woman standing beside Lucius.

Both of them had smiles on their faces but since Jason still hadn't seen Hecate's true form, he had no way of confirming his doubts.

[ We are approaching the end. ] Hestia announced.

She could feel Hecate's powers slowly vanishing since the mist was about to run out. At most, they would be able to view two to three more pictures before going back to the real world.

'Hmm, that one is her eating dinner. That one is Lucius and her walking under the moonlight. That one is him slipping a finger on her ring… wait what?!'

Jason rubbed his eyes multiple times to make sure he was witnessing the right thing. He looked at it numerous times before it vanished and left him hanging in the void.

'Hestia, I saw the correct thing, right?'

[ I am wondering the same thing myself… ] Hestia replied in a stunned tone.

[ You both saw the correct thing. The demon king, Lucius, had put a ring on Hecate's right ring finger. I think we all know where this is going. ]

[ But why? Hecate is an apex guardian and an ex-goddess. She isn't someone who would be swayed by such mundane things. ]

'Whatever the reason might be, Hecate is now on the demon's side. This leaves the other side with an apex guardian who was hunting me like a yandere.'

[ Not to mention that the demon king wants you to break some curse placed on your mother. If the curse really is adaptable, we can't even ask Risa or Issac about it. ]

Jason sighed exasperatedly. Once again, things had started getting too complicated for his liking and there was nothing that he could do about it.

"Let's discuss this once we appear back." Jason muttered just in time to face a bright flash of light blinding his vision.

In the blink of an eye, he reappeared in the real world. Surprisingly, he was standing in the same spot he had been before viewing Hecate's memories.

"Jason, are you all right?" Risa questioned in a concerned voice.

"I am fine. What about aunt Zara?" Jason replied, his eyes settling on the bed.

"You zoned out for a few seconds there." Risa sighed in relief. "As for Zara, I think its best if you use your mana vision to check her condition."

Jason nodded in acknowledgment and activated his vision ability. He could now see that Zara's body was once again charged with mana.

"She should be waking up once her body is back to its original pace." Risa explained. "At most, it will take her an hour to wake up. Let me go contact ray in that time."

Risa turned around and started walking away with a smile on her face. Jason spared Zara one last glance before he too walked away and close the door behind him.

"Oh right, once I end up talking to everyone, I want to know how you got your hands on Zara's mana." Risa added as an afterthought before vanishing down the stairs.

'If only she had forgotten about that.' Jason sighed and climbed down the stairs as well.

He once again exited the door and stepped out of house but this time Jason didn't move away from the entrance of the house.

"You can step out now if you want." Issac suddenly said as he came to stand beside Jason. "Amon currently has his barrier extended over the entire town. You can go meet Karna if you want."

"So he was the one who created that barrier…"

"That barrier has been present around our house ever since you were born." Issac smiled. "I ask Amon to extend it from time to time. Why do you think we didn't allow you and Nora to get too far from the property."

"Wait, does that mean that the barrier is active twenty four seven?"

"Yes, it is. Amon keeps it active at all times to make sure that no one can attack us." Issac sighed. "I hate to rely on him but I am still not at a level where I can directly oppose Julian and his patron.

In fact, I wasn't able to beat him when I was just one step away from my peak."

"If I remember correctly, gods aren't allowed to interfere in such matters. Doesn't this break numerous rules?"

"Julian's patron was originally born on Clover, which provides him with extra benefits. I think there are a few other factors here as well which help him." Issac muttered.

[ Well, at least that explains how Ere can do somethings so casually. ] The system murmured to itself casually.

"Anyways, you can go meet Karna." Issac said at last and walked inside.

Jason glanced at him once before he once again started walking in the direction of Karna's shelter.

Hopefully, nothing would go wrong…