The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1816: What I Want

Terror of dying seized Rezar in a crushing hold.

Eyes bulging wide, he stared in horror at his flowing blood and Rex's claws plunged deep into his belly. In a fleeting moment, the error born from his avarice replayed in his thoughts. Next, his mind leaped even earlier to the time of his very first battlefield triumph.

To the days of his intense, unwavering training.

To when his parents remained alive and showered him with affection.

Moments from his existence raced across his vision.

Far too much time had passed since he last faced real peril, erasing the raw sensation from his memory.

"RAARGGH—!"

Overhead, the whirlwind surged with devastating vital force. It eclipsed the Blood Moon amid its raging winds before unleashing a massive bolt of thunder, wide as half a mile. A fierce bellow echoed across the sky.

Rex glanced upward, witnessing the bolt morph into a golden-yellow dragon of lightning.

Empowered by a Primordial Spirit, it crashed down onto Rex with immense force.

A staggering hundred billion volts hijacked his nerves. His bones glowed like in an X-ray scan. Rex's heart stuttered wildly in his chest. Neural signals erupted in a devastating, overwhelming burst. His sight faded into a blank, humming emptiness.

This marked the most potent lightning assault Rex had ever witnessed or withstood.

No other could compare.

Without his prior safeguards, such a strike would have utterly demolished him.

Yet he persisted. He withstood it. Absorbing each searing jolt while emitting a laugh like no other.

Initially, his chuckles resembled agonized cries.

"You have truly, irrevocably, messed up now, bastard!" Rezar's laughter erupted as a frenzied, near-maniacal cry of victory. He observed in rapture as Rex's flesh charred and tore open, the desperate regeneration below struggling to match the savage ruin.

Next rang the moist, distinct snap of fracturing bone—a noise that electrified Rezar's very essence.

Rex's framework buckled, overwhelmed by the unyielding force of the Law of Lightning.

"I doubt your beloved backer would or even could do more than it already has!" Rezar taunted, relishing the display of agony. "No one is coming to save you now!"

Though a hint of urgency laced his tone, his words rang true.

Ignatius had granted Rex just one boon, and that had already been expended. Should he perish here, the elder Scion would remain unmoved. Scions stand as the elite among elites, striving for ultimate dominance. Self-reliance trumps all else.

Demise serves as mere survival of the fittest.

If it had been another Gatekeeper like Dorn, Rex might have faced real peril.

Rezar, however? A mere interim Gatekeeper? His power barely surpasses Emperor Dominar at most.

And that falls short against Rex's enhanced form.

Crimson vapor rose from his beastly frame. His skeleton knit itself swiftly, sealing the fractures. Even his hide pulled taut and mended at breakneck speed. As moments ticked by, Rezar's grin wavered upon realizing Rex wasn't groaning in suffering; he was cackling.

Delighting in the torment as if it were his deepest desire.

Clashing with a foe bent on slaughter terrifies. But battling one who craves the hurt even more? That's pure dread.

His tormented existence had forged a bond with suffering. Now, if rage hadn't consumed his thoughts, he might have pondered if he'd turned into some pain-craving beast. Undeterred by the surge, Rex extended his arm and clamped his grip on Rezar's neck.

Rezar found no path to flee.

Invoking this tempest and bolt had anchored him firmly.

Any shift would dissolve the spell.

This turned into a test of endurance. And endurance was Rex's forte.

Bam—!

He jerked his skull rearward before smashing it into Rezar's visage.

The involuntary twitch skewed the impact's path, yet it wrought greater havoc.

Both horns splintered Rezar's facial bones, while the brow ridge pulverized his snout.

Blood gushed unchecked. Rezar shook off the sting and bellowed fiercer, intensifying the lightning's fury. Rex got shoved downward with more force. The bolt pinned him toward the earth, but he resisted.

Bam—!

A second skull-crash landed, stripping away Rezar's last shred of pride.

His facial structure now lay in ruins, twisting his features into deformity.

Bam—!

Like a demolition sphere, the third collision demolished Rezar's resolve.

The world whirled around him. His concentration slipped, making the dragon bolt flicker.

That opening sufficed for Rex to unleash the Inevitable Death Spirit Genesis, infusing his wolfish teeth with energy drawn—from the White Mask. His four fangs shifted to a crimson hue, and with a savage rip, he drove them into Rezar's shoulder akin to a ravenous beast.

Devo lifted his head with effort.

A wail echoed through the temple's confines. A cry of anguish that nearly stirred pity in him.

From below, he watched Rex gnaw and rend Rezar's meat while the yellow lightning sought to numb him. Yet the outcome grew clear. The bolt dimmed, and the gale began to scatter, unveiling the Blood Moon anew.

Rex teetered on the brink of blackout several times, but the torment proved a boon.

It sharpened his awareness and let him end Rezar.

Sensing the crushing weight lift, Rex withdrew his talons and slashed Rezar fiercely, hurling him earthward. He hurtled past the device securing Devo—and then ricocheted off the barrier like discarded cloth.

Devo inhaled sharply as the ache faded, allowing free breaths at last.

Steps apart, Rex's sinews twitched uncontrollably.

Regeneration surged through him, restoring full form in mere heartbeats.

A single look from him erected a shimmering barrier encircling the temple. It severed ties with the outer realm. Naturally, this stemmed from the Law of Misdirection. He aimed to block any prying eyes for now.

He licked his chops, a soft rumble of satisfaction issuing as he eyed Rezar's futile resistance.

Though aware of his doom, he still lashed out.

It resembled a cornered creature's final stand.

And that vision drew a slender line of saliva along Rex's jaw.

Rex advanced. He glanced at the quivering Devo nearby, who struggled to rise.

Turning, he headed to Devo first, seizing him around the midsection. In this enlarged state, his palm—or maybe Devo's shrunken size—allowed it to encircle the torso and hoist him aloft.

"You’ve done wonderfully in the Spirit Realm," Rex murmured in a deep, rumbling snarl.

Sarcasm dripped from the words.

He'd endured endless trials to free Devo, fueling his irritation beyond measure.

"Much has changed... since my return," Devo rasped, forcing the phrase past a constricted windpipe with effort. His frame ached—overborne by the immense aura radiating from Rex. Strength had surged in him since their prior encounter. "I cannot... brute force my way free of this."

"I should kill you right now...." Rex exposed his gore-smeared teeth and snarled.

Deep furrows etched his brow as he weighed the act seriously.

But Amanir stepped in swiftly.

"Now, now..." He appeared from thin air, clamping Rex's limb with his grip. "It would be more than a waste to kill him after doing so much already, isn’t it? Let him make amends in the future. Am I right, Devo?"

Devo dipped his head. What choice did he have?

Yet Rex remained skeptical.

"How about you spare him right now as a favor for me?" Amanir bartered. "I brought April to safety. I could at least bargain with that, right?"

Rex tsked and flung Devo away. A spark of leniency showed. His attention snapped back to Rezar, only to discover the figure had seized the moment to slip from the temple. But he halted abruptly.

Beyond, the serpent coiled endlessly around the structure.

A barrier of dark, gleaming hide and icy hatred, sealing off all flight.

Without pity, Rex's grasp lashed forward and snared Rezar's leg. Amid a sodden snap, he wrenched it from the joint. Ignoring the piercing wail that ensued, he simply latched his free hand beneath Rezar's limb and yanked him back.

"There has to be another way!" Rezar begged. "There’s no need for any more bloodshed! What is it do you want?!"

Those pleas shattered Rex's fragile hold on composure.

Fury ignited within him.

"I have given this realm a chance!" Rex thundered. His roar shook like an earthquake. One enormous paw gripped Rezar around the body, splintering the plating and expelling air in equal measure, then lifted him skyward. "Do you understand me?! You lowly sack of meat. What I want is for no one to touch what is mine. I want every living being to retract their claws when what is mine draws near.

"I want every sense to go blind when they hear the name Silverstar!" He bellowed.

His outcry boomed like thunder, and the aura emanating from him hit Rezar like a solid strike.

With savagery, he dashed Rezar to the ground, fracturing the stone.

Then Rex crushed down on his ribcage with a foot.

"Animals like you can only learn through pain." Rex growled, revealing his crimson-stained fangs. "Now, I want the blood of Spirits and Voidal Monsters to reach all across this pathetic realm. And the whimper of pain to choke the air until the end of time.

"I will drain the blood of every spirit in this city so the horror can never be washed away from the street, the buildings, and the hearts. And with the broken souls and mangled wills of the survivors, I will drill the mark of fear into the heads of generations to come."

Rex rested his elbow on his knee and bent forward.

The snarls brewing in his gullet mimicked the ominous rumble a quarry hears from its hunter at the end.

"Only then," his tone sank to a resonant depth that hummed through the skeleton, "will you born-preys understand the consequence of baring your fangs at us." He drew nearer, the vow in his stare deadlier than the Blood Moon. "Then, you born-preys will remember the night Rex Silverstar painted this realm red."

Rex climbed aboard the coiled serpent and plunged via the fractured heavens.

"Holy..." Devo rose with Amanir's support beneath him. He had witnessed and overheard the confrontation, leaving him dazed. "What did I miss? What happened to him in this realm? He’s almost as angry as when his mother died."

"About that," Amanir grinned awkwardly.

"Is it a girl?" Devo arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, something like that," Amanir aided Devo in leaving the temple. "He got close with a girl from the House of Aurelius, and she was targeted by the enemies he made along the way. This is the third time."

"Third time...?" Devo huffed. "No wonder he’s that mad. Who’s the girl?"

"A young girl called April. Both of them got close after training in the Forsaken Tower."

At this, Devo drew in a sharp, chilly inhale.

"What?" Amanir lifted a brow. "You know her?"

"I know her, but I never talked to her. I didn’t think she’s his type," Devo rolled his shoulders, thinking of those near Rex. "To be honest, I thought if anyone would get close to him, it’d be the Duke’s daughter, Princess Davina."

"Well, she’s his fiancée. And she’s also a Silverstar now."

"Huh?" Devo eyed Amanir. Shock and doubt mingled on his expression. "She’s what?"

"He was trying to get to you the legitimate way, but the empire is too corrupt."

"You don’t say."

Nearly five minutes elapsed before they arrived at the cloud's rim.

Gazing below, Devo surveyed Sky City for the initial time and couldn't suppress a sharp intake of air. Rezar's earlier plea hinted at the city's woes. He wouldn't have yielded otherwise.

But the extent of ruin surpassed his expectations.

With certain Gatekeepers present, such devastation seemed improbable.

Devo struggled to accept that Rex had orchestrated this.

He turned to Amanir seeking insight, receiving only a shoulder lift. Amanir shared the ignorance; Rex had arranged much of this day's scheme in hidden fashion, known solely to him.

Suddenly, their attention drew to a crimson array in the central plaza.

One might assume Rex had accomplished plenty for the evening.

But he pressed on.

Amanir and Devo could merely mourn Rex's foes as their torment extended without end.