The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 1672: Show You The Great Filter (2)

Rex had already been made known of Kei Xun’s power.

Power that the Scion called the Absolute Effect.

Hers was the Absolute Sadness, giving her perfect memory, and also the ability to see the past in people and inanimate things. In his mind, with that kind of power, Kei Xun would be able to hunt down anyone easily as long as there was one undeniable lead.

A place the person was last seen, or even a dear item.

Since she could see the past of inanimate things, she must be an exceptional hunter.

And since she also could see the past in others, it also made her a scary opponent to deal with.

But Rex wasn’t expecting that her power to reach this extent.

For her to not only see the past, but also feel the emotions contained in that past is an entirely different level of power. She’s monstrous, a formidable opponent that one would want to mess with, as Kei Xun will certainly aim to crush her opponent’s mind in mind games.

Before, Rex was already wary of Kei Xun.

Now, that view towards her only solidified even more.

”Until her test to become a Blank came...”

Rex blinked and focused on the moment again as the surroundings shifted into someplace else entirely.

He looked around and found himself in some sort of alley that stretched beneath the archway like a neck choked with shadow. Ancient brickwork, slick with moss and grime, drank greedily from the rain that drizzled in thin, endless sheets.

Puddles gathered between the uneven cobblestones, rippling each time droplets struck.

Each carried the sour reek of rot and damp stone.

Slowly, Rex looked up and saw that the narrow street was flanked by looming, crooked houses whose walls leaned inward as though they conspired to suffocate the light. This place looked medieval. But this place could be a city governed by Supernaturals. I can’t tell... but this could be in the Radical Era, or the Era of Might, certainly not the present time.

Far above, jagged silhouettes of spires pierced the bruised sky, shrouded in mist and storm clouds.

Here, the rain felt heavier than normal, as if the city itself wept without end.

Or perhaps, it was the start of the city’s end.

Just then, Rex looked over his shoulder to the other end of the street, where a commotion could be heard.

Under the merciless storm that pounded the city in sheets that plastered hair to skin and turned streets into rivers, dozens of people screamed—and bolted through the downpour, their terror so absolute they did not even flinch at the thunder splitting the sky.

Even as the rain soaked them to the bone, none of them cared.

Survival was the only thing on their mind.

Once. Then twice, the ground shuddered beneath their feet; deep tremors echoed like distant artillery.

Some stumbled but didn’t dare to look back; they barreled past Rex as if he were invisible, their wide eyes vacant with panic, and their breaths ragged and uneven. Rex stood still amid the chaos, the storm drenching him.

”Is this... mana?”

He could feel it in the air—a hum, sharp and electric, prickling his skin like static. Mana. Arcane Mana to be exact. But not the faint, invisible current known only to Awakened. This was incredibly dense, so overwhelming, it had broken through the boundary of perception.

Even ordinary eyes could see it now, rolling overhead in a thick, gas-like haze, choking the skyline.

Its luminous shroud pulsed faintly with power.

A power that Rex recognized to be the very peak of the ninth-rank realm—no, perhaps even higher.

Sensing another surge, Rex lowered his gaze, extending his senses downward.

Beneath the soaked earth, arcane mana surged like a subterranean river, coursing at lightning speed and chasing the fleeting crowd. It was a hunt—And the moment the stream caught up to the terrified people, the street erupted.

Crack!

In an instant, the ground split with a deafening crack, and a forest of spectral arms burst forth.

All were translucent, pale as moonlight, yet solid in their intent—they didn’t seize flesh or bone. Deeper. Each hand plunged through screaming bodies, closing around something unseen, something vital. The people convulsed as their very essence was being ripped free, their voices warping into hollow wails.

Soon enough, the spectral arms pulled away, dragging out white clouds from inside the people.

Souls.

Rex’s gaze immediately narrowed upon seeing this, ”A Soul Elementalist...? Never seen one.”

But the scene wasn’t finished—the ghostly hands flared suddenly, each igniting with a blackened fire, hellish and unholy. It wasn’t mana-born fire. Rex sensed no fire mana in it; this was something else. A different source of power.

Demonic.

”No Awakened could wield demonic energy... Awakened are human. Always human.” He whispered.

Even so, the dance of demonic power and arcane mana showed otherwise.

”Throughout the years, Rine’s sources of happiness were stripped away. War burned her home. Betrayal stole her friends and husband. All that is left is her deceased baby, and tonight... she lost everything.” Kei Xun explained, looking straight at the other end of the street, as if expecting something or someone.

Rex also looked in the same direction, sensing someone was approaching.

From the shadows beyond the corner, a figure emerged.

Rine, but her appearance took Rex’s breath away.

She stepped into view, crimson light rippling over her like living fire; deep crimson that it bled despair into the air, staining the wet stone walls with its unholy power. Her long, tangled hair clung to her blood-smeared skin, streaked with rain and gore alike.

She wore the same radiant smile that once brightened the entire world and warmed the coldest hearts.

But now, the smile looked wrong.

Even though the same beaming smile still curved her lips, bright and familiar, it was not the same—it was too wide, too fixed, trembling at the edges with madness. Her rainbow-colored eyes, the ones that once shimmered like hope, gleamed now with a fractured brilliance.

Like shattered glass catching the light.

And its color bled into golden, one that somehow looked like Kei Xun’s eyes.

Blood marred every inch of her armor, smeared in streaks and handprints—some hers, some not.

One hand clutched the tiny lifeless body of a baby against her side, cradling it almost tenderly.

On the other hand, she dragged a man by the head—his heels scraped across the slick stone floor, leaving a trail of crimson behind them. This was not the young girl that Rex had seen earlier; that young girl was gone, not only appearance-wise, but also heart-wise.

Her presence was a scream, a desperate plea for help that could be heard by no one.

Slowly. Rine walked towards Rex and Kei Xun, causing destruction all around her—with flicks of her eyes. She was smiling, laughing even, but tears streamed down her face like an unhinged contrast that made anyone uncertain whether to be happy or sad for her.

Rex’s eyes were fixated on the bull horns protruding from the sides of her head.

It showed clearly that she must be a hybrid—a Human and also a Demon.

”Did the baby get killed?” He asked, stepping aside to let Rine walk past.

”No,” Kei Xun—shook her head. ”It died in the hands of the world’s indifference. Sickness. And that pushed her over the edge. It was her test to become a Blank, and she failed. Now, instead of using this moment to enhance her drive to invincibility, she came to realize the simple truth that happiness always fades.”

”Realize, or beguile?” Rex asked, crossing his arms, and watched the broken figure walking away.

Kei Xun smiled faintly, ”Beguiled. She fell to her Invincible Apparition’s seduction—and now, it had taken over her completely.”

”What happened after the Invincible Apparition took over her body?”

”For the Happiness stratum, it made the Scion mad and brought destruction everywhere until she was put down.”

”She can’t recover from that...?”

”No—once the Invincible Apparition takes hold, a Scion is already lost. It isn’t just a persona or some fractured shard of our mind. Think of it not as a living mantle, a gift from the Highseat of Invincibility itself—proof that we are still deemed worthy. But the mantle is hungry. The moment it senses a sense of weakness inside us—it begins to consume us. It won’t stop until nothing remains but itself.”

Upon hearing this, Rex’s forehead creased as that explains how the Invincible Apparition appeared.

He went berserk and almost lost his mind when Calidora did that heinous move.

One that still aches even until now.

At that moment, when he thought the Invincible Apparition’s birth was not really its birth, but instead, it was the moment it decided that Rex was weak, and started to try to devour him. Walking the path of a Scion is anything but easy, as one moment of weakness could cost everything.

Rex looked at Rine’s fading back as he reached for his chest.

Earlier... before Davina came to my aid, I almost lost it too. And at that moment, I felt it: I could feel the pain from the Invincible Apparition’s words linger far longer than they should have. I have to really be careful... I can’t afford to let that happen again.

It was clear that the Invincible Apparition’s hold on him was getting stronger.

And soon, very soon, he could end up like Rine.

Just then, the surroundings changed again; this time, Rex and Kei Xun entered the Fear stratum.

Inside, they were confronted with another Scion who goes by the name Arthur.

Unlike Rine, who resides within a well-developed village, Arthur lives within a village that could barely be called a village. Rex looked around and found that the houses and buildings were already worn down to the point of almost collapsing with a simple nudge.

Only what seemed to be a church was in better condition.

Far fewer people lived here now, and every one of them was gaunt from malnutrition.

It was akin to a village of zombies; most of them barely had any strength to walk.

Arthur was no exception.

Around the village was nothing but barren land with nothing but dead trees and crusted earth.

Even the night air was dry, prickling the skin.

Rex and Kei Xun stared at Arthur, a skinny man with long blonde hair and blue eyes—he was kneeling in front of the village’s gate, clasping his hands in prayer, looking up to the starry night sky as if he was looking directly at the entity beyond the clouds—God.

Clearly, the village was struck by famine.

And even though Arthur was whispering, Rex could hear what his prayers were.

”Please, God... I’m not asking to be gifted with the power of Vampires, Werewolves, Angels, or any other divine powers that you bestowed on the blessed. I pray to you only to give us food. Anything. No matter what it is... give us food. I don’t care if it’s an insect, or dirty animals...”

”Just give us something. Don’t look away.”

Still brimming with hope, Arthur looked at the sky, anticipating a miracle.

But it never came.

All that greeted him was a crushing, indifferent silence—the heavens offered no answer to his pleas or the village’s suffering. No whisper, no sign, nothing but the weight of quiet pressing down. He stayed there for hours, neck aching from gazing skyward, voice cracking as he prayed louder and louder... yet the heavens never stirred.

Only the subtle groans of the dying people lingered in the air.

Kei Xun’s eyes narrowed. ”Arthur realized that there are only so many Gods up there, and all of them are busy with their own people. None turned to look at him and the village. He’s in the dark side of the world... the godless side. And the drive that sets him on the path of invincibili—”

”To fulfil the empty void...” Rex cuts her sentence short. ”He wanted to fulfil that godless void.”

His brows knitted together with a grim understanding.

Even before Kei Xun said Arthur’s reason, he could already guess.

”Yes... He wanted to become a God.”