Episode 559
Sssssss—
As the gate opened, Harvey West was flung out.
“Ughhh!”
Blood oozed heavily from his side, and he coughed up more from his mouth.
“Khak!”
A homunculus had intervened at the last moment to block Zeke’s sword strike, saving his life. However, the soul-cutting blade had left him with a grievous wound.
His soul’s essence was damaged, and no amount of magic could heal the injury.
Harvey West clutched his wound, trying to stop the bleeding as he crawled deeper into his hideout.
The pain and blood loss were almost unbearable, but he forced himself to focus.
’…I need to get to the lab and prepare a new body.’
The reason he had been possessing other dark wizards and issuing commands from the shadows was due to the instability of his own body.
The Great Sage had aimed to create a perfect ‘immortal’ using the soul of the arrogant savior, to forge a new redeemer.
The theory, which had even produced the Hero King Kaisir, was flawless.
The problem was the restriction of karma.
The primordial light’s karma did not allow an immortal to remain in the physical realm.
Thus, Harvey West, despite possessing immortal power, was an unstable presence in this world.
While under the Great Sage’s protection, he had no issues, but once he decided to revive the Demon King, he needed to stabilize his existence.
Therefore, Harvey West had been researching how to maintain his presence in the physical realm with immortal power.
Crrrunch!
Ignoring the pain of his nails tearing off, Harvey West dragged himself toward his lab.
If he could just reach the cell cultivation chamber, he could at least prevent his body from collapsing.
But he sensed someone in his hideout.
A man with solid footsteps.
It was none other than Baron Draker, the captain of the Black Guard.
Harvey West was taken aback to find Baron in his secret hideout.
‘How did he get here…?’
Beside Baron stood hooded figures, whom Harvey recognized as Kaisir’s homunculi.
He realized that the homunculus who had blocked Zeke’s attack at the gate was one of them.
It was Baron Draker who had originally given him the Hero King’s homunculus.
One of the secret relics left by Arthur Draker before his death was that homunculus, which he had gifted to Harvey under a pact.
‘I never imagined there was more than one of the Hero King’s homunculi…’
Baron Draker looked at the bleeding, nearly dying Harvey West and spoke.
“You seem to be in a lot of pain.”
Harvey West, looking up at Baron with cold eyes, replied.
”…What are you doing here, Baron?”
Baron crouched down to meet Harvey’s gaze.
“I came to fulfill a promise. Arthur Draker’s body is ready.”
Harvey West flinched at Baron’s words.
There was something unsettling about the aura he felt from him.
‘Could it be…?’
Sssssss—
Baron Draker’s face began to change.
A young man with ash-gray hair slicked back emerged.
He resembled Abel Draker but had a more detached gaze.
It was the face of a young Arthur Draker, the Conqueror King.
Harvey West clenched his teeth.
”…Was this all your doing?”
Arthur smirked at him.
“Not at all. I told Baron that if he couldn’t fully assimilate the Elder Dragon’s heart, he could give you my body. I took a gamble, and I won. That’s all there is to it.”
Arthur Draker slowly stood up.
He looked at Harvey West, whose body was crumbling from Zeke’s attack, and shook his head.
“That’s severe. Did Zeke do this to you?”
Harvey West considered various ways to escape this situation.
‘If I abandon my body and escape as a soul… it will take a long time to regain my strength.’
Like Germain, the former boss of the Nostra family, Harvey West would need centuries to recreate his body and prepare for the final act.
But escaping was the priority.
Harvey West began preparing to leave his broken body and escape as a soul without Arthur Draker noticing.
Sssssss—
He thought that if he slipped away like a snake, even Zeke Draker, with his divine powers, wouldn’t be able to trace him.
But then Arthur Draker spoke, his eyes emotionless.
“You still don’t know much about me, do you?”
Harvey West was startled to feel Arthur’s gaze pinpointing his soul.
At the same time, he realized he couldn’t leave his body as intended.
‘How is this possible…?’
Arthur Draker, still with a cold smile, said.
“You’ve always been slippery, so I came prepared.”
He raised his hand, and the homunculi of Kaisir behind him lifted their swords.
The swords glowed faintly, and ancient magic circles connected to them began to light up on the floor and walls of the hideout.
Wooooong!
An ancient magic circle designed to trap souls.
It was composed of forgotten knowledge, long vanished from the world.
Sssssss—
A mist-like aura seeped from Harvey West’s body.
Arthur Draker murmured as he watched.
“A replica of the first Draker made by the Great Sage. Not quite the original, is it? Not as impressive as I’d hoped.”
Harvey West glared at Arthur with his red eyes.
“How did you…?”
“Oh, was that a secret you kept to yourself? Oops. I found out somehow.”
Arthur Draker spoke with a nonchalant tone, indifferent to Harvey’s anger.
He gestured to the homunculi behind him, who raised their swords and slowly approached Harvey West.
Rumble!
As the magical swords drew closer, the mist from Harvey’s body wavered, pressing on his soul.
Arthur Draker spoke with a sly grin.
“Found them in a very old temple. The swords, the homunculi, all of it.”
He tapped the shoulder of a nearby homunculus.
“When I first discovered them, they were in an unbreakable ice coffin. I sought help from Nirvana’s famous ice mages and others to find a way to open it. But magic couldn’t solve it.”
Harvey West’s face turned pale as his bleeding worsened.
Arthur continued.
“Now I know it was frozen by the Great Sage’s power, so it was impossible. But back then, I didn’t know. Eventually, I found a way. Using the power of dragons did the trick.”
Harvey West bit his lip.
Dragons were the only beings in the physical realm not bound by karma, the only creatures granted such power.
‘To think he used dragon power to break the Great Sage’s seal…’
The Draker family’s reputation as dragon slayers must have helped them find a solution.
Arthur Draker continued, looking at Harvey.
“I learned a lot from the dragons’ legacy. It’s a shame I couldn’t retrieve the Elder Dragon’s legacy, but… Zeke has it, so it’ll end up in my hands eventually.”
Arthur Draker had already figured out much.
Harvey West watched him quietly and spoke.
“You seem quite concerned about Zeke Draker.”
“Naturally, as his father, I should be.”
Harvey West scoffed.
“It’s amusing to hear you say that, knowing he’s not your biological son.”
Arthur Draker clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“You don’t understand that the bond of raising a child is stronger than blood? Perhaps because you’re an artificial being.”
Arthur Draker casually insulted him.
He addressed Harvey West with a hardened expression.
“Anyway, enough with the preamble. Let’s get to the point.”
Arthur’s eyes gleamed, turning into golden dragon eyes as he looked down at Harvey.
“How about joining forces with me? I’ll help you revive the Demon King.”
Harvey West was momentarily taken aback by Arthur’s sudden proposal, then looked incredulous.
”…You expect me to believe that?”
“Why not? Just think of it as making the same deal you had with Baron. Of course, I can’t give you my body.”
Harvey West struggled to speak, his breath ragged.
”…The King in Yellow needs a body to descend. You destroyed Abel Draker’s body, leaving no vessel!”
Arthur Draker nodded at those words.
“Indeed. That’s why you wanted to use my body as a vessel.”
Arthur Draker paused, giving Harvey West a long, knowing look before winking and continuing.
“But think about it—there’s a more suitable body out there, isn’t there?”
Harvey West looked at Arthur with a mix of disbelief and realization. “You mean Zeke Draker?”
Arthur clapped his hands, a sly grin spreading across his face.
“Exactly. Isn’t he the perfect vessel for the Demon King? If the Demon King were to inhabit that boy’s body, it would become the ultimate weapon to bring down the heavens.”
Having faced Zeke himself, Harvey West couldn’t help but agree, though he knew it wouldn’t be easy.
Zeke had absorbed the soul of the arrogant savior, gaining a divine status akin to a ruler of the demon realm. He had even subdued and sealed the master of the Scorpion Constellation, one of the thirteen zodiac lords, surpassing the level of a conqueror.
Arthur Draker read the thoughts on Harvey West’s face and chuckled.
“Seems like Zeke overwhelmed you, didn’t he, Priest?”
Harvey didn’t want to admit it, but it was true. He had underestimated Zeke Draker’s potential and lost the soul of the arrogant savior to him.
Then Arthur Draker pulled something from his coat and offered it to Harvey West.
”…Is that?”
To Harvey’s astonishment, Arthur held out a Dragon Heart from a holy dragon, a relic more precious than any mineral, having lived for thousands of years.
Arthur handed the Dragon Heart to the stunned Harvey West, saying, “Consider this a gift to show my sincerity. With this, you can heal your deteriorating body and soul.”
Harvey West eyed Arthur Draker warily, sensing the danger in his sweet offer. Yet, without it, his soul was doomed to dissipate and vanish.
To be obliterated or to accept Arthur Draker’s proposal—Harvey West couldn’t discern which was the worse fate.
“Drakers, more devilish than devils themselves,” he thought bitterly, despite being the progenitor of the Draker lineage and despising his own kin.
After a moment of hesitation, he reached out and accepted the Dragon Heart from Arthur.
Arthur’s grin widened. “You’ve made the right choice.”
With a snap of his fingers, something extraordinary happened.
A soft hum filled the air as Harvey West’s body began to heal, time itself reversing the damage.
He was taken aback. “Is this… Ramon Jimenez’s power?”
More precisely, it was the power of the malevolent god Azitahaka that Ramon had wielded.
Arthur Draker’s golden eyes had turned a deep crimson as he looked at Harvey West, now holding the Dragon Heart.
“Harvey West, or should I say, Harvey Draker. Let’s create the ultimate Demon King together.”