The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 1767: Final Strike

Kei Xun said to absorb the Invincible Apparition when it was at its weakest.

And that moment was when it was distracted while it was controlling the main body it inhabits.

Rex did exactly that.

Not only did he absorb the Invincible Apparition to pass the test and reach a state of disconnection, but he also accepted what the Invincible Apparition desperately wanted from him. It was a perfect unison that harmonized the disconnected state.

It was also said that the Invincible Apparition is the representation of a Scion’s drive.

Anger, Happiness, Sadness, Fear, and Disgust are the acknowledged drives.

And there was no doubt that each one was born from an extreme moment experienced by the Scion.

Like Rex, most wanted to forget that extreme moment.

But becoming invincible, becoming someone acknowledged—by the Highseat of Invincibility meant possessing no weakness. The Invincible Apparition was there to confront the Scion—and it was a really effective method of rooting out the talented from the strong.

Talented doesn’t necessarily mean strong.

People with immense talent could still have weak willpower.

From the looks of things, the Highseat of Invincibility favors the strong more than the talented.

It was an effective first trial—which was proven to work, as even Kei Xun stated many promising Scions fell even though they had monstrous talent that was on par with established Scions. And now that Rex has accepted his past, making him whole, there’s no stopping his anger.

KABOOM—!

All of the onlookers’ eyes bear witness to the cataclysmic spectacle manifested from the birth of a Scion.

Even though the sun beam was powerful, filled with the power of heaven, the blazing gold and crimson that seethed from the inside shattered it with a sudden thunderous shockwave. It expanded like a ring of destruction, sweeping and expanding like a tsunami.

Among the first people who sensed the cataclysm was Gistella.

Being an Undead in another life, she was close to death, and could sense when its stroke was approaching.

She was the one who leaped skyward as high as possible first, climbing to her peak before arresting her fall with a platform of solidified energy. In the same fluid motion, she tilted her head down and fixated on Flunra.

Instead of wasting her breath calling for him, she extended a whip of force by stretching her hand.

It hooked around him and yanked him from the ground, pulling him up to her level.

Flunra also sensed the approaching cataclysm, so when he felt Gistella’s energy wrapped around him—he didn’t fight it. He stared at the expanding ring of destruction that spread from Rex, flattening every single thing it touched.

Even the ancient stone formation of the Tomb of Heroes was flattened.

Nothing seemed to deter its mighty presence for thousands and thousands of years.

But this destructive shockwave was able to destroy it completely.

The shockwave would have annihilated the very heart of the Tomb of Heroes were it not for the statues of the Origin protecting it. Within them slept the consciousness of monstrous and ancient beings, and it was their enduring will that shielded the inner chamber from total destruction.

On the other hand, Adhara could also be seen sprinting sideways with all her might.

If she wanted to avoid the shockwave, she should’ve leaped skyward or made a sharp turn.

But she didn’t.

And naturally, her aim wasn’t to avoid the shockwave, but rather to reach someone.

Her glowing white eyes narrowed, locking onto a distant figure.

Evelyn.

She picked up her pace with a sudden burst of speed, kicking off dust and rocks behind her.

Teeth gritted, she pushed past her limit as she summoned the violet fiery serpent that slithered beside her, ready to propel her at a moment’s notice. Every glance she took to the side showed the shockwave was closing in fast, devouring the earth.

In a final surge, she reached Evelyn, hooked an arm around her waist, and nodded at the fiery serpent.

Katcha—!

Almost on instinct, the fiery serpent whipped them with its tail, launching them both skyward.

Even though the impact hurts, it’s a lot better than tanking the shockwave.

And even then, they barely cleared the shockwave.

Their legs were caught by the passing force, a titanic backhand that sent the two spinning mid-air.

Only with the help of Gistella did the two manage to stop the spinning momentum.

”Can you at least have the liberty to move? You know you’re not an empress in this realm, right?”

”I know you’d reach me, so why bother? You’ve gotten stronger, I can tell.”

”I am stronger, but that kind of trust is still making my heart pound.”

”Either way, that flare stunned me. You can’t blame me for that happening before us.”

Adhara and Evelyn looked down, and the breath was stolen from their lungs.

Below, the shockwave expanded in a relentless, devouring ring, scouring the land for miles. Everything in its path was erased. It surged even past the Black Rift, vanishing into the thick and all-encompassing darkness/

But the destruction did not stop.

From beyond the border, a thunderous, world-cracking roar continued to sound.

A sign that the annihilation was still unfolding somewhere in the unseen deep.

Naturally, the center of it all was a massive column of crimson and gold energy that pierced the sky.

Rumble!

It pulsed with even more power that swept away all the golden clouds in the sky.

And before anyone realized, the sky, which should’ve still held the sun, was suddenly plunged into what can only be described as a premature night as if the cataclysm had accelerated the falling of darkness, shading the golden day to an ink-black night.

Just the sheer, unfathomable scale of such power left the Silverstar Pack stunned.

But their shock was a fleeting tremor next to the seismic upheaval that gripped Stelios.

”N-No way...”

Stelios stared at the column of light, his shoulders shaking with a low, self-mocking chuckle. Even his face contorted into despair. He had played his final trump card earlier to avoid the shockwave: detaching his soul from its fleshy vessel in a desperate bid to return to the Mortal Realm and claim a new body.

One of the perks of being an Archangel or an Angel in general.

Physical death was never the end.

Flesh was a temporary shelter; what mattered was consciousness, or the immortal soul.

Destroying that was no simple feat, as it was shielded by layers of divine protection.

For an Archangel, those protections were swelled to a ridiculous degree.

All in the hope of preventing a real death.

But when he triggered the Spirit Realm’s consciousness, to signal his uninvited presence within its own domain and be ejected back to the Mortal Realm—something else intervened. Stelios didn’t know what, but it was unfathomable.

A deeper power muted the very consciousness of the realm.

Now, he was trapped, unable to leave the realm or even run away.

He was able to survive the shockwave because of that, but he was now forced back to his frail body.

”This isn’t happening... This can’t be happening...” Stelios couldn’t look away from the figure inside this column of energy that was suspended mid-air, arms spread to the side like a God descending to the mortal plane. ”I’m the Archangel of Knives... No Werewolf can ever defeat me... How can a Werewolf have this kind of power?”

Even though he said those words, it sounded hollow now.

Lacking in comparison to how it once was compared to earlier.

However, the one thing that made him fall into the pit of despair was his disconnection from heaven.

An Angel is never severed from Heaven. Whether in the Mortal Realm, the Spirit Realm, or any other domain—save the forsaken Chaos Realm—that divine connection persists, unbroken unless the Angel itself wills it.

But now, for Stelios, there was no Heaven. Only silence.

For the longest time, whenever he looked up to the sky, he would find comfort in knowing that Heaven was watching him. Looking over him. Seeing what his loyalty and determination were playing today. But right now, for the first time in his entire life, there was nobody watching him.

Nobody was up there other than the celestial expanse.

Like the power radiating from the figure managed to suppress Heaven’s will.

Something like that was... despairing.

Slowly, gradually, the column of energy started to grow smaller and smaller.

But alongside its shrinking size, the aura of the figure inside climbed higher and higher.

It became incredibly dense, making it hard for Stelios to breathe as if it was constricting the air.

And when the column of energy evaporated, the figure fell back down hard.

Crack—!

No, the fall itself wasn’t hard and violent—it was a rather graceful fall.

But the moment the figure’s body made contact with the earth, it shattered—creating a web-like crack that knocked Stelios’ balance off, almost like the figure’s body weighed a lot more than it looked, like it was an incredibly dense rock.

Rex slowly rose to his feet, exhaling a deep breath from his mouth.

As opposed to focusing on the System’s notifications that flooded his vision, Rex focused on his state of being. He lifted up his hands and looked at them, feeling an extraordinary power coursing through his veins.

It felt like the first time he turned into a Werewolf.

Everything about him felt familiar but foreign at the same time.

In hindsight, I sense nothing outwardly abnormal. Yet inwardly, I feel profoundly different—as though a latent power now rests within me, awaiting my command. And with it comes a quiet, undeniable surge of strength. What is it?

Is it anger...?

Considering that he was now inside the Anger Stratum, that’s the only possible answer.

Now that he was a Blank, he should be able to do exactly what Kei Xun did.

Rex focused his attention on his core, and within it, he soon noticed something that pulsed with power. Like another organ that grew near his heart, and with nothing but his will, he could manually control it however he wanted.

Just activating this new organ made his blood boil strongly.

When he slowed down the throb, the boiling feeling dulled to a numb ache along with his emotions. If he does the opposite, accelerating it, the heat roared back even stronger. This rhythm, this control—this was what a Blank gained for passing the first stage.

It was the very pulse of his tie to the Highseat of Invincibility.

The Disconnect, that’s what this stage was all about.

Rex would be able to numb everything while retaining his anger and also intensifying everything.

And for a Werewolf, this power was incredibly useful and compatible.

”Even though I only did it briefly, I can feel everything about me is also amplified. Not only my anger, but also my power,” Rex smiled inwardly—as he fixated his gaze on Stelios, not too far away, kneeling on the ground like he was a lost puppy. ”Let’s try it out.”

Rex approached and stopped right before Stelios, towering over him like a titan.

”You could’ve threatened me. You could’ve tried to kill me directly. But you chose the coward’s path, you targeted those around me.” Rex’s voice was low—the sound of claws dragged across steel. ”I can forgive an enemy who comes for my life. But I can never forgive one who comes for theirs.”

Rex pulled out the chaos sword that was stabbed into his stomach.

And once it was out, he simply tightened his grip, cracking it like it was nothing.

Shatter—!

Once the sword shattered, he raised his hand toward the sky, fingers splayed as if clawing the horizon.

”But I suppose I should be somewhat thankful.”

He activated Blood Moon Echo one final time.

Before Stelios’ eyes, a miniature crimson moon bled into existence, casting the world in a grim, bloody light. From it poured a torrent of raw, scarlet life energy. It flooded Rex’s shattered claws, welding the broken fragments together with veins of seething crimson.

”Because of you,” Rex rasped, a menacing smile carving itself across his face, ”I inherited this.”

He leveled his restored claws at Stelios, each point glinting with predatory intent.

”And for that, let me repay you by making you the first one to taste it,” Rex’s face hardened, showing the inevitable finality of their battle. It was the hunter who was hunted. ”Say your last prayer, Archangel. Not that Heaven will hear you—you already abandoned it. But maybe, it’ll forgive you as you fall.”

Swoosh—!

Rex’s claws blazed with energy so dense that it was beyond Stelios’ capabilities.

A final strike.

”Oh, Heaven...” Stelios’ eyes reflected the burning crimson as tears slipped. ”Forgive me for my sins.”