557
Chapter 557
ROAAAAARRRR!
The master of the Lion palace let out a monstrous howl as his divine avatar experienced pain.
He grabbed the adamantium spear piercing his chest and cursed in divine language.
[This, this is impossible!]
Mortals from the physical world couldn't oppose constellations from higher dimensions.
But the only exception was this god-killing stone currently embedded in his chest.
And Solomon was the only one who could use this god-killing stone created by the God of Chaos long ago.
The only blemish of the constellations, and their most fatal mistake.
The being they created to efficiently manage the physical world instead used that power to challenge its creators.
Of course, that blasphemous nonbeliever paid the price and was destroyed for his sins.
Though it was concluded, Solomon's betrayal remained a shocking memory for them.
Now, something happened that reminded them of that past shock.
The master of the Lion palace struggled to remove the god-killing spear from his chest.
But the firmly embedded stone wouldn't budge, as if it had taken root.
CRACKLE!
The master of the Lion palace turned his head to look at where the aura of trust remained.
Zeke, whose very existence had been erased, was gradually reconstructing himself.
TSSSS! TSSSS!
Zeke, shrouded in shadows and holding Leviathan, had completely recovered.
The master of the Lion palace realized an alien energy was flowing from Zeke that he hadn't felt before.
He muttered in disbelief.
[That energy... ‘The Self-Luminous One’?]
The Self-Luminous One was the constellation name of the Arrogant Savior before he fell to the demon realm.
Zeke, who had completely absorbed the Arrogant Savior's energy, was able to reconstruct his existence through the power of recreation when he was almost completely erased by the master of the Lion palace's authority.
Golden dragon eyes appeared in Zeke's eyes.
He looked at the master of the Lion palace and spoke in divine language.
[Master of the Lion palace. King of Cruel Lightning.]
Having completely absorbed the Arrogant Savior's soul, Zeke could recall information about the master of the Lion palace when facing him.
Zeke's golden eyes flashed as he continued.
[True name, Ramiel. One of the first apostates who betrayed the Primordial Light.]
Ramiel, residing in an angel's body, trembled in great shock at Zeke's words.
[You! What exactly are you?! How can a mortal know a constellation's true name…?, and possess the energy of a fallen one who shouldn't exist!]
Ramiel couldn't comprehend the being called Zeke standing before him.
A mortal with divine qualities.
That alone was difficult to understand.
But on top of that, he possessed the power of the God of Chaos, the power of a fallen constellation, and even dragon power.
Throughout countless civilizations they had created and destroyed, such a being had never appeared, nor should it have.
Of course, occasionally beings in the physical world unexpectedly became stronger than necessary, consuming excessive karma. But they were transformed into spiritual beings and isolated in another dimension, so there weren't any special problems.
The physical world had always proceeded peacefully according to the constellations' will.
But now, he was facing a being that denied all of that.
Zeke raised Leviathan, and from his left hand, he drew Solomon's Chain.
Then he said to Ramiel.
"Did you think the celestial constellations would control the physical world as they pleased forever?."
He was resisting god by his own will, not by someone else's command, and was trying to kill that god.
"It would be good for you to realize that we are not your playthings."
Chaos energy surged from Zeke's sword.
RUMBLE!
After absorbing the Arrogant Savior's soul, his divine status increased, allowing him to use chaos energy more freely than before.
Ramiel couldn't help but be flustered when he felt the chaos energy emanating from Zeke's sword.
'Is this the power of the God of Chaos?'
The anomalous being that could uniquely twist the order they had established.
Even the first apostates like himself borrowed the power of the God of Chaos to kill the creator, the Primordial Light, and used that power to create the current world.
And Solomon found the God of Chaos that the constellations had hidden, and like they did, used that power to discover the method of god-killing.
'So that terrible god-killing power has been passed down to this mortal.'
Ramiel realized that the situation he faced was more serious than he initially thought.
Although it would hurt his pride as a god to return to the celestial realm without punishing this blasphemous being, he acknowledged that alerting others about the situation was the priority now.
'Damn it, I have no choice!'
Ramiel cursed internally and tried to leave the angel's body, his avatar, to return to the celestial realm.
But at that moment, Ramiel felt something was wrong.
'I can't return?'
Ramiel's soul, pierced by the god-killing stone, had become bound to the angel's physical body.
Realizing that return was impossible, Ramiel finally understood what situation he was in.
'Could I have fallen into this mortal's trap?'
As Ramiel realized he was trapped in his avatar's body, unable to return to the celestial realm, he felt an emotion that a god should never experience.
Fear.
The fear he felt long ago when the god-killer Solomon killed and devoured gods was creeping throughout his body.
'I must escape from here quickly.'
Ramiel tried to find a way to close this world and pull out the god-killing stone to return to the celestial realm.
But Zeke wouldn't just stand by and watch.
CRACKLE!
Solomon's Chain at the end of the spear shaft gradually revealed itself.
Seeing this, Ramiel was even more surprised.
[So-Solomon's Chains?!]
The cursed god-killer's weapon that could bind even gods' souls had appeared.
Ramiel panicked and tried desperately to pull out the spear embedded in his chest.
And in sync with that, Zeke pulled the chain with all his might.
BOOM!
Then Ramiel's avatar body, impaled by the spear, was rapidly pulled toward Zeke.
WOOOOSH!
Zeke, with Solomon's Chain in one hand and Leviathan imbued with chaos energy in the other, swung his sword at the incoming Ramiel.
[URRRGH!]
Ramiel hastily gathered his wings to block Zeke's sword strike.
CRACK!
Zeke's sword strike, infused with chaos energy, shattered Ramiel's wings completely.
The sword strike also damaged Ramiel's soul.
[COUGH!]
Light-like holy blood flowed from Ramiel's mouth, and the noble constellation's blood scattered throughout the abandoned world.
Ramiel couldn't regain his senses from Zeke's soul-shaking sword strike.
As he struggled to stabilize his violently shaking body, he glared at Zeke and shouted.
[How dare you, mere mortal?! Blasphemy! Blasphemy!]
Looking at Ramiel shouting about blasphemy, Zeke said.
"Seeing that you're still talking nonsense, you must have some strength left."
Simultaneously, Solomon's Chain shot out from Zeke's left arm and wrapped around Ramiel's body.
CRACKLE!
With not only the god-killing stone spear embedded but Solomon's Chain also wrapping around his avatar body, Ramiel's soul was even more trapped.
Ramiel realized the situation was gradually worsening.
'At this rate, my soul will suffer great damage.'
Even constellations' souls weren't immortal.
If they were, there would have been no need to exploit the karma from the physical world.
Constellations needed massive amounts of karma to maintain their soul bodies, and when they suffered external damage like this, they needed to inject even more karma.
But since the amount of karma from the physical world was limited, suffering such a fatal wound would consume the karma they possessed, which ultimately meant their influence in the celestial realm would diminish.
'If other constellations find out, they might invade my territory and hunt me.'
The celestial realm wasn't without conflict.
Rather, when conflicts occurred, the consequences were more terrible than in the demon realm.
Since thirteen constellations were needed to maintain the celestial realm, they wouldn't extinguish a soul itself, but they could steal karma to minimize influence.
In this case, that constellation would have to rely on karma given by other constellations for a while, which would reduce them to a shameful plaything.
Ramiel's body trembled as he recalled the unspeakably cruel games of the other constellations.
'I cannot allow that.'
Ramiel took a deep breath and said to Zeke who held him.
[Mortal. As a merciful constellation, I forgive your blasphemy. Release me, and I shall bestow divine gifts upon you, so stop this.]
A soft halo shone behind him as Ramiel urged Zeke to release him in a benevolent voice.
Zeke looked at Ramiel with an expression of disbelief.
'Does he really think I would release him if he speaks like that?'
It was an incomprehensible action to Zeke, but for Ramiel, even this was unprecedented.
Since the divine language of constellations was like revelation to the creatures of the physical world, their words themselves were practically powerful commandments.
If it had been another human, they would have surely shed tears of emotion at the benevolence in Ramiel's words and followed immediately.
But Zeke himself was already a being with divine status. Because of this, Ramiel's divine language had no effect, leading to this farce.
Ramiel was rather flustered seeing the look in Zeke's eyes.
'Could he not properly hear my divine language?'
A mortal should have been in tears and retreated immediately, but there was no sign of that whatsoever.
Instead, it felt like the chain wrapped around his body was tightening even more.
Zeke looked at Ramiel and said.
"It seems I've been too kind to you."
As he spoke, he grabbed Solomon's Chain and raised both chaos energy and the authority of flame purification.
The two energies flowed through the chain into the avatar's body.
FWOOSH!
The authority of flame purification combined with chaos energy burned not only the avatar body but Ramiel's soul as well.
[AAAAAARGH!]
Ramiel screamed in agony as his soul burned.
Even when facing the god-killer Solomon, he had never been captured, so he had never experienced direct pain.
Experiencing this terrible pain throughout his entire soul for the first time, Ramiel let out agonizing screams.
Zeke looked at Ramiel and nodded with satisfaction.
"Now this is more like what I wanted to see."
Zeke was fully demonstrating his skill at torturing demons and fallen constellations.
After Zeke withdrew his authority, it took some time before Ramiel could regain his senses.
He glared at Zeke and roared.
[I-I am a constellation! How dare a created being do this to a god?!]
"You sound like a god. Exploiting the physical world, treating it as your plaything as you please, yet expecting respect,you have no conscience."
Ramiel was momentarily speechless at Zeke's blunt words.
He never expected to hear such blasphemy from a mortal.
Though he had spent ages creating and destroying countless civilizations, this was a first.
Ramiel looked at Zeke with trembling eyes and said.
[Wh-what is your name?]
Only now did Ramiel ask for Zeke's name.
To that question, Zeke smirked and gripped Solomon's Chain again.
"Do you think I would tell you?"
Telling a constellation one's true name meant giving away much information about oneself.
As beings who could manipulate karma could examine related data through the Akashic Code, Zeke knew well that he needed to keep this hidden.
He gave Ramiel a cold smile.
"Let's see how much a constellation can endure compared to a demon."
The chain glowed red again with the authority of flame purification.
After several hours, Ramiel finally surrendered to Zeke.
[Please, no more...]
Zeke looked at Ramiel indifferently and said.
"Now we can talk properly. Ramiel, answer my question."
His eyes flashed as he continued.
"Why does the celestial realm not prevent the demon king's descent and allow chaos to arise in the physical world?"