"Godslayer."
It was the moment Solomon truly became a godslayer.
The Great Sage said to Zeke,
"In response to King Solomonʼs request, the God of Chaos bestowed his tears."
Zeke knew what the tears of the God of Chaos—namely, the Goddess Theia—meant.
"Adamantium..."
The tears of the Goddess Theia, received as a reward, were the metal known as adamantium, infused with the power of godslaying.
Zeke looked at the Great Sage and asked, "Was there a reason King Solomon changed his mind from sealing the constellations in the ring to becoming a godslayer?" The Great Sage nodded.
"The ring had its limits, so it couldnʼt contain all the ancient beings and constellations trapped within indefinitely. There were endlessly many entities disrupting the phenomenal world, after all."
King Solomon had planned to kill off the weaker ones among those heʼd captured in the ring, keep only the constellations he needed, and then hunt down even stronger ones.
The God of Chaos, who sought to crack the wheel of fate created by the constellations, gladly granted Solomonʼs request.
He received the tears of the God of Chaos and forged them into a godslayer spear capable of slaying constellations.
With the godslayer spear thrust into his back and a sword made of godslayer stone at his waist, he set out for the cities ruled by the constellations.
Cities filled with all sorts of amusements and pleasures, seemingly unconnected to the twisted calamities that ravaged the earth.
The golden city of Blanca, which Zeke had seen, was one such place.
King Solomon sought out the constellations ruling the cities, drove the godslayer stone spear into their hearts, and severed their necks.
Some constellations he imprisoned in the ring to command, while others he simply annihilated.
Before long, the name "godslayer" struck terror into the hearts of the constellations.
"The constellations feared King Solomon, who possessed the immortal power that could never truly perish. Deeming him a threat they could no longer ignore, they decided to confront him in a final battle at Carcosa, the city he once ruled."
Dozens of powerful constellations gathered at Carcosa, lying in wait to capture Solomon and seal him away forever.
King Solomon, in turn, aimed to slay them all at once and liberate the earth.
The battle, which raged for dozens of days, unfolded in Carcosa, and countless constellations fell to Solomonʼs hand.
But through all that sacrifice, the constellations finally managed to capture him.
He lay collapsed on the ground, his limbs severed, and the constellations, still fearing his immortal power, decided to imprison him in the deepest bottomless pit of the abyss.
Hearing this, Zekeʼs expression turned bitter.
"So even King Solomon couldnʼt surpass the power of the constellations." The Great Sage shook his head at Zekeʼs words.
"The reason King Solomon was captured by the constellations wasnʼt a lack of strength." The Great Sageʼs expression grew complicated, and he continued.
"King Solomonʼs goal was to rescue the phenomenal world from the constellations. But the people he sought to save greeted his victory with stones and spittle."
Betrayed and reviled by those he had tried to protect, King Solomon couldnʼt recover from the shock.
The constellations seized that opening and subdued him.
The Great Sage said to Zeke, "What choice do you think a savior abandoned by those he sought to protect would make?"
Zeke fell into thought as he gazed at the Great Sage, who was watching him expectantly. "The choice of an abandoned savior." It was then.
In an instant, Zekeʼs vision changed.
"What?"
Pitch-black darkness, where nothing was visible.
The Great Sage was nowhere to be seen.
"What happened?"
Zeke tried to stand in confusion, but his body wouldnʼt move at all.
He could see nothing, hear nothing, and move nothing.
As Zeke remained frozen, a black shadow rippled.
A shadowy form without a clear shape slowly approached him.
The shadowʼs voice burrowed into Zekeʼs ear.
[■■◆◇▲□■◆.]
Zeke realized it was the same language heʼd heard when confronting Ajitahakaʼs true form.
"What is that shadow that it speaks this tongue...?"
But then, the previously incomprehensible words suddenly translated in his mind.
[O king, how does it feel? Is this the result youʼve long desired?]
Zeke struggled to move as the voice echoed in his head, but completely bound, he could only focus on the words resounding in his ears.
[An immortal condemned to spend eternity trapped in the bottomless pit of the abyss, deprived of all senses, neither living nor dying.]
Only then did Zeke understand the situation from the voiceʼs words.
"Am I King Solomon now?"
Captured by the constellations and imprisoned in the abyssʼs prison.
King Solomon had been eternally confined in this void for trying to save the earth.
The voice spoke again.
[O king, I am ever ready to stand with you. Let us eradicate those hateful constellations and bring true peace to the earth.]
The voice ceaselessly tempted King Solomon.
Zeke writhed in torment as the voice invaded his mind.
"Is there no way to stop that voice?" But then.
Another voice, not Zekeʼs, resounded in the abyss.
"Why me?"
It was like nails scraping iron—a voice filled with weary despair, as if it could no longer endure.
Zeke realized this was King Solomonʼs voice.
Laughter emanated from the shadow.
[At last, after ten thousand years, you speak. Abandoned king.] Zeke couldnʼt believe the shadowʼs words.
The abyss operated on a different flow of time from the phenomenal world.
Even if it matched the external pace, time here, stripped of all senses, dragged on endlessly.
Yet Solomon, confined in the abyss, had endured ten thousand years in this state, unable to die, everything bound.
The shadow spoke to Solomon again.
[Why you, you ask? You know the answer best yourself.] Solomon made no reply.
The shadow continued.
[Abandoned king, in the end, you were merely a puppet on the stage crafted by the constellations and the wheel of fate. The rift you created was too insignificant to shatter the worldʼs order.]
The rift created by the God of Chaos, trapped within the name of the Goddess Theia.
King Solomon had sought to free the earth from the constellations through that rift.
But the rift wasnʼt strong enough to withstand their power.
The voice addressed Solomon once more.
[The rift forged by the God of Chaos was insufficient. But... what if a greater rift could
be made?]
A larger rift capable of destroying everything.
Zeke heard Solomonʼs heart begin to beat.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart, still for ten thousand years, started pounding again.
Shhh...
The shadow soon enveloped the bound Solomon in the abyss.
It whispered in his ear.
[O king, join me. If you permit it, I shall create a greater rift and shatter the wheel of fate theyʼve woven.]
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Solomonʼs heart raced uncontrollably.
Even just witnessing the memory, Zeke felt swept up in the exhilaration.
Then Solomonʼs voice rang out.
"Do you promise to stop the constellations and save the earth?" The shadow rippled joyfully at Solomonʼs words.
A darkness utterly unlike the abyssʼs emanated from it.
[I promise, O king.]
Solomon opened his mouth with effort.
"Destroy... the wheel of fate. Without fail."
With those words, the shadow surged, then dissolved into smoke and burrowed into Solomonʼs body.
Rumble...
Peering into the memory, Zeke clearly felt the change overtaking Solomon after contracting with the shadow.
"This energy...?"
It was familiar to Zeke.
"Demonic energy?"
The impure, corrupting energy that dwelt within magical beasts.
Zeke sensed demonic energy surging from Solomonʼs body, far denser and more potent than any from a magical beast.
Crunch...
Solomonʼs body began to transform.
Even with the power of immortality, Solomon had been human.
But now, emitting such overwhelming demonic energy, it was questionable if he could still be called human.
A being that transcended human limits, boundaries, and very form.
Whoooosh...
Zeke realized what this entity was.
"The demon king."
King of all impurities, lord of the forsaken.
The savior abandoned by his people had chosen to fall into the abyss and become the demon king.
The contradiction of becoming an impure being to right a twisted world—that was the demon kingʼs very essence.
Rumble...
Even the bottomless pit, devoid of all, began to tremble under the demon kingʼs authority.
The intensifying pressure made it hard for Zeke to breathe.
Then, fully transformed into the demon king, Solomon spoke.
[With my power, all mortals on earth shall be saved.] Crack...
At that moment, the space of the bottomless pit began to tear apart.
The prison of the abyss, forged by the constellations, shattered, and a rift appeared within.
The demon king Solomon stepped slowly into the rift.
The constellations had created their most horrific enemy with their own hands.
As the demon king entered the rift in the abyss, a massive wave leaked from the torn dimensional gap, raging as if to incinerate even Zekeʼs soul.
"Urgh!"
In the midst of the colossal dimensional storm, Zeke glimpsed something through the demon kingʼs eyes.
A vast light.
Zeke plunged into the immense light.
Then, a sound rang in Zekeʼs ear.
Snap!
When Zeke opened his eyes, he was back in the Great Sageʼs chamber.
Cold sweat beaded on his face.
"It felt like years passed in an instant."
The Great Sage poured tea into Zekeʼs cup again.
"This is herbal tea. Have some. Itʼll clear your mind."
Perhaps due to the shock of being trapped in the abyssʼs prison, Zeke couldnʼt easily lift the cup.
If a mere glimpse of the memory left him like this, then Solomon, confined for ten thousand years, becoming the demon king might have been inevitable.
Zeke finally lifted the cup and drank.
As the Great Sage said, his mind cleared, and a warm energy flowed through his body.
Setting down the cup, Zeke looked at the Great Sage and asked, "Was that... something you showed me just now?"
The Great Sage shook his head.
"Even I lack the power to intervene with King Solomon or the demon king."
"Then how did I get that memory? Why would I have such a..." As he spoke, something flashed through Zekeʼs mind.
"King Solomon made a contract with an elder dragon. A dragon and human bound by contract are inseparably linked. Donʼt tell me...?"
Zeke said to the Great Sage, "That was a memory shared between the elder dragon and King Solomon?"
The Great Sage smiled faintly.
"The elder dragonʼs memory was suddenly summoned because you now possess the Akashic Code."
The Akashic Code, granting access to the dimensional server, held authority over records of all things that existed or had existed in the world.
Zeke realized the immense power of the Akashic Code.
"The elder dragon passed the Kabbalah system to me and even granted Akashic Code privileges. Because Iʼm the one who defies fate and will annihilate the demon king?" The demon king had chosen a greater rift to right the world.
But now, Zeke had to stop the demon king, who sought to create a rift to protect the world.
Zeke had thought it simple: stop the demon king unconditionally and live freely.
But after peering into Solomonʼs memory, his heart felt conflicted. He shook his head, steadying his resolve.
"...No need to overthink it. Iʼll take him down before he revives. And sweep away anyone blocking my path. Thatʼs enough."
As Zeke composed himself, the Great Sage slowly rose.
He extended his hand, and the three divine artifacts floated into the air.
The Great Sage looked at Zeke and said, "Time is nearly up. Zeke Draker, there is something you must know."
A bright light rippled from the three divine artifacts.
He continued, gazing at Zeke.
"The 'irreversible promised powerʼ that rewound your life to the past was my preparation."