696
Chapter 696
Zeke looked up at Arthur Draker sitting on the black throne.
Arthur Draker, who appeared in his original body rather than Rivein's, looked more aged and exhausted than before.
After quickly examining his face, Zeke focused on the black stone embedded in the center of Arthur Draker's chest.
'Black Star.'
It was a soul fragment of the Elder Dragon deeply embedded in his chest.
However, Arthur Draker's body with the Black Star embedded didn't seem to be in a normal state.
Black veins spread around his chest where the Black Star was embedded, and skin had fallen off in places as if necrosis had occurred.
Arthur Draker opened his mouth watching Zeke examine him.
"Are you surprised by my appearance?."
At his words, Zeke raised Gram and calmly retorted.
"Now I understand why you've been possessing Rivein's body all this time."
WOOOOONG!
After speaking, Zeke activated Overclock, raising his constellation power.
Unlike Arthur whose body was collapsing from failing to properly digest the Black Star, Zeke had absorbed not only Bahamut's heart but also the Elder Dragon's power to attain constellation rank.
Zeke's body floated lightly into the air.
Ascalon and Leviathan flashed with blade-light behind Zeke as he leveled his eyes with Arthur Draker seated on the throne.
"Arthur Draker, this is the end for you."
At Zeke's words, Arthur Draker shook his head with a bitter smile.
"You judge too hastily."
He slowly rose from the throne, leaning on Caliburn.
Standing completely, he said to Zeke.
"The collapse of my physical body does not signify my end."
Zeke furrowed his brow at Arthur Draker's words.
Then he realized something.
'He's stalling for time.'
Upon realizing this, Zeke immediately launched Ascalon and Leviathan toward Arthur Draker.
BOOM! BOOM!
The two swords flew toward Arthur Draker, tracing arcs while flashing with blade-light.
Watching Ascalon and Leviathan imbued with Holy-l spirit energy, Arthur Draker gripped Caliburn with both hands and brought it to his chest.
Then strange energy flowed from the Black Star embedded in his chest.
Energy imbued with distorted causality wrapped around Caliburn.
RUMBLE!
Divine caliber surged from Arthur Draker's body.
Not only Zeke but Arthur Draker too had transcended his limits to attain the rank of a constellation.
As Arthur Draker revealed his constellation rank, a sun stained with darkness rose behind him, and its light spread outward in concentric circles.
Arthur Draker, with a black halo behind him, swung Caliburn toward the approaching Ascalon and Leviathan.
Then black lightning charged with darkness erupted from his sword.
CRACKLE!
A storm of black lightning raging in all directions blocked Leviathan and Ascalon.
The two swords could not penetrate the storm of black lightning and changed direction, returning to Zeke.
WOOOOONG!
Arthur Draker, floating in the air under the protection of the black sun, was no different from a constellation itself, not merely an avatar.
The dark light from the black sun quietly spread out, illuminating where Zeke stood.
Zeke countered Arthur Draker's power by raising the power of the Great Purification, emitting a golden aura.
Black sun and brilliant light.
The primordial powers existing at opposite poles conflicted and canceled each other out.
WOOONG! WOOONG! WOOONG!
The constellation power emitted by Zeke and Arthur Draker clashed, creating waves that shook the entire temple.
During this brief standoff, Arthur Draker spoke to Zeke.
"No matter how much you struggle, you cannot defeat me. This was your destiny from the moment I gave a name to you, a cursed bastard."
After speaking, he snapped his fingers, and in the air a huge mouth opened wide, from which the bound Guardian and Rivein emerged.
Arthur Draker approached the bound Guardian, grabbed his shoulder, and continued.
"No matter how many locks you put on a door, if someone wants to open it, it will eventually open."
The Guardian, bound in chains and slumped down, appeared unconscious.
Zeke glared at Arthur Draker with fierce intensity.
"You, what have you done?"
Arthur Draker smiled and said.
"Zeke, you're already too late."
He was startled by Arthur Draker's words.
'Could it be?'
SCREEECH!
With a thunderous noise, incredibly strong magical energy flowed from Rivein.
RUMBLE!
Then magical energy began to permeate Rivein's black armor and Zahak at a ferocious rate.
Zeke had no choice but to step back from the storm of magical energy violently erupting from Rivein.
"UGH."
Zeke raised brilliant light to block the storm of magical energy.
Blocked by the brilliant light, the remnants of the storm scattered in all directions, and whispers shattered and dispersed.
[Come here.]
[If you want power, I will give it to you.]
[Nothing will be able to stop you.]
The Demon King's soul corrupting whispers pervaded the space and lingered in Zeke's ears.
'Such terrible magical energy. One mistake and I'll be corrupted immediately.'
Zeke, with his transcendent constellation power, protected his soul by pushing away the Demon King's whispers with his authority.
But Rivein's situation was different from Zeke's.
Because he directly contained the Demon King's soul in his body, his physical form was already corrupted.
"AAAAAARGH"
There was no way he could withstand the Demon King's whispers flowing out in that state.
Rivein, with blood vessels bulging prominently on his forehead, let out a scream-like battle cry.
Engulfed in magical energy, Rivein lost his reason to destructive instincts and charged at Zeke, whom he recognized as an enemy.
"Kill! Kill! Zeke Drakeeeeer!"
BOOM!
With a sound like the air exploding, Rivein flew toward Zeke instantly as if he had become a magic cannon himself.
BOOM!
He swung Zahak, imbued with powerful magical energy, with enough force to tear Zeke apart in one breath.
His sword strike caused the entire space to twist and create waves.
Zeke resisted those waves and raised Gram.
At that moment Rivein rushed in, and Zeke deflected Rivein's sword strike by causing Gram to collide with Zahak.
CRASH!
Despite being a collision of swords, it created an enormous explosion.
The shockwave spread through the air, shaking the entire temple.
RUMBLE!
The temple, unable to withstand the power released by Zeke and Rivein, shook as if it would collapse.
Rivein and Zeke were also pushed apart by the shockwave, creating distance between them.
This time, Zeke was the first to launch Ascalon and Leviathan toward Rivein.
The two swords flew toward Rivein, flashing with blade-light.
At that moment, the magical energy flowing from Rivein's body condensed, transforming into a shape like Zeke's shadow to create a shield.
THUD!
Blocked by the magical energy shield, the swords couldn't reach Rivein and bounced back.
Though he effectively blocked the attack, Rivein was breathing roughly.
And with each breath Rivein took, incredibly strong magical energy flowed from him.
Seeing Rivein's blood red eyes, Zeke understood what Arthur Draker meant when he said it was already too late.
'He invoked the Demon King's soul in Rivein, but the seal itself doesn't seem to be broken yet.'
WOOOOONG!
The magical energy flowing from Rivein's body contained enough power to distort dimensions.
But there was a problem.
Black blood flowed from Rivein's eyes and nose.
Even with the singularity of an Apollion Knight's body, it was insufficient to fully contain the Demon King's soul.
Even just containing the Demon King's soul that wasn't yet fully unsealed, his body was already unable to endure and was beginning to collapse.
Seeing Rivein's condition, Zeke said to Arthur Draker.
"Your plan has failed. You must have intended to invoke the Demon King in Rivein's body to use him, but it seems you've meddled with a power too difficult to handle."
Arthur Draker responded to Zeke's words with a relaxed smile.
"Certainly, Rivein's body is too weak to contain the Demon King's power. But..."
His eyes flashed.
"What if the power of the Evil God joins in?"
At that moment, behind Rivein, space split open again and from within it emerged the Flesh Emperor Ajitahaka.
Then, thin tentacles shot out from Ajitahaka's body and burrowed into Rivein's nose, ears, and mouth.
SLITHER!
Thus Ajitahaka settled into Rivein's collapsing body, and soon changes began to occur in his physical form.
RUMBLE!
The entire temple was pressed down and gradually collapsed under the energy flowing from Rivein who was engulfed in magical energy.
RUMBLE!
As the temple ceiling collapsed, the barren and twisted landscape outside was revealed.
Zeke resisted that power by emitting brilliant light amidst the storm of magical energy.
Soon Rivein revealed his transformed appearance from within the storm of magical energy.
And Zeke couldn't help but be shocked at Rivein's transformed face.
'That is...?'
His face was identical to the statue of Draker's Sword God.
He knew that the God of Sword statue was Draker's ancestor, the first Nephilim, Adam, the avatar of the Sun God Apollion.
Watching Rivein who had suddenly transformed into the avatar Adam, Arthur Draker nodded with satisfaction.
"Ancestral regression. Zeke, behold. The true source of power sleeping in our blood."
Ancestral regression referred to the phenomenon where descendants inherit bloodline abilities particularly strongly, or where racial characteristics are expressed intensely.
Nerissa of the Fishermen was born with the characteristics of her ancestors, the Deep Sea folk, due to ancestral regression.
However, in Rivein's case, unlike Nerissa, he hadn't been born with ancestral regression but had forcibly drawn Adam's power.
Zeke glared at Rivein who had transformed into the avatar Adam and pointed Gram at him.
WOOOOONG!
A strong light emanated from his sword.
Soon Zeke's body became a flash of light, flying through the storm of demonic energy toward Adam.
BOOM!
The storm of demonic energy was torn apart by Zeke's sword.
Then the demonic energy flowing from Adam's armor condensed and took the form of giant claws.
The claws tried to slash at Zeke, and immediately shadow blades shot out from Gram.
The giant claws made of demonic energy were shredded to pieces by the shadow blades.
Zeke swung his sword, imbued with the power of the Mind Sword, directly at Adam.
Infinite Sword Technique Final Form
Mind Sword Technique
Single Sword
Zeke's Mind Sword, which cuts through the source, attempted to split Adam's body,manifested through ancestral regression and the Demon King's soul contained within it in one strike.
But Adam wasn't just going to take it passively.
He stepped forward with Zahak in hand and swung his sword to counter Zeke's Mind Sword Technique.
WOOOOOONG!
Surprisingly, the sword he wielded was Terakan Draker's Annihilation Sword.
It was the Annihilation Sword, identified by Arthur Draker and upgraded through Rivane, now being used.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The Annihilation Sword that erases everything collided with the Mind Sword that cuts through everything, causing a massive clash.
BOOM!
As the transcendent sword strikes that invaded the origin collided, cracks appeared in the isolated dimensional plane.
CRACKLING!
The dimension twisted, plasma scattered everywhere, and a storm arose around the two people.
Zeke raised the shadow sword embedded in Gram toward Adam, breaking through the storm.
The shadow swords that had merged with Gram unleashed their power.
BOOM!
Countless shadow blades surged up, piercing through the dimensional storm, trying to devour Adam.
At that moment, Zahak in Adam's hand suddenly began to change its form.
The surface of the sword rippled, and shadows surged from within it.
Seeing this, Zeke's gaze wavered.
'Zahak is another shadow sword?'
The true identity of Zahak was yet another shadow sword, different from the two shadow swords residing in Gram,Caladbolg and Caledvulgh,and Caliburn possessed by Arthur Draker.
Shadow tentacles extending from Zahak wrapped around Gram's shadow blades and began to merge into one.
Soon a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[The Sword of Victory 'Caliburn' connects with the Solid Shadow Sword 'Caladbolg' and the Sword of Rupture 'Caledvulgh'.]
[The shadow swords, which are facets of the 'Promised Sword of Liberation,' connect with each other.]
[Gram approaches the original form of the 'Promised Sword of Liberation'.]
At that moment, the dimensional crack grew larger, and a plasma storm engulfed Zeke.
As the dimensional rift engulfed Zeke, the distorted world instantly changed to a different landscape.
'This place...'
The grave of swords where the swords of all previous Draker family heads were buried.
That place was spread out before his eyes.