Episode 676
In the depths of an ancient castle, long abandoned and covered in dust, a high platform with a staircase leading up to it could be seen. At the top of the stairs, overlooking the grand hall, sat a rusted iron throne.
On that throne sat a figure, wrapped head to toe in bandages and draped in a tattered black coat, utterly motionless.
Suddenly, a loud rumble echoed from outside the castle.
Rumble―
The explosion was so powerful that it shook the entire castle, reverberating all the way to the iron throne atop the stairs.
After a moment, the bandaged figure on the throne began to stir ever so slightly.
Creak―
It seemed the figure hadn’t moved in ages, for even the slightest motion of an arm produced a sound like cracking bones.
Starting with his right arm, he slowly moved his legs, left arm, and finally, his bowed neck.
Creak!
The sound of stiff joints loosening echoed loudly.
Once he had fully stretched, he rose slowly from his seat.
Creak!
Though his body, hidden beneath the coat, was as withered as a mummy, he was much taller and larger than an average man.
He stood there for a while, as if moving was unfamiliar to him, before finally extending an arm. In his hand, the bandages twisted and formed into the shape of a sword.
With the bandage-formed sword raised, the man began to descend the stairs.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each step he took sent tremors through the grand hall.
Crossing the dust-laden hall, the bandaged man approached the firmly shut doors, which swung open of their own accord as he neared.
Beyond the open doors lay the ruins of a devastated city.
The bandaged man gazed at the scene, muttering in a low voice.
“To those who come to this cursed place, I offer only death…”
With those words, he stepped out of the castle and vanished into the ruined city.
The cursed specter of the shattered continent had begun to move.
Zeke dragged Asmodeus along as they made their way to Yekaterina’s tower.
The tower stood at the entrance to a valley, perched on a ridge.
Originally, the plan was to summon the tower within the valley, but seeing it erected at the entrance suggested something was amiss.
Just then, something flew towards Zeke, who was moving with Elizabeth’s airborne fortress.
“Master!”
It was none other than Arataso, the captain of the Dawn Brigade.
Clad in gleaming green armor, Arataso approached and was startled to see Asmodeus beside Zeke.
“Could it be… the ‘Unyielding Lord of Passion’?”
Arataso was shocked to see Asmodeus, one of the great demon lords of the underworld, manifest in the physical realm and standing by Zeke’s side.
Zeke shook his head at Arataso’s reaction.
“There’s no need to worry. Asmodeus is bound to me, albeit conditionally.”
Having sealed Mephistopheles and now having one of the great lords, Asmodeus, under his control, Arataso looked incredulous.
But he quickly composed himself and reported to Zeke.
“We attempted to set up the tower deeper within the valley as per your orders, but… we were unable to enter and had no choice but to erect it at the entrance.”
Zeke realized that something had indeed gone wrong, as he had suspected.
“Have you determined why you couldn’t enter the valley?”
“We haven’t pinpointed the exact reason yet. We tried to approach, but there was something that made it impossible to get close. It would be faster for you to see for yourself, Master.”
Nodding at Arataso’s suggestion, Zeke turned to Asmodeus.
“Enter the tower with Elizabeth and guard it. To open the gate, we need Anastasia’s invasion fortress. Use your power to awaken her.”
Though Zeke had restored Anastasia’s body, he couldn’t revive her shocked mind.
Asmodeus, known as the ‘Unyielding Lord of Passion,’ had powers related to blood, life, and abundance, which included healing abilities.
Thus, with Asmodeus’s power, it should be possible to heal Anastasia’s mind.
Bound to Zeke, Asmodeus could not defy his command.
“Understood, Master.”
Suppressing his frustration, Asmodeus headed towards Yekaterina’s tower with the airborne fortress.
After dispatching his forces to the tower, Zeke spoke to Arataso.
“Let’s head to the valley.”
Together, Zeke and Arataso flew towards the valley they couldn’t enter.
Upon reaching the entrance, Zeke understood what Arataso meant by being unable to enter.
As soon as they arrived, an overwhelming force emanated from within the valley, repelling anyone who tried to approach.
Zeke realized why no beasts from the abandoned continent roamed this area.
“This energy… it’s familiar.”
Though the energy exuded a powerful aura that seemed to forbid any approach, Zeke found himself drawn towards the valley entrance.
Arataso, alarmed by Zeke’s unusual behavior, asked in surprise.
“Master? Are you alright?”
Zeke, who usually maintained a cool head and acted only after fully assessing the situation, was now moving towards the dangerous valley entrance without hesitation, which felt out of character.
At that moment, Zeke realized what the energy emanating from the valley was.
“This is dragon energy? But… something’s different.”
He sensed that the dragon energy from the valley was anything but ordinary, and his expression hardened.
Ignoring Arataso’s attempt to hold him back, Zeke moved closer to the valley.
He reached out towards the valley.
At that moment, a fierce wind, as if a dragon was roaring, blew from within, pulling everything towards it.
“Master!”
Arataso shouted in alarm, but it was too late.
Zeke, reaching out towards the valley, was swiftly sucked inside and vanished.
Arataso tried to follow Zeke into the valley, but the wind now blew fiercely in the opposite direction.
“Damn it! Masteeeer!”
Arataso’s cry echoed hollowly throughout the valley.
Whoosh!
Swept into the valley by the strong wind, Zeke suddenly regained his senses.
“Where am I?”
He had reached out towards the valley entrance as if in a trance, and now found himself being carried somewhere by the wind.
“What is this place…?”
Zeke had experienced a similar place once before.
It was the dragon’s tomb where Vlad II Báthory had lured him into a trap.
A cunning snare designed to show illusions to a dragon who had fallen in love with a human, to neutralize its power and steal its heart.
In this valley, Zeke could feel not only the dragon’s energy but also the strange power he had sensed in the dragon’s tomb.
“Why is there a dragon’s tomb on the abandoned continent?”
Questions piled upon questions.
As he pondered the situation, Zeke noticed something strange happening as he was drawn further inside.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded at an astonishing rate.
“Why is this happening all of a sudden?”
To be precise, it wasn’t Zeke’s heart that was pounding.
The dragon’s heart he had absorbed and stored in his dantian was thrumming wildly.
Feeling the sudden, intense reaction of the dragon’s heart, Zeke furrowed his brow.
“What kind of place is this…?”
Just then, the valley path ended, revealing a vast space before Zeke’s eyes.
The strange power that had limited the dragon’s energy in the valley was nowhere to be found here.
Instead, this inner realm was filled with a potent dragon aura.
Zeke realized that the immense pressure he had felt at the valley entrance was the result of this energy seeping out.
“If the power restricted by the dragon’s tomb was that strong, just how powerful is the dragon emitting this energy?”
Zeke had met the divine dragons that guarded the sea, forest, and earth.
And he felt that the dragon’s power filling this realm was on par with, if not stronger than, the divine dragons of the constellations.
Sss―
Zeke slowly descended from the air, landing on the floor of the vast space.
As he surveyed his surroundings, he realized that this was not a natural cave but an artificially constructed chamber.
The black stones covering the floor were not natural rock but bricks made from processed fairy stones.
“Did they really fill this entire space with precious fairy stones?”
It was a space that would make the wizards of Nirvana, who trembled at the sight of a single fairy stone, faint.
With enough room to accommodate several legions of ten thousand soldiers, it was no wonder Zeke imagined such a scenario.
Clicking his tongue softly, Zeke began to walk slowly towards the interior of the chamber.
As Zeke ventured deeper, the dragon’s aura grew more intense, and the pounding in his chest quickened.
How far had he gone?
A low, rumbling growl echoed ahead, accompanied by an overwhelming presence.
Zeke halted, staring straight ahead. The darkness was so thick he could barely see anything. But darkness meant little to Zeke; his dragon eyes pierced through any shadow.
He realized that what obscured his view wasn’t mere darkness but a “shadow.”
“Similar to the Shadow Armor… no, it’s the Shadow Armor itself.”
Zeke’s Shadow Armor was a true legacy hidden within the goddess Theia’s Hersion. The true identity of the goddess Theia was the god of chaos, making the Shadow Armor an artifact crafted by chaos itself.
Since the god of chaos, sealed by the sun god, left few legacies behind, Zeke had been the only one known to possess the Shadow Armor.
Thus, it was hard for him to believe there was another being cloaked in a shadow even larger than his own.
Zeke infused his words with divine power and addressed the shadowed presence.
“Reveal yourself, the one who summoned me here.”
Despite speaking in a divine tongue more potent than dragon speech, the shadowed entity remained silent, exuding only a massive presence and pressure.
Strangely, Zeke sensed no hostility directed at him.
“Could this be Arthur Draker’s doing? No, if it were, there should have been some reaction by now. It’s hard to guess its identity.”
Zeke took a step closer to the mysterious figure hidden behind the shadow.
Suddenly, the shadow rippled, transforming into a black spear that lunged at him.
With a swift motion, Zeke summoned his Shadow Armor, countering with a black blade that clashed against the spear.
The spear and blade tangled, merging into one.
At that moment, as Zeke’s eyes widened, the Shadow Armor and the mysterious shadow fused, sending a powerful vibration through the air.
A message appeared before Zeke’s eyes.
[The power of the Shadow Dragon dormant in the user’s heart responds to the ‘Eternal Shadow.’]
“The power of the Shadow Dragon?”
The power Zeke had absorbed from the Shadow Dragon had a singular origin.
The cursed dragon Bahamut.
A dragon who willingly accepted a demon king into its body for the sake of its lover, Terakan Draker, sacrificing itself and bearing the stigma of a cursed dragon.
The power of Bahamut, etched into Zeke’s heart, was reacting to the shadow.
Slowly, the shadow that had obscured Zeke’s view parted, revealing the being hidden within.
Zeke’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“This can’t be…”
A massive dragon with scales as black as night, bound in chains of light, gazed at Zeke with its yellow eyes.
Another message appeared before him.
[The master of the Eternal Shadow, Bahamut, the Ruler of Dusk, looks upon the user.]