Adhara stared at the miniature blood moon above.
It manifested out of nothing, an invisible energy that belonged to this realm.
"Ti worked differently in this realm," She muttered, eyes sparkling in awe at the grand spectacle that manifested before her. "It has only been days for us, but for him... He has gotten a lot stronger than the last ti we saw him."
Just like the usual, Rex kept soaring higher and higher in the path of power.
No sign of slowing down.
As she watched the blood moon manifest fully, her lips curled into a wide, elated smile.
For the Silverstar Pack, keeping up with Rex’s growth has always been a constant, horrendous spectacle.
It was especially so for the Female Alpha.
So find it despairing to constantly keep up on Rex’s growth.
But right at this mont, for the first ti ever, Adhara felt an unbelievable rush of relief.
’Chasing after Sven and fighting him... I made the right choice,’ She thought inside, elated that what she doubted—as reckless, turns out to be the right thing to do. ’Had I not done that, I would’ve been left behind. But I did get stronger.’
"Of course he is," Evelyn added. "And so do you..."
Adhara stared at Evelyn in a subtle surprise.
For so reason, she had been able to do odd things she had never shown herself to be able to do before.
Suppressing their connections, using her luna energy to contact other pack mbers—like a long-range communication, and now she can even sowhat read minds. Adhara chuckled a little, finding that like her, Evelyn was also getting stronger.
NGOONG—!
Just then, the sound of a heavy vacuum resounded as the wind was pulled toward Rex.
Crimson moonlight bathed Rex’s body with power.
And in the next instant, the impact happened.
CRACK—!
It wasn’t destructive, but the sound the final attack made exploded loudly like a fierce thunderclap.
A rush of violent air brushed past them.
Given the sheer power contained within—far surpassing any mber of the Silverstar Pack except for Rex—both Adhara and Evelyn expected the shock to blast everything back. But it didn’t. The force was imnse, yet its release was so instantaneous, so sharply focused, that it dissipated into the surroundings before it could truly disturb them.
But it was another story for the one receiving this attack.
Adhara and Evelyn landed back on the ground gracefully.
Not too far away from them, Flunra and Gistella also landed—both looked completely fine.
Unlike the four of them, the entire area for miles was flattened completely.
Like this area had always been a flatland.
Only a distant construct with several still-standing statues could be seen ahead of them.
All of them looked above and found the miniature blood moon was dissipating into nothing, revealing the sunny sky above. No sign of the golden clouds or blinding sunlight, which was a sign that the enemy had been defeated.
Even the celestial warriors that crowded the sky were no more.
Not a single one of them remained; shattered by the instantaneous impact from the last attack.
For a mont there, the Silverstar Pack sensed Rex’s presence ahead.
But the swirling cloud that covered the entire made them pause, a mont’s hesitation—born from the concern that the Archangel of Knives might still be alive. Had that been true, though, Rex would have certainly warned them from approaching.
Since he didn’t, the Archangel of Knives should be dead.
Once they reached the center of the smoke, Rex’s figure finally erged.
He already reverted back to normal, to his human form, and there were wounds across his entire body.
Small cuts, but there are many of them, and oddly enough, none of them are bleeding.
Considering how monstrous his regeneration was, this was a surprising sight, but this only served to show that the battle was incredibly taxing on his body. "Help him heal—Evelyn," Gistella comnted in concern. "Why are you standing there?"
Evelyn didn’t answer.
It prompted Gistella to be the one to approach Rex first, but Flunra stopped her.
"Wait... His heartbeat is too fast," Flunra warned—sensing the rapid beat of Rex’s heart. "And his scent is also slightly different."
Slowly, Rex glanced over his shoulder at them before pivoting around.
At that mont, the entire Silverstar Pack was startled when their gazes locked not on crimson, but on a pair of blazing, unnatural gold. Two molten pearls glowed where Rex’s eyes should have been—a sight utterly foreign, for his eyes had almost always burned crimson until now.
"Rex...?" Evelyn called with a whispering tone.
For a good mont that was filled with silence, the Silverstar Pack waited for Rex to answer tensely.
Most were worried that sothing had taken over him.
But that was only their feelings.
"Hmm, what’s wrong?" Rex asked with a light tone—completely exhausted. His fiery molten gold eyes faded slowly and revealed the crimson underneath—the eyes that the others recognized. "Is it not over? What is it?"
Upon seeing him instantly fixing his posture in preparation to fight again, the others smiled wryly.
Seems like Rex was completely fine.
"I think you owe us an explanation with those eyes," Adhara shook her head, slightly annoyed.
"You’ve changed a lot, Royal Black Prince," Flunra placed a hand on his chin—nodding his head as he was approving of the amount of power contained inside Rex right now. Slowly but surely, Rex’s power was exceeding the royals in the past. "You’re starting to look like the Origin."
"Why are all of you so an?" Gistella rebutted and approached Rex worriedly. "How are you feeling?"
Hearing them bantering, Rex’s lips curled a little.
Maybe this was nothing for them.
But for him who has been struggling and fighting in this realm for years, the sound of their voices, even in idle banter, was a profound comfort. It would be a lie to say that this was nothing. Rex had missed them and the Mortal Realm.
And now, with the Archangel of Knives defeated and his other objectives secured, only Devo remained.
However, with his current strength and Empress Morgana’s secret, Rex was confident.
It wouldn’t take long before the ti for him to return arrived.
"Still, what caused those golden eyes, Rex?" Evelyn asked curiously.
Just earlier, she also saw that Rex had those golden eyes, and he was also acting differently than normal.
Sothing that made her worry.
"Well, good news is that I’ve gotten stronger with it..."
"And the bad news?"
"Bad news is, I’m now in so sort of a race to beco the strongest. I’ll tell you in detail when I’m back ho."
Hearing this, Gistella, who was supporting him to stand, asked, "Aren’t you going to co back soon?"
"Yes, the matter of getting what I needed is fine. Now, all I need is to rescue Devo, but it wouldn’t take long." Rex reached his hand and rubbed Gistella’s head. "I promise I’ll be returning soon enough. Like you wouldn’t even realize that I’m back."
"Yes, I’ll be waiting!" Gistella nodded eagerly.
Seeing how lovey-dovey they were being, Adhara stepped in and pushed Gistella away.
"That’s enough," She said, placing herself between Gistella and Rex. "I didn’t co here to see this."
"Yes, that is enough," Evelyn intervened; her voice louder than normal. "We’ll be taking our leave now. You still have things to do, right? Then we’ll not take too much of your ti. Just finish this and co back to us,"
Adhara and Gistella looked at Evelyn and saw the aningful gaze that she was giving them.
It was a signal for them to stop playing around.
"But you don’t need to hurry, though," Gistella said with an awkward chuckle—as she walked back to Evelyn’s side.
"Yes, take your ti," Adhara also nodded and walked away. "Make sure everything is done here."
Seeing this, Rex was at a loss for words.
"Hey—wait! Do you need to quickly go back? I don’t think the Spirit Realm is rejecting all of you yet," He complained, hoping that they could stay a bit longer as he was extrely exhausted right now and needed them beside him. "Why the rush?"
"Hmm, yeah, why the rush?" Flunra asked with the sa confusion.
However, all he got was a slap on the back of his head from Adhara.
"Just co back with us, and don’t ask questions," Adhara whispered, looping an arm around Flunra’s neck and dragging him toward the others. "I’m your Female Alpha, right? Since Rex is... occupied, you listen to ."
"But Rex is right there—"
"No backtalk," She cut in, her voice low but firm. "We’re leaving. Now."
All of them cast one last look at Rex, giving him a smile, except for Flunra, who was still confused and dazed, and then evaporated into energy. None even offered Rex an actual explanation as to why they were rushing to leave.
Gistella, who was the one who should be on his side the most, is also not saying anything.
Just like that, Rex was alone again.
"What are they thinking, really?" Rex fell down to the ground as he combed his wet hair back, sitting alone to catch his breath. "As I thought, they are hiding sothing from . And seeing how Flunra wasn’t aware of anything, those three and maybe Kyran are involved in it."
"Now that I thought about it, what’s wrong with Kyran?" He mumbled.
All Rex got from Evelyn was a vague answer about Kyran, so he was curious.
More than that, he also hoped that Kyran wasn’t getting into trouble again, though he doubted it.
Kyran has grown, and getting into senseless trouble should be past him by now.
Just then, Rex turned to the side when he heard a whisper seeping into his ears—it was Evelyn’s voice.
"I’ve talked with Empress Morgana, asking her not to make things troubleso in exchange for your help covering this incident up. We made a deal, but don’t help her cover it up. I can feel that she’s not out of the picture yet. She’s an enemy. If you have the chance, kill her."
"Hmm... Is that so?"
Rex mumbled inwardly.
Recalling how Empress Morgana warned him about not stepping onto the platform and waking Stelios up, he thought she had a shred of heart inside her. After all, he had worked so hard for the things he asked for.
He thought she was showing him that she’d give it to him, but circumstances told her no.
It was the reason why she brought the Phoenix Feather and Maw of Oblivion.
But since Evelyn told him this, he’ll believe her.
Even though he knew Empress Morgana the most, she was the one who sensed sothing was off about her, which prepared him better for Stelios’ appearance. Now that she said Empress Morgana is now his enemy, then so be it.
After a mont, Rex stood up and made his way towards the Tomb of Heroes.
He walked past a corpse.
It was Stelios’ corpse.
Gone was the figure from monts before. Now, his skin was a deathly grayish pallor—his torso nearly cloven in two. Where his blazing golden eyes had burned, only empty sockets remained, holding just a faint, fading glimr of their forr radiance.
A pathetic remnant of what once was.
Rex paused for a second, looking at the Tomb of Heroes and then at Stelios’ corpse again.
He was contemplating sothing.
"Amanir should’ve already opened—the chest already, but April..." Rex gritted his teeth, still burning from anger at what happened to April. "She’s not dead. This damn Archangel made sure she’s not dead. But I’m still worried."
Eventually, Rex knelt beside Stelios’ corpse.
And without hesitation, he started clawing the corpse and began devouring it bite by bite.
Rex wanted to check on April, but recovering his body is top-priority right now.
His regeneration was completely exhausted, and so was his power, so all he could resort to right now was to eat Stelios’ corpse. And he’ll gladly do it.
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