Rumble!
Duke glared at the charging chimeras and unleashed his Gale Technique.
Whoosh!
Wielding his sword, Duke became a streak of gale-force wind that swept through the chimeras.
Crunch!
The chimeras shattered upon colliding head-on with Duke's Gale Technique, scattering in all directions.
Thud!
Having dispatched the chimeras all at once, Duke swiftly approached Zeke.
"Whew! It's been a while since I ran like that—I'm out of breath." Zeke looked at Duke in surprise. "How did you end up here, Master?" Duke pointed off to one side.
Thud thud thud—
Amid the dust, the Black Sword Knight Order that Zeke had summoned engaged the chimeras.
The Black Sword Knight Order, clad in their newly upgraded powered suits, handled the chimeras—each larger than themselves—with ease.
"Over here, you bastards!"
Klone, suited up in her powered suit, flew about wildly, smashing the chimeras' heads with her mace.
Farel and Felix followed behind her, while from other directions, Black Spirit Unit members, the barbarian unit led by King's Fist, and Xeros's magic corps pressed the attack on the chimeras.
Seeing them, Zeke finally relaxed.
Duke spoke to Zeke, who staggered with his sword still in hand.
"You've done well. We'll handle things here, so rest easy now."
Hearing Duke's words, Zeke's tension melted away, and he lost consciousness.
It was a sense of relief he had never felt in his previous life without comrades.
*
"Ungh."
Zeke finally regained consciousness and opened his eyes.
Struggling to sit up, he realized he lay on a field cot inside a command tent.
'This must be the Black Sword Knight Order's camp.'
When Zeke stepped outside, just as he suspected, the Black Sword Knight Order bustled about in all directions.
"My lord!"
Spotting Zeke, Felix and Liam hurried over.
Liam quickly checked Zeke's condition and asked,
"My lord, are you feeling all right?"
Zeke nodded.
"Yeah. How long was I out?" Felix answered promptly.
"About a day!"
Liam added,
"We've set up camp not far from the altar site. We've taken care of the chimeras and the remnants of the Siemens forces, and we've captured the prisoners." Zeke nodded in satisfaction at the thorough handling.
"Who's at the site now?"
Liam continued,
"Xeros and the other mages are investigating it." Zeke nodded.
"Got it. I'll hear the details directly. First, bring Sir Duke." Liam and Felix saluted and withdrew.
Zeke sat in the tent, lost in thought for a moment.
Soon, Duke entered the tent.
"Shouldn't you rest more? Why are you up already?"
"I'm fine. Have a seat here. I have something to tell you." Zeke offered Duke a chair and handed him some prepared tea.
Then he got straight to the point.
"Abel Draker has been resurrected."
"Cough!"
Duke, mid-sip, choked on his tea and gaped at Zeke in shock.
"W-what did you just say? Abel? Abel Draker is back?" Zeke nodded.
"Ramon Siemens tried to summon the Fell God Ajitahaka but ended up resurrecting Abel instead."
Duke shook his head in disbelief at Zeke's words.
"My god, Abel Draker. If he's alive, things just got complicated."
Though excommunicated from the Draker Family, Abel had been recognized as having legitimate imperial blood by Julius, the consul.
Duke frowned and said,
"If Ramon uses him to pull in Jupiter's forces and sway the empire's nobles, it'll be a headache...."
As he said, if Abel allied with Castro Pollock and rallied the imperial army around Jupiter, the tide of battle could shift unpredictably.
But Zeke shook his head at Duke's grave words.
"That won't happen."
"What do you mean? Ramon is exactly the type to—"
"Ramon Siemens was killed by Abel."
Duke's eyes widened even further at Zeke's revelation.
"Ramon died at Abel's hands?"
"Yes. As a result, the authority of the Fell God he held passed to Abel."
Zeke ground his teeth.
"It was all part of Narak's scheme from the start. They used Ramon Siemens's ambition to resurrect Abel as the vessel for the Demon King and plunge the continent into the flames of war as they desired...."
Zeke shuddered, recalling the horrors of the continental war he had witnessed in his previous life.
'I won't let that happen this time, no matter what.'
Duke rubbed his temples as if his head ached, then spoke again after hearing Zeke out.
"Sigh, things are getting more tangled by the minute. So what happened to Abel? We captured all the Siemens remnants here."
Zeke's expression darkened as he replied to Duke.
"The Nostra Family's don appeared and took him away."
Duke's face twisted in alarm at the sudden mention of the Nostra Family.
"The mafia suddenly gets involved?"
"They're not just a simple mafia. I thought they only experimented on bloodline abilities, but they were conducting chimera research too. And there's evidence that Arthur Draker was involved in the Nostra Family's chimera experiments through Howard Draker. I learned that when I set a trap for Howard earlier."
Duke was stunned to hear of the connection between Arthur Draker and the Nostra Family.
"Arthur dealt with the Nostra Family? For what?"
"I'm not sure exactly what they traded, but the fact that they set up a chimera lab under
Atlas and ran enhancement experiments suggests they had Arthur Draker's protection."
Duke nodded, furrowing his brow at Zeke's words.
It was unlikely that Arthur Draker, head of the Draker Family, was unaware of the Nostra Family's secret lab in Atlas.
After pondering, Duke looked at Zeke and said,
"Sigh... this is getting really messy. What do you think the mafia wants with Abel?" Zeke tapped the desk with his finger as he thought, then slowly spoke.
"Narak fled midway, so I don't know the full details yet. What is clear is that the Nostra
Family's don was involved in this ritual, and he knew about Abel's resurrection."
Zeke suspected that the Nostra Family's public facade as a mafia was just a cover, and that in reality, it was a secret organization with much deeper roots.
'I should ask the High Table about it. The don seemed to have a long-standing connection with Narak's high priest, so the Nostra Family might be a continuation of an even older group.'
Having sorted his thoughts, Zeke looked at Duke and said,
"Master, please return to the Four Seasons Star and monitor the council of elders. The vote for Kali's ascension as Family Head will happen soon, and we need to ensure no other issues arise before then." Duke nodded and stood.
"Alright. But are you sure about this? Handing the Family Head position to Kali." Zeke nodded.
"Kali is the one suited to be the Draker Family Head. I believe she'll erase the family's long-standing infamy and normalize it." Duke shook his head at Zeke's words.
"Sigh. Kid, I used to think everyone has greed. They pretend otherwise, but at crucial moments, they give in to it. Arthur was faithful to his desires in that regard."
Duke snorted and continued.
"But you... I just can't figure you out. No greed at all. Ha, if there's anyone without it, it's you."
"No one is without greed. I have it too, of course. It's just not for the Draker Family Head position."
"That's what's hard about it. As Family Head of Draker, there's almost nothing you couldn't achieve."
Zeke chuckled at that.
"Don't you lack greed too, Master?"
Duke clicked his tongue at Zeke's words.
"Tch, a disciple who doesn't understand his master's heart. Listen, kid! I've already achieved what I wanted—meeting you. Tsk tsk." With those words, Duke exited the tent.
Zeke pondered the meaning of Duke's final remark.
Duke's greed had been finding a disciple to perfectly inherit his Gale Technique.
It was such a difficult art that he thought it would die with him, but Zeke, a once-in-ageneration genius, had appeared and mastered it, so Duke had fulfilled his desire to the fullest.
Thanks to Zeke, he had also overcome his trauma and reclaimed his power as the Black Knight.
Though he had never thought about it much, to Duke, Zeke seemed like an astonishingly talented disciple beyond what he deserved.
Finally grasping Duke's intent, Zeke awkwardly scratched his head.
'Master's the one without greed. Calling something like that a desire.'
Zeke thought he should send Duke some good liquor later and stood up.
Just then, someone entered the tent.
"Master."
It was Xeros and Jason, back from the site investigation.
Zeke greeted Xeros and offered him a seat.
"So, how was the site?"
Xeros placed the report in front of Zeke and summarized the key points.
Zeke frowned after hearing Xeros's explanation.
All traces of them were gone.
The intense surge had swept the area, making it hard to find any remaining magical traces. However....
Xeros pointed to a section of the report and said,
"There was one trace we did find."
"A single trace? What is it?"
"It's related to spatial teleportation—Jason found it by chance." Xeros turned to Jason beside him.
Jason, looking slightly tense, spoke up.
"Well, Master, it's... complicated to explain."
"I won't understand complicated stuff. Give me the short version."
"Uh, so... um. I was looking at the non-linear traces left on the ground, and based on the uncertainty principle I've been studying lately, I reverse-engineered it, and...." Jason struggled for a simpler explanation, then gave up and looked at Zeke.
"I found a way to detect spatial teleportation traces from bloodline abilities using a brilliant method."
Zeke felt too much was omitted in Jason's explanation but let it slide. "I don't get the method, but finding the trace is what matters—good work." Pleased by Zeke's praise, Jason beamed.
Xeros nodded beside him and said,
"It's an impressive achievement. If we can formalize this into equations, we might even detect bloodline ability traces with magic."
Zeke's expression turned serious at Xeros's words.
"You mean we could detect spatial teleportation traces with magic?" Xeros nodded.
"Yes, Boss. If that's possible, we could defend against and prepare for bloodline abilities with magic too."
The scary part of bloodline abilities was their unpredictability in timing and location, with no clear way to counter them.
Of course, excluding the Nostra Family's elite bloodline users, few could threaten knights with their powers.
But enhanced bloodline users like the don were tricky even for Zeke.
If magic could counter them, dealing with bloodline users would be much easier.
Zeke nodded approvingly at Xeros.
"That's very welcome news. Jason, work on the equations with Professor Feynen."
"Understood, Boss."
With the matter settled, Zeke returned to the main topic and asked the mages,
"So, where did that trace lead?"
Xeros slowly replied,
"To the Thebea Kingdom, Master."