Morgana wanted to say something, but it was hard to push out the words from her mouth.

She was struggling.

Having the Angel blood inside her diluted and erased is far from a simple process. To the naked eye, it was true that her appearance and power degraded significantly. But in the process, the strain that was placed on her mind was enormous.

It felt like her head was being crushed from all sides and on the brink of exploding.

She wanted to ask Rex to make the pain stop. Make this go away.

If he can induce this onto her, then he should also be able to take it back if he willed it.

Heck, she’d beg him if that’s what it takes for him to show mercy.

Pride wouldn’t save her right now, so she didn’t feel like holding onto it strongly. It meant nothing.

Morgana could feel it deep inside her. Before death could even claim her, she’d lose her mind and had her mind crushed, turning her into an empty living doll. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want that to be her end.

She couldn’t say a word, so she stared at Rex, trying to get his attention.

In that moment, she heard what Rex was mumbling about.

Morgana heard him mumble about everyone wanting him dead, and he sounded incredulous at that. It made her want to scream at him that this was because he always wanted things to go his way. But then she saw something.

Even as Rex shook his head and sighed, his face showed no sign of being troubled.

Instead, it showed pity.

’Is he actually feeling pity for his enemies? Does he really think he’s invincible?!’

Oblivious to what Morgana was thinking about, Rex approached the portal remnant. “Hmm, this might be of use for Dorn to make the portal. But the method is unique to the Angels—I doubt it. I’m sure the Sky People have a better method than this.”

Rex decided to take it down.

If it wouldn’t serve his purpose, then the portal shouldn’t exist.

Sure, the energy was completely exhausted, and it was still in the early stage of the making, but Rex wouldn’t be responsible if he let this thing lying around. Others might find a way to use it, and that’ll be more trouble.

Destroying it is the best way to deal with this thing.

Clang—!

“Fuck!” Rex groaned and waved his hand, realizing that the portal was harder than anything his fist had ever punched before. “Last time I checked, my strength stat is multiple times stronger than it was. How strong is this thing?”

He expected to put in some more effort to destroy it, but not to this extent.

Eventually, he placed his hand on it, “System, how do I destroy it?”

<Scanning…>

<Notice: the unfinished portal is connected to the Light Tunnel, where both world energies from the Spirit Realm and the Mortal Realm meet. It created a solid structure that is harder than anything within the two realms>

<In order to destroy it, the user has to kill the one who made it.>

At the System’s replies, Rex’s body slowly turned around.

His face turned grim as his gaze finally fixated on Morgana’s pale face.

Seeing that she finally has Rex’s attention, Morgana mustered everything she could to speak.

“Spare me,” She begged through a strained throat. “If you spare me right now, my life is yours.” Blood drizzled down her lips as the pain intensified. “I can retain the empire. I can anchor the scattered nobles and make the empire a vassal to yours.”

Rex approached her slowly.

Step by step.

Each one seemed to shake the whole world.

Morgana wanted to run, wanted everything to stop, but everything has naturally reached its conclusion.

And her fate is in Rex’s hands.

Rex gently lifted up her chin. And for a second, she thought that maybe there was a chance. No matter how strong a man becomes, the urge of expanding their power will always be present. Even Gods aren’t the exception to this rule.

An established empire within the Spirit Realm is a branch that is too hard to pass up.

And Morgana was right.

Just moments earlier, Rex wasn’t planning to kill her since she’s an essential piece to the empire. One that could unite the nobles, at least until her replacement could be named. Of course, he might be able to use the Crown Prince.

But he knew Morgana more than he knew about the Crown Prince.

It’s generally safer to have her sitting on the throne.

Connecting the Clarentium Empire to the Haeltara Empire is something that he wanted to do.

The Spirit Realm is wasted by the Black Right, that’s without a doubt scarred the realm without a doubt. But its resources still surpassed anything back home, or at least it would be like that until the Mortal Realm awakened fully and returned to its former glory.

Rex intended to use the Spirit Realm as an advantage.

A place to harvest resources so that his allied nation could grow faster than it ever could before.

But now, he changed his mind.

Seems like the Crown Prince was in luck.

Bam—!

Rex’s knuckles rammed against Morgana’s face, throwing her aside in utter shock.

She slid across the ground and gasped for air.

One side of her face was instantly swollen, and the gums inside her mouth shattered, filling her mouth with blood. She was suffering from losing her Angel bloodline, weakened, so every attack damaged her significantly more than normal.

If only Dominar were still alive, she could use the Reap and Sow Echo to retaliate.

But without him, she is vulnerable and helpless.

“No, wait!” Morgana exclaimed. Fear has now filled her eyes, diluting anything graceful or grand about her. “You don’t trust me? Okay. I will ask Marquess Raka to use his Slave Echo to make me your slave! Just show mercy!”

“Morgana, Morgana, Morgana…” Rex cackled mockingly as he approached her again. “You’re really a puppet that doesn’t fit being an empress. You should know how this goes. If the emperor dies, everyone around him dies. And the empress is the first one to die.

“That’s the price you needed to pay in exchange for your luxurious life.”

Realizing that there was no chance, Morgana tried to crawl away, but she was too slow.

Rex already reached her and grabbed her by the hair.

A fist drilled into her chest, shattering bone and churning her insides as she flew backward and slammed into stone. Blood and saliva burst from her lips. And in that fraction of a second, every bad choice she’d ever made flashed before her eyes.

Everything started after she believed Stelios could defeat Rex.

She wanted to become an Angel.

That’s all she ever wanted from the moment she was taken in by her foster parents.

And when Stelios contacted her, she thought it was her golden opportunity to get what she wanted. But it had been a horrendous mistake. She shouldn’t take on the role to help. Had she stayed impartial, she might not have ended up like this.

Morgana crawled away.

She was closer to the edge now.

If she could fall down and run into the traps she set, she might still have a chance to survive.

But that hopeful illusion was shattered when Rex grabbed her by the hair again.

“Mer-Mercy…” She begged one last time, even clasping her hands in prayer as tears fell down.

“You sold me out to the Archangel of Knives. You tried to kill me when I was fresh from battle, already wounded. And now this—you stabbed me in the back to appease a master who couldn’t even help you when you needed him most,” Rex pulled her face closer, inhaling the blood that streaked her skin.

He smiled, “Tell me. After all of that, do you still believe you deserve mercy?”

As much as she wanted to survive, she couldn’t answer the question.

Anyone who dare do those things to her would already be dead long ago.

“Didn’t think so,” Rex sneered at the silence.

“B-But you’re better than me…” Morgana desperately said. “I know deep down you’re better than me.”

Rex turned to look at her directly in her eyes. His face shifted from menacing to outright confusion. He found it genuinely puzzling for her to say that. “Where did you even get that from?” he asked, and tilted his head. “I’m never really a good guy.”

“Kahkk!”

Mercilessly, Rex snatched her neck, lifted her from the ground, and squeezed.

Since the System said this is the only way, then that’s exactly what he’s going to do.

For a good moment, she flailed and retaliated. She hits his face, kicks his body, and even bites his arms, desperately trying to make him let go. None of those things did anything to Rex. He looked away—not because he was uncomfortable, but because he was already locating where the Shade Crawlers were.

I should make the rest into pack members. Should be easy to complete the pack member requirement.

Rex recalled his Race Evolution Quest.

But as he was thinking of what he’d do next, he sensed heat burning through his palms.

He turned to look at Morgana again and was surprised when he saw her veins had already turned purple.

Not from asphyxiation, but something else.

“Chaos?!”

Rex recoiled, then caught himself before he allowed an advantageous position go. Instead of retreating, he pressed harder. The Red Dawn of Kaiser ignited in his other hand. He listened—and found her heart, allowing him to lock it with the Law of Inevitability.

And without thinking much, he drove his claws home.

But his hand stopped inches away from impaling her chest, and then her heart.

He remembered something.

A hope that his friend is fine on the other side.

“Edward…” Rex looked at Morgana’s eyes, searching for something. Someone. “Is this you?”

Even though he had been doing his best to grow stronger and enter the Chaos Realm, he knew that it was harder for Edward. He was tormented by that abomination. Unmade. Perhaps even changed for the worse. Far worse than what the Fifthborn ever did.

If it’s really Edward on the other side reaching for him, he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

He wanted Edward to talk to him and tell him what to do.

Tell how to reach the Chaos Realm as fast as possible and rescue him.

Morgana’s body convulsed harder, and the purple veins that were evident through her skin now already enveloped her entirely from head to toe. Deep purple markings formed under her eyes. Even her lips, which were pale, are now shaded in purple.

Just then, the convulsing stopped entirely.

Everything about Morgana went still.

Rex kept looking into her eyes. Looking at her left eye, and then her right. But he was taken aback when he could see another vast expanse that reflected them. A realm filled with anarchy. And at that moment, Rex knew that the thing looking out at him wasn’t Morgana anymore.

It was also not Edward.

It was something else. Something other. Something his mind can’t quite comprehend.

Every sense in him screamed at him in unison.

<Warning!>

<Warning!>

<Notice: the user has zero chance of defeating the being possessing Morgana’s body>

<Run!>

<Run!>

Countless notifications flooded his vision, and each one of them was blinking red.

All of them were advising him to run.

Rex was expecting the situation to be over regarding Morgana, so he was completely caught off guard when notifications flooded his vision. But he quickly recovered from his daze and stabbed his claws into her chest, crushing the heart.

His sharp claws stabbed through flesh and bone easily and protruded from the back.

Even the wall behind shattered upon impact.

But Morgana’s eyes still stared at him. Still showed no sign of her soul being taken away by death.

“If your heart does not want to beat for life,” Her voice was not guttural and astral, as if there are ten voices talking at the same time. “Stare into my eyes.”