553
Chapter 553
'Angels as trumpeters of the end. If they awaken, the world will be erased?'
ZWAAAANG!
Spears of light flew toward Zeke from all directions again.
Harvey West said to Zeke:
"Follow me if you want to hear the details."
Harvey West snapped his fingers.
Behind him appeared the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
The Four Horsemen rode through the air on horseback, drawing away the spears of light.
Though Zeke maintained a suspicious expression, he needed to hear what the other had to say to understand the suddenly appeared angel.
He entered the gate Harvey West created while the Four Horsemen distracted the towers.
WOOOOOONG!
Passing through the gate revealed an ordinary house.
CHIIIIK!
Steam rose from a kettle in the kitchen, as if water had just been boiled.
Looking toward the window, the Private Eye Palace's angel still floated in the sky while the Four Horsemen dispersed its attention.
"You should step away from the window. I've put up a barrier, but this entire city is essentially its domain."
Zeke watched Harvey West leisurely pour tea into cups in the kitchen.
He gestured for Zeke to sit at the table first.
"Sit here."
As Zeke sat across with a wary expression, Harvey West placed a cup of tea before him.
"I heard you like tea. This is my first time trying it too, so I'm not sure if it'll suit your taste."
Zeke looked at the cup and tea within.
A fragrant herbal aroma rose with the steam.
Zeke took a sip. Similar to mint tea but milder, it had a calming effect.
After savoring the tea and settling his mind, Zeke set down the cup and said to Harvey West:
"What do you mean the world will be erased? How is it different from the end when the Demon King descends?"
Harvey West replied while drinking tea:
"Erasure means exactly that. This city too was erased by the Constellations."
Zeke recalled the fragments of forgotten time.
Times completely erased from history by the Constellations.
Countless civilizations had vanished this way in this physical world.
Zeke asked Harvey West.
"Are you saying the Constellations deliberately erase civilizations by sending the thirteen zodiac angels? Why?"
Harvey West answered:
"They do it because that's how they get what they want."
Zeke couldn't understand.
"Zeke Draker, you still don't understand?"
Meeting Zeke's puzzled eyes, Harvey West's red eyes glinted as he said:
"Our world remains merely the Constellations' playground. We are puppets moving by their will. The Constellations of Heaven, who killed the Primordial Light and divided its authority, determine our end."
After pausing briefly from his apparent excitement, Harvey West continued:
"Though the Primordial Light vanished, its authority of the end still exists. The Constellations use this authority to control the physical world as they wish, exploiting us for karma to maintain their 'perfect world'."
Zeke realized something from Harvey West's words and showed an expression of disbelief.
Then he said.
"Harvey West... is your goal to revive the Demon King to destroy the order created by the Constellations of Heaven?"
Harvey West nodded.
"Yes. The physical world can only truly be free if we destroy this cruel order they created for themselves."
He continued.
"Solomon, the first Irregular and God-slayer. Why do you think that wise king accepted the Demon King's power? He too knew this truth, and sacrificed himself to accept the Demon King's power to turn the eternally stagnant wheel."
Zeke's mind was confused by Harvey West's words.
According to him, everything Zeke believed about the world's order had to be reversed.
'Solomon accepting the Demon King's power from the abyss. So this is what breaking the wheel of fate meant.'
Solomon was the abandoned savior.
Yet he still sought to save all mortals.
Thus he willingly accepted the Demon King's power and tried to destroy the order created by the Constellations.
But eventually that attempt failed, the Demon King's soul was sealed, and the Constellations who sided with him were cast out and fell to the demon realm. Meanwhile, the victorious Constellations created their perfect world called Heaven and resided there.
Zeke had thought Heaven was a quarantine zone to prevent Constellations from interfering with the physical world.
But if Harvey West spoke truth, reality was completely different.
The physical world was the quarantine zone - a farm producing karma for Heaven's Constellations.
While demons tempt humans for souls, Heaven's Constellations didn't need to they already had a stable farm extracting karma from the physical world.
Assuming Harvey West spoke truth, Zeke realized why Mephistopheles refused the Demon King's descent.
'He meant to take over their farm rather than destroy it.'
The idea was to completely block Heaven and become the new manager extracting karma. Truly befitting an Arch demon.
Zeke realized he'd been a puppet between demons and Constellations.
'How absurd.'
He let out a bitter laugh inside.
He always dreamed of freedom.
But this world never once allowed mortals freedom.
Invisible restraints and cultivation.
Zeke felt rage boiling deep within at this cruel truth.
His eyes turned golden, transforming into dragon eyes.
ZWAAAANG!
Light spears flashed outside the window as the Four Horsemen fought them with swords.
White light scattered across the city like snow, settling on their window.
Zeke asked, dragon eyes flashing
"If you speak truth, the real enemy of the physical world is Heaven's Constellations?"
Harvey West nodded.
"Yes. They are truly the ones we must exclude."
Certainly the story he had told seemed close to the truth. But even so, Zeke still found it difficult to completely believe his words.
Reading such doubt in Zeke's gaze, Harvey West said.
"You're still filled with distrust. Fine. I'll tell you what hidden truth there is."
Harvey West pointed to the angel floating in the sky above and said.
"How do you think I cultivated the angel's fragment?"
Zeke couldn't easily understand why Harvey West was suddenly saying such a thing.
"Do I need to know how your filthy experiments were conducted?"
"It was an unavoidable sacrifice to break the wheel. Anyway, the reason I could cultivate the angel's fragment was because of my flesh and blood."
Zeke's eyes narrowed at Harvey West's words.
"Are you saying you cultivated the angel's fragment with the power of the Draker ancestor you mentioned?"
At those words, Harvey West shook his head and answered.
"The Draker bloodline is special. All kinds of power dwell within it, and it can even accept the power of dragons to obtain immortal strength."
He questioned Zeke once more.
"Then let me ask you. How can the Draker bloodline contain such special power?"
"If you're going to keep having this pointless Q&A, I'd rather you offer your neck. Taking the soul of an arrogant savior from you would probably help the phenomenal world."
"Impatient, aren't you, Zeke Draker. Fine, listen well. Draker’s were created to be that way from the beginning."
At the incomprehensible words, Zeke frowned and asked.
"What do you mean?"
Harvey West paused to choose his words before speaking again.
"Draker are Nephilim left by the Constellations in the phenomenal world."
"What?"
Zeke's expression hardened more seriously upon hearing his words.
Nephilim were ancient beings created through sacred blood. They were incarnations and agents of the Constellations.
Zeke showed an expression of disbelief at those words.
"...Are you saying that the Constellations created the Draker bloodline?"
"They wanted to better control the beings of the phenomenal world for their amusement. But the existing Nephilim alone weren't enough. So they chose humans, who had the strongest desires among the races of the phenomenal world, and created Nephilim who could mix with them."
Nephilim created to effectively control the beings of the phenomenal world. Indeed, the Constellations' plan worked out well.
Those born without knowing they were Nephilim displayed superhuman power, formed groups among humans, and became leaders ruling over them. As time passed, those showing even stronger power appeared.
Those revered by the name of kings emerged, and thanks to them, vast cities could be built encompassing not only humans but other races as well. That city was Carcosa, the city most beloved by the Constellations.
And Solomon, who was the king of that Carcosa, was a descendant of Nephilim who carried the densest sacred blood in his body.
Originally, Nephilim could not instinctively refuse the commands of the Constellations. But Solomon was different.
He met the god of chaos sealed within the name of goddess Theia, became an Irregular himself, transcended the limitations of being a Nephilim, made a contract with an Elder Dragon to awaken the power of immortality, and then walked the path of a god-slayer.
Harvey West continued.
"Solomon was the ideal agent and incarnation the Constellations most desired. But that's also why he came to resemble them and escaped from fate. Just as they murdered the primordial light that created them."
Thus, the Draker bloodline, descended from Solomon, contained both the Celestial’s power and the Immortal's strength.
Zeke realized the Draker bloodline's Aura blessing and pure blood awakening were rituals to unlock Nephilim power.
Zeke looked at Harvey West and asked.
“So, you're saying that since you were the first Nephilim created by the Celestials, it was possible for you to cultivate angelic fragments through your blood and flesh?”
Harvey West shook his head at the question.
"I wasn't created by them as a Nephilim, but I became one through ancestral regression. That’s how I came to possess their power."
Zeke's pupils dilated at Harvey West's words.
‘Harvey West is also a created being?’
The thought of the terrible experiments, the creation of vessels for the Demon King, and the Abyss that had led to all of this, it seemed almost inevitable that Harvey West, who had led the Abyss for centuries, was also a created being.
Zeke furrowed his brow as he looked at Harvey West.
‘Creating test subjects, and then having those created subjects make new ones. Abyss... What do you guys even think life is?’
Harvey West, looking at Zeke with a cold smile, replied.
“Zeke Draker, you're mistaken about something. It wasn't the Abyss that created me.”
Zeke's expression changed at those words.
“If it wasn't the Abyss, then who did such a thing?”
Harvey West narrowed his eyes and spoke.
“Someone who can create beings like me. The only one among humans who can, the Celestial Celestial... Can you guess who it is?”
For a moment, Zeke's face stiffened.
‘Could it be...?’
Harvey West's gaze sharpened.
“The leader of the Highlanders. He created me. And he...”
He paused for a moment, then continued.
“In the past, he was called the Great sage.”