Once the tension settled and clarity came, Rex grimaced.

    His expression twisted into a dark one as he gazed at the ground, full of emotions.

    Even though he was relieved earlier that he managed to escape and even able to bring Iris out of that predicament safely, that sensation didn''t last long. In the next second, that relief disappeared and was swiftly replaced by absolute bitterness.

    It was the System''s notification that snapped him out of his fake reverie.

    Seconds ago, Rex allowed himself to feel triumphant against Stelios.

    Despite being their first encounter against an opponent like him, which was supposed to be an irrefutable death sentence—he was able to survive and even land the last punch that undoubtedly hurt Stelios. As he was fighting a literal Werewolf Hunter, many would consider this a win.

    But it wasn''t.

    Calling it a win is a far stretch for someone like Rex.

    For him, this was an absolute defeat.

    What''s there to be relieved about this situation? I shouldn''t have taken this as a win.

    Months ago, Rex was the strongest being in the new era—capable of going toe to toe with an entity that many considered to be unkillable. He was at the very top of the food chain, nobody could match him directly. But now, the Order Beasts surpassed him, pushing him to the side.

    And on top of that, Rex realized that the new threat to his Empire was way stronger than him.

    Other than Chaos and the Fifthborn, the Dark Angels were the next major threat.

    If he could only barely beat Stelios, what chance does he have against Dak Angels?

    What about the other Dark Archangels? What if there were many who were at Stelios'' level?

    More importantly, how would he fare against Void?

    His empire is not ready to battle the Dark Angels, and if he crossed Void—it would be instant death.

    The only thing that could help him survive was the Invincible Item.

    But that was his trump card and his only chance to survive.

    Nothing about his triumph against Stelios should be celebrated, he should be dreaded instead.

    Despite what he had achieved up until now, Rex was now slapped with the reality that all of it could be destroyed on a whim. No matter. I was planning on becoming stronger already, to save Edward. This... This is only more motivation for me.

    Rex was frustrated and angry but he swallowed it all.

    He pushed himself back to his feet and approached Iris who was still hurting from her gaping wound.

    Though the moonlight energy he supplied to her helped a bit to battle the wound, it wasn''t a permanent solution. Under Iris'' weak gaze—Rex knelt down in front of her and scratched his palm. Golden blood oozed out and with it, he smeared it onto Iris'' wound.

    A hiss escaped Iris'' mouth, the golden blood stings her wound.

    Confused, she looked down to her chest and found the gaping wound was closing up.

    Even though the healing process was very slow, it was still healing.

    Her pain eases with each second passed.

    Since the Nectar Blood passive skill was now activated again, Rex could use his own blood to heal others, to heal Iris. It was an ability he obtained from having the Honey Moon King Mark, a blessing that he forced out of Meloriana.

    It came in handy in a situation like this.

    Despite the exhaustion, Rex managed to eventually heal Iris'' wound.

    Of course, healing her doesn''t come without a cost.

    Rex lost quite a bit of blood, his face began to pale from the lack of it.

    Since there was still the holy energy from Stelios'' attack earlier lingering in the wound—Rex needed to disperse it first—before beginning to heal her. Continuously using Brutal Impulse earlier drained him of his kingly energies so he decided to use his blood to disperse the holy energy.

    His other powers were also strained while cursed energy couldn''t interact with other kinds of energy.

    I can''t break. If I broke, everyone would die. I have to persevere, I have to.

    Failing to defeat Shadow and claim the Death Order Stones was troublesome, but not beyond repair.

    Failing to strengthen his soul to enter the Spirit Realm was fatal and struck a nerve.

    He could afford to fail again.

    But as if the world wanted him to suffer, he now failed to win over the Tabaxis, and on top of that, he was also shown the power of the Dark Angels. It turned the tide entirely, casting the situation into the shadow of despair.

    Just then, a flash of Iris'' terrified expression from earlier crossed his face.

    ''Your Majesty... I''m scared''

    Recalling her terrified voice from earlier, Rex felt a stab in his heart.

    He couldn''t help but picture the others'' faces wearing the same expression Iris had worn earlier.

    A look of pure unbridled terror.

    Naturally, the stakes became clearer in his mind—so unsettlingly clear that despite his weakened and exhausted condition, he could force himself to sit up against a rock. The gears inside his mind turned as he took a calculative approach to the battle earlier.

    I don''t have a scaling spell that I could pour all of my energy into. Stelios has a powerful ability that I don''t have an answer to, the Slash of Destiny. And more importantly, although I have three King Marks, it doesn''t necessarily boost my growth to a new realm.

    Recalling that everyone was depending on him, Rex reclaimed back his composure.

    First of all, he recognized that without Iris—he wouldn''t be able to land the last attack.

    Second, he must find a way to obtain more Moon Ability to counter the Slash of Destiny ability.

    Third, possessing more King Marks only makes him a lot stronger in his realm—but that doesn''t put him way, above the rest. Fighting against pseudo-tenth-rank realm entities, possessing more King Marks gives him the edge but does not overpower them.

    In order to overpower them, he needed to reach the tenth-rank realm.

    Once I tackled the Spirit Realm, I could reach the tenth-rank realm in my Awakened side. As for my other side—my Werewolf side, I need to go past the Second—and Third Trials for my Blood Moon and also my Honey Moon.

    System, is there a way to force them to open up the Second and Third trials?

    Yes. The user offers the associated Lunirich Gods more ''actions'' that they are fond of and accept

    Kaiser likes killing but what about Meloriana?

    Hunting strong entities would entice the Lunirich Goddess of the Honey Moon

    Upon reading the notification, Rex squinted his eyes.

    Compared to killing which Rex would need a reason to do since he was now an Emperor and couldn''t kill blindly, hunting was way easier. Especially during the Second Breath like this, Rex could easily hunt the Order Beasts and offer them to Meloriana.

    It was something that he could do to hasten his progress on his Werewolf side.

    Once I''m done with the Spirit Realm, I''ll do that.

    Rex nodded his head—with the steps identified clearly, he felt a lot better than before.

    Notice: the user still has the Source of Divinity item that could help!

    "Hmm?" Rex was stunned, he forgot about that.

    But as he was about to check what the item was, his body stiffened completely.

    "If it were me, I could win that..." A voice seeped into his eardrums.

    "This voice..." A whisper escaped his lips as his eyes widened, recognizing the voice of the person who was standing a few paces away from him. Slowly, he turned to look at who it was and gasped, "No, this can''t be..."

    Rex instantly stood up strugglingly, his eyes fixed on the figure.

    He ignored the pain and exhaustion—the figure near him strikes that strong of an impact on him.

    Standing amidst the blowing snow was a figure—it was the Invincible Apparition.

    In an emotionless and almost robotic manner, the Invincible Apparition continued, "If you let me fight that Dark Archangel, I could easily bring us to triumph. After all—back then or now, you''re still the same—weaker than me"