Angels are sensitive to dark and evil forces that can be seen or unseen.
It was so sort of a gift carried by their genetics, the code that the Angel Origin, branded on them to know who to trust and help. Of course—it could only be used as a surface-level assessnt but it's still helpful nevertheless.
Seeing the darkness Rex exuded was surprising but wasn't that surprising.
Eryndor had lived for a very long ti.
Both Catherine and Radiel are considered as babies in his view.
So he knew that anyone who rose into power—as much as the position of an Emperor would certainly have darkness around them, becoming strong was only reserved for those who are willing to do anything—that's the reality of the world.
However, the darkness coming from Rex intensified as soon as he heard about Nadia.
Now, it was akin to a blank ink poured onto a blank sheet of paper.
Darkness enveloped the background, Eryndor couldn't see anything other than the darkness as well as the pair of murderous eyes. His pupils tremor, as he was forced to gaze into Rex's, the composed deanor he donned in front of Evelyn was nowhere to be seen.
In his first encounter with the Empress, he sensed weakness albeit small.
Because of that, he decided to exploit it even at the risk of offending the Empress.
He wanted to take control of the conversation and coax Evelyn to free his subordinates.
But that was the wrong move.
Standing behind her was an absolute monster of an Emperor and now he's paying the price.
'His darkness... It's almost as dark as even the Demon Origin!' He exclaid inside.
For a mont there, words were out of reach for Eryndor's tongue.
No answer ca out of his mouth as he was stunned in place.
Rex who was anticipating a clear answer took this badly, "ANSWER !!"
Kaboom!!
Venting out the anger boiling inside like molten lava, Rex clutched his hand into a fist and drove it forward, with devastating force. His fist landed re inches away from Eryndor's head, sending tremors through the wall.
A massive crack appeared on the wall followed by the shattering layers of formations.
Just the sheer power behind the punch alone made all onlookers flinch.
Had Rex driven that into Eryndor's face, the room would've turned into a bloody ss.
Snapping out of his trance instantly, Eryndor nodded, "I- I understand..."
He gulped upon saying that as he ca to realize that he was inches away from death, the Emperor could kill him, as easily as squishing a bug. No wonder everyone revered, and also loyal to him with such a strength.
Once Rex obtained the answer he wanted, he pulled out his steaming fist.
"Ask Nadia what punishnt is fitting this old fool," Rex commanded, turning to Evelyn.
Evelyn nodded in understanding.
Frankly speaking, she didn't think Nadia would want to go as far as punishing Eryndor for what he did but she knew not to say that right now and let Rex vented. Rex pivoted away and dispersed his destructive energy.
"Now, tell what you're going to do when you find that thing," Rex demanded.
Hearing this, Eryndor paused for a second before he realized what Rex was talking about.
He was talking about the monster on the parchnt.
Gritting his teeth hard—to appease the searing pain coming from his stabbed wrists, Eryndor answered with difficulty, "I'm going to... I'm going to determine whether it's an energy source or a God. If it's an energy source—I'm going to exhaust it. If it's so sort of a God then I will hide it or possibly kill it"
Just before coming here, Evelyn also showed the parchnt.
Rex already scanned the parchnt with the System and found that it was most likely not an energy source but what it was is still unknown. Since it was hand-drawn the System couldn't really determine exactly what it was.
"Can you even do that? With your power?" Rex asked.
Eryndor's expression turned stern, "I will try to do anything to make sure Void will not lay his hand on that thing. Most of us surviving Angels were forced to mutate into Dark Angels—by corrupting our holy energy and turning it into sothing else"
"How exactly did Void do that?"
"I do not really know... the rebellion has their own base away from Heaven. But from what I've heard, before being corrupted, the Angels would be blindfolded and taken into a room. It only needed one day—their holy energy would begin to change into its darker variant—sothing called Profane Energy"
"So he has already established a solid way to create his own race"
Just then, as they were discussing Void, hurried footsteps ca from the door.
All of them turned to the door and found Prof. K rushing inside.
He swept his gaze across the room and instantly locked onto Rex, there was urgency behind his eyes, "Rex!" He called before correcting when he saw the Angels. "Your Majesty—I've got sothing you need to know!"
"What is it? Tell " Rex asked, his curiosity piqued.
Professor K had been tasked with delving into the nature of the Chaos Minion and Chaos as a whole—Rex deed it to be the gravest threat, especially when this must have sothing to do with the Fourthborn.
No matter what, Rex wouldn't diminish the threat the Fourthborn threw at him.
Above everything, he placed the Fourthborn at the top of the list.
Now, seeing Prof. K co in person, Rex couldn't help but feel a surge of curiosity.
"Chaos energy... it's revolving around them!" Prof. K said, pointing at the three Angels.
Upon hearing the accusation, the three Angels gasped—their expressions paled.
Eryndor already got into trouble with Rex and now, this seemingly random person who was a scholar was accusing them as the cause of the Chaos energy problem. If this continues on— Rex might actually kill them.
And seeing how reacted earlier, killing them wouldn't even weigh down his conscience.
Prof. K watched as Rex and Evelyn were still confused, so he decided to elaborate.
It started not too long ago.
His research revealed that the Chaos energy coming from the Chaos minion's carcass was dissipating in re days—or even faster, depending on the concentration, and the specific body part of the carcass in question.
If left alone, the Chaos energy would disappear completely.
Prof. K deduced one important fact from the incident with Delta inside the colosseum.
And that is the fact that Chaos energy was treated as a plague by the world.
Seeing how quickly the world's energy attacked the Chaos portal, this is certainly a fact.
It was an obvious fact that was as clear as day.
Any Chaos portal or Chaos energy for that matter would be repaired and get rid of until there was not a trace of them left. But, that dynamic could change, Chaos energy could grab ahold of sothing so that the world wouldn't recognize, single out, and attack it.
And the host that it liked to latch onto was the Angels for so reason.
"Because of how extrely contagious Chaos energy was, so unnecessary body parts of the carcass were taken out of the city so that no more people would get sick from it," Prof. K explained. "And as expected, the remaining Chaos energy dissipated upon reaching a range, but the one in my lab doesn't. It lingered longer—sohow, the world didn't attack it"
"Also, it could even go to these Angels as if it has a mind of its own" Prof. K added. "I'm sure Her Majesty Evelyn could attest to that claim"
Rex turned towards Evelyn, "Is that true?"
"Yes," She nodded. "I saw a sliver of Chaos energy seeping into Radiel's skin"
"What...? ?" Radiel stamred in surprise.
Upon seeing his reaction, Rex frowned and asked, "You didn't see or feel it happening?" Find your next read at empire
"N- No, I don't even know what Chaos energy is being talked about here" He replied.
Rex studied his expression and found that he wasn't lying.
His micro-expressions didn't point to him lying, he was telling the truth.
"You can't sense it..." Rex muttered in mild shock—before shifting his gaze to Catherine and also Eryndor finding them wearing the sa—exact expression as Radiel. "So none of them could sense Chaos energy"
Prof. K continued, "I'm sure of it, Chaos and the Angels are sohow tied"
"These Angels' presence was keeping Chaos energy afloat from the world," He added.
Hearing this, Rex's mind was thrown back to the tragedy in the desert.
As he was trying to close down the Chaos portals—battling against its minions, he recalled that a Chaos minion tried to strike Evelyn. Even though both Radiel—and Catherine were in the way, it decided to strike Evelyn.
Rex didn't put it into his mind back then but now, it enhances Prof. K's claims.
It seed Chaos was avoiding harming Angels.
"Can Chaos energy be the ingredient to create Dark Angels?" Rex turned to Eryndor.
Upon hearing this, Eryndor thought for a second before nodding his head, "It definitely can"
Just then—Evelyn intervened, "If they couldn't sense Chaos energy, then how can we know how much Chaos energy, has managed to get inside of them? Since that Chaos minion was in the eighth-rank realm, it probably has enough energy to corrupt them"
"No, I think the amount to create a Dark Angel is much more than that" Prof. K intervened.
Rex turned back to Eryndor, "Is there anything else you know about the process?"
"Hmm..." Eryndor pondered deeply. "I heard those who are corrupted would've experienced minor changes to their appearance. One of the most basic, and first one would be the clear change of their eye color into red"
*Cough!*
Radiel turned to Catherine when he heard her cough.
Nobody was paying attention to her other than him.
But then, he sucked in a cold breath and raised his hand to point at Catherine, "C- Catherine"
"Y- Your eyes..." He added stutteringly.
Upon hearing this, Rex and the others turned towards Catherine, and saw a surprising scene, blood could be seen on Catherine's hand, so ca out through her cough earlier but what the others paid close attention to was her left eye.
Her left eye suddenly turned from bright golden to a shade of red.
"Prof. K!" Rex called.
Knowing what to do, Prof. K went over to check on Catherine.
"Yes, she absorbed enough Chaos energy to trigger a mutation in her bloodline," Prof. K said.
Catherine panicked, her entire body trembled, when she realized that she was going to turn into a Dark Angel like the others who had abandoned the Original Light, "W- What should I... What should I do...? I don't want to turn..." She sobbed in a shaky voice.
Seeing this, Radiel went over and confronted her.
Being turned is much more than abandoning the Original Light but also losing their identity.
It must've been scary for Catherine who wasn't willing to turn.
"So there's levels to the change?" Rex frowned.
Eryndor—who was caught off guard by the change, snapped out of his daze and nodded.
Upon seeing this, Rex imdiately asked the System.
Do you know anything about the Dark Angels?
User Comments
0 comments from readers