Elder Dragon.
It was known as the beginning and end of all dragons.
The mad emperor and Arthur Draker had both sought the relics of the Elder Dragon.
The power that had reversed Zeke's wretched life and sent him back into a new past was also that of the Elder Dragon.
In the end, the Elder Dragon had been at the center of everything up to that point.
At that moment, something appeared on the empty Dragon Throne.
Tssstss—
It was the black Dragon Statue that Zeke had previously retrieved, now manifesting above the throne.
The Dragon Statue on the throne began to vibrate, and the voice of the Elder Dragon echoed in Zeke's mind.
『Zeke Draker, you who have defied fate.』
Zeke raised his head and addressed the Dragon Statue on the throne.
"Elder Dragon. So we finally meet like this."
『You who have defied fate. For a long time, I have...』
Then Zeke raised his hand, cutting off the Elder Dragon's words, and glared at the Dragon Statue on the throne.
"Why did you do that?"
Zeke clenched his teeth and opened his mouth again.
"Why on earth did you send me back?"
Regression to the past could have been seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—a second chance at a life filled only with regrets.
In fact, after regressing, Zeke had grown incomparably stronger than in his previous life, and he drew ever closer to the complete freedom he desired.
But sometimes, Zeke had thoughts like this.
'If I had died in the Ice Mountains back then, wouldn't I already be free?'
By regressing to the past, he had learned things he never knew in his previous life, and somehow, he had become the Knight of Salvation, thrust into the fate of stopping the Demon King from resurrecting.
It wasn't something he had chosen; it was just that, in struggling to survive, things had turned out this way.
With the power of the Immortal, Zeke neither tired nor sustained injuries, and his mind never broke.
Yet even so, he couldn't shake off the occasional waves of fatigue and doubt that washed over him.
It was because the weight of the fate bearing down on his shoulders felt so unbearably heavy.
If it had been someone other than Zeke, they might have seen the regression not as an opportunity, but as a curse.
Zeke looked at the Dragon Statue and said,
"Why me, of all people? Because I retrieved this relic? Or because my bloodline is special? What exactly is the reason?"
He screamed out all the pent-up frustration he had been holding back toward the Elder Dragon.
Then the Elder Dragon's voice echoed in Zeke's mind once more.
『You are the only being who possesses the potential to defy fate.』
At the Elder Dragon's words, Zeke scowled and said,
"What does that mean? You're saying no one else could have regressed?"
Kugugugu—
At that moment, the scenery of the grand hall shifted, and everything around turned into utter darkness.
Then, a massive clock emblem floated up from the direction of the throne.
『Chronos and I spent a long time trying various methods to change the unchanging fate of destruction.』
Wooong—
This time, a screen appeared in front of Zeke.
An unbelievable scene unfolded within it.
"Who are we killing?"
"Let's decide with a coin toss like always."
It was Zeke from his previous life, writhing on the snowfield with both arms severed, and the hunting dogs tossing a coin.
Soon, Zeke reattached his severed right arm with healing and picked up his sword, immediately slicing off one knight's head.
Splash—
Red blood sprayed onto the white snow.
The hunting dogs charged at Zeke.
Unlike now, Zeke from his previous life was covered in scars across his face, and his nose was smashed.
Zeke watched himself in the screen.
"Cough!"
In the end, the previous-life Zeke gasped for breath with over a dozen swords embedded in his abdomen and back.
Around him lay the headless corpses of the hunting dogs.
Zeke crawled through the snow, reaching out toward the Elder Dragon statue.
With desperate effort, Zeke's fingertips finally touched the statue.
Soon, a massive light burst from the statue.
The screen vanished amid a blinding light that seemed to sear the eyes.
Though the screen before him disappeared, Zeke could recall what came next.
When he opened his eyes again, he had returned to his twelve-year-old self.
Carrying the middle dantian and memories of the future.
As the memories of the past flooded Zeke's mind once more, the Elder Dragon's voice echoed in his head again.
『At Chronos's request, I created a statue infused with my power and placed within it the 'Irreversible Promised Power.' But even then, I didn't believe that power would truly activate.』
Regression was defying predetermined fate. That was why even the Elder Dragon couldn't be certain.
『But the power did activate, and Zeke Draker, you stand here now. You asked why I sent you back. The reason is clear. You willed it so, and that will of yours enabled you to defy fate.』
No matter how great the Elder Dragon or the Dragon of Time, forcing someone to regress at will was impossible.
It had only been possible because of the intense desire strong enough to awaken the ancient will and activate the 'Irreversible Promised Power.' Zeke slowly opened his mouth toward the Dragon Statue.
"So you're saying... I wanted all of this."
『Zeke Draker, we too cannot know what kind of new life you desired. But what is certain is that by defying fate, you have gained the possibility to change the end of the Phenomenal World, which was inevitably headed toward destruction.』 Even the smallest change could eventually create a great difference.
The end of the Phenomenal World that the Elder Dragon and Chronos had seen beyond the timeline was always the same.
No matter what arrangements they made, the result always ended in destruction.
But a single possibility that could be different had been created.
It was the existence of Zeke Draker. His regression created ever-larger ripples.
『You who have defied fate. I have something to tell you.』
"What is it?"
『Regarding the Kabbalah System you possess.』
The Elder Dragon paused for a moment before continuing.
『The one who first created the Kabbalah System was none other than Solomon.』 Zeke was startled by the Elder Dragon's words.
"Solomon, the king of Carcosa, the Godslayer... and the king of the fallen?"
『Yes.』
Zeke had been speculating that perhaps the Elder Dragon had created the system, so he felt confused by this revelation.
"If that's true... then the Demon King created the Kabbalah System?"
『He created the Kabbalah System before his act of Godslaying. It was to save mortals from the Constellations.』
"Is it possible to do that with the Kabbalah System?"
『The Kabbalah System allowed mortals to wield Karma, which only Constellations could handle through their Authorities.』
Hearing the Elder Dragon's words, Zeke realized something.
The reason he had been able to wield the Authorities of Constellations was ultimately because of the Kabbalah System.
No matter how high a human reached, directly using a Constellation's Authority as is was impossible.
One had to become a vassal of a Constellation and an avatar body to use an Authority.
But Zeke had been able to use the Authorities he had absorbed without restriction, free from such laws.
Zeke asked the Elder Dragon,
"How was King Solomon able to do such a thing? He was a mortal too. Did he receive help from a dragon?"
In response to Zeke's question, the Elder Dragon continued.
『He is the first Dragonkin, who made a contract with a dragon with the help of the God of Chaos.』
'King Solomon was the first Dragonkin? Not Siemens Apollyon, who forcibly implanted a contract dragon's heart into his own body?'
Zeke puzzled over the Elder Dragon's words.
After organizing his thoughts, he said to the Elder Dragon,
"So the God of Chaos created the first Dragonkin?" The Elder Dragon's words continued.
『The God of Chaos is the origin of the universe that brought this world into existence alongside the Primordial Light. Chaos exists so that order may exist, and order exists so that chaos does not.』
"I don't particularly want to hear such vague talk. Anyway, why did that God of Chaos create Dragonkin?"
At Zeke's question, the scenery of the grand hall shifted once more.
Kugugugu—
The entire space turned into a screen, and memories of the past began to play around them.
Zeke gazed at the ancient city from an incredibly distant era within those memories.
Not only humans but various races he had never seen before mingled together; mythical beasts flew in the skies, and Constellations watched and rejoiced.
It was truly an ideal paradise, like a painting.
『It was an age of abundance. Unlike now, the continent was connected as one. The Primordial Light cherished its creations and gave them everything so they lacked for nothing. But...』
Soon the screen began to change.
Beings of the Phenomenal World, bored with their abundant lives, began to feud and fight, stealing from one another and committing atrocities.
They hunted mythical beasts, captured spirits, and enslaved other races.
The Constellations, seeing this, first tried to stop them, but as time passed, they gradually became complicit.
Constellations who sided with each race began to appear, and the world fell into chaos.
The Primordial Light, witnessing the horribly twisted earth, tried various ways to start everything anew.
It unleashed great floods and burned everything with immense light.
The Constellations, saddened to see their playthings—the creations—vanish so quickly at the hands of the Primordial Light, had no choice but to act.
Eventually, the Constellations reached a consensus and decided to strip the Primordial Light of its power.
But since all Constellations had ultimately come from the Primordial Light, they could not oppose it with their own Authorities.
Thus, they sought out the one being capable of resisting the Primordial Light: the 'God of Chaos.'
They found the God of Chaos slumbering in the depths of the abyss and borrowed its power to confront the Primordial Light.
In the end, the Primordial Light, torn apart by the Constellations who were no different from its own avatars, lost its power.
Fearing the Primordial Light might return, the Constellations decided to lower its divine rank.
The Primordial Light became the sun god in name only, while the God of Chaos was restricted and sealed as the moon goddess.
The weakened Primordial Light became merely the sun god in name, but the God of Chaos was different.
Over the ages, as it was passed down under various names as the moon goddess, it sought to reclaim its original divinity.
During this time, one who sought the God of Chaos imprisoned under the name of the moon goddess appeared.
『It was Solomon and I. We tried to liberate the God of Chaos trapped in the goddess's divinity and restore the Primordial Light. To stop the Constellations' atrocities in disrupting the Phenomenal World by arbitrarily wielding Karma.』
Zeke knew that Solomon, the Godslayer, had fought against the Constellations and, through some process, become a fallen Constellation himself.
The Elder Dragon continued.
『But with our power, liberating the God of Chaos was impossible. Likewise, reviving the Primordial Light, whose power had already scattered and been absorbed by other Constellations, was also impossible. At that time, the God of Chaos made a proposal to us.』
"What proposal?"
『To break the stagnant wheel of order created by the Constellations, it decided to grant Solomon the power to defy the flow.』
"Did that power make King Solomon a Dragonkin?"
『Solomon becoming a Dragonkin was merely one step in the process of fate. The power given to him by the God of Chaos was something entirely different.』
The Elder Dragon's words paused briefly before echoing in Zeke's mind again.
『A small crack outside the world's rules created by the God of Chaos. Beings who receive that power are called 'Irregulars' in the Phenomenal World.』