Episode 699
In a world of utter black void, a figure draped in yellow appeared.
The prophecy foretold that when a new immortal power emerged, the time of destruction would come, and the King in Yellow would rise again.
This King in Yellow was prophesied to bring about the end of the world.
And now, this prophesied figure stood before Mephistopheles.
Every inch of him was cloaked in yellow, from his ceremonial robes to the veil that hid his face.
With exaggerated gestures, Mephistopheles greeted him.
“O King in Yellow, I have prepared a vessel for your incarnation here. Take it and rise as the Demon King. Show us the power that will destroy everything!”
Mephistopheles watched the King in Yellow approach, a mad grin spreading across his face.
He was consumed with the idea that once the King in Yellow possessed Zeke’s body, he could control the newly incarnated Demon King and dominate not only the demon realm and the mortal world but even the heavens.
The King in Yellow halted silently before Mephistopheles and the tormented Zeke.
Expecting him to immediately consume Zeke, Mephistopheles frowned at the unexpected pause.
“Why do you hesitate, King in Yellow? Your sacrifice is here. Take it, now!”
The King in Yellow turned his veiled face towards Mephistopheles.
Then, he drew a sword from beneath his yellow robes.
A resonant hum filled the air.
To Mephistopheles’ shock, it was the divine sword once wielded by the avatar Adam, now perfectly whole.
From the sword in the King in Yellow’s hand, a light shone, piercing the darkness.
Behind him, a halo resembling the sun appeared.
Mephistopheles’ eyes widened in disbelief.
“This is…?”
The light emanating from the King in Yellow was neither demonic nor the twisted power of causality.
Seeing the blazing sunlight illuminating the darkness, Mephistopheles finally realized the true identity of the King in Yellow standing before him.
“Apollyon…?”
The one who killed the primordial light and seized the heavens.
Known as the most noble being above the heavens, the strongest of the constellations, and the Sun God.
He was the King in Yellow.
Facing Apollyon, Mephistopheles broke into a cold sweat and stepped back.
He had only intended to summon the Demon King into Zeke’s body, never expecting to confront the Sun God Apollyon here.
“How… how is it you?”
Once, they had both served the Creator in the heavens, but after Apollyon fell and left the heavens, they became bitter enemies.
Apollyon, who resided at the highest point of the heavens as the leader of all constellations, had not been seen by Mephistopheles for ages.
The King in Yellow, holding the divine sword, spoke to Mephistopheles.
“Azazel. It’s been a long time.”
Apollyon addressed Mephistopheles, his voice devoid of emotion.
“Once, I pitied the beings of the mortal world and even gave them fire.”
Mephistopheles’ expression changed at these words.
Apollyon’s statement referred to a time before the first city of Eden was even created, back when the primordial light still existed.
Azazel, the pure constellation, had loved the beings of the mortal world deeply. He defied the Creator’s command and, under the name Prometheus, gave them fire.
But as a result, that world met an unexpected end and was erased.
As the beings he cherished vanished and the world crumbled over countless ages, the pure constellation disappeared. Only a fallen demon, filled with greed and deceit, remained.
Looking at Apollyon in his yellow robes, Mephistopheles spoke.
“I don’t know how you appeared here, but it’s just as well. My goal was always to invade the heavens and bring you to your knees.”
A deep purple aura surged from Mephistopheles’ body.
Apollyon shook his head at the sight.
“Once, you were pure and noble. It’s a pity to see you so corrupted.”
Mephistopheles clenched his teeth, glaring at Apollyon, and shouted in anger.
“Silence!”
With eyes filled with madness, he glared at the King in Yellow and demanded again.
“Where have you hidden the sealed soul of the Demon King? Tell me!”
“Azazel, you pitiful creature. You always pretended to know everything, yet you remain ignorant of what truly matters. You still know nothing.”
“Do not call me Azazel! Just as you lost your true name after killing the primordial light, I too gained a new name when I left the heavens!”
A deep purple light burst from Mephistopheles, spreading in all directions.
Apollyon raised the divine sword slowly.
“Do you intend to oppose me? Even when you were a constellation of the heavens, you could not match my power. How do you expect to challenge me with the filthy power of a demon?”
Mephistopheles reacted violently to Apollyon’s words, shouting in a fit of rage.
“Shut up! Once I find the Demon King’s soul, you’ll be nothing! The heavens will fall beneath my feet!”
The purple aura from his body coalesced into a compressed sphere of magic.
The sphere spun rapidly in place before shooting towards Apollyon.
Boom!
The magic sphere flew towards Apollyon with a force that shook the entire void.
Crash!
Apollyon met the spinning sphere with the tip of his sword.
Amazingly, the sphere was instantly absorbed into the divine sword.
Rumble!
Seeing his attack so effortlessly nullified, Mephistopheles’ expression twisted.
He stepped back, addressing Apollyon.
“I don’t know how you appeared here, but it can’t be by normal means. There’s no need to engage with you now.”
Mephistopheles grabbed Zeke, who lay poisoned and unconscious, and glared at Apollyon.
“I’ll find the Demon King’s soul you’ve hidden and use its power to crush you.”
With that, Mephistopheles attempted to vanish into the darkness with Zeke.
But then, something unexpected happened.
“What…?”
As he tried to escape the void, Mephistopheles realized the space wasn’t responding to his will.
Apollyon, holding the divine sword, spoke to him.
“Foolish Azazel, you cannot escape me.”
He raised the sword, pointing at Zeke.
“Release the boy. Do so, and I will end your pitiful soul without pain.”
Mephistopheles grimaced, his voice filled with fury.
“Ha, your arrogance remains unchanged through the ages!”
He tightened his grip around Zeke’s neck, pulling him close.
“This one is mine. I won’t hand him over to anyone!”
At that moment, a quiet whisper reached Mephistopheles’ ear.
“You’re talking nonsense.”
Zeke, who had been unconscious from the poison, had regained his senses.
Startled by Zeke’s murmur, Mephistopheles tried to retreat.
But Zeke moved faster.
He grabbed Mephistopheles’ arm, which was around his neck.
Crack!
Mephistopheles groaned in pain as Zeke’s grip tightened with unbelievable strength.
“Ugh!”
Zeke didn’t stop there. He summoned Solomon’s chains, wrapping them around Mephistopheles.
Clang!
In an instant, Mephistopheles was bound by the chains, unable to move.
Zeke forced the kneeling Mephistopheles to the ground and slowly stood up.
“Finally caught you.”
He had finally captured Mephistopheles, who had been elusive since hiding in the abyss.
Bound by Solomon’s chains, Mephistopheles glared at Zeke and shouted.
“How… how can you move?”
Zeke calmly replied to the struggling Mephistopheles.
“A demon like you wouldn’t have quietly let me absorb you. I expected you’d try to stab me in the back.”
“Even so, you shouldn’t have been able to overcome the poison that seeped into your soul. How did you…?”
Zeke tightened the chains further and spoke.
“Have you forgotten my constellation name? No pain can affect me.”
As a Grand Duke, Zeke had gained another constellation name: the “Impartial Guide of Pain.”
Mephistopheles had only released enough poison to cause pain, thinking it would incapacitate Zeke.
But for Zeke, pain was something he could easily adapt to, rendering it ineffective.
So he endured the pain, waiting patiently for his body to acclimate to the poison Mephistopheles had unleashed.
Then, at the critical moment, he turned the tables, capturing Mephistopheles in a swift, decisive move.
Realizing his mistake, Mephistopheles struggled desperately to free himself from the chains.
But the chains of Solomon, infused with Zeke’s divine power, only tightened their grip on Mephistopheles.
“Ughhh!”
Zeke’s eyes glinted menacingly as he watched Mephistopheles writhe.
“This is the end of our cursed bond, Mephistopheles.”
With those words, he drove the Levatein through Mephistopheles’ back.
“No, it can’t be!”
A violet aura surged from Mephistopheles’ body as the blade pierced him.
Wooooom!
In the demon realm, a greater demon could absorb the power of another by subduing them.
While Mephistopheles had never fully absorbed the powers of other demons due to his reliance on contracts, Zeke was different.
Mephistopheles had once been absorbed by Zeke, only to separate his soul’s essence and hide in the abyss. Now, all his power was transferring to Zeke.
Wooooom!
Soon, the violet aura enveloped Zeke.
The power of Mephistopheles, the great demon lord and master of contracts, was being absorbed by Zeke.
“Arghhh—”
Mephistopheles’ spiritual form, drained of all power, turned white and crumbled into ash.
At the same time, messages appeared before Zeke’s eyes.
[You have fully absorbed the soul of the
[All powers of the
[The unique domain, Kaleidoscope, of the
[The unique power, ‘Unequal Exchange,’ of the
[The unique power, ‘Abyssal Darkness,’ of the
Zeke felt the surge of power not just through the messages but coursing through his entire being.
Wooooom!
Now, he could wield the power of a transcendent god without resorting to overclocking.
Feeling the full extent of his newfound strength, he turned to Apollyon, who held the divine sword, and spoke.
“When a new immortal power emerges, the time of destruction will come, and the King in Yellow will rise again… But it turns out the King in Yellow wasn’t a demon lord, but the sun god Apollyon. So, you do intend to bring about destruction, making the prophecy not entirely wrong.”
Zeke finally understood what it meant that the divine sword, forged from shadow, was Apollyon himself.
The sun god Apollyon hadn’t intended to rule the material world through his avatar, Adam. Instead, he had become the sword, aiming to control the entire realm through Adam’s body and orchestrate events to his will.
The divine sword, imbued with the full power of the sun god, was more potent than any holy relic.
“Now I see why you were so desperate to find that sword, even at the cost of your soul.”
Zeke, his eyes darkened, launched an attack at Apollyon.
Boom!
With his divine power heightened by absorbing the demon lord’s soul, Zeke’s strike pierced through the sun god’s power, grazing his veil.
The veil that had concealed the face of the King in Yellow slipped away.
Confronting the face hidden behind the veil, Zeke furrowed his brow and spoke.
“So, it was you all along, the King in Yellow. Arthur Draker.”