Arthur Draker looked at the young knight who had called him father and spoke.
"Yes, how is Zeke Draker doing now?"
A faint smile spread across Arthur Draker's lips as he uttered Zeke's name.
The knight in the white uniform fell silent for a moment, then spoke.
"He escaped from Atlas and is crossing the continent westward." Arthur Draker's eyebrow twitched at the knight's words.
"You're saying he's traveling on foot instead of using portals." The knight nodded at Arthur's question.
"Yes, he's moving overland, not through portals."
Arthur Draker sank into deep thought upon hearing this.
"Hmm, I thought he'd catch on to the message I sent and come straight here, but instead, he's taking a detour by land..."
Most humans rarely deviated from his expectations.
But Zeke Draker was different.
'Zeke, that guy had always exceeded my predictions.'
From the moment of his birth, as an 'irregular' existence beyond expectations, Arthur Draker had kept an eye on Zeke.
At first, he saw him as worthless trash with no value to exploit, but from a certain point, Zeke began showing a completely different side and achieved rapid growth, so Arthur had always needed to monitor him closely.
'I knew he inherited the Elder Dragon relic. But there was something else about him too.'
The child born with the fate of the savior that Laura Agamemnon had protected until the end.
The moment Arthur Draker faced the infant, he could have killed Zeke without effort.
But Arthur Draker did not.
It was because he had a faint hope that this child might fill the final missing piece he lacked.
That was why he named the child of prophecy that Laura had hidden and protected, and brought him into the family.
And so, the child bearing the cursed name of the illegitimate Zeke grew up to become his greatest threat.
Arthur Draker smiled as he recalled Zeke charging at him with a sword raised in hatred and rage.
"I don't know what you're plotting... but come quickly, Zeke. I'm waiting for you."
Muttering to himself, he turned his head toward the knight and said,
"Continue monitoring Zeke Draker's movements as before and report back to me." The knight bowed deeply in a disciplined posture at Arthur's words.
Soon, ripples emanated from Arthur Draker's body, his form crumbling and vanishing without a trace.
Left alone in the Sword Grave, the knight raised his head and gazed at the Draker family swords embedded in the ground.
As he stared silently at the swords, the air shimmered, space distorting as the scenery of the Sword Grave faded away.
Tssst...
The landscape around the young knight completely changed in an instant.
Now, he stood in a grand hall of pure white marble, where hundreds of knights in white uniforms stood in formation.
Before them was a dais, and atop it loomed a massive Sword God Statue.
The young knight who had stood before Arthur rose and turned to face the others in uniform, shouting,
"Father has spoken!"
At the young knight's voice, the white-uniformed knights raised their heads in unison, focusing intently.
He shouted again.
"Kill Zeke Draker! And prove that we are Father's children!"
Flames ignited in the eyes of the uniformed knights at the young knight's words. He turned back once more, extending his hand toward the Sword God Statue.
"Slay the seed of the old generation! As true sons of God! Prove our existence!" As his words ended, those arrayed behind him echoed in chorus. "Prove it! Prove it!"
A mad resonance shook the entire hall.
***
Thud thud thud thud!
Zeke rode Bucephalus westward across the continent toward the Principality of Troy.
He could have reached Troy instantly using the system portal, but he deliberately chose the overland route.
It was to scout locations for defensive lines, placing the Three Princesses of the Demon Realm's Mobile Fortress in strategic spots.
Since he had allied with the Demon Realm's grand lords, he could summon their forces to the Phenomenal World by expending karma if he permitted it.
But with Mephistopheles's true intentions still unknown, he wanted to build defensive lines using his available forces as much as possible.
'The north had Himonas's knights and the Barbarians, and with Alicia awakening Fenrir's power, it should have been sufficient.'
Alicia, who had awakened the power to grow stronger with every bite through the WolfFang Saber, advanced rapidly.
Combined with the Barbarians and the Tower of the Giants in defense mode, holding the north should not have been difficult.
The central region quickly reorganized around Atlas once more.
The allied forces isolated by the Magical Beasts had safely entered Atlas, and with portals normalized for resupply, stability returned swiftly.
Not only the Three Great Transcendent Families like Nirvana in Aten and Ishtar in the southern desert region, but even the Holy Kingdom supported the central region and the Central Kingdom.
It was at a level where he could somewhat relax. And at the heart of this stabilization in the central continent was none other than Mycenae, who played a major role.
Mycenae was the only city that had blocked the Magical Beasts' initial advance and had the capacity to aid surrounding cities and kingdoms.
The presence of commanders and knights experienced in fighting Magical Beasts seemed to have made a big difference.
Zeke had sent armaments supplies produced in the Southern Archipelago to Mycenae and Atlas to prepare for the next war.
The situation was fairly sorted, but the problem lay with the Constellations' movements.
'No matter how thoroughly we prepared, we were powerless against the power of angels descended by the Constellations.'
The Celestial Realm's Constellations, having found a way to descend to the Phenomenal World using Twisted Causality, sought to destroy this world, harvest the accumulated karma, and rebuild a new civilization.
And behind Arthur Draker stood Apollyon, the Sun God at the pinnacle of those Constellations.
If he could not stop Arthur Draker, who was essentially Apollyon's avatar, no amount of preparation would prevent the apocalypse.
'I had to eliminate Arthur Draker and ensure the Constellations could not interfere with the Phenomenal World.'
With renewed resolve, he pressed toward his destination.
By the time Zeke arrived at the Principality of Troy, he dismounted and gazed at the densely forested mountain.
Heading north would lead to the foothills of the Giant Mountain Range.
Zeke pulled out the key of Arthur Draker from his inventory.
He read the karma data embedded in the key.
—Final Arc Scenario (Chapter of the ??? Temple)—
[Find the temple of the ??? Constellation.]
[Scenario Reward: Bestowal of a Constellation's Authority]
A map appeared along with the message.
'This way.'
The location Arthur Draker had left was marked on the map.
Zeke began climbing the mountain toward the indicated spot.
Whoosh—
Zeke's movements, surpassing Grandmaster level, were incomparable to those of ordinary knights.
In an instant, he traversed the dense forest and reached the marked position.
'This is...?'
As Zeke drew near the spot on the map, he sensed an unusual energy.
As he tried to proceed further, an invisible wall instinctively blocked him.
It felt like a Unique Domain similar to what he had encountered with the Divine Beasts.
If they were ordinary people, they would have been instinctively repelled by the domain's barrier, veering away without realizing it.
Zeke extended his hand toward the blocking domain wall.
Crackle!
A powerful rebound tried to repel his hand.
Zeke murmured softly.
"Raven."
At once, the phoenix Raven appeared on his shoulder.
Rurrr!
Now as large as an eagle, Raven spread its wings and approached the domain wall.
Woooong!
Raven's wings glowed white, beginning to absorb the power forming the domain wall.
Crackle!
As Raven absorbed the domain's power, the rebound force blocking Zeke weakened.
Zeke waited a moment, then slipped through the gap in the wall and entered.
Tssst...
Entering the domain with Raven, Zeke's eyes widened at what lay hidden inside.
'This is...'
It was exactly the cave from Rex's memories.
'Arthur's group set up a base camp here, prepared, and then explored the dungeon.'
Zeke scanned the path leading upward from the cave.
The position shown on the key's map pointed precisely there.
Zeke leaped upward with Raven.
Whoosh!
Reaching the top in one bound, Zeke could not help but be astonished by the scene before him.
A colossal cave of immense size yawned open.
At that moment, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[You have arrived at the designated location.]
[Karma data is updated.]
[Untranslatable message is interpreted.]
The question marks from the earlier message resolved, reappearing before him.
—Final Arc Scenario (Chapter of the Twisted Temple)—
[Find the temple of the Twisted Constellation.]
[Scenario Reward: Bestowal of a Constellation's Authority]
'Temple of the Twisted Constellation?'
A question arose in Zeke's eyes at the message.
The phrase "Twisted Constellation" was something even he had never seen before.
It did not exist in the Apocrypha either.
'Twisted Constellation... Was it related to Twisted Causality somehow?'
From the circumstances, the Dark Matter creating Twisted Causality seemed connected to the Sun God Apollyon.
Because in his past life's memories, he had witnessed Arthur Draker reviving with a new heart made of Dark Matter in the temple of the Twisted Constellation.
'Was the Sun God Apollyon the Twisted Constellation?'
He would only know for sure by going inside.
Zeke sent Raven back into the dimensional boundary from his shoulder and slowly stepped into the massive cave, which resembled a monster's gaping maw.
Having explored countless dungeons in his previous life, Zeke had no trouble navigating the cave.
'Nothing particularly unusual so far.'
How far had he gone? Just as he began to feel puzzled by the lack of changes—
Grrr...
An ominous sound echoed from deeper within the cave.
Zeke immediately drew Laevatein and went on alert.
Soon, something approached from the opposite side.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A Magical Beast with an appearance similar to the Outsider Species from Rex's memories revealed itself.
Grrr—
Sensing an outsider's presence, the Outsider-Species Magical Beast extended its neck, scanning the cave nooks.
The tentacles sprouting from its body moved about noisily, each acting like a living entity extending in all directions.
'No need to make a racket.'
Zeke gathered his power quietly, intending to dispatch the beast stealthily.
Shadows began to creep from his feet.
Tssst...
As the shadow reached the beast's feet, Zeke clenched his fist.
In an instant, black blades erupted from the shadow, piercing the Magical Beast's body.
Splurt!
The black blades tore through the tough hide, severing the neck in one swift motion.
The beast perished without a chance to resist, felled by the blades from the shadow.
Tssst...
The impaled body of the Magical Beast was absorbed into the shadow as if melting away.
Zeke was surprised by the karma points gained from absorbing the Outsider-Species Magical Beast.
'The points were much higher than regular Magical Beasts. Maybe because they had been dwelling in this temple for so long.'
After quietly eliminating the Outsider-Species Magical Beast, Zeke delved deeper into the cave.
More Magical Beasts appeared sporadically, but he dispatched them similarly in silence, pressing onward swiftly.
Soon, a corridor in Ork-style architecture appeared, just as in Rex's memories.
'Rather, there were no Magical Beasts here.'
Since it was a familiar space from memory, Zeke walked the corridor slowly until a massive door loomed before him.
Emblem of the Sun and Sword.
It was the very place from his past life's memories where Arthur Draker had been revived.