626
Chapter 626
'The memories of Jiemens Apollion?'
After Solomon became the first Demon King, Jiemens Apollion was the one who summoned that sealed soul to the material world.
He was the adopted son of the Hero King Kaisir and disciple of the Great Sage.
However, after Kaisir departed for the fairy realm and Sethon Draker became Chronos's successor, Jiemens Apollion became enraged and turned against Chronos.
He was the one who had removed his contract dragon's heart and transplanted it into himself, attempting to gain both dragon's power and the Demon King's soul.
Therefore, it was entirely possible for Jiemens Apollion's memories to exist within the Demon King's soul.
Just then, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Playing back part of the restored karma data records.]
At the same time, a voice echoed in Zeke's ears.
―...Jiemens, you...
Zeke was startled by the voice in his ears.
'This voice?'
The voice flowing from the restored data was none other than that of Chronos, the Dragon of Time.
He had no idea why Chronos's voice remained in the memories contained within the Demon King's soul.
The voice continued.
―...why such tragedy... incomplete...
But the voice was broken in places, making it impossible to understand its meaning.
It seemed he would need to fully absorb and restore the karma data to understand the entire content.
HISS! HISS! HISS! HISS!
At that moment, as all the black light flowing from the library's hole flowed into Zeke, the Demon Angel floating above the gate slowly began to move.
GROWL!
Now no trace of Harvey Draker could be seen in the Demon Angel.
Baron, who had sustained a blow to his soul from Zeke’s sword, wiped the blood from his mouth and shouted toward the Demon angel.
"...Capture Zeke Draker. Devour him and recover the Demon King's soul again!"
Baron's bloodshot eyes were filled with killing intent.
To Baron, a fanatic who served the god Arthur Draker, Zeke was nothing but the most troublesome interference.
He believed the Demon Angel's power, created by Arthur Draker's divine power, could eliminate Zeke and recover the Demon King's soul again.
The Demon Angel floating above the demon form's gate began to move in response to Baron's words.
RUMBLE!
Because it hadn't received all the power of the black light streams due to Zeke, there were empty spots of black crystal throughout the Demon Angel's body.
The Demon Angel raised its head and let out a monstrous cry.
ROAAAAAAAR!
At the same time, tentacles writhing behind the Demon Angel shot out and began taking form.
That form resembled dragon wings.
But while they were wings, they had a grotesque form with teeth and eyeballs embedded throughout.
The Demon Angel spread its sprouted wings and slowly rose into the air.
RUMBLE!
Even in its incomplete state without having absorbed all the Demon King's soul, the pressure emanating from the Demon Angel was powerful enough to rival the great lords of the demon realm.
Zeke, floating in the air absorbing the corrupted karma data with shadows, looked down at the Demon Angel.
‘I need to reclaim the Demon King’s soul it has absorbed.’
In truth, Zeke was still skeptical about absorbing the Demon King's soul, as the arrogant savior had said.
Even the great King Solomon ultimately fell to temptation, becoming 'the first to fall' and turning into the Demon King who threatened the material world.
There was no guarantee that Zeke wouldn't succumb to that temptation either.
But now, he had finally changed his mind. It was because of the karma points.
'If I can purify the Demon King's soul with karma points, I can escape that temptation.'
Without the risk of temptation, the Demon King's soul would simply be a good way to raise his constellation rank.
Zeke gripped Leviathan as he watched the Demon Angel roaring at him.
WOOOOOONG!
Leviathan resonated with Zeke's will as it rang out its sword cry.
'I will recover the Demon King's soul.'
Zeke opened his constellation rank.
The power of the constellation 'One Who Crossed the Walls' spread throughout the library.
RUMBLE!
As the Demon Angel's pressure collided with Zeke's rank, powerful energy waves created windstorms.
Nabu descended to the lower part of the library on a flying carpet, avoiding the windstorm with Nigel.
"EEEEK! Hold on tight!"
He picked up Ivan and Manna onto the carpet as well and took shelter inside the barrier created by Guardian Innocent.
RUMBLE!
The entire infinite library space, the Great Sage's unique domain, shook from the collision of powers between Zeke and the Demon Angel.
Even for the High Tables, this was their first time directly witnessing the collision between beings with power rivaling the great lords, so they couldn't help but be shocked by that power.
"This is insane. Are all constellations such monsters?"
The other High Tables nodded in agreement with Nabu's muttering as they looked toward where the collision was occurring.
The Demon Angel moved first.
KAAAAAAH!
With a horrifying scream that sounded like a mixture of a dragon's roar and a monster's cry, the Demon Angel soared up into the sky.
Though it was unclear how much of the Demon King's soul it had absorbed, the soul's caliber felt distinctly different from the previous Harvey Draker.
The Demon Angel opened its mouth wide and unleashed a magic cannon overflowing with dark energy toward Zeke.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The concentrated magic cannon flew toward Zeke with enough force to pierce through his body.
Zeke charged forward holding Leviathan.
"HAAAAAH!"
Zeke swung his sword down toward the magic cannon while executing the Infinite Sword technique.
SSSSSSS!
After completing the Mind Sword technique, Zeke's sword showed a distinctly different appearance from before.
Though he had merely swung his sword in a simple downward motion, the mental technique contained within held a higher-dimensional power incomparable to before.
SAAAAAAAK!
The moment the magic cannon touched Zeke's sword, it split in half and scattered without a trace.
Though it was an attack powerful enough to instantly destroy an entire city, Zeke's sword had perfectly sliced through it.
He had truly transcended from Sword Saint to reach the realm of Sword God.
Watching Zeke's sword from below, Nigel couldn't help but express amazement.
'Zeke...'
Having recalled memories of her past life engraved in her soul, Nigel knew what kind of life Zeke had lived before the regression.
That's why she could truly feel what this completed sword meant to Zeke.
When its attack proved futile, the Demon Angel screamed and flew more quickly toward Zeke.
KAAAAAAH!
Zeke blocked the Demon Angel's soul-penetrating scream with Leviathan's sword cry.
WOOOOONG!
Leviathan, which had been howling while raising its sword cry, left Zeke's hand and floated into the air.
At the same time, an intense light arose from Leviathan.
KUGUGUGUGU!
The intense light that burst forth from Leviathan illuminated the entire space.
Emitting sword light, Leviathan flew quickly toward the Demon Angel of its own will.
SHWAEAEAEAEK!
Leviathan's movement as it cut through space was clearly different from swords controlled by magic.
Each burst of sword light was like an Aura Blade unleashed by the Black Knight.
KAAAAAAH!
The Demon Angel roared toward Leviathan which was flying toward it with terrifying momentum.
But when it showed no signs of stopping, seemingly unaffected, the Demon Angel spread its wings wide and thrust out its chest toward Leviathan.
Then the crystallized black armor split open and a huge mouth gaped open from within.
WOOOOONG!
An even greater power than before began to concentrate inside the opened huge mouth.
KUDEUDEUDEUK―
The power was so strong that the surrounding space distorted and warped.
The surrounding bookshelves and books were sucked into the distorted space.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Soon the power concentrated inside the mouth that had opened in its chest directly confronted the approaching Leviathan.
As the mouth opened wider, the concentrated powers poured forward.
The concentrated power created a pillar of darkness that swallowed up Leviathan wrapped in sword light.
Thunderous roars echoed all around and dark energy that spread out with them destroyed the library space.
But then.
SHWAEAEAEAEAEK!
Leviathan, wrapped in sword light, could be seen still advancing toward the Demon Angel as it split through the pillar of darkness.
Connected to Zeke's soul, Leviathan carried his will as it tried to penetrate through the Demon Angel while negating the concentrated pillar of darkness.
KEUREUREUREUK!
As Leviathan pushed back against its power, the Demon Angel concentrated its power even more strongly.
KUGUGUGUGU!
The pillar of darkness compressed its power further to try to block Leviathan.
But the sword light showed no signs of weakening and instead flew straight toward the Demon Angel while shining even more brilliantly.
KAAAAAK!
The Demon Angel screamed with all its might and squeezed out its power to block Leviathan.
But the sword never stopped.
Seeming to realize this wouldn't work, the Demon Angel spread its wings and flew upward.
Then it changed direction and opened its mouth wide to gather energy for a direct attack on Zeke.
But when the Demon Angel looked to where it planned to attack, Zeke was nowhere to be seen.
"Are you looking for me?"
Zeke's voice was heard from behind.
The moment the Demon Angel turned around in surprise, Ascalon pierced through its back and protruded above its chest.
KAAAAAK!
The Demon Angel screamed and writhed in agony.
Zeke followed the Demon Angel's movements and drove Ascalon in even deeper.
KWADEUDEUDEUK!
A light like Leviathan's burst forth from Ascalon deeply embedded in the Demon Angel's body.
WOOOOONG!
As sword light burst forth from Ascalon embedded in its body, the black crystals covering the Demon Angel's body began falling off one after another.
The fallen crystals were sucked into Zeke's shadow.
[Absorbed contaminated karma data.]
Reading the message that appeared before his eyes, Zeke was certain that the black crystals attached to the Demon Angel's body were crystallized forms of the Demon King's soul.
'Rather than fully absorbing the Demon King's soul, they crystallized it like the Dragon Heart to draw and use power from the outside.'
It seemed to be a method devised to use the power without having the soul corrupted by the Demon King's temptation.
It appeared they had induced this strange phenomenon by combining the dragon's heart bestowed by Arthur Draker, the power of outer beings, and the power of distorted causality.
Even as Zeke analyzed the phenomenon, the Demon Angel pierced by the sword writhed and tried desperately to shake him off.
At one point, the Demon Angel's wings undulated and transformed into tentacles sprouting with eyeballs and teeth.
KAAAAAAK!
The tentacles rushed toward Zeke who was holding Ascalon.
Zeke then released Ascalon and stepped back.
At the same time, Caladbolg materialized from the shadows into Zeke's hand.
TEUTEUTEUTEU!
Caladbolg extended shadows toward the tentacles.
CHWAAAAAAK!
The shadows transformed into sharp blades and began devouring the tentacles as they roughly tore through them.
KEUDEUDEUDEUK!
'This is?'
Zeke flinched as he sensed traces of the Devouring Authority in Caladbolg.
The Devouring Authority, unlocked by absorbing the Evil God's authority, possessed powerful strength that could consume everything, but he had been refraining from using it as much as possible since it was difficult to control.
Zeke couldn't help but question how Caladbolg naturally possessed such Devouring Authority.
Just then, the Demon Angel roared again and launched sharp claws imbued with dark energy toward Zeke.
KWAKWAKWAKWA!
Six hook-like claws spun as they flew toward Zeke with enough force to tear him to shreds.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Zeke stared at the claws flying toward him and swung Caladbolg.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Caladbolg created a storm of shadows and completely devoured the Demon Angel's claws.
Zeke furrowed his brow as he saw Caladbolg displaying an even more greedy momentum than before.
'It feels like Caladbolg's power grows stronger as my divine nature strengthens.'
He deactivated Caladbolg in his hand and sent it back into the shadows.
Until the moment it disappeared, Caladbolg seemed to regret not being able to devour more.
When Caladbolg vanished, the Demon Angel, as if seizing an opportunity, raised crystallized spikes like blades all over its body and charged toward Zeke.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Each blade created ripples as it tore through space.
KAAAAAAK!
Soon the crystallized spikes protruding from the Demon Angel's body shot out and poured toward Zeke in a storm.
Then a huge light flew in front of Zeke.
SHWAEAEAEAEK!
Leviathan, wrapped in sword light, pierced through the storm of pouring spikes.