“Kaiser…”

Meloriana stared at the disappearing dimensional tear below where Rex had emerged from.

She has a troubled look on her face.

Breaching through the reinforcement veil created from the Blood Moon’s power was already surprising enough, but his next moves were even more surprising. To think he was able to use his abilities when he doesn’t have a physical body, only a soul, is even more surprising.

“What are you doing?” She finally turned—eyes flickering with anger and power. “Why didn’t you stop him from teleporting them away?”

Her voice was calm, but there was a level of dismay in it.

Letting Rex steal more divine strands was intentional from Kaiser’s part, allowing him to ascend higher in divinity so that the restraint from the rule would weaken. It was all done so that this moment would be possible.

Attacking the Silverstar Pack directly and crushing Rex’s mind with the ultimate loss.

But instead of making sure he couldn’t rescue the Silverstar Pack, Kaiser allowed him to take two away.

Hearing no answer from him, Meloriana’s patience broke.

“Did you still think this is normal? You are giving him too many chances to grow—even stronger!” She roared, stabbing a finger into Kaiser’s chest. “We are going to be a laughing stock for having a difficult time against a mortal, and you still do this?!”

“That is not my aim,” Kaiser replied with a cold tone.

He crossed his arms, staring below at the remaining survivors who were now at his mercy.

“Not… your… aim?!” Meloriana’s voice thundered. She emphasized each word—like a declaration, “What aim is there other than taking him out?!”

“It’s true we need to get rid of him, but can we handle the consequences?” Kaiser stared at her confused eyes, unblinking. Like he was asking whether she had thought about things thoroughly through his gaze alone. “Not from the world, but the entity behind him.”

Meloriana blinked, and her anger faltered.

She remembered how Rex easily escaped the entrapment of their realms.

A mortal shouldn’t be able to do that, so he must have had help from another, more powerful being.

“I allowed him to focus on his pack members—so that I can strike him with enough force to almost kill him,” Kaiser explained. There is always a reason behind his every action. “But the entity did not help him. I feel no sign of danger. It’s unclear why, but he doesn’t seem to have its protection anymore.

“A good finding,” Kaiser’s eyes flashed with killing intent.

Now that he knew there would be no consequences, there’s no need to hold back anymore.

He can kill Rex without needing to fear the mysterious protector.

“But still—you heard what he said,” Meloriana frowned. “He’s most likely going to the God Realm. To us. Finding him and knowing what he’s planning to do will be harder compared to when he’s still bound to the lower plane.

“Not to mention, this is really risky.” She added worriedly.

If the entity protecting Rex was still present—and now that they’d given him the divinity needed to enter the God Realm—they might be in serious trouble. In this higher plane, that entity could aid him far more easily. Even now, that possibility remained.

“Regardless, we now knew their relationship was not intimate,” Kaiser’s eyes flickered with the lethality of a predator about to start a hunt. “And in the God Realm, the moment we find him is the moment he’ll die. Besides, he has many enemies. And with his brazenness, he will make more.

“Now, we have a Silverstar. An insurance. All we have to do now is find him,” He continued.

Just then, an entity emerged behind them.

A figure of smoky green that manifested into a humanoid silhouette, oozing with godly power.

“Allow me to help,” the entity whispered as he manifested.

“You’re awake?” Meloriana was pleasantly surprised, but was cheering inside. “About time.”

“Yes, good to see you so lively again, sister,” the figure smiled at her—before fixating on Kaiser again. “Leave the hunting to me. I need to stretch after a long nap, anyway, so this is perfect. After all, I’m the better hunter than you guys.”

“Hmph,” Kaiser snorted. “Suit yourself.”

…

Rex gritted his teeth and stared at the humanoid silhouette across from him.

He wanted to scan the figure for its stats, but refrained from doing so, as getting struck by the backlash when he might need to run would be horrible. It’s not a great idea to gamble—that he was strong enough to scan this Godling completely.

Bad luck struck him again.

From its gaze, Rex sensed no predatory instinct that he would normally feel from his enemies.

However, the posture this figure assumed showed that it can fight.

Being trained all his life to do nothing but fight made his senses acute to these kinds of things.

Rex’s eyes could pick up the bodily cues that someone could fight.

And this thing can certainly fight.

Clang—!

Clang—!

Steel rang against wood, creating a deep clang. It was slow and steady. Deliberate even. The humanoid figure raised its weapon and struck the tree again and again. Each blow echoes through the loud silence of the meadow like a heartbeat.

An intimidation display. Or so Rex assumed.

Maybe a territorial warning.

No, it’s definitely a territorial warning.

Rex knows how it feels upon entering the territory that was ruled by another, and this felt exactly like it.

“Come on, girls,” He whispered to them through a restrained throat. “Adapt quickly. You did not come with me to only become burdens, didn’t you? We might need to run any second now. I think we are in someone else’s territory.”

Davina could hear his voice now.

And the sarcastic question was the first thing she heard.

“It’s not fair to say that when this is out of my hands,” She clicked her tongue in displeasure.

“Nash,” Rex turned to the other side. “Can you hear my voice?”

“Y-Yes…” He answered with a grunt.

“There’s a humanoid creature approaching us. It holds a javelin, or a kind of it, and it is making some sort of intimidation display. Ring any bell?”

“G-Gardener…”

“Gardener? So, what? Are we supposed to leave its garden or something?”

Nash wanted to answer, but his senses were still being overwhelmed, and it was hard for him to speak.

CLANG—!

Another steel clang echoed, but this was louder.

So much so that the hit gouged deep, sending splinters of wood flying as if the tree was being flayed.

“Nash, it’s getting fucking angry,” Rex rose to his feet, urgency sharp in his voice. Carrying these three seems to be a hassle and impossible to do while being chased. Better to fight, to stall, until they regained their senses. He refused to believe he couldn’t buy a few minutes. “What am I supposed to do? Is it like a bear? Should I make noise too?”

“F-Flower…” Nash muttered inaudibly.

“What do you mean?” Rex asked again, but he couldn’t wait for another answer and transformed.

He made his body bigger and more menacing, even spreading his arms to the side.

It’s better for him to look more menacing to dissuade this creature from attacking.

“Hyaah—!” Rex roared. “Get out of here!”

Immediately after he did that, the creature suddenly stilled again, and tension charged the air.

It stared Rex so intently that he felt like his soul was being stared at directly.

“I did something wrong, didn’t I?”

A bead of cold sweat trickled down the side of Rex’s face as the creature tilted its head slightly.

And faster than the blink of an eye, it disappeared and reappeared directly before Rex.

It stood a head taller than him. Up close, the figure revealed itself: an oversized human. One that very much resembles an Ancient Human with leathery brown skin crisscrossed by scars. A black mask covered its face, leaving only its mouth exposed.

Rex instinctively grabbed Davina right below him and tried to leap backward.

He was surprised by this creature’s speed.

But the creature was faster than even Rex’s reaction.

It held his wrist, and the world narrowed to that point of contact. Rex didn’t fight it. He instinctively knew with certainty that struggling to break free was pointless. This creature’s grip was final. Absolute. A door that only opened one way.

Breaking free could only be done by severing his own arm.

And he did it without hesitation.

Rex was about to sever his own arm, but the creature was faster.

Swish—!

His pupils dilated as the creature raised its dark-black javelin.

It swung down, prompting Rex to raise his claws, but the javelin didn’t make contact with him.

Instead, it went past him.

Further down.

Rex gritted his teeth, thinking the creature was evil enough to aim for the helpless, which would be the overwhelmed Davina below him, before attacking the strong. But he soon realized that was not the case entirely.

He stared at what the javelin was pointing at.

A tiny baby-blue five-petaled flower that he had been stepping on all this time.

Then, like a teacher with a wooden stick, it used its javelin to pat the ground right beside the tiny flower, demanding Rex’s focus on the bloom. Pay attention. Look. And he did. A slow shake of its head then followed. No words. Just a gesture.

But the meaning should be clear.

“You’re saying I can’t step on the flowers?” Rex raised a brow, totally confused.

It shook its head again.

Patiently, it repeated what it had gestured earlier, telling Rex that it’s not good to step on this flower, and then it looked around, searching for something. Its pale white eyes flickered when it found what it was looking for.

Heading to the side, the creature plucked another flower.

This one has the same baby-blue color, but the edges of the petals are black.

Rex watched as it dropped that particular flower, ground it beneath its heel, and twisted.

“Ah… I get it.” Rex sighed and lowered his guard. “Don’t kill the baby blue, but I can stomp on the ones with black spots?” He chuckled at himself—genuinely amused that he’d been on edge over something so gentle. “My apologies. I’m new here.”

Pleased that Rex now got it, the creature waved its hand and walked away.

“It’s a Gardener.” Nash finally found his voice again. “They’re common in the cavities of the Primordial Meadow. Not totally harmless—but not hostile either. As long as we don’t kill the Baby-blue Periwinkle, we’ll be fine.”

“Too late to tell me that,” Rex clicked his tongue. “I was fretting about nothing.”

“You should’ve seen your face,” Lilliana chimed, holding back laughter.

Rex knew Nivellen had guided him to a safer corner of the God Realm. He knew it. But knowing didn’t stop the tension coiling in his chest. He was too accustomed to killing—too conditioned to expect death around every corner—to even consider that some creatures here might be gentle. Or tender.

Or simply… peaceful.

If the God Realm is bigger and stronger than any other realms, then there must be a lot of variety.

“Don’t think I didn’t see you panicking too, older Davina,” Rex snorted.

“That’s a very low blow,” Lilliana looked at him sharply, almost pouting. “I’m upset.”

“Yeah? Then be upset while you work,” Rex brushed her off. “Prepare your Soul Artifact. You’re going to be my Lunar spirit now.”

Lilliana rolled her eyes but made the preparations anyway.

On the other side, Rex raised a brow to see that Davina was looking around the place with sparkling eyes.

“What? You haven’t seen a meadow before?” Rex asked.

“It’s not that,” Davina shook her head, not even caring about the bitterness in Rex’s voice. “This meadow is really similar to the Deific Grove of Concordia. It’s beautiful. Hah… I wish I could water our tree before we get here.”

“No time for those things,” Rex sat down and channeled his elements. “We’ve got to find the Overseer.”