The Invincible Full-Moon System Chapter 1835: Being Paranoid

"Very well, then," Dorn adjusted his stance firmly. "I'll begin the task that brought me here."

Rex remained lost in thought, yet he gave a brief nod and signaled Linthia to lead them toward Devo and Amanir. The trio moved off into the hazy distance until their forms faded completely, once more isolating Rex in solitude.

With both aptitudes enhanced, he could finally head back home.

Truth be told, preparations were already in place.

Given the immense power he'd gained in this realm, sending his soul across to the Mortal Realm wouldn't demand the usual toll. The cost lingered in the millions still, edging perilously close to a billion, precisely at nine hundred seventy million gold.

Rex's gold reserves fell short of even half that sum.

He anticipated the ongoing reward calculations from the System to nudge him nearer to the goal.

Should that fail, he'd already dispatched Varya along with the Shade Crawlers to scout and pinpoint monster hordes sprawling across the region and farther out from the hideout. Rex planned to descend upon them and massacre the beasts to rack up the remaining hundreds of millions in gold.

Regarding the requests he'd laid out for Dorn, they aimed at copying his soul and rendering this body eternal.

Sustaining this form would demand a robust soul.

Davina had revealed that the Sky People held several potent souls. Upon death, Elders bequeathed soul remnants, which Elders and Gatekeepers harnessed to amplify their life energy intake, accelerating aging and surging their power swiftly.

Naturally, a Supreme Elder's soul might prove excessive.

Yet Rex could fortify his own soul with the remnant and deploy the surplus to claim this body fully.

Thus, he'd command two distinct bodies operating independently.

The voidal monsters he requested were essential for amassing sufficient energy to forge binding limiters, which he'd install on the body in the Spirit Realm. His primary soul required greater might to control the secondary body's actions and intent.

Absorbing the Supreme Elder's soul had nearly finalized it.

To guarantee the duplicate body couldn't bolster its soul and usurp Rex's original, the System advised installing limiters. These demanded vast energy, drawable from the forms and essences of voidal monsters.

Concerning the portal, it stemmed from Davina's suggestion.

She raised no protest when he chose to abandon the second body upon returning home to the Mortal Realm. However, she insisted on a single condition: a one-way portal permitting entry from the Mortal Realm into the Spirit Realm.

Rex deemed this demand peculiar.

Logic dictated she'd seek a one-way passage for herself into the Mortal Realm.

But pride fueled her words.

She desired his solo return, not hers to him. Linking a one-way portal to Dargena City would serve as a perpetual reminder of her presence. Bound by his vow to meet her lofty expectations, he had little option but to consent.

Crafting the portal solo would entail intricate, laborious setups.

He opted to delegate it to the Sky People.

As overseers of the whole Spirit Realm, they undoubtedly possessed ample resources and personnel to erect the portal with utmost speed. Now, with those matters resolved, Rex ought to depart, yet he lingered on the coffin, sunk in profound reflection.

Moments before, Dorn had shared Dominar's discovery.

The revelation that Chaos pursued him relentlessly.

"Chaos... Could Edward be reaching out to me via Dominar?" Rex muttered to himself, yearning for that truth. Yet his thoughts refused such optimism. "No, it might be that cursed, writhing horror intent on hauling me into its domain."

The mere notion of that monstrosity made Rex clench his knees fiercely.

His claws pierced his flesh, though the sharp pain failed to rouse him.

Visions of vengeance consumed him—what torments he'd unleash upon capturing it.

For abducting Edward, he'd inflict infernal agonies on the beast and revel in its shrieks.

"Nivellen made me recall my true nature," Rex echoed her reminder that he now stood as a Demigod in a superior realm beyond the Mortal one. "Kaiser can connect here without much resistance, drawing minimal backlash as a Demigod. I suspect the same holds for that entity."

Uncertainty lingered on whether divine rules extended to Chaos dwellers.

For now, though, he could presume they did.

Otherwise, the horror would have already infiltrated this realm and assaulted him.

"Kaiser, Ignatius, and Chaos now," Rex rubbed the nape of his neck while rising and shifting back to human guise. "System, why not shield me from the other two so I can tackle one at a time? Where's the fairness in this?"

<Invincibility demands ruthless effort and unyielding pursuit>

"Sure, sure. Your fixation on invincibility never wavers."

Rex pivoted and knelt beside the coffin he'd occupied moments ago, drawing in a deep breath via his keen nostrils. A barrage of aromas assaulted his senses, but one distinct trace gripped his focus.

"A blessed corpse avoids foul odors. Still, it carries a signature aroma," He stood tall, gaze piercing toward the looming Angel statue ahead. "Tracking you down will be effortless."

...

Roar—!

An shadowy inhabitant, a pitch-dark chimpanzee, howled in agony as a fist speared through its torso like a blade, erupting from the rear. Others leaped from limb to limb and plummeted to aid their stricken comrade.

They never neared; roots of the earth erupted from the ground and skewered them in flight.

A fierce tug followed, ripping their forms asunder.

In the oppressive, shadowed woods that seemed to close in on her, Morgana withdrew her arm from the chimpanzee's cavity with a slick pop. Crimson droplets fell from her digits as she surveyed the area intently.

She stooped low, seized the creature's skull, and wrenched it savagely.

A sharp snap resounded amid the foliage as she felled the largest foe.

These chimpanzees ranked as voidal knights, save for the fallen one, a voidal prince.

Vulnerability gnawed at her in this treacherous woodland, prompting her to draw a sacred plume. Its pure glow now flecked with crimson stains. With a radiant pulse, the surrounding cadavers dissolved into energy shards, drawn into the feather.

Morgana dropped to one knee and pressed her palm to the earth.

The band on her finger pulsed with verdant light, then faded once more.

This wasn't how it should unfold.

"Hmm?" Her stare lingered on the ring, turmoil surging within, on the verge of eruption. Even her cheeks flushed deeply. "Despite everything, I hoped you'd endure a while more. At least until I wrap up my affairs..." She gnawed her lip till blood welled. "Pathetic weakling."

With a sharp tsk, Morgana rose anew.

Despite her relentless assaults over recent days, she craved even greater yields.

Accumulating far more energy remained vital to safeguard her path ahead.

The ring formed a cornerstone of her triumphs—a present from Dominar, harboring a sliver of the Reap and Sow Echo that she'd pilfered from him and concealed through potent seals. Yet the echo fell silent now.

This signaled Emperor Dominar's demise, an emperor who once dominated unchallenged.

Her ring, bestowed by Dominar, held a fragment of the Reap and Sow Echo, snatched from him and buried under heavy suppression to evade detection. But now, the echo lay dormant. It pointed inescapably to Emperor Dominar's end.

Lacking the ring, assembling a formidable voidal monster swarm grew daunting.

Morgana relied on the Reap and Sow Echo for effective hunts.

Forced to proceed without it, her energy harvest would plummet dramatically from prior rates aided by the ring. Utterly inefficient. Thus, she ended her efforts for the day and ventured from the somber woods, craving time to plot her course.

She sliced through the Black Rift at a measured pace.

No rush to blaze ahead and invite detection by foes or voidal beasts.

Roughly an hour passed before she alighted in what appeared a boggy expanse.

Dampness permeated all; subtle fog wreathed the bizarrely twisted trees, dense enough to confound any traveler. Local voidal knights prowled the murk, wielding the eerie might of Eternal Spirit rank.

A single misstep invited their lethal ambush.

Not long past, Morgana knew only luxury—fine silks, ease, and heated chambers. Regal existence. Plush bedding. Lavish feasts.

Now, she trudged a quagmire.

Filthy, sodden, with opaque waters snaking through the sludge like pulsing arteries.

Certain spots seemed shallow, yet plunged to great depths.

Luck favored Morgana; she soared above the liquid and wielded life energy to stay pristine.

Her rank as nobility, an empress, rendered such a squalid, sodden bog an unlikely refuge. En route to her haven, she wandered the mire for nearly thirty minutes, scanning for pursuers.

She paused repeatedly along the path.

Though subdued in the royal palace, idleness never defined her.

Volumes from the imperial archives had schooled her in myriad disciplines.

Fortification stood among them.

Morgana sought utter concealment, for discovery spelled doom. Hence, she'd transformed this swamp into an impregnable bastion. Minute bees and fireflies dotted critical zones, vigilant for trespassers.

Thousands dotted the expanse.

Scattered haphazardly on bark or waves, subtle trap arrays lay in wait.

Any bearing life energy—save Morgana—triggering them by tread or passage would activate the snares. Not crafted for outright slaying, precisely. Merely to hinder. To injure. To inflict searing torment, granting her escape.

Death might result, certainly. But that missed the mark.

Moreover, should invaders wield Laws or Spirit Genesis for ethereal traversal, Morgana had sown roughly a hundred azure roses in the swamp's heart.

Beyond disrupting ability use, their fragrance muddled thoughts.

Disorientation struck instantly.

Furthermore, the swamp's voidal denizens gained physical boosts from these blooms, growing fiercer. Barring Emperor Dominar or elite from Sky City descending to hunt her, none could locate her, even mere paces distant.

Satisfied with her safeguards' inspection, her eyes turned to the stunted peak at the core.

By sheer intent, ethereal wings unfurled from her back, lifting her skyward.

Angelic appendages, feathers tinged rosy with scattered crimson flecks.

A barrier here nullified life energy use, necessitating the wings.

The rock face felt icily slick beneath her touch.

Ascending some fifty meters, she spotted a compact, disc-like ledge on the slope—her storage for essentials and temporary abode. 'This chapter closes soon.'

Wings beat as she touched down on the platform.

Yet upon lifting her eyes, her pulse faltered.

A silhouette loomed ahead, facing away from her.