552
Chapter 552
'I sense strong constellation power from that monster.'
It was the power of a true constellation, not demons who were constellations that fell to the demon realm.
The power of constellations that had ascended to the heavenly realm and no longer showed themselves after the order of the phenomenal world was established appeared through an unknown being.
Zeke frowned in confusion, not expecting them to have experimented with heavenly constellation powers in the abyss.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
A relatively stabilized middle zone was created as Zeke's power collided with Harvey West's power.
There, the unknown being was digesting the power of the homunculus and blooming into its original form.
Zeke shouted toward Harvey West.
"Harvey West! What is that being?!"
Harvey West replied with a stern face.
"This is a result I didn't expect either. To think the angel fragment would react to the Hero King's power."
He wore an expression of incomprehension upon hearing Harvey West's words.
'That monster's is an angel?'
Zeke had seen the name ‘Angel’ in the ‘Apocrypha,’ an artifact of Laura Agamemnon.
There, angels served as messengers conveying the will of the primordial light.
When earthly beings fell and succumbed to evil's temptation, angels would descend from heaven and blow the trumpets of the apocalypse.
It was written that at this signal, the primordial light would burn the earth with hot fire and sweep cities with floods, erasing the source of corruption.
Even the legendary city of Carcosa disappeared after thirteen angels descended, blew the trumpets of the apocalypse, and a light that burned everything descended.
'That monster is a fragment of the angels that appeared in the Apocrypha? But why did the angel fragment react to master's homunculus?'
Hero King Kaisir was known to be born between the Fairy King and the Great Sage.
The Fairy King was the only being who held the power of primordial light, and that power dwelled within Kaisir.
Kaisir, who had become too powerful to remain in the physical world, left for the fairy realm after departing from his physical body, and the Great Sage created a homunculus modeled after him to stop the Demon King.
In other words, since Kaisir's homunculus contained the Hero King's power, tracing back, it contained the power of primordial light.
Though Harvey West and Zeke hadn't thought that far, even a power as minute as dust was enough to draw out the original divinity existing within the angel fragment.
Thanks to this, the angel fragment that absorbed Kaisir's homunculus was able to regain its original power.
CRACK!
While Zeke and Harvey West were in a power struggle, the angel fragment regained its complete form.
RUMBLE!
When it spread its wings that had been covering its entire body, the body hidden within appeared.
Skin with a smooth yet firm surface as if made of marble.
The body was three times larger than a human's, with two pairs of wings sprouting from its back, and arms, legs, and torso firmly in place.
The finally formed head had no hair, but with harmonious features in place, it merely appeared smooth.
Rather than a living organism, it looked more like a divine statue placed in a temple.
Zeke sensed the energy emanating from the angel that had bloomed into its original form and realized its identity.
'The constellation of the snake Palace, one of the thirteen zodiac signs.'
The Rom Empire worships the Sun God, Moon Goddess, and thirteen constellations.
The empire's thirteen legions symbolize these thirteen zodiac signs, and the legion commanders received Hersions imbued with the power of these constellations.
Zeke had collected Morgan Buffon's Hersion, who was a knight of the Snake Palace, and investigated the constellation's power.
However, unlike the fallen constellations, the authority of the constellations dwelling within the Hersions was too weak to exert any special power.
So he had thought that the authority of the heavenly constellations wasn't properly manifesting since they left the physical world.
But this being before his eyes was clearly emanating the energy of the Snake Palace among the thirteen zodiac signs.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Energy rose like a storm from the angel's body as it spread its wings and stood up straight.
Simultaneously, messages appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Guardian #13 connects to the dimension server.]
[Information is being updated.]
[Guardian #13 detects exclusion targets.]
[Excluding unauthorized deviant beings.]
[Guardian #13's elimination program activates.]
Along with the messages, light flashed in the angel's eyes.
Then the angel opened its mouth wide.
ROOOOOAR!
When the angel let out a monstrous cry, surprisingly, its unique domain began to spread out from its center.
[Guardian #13's unique domain is deploying.]
The dimensional storm unleashed by Zeke and Harvey West was eroded by that domain, and the labyrinthine space transformed into a completely different place.
When Zeke opened his eyes after briefly closing them due to the sudden change, a city landscape spread out before him.
White buildings that looked like temples stood in rows, and among them were tower-like buildings that seemed to pierce the sky.
Although it was a vivid cityscape, there was no trace of life within it.
It felt similar to when he had visited the Primordial Temple in Carcosa before.
While he was scanning them with a serious face, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[You have witnessed the forgotten city 'Holy City Laocoon' within Guardian 13's unique domain.]
[Detected a fragment of forgotten time.]
[The fragment of forgotten time connects to the Akashic Code.]
[Large amount of karma data is being updated.]
[Acquired information about 'Holy City Laocoon' through this data.]
[System restriction code related to this information has been lifted.]
[You can now view skills and item lists related to 'Holy City Laocoon'.]
Zeke couldn't help but be surprised at the message that appeared.
'A forgotten city? Holy City Laocoon?'
He had never heard the name of the city Laocoon before.
It was a city that hadn't even been mentioned in the apocrypha discovered by Laura Agamemnon.
Zeke was shocked that there were no records remaining about the massive city spread out before his eyes.
Zeke realized that Laocoon was also one of the ancient civilizations that had been created and then disappeared due to the Constellations' whims.
'To think a city of this scale could completely vanish simply by the Constellations' will...'
Zeke opened his status window to check the skills and item lists related to Laocoon.
He could confirm that lists that hadn't existed before were now updated.
Surprisingly, there were thousands of holy magic spells and items similar to Lubern's light magic.
It was possible to implement these items and skills if he had enough karma points.
'So when you recognize past cities through fragments of forgotten time and update that information, you can recall the karma data that existed then.'
Zeke finally understood what Mephistopheles meant when he handed over the 'fragment of forgotten time' to Zeke.
The times of the world erased by the Constellations.
The fragments of forgotten time were part of the empty history that his mother Laura Agamemnon had sought to find.
While he was quickly scanning through information about Holy City Laocoon, realizing things he hadn't known before, changes occurred in the sky.
KUGUUGUGUGU!
The sky split open and an angel with wings descended from there.
The angel of the Private Eye Palace who had drawn Zeke into this domain.
The angel floated silently in the sky looking down at Laocoon, then opened its mouth wide.
Then it let out a massive roar that could shake the entire city.
GOOOOOOOOO!
As if responding to the angel's roar, the city began to vibrate.
At the same time, the towers standing tall in the city began to change.
WOOOOOONG!
A massive crystal revealed itself atop the tower.
And as white light rippled from that crystal, it shot a beam toward Zeke.
ZWAAAANG!
The powerful light flew quickly toward Zeke.
Zeke raised shadows to block the light shot from the tower.
PAJIJIJIJIJING!
It was powerful enough to push Zeke's body backward even though he used Shadow Armor.
Then crystals appeared from all the towers standing throughout the city and began shooting similar beams of light.
ZWAAAANG!
Dozens of light beams flew toward Zeke.
He raised Levantine and unleashed a sword strike imbued with Astral Sword's power toward the light.
KWAKWAKWABANG!
As Zeke's sword strike collided with the light, a massive explosion of light spread through the air.
The powerful explosion created shock waves imbued with impact.
Zeke blocked it with Shadow Armor, but the light waves penetrated through and swept past his body.
'KUGH!'
Surprisingly, the light waves dealt damage even to Zeke's body, which possessed both an immortal body and transcendent status.
Through the Akashic Code, Zeke could confirm that this light power was a weapon specially created to counter beings with divine status.
'To think the entire city was made into a defensive weapon to counter the Constellations.'
Holy City Laocoon had created weapons that could counter the Constellations to prevent the end.
But in the end, Laocoon was erased from history, and its ultimate weapons instead fell into the Constellations' hands to be used against their enemies.
WOOOOOONG!
The tower's crystal seemed to be gathering light power to attack again.
Zeke raised his sword as he watched this.
'I'll destroy the towers first.'
Judging that attack was the best defense, Zeke raised Elemental Sword and spread a field of gravitational force toward the towers.
KUGUUGUGUGU!
As the powerful gravity field spread out, it shook the towering spires.
But surprisingly, light flashed from the towers again and this time formed a barrier.
WOOOOOONG!
And that barrier protected the tower by negating the pressure of the gravity field Zeke created.
'To erase a civilization that created something like this without a trace. Just how much authority do the Constellations of Heaven possess?'
As his face turned serious, other towers began shooting light at Zeke again.
ZWAAAANG!
As Zeke dodged and deflected the lights flying toward him with sword strikes, the lights he thought he had avoided reflected off the surfaces of other towers and aimed for his openings.
ZWAAAANG!
Everything turned white from the spears of light created by the towers all around.
The entire city felt like a trap created to catch the Constellations.
While deflecting the spears of light flying toward him, Zeke turned his head toward the angel floating in the sky.
'This is its unique domain. If I take down the angel and neutralize its authority, we should return to the original dimension.'
Zeke took out a blood stone from his inventory and absorbed it to replenish his power.
KUGUUGUGUGU!
As he took a breath and his eyes glowed again, powerful soul energy rose from his body.
He planned to attack the angel with soul energy and then spread chaos energy to nullify its authority.
Just as he was about to unleash soul energy toward the angel.
ZIIIIIING!
Space rippled in front of Zeke and someone appeared.
"Zeke Draker."
It was none other than Harvey West, who had been hiding while concealing his presence, revealing himself before Zeke again.
Zeke tried to change the direction of his attack upon seeing Harvey West's sudden appearance.
But then Harvey West raised both hands as if indicating he had no intention to attack and said:
"I have a proposal for you."
Zeke glared at Harvey West with furrowed brows and said:
"A proposal at this point? Did you get desperate when things didn't go as expected?"
Harvey West nodded at those words.
"You're right. I too didn't expect the angel's fragment to fully bloom. If we leave that being as is, something serious will happen."
Zeke frowned at Harvey West's words.
"What do you mean?"
Harvey West said with a serious expression:
"Angels are trumpeters who blow the trumpet of the end. Originally, they are beings that awaken at the command of the Constellations of Heaven. But since one has unintentionally bloomed, the rest will awaken one by one."
Zeke vaguely understood what Harvey West was saying.
'Could it be...?'
Seeing Zeke's hardened face, Harvey West nodded.
"If all thirteen zodiac angels awaken and blow the trumpet of the end... this world and civilization will be completely erased."