The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 2011: Threading the Great Pale Court
Previously on The Invincible Full-Moon System...
Rex summoned the Primordial Permit—and then the scroll containing the coordinates to the Great Pale Court from the inventory. He fed the scroll into the sphere, and the space before him crackled with an enormous amount of energy.
It cracked the thick dimensional fabric of the Sundial Arch and opened a tunnel.
Just earlier, when he had only arrived at the Sundial Arch, he wasn’t confident about this endeavour.
He wasn’t sure whether he could achieve his goals in the Sundial Arch and the Great Pale Court.
But in the end, to his pleasant surprise, meeting the Warden of Time first before going to the Great Pale Court was the right sequence to follow. He learned about how things are going in that realm, and now knew what to expect.
Or at least, that’s what he thought.
Rex led the others through the tunnel.
He looked over his shoulder when the dimensional tear closed on its own.
Even though it had happened earlier when the tunnel toward the Sundial Arch was opened, he was still not used to it. Rex looked forward again and continued onward, threading the path toward the other end of the tunnel.
Unlike the first tunnel, the other end of this tunnel wasn’t an archway of brilliant light.
It was a dim silvery light that could barely be seen from the distance.
From the name alone, the Great Pale Court, Rex was expecting a gigantic structure surrounded by moonstone walls that was circular and was erected under a massive moon. He imagined statues, towers that radiated with spectacular immortal energy, or a massive throne on a sky-high obelisk.
Now that he knew the realm was unstable, he expected the place to be shattered.
Ruined with scars from an ancient battle.
A battle between the Goddess of the Greater Moon and the Lunirich Gods.
But what waited for him on the other side was completely different to what he had in mind.
Nothing would prepare him and the sisters to see the real Great Pale Court.
"Right... I don’t think it’s going to be this bad."
Rex smiled wryly once he stopped at the other end and took in the full view of the Great Pale Court.
His crimson eyes bore witness to an impossible spectacle of a realm—that was torn to pieces. Fractures in its spatial fabric marred the realm like cuts in space. Pieces of what Rex believed to be the structure that comprised the Great Pale Court floated aimlessly.
And as he leaned forward to look down, he was greeted by a bottomless void.
Looking at it felt like looking at the ocean surface in the middle of the night.
An invisible pull tugged him towards it, and it only grew the longer he stared at the blackness.
One thing that remained intact was the sky, and the gibbous moon dominated almost the entire horizon.
It hung so close to the world that it felt really reachable, as though one could stretch out a hand fully and brush its surface. But more than the illusion of closeness, the Great Pale Court stirred something deeper within Rex and the sisters.
Even before they stepped inside, they felt their blood was heating up.
As if the realm itself was calling to them.
Being under such a massive moon affected them greatly as werewolves.
"Are you okay?" Rex asked, noticing Davina was pinching her forehead like she was having a migraine.
"I’m going to be fine." Davina shook her hand, gesturing that she was okay.
She was trying to look fine, but Rex and Lilliana could tell that the Great Pale Court was straining her.
Rex’s gaze lingered on her for another second before shifting it towards the endless void again. Just as the Warden said, the Great Pale Court was in shambles, and it would be very dangerous to thread, even when one took measures to make it safe.
And the Warden also made it sound like even he would not take the risk.
"Okay... Falling into the void is certainly not a good idea," Rex pointed at a few marble boulders, which seemed to be small chunks of an ancient wall, gradually dropping and disappearing into the blackness. "Maybe the void is the threshold between the God Realm and the lower realms. Regardless, we can’t fall into it, or we’ll be torn to shreds."
He then pointed to the spatial fractures. "We’re also going to avoid those fractures. Understand?"
"Are we not going in together?" Davina asked in confusion.
"Of course, we are. Just that it’s better for you two to know what to avoid," Rex answered and then flicked his hand. A golden disc materialized behind him—the Aegis of Moon Sentinel. "We’re going to have a look around the realm on this. Get on."
Rex willed the golden disc to lie flat on the ground, and then gestured for the two to get on.
Once they did, he also climbed onto it.
"Wait." Lilliana stopped him before he could bring them into the Great Pale Court. "Let’s tie ourselves together first. That way, we’ll be safer, and no matter what got in the way, we wouldn’t be separated. I’ll deal with it."
She raised her hand and channelled her life energy to summon strings from her fingertips.
Then, she sent those strings to wrap around their waists, tying them together safely.
Only then did Rex control the golden disc to float, and then slowly flew into the Great Pale Court.
As expected, the tunnel was closed behind them, so there was no going back.
Rex could feel a pulling force that came from below the second they flew through the void. He believed this pulling force was really the God Realm’s influence, and it must also be the reason why the gibbous moon above was so low.
Frankly, his heart was pounding inside his chest.
Not because he feared falling into the void and dying, but because this was his first time using the disc to fly like this. He had never done that alone, much less with companies. Because of that, he gave the control of the golden disc his undivided attention.
"What are we searching for, exactly?" Lilliana asked.
"I don’t know." Rex shook his head. "Something that catches our eyes, probably."
"How long until the Purgation Duel?" Davina asked, recalling that she wasn’t tracking the time.
"Fifteen hours. We can’t stay for too long in this realm."
"Then you better pick up the pace."
Rex heeded Davina’s suggestion and moved the golden disc even faster.
Now, they soared through the endless void—the golden disc carved a streak of light across the dark. It maneuvered expertly between boulders and drifting stones, but moon-white or pale blue rather than the normal earthy grey.
It felt like moving through space and avoiding the asteroids that followed gravitational pulls.
All of them kept their eyes open for anything at all.
Something that stood out against the endless void, but there was simply nothing.
Just then, the breath inside Rex’s lungs was forced out as the golden disc stumbled into its path.
"What? What happened?!" Lilliana snapped her head towards Rex. Her hand shot out to hold onto him as the golden disc’s wobble only grew more intense by the second. "Keep it steady, or we’ll fall! What’s wrong with you?"
"I can’t!" Rex gritted his teeth. "Something is tampering with the energy flow!"
<Warning: the God Realm’s hold on the user is growing stronger!>
<The pull of Realm Degradation was absolute. Everything within the targeted Sovereign Realm would be dragged inexorably downward to be expelled from the God Realm’s domain. No part of the user was spared. Flesh, energy, and soul are all dragged down.>
Rex gritted his teeth.
He thought the Realm Degradation process would simply aim for the realm.
Anything that remained inside would be brought down with it when it was finally expelled, but that was not entirely the case. He thought the pulling sensation he felt earlier from the bottomless void was only his intuition.
Just an illusion of his mind, like staring into the ocean’s surface.
But it was real.
It was a real pulling force that continued to grow in strength without him realizing.
"Glide us there!" Davina pointed at a massive flat-shaped boulder not too far away from them.
It was the size of a mansion—a perfect place for them to make a sudden landing.
Rex immediately banked the golden disc to the right as hard as he could. He was sweating profusely as the golden disc under him was already beginning to flicker and grow translucent. It was about to vanish, and that would mean their deaths.
Not that he was running out of energy, but his energy simply couldn’t circulate in the golden disc.
His energy entered it, but then seeped out from the bottom, turning into golden water drops that plunged into the bottomless void below. Rex then glanced over his shoulder. "It’s not going to last! Be ready to jump! On my mark!"
For one last final push, Rex blasted them towards the massive boulder.
And when he felt the energy in the golden disc was slipping, he made the signal.
"Jump now!"
Almost in unison, the three leaped from the golden disc right as it dissolved beneath them. The massive boulder was within reach as the forward momentum helped them jump further. Rex and Lilliana would be able to reach it, but Davina lagged.
Her jump came late, and her right foot already sank through the fading light.
Because of that, she could only push with one leg.
Davina tried using her energy to propel herself further, but it did nothing.
It was akin to flailing in the vacuum of space. No matter how hard she pedaled, she couldn’t move further.
Rex and Lilliana looked over their shoulders and were surprised by the sight.
<Notice: Law Power would be able to resist the pulling force better than raw energy.>
Reading the notification, Rex thrust his hand toward Davina and summoned the golden disc once more. In the same breath, he infused it with both the Law of Misdirection and the Law of Inevitability. His intent was simple: create a platform sturdy enough for Davina to leap again.
But even with those two Laws, he couldn’t even keep the golden disc sturdy for three seconds.
Noticing his struggle, Lilliana pointed her hand at the golden disc.
She sharpened her focus and summoned her new Minor Law of Time, firing it at the golden disc.
The moment the greenish hue wrapped around the golden disc, its dissolution slowed. Davina landed, steadied herself for half a breath—and leaped again. The instant she was airborne, Rex and Lilliana released their Laws and the disc dissolved beneath her.
Crash—!
All three of them slammed and skidded across the massive boulder’s surface.
To their surprise, their forward momentum was stronger than they expected.
Rex stabbed his claws into the boulder and felt a sharp, electrifying pain course through his hand. The boulder was harder than he expected. His claws dragged across the boulder’s surface—creating sparks that flew into the air.
And then, he heard the sound of a yelp.
Lilliana tried to do the same thing, but her claws weren’t strong enough.
She rolled back to the edge uncontrollably.
Davina was also trying to hold onto the boulder.
Instead of stabbing her claws into the boulder as Rex did, she scraped them against its surface, gradually slowing down her momentum until she came to a stop near the edge.
"Grab onto me!" Rex roared.
As she was rolling, Lilliana summoned her strings from her fingertips again, which she infused with her Law along with Rex’s Laws. Her strings then lashed out and wrapped around Rex’s body, and when they tightened, her momentum stopped abruptly.
For a suspended breath, Lilliana looked over her shoulder and saw the bottomless void under her.
She stopped right on time as she was now dangling from the edge.
"That was really close..."