704
Chapter 704
CRUNCH!
An intimidating sound came from the bronze archangel's body.
As he extended his four arms, bronze spears appeared.
Raphael glared at Zeke with flashing eyes from his face that resembled a bronze mask.
Zeke spoke while looking at the archangel.
"So you were a Knight of the Round Table."
Zeke realized that the Knight of the Round Table who had eliminated all his comrades was the angel before him.
He held a sword containing starlight in his hand.
Raphael emitted an intimidating aura, sensing the ominous energy from the sword.
RUMBLE!
The ark, only half remaining, collapsed under Raphael's aura.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
Zeke and Raphael glared at each other in a battle of auras as the ark collapsed around them.
Raphael moved first.
He threw his four spears at Zeke.
WHOOSH!
The four spears flew toward Zeke at speeds exceeding sound.
As Zeke stepped forward and swung his sword, a wall created by the sword wind blocked Raphael's spears.
Raphael's spears crumpled like clay when they hit the wall and fell to the ground.
Zeke didn't stop there and swung his starlight-filled sword toward Raphael.
WHOOSH!
Though it was a simple swing, the sword strike imbued with transcendent god power was itself divine.
Against this attack that looked simple but contained tremendous power, Raphael spread his wings to create a barrier.
CRASH!
Zeke's sword strike and Raphael's barrier collided with thunderous noise.
But Raphael's barrier was insufficient to block Zeke's sword strike.
CRUNCH!
Zeke's sword strike eroded Raphael's barrier and shattered it to pieces.
The divine sword strike continued forward and struck Raphael's body.
BOOM!
The sword strike exploded, sending Raphael flying far away.
The impact was so great that the mountain where Raphael crashed instantly disappeared, turning into flatland.
Shortly after, the buried dirt mound stirred, and Raphael barely raised his body with a deep wound in his chest.
Not only had he taken damage that nearly penetrated his chest from a single sword strike, but half of his eight pairs of wings had turned to ash as if burned.
Raphael struggled to rise, his eyes flashing.
But then something flew over his head.
CRASH!
Zeke descended from the sky and trampled Raphael's head.
Raphael, with his head burst open, twitched his remaining wings and arms.
The incarnation of the Great Constellation was no match for Zeke, whose divinity had increased by absorbing the corrupted primordial light.
As Zeke stood on Raphael's burst head waiting for the next response, he noticed something ominous.
WOONG!
The sky split open and something appeared from within.
Angels with gold, silver, and brass bodies.
'Michael, Gabriel, Uriel.'
They were none other than the four Great Angels like Raphael.
And behind those angels appeared a being of a different caliber.
A being like light, with a body made of radiance.
Zeke instinctively frowned at that dazzling light.
Zeke immediately realized who it was.
"The King in Yellow."
The being made of radiance looked down at Zeke and spoke.
"Zeke Draker, I knew you would reappear."
Though trapped in an isolated realm by the Demon King, he didn't think Zeke would disappear like this.
Zeke spoke while looking at the King in Yellow.
"Arthur Draker, so you've finally absorbed all of Apollion's power."
The being made of radiance looked at Zeke and spoke in a calm voice.
"Do you truly see me as a worthless creature like Arthur Draker?"
At those words, Zeke couldn't help but harden his expression slightly.
Before being trapped in the void world, the King in Yellow possessed Arthur Draker's ego.
He called himself Arthur Draker and Apollion.
But now the one before him denied being Arthur Draker.
The being made of radiance spread its wings of light and spoke.
"Zeke Draker, because of you the primordial light completely disappeared, allowing me to find my true name."
With those words, a divine sword appeared in his hand.
His divinity with the divine sword was beyond the primordial light.
Feeling that tremendous power, Zeke realized that the name 'Apollion,' like the name of goddess Theia who sealed the chaos god, was also a device that sealed his power.
Still radiating with light, that being pointed the divine sword at Zeke and said.
"My name is Metatron, the most noble one above heaven, who stole the sword of the primordial god, killed him, and will end the old era."
Zeke furrowed his brow at the power of the being who called himself Metatron.
"...So Arthur Draker was also used by you. To recover your true name that was taken by the primordial light."
Metatron emitted an even stronger radiance and said.
"Would that worthless creature be able to handle my power?"
Metatron's radiance possessed power that seemed to burn souls and blind eyes just by looking at it.
As he said, no matter how great Arthur Draker's ambition was, it would have been impossible for him to accept Metatron's divinity.
Zeke opened his mouth while looking at Metatron with his wings of radiance spread.
"Was your plan to use Arthur Draker and me to remove all traces left by the primordial light, cause Ragnarok, and then create a completely new divine world?"
Metatron smiled with satisfaction at his words.
"Excellent, being from outside the stage. Without you, I couldn't have removed the power of the primordial light that created this stage."
Using the irregular called Zeke to completely remove the power of the Demon King, the corrupted primordial light, and to throw off the sealed name of Apollion.
That was the most ideal scenario Metatron had been envisioning for so long.
Even Zeke absorbing the Demon King's power was included in Metatron's scenario.
Metatron, holding the divine sword, looked at Zeke with an arrogant face and said.
"Zeke Draker, I have a proposal for you. How about becoming my avatar? Then I shall make you king of the new world."
It was a proposal as Metatron, not the King in Yellow.
Zeke raised his starlight-filled sword while looking at Metatron wrapped in radiance.
"Go to hell."
Metatron smiled amusingly after hearing Zeke's curse.
"I knew you would say that."
With those words, the three archangels in front of Metatron flew toward Zeke.
CRASH!
The archangels made of gold, silver, and brass each held a sword, whip, and axe.
Weapons imbued with the power of the Great Constellation plunged toward Zeke.
Zeke swung his starlight-filled sword at the archangels rushing toward him.
WHOOSH!
The powerful sword strike blew away the three archangels at once.
Seeing this, Metatron looked at Zeke's sword with interest.
"A sword combining light and shadow. Interesting. It will make my sword even more perfect."
The divine sword Metatron was holding was originally created by the primordial light.
Because it was a sword imbued with the Creator's power, Metatron was able to steal it and kill the primordial light.
Then, while infusing it with power to make it completely his own, he became sealed within it.
Due to that momentary mistake, he lost his true name and had to spend many years under the name of Apollion, the sun god.
After much effort, he completed the divine sword through his avatar Arthur Draker, was resurrected, and regained the name Metatron, but the original sword created by the primordial light was still incomplete.
Metatron looked at Zeke's sword with greedy eyes.
"That sword, offer it to me. Then I shall extinguish your soul without pain."
Zeke snorted at Metatron's words and said.
"Your delusion is no different from Arthur Draker's."
Zeke held the star-containing sword with sunken eyes and drew on the power of shadow and light.
WOONG!
TZZZZZT!
As shadow and light powers combined, a galactic domain spread from Zeke's body.
Michael, Gabriel, and Uriel unleashed the power of the Great Constellation toward Zeke's galactic domain.
CRASH CRASH CRASH!
Storms of gold, silver, and brass light tried to offset Zeke's galaxy.
Zeke sensed that the archangels were trying to unleash their unique domains.
TZZZZZT!
But surprisingly, the power of the Great Constellations that descended upon the angels was absorbed into Zeke's galactic domain , and their light gradually diminished.
Conversely, the starlight of the galactic domain Zeke spread out sucked in power and shone more brilliantly.
Michael, Gabriel, and Uriel, who lost all their power in an instant, lost the power of the constellations and hardened like statues.
Seeing this, Metatron shook his head and glared at Zeke.
"...A mere creature can use the Creator's power?"
Metatron couldn't believe it when he felt the power of the primordial light from Zeke, which even he couldn't obtain.
After expressing anger for a moment, radiance suddenly surged from his body.
CRASH!
The light emanating from his body connected earth and sky.
Metatron pointed his divine sword at Zeke.
"It's not a power a mere creature should possess. Hand it over."
At the same time, he spread his wings of light and flew toward Zeke.
WOONG!
Like his shining body, radiance also emanated from the divine sword he held and plunged toward Zeke.
CRASH!
BOOM!
Zeke also drew his sword and delivered a strike to block the radiance.
But the power of Metatron's radiance offset Zeke's sword strike.
The radiance expanded further and enveloped Zeke's body.
Then Zeke raised a galactic domain to surround his body and tried to absorb Metatron's radiance.
CRACKLE!
The galactic domain , which had absorbed the power of the constellations, could not absorb Metatron's radiance and deflected it.
At that moment, Zeke could feel that while Metatron's radiance appeared similar to the light emitted by the primordial light, something was fundamentally different.
Whether there was a limit to deflection, soon Metatron's radiance penetrated the galaxy and touched Zeke's body.
WOOOOOONG!
Zeke realized the identity of the power while pushing back Metatron's radiance with his divine status.
"The power of distorted causality?"
He could feel distorted causality from the light Metatron had created.
He could only now recognize its identity because it was somehow different from what Arthur Draker had used before.
Just then, something flashed through Zeke's mind.
"Could it be... you absorbed the God of Chaos?"
Metatron raised an even stronger power at Zeke's words.
〖That is correct. Even the God of Chaos submitted to me, and through that power, I found a clue to be reborn as a new god.〗
Zeke realized why the God of Chaos couldn't properly reveal himself.
He had no choice but to lose his power because he was sealed in the divine sword while being absorbed by Metatron.
Zeke frowned as he realized that the radiance Metatron was now emitting was false light created using the power stolen from the God of Chaos.
He gritted his teeth and raised his sword containing starlight.
KWAKWAKWAKWANG!
Zeke's sword deflected Metatron's radiance.
Then Metatron shouted toward Zeke.
“How long do you think you can hold out?!”
The radiance surging from Metatron's body concentrated on the divine sword.
Zeke, not afraid of Metatron, took his sword containing starlight and ran straight at him.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
Running at a speed exceeding light, Zeke swung his sword toward Metatron.
Metatron raised his divine sword to block Zeke's sword.
The two swords collided in mid air.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
The divine sword and the sword containing starlight clashed.
In that state, Zeke infused his divine status.
WOOOOOONG!
The sword containing starlight began to raise its blade name.
Then the divine sword that Metatron was holding began to resonate with Zeke's sword.
TSUTSUTSUTSUTSU!
At that moment, surprisingly, the divine sword changed into the form of Gram, which had previously been absorbed.
The sword that had changed into Gram's form and was resonating began to be gradually absorbed into the sword containing starlight.
Seeing this, Metatron shouted in an unbelieving voice.
How is this possible …?!
Before Metatron could do anything, the Gram in his hand was absorbed into Zeke's sword.
At that moment, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[All pieces of 'The Promised Sword of Liberation' have been matched.]
['The Promised Sword of Liberation' reveals its true form.]
[The sealed sword's 'True Name' is revealed.]
['The Promised Sword of Liberation', Excalibur, unleashes its power with its true name.]