Woooong!
The energy that flowed from the sword coalesced, forming Dark Matter.
Tssst—
The Dark Matter floated in the air and slowly moved over Arthur Draker's chest, its surface rippling with an eerie texture.
Then, black particles like iron filings began to flake off from its surface.
Srrrrk—
The black particles wriggled on their own and seeped into the pierced area around Arthur Draker's heart.
Woooong!
As the Dark Matter shifted, not only the Sword God Statue but the entire altar pulsed like a beating heart.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Zeke watched the Dark Matter burrow into Arthur Draker's heart and felt his body tremble faintly without realizing it.
'Dark Matter has taken root in the body of the dead Arthur Draker?'
It meant that the Dark Matter, which created twisted causality, had existed inside Arthur Draker's body for decades already.
Srrrrk—
Once all the black particles had been fully absorbed into Arthur Draker's body, no trace of the Dark Matter remained.
A moment later, changes began to occur in Arthur Draker's lifeless form.
Craaack!
His joints twisted grotesquely, and his arms and legs contorted.
At the same time, he opened his mouth wide and drew in a breath.
"Huuuuh!"
Air rushed into his shrunken lungs, and his chest heaved up and down as breathing resumed.
"Kraaaah!"
The revived Arthur Draker let out a scream of agony.
With his twisted arm, he clawed at the area around his heart.
Through the torn fabric of his clothes, black veins protruded hideously from his heart region.
"Hah! Hah!"
Arthur Draker gasped in pain and clawed at his chest again.
His entire body swelled with bulging muscles, and blackened tendons jutted out.
Craaack!
Soon, grotesque sounds emanated from Arthur Draker's body as his bones realigned.
"Grraaah!"
Unable to endure the pain, he tore at the clothes he wore.
Riiip!
The leather armor made of sturdy Dragon Hide shredded into pieces.
His exposed upper body took on a bizarre shape of protruding muscles and bulging veins.
Crack! Crack!
Bones shattered and reformed, muscles swelled and contracted repeatedly, compressing.
In the process, veins throughout Arthur Draker's body burst, and blood flowed from the wounds where it had stopped.
"Uuugh...."
Blood leaked from his tightly clenched teeth along with groans.
Not only that, but tiny blood vessels in his eyes burst, tears of blood streaming down.
Having regained some awareness, Arthur Draker endured the pain and tried to stand, but he couldn't maintain his balance and fell from the dais of the altar.
Thud!
There was no trace of the dignity of the continent's strongest in Arthur Draker, who writhed on the altar floor covered in blood.
Crack, crack!
Even amid this, his body continued to change.
Drip! Drip!
Then, at one point, Arthur Draker's body shed a layer of skin like molting.
"Ugh!"
Having fully shed the skin, Arthur Draker spat out a final clot of dark red blood from his mouth.
Splat!
The foul-smelling blood clot spread across the floor.
Only then could he finally grasp the dais and pull himself up.
Zeke couldn't help but be shocked by the completed form of the risen Arthur Draker.
'What is that...?'
In the past, Zeke had accepted the heart of the Light Dragon Bahamut into his middle dantian, transforming his constitution into Divine Bone Structure.
By incorporating the pure mana power contained in the Dragon Heart, his muscles and bones had found optimal balance and changed.
With the Divine Bone Structure constitution, Zeke could exhibit peak physical abilities, had high mana conductivity in his body, and could master any technique he saw once.
And after that, as he grew, the Divine Bone Structure had evolved through Body of the War God to Sword-God Body.
In Zeke's case, including Body of the Ancient Dragon and Immortal Body, he even possessed the divinity of a constellation, making simple comparison difficult. But when judging by ordinary human standards, the difference in such constitutions undeniably had a huge impact on growth speed.
To Zeke's eyes, the transformed Arthur Draker's body seemed to have evolved into a constitution beyond Divine Bone Structure.
At that moment, a message appeared before him.
[You have witnessed the constitution Solar Saint Body.]
[The Akashic Code's information on the constitution Solar Saint Body is updated.]
Zeke examined the abilities of the 'Solar Saint Body' constitution and couldn't help but be astonished.
Solar Saint Body meant a living constellation itself, capable of transcending human limits and exhibiting superhuman abilities.
Zeke's eyes paused on one part as he checked the system details.
It was the section detailing the only being who had possessed Solar Saint Body in the past.
'The sole possessor of Solar Saint Body, Avatar Adam....' At that instant, another message appeared before Zeke.
[The information on the absorbed 'regenerated body of Avatar Adam' is updated.]
[Some related undecipherable information is unlocked.]
Adam, the progenitor of the Draker bloodline and a Nephilim.
When Zeke had absorbed his regenerated body, Harvey Draker, he had first learned that name through a system message.
At the same time, much related information had been updated, but most details about 'Adam' were classified as undecipherable, making it impossible to grasp his identity.
However, due to the Solar Saint Body constitution that Arthur Draker had transformed into via Dark Matter, information about Avatar Adam was now unlocked.
Zeke brought up the message that had appeared after absorbing Harvey Draker.
[You have absorbed the regenerated body of the first avatar 'Adam,' directly shaped and completed by breathing life into it by ■■■.]
The obscured part of the message shimmered, and as the information unlocked, the hidden text beneath was revealed.
[ directly shaped and completed the first avatar 'Adam' by breathing life into it. You have absorbed its regenerated body.]
'Sun God Apollyon?'
Zeke's expression turned to shock upon seeing the updated name.
The Arrogant Savior, Satan, had referred to the Sun God as the one who held the Wheel of Fate.
Zeke also knew the secret unknown to the world: that the Sun God had led the constellations of the Thirteen Zodiac Palaces to slay Primordial Light and steal its power.
Satan had said that the Sun God, having prepared a scenario called fate, desired to become a perfect being by deploying the perfect stage and perfect actors.
Zeke was the only existence from outside that stage of the Sun God—the fourth existence —as the sole one who could surpass the wall and defy the Wheel of Fate.
'The Sun God, who sought to grasp everything and move it according to his will—his name was .'
Zeke recalled Siemens Apollyon, the adopted son of the Hero King, disciple of the Great Sage, and in another timeline, the final sage.
It was no coincidence that he bore the name 'Apollyon,' the Sun God's hidden true name unknown to the world.
Sun God Apollyon had created the first avatar, the humanoid Nephilim Adam, by breathing his own breath into it, and sent him to dominate the Phenomenal World.
The power of the Sun God embedded in Adam's blood allowed his descendants to transcend human limits.
Solomon, king of Carcosa, was also a descendant of Adam, and it was because of that extraordinary bloodline that he was chosen as the Demon King's first avatar.
That bloodline connected to Siemens Apollyon, then to Shattan Draker, and to the Absolute Sword House Draker family, extending to the hero Dragon Slayer Terakan Draker.
In a way, it all meant that the entire flow had ultimately been shaped by the will of Sun God Apollyon.
Only then did Zeke realize what Satan had meant by the stage created by the Sun God.
'Apollyon has been indirectly intervening in the Phenomenal World through the Draker avatars.'
The reason the Demon King could descend into the Phenomenal World by making the Draker bloodline his avatars.
It was possible because the power of the Sun God, who had slain Primordial Light and seized its strength, was embedded in the Drakers' blood.
Zeke shuddered as he realized the hidden secret buried in the Draker bloodline.
He felt a fundamental fear toward the absolute constellation that subtly lurked, manipulating the Phenomenal World as it pleased.
This was why Satan, the Elder Dragons, and the Great Sage had long awaited Zeke, the only one who could escape the Wheel of Fate: He Who Surpassed the Wall.
Rumble!
Arthur Draker, whose constitution had transformed into Solar Saint Body through the power of Dark Matter, examined his body.
With an expressionless face, he twisted his arms and legs this way and that, as if moving his body for the first time.
Arthur Draker's body moved with smooth yet elastic motion, perfectly suited for martial arts.
Zeke could also sense that Arthur Draker's body was on a level even higher than Divine Bone Structure.
'It looks like a constitution superior even to Sword-God Body. Is this why Arthur Draker could reach Grandmaster?'
Arthur Draker, who had been moving his body, turned his head and gazed at the sword placed before the Sword God Statue.
As he reached out toward the sword, the claymore vibrated.
Woooong!
The claymore dissolved into black smoke and vanished in an instant, reappearing gripped in Arthur Draker's hand.
He raised the sword in his hand and assumed the stance of the Dragon Slaying Technique.
He immediately executed a single stroke.
Swoosh—
It was a simple downward slash from above, but Zeke unwittingly stepped back from Arthur Draker's sword strike.
Even knowing this was a reconstruction of past memories, not reality, the blade carried a sharpness that seemed to cleave his soul itself.
'Is this the power of Solar Saint Body?'
Arthur Draker swung the sword several more times.
His demeanor in wielding the sword was extremely cautious, almost like an ascetic monk in practice.
What was astonishing was the attitude of the Outsider Species Magical Beasts watching him.
They neither moved nor made a sound, simply gazing silently at Arthur Draker as he swung his sword.
Whoosh—
The sound of slicing through the air created an extraordinary atmosphere that echoed through the vast cavern.
The pulsing vibrations of the space, like a heartbeat, had also ceased.
It felt as if everything present here was focused solely on Arthur Draker.
Swoop!
After swinging the sword for a while, Arthur Draker slowly lowered it.
At the same time, the sword he held turned back into black smoke and seeped toward his heart.
Tssst—
Where the sword had seeped in, the Emblem of the Sun and Sword was engraved on his heart region.
Upon seeing this, the Outsider Species Magical Beasts bowed their heads as if offering reverent salutes to Arthur Draker.
Witnessing this, Zeke realized why Arthur Draker could command the Dark Matter and the Outsider Species Magical Beasts.
'The Dark Matter that creates twisted causality—was that the power of the Sun God who slew Primordial Light?'
Satan had said that even the Sun God, who held the Wheel of Fate, was not free from the sanctions of karma created by Primordial Light.
Recalling those words, Zeke realized that the Sun God had directly created the avatar Adam and revived Arthur Draker with Dark Matter ultimately to escape those sanctions of karma.
Arthur Draker looked at the Outsider Species Magical Beasts bowing their heads to him.
[The day the sword is drawn from the stone... the true day of arrival shall come.]
With those words, Arthur Draker turned his head and stared at Zeke standing before him.
Zeke thought that in this mere reenactment of the past, Arthur Draker had no reason to look at him, so he met his gaze.
But then.
[Remnants are merely remnants... You cannot stop me.]
As Arthur Draker murmured those incomprehensible words and reached out toward Zeke.
'No way...?'
Zeke wore an incredulous expression as he watched him approach when Arthur Draker's eyes suddenly clouded over.
Thud!
Like a puppet with its strings cut, Arthur Draker collapsed to the floor.
Rumble!
At that instant, sudden vibrations rang out, and the altar began to shake.
'What the—'
In his confusion, Zeke unwittingly moved toward the fallen Arthur Draker when he suddenly felt someone yank him back.