Rex was unfazed by the Faceless Reaper’s wrath.
Its anger was flaring so high that it almost turned tangible—a seething vapor that didn’t even bother to hide its intention to murder Rex and feast on his flesh. But for Rex—the scorching heat of wrath was a rejuvenating breeze for him.
He was so relaxed that he even bothered to talk to a tree.
And through his luck, the tree answered with a blessing.
"Oh? A blessing?" Rex smiled a little in amusent. "Accept it."
As soon as he confird, erald energy crawled out of the ground and surged across his entire body.
But even then, he wasn’t satisfied.
"If you’re hiring —this will not be enough. Give sothing permanent," Rex demanded, facing the Erald Fortress again while completely ignoring the Faceless Reaper as if it were nothing. "If you can’t give more, then don’t bother giving anything. I’ll do this for charity."
Boom!
Furiously, the Faceless Reaper’s aura exploded once again.
Never in its entire life had it been disrespected by anyone, especially not by a spirit.
All turned serious and fearful at its sight, so this is unacceptable.
And worst of it all, Rex didn’t seem to be doing this on purpose to instigate the Faceless Reaper.
He was really unfazed by this battle.
"Hmm, we can talk about that later," Rex turned his gaze back to the Faceless Reaper.
...
Grade: SSS
Description: Coat the user’s claws with a tinge of the Erald Fortress’ power, which would allow the user to reap energy from anything, turning it into a Reaping Seed—that could be absorbed or stored freely. It’s a skill made by a glimpse of the Reap and Sow Echo.
Usage Limit: 1 ti.
...
Rex’s eyes glistened when the description of the blessing appeared.
From the start, he wasn’t expecting to get anything from talking to the tree, so this was a bonus.
One that he would accept with open arms.
He didn’t care that he could only use it one ti.
Giving this attack its all, the Faceless Reaper hurled another blood bead—letting it hover right before Rex’s face. In the next heartbeat, it pounced, scythe-arm cleaving forward in its signature strike, the one that easily overpowered the weakened Rick earlier.
Once the blood bead splashed, the scythe-arm blurred and delivered a barrage of attacks in an instant.
Hundreds of stabs in a second.
Rex’s reflex and reaction ti were impeccable as he moved to block the instantaneous barrage, but he wasn’t perfect; there were so stabs that got through. His body splashed with blood—pain assaulted his pain nerves ruthlessly.
But his expression was still chillingly calm, as if he wasn’t being overrun.
Roar!!
Knowing that ti was running out, the Faceless Reaper attacked again with the sa attack.
Just like earlier, Rex wanted to tank it again and feast on the pain that made him feel more alive, but as it was about to strike, the sound of whistling wind pierced their ears. From above, a figure descended with the speed of a lightning strike.
Crash!
Rex paused for a second.
His face froze, and his eyes widened when a figure suddenly appeared before him.
She stood right where the Faceless Reaper should be.
Blinking, Rex tilted his head to see the woman properly—long, rippling hair cascaded down her back like flowing water, its luminous blue catching light with every subtle movent. Her eyes, glowing in the sa hue, seed to hold the depth of an endless ocean.
Her features carried the grace of a noblewoman in her pri, mature yet flawless.
It was as though ti itself had chosen to linger on her late-twenties bloom.
Lips of natural cherry-red softened the confident and prideful aura she radiated, though the loose cloak falling elegantly over her armor only heightened it. The odd slant of her eyes—and the pointed taper of her ears reminded Rex of the Dark Elves, to Iris to be exact.
However, where Iris was familiar warmth of the moon, this woman was an ocean tide.
Steady and dominating.
Claw-shaped gauntlets encased her hands, making her fingers almost reach her knees, gleaming like the extension of her will. From the hum of power, Rex could tell that it was her Soul Artifact. But his gaze lingered the longest at the small creature perched upon her shoulder.
A wolf wrought entirely of water, and it looked like it was alive.
Even then, the wolf and her beauty ant little to Rex right now.
His hands were already twitching with an intent.
Rex’s eyes darted from the woman and then to the Faceless Reaper that was hurled away.
It was already on the other side of the city.
Althea looked over her shoulder, staring into Rex’s eyes with a coldness that hides interest and curiosity.
Then, she opened her mouth to speak, "Are you ok—"
Before she could even finish her words, a strong and violent backhand arced towards her face.
She didn’t have the ti to react as she wasn’t expecting the sudden attack.
Rex’s hand landed crisply against her well-maintained, smooth skin, hurling her away.
Even though Althea wanted to catch herself to stop the montum, the backhand slap was stronger than she anticipated. She put Rex’s strength at the level of Master Immortal Spirit 5, but this backhand slap showed that he was far stronger than that.
If she had to put him sowhere, then he was invincible at his rank, but not enough to go up a rank.
Sowhere around the middle.
"Huekh!"
Althea was forced to let out a shaful moan when her back slamd against a nearby rubble.
Her eyes lingered on the ground for a quick second.
Disbelief gnawed at her mind as she tried to really process what had happened.
’Pardon ,’ She thought inside, reaching for her burning cheek. ’I saw him struggling and decided to co down to help. I was expecting a thank you, but why did I get a slap instead? Is this so form of a greeting from where he was from? I heard his origin was from so backwater bubble.’
Althea lifted her gaze, only to et Rex’s eyes—already hard with hostility.
"Who the fuck are you?!" Rex’s voice, or rather, the Invincible Apparition’s voice, rose for the first ti.
His veins bulged across his neck as he asked that question.
"Who am I? You stood on my territory and asked who am I? How dare you..." Althea’s voice trembled with stern anger; she couldn’t believe what was happening. "Even so, how could you attack ? Clearly, I’m not your enemy!"
Althea wasn’t even a Demon Spirit.
She has two arms and two legs—like any other normal spirit, so there’s no way Rex would mistake her as a voidal monster. In fact, she was hurt more about the fact that Rex mistook her for a voidal monster than the slap.
"How should I know that?" Rex barked back.
Althea staggered back as if Rex’s words struck like a physical blow.
She clutched her chest dramatically.
"Are you saying that I’m fat and look like a monster? I’m not fat or big at all!" Biting her lower lip, she dissolved her Soul Artifact—then grabbed and raised her cloak. "It’s the cloak! The cloak made bigger than I am!"
"I didn’t say that you were fat!"
"But you implied that I am!"
"What the fu—"
Rex stopped himself from feeding into her nonsense, shaking his head—as he swallowed the words on his tongue. Instead, he cut the mont short and pointed at the Faceless Reaper. "Why did you do that? Why did you attack it?!"
"Am I wrong to attack it?" Althea asked back, throwing her hands up in complete disbelief.
She didn’t know why this was even a problem for Rex.
"Yes!" Rex replied strongly, saliva spewing from his mouth. "Did I ask you for help? No! Oh... I’m really going to kill her. I’m going to kill her, and I won’t let you stop from doing it. I was in the zone, and this girl intervened."
"She’s a noble? So what?! Nobody will know."
"Alright, fine! I’m not going to kill her."
Althea watched from afar as Rex seed to be talking, no, arguing with himself.
It was a bizarre sight, one that made her raise a brow.
Even so, she felt compelled to speak, "If you hadn’t appeared so utterly pathetic earlier, I would never have descended to aid you. If anything, the fault lies with you. And let us not forget—you slapped and called fat, so I’m the victim here. That’s unforgivable for a Knight!"
Just then, Rex’s eyes twitched.
He was holding back from doing anything more, but Althea was asking for it.
Swish!
Paah!
Rex vanished from his spot and reappeared before Althea like a ghost; his hand snapped across her face for a second ti. The slap resounded more crisply than before. The faint flush on her cheek deepened, leaving her face marked in two stark shades.
One half soft white and the other bright red.
For the second ti, Althea clasped her cheek and looked up at Rex in shock.
"Look, don’t make angrier than I should be," Rex whispered, leaning down to look into her eyes. "I reckoned you were sent here to check what happened to the horde, so you can go back to wherever you ca from, and tell Empress Morgana that it’s being settled. Can you do that for ?"
Althea opened her mouth to refute.
But no words ca out for so reason.
She tried saying sothing a few tis, but it was futile; no words ca out.
It wasn’t fear of Rex, far from it, but sothing in him stirred a pull she couldn’t deny.
His presence or perhaps his re gaze pressed against her will, making her want to yield, to only say yes to whatever he wanted her to do. And for a fleeting mont, the word ’yes’ trembled on her lips, aching to slip free.
But her pride as a noble wouldn’t allow her to say it.
At least not that easily.
"No," Althea stood back up and dusted her armor. "I’m going to see how you kill it."
Rex threw his hands in exasperation.
"You ruined the damn mood," Rex grumbled, striding toward—the Faceless Reaper. The creature had already risen, though its body wavered unsteadily—clearly at its limit after Rex and Althea’s quarrel. "You made waste the last damn minute."
Since there was no more fun that be extracted from the Faceless Reaper, Rex decided to end it.
He flicked his hand, commanding the crimson haze around him to envelop the Faceless Reaper.
It was the Inevitable Death that he cast before coming out.
Devouring the blood of all the prisoners broke the limitation of range from the Inevitable Death, so its cast range was increased dramatically. It allowed Rex to create this haze. Anyone who breathed in the haze would be more and more susceptible to the Minor Law of Inevitability.
And in the Faceless Reaper’s case, it was already lost from the mont it stepped in here.
Splash!
Rex gestured with his hand, and the red haze attacked the Faceless Reaper.
It destroyed the monster’s energy flow inside, crippling it.
Blood splashed everywhere from the Faceless Reaper’s body as its aura vanished completely.
His power was drained in an instant, making it even weaker than a High Spirit.
A painful whimper escaped its mouth as it was completely exposed to be killed.
And once it was done, Rex raised his claws—coating them with the Reaping skill he obtained. His eyes savored the sight and power of the blessing from the Erald Fortress, finding it more fascinating than anything he had ever seen in this realm.
Then, with a light nod, he moved.
Swish!
Like a blurry shadow, he pounced and thrust his claws forward.
Splash!
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