566
Chapter 566
'This voice?'
The aid recognized Boris's voice and blinked.
Then he let out a deep sigh and lowered his hand.
"...My luck is terrible. Yarok, I can't handle your torture, so for old times' sake, just kill me cleanly."
Boris felt nostalgic hearing his old name from the Department 13 days.
But suppressing those emotions, he spoke to the adjutant.
"Please call me Boris now. I didn't expect Senior Gus to be here."
Gus shrugged at Boris's words.
"Life's been tough since Department 13 disbanded. We're all trying to survive."
"Someone skilled like you could've easily secured a position in another kingdom. Why join Castro?"
"It's complicated due to my history with the Central Kingdom. I thought joining Castro would let me retire peacefully since he's cautious, but that calculation was wrong."
Boris released Gus's neck and stepped back.
"Now that I understand the situation, let's not be hostile."
Gus nodded at those words.
The two maintained some distance and faced each other.
Then Gus raised his eyebrows while looking at Boris.
"Your new job must be good. You look much better."
"Well, it's better than Department 13. Though the boss is quite strict."
Boris put away his dagger and said to Gus.
"Have you decided where you'll go?"
Gus dusted off his clothes and shrugged.
"Well, after failing as Castro's strategist, which didn't suit me, I think it's better to stick to what I know. Might look for a job that matches my experience."
Boris nodded at that.
"At your age, who would hire you as a rookie? You should leverage your experience for at least a team leader position."
"I know. But who would recognize experience from the failed Department 13? SIGH! Anyway, I'm glad we're both alive. Spare me next time too."
Just as Gus smiled and turned to leave, another shadow suddenly appeared before him.
Gus stepped back startled, gripping his sword.
"Salmak?"
Shadia blocked Gus's path with her dagger drawn.
Boris spoke to Gus from behind.
"I'd like to let you go, but our deputy commander is quite strict. If I let you leave, I'll face her blade."
Gus sighed deeply again.
"At my age, torture would leave permanent damage."
"I know, so... Senior, are you in contact with other Department 13 members?"
Gus looked at Boris questioningly before nodding.
"Yeah, we keep in touch and know what each other is up to."
Boris smiled with satisfaction and continued.
"You mentioned wanting experienced work earlier. Would you consider a position I can introduce? You'd work under me, but the conditions are good."
Gus glanced at Shadia behind him.
It was obvious he'd face the Salmak assassin's blade if he refused.
He sheathed his sword and said to Boris.
"...Is the pay good?"
Boris nodded.
After brief consideration, Gus nodded and replied.
"Alright, working under someone I know would be better."
He gestured toward Shadia and continued speaking to Boris.
"But you and that Salmak lady. Which organization are you with? Doesn't seem like Central Kingdom. Are you contractors for an independent group?"
Boris shook his head immediately.
"No, we're direct employees."
"Direct is good. It's stable."
"But our boss is the Knight of Salvation."
"What?"
Gus's face turned pale at Boris's words.
To Department 13 agents, the name Zeke Draker, Knight of Salvation, was nothing short of a nightmare.
"Uh... actually, I was supposed to talk with another group..."
Boris approached Gus and grabbed his shoulder with a grin.
"Let's work well together, Senior. No, from today you're Dmitri. First, let's share information about Jupiter Castle."
* * *
Zeke looked at the being who called himself Lucifer.
'Arrogant Savior.'
Zeke had absorbed the Arrogant Savior's soul from Harvey West into his shadow.
However, for some reason, he hadn't gained complete divinity.
So just as the Blood King Caligula's soul remained in his unconscious when absorbed, he suspected the Arrogant Savior wasn't fully absorbed either but hiding somewhere in his subconscious. His suspicion seemed correct.
Lucifer smiled and spoke to Zeke.
"Well, that was my name as a constellation, but now that I've fallen, I'm called differently. I have many names, but Satan is most common."
He spread his arms looking around the ravine.
"Though I'm briefly borrowing this ravine's power, it's nice to talk face to face. Being imprisoned so long made it hard to exert my power properly."
Zeke glared uncomfortably at Satan, who was still in Laura Agamemnon's form, rolling his shoulders.
Noticing this, Satan shook his head with exaggerated gestures.
"Ah, you seem displeased with this form. Well, fine."
In that moment, Satan's appearance changed.
This time it was a completely different appearance, not someone from Zeke's memories.
A handsome man with long black hair in a white suit appeared.
"It's been a while since I took this form. Humans used to be so annoying, calling me the epitome of beauty when I showed my true form."
Indeed, Satan's appearance was so perfect it could be considered the standard of all earthly beauty, transcending gender.
His beauty was so intense that ordinary humans would be enchanted just by looking at his face.
But Zeke maintained his guard with the same intensity despite Satan's captivating appearance.
Seeing this, Satan shook his head.
"Zeke Draker, calm down. We're not strangers anymore."
He snapped his fingers.
Surprisingly, the mist flowing in the ravine stopped moving.
'This is...?'
Satan had stopped time itself in the ravine with just a gesture.
Simultaneously, an elegantly decorated table and chairs appeared in the middle of the ravine, complete with a tea set.
Satan gestured to him.
"This is a rare opportunity. Let's sit and talk calmly."
Satan sat first, crossing his legs elegantly and picking up a teacup.
The teapot floated up by itself and poured steaming tea into the cup.
Zeke watched Satan quietly before sheathing his sword and sitting in the opposite chair.
The teapot floated up again and poured tea into Zeke's cup.
It was clear yellow tea with a scent Zeke had never encountered before.
Satan grinned at Zeke who was looking down at his teacup.
"You also appreciate tea. This is from a lost civilization, impossible to taste now. Such a shame."
Satan's power was recreation.
With past data, he could combine karma to recreate things that previously existed, making it possible to generate items from lost civilizations.
Zeke took a sip of the tea Satan created.
He quite liked the subtle fragrance.
After savoring the tea silently for a moment, Satan put down his half-empty cup and looked at Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, would you believe me if I said I've been waiting for you for quite a long time?"
Zeke put down his cup and responded to Satan's words.
"Sounds like you knew me from before."
Satan gave an incredibly charming smile at those words.
"Knew you? Something like that. I can't say exactly you, but I anticipated someone would appear to fulfill your current role."
Zeke's expression turned questioning at Satan's words.
"My role?"
"Don't you know? The fate resistor who traveled through time, created by the Elder Dragon and the Great Sage."
Zeke had returned to the past through the 'Power of Irreversible Promise' that the Great Sage had carved into the Elder Dragon's relic.
It became clear that Satan knew Zeke had regressed from the future to the past.
He glared at Satan and asked.
"Did you peek at my memories?"
Satan shook his head at Zeke's words.
"True, you absorbed me, and my soul was swallowed into your consciousness, so we share memories. But regarding the role of 'fate resistor,' I've known about that for a very long time."
The teapot refilled Satan's cup as he raised it again.
He took another sip of the perfectly temperatured tea and continued.
"Did you know? I was the first to resist fate after this world was created."
Zeke slightly furrowed his brow at these mysterious words.
"What do you mean by that?"
"The Primordial Light. I, Satan, was the first to resist it."
The Light's adversary, the self-illuminating one.
The first being to oppose the Primordial Light.
That was Satan, the Arrogant Savior, known to be closest to the Primordial Light.
With teacup in hand, he spoke with a distant expression.
"The Primordial Light wanted to create a perfect world. But the created world was imperfect. He obsessively hated such imperfection. But I thought differently from the Primordial Light. I saw true beauty in that imperfection."
Satan extended his hand.
Light spread out, projecting images of past traces.
Countless civilizations now erased by the Primordial Light.
Satan looked at these civilizations with regret.
"Zeke Draker, what do you think happened to these vanished civilizations?"
Zeke responded flatly.
"They perished. That's what you constellations have always done."
Satan shook his head.
"I loved every civilization created in the physical realm and each mortal within them. I couldn't let them vanish so meaninglessly. That's why I opposed the Primordial Light."
The projection showed a city disappearing in a massive volcanic eruption.
But before the volcano engulfed the city, a great light appeared.
A noble being with dozens of light wings.
Zeke realized this being's soul was Satan sitting before him.
Satan wrapped the city in light wings, moving them to the dimensional boundary before the volcano struck.
An unstable, unfixed world.
Satan preserved civilizations erased by the Primordial Light there.
These nearly-vanished civilizations connected, finally becoming one world.
Zeke's eyes widened seeing the massive city forming in the projection.
"Babel?"
The first demon city Satan created, leading fallen constellations as the Arrogant Savior.
The projection showed Babel's landscape.
Satan gazed at Babel with sad eyes.
"Yes, Babel was created by gathering civilizations nearly erased from the physical realm. That became today's demon realm."
Creations abandoned and nearly erased by their creator.
Satan created a new world, resisting the creator to prevent their extinction.
Zeke finally understood the true identity of demons and demon realm monsters.
'Refugees from extinct civilizations. They migrated to the unstable demon realm.'
Once physical realm residents, but cast out by the creator. Their appearance and traits likely changed roughly during the transition to the unstable world.
Satan spoke while watching Babel's projection.
"Arrogant Savior. A fitting title. I thought I could save them. How arrogant that was, looking back."
He scattered Babel's projection, dispersing the light.
Satan looked at Zeke again.
"Zeke Draker, I waited for a new fate resistor to succeed me. Someone qualified to break this cursed wheel of fate."