614
Chapter 614
'The Arrogant Savior's authority? How?'
Originally, Harvey Draker possessed the Arrogant Savior's authority.
But that authority had already been transferred to Zeke.
It was logically impossible for Harvey Draker to use the Arrogant Savior's authority again.
Then something crossed Zeke's mind.
'Distorted causality.'
Though he couldn't understand the principle, he guessed that the distorted causality had recalled the authority from when he was Harvey West.
Whether his guess was right or wrong, what mattered now was that Harvey Draker had regained the Arrogant Savior's authority.
Harvey Draker glared at Zeke with glowing red eyes.
"Zeke Draker, you thought you trapped me, but it's the opposite."
BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!
As he finished speaking, red energy enveloped Harvey Draker's hands.
"This place will become your grave."
The red energy he summoned rose into the air and took the form of two eyes.
The giant demon eyes blazing with flames stared at Zeke.
ZIIIIING!
As the demon eyes activated, black flames erupted where Zeke stood.
WHOOSH!
Wherever the demon eyes touched, black flames hotter than Gehenna's flames from the demon realm shot toward Zeke.
Zeke unleashed the Elemental Sword's wind field against the black flames.
WOOSH!
The wind from his sword blocked the spreading black flames, but the demon eyes ignited flames again.
While blocking these flames, Zeke gradually moved toward where the eyes were.
But the black flames swirling from all directions wouldn't easily subside.
Meanwhile, Harvey Draker floated into the air and approached the massive wall with the Elder Dragon statue.
He reached for the Black Star in the dragon's mouth.
Seeing this, Zeke shouted at Harvey Draker.
"Harvey Draker! Step back! You'll regret this!"
Ignoring Zeke's warning as he fought off the black flames, Harvey Draker reached out and grabbed the Black Star.
Harvey Draker grinned.
"I win, Zeke Draker."
He tried to absorb the power into his body while holding the Black Star.
Engulfed in black flames, Zeke could only watch Harvey Draker absorb the Black Star's power, unable to get closer due to the demon eyes' interference.
Soon the Black Star's power was absorbed into his body.
BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!
Harvey Draker's expression filled with ecstasy as he felt the dragon's strong power rising within him.
'This is it.'
By receiving the Holy Dragon's heart and baptism from Arthur Draker, he gained a complete body that could remain in the physical realm.
But that wasn't enough.
He wanted greater power that could fully replace the Arrogant Savior's authority.
'With the Elder Dragon's heart, I can wield the power I desire.'
Harvey Draker smiled with satisfaction, feeling the mighty power flowing into his body.
But then suddenly, he felt a chill on his nape.
'What?'
Survival instinct developed from living in the shadows for long.
That intuition suddenly activated.
He hurriedly turned to look at Zeke Draker trapped in black flames, and soon realized something.
'Zeke Draker also has the Arrogant Savior's authority. Even stronger than mine. Yet he's not using the authority and getting overwhelmed so easily?'
He realized the source of the unnatural feeling he'd been sensing earlier.
Instinctively, he released the Black Star from his hand.
CRACKLE!
Dark electricity surged strongly from the Black Star.
Harvey Draker looked at his hand that had held the Black Star.
Then, something extraordinary happened.
BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!
Black shadows wrapped around Harvey Draker's hand and seeped into his body.
"URGH!"
He quickly tried to block the invading shadows by invoking the Arrogant Savior's authority.
But it was already too late.
BZZT! BZZT! BZZT!
The space where the Black Star had been rippled and revealed Zeke.
The Zeke below swinging his sword while trapped in black flames was a combination of his clone and illusion.
At the last moment, Harvey Drayker, anxious due to his plan failing, couldn’t see through Zeke's trick and was deceived.
Only when he confirmed the black shadows flowing from Zeke's body wrapping around him did Harvey Draker realize what had happened.
"You had already stolen the Black Star!"
Zeke didn't respond, but Harvey Draker's guess was correct. After receiving control of Rue from Innocent, Zeke pulled all the golems in the city and positioned them in front of the invading Baron and Harvey Draker to block them.
Meanwhile, he had arrived at the stone chamber first and tried to take the Book of the Dead.
However, the Book of the Dead didn't exist in either the stone chamber or this hidden space only the Black Star was sealed here.
And Zeke had set a trap using this to catch Harvey Draker.
Harvey Draker realized he had fallen for Zeke's trap and shouted.
"How dare you?!"
Harvey Draker roared and tried to charge at Zeke.
But the shadows wrapping around his hands dug deeper into his body, restraining his movements.
At the same time, a red Blood Eye appeared on Zeke's forehead as he controlled the shadows.
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
The red Blood Eye synchronized with the shadows and tried to penetrate Harvey Draker's mind.
Harvey Draker desperately tried to block Zeke's attack attempting to invade his consciousness.
His pupils also turned red as the power of the Arrogant Savior arose.
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
As the Arrogant Savior's power of 'Recreation' activated, a crown made of bones appeared on his head.
Soon, an eerie energy burst forth from the bone crown and began blocking the shadow force penetrating Harvey Draker's body.
What Harvey Draker had summoned was the 'Crown Made from the Cursed King's Skull', one of the Arrogant Savior's treasures.
It was a powerful artifact created from the skull of the most tragically deceased king among the vanished worlds, condensed with thousands of years of grudges and curses while buried in the dark realm.
Though he barely managed to block the power of the shadows and Blood Eye using the crown's power, Zeke's attack didn't end there.
TSUTSUTSUTU!
Lilith, who had been hiding behind Harvey Draker, revealed herself.
Lilith immediately unleashed her power of Enchantment toward Harvey Draker.
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
Harvey Draker, who had been focusing all his attention on blocking Zeke's power, was caught off guard by Lilith's sudden Enchantment from behind.
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
The Great Seductress's Enchantment, which even demons couldn't escape from, worked fatally on Harvey Draker as well.
"URRRGH!"
He hadn't anticipated Zeke would mainly use such mental attacks against him, so he couldn't find an appropriate counter.
That's when Zeke stretched out his left hand and summoned Solomon's Chains.
CHWARALALALARAK!
Having shown an opening due to Lilith's power of Enchantment, Harvey Draker ended up completely bound by the chains.
"Zeke Draker! You!"
He belatedly came to his senses and struggled desperately to break free from Solomon's Chains.
He even tried to use the Arrogant Savior's power to make his chained body disappear and recreate his body elsewhere, but Zeke was faster in revealing his divine status against him.
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
As Zeke, who had truly absorbed the power of the Arrogant Savior, revealed his power, the power fluctuating in Harvey Draker's body began to subside rapidly.
Soon, he could no longer use the ability of Distorted Causality either, as the Arrogant Savior's power disappeared from his body.
"Kuhek!"
Due to the backlash of using power that defied nature, Harvey Draker coughed up blood writhing in pain.
TSUTSUTSUTU!
Having returned to his dragon being form, Harvey Draker was completely restrained by the chains and couldn't move at all.
He glared at Zeke while bleeding from his mouth.
"Zeke Draker..."
Zeke approached Harvey Draker and activated the Blood Eye against him again.
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
The shadows seeped into his body, and the power of the Blood Eye penetrated his brain.
It was to search through Harvey Draker's mind for information about Arthur Draker.
KIIIIIING!
Though Zeke maximized the Blood Eye for this purpose, he couldn't find any information about Arthur Draker in his mind.
'He either deliberately erased it. Or... sealed it deep inside.'
Zeke looked at Harvey Draker, whose eyes had lost focus, and judging that using more power would be meaningless, he withdrew the Blood Eye and secured him firmly with not only Solomon's Chains but additional restraints as well.
Then he turned around and approached the Elder Dragon statue.
He reached for the heart rather than the black stone in the statue's mouth.
PAJIJIJIJIK!
As Zeke's hand went into the statue, a powerful magical storm arose.
Soon when he pulled his hand back out, there was a gleaming black stone in his grasp.
'This is the real Black Star.'
Though he had found the real Black Star, as Harvey Draker said, if Zeke were to absorb another Black Star in his current condition, his body might not withstand it and could explode.
Zeke put the Black Star in his inventory and came back down to Harvey Draker.
Then he grabbed the chains binding him and slowly created an entrance to his unique barrier dimension.
WOONG! WOONG! WOONG! WOONG!
Since everything in Rue was under Zeke's control, a door to the real world opened when he exerted his will.
KUNG!
After dragging Harvey Draker into the real world, Zeke searched for traces left by the High Tables in the stone chamber.
'As I expected, the Book of the Dead called Baron.'
The Demon King sealed in the Book of the Dead is drawn to powerful desires.
So he thought Baron, filled with obsession to create a world only for the Drakers, would be caught by the Demon King's temptation.
Looking at the traces left by the High Tables, he could determine the direction where the Book of the Dead was hidden.
Zeke looked down at Harvey Draker whose mind he had subdued, then wrapped him in shadows and placed him in darkness.
Though he had him firmly restrained, there was no telling when he might regain consciousness and escape.
'I must prevent the Book of the Dead from falling completely into Baron's hands.'
He immediately flew toward where the Book of the Dead was sealed, following the traces left by the High Tables.
* * *
'This is crazy! What is this place?'
Nabu and Nigel were descending underwater on a magic carpet, surrounded by a circular barrier.
While the upper part of Rue, the underwater city, was no different from regular ground, the lower part was completely submerged in seawater.
And Baron, who received the call of the Book of the Dead, unhesitatingly descended to the submerged lower part of the tower.
Unable to lose him, Nabu and Nigel followed Baron down into the depths of Rue where they couldn't see an inch ahead.
But surprisingly, when they went down below the tower, there was an even larger underwater city.
Both Nabu and Nigel couldn't help but be amazed at the majestic sight that looked as if the entire city had sunk underwater long ago.
Though they had come to Rue many times for High Table meetings, they never knew such a space existed here.
That's when Nigel said to Nabu.
-Nabu, he's heading that way.
Baron was summoning an outer being beast with black matter and riding it toward the sunken city.
Nabu and Nigel, who had been momentarily captivated by the surprising sight, properly steered the carpet again to chase after Baron.
The collapsed buildings of the sunken city looked like giant sea monsters trying to swallow them.
As Nabu peered into that darkness, he suddenly felt something strange.
【Welcome.】
Nabu was startled by the voice ringing in his ears.
'What was that?'
That's when Nigel frowned and said to Nabu.
-It's his voice.
Nabu realized what Nigel meant.
'The Book of the Dead. The voice of the Demon King sealed inside.'
Only then did Nabu fully realize that he was heading toward where the Demon King was sealed.
But right then..
KUGUGUGUGUGU!
Suddenly, a huge whirlpool formed in the underwater city and quickly engulfed everything around it.
The magic carpet carrying Nabu and Nigel was also caught in the whirlpool.
-Damn it! Nigel! Hold on tight!
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Before they could do anything, the massive whirlpool instantly swept everything away.
Nothing remained in the deep sea after the whirlpool disappeared.
Only the broken sunken city remained in its place in the silent depths.