Shattan's sword, embedded in the floor, refused to budge.
The spear lodged in the Sea God's body had come out quite easily.
The Holy Spear had also reacted to Zeke's power, changing form and acknowledging him as its master.
Yet this sword showed no response to Zeke's touch and gave no sign of yielding.
"Urgh!"
Zeke even gripped the sword with both hands and pulled with all his might.
But the blade remained as immovable as if it had been fused to the floor, just as Arthur had described.
Arthur, who had been watching Zeke intently, suddenly burst into laughter.
"Haha! That's enough. Stop it."
At Arthur's words, Zeke released the sword and stepped back.
Feigning surprise, Zeke turned to Arthur and asked,
"Unless there's some spell on it... there's no reason it should be stuck this firmly." Arthur nodded at Zeke's words.
"I thought the same."
He grinned at Zeke and continued,
"Having the Family Heads of Draker challenge the next heir to pull this sword—and then delighting in their failure—it's a tradition of sorts, if you can call it that. Now I understand why the previous Family Head was so pleased to see me fail." Zeke shook his head at Arthur's playful remark.
Arthur turned his gaze to the other swords embedded in the ground, surveying them as he spoke.
"This place gathers the swords of every Draker Family Head in history." He extended his arm, and with a flash of light, a sword appeared in his hand.
A gray blade that matched the color of Arthur's hair.
Zeke knew it was Caliburn, Arthur Draker's personal weapon.
Typically, descendants of the Draker Family had selected their weapons from the family's vast treasury filled with precious artifacts.
The Red Dragon Sword that Abel had wielded was one such item.
But Arthur Draker's Caliburn had not come from the Draker treasury; it was a sword he had obtained from a dungeon during his youth.
The exact abilities of Caliburn remained undisclosed.
It was simply because Arthur Draker had been so overwhelmingly strong that the sword never had a chance to fully demonstrate its power.
Arthur gazed at Caliburn and said,
"When I die, this sword will take my place here, embedded just like the others."
Then, furrowing his brow, he continued,
"But there is one Family Head who could not leave his sword here."
Looking at Zeke, he added,
"Terakan Draker, the great Dragon Slayer—his sword never entered this place."
It was profoundly strange that Terakan, the most legendary figure in Draker history and the creator of the Dragon Slaying Technique that had formed the foundation of the family, had not left his sword here.
Zeke recalled the words of the Holy King he had heard in the ruins.
'Zahhak. It was Terakan's sword.'
The blade that had annihilated the body of Bahamut, his lover and soul's counterpart.
That sword had shockingly ended up in the hands of the corrupted Abel, infused with malevolent energy.
Zeke suspected that Zahhak, Terakan's sword, had become tainted by demonic energy upon destroying Bahamut, who had wielded the Demon King's power, transforming it into a demonic sword.
The heart of Bahamut that Zeke had first discovered had also been heavily corrupted by a powerful curse, making such a hypothesis entirely plausible.
Pretending ignorance, Zeke asked Arthur,
"Why is Terakan Draker's sword the only one missing from this place?" Arthur pondered for a moment before slowly speaking.
"Zeke, I'll tell you the secret history of the Draker Family. You must never reveal this to anyone."
Zeke nodded, and Arthur continued with a grave expression.
"Terakan Draker was not true blood of the Draker Family, known as the Absolute Sword House."
Zeke looked puzzled at Arthur's words.
Having glimpsed Terakan's past through the Holy Grail, Zeke knew he had been exiled from the family, but he had been undeniably Draker.
However, Zeke did not know the reason behind Terakan's persecution and exile from the Draker Family.
Arthur met Zeke's eyes and pressed on.
"Terakan Draker was a bastard with tainted blood."
Only then did Zeke understand why the Drakers had tried to erase Terakan's past, and he inwardly sneered at their narrow-mindedness.
'That damned obsession with bloodlines. Naturally, a family that reveres lineage wouldn't want it known that their founder, Terakan, was a bastard.'
Masking his thoughts, Zeke feigned shock and replied,
"Then we, his descendants, are not true Drakers?" Arthur shook his head.
"No. We carry the clear blood of the true Drakers—the proud lineage of the Absolute Sword House."
Placing a hand on Zeke's shoulder, he added,
"However, the world knows us as the descendants of the Dragon Slayer and regards Terakan Draker as the family's progenitor. His achievements were undoubtedly remarkable... but the blood of a lowly bastard cannot represent the Drakers."
An arrogance rooted in bloodline supremacy had been so profound that it distorted the history of the War of Liberation and concealed Terakan's true identity.
Meeting Zeke's gaze, Arthur said,
"Zeke, the reason I tell you this is that I believe you are qualified to guard the Draker secrets and preserve them."
Zeke found Arthur's trusting demeanor unfamiliar.
Arthur continued, looking at him.
"I'll say it again: What you've heard from me today is the most vital secret of the Drakers, never to be leaked outside. Zeke, let's make a promise. You must keep this secret until your death. Understood?" Zeke nodded at Arthur's words.
In the family's most secretive chamber, sharing the hidden history of their ancestor with his father—Zeke sensed something in Arthur's actions.
'He's trying to make me the heir instead of Kali?'
It was impossible to know if Arthur truly hadn't brought Kali or Abel here, as he claimed.
But setting that aside, Arthur seemed genuinely intent on naming Zeke as successor.
After a brief moment of thought, Zeke looked at Arthur and said,
"Are you planning to appoint me as heir over Kali?"
He asked directly, without beating around the bush, probing Arthur's intentions on the sensitive matter of succession.
Instead of answering, Arthur smiled at his youngest son and countered with a question.
"On the contrary, I want to ask you. Zeke, can you become the heir, surpassing Kali?" Zeke clenched his fist at that moment.
When he had fought Abel, it hadn't truly felt like battling kin.
Perhaps because, in his previous life as the Knight of Slaughter, he had witnessed Abel's countless atrocities, killing him had come without hesitation.
But unlike Abel, Kali had no particular connection to him in his past life.
She neither protected Zeke when he was exiled from the family nor persecuted him.
She had simply stood by.
And in this life, Kali had been Zeke's steadfast ally.
His original plan had been to prop her up as Family Head, excise the family's rotten elements through her, build his own power in the shadows, and ultimately consume the Drakers entirely.
But Zeke realized one thing.
'Propping up Kali won't let me control the Draker Family.' The Drakers still hid many secrets.
Zeke decided to alter his plan.
Looking at Arthur, he said,
"If it must be done, I will."
His voice was cold, devoid of emotion.
Arthur smiled again at Zeke's response.
"Yes, the blood of Draker must never hesitate. If you see someone as an enemy, crush them so thoroughly they can never rise again—stamp them down repeatedly until they're utterly pulverized. That's how you ensure no backlash." Arthur Draker's methods were brutal, but effective.
In his previous life as a hitman, Zeke's approach had been no different from Arthur's. He had eliminated enemies without mercy, acting with unparalleled ruthlessness.
Though this life had set him on a new path as a knight, the cold ferocity of his hitman days still lingered in his heart.
Arthur addressed Zeke.
"Zeke, I will grant you the Guardian Knight Seat."
Meeting Zeke's eyes, he continued,
"You still have no intention of refusing that position?"
After a moment's consideration, Zeke shook his head.
"No. I will accept the Guardian Knight Seat. And I will await Kali's response."
Arthur smiled in satisfaction at Zeke's reply, which meant he would wait for Kali's reaction after becoming a true heir candidate and respond accordingly.
"Good. Both you and Kali have grown splendidly as my children. Whichever choice either of you makes, I am prepared to accept it gladly. If it comes to a showdown between you two..."
Arthur gripped Zeke's shoulder and whispered softly in his ear.
"Do as you did with Abel."
A chill ran down Zeke's spine at Arthur's words.
'He knew everything.'
Arthur had known that Zeke killed Abel in the Zoin Tribe Ghetto and that he had reached the rank of Black Knight.
His offer of the vacant Guardian Knight Seat—due to Abel's death—was a way of acknowledging Zeke's rightful victory over Abel and rewarding him accordingly.
Zeke ground his teeth.
'Arthur Draker... I can't let my guard down around him.'
Suppressing his emotions as best he could, Zeke bowed to Arthur.
"I will do my utmost to meet your expectations, Family Head."
Arthur smiled contentedly at his youngest son, who had grown just as he desired.
*
Zeke finished his conversation with Arthur and left the Four Seasons Star, returning to his lodgings in Atlas.
Talking with Arthur Draker always left him more exhausted than a fierce battle.
Even with infinite stamina, a healing factor, and the Immortal Body constitution, Zeke found the overwhelming fatigue hard to bear.
In the end, he closed his eyes in the returning carriage and fell asleep before he knew it.
But a sudden unfamiliar sensation jolted him awake, and Zeke realized he had awakened not in the carriage, but somewhere else.
'Where is this?'
A bamboo grove filled with a cool, refreshing scent surrounded him.
Zeke quickly recognized it as the domain of the Hermit of Stories on Mount Ouroboros.
As he rose from his seat, the Hermit of Stories emerged from the house.
"Oh? Well, the connection finally worked."
The hermit looked exasperated as he regarded Zeke.
"How is your body even built? Don't you ever sleep?"
Zeke scratched his head sheepishly at the hermit's scolding.
"I've been busy with various matters lately." The hermit clicked his tongue at that.
"Anyway. Good thing it worked. I called you after a long time because I have something to tell you."
Settling beside Zeke, the hermit fanned himself and said,
"You met my kids recently, didn't you?" Zeke nodded.
"Yes, I encountered Adnan and Bodmir in the Zoin Tribe Ghetto."
The hermit looked at Zeke with wonder.
"Huh, the more I learn about you, the more mysterious you seem. Ordinary people rarely tangle with the Highlanders, yet you seek them out... At this point, it's as if your karma is guiding you toward the Highlander oath, but then you say you hate it. Truly." Zeke felt a twinge of guilt at the hermit's words.
In the original timeline, he should have met Nigel in the Forest of the Forgotten and formed the Highlander oath.
But in this life, to avoid the Highlander oath, he had deliberately delayed his reunion with his master, Nigel.
Yet he had kept crossing paths with the Highlanders, suggesting, as the hermit said, some underlying connection.
'Is there truly a fated link between me and the Highlanders, as the hermit claims?'
After a brief thought, Zeke steered the conversation away before the hermit could dwell further on the Highlander oath.
"What did you want to tell me?"
The hermit snapped back to attention and said,
"Ah, it's nothing major. With the Zoin Tribe Ghetto incident and now the Holy Kingdom troubles, something feels off, so I called a full convocation of the High Table for the first time in ages."
The High Table members, each guarding their domains against magical beasts, had disliked leaving their posts.
A full convocation meant the leader of the High Table had summoned them.
Even as a former Highlander, Zeke did not know who led the High Table.
The hermit got to the point, looking at Zeke.
"Our leader wants to meet you."