The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1818: Good Luck to You

The silence had descended completely.

Screams no longer echoed. Battles had ceased. Struggles were over.

Emperor Dominar lounged on the throne, surveying the deserted hall. A rush of recollections washed over him. This very spot marked his ascension to emperor. It witnessed judgments that doomed innumerable souls. Here, he wed his initial consort. And it hosted festivities for his inaugural triumph.

On his right hand, veins shifted to a violet shade, with the hue steadily advancing.

This was the corruption he had embraced without reservation.

Given the tremors it caused, agony must have gripped him. Yet his expression stayed impassive.

Long ago, a competing ruler had told him that true sovereignty arrives only when one savors the throne amid the empire's downfall. Such an experience outshone any crushing win and cut deeper than the bitterest defeat.

Emperor Dominar had dismissed it as nonsense.

Yet in this instant, he saw it as the profound revelation from a legendary leader's final breaths.

At this precise juncture, Emperor Dominar sensed an unparalleled strength mingled with utter frailty.

This sensation belonged solely to a select handful.

For ages, he believed the vow sworn at his crowning had steeled him to persist and place the populace first amid adversities. As he emerged and gestured to the crowd as their fresh sovereign, it reinforced the cause of his battles.

That ceremony aimed to equip him against any imperial trial.

No event ought to catch him off guard.

However, he had erred.

The rites of coronation failed to brace him for the oppressive quiet enveloping him presently.

It felt... smothering.

And it hurt more than the blade an adversary plunged into his torso.

At last, he grasped that ascending to emperorship forged him into a figure of selflessness.

Though swallowing his realm's ruin proved tough, he recognized his utmost efforts.

Merely two paths lay before him, each laden with perils.

Emperor Dominar raised his gaze. He observed the enormous portal creak wide from across the room.

He anticipated a single guest—Rex.

Yet the figure who appeared was not Rex. Instead, a formidable warrior appeared, his skin fractured and charred. Molten lava flowed within his form, and his aura radiated might far exceeding the ordinary. A grin spread across Emperor Dominar’s features.

Regardless of circumstances, his dominion lay in ruins since Rex had thrust it into conflict with the Sky People.

No actions on his part could evade the fury from above.

Should Rex's strike not claim him, the vengeful Gatekeepers surely would.

And it appeared the Gatekeepers would deliver the fatal blow.

Dorn arrived alongside the Gatekeeper of Light and Shadow. He fixed his gaze on Emperor Dominar perched upon the seat of power, then scanned the surroundings. Silence sufficed; the pair of Gatekeepers pivoted and departed.

He had arrived braced for defiance.

But beholding Emperor Dominar in this state... Resistance was absent.

Upon that seat sat no soul clinging to optimism, but one embracing resignation.

Dorn advanced. His iron-clad footwear pressed into the thick rug designed to hush troops' steps—yet his immense mass still pounded a steady, muted boom against the stone, reverberating through the chamber until he stopped before the steps to the throne.

"Have you come to end my life?" Emperor Dominar asked. His tone was weak. Diminished. Far from the commanding voice of a ruler.

"No," Dorn replied, shaking his head. "He demanded a tribute from you."

A gentle laugh slipped from Emperor Dominar’s mouth.

Initially puzzled by Dorn's denial, clarity now dawned on him.

"I won't fight back," Emperor Dominar leaned into his throne and spread his arms, as if inviting Dorn to bind him. "I'll embrace whatever destiny awaits."

Dorn remained rooted in place. He merely locked eyes with Emperor Dominar, probing for the reason behind a revered leader's grave mistake. Though Gatekeepers primarily monitored Voidal Monarchs and intruders from beyond, awareness of the Spirit Realm's mighty factions extended to them.

The Haeltara Empire, under Emperor Dominar's command, stood among those powers.

It ascended through the Reap and Sow Echo.

Rumors whispered that the emperor received the earth's favor, granting visions of future happenings.

An outcome like this ought to have eluded him.

"Why...?" Dorn posed the straightforward query.

"Why would a figure like me, favored by the earth and enduring through millennia, commit such an error?" Emperor Dominar voiced the unspoken thought in Dorn’s head and mustered a faint smile. "Because my blessing has faded. I'm... tainted now."

He lifted his right hand, revealing the corruption's full grip.

Dorn’s eyes grew wide.

In that swift moment, understanding struck him regarding Emperor Dominar’s chosen course.

"Chaos..."

Crack—!

Dorn’s energy surged outward, shaking the whole throne hall while a huge lava-forged greatsword materialized in his grasp. Its point grazed the ground, scorching the soil bit by bit. Serenity vanished, supplanted by fierce antagonism.

As if this confirmed his wise decision, Emperor Dominar let out a laugh.

Not madly, but sincerely.

Dorn now comprehended the precarious balance Emperor Dominar had navigated. The aggression stemmed not from spite—it was an age-old reflex against even the hint of chaos. "You feared our kind," Dorn declared, his statement laden with insight rather than blame. His gaze sharpened. "Thus, you opted to provoke him instead?"

"Yes," Emperor Dominar affirmed with a nod. His voice rasped now. "With chaos in the mix, your lot would have razed my realm, guilt or not. So I opted to conceal it. Achieving that required slaying him.

"Who could have foreseen the usurper toppling even the Sky City?" Emperor Dominar shook his head. "Not even you anticipated that."

With chaos entangled, Emperor Dominar faced just two ways to preserve his dominion.

Either eliminate Rex, the direct participant, to bury the truth from the Sky City, or confess the chaos link and stake the empire's fate on the merciless Skillian Divine Court.

One path meant angering Rex, the other facing the Skillian Divine Court's harsh judgment.

Emperor Dominar selected the former.

And events unfolded thus.

"What really transpired?" Dorn thrust his blade into the ground; metal clanged as his scowl intensified. The complexity had blindsided him. "If chaos ties into this event... into you, origins must exist. It can't arise from void." He halted briefly, eyes flaring open. "Your recent empress."

Prior to entering the fortress, Dorn had sought the emperor at the gala's venue.

There, an encounter with a perishing aristocrat revealed the clash at the Tomb of Heroes, where the wicked usurper Rex assaulted the empress. Doubts lingered among many, this fading noble included—particularly since Rex had aided her crucial endeavor.

Dorn held no grudge against their skepticism.

He himself deemed their doubts reasonable.

Shortly before, beyond the fortress walls, he had crossed paths with an unassuming individual named Kaine.

Through him, Dorn discovered the empress's ties to an Archangel harboring grudge against Rex. Proof of her chaos link lacked, yet all troubles circled her.

Assuming chaos originated from her came naturally under those signs.

"I'm not refuting her role in this," Emperor Dominar exhaled heavily. When Kaine warned of possible land taint, disbelief gripped him. Acceptance eluded him then. But evidence now pointed true. "Still, I sense this taint predates her arrival."

In typical cases, intuitions held little sway in vital judgments or deductions.

For Emperor Dominar, however, it differed.

His instincts bound to the terrain—his own domain. Should he perceive the taint's onset before the empress, credence was essential. "Sense?" Dorn arched an eyebrow. "Does that mean you possess evidence of her part, correct?"

"I employed a method from the God Realm," Emperor Dominar explained.

This revelation startled Dorn, though he held back, letting Emperor Dominar proceed.

"It's an art I discovered ages past. The exact time escapes me," He gestured casually aside. For one of his vast years, recollections often blended or faded. Pinpointing details proved challenging. "It enabled a thorough scan for chaos intrusions.

"Kaine, my trusted advisor... he urged its use at the Tomb of Heroes, and indeed, we detected chaos remnants. She had erased them. Ordinary methods couldn't detect it. Thus, yes... Morgana's entanglement seems undeniable." He inclined his head, though uncertainty tinged his words.

Not uncertainty over her implication, but over her as the source of his own taint.

Indeed, prior to her elevation, the identical method had cleared her.

No chaos traces lingered in her then.

Contact from chaos must have followed her enthronement.

Though quiet lingered, Dorn refrained from breaking it.

From the furrowed creases on Emperor Dominar’s brow, he discerned the ruler assembling the fragments.

"Kaine..." Emperor Dominar whispered the name. "He first voiced suspicions toward the empress. He explained his wariness stemmed from peculiarities arising as she grew prominent. She began valuing—her standing. She pressed me to aid in restoring her honor. Even extending to resolving the fresh Voidal Monarch.

"I countered that the earth directed her ascension, yet he proposed the earth itself might bear chaos's mark. Morgana had undergone the same check pre-coronation, emerging untainted. Given that, his insight holds once more. The taint roots in the earth. Not from her.

"And that... that sparked my curiosity. If chaos tainted the earth solely to guide her enthronement, what purpose drove it?" His gaze ignited with realization. He extended his forefinger upward, toward the vaulted roof—or the heavens beyond. "Isn't it paving the way for his coming?"

"You imply..." Dorn’s pulse hammered in his chest. Perspiration chilled his throat. "Chaos... It's scheming for that usurper’s entry?"

The logic aligned.

Kaine had noted oddities coinciding with Morgana's rise.

Yet her motives could trace back to Rex.

Emperor Dominar recognized Kaine’s focus narrowed by devotion to safeguarding realm and subjects. Inevitably, blame fell on Morgana, the direct actor capable of inner sabotage.

He, conversely, embodied emperorship.

Viewing the broader canvas had always defined his role.

And therein lay his edge over Kaine's sight.

"Naturally, this could prove mere chance, with the earth's taint and Morgana’s uprising as separate affairs," Emperor Dominar lifted his shoulders. "One seeks to warp me—and render the empire a chaos puppet, while the other fuels the Archangel’s sacred grudge via chaos."

"We both lead," Dorn intoned somberly. "Optimism evades us. Pessimism rules. What's the direst possibility? As a true denizen of this domain who values its health, speak plainly."

Emperor Dominar inclined his head.

This truth he embraced fully.

Envisioning the bleakest prospect defined their charge.

Such weighed the crown's toll.

"In my view, dual chaos entities view the usurper Rex as peril and pursue him relentlessly," Emperor Dominar asserted. Then, he met Dorn’s stare directly. "Regarding the gravest outlook... A superior chaos entity targets him, masking its pursuit through my dominion and the Archangel’s feud.

"Should the latter hold true..." He held back. Strain built—until a sly grin formed. "Then best wishes to you, Gatekeeper of Lava. Fortune smiles that I won't witness the terror. Yet my counsel remains: stay near Rex. Chaos deems him hazardous for cause."