Rex rose from the darkness.
His body is in imnse pain.
It was akin to a thousand fire ants ruthlessly marching down his blood vessels.
He tries moving his legs—he can’t.
Tries moving his arms—to the sa end.
His limbs were intact, but sothing was preventing them from obeying his command.
Did I pass out?
The last thing he rembered was the beatdown by the royal knights. The sting on his face and stomach made it clear that the beatdown wasn’t a dream, so he must’ve got knocked out. Everything he sees now is a scrambled blur.
Being punched repeatedly must’ve impaired his optic nerves.
But the notifications were still as clear as the day.
Even if he’s blind, he could see the System’s banter, so blurriness isn’t a problem.
Seems like the venom was the one making it hard for him to move.
Underneath, he noted thorny vines embedded into his arms and legs—which further fixed him in place. He also saw a pink blossoming flower right between his legs, siphoning any energy that his body was producing naturally.
It kept him weak and frail.
But not helpless, as voidal energy isn’t registered by this flower.
Though Rex has a feeling that it would if he tried channeling it.
Blood wetted his lips. Sound is starting to co back to him again. He heard voices, muffled, but he was quick to realize one of the voices. April slipped into his vision before he could even raise his gaze. She was grabbing, almost clawing at him.
Her face is wet with tears, and her lips moved like she was screaming sothing.
Rex couldn’t make out the words.
Not through his ears, and not through his blurry vision.
Only when April was dragged back by his enemy did he co to see the royal knights.
Towering bastards with the faces of demons. The plud royal knight squatted down. Stroking Rex’s head as he tilted his body sideway, making sure not to obstruct the view of April being pinned hard to the ground with a knee to her center back and a hand pressing against the back of her head.
She resisted fiercely. Refusing to be cuffed and shackled.
A royal knight, the biggest one with a broad shoulder as wide as Rex’s, had enough.
He lifted April’s head and slamd her face to the ground.
In an instant, she stopped moving. She was knocked unconscious—or maybe the pain disoriented her. Either way, the sight snapped Rex back to reality. He fought to free himself harder. Both his eyes bore into the broad-shouldered royal knight like an animal.
Branding the na on the stat panel beside him into his mind.
For daring to touch April like this, there will be no rcy.
The plud royal knight pressed his gauntleted hand against Rex’s shoulder.
It was cruelly weak, but it managed to keep him down.
All Rex could do was struggle in futility.
"I heard you’re an emperor down there," He said to Rex. It was unknown where he got that information. He was really close to the ear—that Rex could hear every single word he said clearly. "Then you must know the punishnt for traitors, right? It’s bad."
Even through the helt, Rex could feel his nasty grin.
"Death," He hissed like a venomous snake. "She’s going to die young, and guess whose fault is that?"
The plud knight didn’t finish what he was saying.
He blood a wicked grin and let Rex answer the question himself and pat his cheek condescendingly.
A wicked grin blood across his face. He let Rex’s mind answer the question, then reached out to pat his cheek. A touch as condescending as it was deliberate.
Just then, the royal knight recoiled.
Rex suddenly stared at him.
Both pupils are dilated, and there was stillness in them that struck fear into the deepest part of him.
"Leave her alone, or your entire family dies, Woody Lingkrona."
His tone was chillingly flat.
It wasn’t a threat, but a fact that he simply stated.
No doubt in his voice or gaze.
The plud royal knight, Woody, stared at Rex in utter shock. How did Rex know his na? He didn’t know. And that made the statent all the more terrifying. It felt like Rex’s gaze could see through the thick armor he was wearing.
Like he was naked, and everything about him was out there for Rex to see.
System, use the Invincible II item.
Rex couldn’t waste ti. He quickly took Woody’s silence as a refusal to back down.
Killing Haxel gave him an Invincible II item.
He wasn’t planning to use it this quickly. It felt like a waste for how rare it was.
But there are things he needed to do no matter what.
Protecting April is one of those things.
Rex was stunned by the notification denying his much-needed use of the Invincible II item. It has never happened before. He couldn’t believe chance was cruel to him for denying him this trump card to help soone he cared deeply.
Bam—!
Another punch landed squarely against his face.
"You still can’t understand your situation?" Woody snarled—and slapped the back of Rex’s head. "It’s a sha that I couldn’t kill you myself, especially after acting cocky when you’re like this. But rember this... your end is not going to be pretty."
It was then that the viper arrived.
"What’s the aning of this?!" Ethan looked at the scene in shock.
His eyes were specifically looking down at April, who was pinned on the ground.
"Good work, kid," Woody patted him on his shoulder. "If you keep this up, one day, you’ll be a knight."
All other royal knight snicker silently at what Woody said.
No chance a country-bumpkin like Ethan would beco a knight, but dreaming is not prohibited.
"April... or any other nobles involved are not to be touched, that’s the deal!" Ethan stood up for himself for once. All he promised was Rex. "Free her this instant! Lord Kaine already gave his words. I’ve made a deal with him! She’s not a part of th—"
Pah—!
Ethan was launched a few ters to the side from a vicious backhand slap.
A few teeth flew out of his mouth as he crashed and groaned in pain.
"Who do you think you’re talking to, worm?" Woody stepped on his chest, pinning him down. "Make a deal? Lord Kaine gave his words? All traitors are to be publicly shad and executed." He pressed his boot harder, almost to the point of cracking Ethan’s ribcage. "Do yourself a favor and step aside. You’ve done well. Don’t ruin it by doing sothing stupid."
Woody turned to the others and waved his hand, "Take them away."
A tear slipped down Ethan’s cheek as he watched April flung over a royal knight’s shoulder and taken away.
Her body was limp, and she didn’t even struggle.
Ethan could only watch the back of her head as she disappeared into the bubble.
Only then did he realize the cityscape beyond the bubble was an illusion. Waiting beyond its border was a legion of hundreds of mighty soldiers, reinforcents for the royal knights, poised to act if the situation escalated.
Trailing not too far behind was Rex.
He was carried and trapped by the life energy of three royal knights.
The thorny vines already wrapped around his body like a cocoon, leaving only his face exposed.
His head hung low, and his hair covered his face.
But Ethan gulped when he caught Rex’s ruby eyes glaring at him in silence from behind the ink strands.
A mark of death.
...
Deep in the darkness of his mind space, Rex stood alone with nothing but painful mories.
Good thing does happen. Seeing how his pack mbers grew, how the empire was built, how more and more races participated in the pursuit of peace, or even the exhilaration of growing in power. But right now, those things are encased by pain.
He should be transported to the royal bubble by now.
Anyti his body flickered from his mind space, he could hear the voices of his enemies.
Woody talked about needing to transport him discreetly.
About adding another dosage before the voices disappear again.
And then there was the talk about the shadow, which Rex realized was probably Linthia.
She is one with the Well of the Untold. If anyone could survive and escape the ambush, it was her.
Rex could hear them talking about being late.
It should’ve been days already. Days of transport—but it doesn’t feel that long for Rex. It felt more like a heavy, seamless sleep. The darkness made him rember the Ghoul’s Den mission. The shroud is his only companion. The stench of corpses was in the air—he breathed. And the biting cold of death wrapped around him like a familiar, tattered coat.
But in that darkness, lying on the ground beside him, was April.
Unlike Edward or Kyle, she was looking skyward. There was boredom in her eyes.
Rex turned to see what she was looking at.
A beautiful night sky. The clearest it has ever been. Full moon and stars completed the celestial painting.
His mind was full of hatred back then, and he didn’t realize how beautiful that night was.
To think such scenery made her bored.
Then, her dreamy hazel eyes turned to stare at him with fondness.
A sparkle of interest made them uncharacteristically wider than normal. Like she was looking at the one thing that made her feel sothing. She reached out her hand and gently pushed aside the strands of his hair, not wanting them to cover even a tiny part of Rex’s face.
Rex reached out his hand, and her figure was suddenly claid by corruptive darkness.
His mind has always been cruel.
In it, Rex was beloved by April, but when he woke up, he rembered that April now hated him. And worse, she’s in danger. Rex could hear the sound of a bustling city. He was in a small street flanked by suburban houses of the lowest standards.
Peasants and low-lives littered the street.
He ford the surroundings in blurry glimpses, and with effort, he mustered up his willpower.
System, scan the area.
Rex managed to form a coherent thought and access the System.
"His body is a physical marvel. He’s already awake again."
"Sha that we won’t see it reach its full-potential."
Before the scanning was completed, Rex felt a sting on his neck and darkness claid him again.
Splash—!
The world ca back as pain.
It lived in his veins. A white, snapping current that fired nerve to nerve relentlessly, yanking him from the dark by sheer, violent force. His body arched like a bowstring pulled taut, and every muscle locked in a rigid seizure.
For ten endless seconds, his mind was not his own.
Paralyzed.
Then, silence. The current died, leaving only the ghost of its fury humming in his marrow.
Rex’s chest heaved up and down. Breath sawed in and out of his lungs in ragged pants.
Dampness plastered his skin—a cold, conductive sheen.
Blinking against the vicious afterglow, he took in his surroundings. Not the city, but an expansive, silent chamber carved from subterranean stone. It was dark. The only light in this was from the torches that circled around the platform.
And as he raised his swimming gaze, he saw a woman standing before him.
She was holding a bucket and was silent and still as the rock itself, watching him wake.
Rex recognized this woman.
But she now bear no warmth or familiarity in her gaze. Only chilling coldness.
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