The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1807: Never Personal

Rosa lifted her gaze upward.

The night had at last descended. She beheld the full moon, its hue crimson as a pool of blood.

The deed was accomplished. Her mission stood complete. Great Elder Rosa permitted herself to shut her eyes—and relish the chilly wind brushing her skin like soothing, kneading palms. Her flesh clung sticky from the profuse perspiration, sharpening the cold's sting, yet it failed to discourage her.

"You don't need to handle it," Marquess Aurelius draped his arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "I'll request the emperor allow me to take your place."

He misinterpreted her ease as anxiety.

He assumed her tension stemmed from the impending execution, yet he erred.

"If His Majesty commands me, then I shall execute it." She pivoted toward him, presenting a smile—so delicate it appeared forged from crystal. Her fingers grazed his cheek in a brief touch, though her eyes evaded his. Lowered. A nuance he overlooked. "I will... perform April’s execution."

Even uttering those words, they rang false to her.

Rosa sensed her husband recognized her concealment.

Relief washed over her when he chose not to probe deeper.

The Soul Crusher at last unveiled itself.

A royal knight tugged the silken shroud aside, exposing the concealed apparatus beneath.

It formed a round platform of ebony basalt, its face etched with ten nested circles of glowing, constantly morphing sigils. A twisting inscription in the arcane tongue of agony. Precisely at its heart sat a void, perfectly fitted for one pair of feet.

Arcing above this core were four supports of shadowy steel.

No, not steel. Rather, dark timber that shimmered nearly like metal.

Each curved like the claw-like digits of a gigantic grasp ready to seize its trophy—from overhead. Their ends met, halted mere inches from the void, poised for ignition. An enormous final ring also emerged in the ground ahead of the Soul Crusher.

A power core: a compact, pulsing orb of condensed vital force.

It resembled a imprisoned emerald sun that would soon channel its might through the sigils, along the talons, and into the victim upon the hollow. With the unveiling came the prisoners' emergence. Four forms were hauled from the dome.

Most bore shackles, save one.

Leading was Amanir.

He writhed fiercely to escape. Hurling profanities at whoever crossed his stare.

Twisted injuries scarred his frame, yet vitality surged within him still.

Following was April.

Similar to Amanir, gashes and contusions covered her, obscuring her noble lineage. She refrained from struggling as guards yanked her by the hair over the ground. She projected resilience, but cracks appeared in her facade.

Rosa averted her face, unable to confront the atrocity.

Marquess Aurelius drew her nearer, allowing her to press her face against his chest.

April's siblings, nearly twenty in count, observed impassively. Most eyed April with icy detachment, deeming her fate just for allying with the usurper. Solely one opposed. Prince Edward. His slight build concealed him amid the group, but he glared at his kin.

Family must unite, so he tugged at his siblings, demanding they act properly.

Both Amanir and April were compelled to kneel under the nobles' scrutiny.

Then the atmosphere stirred.

Intense heat infused the air as every gaze shifted to the shadows past the dome's entrance. A duo of radiant red eyes appeared. Rex stepped forth. No sounds of steps marked his advance, encased in his cocoon. Wrapped in bindings, impaled by spears, and restrained by the Reap and Sow Echo manifesting as a pink bloom.

Rex appeared before many for the initial occasion.

Merely labeled the usurper rendered his identity enigmatic. It elevated the nobles' perceptions of him; comparisons to Mirza arose among them. They viewed him as a fiend. They saw him as a savage, surpassing humanity. Some deemed him an adversary to the holy Angels, a fiend incarnate.

He remained merely a youth.

Yet as his gaze traversed the nobles, numerous shunned it completely.

Chiefly, the junior nobles dodged his look.

Listening to Althea's tales of his exploits clarified their own shortcomings.

Only the Crown Prince and Princess Davina rivaled his prowess.

Though the youths reacted strongest, the veterans sensed peril too.

Rex stood restrained, his power quelled, and flanked by four royal knights primed for any outburst. Still, in such condition, his eyes conveyed a peril piercing their essences. It felt as though confronting a corporeal Voidal Monarch.

A sensation rendering them insignificant and powerless.

Trailing him came the recent captive, Althea. Now more composed than before.

Each was made to kneel, barring Rex.

Rex now confronted the vast ocean of nobles, familiar faces woven among them. He regarded them predatorily like a raptor before his focus settled on Duke Lorcan. Among the assembly, he least anticipated Duke Lorcan opposing him.

Opposing the one with whom he had bared his frailties.

Rex had witnessed his tears, and now, as if that intimacy vanished, he aligned against him.

Disappointment outweighed the pain.

He anticipated greater from Princess Davina’s father, though it surprised him less than anticipated.

Coercion had swayed Duke Lorcan previously, and history repeated itself.

Now Rex grasped why Princess Davina despised him. Or at minimum, this facet of him.

He lacked strength.

Rex glanced sideways and scowled upon spotting Althea.

Encounters with Althea always sparked disputes and chaos. Her proximity startled him. She caught his look and flashed a grin. "What?" She inquired, smirking amid the blood staining her lip's edge. "Don't go falling for me. This is for my own sake."

"Every time you open your mouth, I feel like slapping you," Rex rolled his eyes.

Behind them, the royal knights toiled on the Soul Crusher.

A piercing, drawing noise echoed upon activation, concluding in a tormented cry.

Rex had examined it, discerning its purpose as a soul-tormenting contraption.

His soul had just healed, and this device would fracture it more severely than prior.

"I must admit," Althea scanned the surroundings. Her pulse hammered fiercely in her chest. "I'm entirely in your hands now. Whatever scheme you've got better free us. I'm still young and stunning, after all."

Rex offered no reply.

All his instincts blared warnings to his mind as his ears detected distinct steps.

They sounded incredibly subtle.

In truth, Rex was convinced these footfalls were so hushed only his supernaturally acute hearing could catch them. To others, the figure advanced in utter quiet, more floating than striding.

And unbeknownst to him, the nobles' murmurs faded away.

Now only Rex and his breathing persisted.

He twisted his head as much as possible to catch sight of this individual.

A silhouette neared from the rear. As it entered view, Rex instantly knew this being surpassed him vastly. Far superior. Emperor Dominar halted smoothly before Rex, hands folded behind his back.

Due to the cocoon, Emperor Dominar gazed upward to lock eyes with Rex.

Nevertheless, it conveyed as if he peered down upon Rex.

"Let me venture a guess, you must be..." Rex looked down at this striking figure. "Emperor Dominar?"

Emperor Dominar waved his hand, unleashing a vine from the pink flower that stabbed through Rex’s foot's sole and injected venom. It took effect swiftly. Moments later, veins in Rex’s neck shifted to a foul green.

He aimed to erase the smirk from Rex’s features, but agony achieved nothing.

Rex scarcely winced.

"Such rebellion..." Emperor Dominar shook his head gently. "Even at this juncture, defiance persists. Death holds no terror for you."

"Where's the charming empress?" Rex questioned, searching the area for her. "She's absent from sight. Frankly, I'd expect her to slay me personally. Considering I felled her cherished Archangel of Knives. Do you know about that?"

Silence met him.

A crease formed on his brow as he sought fury in Emperor Dominar’s eyes, finding none.

Simultaneously, the System finished its analysis.

<Notice: the person the user seeks, Empress Morgana, is absent from the vicinity.>

Rex’s eyebrows knit upon reading this. He had caught guards mentioning Empress Morgana's return to the empire, so her presence at this triumphant gathering seemed certain. Beyond that, she ought to deliver his deathblow.

Her absence struck as peculiar.

"You..." Insight struck Rex. "She's still vanished, right?"

"Does it signify anything?" Emperor Dominar replied. Rex’s quick deduction surprised him, though his expression remained impassive. "You've stirred sufficient chaos—already. Time returns you to your proper domain."

"Permit me this query," Rex’s eyes tightened. "Why...? Why shield her?"

At first, Rex believed Empress Morgana hid due to her treasonous acts.

Yet she had returned, or so the empire proclaimed her recovery and reunion with the emperor.

Now, a vital oversight dawned on him.

Spirits, particularly those in this realm, venerated Angels.

With the Silent Consort dedicated to Angels' honor, Empress Morgana need not fear traitor labels—by revealing Stelios to the empire. Thus, Emperor Dominar’s response should blaze with wrath.

He now possessed two inexcusable truths: Empress Morgana’s liaison with an Archangel, and Rex’s slaying of it.

Any subordinate would harbor profound, near-mad fury toward an Angel's destroyer.

But this execution lacked wrath.

Rex initially supposed it did. Confronting Emperor Dominar directly for the first time, he discerned—vengeance played no role. Something profounder than mere grudge lurked. And he yearned to uncover it.

Earlier, he deliberately invoked the Archangel of Knives to provoke a response.

Yet Emperor Dominar stayed impassive.

This bolstered by the System withholding a Killing Intent mission.

His demise served as imperial imperative.

But the cause?

"The deceased lack claim to the living's secrets, yet I'll indulge your inquiry once," Emperor Dominar stated. "You attract notice. You persist until her blood spills. We cannot permit that."

He signaled the royal knights to commence.

Among the four, April was hauled to the Soul Crusher foremost.

It necessitated her.

Emperor Dominar enacted the furious ruler, demanding April's demise.

Once more, no grudge involved. Pure exigency for obscure motives.

But Rex tired of unraveling these motives.

Solely saving those dear to him counted.

"This holds no personal stake," Emperor Dominar declared and departed. "Remember that."

"Not personal...?" Rex’s voice sliced the air, freezing the emperor’s advance. His gaze fixed on April, pulled toward the Soul Crusher, as rage ignited like flames. "You've simplified it for me. Thus, razing your empire... carries no personal weight for me either."