Episode 554

Zeke stared at Harvey West in disbelief.

“The leader of the Highlanders created Harvey West? And he’s the Great Sage…?”

The Great Sage Atrahasis.

He was the only person who had lived from the Age of the Constellations to the Age of the Hero King.

The sudden revelation that such a figure was the leader of the Highlanders and had created Harvey West left Zeke in turmoil.

Moreover, Zeke had previously encountered the spirit of the Great Sage in the ancient temple of Carcosa.

There, the Great Sage had spoken to Zeke about the secret history of King Solomon and had bestowed upon him the Dark Sword Levatein and the Holy Sword Ascalon, granting him the power to stand against the Constellations.

Zeke recalled the spirit of the Great Sage he had met and the leader of the Highlanders.

He had been connected to the Highlanders from his past life to the present.

Even though he had learned more about the Highlanders after his return, he never imagined that the leader’s true identity would be the Great Sage.

He had even met the leader in person. Of course, the leader he met at Storm Castle had been masked, so he couldn’t confirm the face.

“But even with the face hidden, I never sensed the power of the Great Sage from the Highlander leader.”

That’s why Zeke hadn’t considered the possibility that the leader was the Great Sage.

Harvey West continued speaking.

“It seems you didn’t know who the leader of the Highlanders was.”

Zeke thought back to his meeting with the leader.

“The spirit of the Great Sage had mentioned that the Priest of the Abyss was beyond the laws of the world. Was it because he knew it was his own creation?”

What Zeke had encountered was indeed a spirit. Naturally, he had assumed that the Great Sage’s original soul had ascended to a higher realm.

As he recalled the meeting, something flashed through Zeke’s mind.

He remembered going to Storm Castle to meet the leader.

[Welcome, Administrator. Welcome to R’lyeh, the city of the deep where the Constellation ‘Master of the Great Dream’ resides.]

The leader of the Highlanders could only be seen in the underwater city of R’lyeh.

It seemed he was staying in the city of the Constellations, enduring many restrictions to remain in the physical world.

“He led the Abyss for a long time, building its current power. We, the Hermits of the High Table, tried to stop him, but most of us were too restricted to effectively oppose him.”

Thinking back, it was the leader of the Highlanders who first revealed that the Priest of the Abyss was Harvey West.

He had told Zeke to eliminate Harvey West to prevent the descent of the Demon King and maintain the balance of the world.

“Was he trying to stop the chaos caused by his own creation, Harvey West, who was disrupting the balance of the world?”

Zeke felt the storm of fate swirling fiercely around him.

It was as if the tangled events of the past were converging on him all at once.

He steadied himself, glaring at Harvey West.

“It’s hard to trust anything from the Priest of the Abyss, but…”

Sensing Zeke’s wariness, Harvey West spoke again.

“The Great Sage sought to break the wheel of fate for a long time. Initially, he led the fight against the Constellations through Solomon and the Elder Dragon. But he failed. Then, he created the Hero King, Kaishir.”

Kaishir, said to be born from the Fairy King and the Great Sage, who held the power of the primordial.

Harvey West paused, giving Zeke time to process, then continued.

“A hybrid of Fairy King and human. Surely, he didn’t truly believe it was possible.”

Zeke’s expression hardened at his words.

”…Are you saying the Hero King was also a creation of the Great Sage?”

Harvey West turned his gaze to the window.

“You remember the homunculus of Kaishir absorbed by the fragment of the angel. How do you think the Great Sage could create the Hero King’s homunculus?”

He spoke slowly.

“The Hero King was a being created by the Great Sage using the power of the Arrogant Savior to imbue the soul of the Fairy King.”

Zeke was taken aback by Harvey West’s words.

“Using the power of the Arrogant Savior to create Master Kaishir?”

The Great Sage, the master administrator.

The power of recreation held by the Arrogant Savior.

And the soul of the Fairy King, imbued with the primordial light.

These mysteries combined to give birth to the unique existence of Kaishir.

Zeke realized why no one else could master the Elemental Sword created by Kaishir.

“The Elemental Sword was never a technique meant for humans.”

Though Zeke had mimicked the Elemental Sword by manifesting elemental power, fully replicating the Hero King’s power, which held a part of the Fairy King’s soul, was impossible.

Kaishir’s homunculus could take his form and wield the Elemental Sword, but it couldn’t draw out the true power of the original.

“The Great Sage tried to break the wheel of fate by creating the Hero King, but Kaishir, made from the Fairy King’s soul, was the most bound by that fate, leading to failure. In the process, the Great Sage created countless errors, and eventually, the situation spiraled out of his control.”

The fallen Constellations found a way to intervene due to the backlash from the beings created to escape the world’s order. Moreover, Zimens Apollyon, the descendant of King Solomon protected by the Great Sage, fell and allowed the Demon King’s power to descend upon himself.

In the end, the Great Sage sacrificed his own soul to seal the Demon King’s soul in the Book of the Dead to rectify the problems he had caused.

Despite this, the balance of the world was severely damaged and couldn’t be restored, forcing the Great Sage to leave his traces on earth and create the Highlanders to maintain balance.

Harvey West looked at Zeke and spoke.

“The Great Sage created me using the soul of the Arrogant Savior to rectify his failure. A new being was needed to break the wheel of fate and liberate the world. A being that held the power of the Nephilim and the Exile.”

As Zeke listened, certain figures came to mind.

“The children of angels born between Nephilim and humans.”

The triplets he had found in the Forest of the Forgotten.

They were irregulars, descendants of Nephilim, capable of accumulating infinite magical power.

The Storyteller had mentioned that the probability of such children being born naturally was extremely low, suggesting they were likely created.

Zeke glared at Harvey West and asked.

“The triplets with infinite magical power. Are they similar beings to you?”

Harvey West nodded.

“They are like my siblings. The Great Sage conducted countless experiments to create me, and many failures were discarded. I took what I needed from them and continued my research in the Abyss.”

It was a horrifying truth hidden behind the name of the Great Sage.

A contradiction where something had to be sacrificed for salvation.

Zeke suppressed the nausea rising in his throat.

Without his unique power, he might have fainted from the shock.

Harvey West continued.

“But I questioned my existence and eventually uncovered the truth he hid. To free myself from all the shackles of my existence, I realized I had to reach the endgame of using the Demon King’s power to eliminate the Constellations of the Celestial Realm. For this, some sacrifice of the world’s life was necessary. But the Great Sage rejected my words, leading me to join the Abyss.”

Though created as a savior, Harvey West turned against his creator’s will, pursuing what he believed was right.

Zeke faced him with a heavy expression.

Zzzzzzzzz!

Zeke sensed the knights of the apocalypse struggling against the spears of light beyond the window.

He slowly raised his head to look at Harvey West and spoke.

“I understand your identity. But don’t think for a moment that the horrific acts you’ve committed can be excused as unavoidable sacrifices.”

Harvey West smiled faintly at Zeke’s words.

“Zeke Draker, you still don’t understand that you, like me, are a puppet struggling within the wheel of fate.”

“What do you mean?”

Harvey West slowly extended a finger, pointing at Zeke.

“Have you ever considered that you, the Knight of Salvation, might also be a pawn created by the Great Sage?”

Zeke, who had been frowning, suddenly recalled something.

The Great Sage’s arrangement.

Sending him back in time was a ‘promised power’ prepared by the Great Sage in the Elder Dragon’s legacy.

“What if it was all planned?”

The spirit of the Great Sage had said that Zeke could awaken the promised power because of his strong will.

“But what if he knew I had the will to awaken that power and prepared everything to use me?”

Doubts spiraled in Zeke’s mind.

Harvey West looked at Zeke and spoke.

“Zeke Draker, you and I share the same goal. There’s no need for us to be at odds.”

Zeke slowly raised his head, looking at Harvey West, and spoke.

“Are you suggesting we join forces, awaken the Demon King, and destroy the Constellations of the Celestial Realm?”

“If you truly wish to liberate and save the material world, then that is the right path to take.”

Zeke paused in silence after hearing Harvey West’s words.

Just then, a massive explosion echoed from outside.

Boom!

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who had been holding back the Spear of Light, were seen plummeting to the ground, battered and torn.

Harvey West turned to Zeke and spoke.

“Zeke Draker, make your choice. Will you follow me to save the material world, or remain a puppet of the Great Sage and the Elder Dragon?”

Zeke slowly opened his mouth to respond.

”…I…”

Harvey West waited patiently for Zeke’s answer.

In that moment, he sensed something was amiss.

‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are vanishing.’

He had recreated these powerful knights from a lost civilization with the arrogant savior’s power, naming them the Four Horsemen and commanding them as his subordinates.

But now, their presence was rapidly fading.

‘Damn it…!’

Suddenly, he felt the complete disappearance of the Four Horsemen.

Since they were crafted with the utmost care using the arrogant savior’s power, their loss inevitably dealt a blow to Harvey West.

“Cough!”

A thin stream of blood trickled from his mouth.

At the same time, Harvey West sprang to his feet, glaring at Zeke.

“Zeke Draker! You…!”

The image of Zeke before him wavered and transformed into a shadow.

In an instant, the shadow extended in all directions, launching an attack on Harvey West.

He hastily raised his hand to cast a defensive spell, but the shadow’s blades pierced through the barrier, striking Harvey West.

“Ugh!”

Harvey West groaned from the sudden assault.

At that moment, the real Zeke, who had been hiding in spirit form, revealed himself from behind.

With the chaotic energy of the Levatein, he stabbed Harvey West in the back.

Crunch!

Harvey West’s eyes, pierced by the Levatein, glowed red like those of a demon.

“Zeke Draker!”

Zeke, gripping the Levatein tightly, looked at Harvey West and said, “My answer is to go to hell.”

Simultaneously, Zeke unleashed the power of the Third Eye.

Vroom!

The power of the Third Eye dealt with the essence of the soul.

Zeke combined the power of the Third Eye with the power of Absolute Dominion, attempting to extract the soul of the arrogant savior embedded within Harvey West.

The arrogant savior’s soul, tightly bound to Harvey West’s, would not easily reveal itself.

Zeke channeled his power and spoke the incantation.

“Soul of the arrogant savior, reveal yourself.”