The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1973: Full Humiliation (1)

It was a private banquet, an exclusive gathering of powers that moved beneath the surface of the realm.

Just earlier, Rex had balked at attending in person.

Exposure at this stage felt like a gamble they didn’t need to take, and he was also not confident in being able to protect Davina and Lilliana in such a setting. But he was immediately double-teamed by Davina and also High Lord Rashal.

One said that he should never use her as an excuse to inhibit his search for strength.

And the other insisted that he had come, even promising to give them protective treasures to wear.

High Lord Rashal also said that there were things to learn from seeing the other High Lords directly—insights that no report could capture. Body language, the speaking style, and the silent gaze exchanges could betray the alliance in the background.

Only by seeing them first-hand could secrets be identified.

Davina even said that she’d go with High Lord Rashal as his second regardless of Rex’s attendance.

Lilliana wasn’t as harsh as Davina, but she was also on the same side.

Eventually, Rex relented as he was cornered alone.

But then again, he had already begun to learn to place his trust in others. To believe they could protect themselves without his intervention, letting go of his failure in the past that had been haunting him like the whispers of death in battle.

Davina’s demand had been a test of that fragile faith.

And the fact that he had decided to attend the banquet spoke of a change in him. An undeniable change.

One that Evelyn, Adhara, or even Gistella would be proud of.

"Thank you for agreeing with me." Davina draped her arms over his shoulders from behind and kissed his neck gently. She could already tell from his face earlier, when the argument happened, that this was really hard for him to do. "I’m sure even if something happened, it won’t be out of our hands."

"Hmm," Rex held her arm and smiled. "Did Lilliana tell you to do this?"

"Are you disappointed?"

"Not really."

"Do you prefer me in her place?" Lilliana asked teasingly.

"Of course, he’d rather me," Davina cast a glare and smacked her lips in annoyance. "You had to ruin the moment, sister."

"What can I say?" Lilliana chuckled. "I don’t like feeling like I’m intruding."

A chime sounded from the doorbell.

"Go and check if it’s the escort," Rex tapped Davina’s hand.

She pulled away and went to the front door, locking arms with Lilliana to bring her along.

Rex turned from the mirror again as he stared at the hologram panel before his eyes.

<Reward calculation has been completed!>

<Obtained Lower Theophany Skill>

...

<Lower Theophany>

Rank: Transcendent

Description: For five minutes, the user burns with the light of a true divine being, nearly doubling the user’s Divinity Points and increasing the mastery over immortal energy tenfold. Once the fuse burns out, the user’s Divinity Points are weakened by fifty percent, and immense exhaustion settles—stopping the user from using immortal energy.

...

Rex was at a loss for words.

He’d been expecting a mountain of experience or even gold from completing this sudden quest. If luck was on his side, perhaps something that could help him gather Divinity Points more easily. But what he received was far beyond any of that.

A transcendent-rank skill.

It was only recently that he learned the rank above Divine.

And now, he has his hand on one skill.

Rex smiled inwardly.

He had been wondering for quite some time whether the System could really adjust the rewards in order to help him achieve more. At this moment, there are many paths that would help Rex grow even stronger and become a more competent Scion of the Vertex.

A more competent person who could be a serious threat to sit on the Highseat of Invincibility.

Now, he got his answer.

Considering that Lilliana had to spill the blood of more than a million mortals in the Grey Realm, Rex would feel bad if the System didn’t give him anything useful. That would mean Lilliana commenced a massacre for nothing.

Fortunately, he obtained an incredible skill.

A slow smile tugged at the corner of Rex’s lips as he looked up.

Lilliana poked her head from around the corner, giving him a nod—a signal that the escort had arrived.

Rex stood up, fixed his bowtie, and headed out.

Surprisingly enough, the person waiting on the other side of the door was the assistant, Henry. He was going to be the one to escort them to High Lord Ursa’s abode. Moreover, he also handed Rex an abyssal black box.

He opened the box and saw three intricate black rings that emanated an air of mystery.

Naturally, Rex scanned the rings and realized what they were.

"It’s the protective treasure the High Lord promised you," Henry explained reverently. "A rather simple but useful ring. Each one was equipped with the Black Doom Gem, harvested from the inside of a dead Transcendent Demigod. A gem formed from the crystallized divinity remains.

"It contained, in practical terms, a ridiculous amount of energy that could block any incoming attack."

"How strong of an attack?" Rex asked as he handed the black rings to Davina and Lilliana.

"Even a Transcendent Demigod would find it hard to harm you with the ring on," Henry replied firmly.

Such a valuable thing was priceless for Rex.

Just as promised, High Lord Rashal made sure that they were out of harm’s way.

"Inform the High Lord of my gratitude for this."

"No need."

"No need?"

"Yes. You can inform him yourself. He’s in the car, waiting for you."

Moments later.

Rex stepped out of the apartment building with Davina and Lilliana at his sides, and he stopped cold.

Just as Henry said, High Lord Rashal was waiting for them.

Not sending Henry to escort them. Not a driver. High Lord Rashal came personally—waiting for Rex inside his vehicle with the convoy around him. Nearly a dozen sleek black cars, with engines on standby, gathered around, almost blocking the entire one-way road.

It was almost like a procession.

Rex approached the vehicle at the center, genuinely taken aback.

"You didn’t have to stop the entire convoy for us." He said, slightly breathless.

"You are my representatives." High Lord Rashal’s voice drifted through the lowered window, calm and unreadable as always. "This is the least I can do. After all, I will be borrowing your mind—and eyes at the banquet. From this moment and until we wane this minor bump, you stand as my equal."

Sitting beside High Lord Rashal, Vadyn turned with a shocked expression on her face.

She couldn’t believe what she heard come out of her cousin’s mouth.

It seemed she was wrong in calculating this relationship between High Lord Rashal and Rex.

Not a normal transactional relationship, but something deeper. Respect.

Rex paused for a good second.

He rubbed the black ring on his index finger, feeling the weight of the moment.

Both exchanged a firm look, and silently, without saying a word, the coalition between them was sealed for good. No matter what happened next at the banquet, they would face it together. If one falls, then the two of them fall. And if one triumphs, then the two of them will also triumph.

A tethered fate to wane the catastrophe ahead.

Rex, Davina, and Lilliana climbed into the car directly behind High Lord Rashal’s.

And with that, the convoy moved.

A portal yawned open before them; its edges crackled with colorful light, and the convoy went through.

...

Considering the distance between Larta City to where the small banquet was held, in High Lord Ursa’s abode, the travel should’ve been quick enough. High Lord Rashal and the convoy departed with the full intention of arriving on time.

Even sparing almost thirty minutes of leeway in case of something happening along the way.

But the travel was anything but swift.

Across the special highway, enforcers stopped them at checkpoint after checkpoint, each one demanding the attendance list and comparing it with the people inside the cars with painstaking slowness. It halted the convoy completely to be checked.

Again. And again. And again.

Each stop took up more than ten minutes.

"Can’t you see that the High Lord is right here?!" Vadyn barked in anger from inside the car, glaring at the enforcer who was standing by the car, reading the attendance list. "If the High Lord is here, what’s there to check?!

"What can your tools even do in comparison to his power?" She asked, patience running thin.

"Forgive me, ma’am—but this is a must," the enforcer answered politely. "There will be many important figures who will attend the banquet. As enforcers belonging to the host, we need to really make sure that there will be no threat to the guests’ safety."

"We’re also your damn guests!"

"I’m sorry, ma’am."

High Lord Rashal raised his hand and then tapped Vadyn’s thigh, gesturing for her to stop.

He then looked at the enforcer. "Carry on."

Behind, Davina watched through the tinted window with narrowed eyes.

"This isn’t security." She murmured in a cold tone.

"Yes," Lilliana nodded. "Seems like the High Lord’s power is really shaken."

"What do you mean by that?" Rex frowned.

"It’s theatre. In a banquet involving all nobles across the empire—the one who gets inconvenienced the most is the one who’s offended the host," Davina explained as her face twisted in worry. "This is simply a political humiliation. If High Lord Rashal even has a sliver of power left, there would be allies who would warn him.

"Since nobody did, he must be isolated already." She sighed and shook her head.

Rex said nothing. He didn’t need to.

Even before the coalition with High Lord Rashal, he had already taken this into account.

No way High Lord Rashal would band with him if there are other High Lords to ally with.

So, this was about as he expected.

Once the convoy finally arrived at High Lord Ursa’s abode, Rex and the others gasped in shock.

It sat inside a personal pocket dimension that spanned the size of an entire city—a realm within a realm, constructed to house generations of High Lord Ursa’s bloodline. Houses and estates dotted the entirety of the landscape in methodical precision.

Each one was a branch of the family tree planted exactly where it belonged.

Starting from the less important on the outskirts, to the most important in the inner area.

All of them leading the eye toward the main building at the far end—High Lord Ursa’s mansion.

Surrounding the pocket dimension was another layer—a second pocket dimension filled with an ocean that encircled the city-realm like a moat of liquid sapphire. Marine life teemed within this ocean—most were creatures of impossible color and form.

Fishes that Rex had never seen in his entire life.

They drifted past the dimensional boundary in lazy schools.

And their scales caught the light that had no sun.

At the center of this grand realm, High Lord Ursa’s mansion rose like a declaration of war against the opposite of grandiose. A massive, curving-rectangle structure built from arrogant blue marble and pure white stone.

Two towers flanked it, and above each one, an aquatic dragon circled in slow, eternal flight.

Each of their bodies was sinuous, with scales shimmering with a power that made the air itself feel heavier.

Far stronger than Alexander’s obsidian dragon, which was already a monster.

Soon, the convoy pulled to a stop before the grand entrance, and the weight of High Lord Ursa’s domain pressed down on them from every direction. Opulent, dominating, and utterly unwelcoming. Many cars and military vehicles were already parked inside.

Full to the brim.

The realization that they were the dead last ones to arrive dawned upon them at the same time.

The procession of weaker High Lords had all been waved through before them, and now the grand gate stood mostly empty—the attendants already bored and the fanfare long exhausted. And the fact that the convoy needed to park outside was a humiliation beyond measure.

High Lord Rashal’s position had plummeted, and everyone knew it.