554
Chapter 554
Zeke's face showed disbelief at Harvey West's words.
'The leader of the Highlander created Harvey West? And he was the Great Sage...?'
The Great Sage Atrahasis.
He was the only person who had lived from the Age of Constellations to the Age of the Hero King.
Zeke felt great confusion at this sudden information that he was the leader of the Highlander and had created Harvey West.
Moreover, Zeke had previously met the Great Sage's spirit at the Primordial Temple of Carcosa.
There, the Great Sage had told Zeke about King Solomon's secret history and granted him power to oppose the Constellations by creating the Dark Sword Leviathan and the Holy Sword Ascalon.
Zeke thought about the Great Sage's spirit and the Highlander's leader whom he had seen personally.
He had maintained connections with the Highlander from his past life until now.
Although he learned more about the Highlander after regression than in his past life, he never thought the leader's identity would be the Great Sage.
He had even met him in person. Of course, when he met the Highlander's leader at Storm Castle, his face was covered so he couldn't properly confirm his appearance.
'But even though his face was covered, I couldn't feel any of the Great Sage's power from the Highlander's leader.'
That's why Zeke never thought the Highlander's leader could be the Great Sage.
Harvey West continued speaking.
"I see you didn't know. Who the Highlander's leader was."
Zeke recalled his meeting with the leader after hearing Harvey West's words.
'The Great Sage's spirit said the Priest of the Abyss existed outside the world's laws. Did he know that because he created him?'
What Zeke met was clearly a spirit form. Therefore, he had naturally thought the Great Sage's original soul had ascended and gone to the Peach Blossom realm.
As he recalled their meeting, something flashed through Zeke's mind.
He remembered when he went to Storm Castle to meet the leader.
[Welcome, Administrator. Welcome to 'Lueur', the deep sea city where the Constellation 'Lord of the Great Dream' resides.]
The Highlander's leader could only be seen in the deep sea city of Lueur.
It seemed he was staying in the City of Constellations, enduring many restrictions to remain in the physical world.
'He led the Abyss for a long time and created the current forces. Although the hermits of the High Table, including myself, tried to stop this together somehow, most of us had restrictions on our movements and couldn't properly stop him.'
Come to think of it, it was also the Highlander's leader who first revealed that the Priest of the Abyss's identity was Harvey West.
He told Zeke that he needed to eliminate Harvey West to prevent the Demon King's advent and maintain the balance of the physical world.
'Does that mean he tried to stop it because Harvey West, whom he created, was leading the Abyss and disrupting the balance of the physical world?'
Zeke could feel the storm of fate violently swirling around him.
It felt like countless intertwined past events were rushing at once toward the present Zeke.
He calmed his mind while glaring at Harvey West facing him.
'Since it's none other than the Priest of the Abyss, it's hard to believe how much of this is true.'
Sensing Zeke's wariness, Harvey West spoke again.
"The Great Sage tried to break the wheel of fate for a long time. For that, he initially led the fight against the Constellations through Solomon and the Elder Dragon. But he failed. And the next thing he created was Hero King Kaisir."
Kaisir, known to be born between the Fairy King who possessed primordial power and the Great Sage.
Harvey West briefly fell silent as if giving Zeke time to understand, then spoke again.
"A hybrid between the Fairy King and a human. You wouldn't have believed that was truly possible."
Zeke's expression hardened at his words.
"...Are you saying the Hero King was also a being created by the Great Sage?"
At those words, Harvey West turned his head toward the window.
"You remember the Hero King's homunculus that the Angel's Fragment absorbed. How do you think the Great Sage could have created the Hero King's homunculus?"
He continued speaking slowly.
"The Hero King was a being created by the Great Sage using the Arrogant Savior's authority to breathe in the Fairy King's soul."
Zeke was shocked by Harvey West's words.
'He created Master Kaisir using the Arrogant Savior's authority?'
The Great Sage, the Master Administrator.
The Arrogant Savior's authority of recreation.
And the Fairy King's soul containing primordial light.
These mysteries combined to create the unique existence that was Kaisir.
Zeke realized why no one else could learn the Elemental Sword that Kaisir created.
'The Elemental Sword was never a technique that humans could master in the first place.'
Even though Zeke could imitate the Elemental Sword by manifesting elemental power, it was virtually impossible to perfectly replicate the Hero King's power who contained part of the Fairy King's soul.
Similarly, while Kaisir's homunculus had his form and could use the Elemental Sword, it couldn't draw out the original's power.
"The Great Sage tried to break this wheel of fate by creating the Hero King, but Kaisir, made from the Fairy King's soul, was actually the being most bound by those shackles, so he failed. In the process, the Great Sage created countless errors and eventually lost control of the situation."
The fallen Constellations found opportunities to intervene due to the reaction of beings created to deviate from the world's order. Moreover, Jiemens Apollion, Solomon's bloodline whom the Great Sage was protecting, became corrupted and summoned the Demon King's power into his own body.
Eventually, the Great Sage sacrificed his own soul to seal the Demon King's soul in the Book of the Dead to resolve the problems he had caused.
Still, the physical world's balance was severely damaged and couldn't be restored, so the Great Sage couldn't leave this place and created the Highlander to maintain balance while leaving his traces on earth.
Harvey West looked at Zeke and said:
"This time, the Great Sage created me using the Arrogant Savior's soul to fix his failure. A new being was needed as a savior to break the wheel of fate and liberate the physical world. A being that possessed both Nephilim and Deviant power."
Certain individuals flashed through Zeke's mind as he heard these words.
'The Angel's children born between Nephilim and humans.'
The triplets discovered in the Forest of the Forgotten.
They possessed the power to accumulate infinite magical energy because they were both Irregulars and Nephilim descendants.
The Hermit of Stories had said these children were likely created since the probability of their natural birth was extremely low.
Zeke glared at Harvey West and asked:
"The triplets with infinite magical power. Are they beings similar to you?"
Harvey West nodded at those words.
"Those children are no different from my siblings. The Great Sage conducted countless experiments to create me, and the failed discarded ones are innumerable. I brought what I needed from among them and continued research in the Abyss."
It was a horrible truth hidden behind the name Great Sage.
The paradox of having to sacrifice something for salvation.
Zeke suppressed the nausea rising in his throat.
Without his unique authority, he might have lost consciousness from the shock.
Harvey West continued.
"But I questioned my existence and eventually discovered the truth he was hiding. I realized that to break free from all the shackles of my existence, I needed to reach the final chapter of eliminating the Celestial Constellations using the Demon King's power. This required accepting some sacrifice of physical world lives. But the Great Sage rejected these words of mine, so I threw myself into the Abyss."
Though created as a savior, Harvey West opposed his creator's will to achieve what he believed was right.
Zeke faced him with a heavy expression.
ZWAAANG!
Zeke sensed the Knights of the Apocalypse gradually being pushed back against the Spears of Light beyond the window.
He slowly raised his head to look at Harvey West and spoke:
"I understand what you are. But don't think the horrible things you've done can be dismissed under the name of inevitable sacrifice."
Harvey West smiled faintly at those words and said:
"Zeke Draker, you still don't understand that you too are a puppet struggling in the shackles of fate like me."
"What do you mean?"
Harvey West slowly extended his finger and pointed at Zeke.
"Knight of Salvation. Have you never thought that your existence too might be a piece on the Great Sage's board?"
Frowning, Zeke suddenly recalled something.
The Great Sage's arrangement.
What made him regress and return to the past was the 'irreversible promised power' that the Great Sage had prepared in the Elder Dragon's legacy.
'What if all of that was planned?'
The spirit of the Great Sage said that Zeke could awaken the inevitable promised power because he possessed a strong will.
'But what if he knew I had the will to awaken that power and prepared everything to use me?'
Doubts continued to chain together in Zeke's mind.
Harvey West looked at Zeke and said.
"Zeke Draker, you and I are beings with the same purpose. That means there's no need for conflict between us."
To those words, Zeke slowly raised his head and looked at Harvey West.
"Are you suggesting we join hands to awaken the Demon King and annihilate the celestial realm constellations?"
"If you truly want to liberate and save the physical realm, that is the right direction."
Zeke remained silent for a moment after hearing Harvey West's words.
Then a massive explosion rang out from outside.
RUMBLE!
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who had been blocking the spears of light, were seen falling in tatters.
Harvey West said to Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, decide. Will you follow me to save the physical realm? Or remain a puppet of the Great Sage and Elder Dragon?"
To his words, Zeke slowly opened his mouth.
"...I."
Just as Harvey West was calmly waiting for Zeke's words.
Suddenly he noticed something strange.
'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are disappearing.'
He had recreated powerful knights who existed in vanished ancient civilizations using the Arrogant Savior's authority, named them the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and made them his subordinates.
But their existence was rapidly fading away.
'This...!'
In that moment, he felt the Four Horsemen completely disappear.
Since they were subordinates created with great effort using the Arrogant Savior's authority, Harvey West was inevitably affected when they vanished.
"COUGH!"
A thin stream of blood flowed from his mouth.
Simultaneously, Harvey West sprang up from his seat and glared at Zeke before him.
"Zeke Draker! You!"
The Zeke before him wavered and turned into a shadow.
In that instant, the shadow spread in all directions and attacked Harvey West.
He hurriedly raised his hands to cast a defensive spell, but the shadow blades pierced through that barrier and stabbed Harvey West's body.
"Ugh!"
Harvey West groaned at the sudden ambush.
At that moment, Zeke's true body, which had been hiding in spirit form behind him, revealed itself.
Leviathan, imbued with chaos energy, stabbed Harvey West's back.
CRACK!
Harvey West's eyes, pierced by Leviathan, turned red and changed to become like those of a demon.
"Zeke Drakerrr!"
Gripping Leviathan tightly, Zeke looked at Harvey West and said.
"My answer is go screw yourself."
Simultaneously, Zeke unleashed the power of the Third Eye.
WOONG!
The power of the Third Eye deals with the essence of souls.
Zeke simultaneously unleashed the powers of the Third Eye and Absolute Reign to try to draw out the Arrogant Savior's soul residing in Harvey West's body.
The Arrogant Savior's soul, firmly bound to Harvey West's soul, would not easily reveal itself.
Zeke unleashed dragon words infused with power.
"Soul of the Arrogant Savior. Reveal yourself."