"The progenitor of the Draker family?"
The progenitor of the Draker family known to the current world was none other than Dragon Slayer Terakan Draker.
But Zeke knew from the secret history that the true progenitor of the Draker bloodline was King Solomon, the king of the legendary city Carcosa and the first Godslayer, an Irregular.
Yet now, Harvey West was claiming that he himself was the progenitor of the Draker bloodline.
"That doesnʼt make any sense from the start."
When he saw that Zeke didnʼt believe him, the High Priest nodded.
"Yes, itʼs hard to believe. But this is the truth."
Zeke smirked and pointed his sword at Harvey West.
"Whether youʼre the progenitor of the Draker family or the Siemens family, thatʼs none of my concern. What matters is that eliminating you and absorbing the soul of the sealed Arrogant Savior will allow me to stop both the Demon King and the lords of the Demon Realm."
At Zekeʼs words, Harvey West shook his head.
"As expected, youʼve been deceived by the cunning tongue of Mephistopheles."
He snapped his fingers again with a sharp crack.
Then, an image rose behind Harvey West.
The majestic panorama of a dignified city appeared.
At the center of that city stood a tower piercing the heavens.
"Itʼs Babel, the city of salvation built by the Arrogant Savior for the Demon Realm."
Babel possessed a grandeur incomparable to the Pandemonium that Mephistopheles had shown him.
Compared to Babel, Pandemonium was hardly worthy of being called a city.
Harvey West looked at Zeke and said,
"Mephistopheles, that vile demon, joined hands with the other Archdemons to deceive the Arrogant Savior and sell him out to the Phenomenal World." Rumble!
As he spoke, a tremendous power surged from Harvey Westʼs body.
"The Arrogant Savior, trusting his friend Mephistopheles, had no choice but to head to the
Phenomenal World, enduring various restrictions." Zeke frowned as he listened to Harvey West.
It was completely different from what he had heard from the princess and Arataso.
"The lords of the Demon Realm deceived the Arrogant Savior to drive him out and take his place..."
As demons of the Demon Realm, they were certainly the type to do something like that.
Rumble!
When Zeke didnʼt respond much, a chilling light gleamed in Harvey Westʼs red eyes. "Demons are inherently like that. Zeke Draker, if youʼve fallen for Mephistophelesʼs scheme and try to interfere with the great undertaking, I will annihilate you. But."
Harvey West looked straight at Zeke and said,
"If you follow me, you will be able to stand on the stage as a key player in the finale alongside me."
Zeke could sense an utterly twisted madness from Harvey West, who was extending his hand in invitation.
It was something he had never felt from any being before.
"I have to eliminate him here."
Without hesitation, he raised Ascalon and aimed it at Harvey West.
"Iʼve heard your ravings well enough. But I donʼt think I need to hear any more." At the same time, Zeke lunged forward and unleashed a sharp sword strike.
Boom!
Seeing the sword strike flying toward him, Harvey West raised his hand.
Then, the energy surging from behind him coalesced, forming a black hole.
Soon, a single red eye appeared within it.
Sizzle—
Light flickered from the red eye, and crimson thunder surged forth, nullifying Zekeʼs sword strike.
Crackle!
The crimson thunder from the eye not only canceled Zekeʼs sword strike but expanded its range to sweep over the Golem Knights behind him, as well as Arataso and Nebilos.
Boom!
The destructive thunderbolts scattered in all directions, laying waste to the surroundings.
"Urgh!"
Arataso and Nebilos, who had expended their strength battling the Bone Corps, couldnʼt fully block the thunder and were forced back.
As a result, the undead army summoned by Nebilos turned to ashes in an instant and vanished.
The Golem Knights, boasting sturdy defenses, stood in front of them, but even they were insufficient to withstand it.
As the Golem Knights that failed to block the thunder shattered and were reversesummoned, a shadow spread out in front of Arataso and Nebilos, blocking the crimson thunder.
"Arataso! Nebilos! Come this way!"
Following Zekeʼs command, Arataso and Nebilos retreated in the direction he indicated.
He had deployed Shadow Armor to block the thunder, but the power emanating from the eye was far from ordinary.
As he observed the eye to figure out how to counter it, Arataso said to Zeke,
"This power is also the 'Eye of the God of Destructionʼ that the Arrogant Savior possessed. The crimson thunder from the eye grows stronger the more it destroys its enemies."
Zeke furrowed his brow at Aratasoʼs words.
"Crimson thunder that grows stronger with destruction? Is this another authority of the Arrogant Savior?"
Arataso shook his head at that.
"Itʼs the power of an artifact created long ago when the Arrogant Savior personally extracted the Eye of the God of Destruction."
Then, in a tone of disbelief, Arataso continued,
"However, I understood that this artifact was also destroyed in the wars of the Demon Realm. First the annihilated Bone Corps, and now even a destroyed artifact appears..." Zeke asked Arataso upon hearing that.
"Arataso, do you know what the Arrogant Saviorʼs authority is? It seems related to that authority."
Arataso expressed difficulty at Zekeʼs question and said,
"The Arrogant Savior stood at the pinnacle of all fallen constellations. No one knows the true nature of the authority he possessed." Crackle!
Even as Zeke and Arataso conversed, the crimson thunder of the God of Destruction continued to grow in power, filling the entire space.
The crimson thunder, deflected by the shadow, ricocheted off the walls and came crashing down toward Zeke.
Boom!
Seeing the wall of destruction growing ever stronger over time, Zeke drew Laevatein.
Then, he said to Arataso and Nebilos,
"Iʼll handle that guy, so you two get out of here. And tell Boris to destroy this place." Arataso asked in surprise at Zekeʼs words.
"Destroy it? If we destroy this place, how do you plan to get out?"
"Iʼll take care of that. For now, itʼs important to keep that High Priest pinned down so he canʼt escape."
Arataso pondered Zekeʼs words for a moment before nodding.
"Understood. Weʼll follow your orders."
Zeke extended his hand and drew the Shadow Sword Caladbolg, then immediately hurled it toward the opposite door.
With Caladbolg at the center, shadows formed a path, blocking the crimson thunder.
Arataso and Nebilos ran along that path toward the door, and seeing this, Harvey West raised his hand.
"Youʼre trying a shallow trick."
A chilling energy gathered in his raised hand.
But then.
Crackle!
A mana reversal field began to unfold centered on Zekeʼs body.
The magic Harvey West was about to use was affected by the reversal field, going out of control on its own.
In that gap, Arataso and Nebilos successfully escaped outside the cavern.
Zeke looked at Harvey West and said,
"You wonʼt have time to worry about anything else."
At the same time, he raised Laevatein and drew upon the power of the full power technique.
Whumm!
Without stopping, Zeke unleashed the power of the triple spell directly at the Eye of the God of Destruction.
Full Power Technique
Triple Spell Will of Nullification
Whumm!
The full power technique activated, infused with Zekeʼs will to nullify everything.
Sizzle—
As the will of nullification touched it, the crimson thunder, which seemed unstoppable and infused with destructive power, began to slowly dissipate.
Crackle!
The crimson thunder that had been rampaging wildly, filling the space, scattered, sending red halos fluttering.
At the same time, the Eye of the God of Destruction that had been emitting the crimson thunder also began to fade.
Sizzle—
Soon, as if washed away by water, the Eye of the God of Destruction and the crimson thunder completely vanished from the space.
Harvey Westʼs eyes widened at the astonishing phenomenon Zeke had created.
He had thought he had grasped all of Zekeʼs abilities by now, but he realized there were still realms he couldnʼt reach.
As he was newly surprised, Zeke gripped Caladbolg and charged at Harvey West.
Whoosh!
Unleashing Dukeʼs gale technique, Zeke closed the distance in an instant, his sword falling toward Harvey Westʼs head.
Clang!
Surprisingly, at that moment, Kaisirʼs homunculus, which he thought had been destroyed, appeared in front of Harvey West.
Unlike before, it had returned to its complete body form and swung its sword, leaving Zeke puzzled even as he immediately swung Laevatein and deployed the Elemental Sword.
Boom!
The powerful wind power pushed the homunculus back.
Kaisirʼs homunculus stood firm in front of him as if to protect Harvey West.
Zeke aimed his sword at Harvey West behind it and said,
"The soul of the Arrogant Savior you possess. I think I know what his authority is." Harvey Westʼs eyebrow twitched slightly at Zekeʼs words.
Zekeʼs mouth slowly opened.
"The authority of re-creation, bringing back what once existed. That must be the authority the Arrogant Savior possessed."
*
Rumble!
Arataso and Nebilos felt the vibrations shaking the entire labyrinth and hurriedly tried to escape the cavern.
At that moment, as he fled alongside Arataso, blue ghostfire flickered in Nebilosʼs eyes.
'Nowʼs the time to escape.ʼ
As the inspector of Abaddonʼs lord, the Lord of the Abyss, and a high-rank demon, Nebilos was one of the notoriously infamous nobles even in the Demon Realm.
Among high-rank demons, he was the one closest to promotion to top-tier demon.
He had responded to the summoning out of vain greed to sweep up souls in the Phenomenal World and solidify his promotion to top-tier demon, only to get entangled with Zeke in his misfortune.
'I couldnʼt break this chain while sealed in the sword, but now itʼs possible.ʼ
Thus, even while trapped in the sword, Nebilos had been constantly seeking an opportunity to escape.
Unlike Arataso, who had already sided with Zeke, Nebilos harbored ambitions to return to the Lord of the Abyss, report the complicated situation in the Phenomenal World, and secure his position in the Demon Realm.
Nebilos glanced at Arataso running ahead, then stopped pursuing and slipped back.
He then veered to the side, putting distance between himself and Arataso.
'Perfect! I need to remove this chain and return to the Demon Realm.ʼ
The Chains of Solomon that Zeke had bound him with restrained even his soul, making return to the Demon Realm impossible in the current situation.
But Nebilos, versed in all manner of the Demon Realmʼs necromancy and dark magic, had already devised ways to break the chains.
Feeling Aratasoʼs presence fade, Nebilos began preparing in earnest to release the chains.
"Grr, Zeke Draker. Iʼll return to the Demon Realm and report every one of your misdeeds to the Lord of the Abyss, and Iʼll make sure to get my revenge."
Burning with rage toward Zeke, Nebilos tried to sever the chains binding his soul.
Crackle!
He first raised his mana to attempt breaking the chains, but they were so tightly bound that there was no sign of them loosening.
"A chain as X-like as its master."
Nebilos decided to try another method he had prepared.
It involved finely splitting his spirit body to slip out of the chainsʼ restraint, then recombining it as before.
It was a dangerous attempt that could lead to his soulʼs annihilation if mishandled, but as a high-rank demon and noble of the Demon Realm, Nebilos had the capacity to succeed.
"Hoo."
Nebilos took a deep breath and raised his mana.
At the same time, his spirit body began to split finely, scattering like mist. Sizzle—
The scattered soul recombined, returning to its original form.
Clank!
The chains that had bound Nebilosʼs body fell to the floor.
He raised both hands in joy.
"Success! Itʼs a success!"
Freed from the soulʼs restraint, Nebilos immediately attempted to return to the Demon Realm but paused.
Something was off.
'Why canʼt I return to the Demon Realm?ʼ
He had clearly escaped the chains, yet repatriation was impossible.
Feeling that something had gone terribly wrong, Nebilosʼs mind grew complicated.
But then.
Whoooosh—
From the far end of the corridor came an ominous sound, accompanied by something massive approaching.