Rex Thurn, the head of the Thurn Family and one of the five strongest individuals on the continent, was known as the Battle King.
Zeke silently gazed at Rex Thurn, who stood holding his greatsword.
He then gave a small nod of greeting and pulled Laevatein from his inventory, gripping it in his hand and pointing it toward Rex Thurn.
The air between the two settled heavily.
Rex Thurn was the first to step forward.
Whoooosh!
Even as the massive frame of the Battle King moved, there was no sound of his feet touching the ground.
With bold yet fluid movements, he swung his greatsword toward Zeke.
KABOOM!
Zeke blocked the Battle King's descending strike from above with Laevatein.
"Hmm!"
Though Zeke had long surpassed human limits, even he could feel the profound resonance embedded in Rex Thurn's sword strike.
But his attack didn't end there.
Rumble rumble rumble!
It felt as if his enormous body compressed in an instant.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Rex Thurn swung his sword in all directions in a flash, simultaneously targeting Zeke's vital points.
Zeke's eyes widened at the sudden onslaught of the Battle King's technique.
A flash of sword light erupted from the Laevatein in his hand, shooting up into the air.
KABOOM!
The sword light surging from Laevatein spread wide, blocking Rex Thurn's strikes.
Screeeeech—
Even though the all-around strikes were halted, the Battle King's assault didn't stop.
This time, he took another step forward and rammed his shoulder into Zeke.
Boom!
The charge from Rex Thurn carried a pressure that felt like it could topple an entire mountain range.
Zeke deployed the Chamber of Metal Power to meet Rex Thurn's charging force head-on.
KABOOM!
As their shoulders collided, the shockwave spread throughout the room, shaking Winterkeep itself.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Winterkeep, located in the deepest part of the Four Seasons Star—the headquarters of the Draker Family—was designed to withstand ordinary impacts without shaking.
But this clash between two beings who had transcended human limits was enough to prevent even Winterkeep from fully escaping the shock.
Thud!
The two men, who had offset the shockwave, stepped back simultaneously.
Rex Thurn raised his sword and steadied his breathing.
Just from the power of the sword he wielded, he didn't look like someone whose life force was nearly spent.
Yet Zeke could sense that Rex Thurn's time was running out.
Looking at Zeke, he said,
"Impressive."
The Battle King straightened his greatsword and assumed his stance once more.
Whoooong!
An ominous energy emanated from him.
"Huuu...."
Rex Thurn intended to pour his final will into his sword.
He believed that Zeke Draker would fully understand the essence of the last sword technique he had poured his life into.
Rumble rumble!
Seeing the Battle King's final burst of fighting spirit, Zeke wore a more serious expression than ever before.
He readjusted his grip on Laevatein and prepared his own final strike.
Whoooong!
As the Authority of the Heart-Sword activated, the sword in Zeke's heart merged with Laevatein.
At that moment, Rex Thurn took a step forward.
Thud!
The foot he stepped out with caused a slight vibration.
At the same time, he brought his greatsword straight down from above.
A perfect downward strike without the slightest excess motion.
Then, a completely different scene unfolded before Zeke's eyes.
Rumble rumble rumble!
In an instant, he found himself not in the Four Seasons Star, but in an unknown space devoid of anything.
And filling that space, a colossal greatsword descended from above toward him.
A sword of a size that could cleave the entire world plunged down solely to cut Zeke.
An ordinary person would have already lost consciousness under the overwhelming scale and pressure.
But Zeke gazed clearly at the Battle King's final strike, infused with his last burst of fighting spirit, with calm eyes.
He too stepped forward and channeled the energy of his full power technique into his Heart-Sword, swinging it horizontally toward the Battle King's world-splitting downward strike.
Swooooosh—
Incredibly, a fine crack appeared on the Battle King's sword as it plunged toward Zeke, and fissures slowly spread from it.
Crack crack crack—
The massive sword of the Battle King shattered due to the cracks before it could even reach him.
Psssh—
As the sword turned to dust and vanished, the sudden scene disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Rex Thurn and Zeke standing in the room of Winterkeep.
Thud!
Rex Thurn, who had been standing rigidly with his sword raised, suddenly dropped to one knee.
Zeke stored Laevatein in his inventory and rushed toward him.
"Family Head!"
Zeke tried to support Rex Thurn, but he shook his head and refused the help.
"I'm fine."
Rex Thurn planted his greatsword into the ground and leaned his back against the blade, sitting cross-legged.
He then regulated his breathing.
Zeke quickly examined his body, intending to heal him with full recovery, but it was already too late.
'The vessel of the soul was shattered.'
Even with Zeke's divinity, he could only heal the flesh.
A broken vessel containing the soul was beyond even the power of a constellation like Zeke.
Once his breathing stabilized, Rex Thurn lifted his head and looked at Zeke.
"Zeke Draker, do you know why I wanted to see you one last time?" Zeke nodded at Rex Thurn's words.
"I will properly convey the insight you gained at the end to the Thurn Family." Return of light before extinction.
It referred to the phenomenon where vitality briefly returned just before death.
The Black Knight, Rex Thurn, had attained the realm of grandmaster at the threshold of death.
But realizing that death was imminent, the Battle King had summoned Zeke, who had reached a higher realm than himself, to pass on this insight to the Thurn Family by demonstrating his final sword.
Rex Thurn's expression softened with relief at Zeke's words.
"Thank you. But that's not the only reason I called you."
He took a deep breath and continued.
"Arthur Draker and Laura Agamemnon. It's because I have a duty to convey the story entangled between those two to you."
The reason Zeke had wanted to meet Rex Thurn was ultimately to learn what secret lay between those two.
He said to Rex Thurn,
"I already know that Arthur Draker killed my mother."
Rex Thurn was the one startled by Zeke's words.
He then nodded gravely.
"...I see. So you also knew that Arthur is not your biological father."
"Yes, it seems you knew that as well, Family Head."
Zeke asked Rex Thurn,
"Do you know who my biological father is?"
Rex Thurn paused at Zeke's question.
After a moment of thought, he slowly spoke.
"It may disappoint you, but even I don't know that far." He continued.
"What is certain is that Laura and Arthur never shared a bed, and that she despised him."
Zeke nodded at Rex Thurn's words.
The Laura Agamemnon he had seen in the past hated Arthur Draker more than anyone. Yet she had married him.
Even though the Agamemnon Family was scorned by the Draker blood oath families for being cursed, Laura Agamemnon had steadfastly held her position as Arthur's wife
She gave birth to Zeke and died at Arthur Draker's hands.
As Zeke recalled the Laura Agamemnon from the past, Rex Thurn spoke.
"Laura possessed the power of prophecy. Arthur wanted to claim that power for himself."
As an irregular who could wield Chronos's authority, Laura had the power of prophecy.
For Arthur Draker, who sought to grasp and control everything, the power of prophecy was something he coveted above all.
At that moment, something flashed through Zeke's mind.
Carmilla, the Vampire Queen and progenitor.
She had originally entered the Four Seasons Star as a maid to Zeke's mother, Laura Agamemnon.
But Carmilla fell to Arthur Draker's seduction, slept with him, and gave birth to Bacchus, a vampire half-breed.
Bacchus had told Zeke that Arthur Draker experimented to see what kind of offspring would result from combining his blood with women who possessed special powers.
That's why Bacchus saw himself merely as an experimental subject and had never felt paternal affection from Arthur.
'If Arthur Draker was interested in the prophetic power Laura Agamemnon possessed...'
He might have married her to conduct his 'special bloodline experiments' to produce a child with prophetic abilities.
Even if Laura didn't want it, with Arthur Draker's characteristic persistence, he could have maneuvered the situation to force the marriage.
Zeke asked Rex Thurn,
"I've heard that Arthur Draker wanted to father children with exceptional women regardless of family or race."
Zeke's eyes gleamed.
"Could it be that he married my mother to have a child who inherited the power of prophecy?"
Rex Thurn pressed his lips together at Zeke's words, then spoke.
"It's hard to deny what you say."
With a bitter expression, he continued.
"Arthur was a longtime friend of mine, but on the other hand, he was someone whose true intentions were hard to fathom."
Arthur Draker, Ramon Siemens, and Rex Thurn.
They were family heads bound by strong blood oaths and friends who had grown up together since childhood.
But as time passed, the paths they walked diverged greatly. Ramon Siemens allied with Narak to revive the Fell Gods and the Demon King, while Arthur Draker sought to bring about the apocalypse and become a god himself.
Rex Thurn looked up at Zeke and said,
"Zeke, listen carefully. What I'm about to tell you, I've never shared with anyone else." He caught his breath and continued.
"Forty years ago, when Arthur, Ramon, and I were still green youths, we sought a dungeon unknown to the world."
Arthur Draker, Ramon Siemens, and Rex Thurn had trusted each other enough to explore dungeons together.
Zeke recalled the story he had heard from Laura Agamemnon in the past.
'Mother said that four of them—you, Arthur Draker, Ramon Siemens, and Rex Thurn— formed a party to search for the Elder Dragon ruins.'
Arthur Draker had long sought the Elder Dragon ruins.
Though the ruins he desired were ultimately claimed by Zeke.
Zeke asked Rex Thurn,
"Was that dungeon the Elder Dragon ruins?"
Rex Thurn shook his head.
"Elder Dragon ruins. It's been a long time since I've heard that. Yes, we searched for them extensively back then."
With eyes lost in memory, he murmured slowly.
"Laura was with us then too. Looking back, there was no time in my life as joyful as that.
We argued and fought every day, got lost and camped out constantly... but it was fun." Rex Thurn's voice grew quieter as he reminisced.
Zeke sensed his life force draining rapidly and approached, invoking his divinity to infuse him with power.
Whoooong!
As the golden aura seeped into his body, a bit of vitality returned compared to moments before.
Rex Thurn lifted his head again and looked at Zeke.
"...What an astonishing power. I'm glad I called you for this final meeting." He continued.
"Anyway, the dungeon we found back then wasn't the Elder Dragon ruins."
"Then what were you searching for?"
At Zeke's question, Rex Thurn steadied his breath and slowly spoke.
"It was an ancient temple whose name was unknown. Arthur scoured the entire continent to find that temple. But there..."
Rex Thurn hesitated for a moment, unable to continue.
After a pause, he forced himself to speak again.
"An accident happened. An unexpected major accident."
Zeke looked at Rex Thurn and asked,
"What kind of accident?"
Rex Thurn bit his lip at Zeke's question.
Then, in a low voice, he slowly said,
"Arthur... died there."