655
Chapter 655
The mana-transformed aura blade soared up and instantly sliced through the dolls' bodies in one swift motion.
Zeke looked at the broken message and deduced its meaning.
'Trace of the Distorted Constellation?'
It meant that the strange man before his eyes was the trace of the Distorted Constellation.
The mirage covering the face of the man in pure white suit momentarily receded, revealing his mouth.
The man looked at Zeke with a peculiar smile.
"Zeke Draker, The One Who Crossed the Wall. What a rare sight to see your face in person."
Zeke asked while looking at the man.
"Are you the Distorted Constellation?"
The man grinned and replied.
"What do you think?"
Zeke glared at him and said.
"Drop the wordplay if that's your intention."
He continued while pointing Gram at the man.
"The distorted causality I sense from you. The one who resurrected Arthur Draker also used that power."
Zeke said with a voice filled with killing intent.
"Are you the sun god Apollion?"
The man in the pure white suit burst into loud laughter after hearing Zeke's words.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
When he laughed, the entire space reacted with him.
The space rippled everywhere, changing colors and distorting in response to his laughter.
The man soon stopped laughing and waved his hand as he spoke.
"Ah, I apologize. Hearing such words suddenly was both absurd and amusing, making me burst into laughter. I can't remember the last time I laughed this heartily."
He grinned at Zeke and continued.
"Let me tell you the conclusion first, I am not 'that being' you speak of."
Zeke furrowed his brows at the man's words.
"If you're not the sun god Apollion, then what are you?"
Until now, Zeke thought the distorted causality must be connected to the sun god Apollion.
But the man was saying he was a different being from the sun god.
As Zeke frowned and focused on him, the man stretched out his hand. A strange energy gathered and created black matter.
Zeke was surprised to see this.
'Dark matter?'
The alien power that resurrected Arthur Draker and manifested celestial Constellations that couldn't descend to the physical world.
The man before his eyes was freely controlling that power.
Seeing Zeke's expression, the man nodded as if understanding and said.
"So you mistook me for 'that being' after seeing this power."
Seeing the man manipulate dark matter, Zeke became even more wary than before.
The man shook his head.
"No need to be so cautious. Because... 'that being' you mentioned took this power from me."
Zeke showed a surprised expression at the man's words.
'The sun god stole the power of distorted causality from the Distorted Constellation?'
Then something crossed Zeke's mind.
'The God of Chaos?'
Theia, known as the moon goddess.
Zeke knew that Theia's true form was actually the God of Chaos, and the celestial Constellations had sealed that power within the name Theia out of fear.
Zeke looked at the man in the pure white suit and asked.
"Does the Distorted Constellation mean the God of Chaos?"
The man grinned at his words.
"I can't say it's wrong, but I can't say it's right either."
Zeke frowned at the man's ambiguous words.
He strongly disliked the unclear wordplay typical of sages and wizards.
Seeing Zeke's reaction, the man waved his hand and continued.
"Don't frown like that. I'm not trying to play with words, it's just how things are."
The man leaped down from the sword god statue, stepping on air as if walking down stairs.
Zeke stepped back slightly while remaining cautious of the man coming down to the floor.
Seeing this, the man shook his head.
"You're more cautious than what I saw through the mirror. Well, I suppose that's how you've survived such a harsh fate until now."
Zeke became even more certain that the man possessed power beyond a celestial Constellation, seeing how he spoke as if he had been watching Zeke for a long time.
The man looked at Zeke and said.
"The reason why saying God of Chaos is both right and wrong is because 'we' are not fixed entities."
Zeke was surprised that the man referred to himself as 'we'.
'Does this mean the Distorted Constellation isn't a single Constellation?'
Then a certain being crossed Zeke's mind.
Germain, who was the overall boss of the Nostra Family.
His true identity was Dijiang, one of the Four fiends, and Chaos (混沌) who attained the status of an evil god.
Dijiang, a member of the Four Evils who were fallen Nephilim, devoured outer beings to transform into an evil god for greater power.
Then, trapped in an isolated plane within the Gate of Chaos by Jiemens Apollion who led the Demon King's army, he absorbed countless souls over a thousand years to create a cluster of mental bodies for resurrection.
Thus, Chaos existed as a cluster of countless mental bodies rather than a single entity.
Zeke opened his mouth while looking at the man.
"A cluster of multiple Constellations rather than one. Is that what the Distorted Constellation is?"
The man, or rather the trace of the Distorted Constellation, nodded and said.
"Yes. To be precise, it's a cluster of numerous 'Nameless Constellations' that exist outside dimensions, not ordinary Constellations."
Zeke now understood the true identity and essence of the Distorted Constellation that had been hidden for so long.
Zeke looked at the man and said.
"'Nameless Constellations'... You mean 'Forgotten Constellations' that can no longer have names?"
For a moment, loneliness tinged the man's lips.
"Yes, Constellations are powerful beings, but they can lose their meaning of existence if no one remembers them. With no one in the physical world to remember us, we lost our meaning of existence and had to drift outside dimensions, having lost our names and forms."
Zeke asked the trace of the Distorted Constellation.
"Then does that mean the God of Chaos is also part of the Distorted Constellation?"
He shook his head.
"To be precise, not exactly. Among the countless forgotten Constellations, there are ancient beings who possess mysteries passed down from primordial times. They don't have specific names. And 'that being' wanted to borrow the power of these ancient beings."
"Wanted to borrow power? From forgotten ancient beings? How?"
The trace of the Distorted Constellation raised the corners of his mouth at Zeke's words and said.
"How do you think one would borrow power from nameless beings?"
Zeke could deduce what happened from the Distorted Constellation's trace's words.
"...The sun god gave them a name. The name 'God of Chaos'."
Zeke realized why the Distorted Constellation and God of Chaos weren't the same, and why the Distorted Constellations weren't recognized in the Akashic Code.
They were beings that couldn't be recognized in the first place, so they weren't caught even within the dimensional karma data.
Yet they had clearly existed from the past until now.
None other than outside the dimensions.
The sun god arbitrarily gave names to these beings drifting outside dimensions to borrow their power for his own purpose.
That purpose being to kill the Primordial Light.
Zeke finally understood the identity of the Distorted Constellation and what their distorted causality was.
And he could also guess the identity of the 'outer beings' that he had long wondered about.
"Are the outer beings... past beings that disappeared along with the forgotten Constellations?"
The trace of the Distorted Constellation spoke with a bitter expression at Zeke's words.
"Pitiful beings who lost their place to go. At least wraiths have a foothold in this physical world. But those forgotten by everyone can't even do that."
Zeke recalled Babel created by the Arrogant Savior upon hearing the words of the Distorted Constellation's trace.
The Arrogant Savior gathered civilizations that disappeared due to celestial Constellations to create an unstable city called Babel outside dimensions, which became today's demon realm.
Also, the followers of fallen Constellations who existed in vanished civilizations became demons, the current residents of the demon realm.
But those who couldn't even set foot in the demon realm and were forgotten...
They vanished into the outside of dimensions, drifting in deep abysses while transforming into something completely different.
Zeke recalled how powers of the physical world didn't work on outer beings, and how they existed outside the laws of the physical world.
Because the physical world forgot and abandoned them, the outer beings were reconstructed into completely different, alien beings.
Zeke looked up at the sword god statue and recalled the Unspeakable Darkness that tried to emerge from it.
The Unspeakable Darkness that also appeared from the saint statue of Goddess Theia was indeed a being with incomprehensible power.
Recalling this, he asked the trace of the Distorted Constellation.
"The Unspeakable Darkness, is it also part of the Distorted Constellation?"
At those words, the Trace of the Distorted Constellation fell silent, unlike before.
After thinking about something, he slowly opened his mouth.
"...That's difficult to explain. While it certainly shares a path with us, it cannot be said to be the same as us. And I cannot speak about it. Because it's not permitted."
Though his words were like a riddle, the Trace of the Distorted Constellation shook his head as if he had nothing else to say.
Through his words, Zeke realized that the Unspeakable Darkness was something different from the Distorted Constellation.
'A being that's not even an existence outside dimensions. What exactly is its true identity?.'
The question of why it had spat out the Sun Sword Gram still remained a mystery since its true identity was unknown.
That's when the Trace of the Distorted Constellation spoke while looking at Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, do you know why you came here?"
Zeke shook his head and answered.
"I only think Arthur Draker opened a unique realm connected to this place with strange power. I thought you, the Distorted Constellation pulled me here. Am I wrong?"
At those words, the Trace of the Distorted Constellation grinned again and continued speaking.
"It's true that I called you here. However, Arthur Draker, or rather the 'being' attached behind him, wouldn't have wanted our meeting."
Zeke narrowed his eyes as he realized the 'being' the Distorted Constellation spoke of was the Sun God Apollion.
'Is there a taboo? Why isn't he saying the name?'
Seeing Zeke's expression, the Trace of the Distorted Constellation seemed to notice his thoughts and nodded, saying:
"The moment I speak 'that being's' name, he will know the location of my main body. That's how powerful a constellation he is."
From those words, Zeke learned that the Distorted Constellation was hiding from the Sun God's eyes.
'So that's why it didn't appear in the Akashic Code. It was even deliberately hiding its existence.'
The Trace of the Distorted Constellation looked at Zeke and said:
"The reason Arthur Draker, that being's avatar, pulled you here was likely to lure me out. Zeke Draker, who has the most heterogeneous power among beings in the material world they must have thought you could find me."
Zeke's eyebrows twitched as he heard those words.
"Then isn't this situation going exactly as Arthur Draker intended?"
The Trace of the Distorted Constellation shook his head.
"When Arthur Draker created a dimensional gap with distorted causality, I called you to a different reverse world, not where he intended to send you."
"A different reverse world?"
"Yes, this place... is the reverse world within your abyss, not mine, Zeke Draker."
Zeke showed a surprised expression at the Trace of the Distorted Constellation's words.
'The reverse world within my abyss?'
The cradle and the great banquet hall of Lair that existed in his memories.
There was no doubt this was a space that had given young Zeke great trauma.
Looking at Zeke who wore a confused expression, the Trace of the Distorted Constellation said.
"This is the starting point that created the being known as you. Isn't that right?"
At those words, Zeke looked at the sword god statue behind the Trace of the Distorted Constellation.
As he said, this was where the moment that twisted his fate began.
The Trace of the Distorted Constellation said to Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, let's make a contract."