Chapter 498
Chapter 498
Chapter 498
With the blood stone's explosion, an intense light spread in all directions.
However, Zeke didn't back down from the piercing light and charged toward the priest, swinging his sword.
BOOM! BOOM!
The chaos vortex created by Leviathan engulfed both the blood stone and the apostle possessed by the priest.
CRACK!
The vortex spat out the apostle's body, twisted into a grotesque form.
Suddenly Zeke noticed something strange.
Abel, who had been lying on the altar, was nowhere to be seen.
'Could it be?'
He turned his head back.
CRUNCH! MUNCH, MUNCH!
Then, he heard the sound of something being devoured from below.
Looking toward the sound, he saw Abel, now awake, devouring Ajitahaka's fallen body.
Ramon, seeing this from behind, was terrified.
"This is insane!"
He shouted while approaching the contorted priest.
"Priest! Harvey West! What have you done?!"
But the apostle's body that the priest had possessed was already turning to dust.
Ramon Jiemens screamed in rage while looking at the scattered ashes.
"You damn bastard!"
Ramon Jiemens, who always maintained his composure, ripped off his clothes while screaming in madness.
His body was equipped with the latest Hersion.
As he activated the Hersion with an enraged face, magic circles appeared on its surface and his body rose into the air.
WHOOSH!
Ramon Jiemens flew straight toward where Abel was.
Zeke also turned to follow Ramon.
But then something flew toward Zeke.
BOOM!
A ground-shaking fist force.
Looking in the direction the fist force came from, Tantalos was floating in the air, holding Arataso and Nebilos's heads in his feet.
Zeke canceled the summoning of the captured Arataso and Nebilos.
TSSS!
Arataso and Nebilos returned to their sword forms, still unconscious.
Tantalos, unable to use his powers, was drawing upon martial arts using only his physical body, just like when they first met.
Zeke thrust Leviathan into the ground.
TSSS!
The chaos power flowing from Leviathan created an even larger vortex as it seeped into the ground.
If this state continued, there was a possibility that the area where chaos energy spread would be separated into another dimension, caught in the chaos vortex.
Zeke raised shadows and extended his hand.
"Caladbolg."
With his words, the shadows condensed into a rough sword shape in his hand.
Caladbolg, the shadow sword connected to Shadow Armor.
Zeke had to face Tantalos with swordsmanship alone while maintaining the chaos energy.
He focused entirely with his sword raised.
For now, he forgot about Ramon, Abel, and Ajitahaka, concentrating solely on Tantalos.
'Though he's a demon, he's an extraordinary martial artist.'
The single fist style built through long training.
Zeke could feel the traces of that arduous training in Tantalos's fist force.
Therefore, he too needed to show his own 'sword' that he had built up.
Zeke corrected his stance, displayed the Black Sword technique stance, and closed his eyes.
TSS! TSS! TSS!
The shadows enveloping Zeke's body moved according to the Black Sword technique’s movements.
Zeke, who had realized the sword of the mind while clinging only to the sword in the abyss, forgetting all senses, could instinctively feel that Caladbolg was the most suitable sword for displaying Black Sword Technique .
Yet the reason he hadn't used Caladbolg was that he hadn't properly grasped this sword's true nature.
But in this situation, he couldn't delay using the sword for that reason.
TSS! TSS!
Zeke felt as if Caladbolg had become one with him.
A literal unity of sword and spirit.
At this moment, Caladbolg and Zeke were essentially one entity.
Tantalos, sensing the ominous energy flowing from Zeke's body in the Black Sword Technique stance, drew up his fighting spirit.
KUGUUU!
Even in the demon realm, it was hard to find martial demons who could directly withstand Tantalos's fighting spirit.
But this human had already received his attacks head-on several times and even counterattacked, so Tantalos was secretly impressed.
Moreover, as a martial demon who lived for combat, Tantalos felt pure joy in battle seeing Zeke, a true strong opponent.
Even in demon realm battles, experiencing such joy was rare, happening perhaps once in a hundred years.
Powerful fighting spirit swirled around his arms as he decided to enjoy this battle until the end.
Tantalos began to descend slowly toward Zeke with both arms extended.
KUGUUU!
As he descended to the ground, Tantalos's falling speed increased.
Tantalos's body became white-hot as it fell toward Zeke's head, and the storm of fighting spirit around his fists howled madly.
"HAAAA!"
Tantalos let out a battle cry and launched a double fist attack toward Zeke.
The storm of fighting spirit from his arms intertwined and rotated, creating an even larger storm.
The power contained within was too immense to be called a mere fist force.
Zeke opened his eyes while holding his sword.
Mind Sword.
This was both a power and not a power for Zeke.
Though it was a power received from the Sword Saint Sethon Draker, he could only properly use it after awakening it in the abyss.
Thus, Zeke could use the Mind Sword's power even within the chaos energy.
With his mind's eye, Zeke clearly saw the core of Tantalos's fist force storm.
He stepped forward toward the storm while focusing on it.
Then he entered directly into the storm and unleashed Black Sword technique with the shadow sword, Caladbolg.
Infinite Sword Technique Special Form
Black Sword technique
Black Dragon Rising from Water
BOOM!
A shadow dragon burst from Zeke's sword, instantly tearing through the storm and swallowing its core.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The black dragon that tore through the storm its power and charged straight toward Tantalos.
KAAAH!
With a roar, the black dragon bit into Tantalos.
CRACK!
The shadow power rising from Zeke's body responded to the black dragon and went berserk.
Caladbolg controlled these shadows, making them move according to Zeke's will.
Tantalos's robust body couldn't withstand the Black Sword technique’s power, and cracks began appearing on its surface.
RUMBLE!
But Tantalos didn't retreat and instead stepped forward, unleashing a powerful fist force.
But then.
Suddenly Zeke appeared from the black dragon's head.
Zeke, holding Caladbolg and merged with the shadows, could use shadow power by himself without the Shadow King power.
Using power that wasn't a power, Zeke was strongest within the chaos energy field.
"KAAAH!"
Tantalos shouted and threw a straight punch at Zeke.
It was a perfect single fist refined through hundreds of thousands, millions of strikes.
Zeke blocked Tantalos's single fist with Caladbolg and unleashed Soul technique .
Soul technique
Double Spell
Will of Destruction
It was Soul technique imbued with the will to destroy Tantalos's powerful body.
BOOM!
A sound like thunder spread out.
Taking the Soul technique head-on, Tantalos was thrown back and buried in the demon statue.
CRASH!
The platform and altar supported by the demon statue collapsed.
RUMBLE!
The baptismal ritual altar for summoning Ajitahaka was completely destroyed.
Zeke retrieved the floating Leviathan and approached the collapsed platform.
Among the debris, he found Tantalos with his body breaking apart.
The sturdy and incredibly strong demon slowly opened his mouth while looking at Zeke.
"It was fun, strong warrior."
With those words, Tantalos's body crumbled like sand and disappeared.
Zeke felt Tantalos's summoning being canceled.
'A top-tier martial demon. He was a terrifyingly strong opponent.'
He recalled Tantalos's formidable power.
He felt once again the need to prevent high-tier demons from being summoned to the physical realm.
WHIRL!
At that moment, Zeke closed his eyes feeling dizzy.
Maintaining the chaos energy for too long had caused mental damage as backlash.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked up at the sky.
As the gray vortex gradually faded, the blood moon faintly appeared.
Zeke felt the power of abilities returning.
'I must end this fight before the blood moon fully appears.'
Zeke firmly gripped Leviathan again and focused his mind to maintain the chaos energy somehow.
Then he turned his head and quickly flew toward where Ajitahaka's body had fallen.
* * *
"Abel, stop right now!"
Ramon Jiemens went straight down to where Abel was devouring Ajitahaka's body.
He grabbed Abel and threw him aside.
CRASH!
Abel was slammed into the ground by his rough handling.
After a moment, Abel weakly got up.
"...Zeke Draker... kill..."
Abel kept muttering his grudge against Zeke Draker who had killed him.
Ramon, still with an angry face, extended his hand to try to restrain Abel with magic power.
WHOOSH!
Just as the binding magic tried to grab Abel's body, a magic rejection phenomenon occurred in his body.
CRACKLE!
Ramon Jiemens frowned seeing the magic rejection phenomenon inherent to Draker purebloods.
"Abel! Follow my orders quietly! My inheriting Ajitahaka's power fully is the top priority!"
Abel clutched his head in pain hearing Ramon Jiemens's words.
"Follow... orders... follow orders..."
Abel staggered while repeating Ramon's words.
Seeing him, Ramon shouted irritably.
"You worm! Just like your lowly mother! If you have any sense, stay still and become my nourishment!"
Ramon thought the current Abel was just a soulless shell of a body.
That was true. Until just now.
But at this moment, an abnormal reaction occurred in Abel's body.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The Mad Dragon Zeus's heart implanted in Abel's body began beating frantically.
The demon god's flesh and blood he had just devoured spread throughout his body.
The priest Harvey West said Abel was just a shell with repetitive memories, having lost his soul.
But that wasn't true.
"...Lowly mother... my mother..."
As his heart beat faster, different words flowed from Abel's mouth.
Ramon Jiemens, failing to properly recognize this, looked up at the sky.
As the gray vortex faded, the blood moon rose.
He could feel Ajitahaka's power returning again.
Ramon Jiemens held the divine object and reached toward Ajitahaka's scattered body.
RUMBLE!
He tried to make Ajitahaka's incomplete body whole with his power.
WHOOSH!
‘Regression,’one of the powers received from the demon god Ajitahaka, activated.
TSS! TSS!
Regression denies everything.
Including results and even time itself.
Ramon tried to make Ajitahaka's body perfect by regressing it.
As the chaos energy vortex gradually weakened, Ramon's power grew stronger.
RUMBLE!
Ajitahaka's body slowly began responding.
Ramon's eyes filled with ecstasy.
'It worked. Now I will become the ruler of this continent...'
WHOOSH!
At that moment, Ramon suddenly felt Ajitahaka's power scattering.
"Why is... Regression...?"
Looking at the sky, the blood moon had actually become slightly clearer than before.
Ramon couldn't understand why this was suddenly happening.
But then.
STAB!
Feeling a sudden sharp sensation, Ramon Jiemens looked down at his side in disbelief.
A sword had appeared in Abel's hand.
A blood-red blade with an ominous glow had pierced through Ramon Jiemens's Hersion.
The demon sword Zahak.
The magic sword and armor of Jiemens Apollion engraved in Mad Dragon Zeus's heart.
Ramon looked at Abel with an expression of disbelief.
"Th-This..."
Abel slowly raised his head.
The red dragon's eyes were clearly visible.
He looked straight at Ramon and spoke.
"My mother wasn't lowly. Though she was insane."
A clear, ringing voice.
It was exactly Abel's voice from when he was alive.
Ramon gasped while grabbing Abel's shoulders in disbelief.
He could feel it.
Ajitahaka's power emanating from Abel.
"Im-Impossible. Th-This..."
DRIP!
Blood flowed from Ramon's body.
Unable to use Ajitahaka's power now, he couldn't regress his wound.
He grabbed Abel's arm.
"A-Abel. Listen to me..."
Abel opened his mouth while looking down at Ramon Jiemens.
"You haven't changed at all since I was young."
Ramon looked at Abel with a pale face.
Abel opened his mouth while looking at Ramon with cold eyes.
"I no longer follow your orders, Ramon Jiemens."
"Y-You!"
As Ramon screamed like having a fit, Abel swung his sword.
SLICE!
Ramon's head fell to the ground.