Evelyn is the founding empress of the empire, acknowledged and beloved by the people from the start.
Her occupation within the Silverstar Pack is also an established one; the Luna.
It was another reason why people respected her—because she stood beside the emperor, who dominated the continent, facing several high-ranking Supernatural races and ca out on top. Naturally, her power within the empire was established.
On the contrary, Empress Morgana isn’t the founding empress.
She is also not beloved by the people due to her new face, and has only recently been acknowledged as the empress. And she has no power within the empire. She’s not a part of an inner circle, and the nobles are also not fully on board with her.
Compared to Evelyn, she’s nothing more than a decoration, than an empress.
Both are separated by leagues in terms of influence within their own respective empires.
Empress Morgana didn’t know Evelyn’s condition in the Mortal Realm, but she knew that her position was not good at all. She risked a lot by staging this battle, and if she stood on the losing side by the end of this, there would be imnse consequences.
Even so, the sharp words that ca out of Evelyn’s mouth stung greatly.
She clenched her jaw hard, holding back the impulse to explode.
And surprisingly, with her willpower alone, she managed to hold her anger and keep her gaze steady.
"Do I have your words?" She asked, eyes narrowing. "Do I have your word that you’d have Rex help cover this up?"
"Of course," Evelyn nodded gently. "Leave this place, and we’ll have a deal."
For a good mont, Empress Morgana stared at Evelyn’s face—almost like she was trying to brand the features into her mind. She cast one last look at Stelios, who now looked pathetic while being chased by Rex, before turning to leave.
She walked away, leaving Stelios to fend for himself.
"Hmm..." Evelyn mused aloud, watching Empress Morgana’s retreating back—until she dissolved into the distance with a probing gaze. "Surprising she accepted that so easily. I was rather hoping she’d get mad and attack. Rex would get stronger if he saw get hurt a little."
Evelyn intercepted Empress Morgana to deter her from helping Stelios.
She managed exactly that, but on the other side, she was also hoping Empress Morgana to attack.
Angels are the biggest threat as of this mont.
Of course, Rex might have his own opinion about this, but she considered the Angels dangerous.
Stelios might be desperate and losing right now with no chance of winning, but there’s absolutely no harm in making precautions. Making Rex stronger would certainly increase their odds of winning, but it was a sha that Empress Morgana didn’t even try to attack.
Swish—
Her moon earrings glowed.
A whisper entered her mind, making her look at where Empress Morgana disappeared into again.
"Do you think so?" She asked, talking with the entity inside the moon earrings. "I also have a feeling that she’s not being serious."
On the other hand, a few hundred ters away.
Stelios scrambled.
He was tumbling over and over, as it turns out, the strike on his foot earlier was worse than he thought.
Desperately fell forward roughly and looked at the golden sky.
"Please save ! Save !!" Stelios’ scream tore out of his throat, raw and ragged, aid at the vast, indifferent golden sky. "Save ! I was wrong to curse the First Light! I was wrong for letting Void go through with the deal!!"
His voice cracked into a shriek of pure terror, "I am still one of your Archangels! Hear !! Help !!"
Nothing.
No matter how loudly Stelios scread, there was no answer from the golden sky.
It was like he was shouting at an empty chamber; his voice only bounced around in the hollow.
An astral, rumbling chuckle ca from behind.
Rex was already near him, eyes glowing like molten lava as his lips stretched into an unnatural smile; excited at the desperation oozing out of Stelios’ body. "Scream... Scream more," He rasped, licking his lips in delight. "Your desperation slls really good."
Hearing this, Stelios looked over his shoulder, and his face instantly turned pale.
He crawled forward frantically, trying to get away, but there’s no chance.
Splash!
"RAAARGHHK!!"
A painful scream tore out of his throat.
Rex’s claws stabbed into his thigh, spraying blood everywhere as he hit a major artery.
Inside his mind, the real Rex was watching this in real ti.
What is he doing?
He watched as the Invincible Apparition pulled out the claws—and then stabbed them again to Stelios’ other thigh. Blood spilled and dyed the ground around. Stelios thrashed around like he was a worm that was being burned alive.
But his attempt only made the Invincible Apparition chuckle in delight.
He’s playing with Stelios. Kill him quickly. Don’t give him any chance to turn this around.
Regardless of how many tis Rex commanded the Invincible Apparition to kill Stelios and made sure that he died, there was no response. It was almost like his voice couldn’t reach the Invincible Apparition, or perhaps his voice was losing power.
Even so, Rex kept trying to reach the Invincible Apparition’s mind.
Kill Stelios.
End it right now.
He kept telling the Invincible Apparition that, hoping that one would be able to go through.
Just then, his eyes widened, or at least he felt them widen, as a flash of chaotic purple light pierced the distance ahead. Sothing was closing in, impossibly fast, a streak of luminous violence that could be barely perceived by his eyes.
Instincts played a crucial role when the eyes failed.
The Invincible Apparition tilted his head at the right mont, avoiding a sword aid at his face.
It brushed past him, missing him by a hair’s breadth.
Everything after it was a blurred, elongated tunnel of distorted air before, finally, the thunderclap ca.
CRACK—!
The Invincible Apparition was almost blown away by the shockwave, only then realizing that the sword was moving a lot faster than the speed of sound. It was a hundred tis faster than the speed of sound. He was lucky to have avoided it in ti.
But he held on, clamping down on Stelios’ leg with no intention of letting go.
Looking over his shoulder, he noted that it was the sword of chaos that sizzled with profane energy.
One who stabbed April earlier.
It slashed left and right in the air, almost like it was controlled by soone, before it turned and shot at the Invincible Apparition with the sa incredible speed. Upon reaching him, the sword tilted to the right before cleaving in a horizontal manner.
The Invincible Apparition, who instinctively tilted his body to the side, couldn’t react in ti.
All he could do was raise his claws, preparing to block it.
Clang—!
Slash!
Even though the block was flawless, the purple sword shattered his claws and continued along its path.
Its tip sliced through the Invincible Apparition’s throat.
Fortunately, it wasn’t deep enough to be fatal, but the profane energy was preventing his regeneration.
And in the next second, almost like it had a mind of its own, the sword turned aggressive—it drove the Invincible Apparition to let go of his hold on Stelios. Now, with one side being useless, it was difficult for the Invincible Apparition to keep up with the sword’s rciless onslaught.
Not to ntion, each attack was devastatingly powerful.
Shatter—!
Just like a few seconds ago, the sa thing happened to his other side.
The Invincible Apparition was now declawed, forced to retreat.
Stupid! I told you to kill him quickly!
Rex scread inside his mind, seeing that Stelios was now crawling away, fleeing.
Shit, I won’t be able to complete the Main Quest without Stelios!
Recalling that he needed to go through this trial to complete the Main Quest, Rex was panicking inside as he needed to get Stelios. If Stelios succeeded in fleeing, then he would fail the Main Quest—and the System would shut down!
He can’t have that.
Not when he still has enemies.
Just then, his panic halted when a thought crossed his mind.
I need Stelios to complete the Main Quest...? Is that even right?
Rex reopened the Main Quest panel and scanned its description, finding that there was no ntion of his need to defeat Stelios anywhere. All it asked him to do was to overco the wall placed before him by any ans necessary.
And thinking about the wall, he recalled what Kei Xun told him.
He forgot that he had clues that were given by another Scion.
Roar—!
Like a berserk animal, the Invincible Apparition roared at the sword and attacked with its broken claws.
Each clash only put him in a worse and worse condition, or at least it looked like that.
But the anger inside him kept pushing his strength higher.
Splash—!
The Invincible Apparition gritted his teeth when the sword slipped past his defense and pierced his belly; half of its length exploded on the back. He vomited a mouthful of blood, drenching the sword, but that wasn’t the end.
In a sudden burst of power, profane energy sizzled along the sword’s length.
Purple fla-like energy burned from the inside.
"I don’t know who’s controlling this sword," His glare burning as he spat blood onto the ground. "I don’t know why you’re helping a pathetic Archangel. But make no mistake—I will find you. You hear ? I WILL FIND YOU!"
Above, Adhara looked down when she heard Rex’s roar.
Her pupils dilated seeing the situation Rex was in, but losing focus even for a mont was a mistake.
Boom!
A beam of light slamd against her body like a train, sending her plumting to the ground.
Gritting her teeth in pain, she glanced upward as she plumted, only to witness several dozen of the celestial warriors converging their energy to form a colossal magic circle. Adhara had no idea what they intended, but their target was unmistakable—Rex.
It can’t be sothing good.
"FLUNRA!" She roared, hoping that Flunra could intercept in ti.
Flunra’s ears perked as he heard her voice.
He looked up and saw the gathering celestial warriors, but he couldn’t intercept them as he was now surrounded by many celestial warriors. If he tried to leap away, they would drag him back down, so he couldn’t intercept it, "Gistella!"
On the far side, Gistella was also stuck in the sa position.
After all, the celestial warriors outnumbered them by fifteen to one at the very least.
Even if she were free right now, it would already be too late.
Swish—!
Not even needing to chant, the golden magic circle ford and glowed.
Its center gathered energy and compressed into a massive sphere of light before erupting into a beam.
A blazing sun ray.
Boom—!
The Invincible Apparition snapped his gaze upward the mont the beam was fired; his eyes widened when he was confronted with a massive beam that was the size of a house. And with the sword piercing his stomach, there was no way out.
Stelios looked back and laughed like a maniac, praying to God that this would end Rex for good.
Inside, the real Rex shimred with power.
You’ve done enough, Invincible Apparition. Now, it’s ti you return to .
KABOOM—!
For a single, horrifying instant, the world ceased to exist—swallowed by a detonation so violent that light itself beca pain. A massive explosion tore through the area, blinding everyone who witnessed it with their own two eyes.
The ground heaved, scread, and burned.
It was a direct hit.
There was no doubt about the outco.
Rex was exhausted. Wounded. His strength had already been pushed beyond its limits.
Even at his peak, this attack would still hurt him.
Now, in this state, he should’ve been erased entirely—reduced to ash.
Or at least, that was what Stelios expected.
But as the blinding brilliance slowly settled into a constant brightness, sothing remained.
A silhouette stood at the heart of the beam.
The torrent of light crashed against it endlessly, burning it, yet the figure didn’t falter—tanking the very onslaught as if it were nothing more than a passive breeze. From within the beam, two eyes ignited that glowed with an otherworldly intensity.
Stelios sucked in a sharp, icy breath.
Then it ca.
A low chuckle reverberated through the air—amused, and unmistakably alive.
Rex hadn’t died.
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