Chaos suddenly appeared and turned the hunt upside down.
Rex was taken down in a single shot by the Dominator of Dark Chaos.
Not only did its attack take down Rex, but the explosion also turned the desert, into a lethal wasteland, forcing mutated animals, and the Desert Orcs to vacate from the area. However, the Chaos Phantom was closed on its own.
It was uncharacteristic, but after the nuke-like explosion, the portal disappeared.
Inside the castle, Adhara walked through the hallway with light steps.
She heard what had happened from Evelyn and thought Rex needed to hear good news.
As she was about to make a right—arriving at the inner yard, she halted abruptly seeing that Rex was sitting on the stairs, gazing ahead absent-mindedly. He was looking intently at both his parents' tombstones in silence.
From his serious and tight expression, he seemed to be deep in his thoughts.
'Maybe later, I'll tell him the good news later...' Adhara mused.
Adhara felt that now was not the right time so she decided to give up on her intention.
She turned around and left silently without saying a word.
On the other hand, Rex, oblivious to Adhara's visit stared at the tombstones without blinking.
He had arrived back at the castle hours ago.
Despite his scorched condition earlier, he was able to make a full recovery in minutes—it was possible, thanks to the reward he gained from the Sudden Quest earlier, the Chaos Rune, "If I hadn't used the Chaos Rune and branded it on myself, I don't know what would happen..."
As opposed to using his powers to block the attack, he opted to use the Chaos Rune instead.
It granted him the Chaos Resistance passive skill.
Most of the pure chaos energy was able to be nullified because of that.
However, due to the potent, and high concentration of pure chaos energy within the attack, the Chaos Rune, that was branded on him was destroyed. Rex did not know a branded rune could be destroyed like this, but it did.
Rex could feel that if he didn't have the Chaos Rune, he would be severely wounded.
Death is not impossible either as the attack was too powerful.
It was worth mentioning that he was very strong right now, stronger than he normally was.
Since the Honey Moon was extremely close, his moonlight energy swole.
Despite that, he was still no match for that creature.
"Dominator of Dark Chaos..." Rex muttered—recalling the creature that caused all of this, the creature that accompanied Edward in the realm of Chaos. "I never saw the System telling me to run before. Normally, it would've given me a Sudden Quest or remained passive"
Now that he could think clearly of that situation, the situation was unbelievable.
Even the System said that it was impossible for him to beat it.
"Since there was no Sudden Quest or any response from the System aside from telling me to run from that thing it must not be the next threat, the next stepping stone I'll tackle," He said, thinking aloud. "The Fourthborn is probably the next opponent I need to beat"
As soon as he thought of that, however, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"But I need to save Edward, I need to reach him..." He muttered in vexation.
Following the System is probably the best course of action for him as it was helping him get to the realm of invincibility, and focusing on the Fourthborn should be the priority but it was hard to focus on that when he knew what Edward was going through.
He was tortured inside the realm of chaos, stuck in an endless loop of pain and healing.
Not to mention, time might work differently in there.
Rex knew there was a chance that every second passed here was an eternity for Edward.
Knowing that possibility that lingers at the back of his mind was akin to maggots to a corpse, it was gnawing at his mind, non-stop. Even though he was confident in Edward's resilience, it would not last long, there would be a point of no return.
No matter what, Rex would need to reach him before Edward reached his limit.
Just then, his mind was thrown back to the recent incident.
...
Moments earlier.
Swish!
Similar to being inside the Cluster Domain, a mirror of reality.
Just then his eyes widened slightly as the moonlight coming from above grew brighter and it didn't take long before he was greeted by the sight of a small creature, appearing before him from strands of moonlight.
Blinking his eyes a couple of times, he recognized this small creature, "Aren't you...?"
It was the exact wolf cub he had seen in the Chrono Hollow.
However, he soon frowned as he remembered it being struck by someone and died.
On top of that—there was also something different about the wolf cub, compared to before, its furs were not the earthy color, but pure black instead. Its eyes were still two black hazes, capable of sending chills to anyone looking at them.
He froze in his spot, as the wolf cub looked at him with its eyes, two dark gems with serenity, wagging its tail, elegantly. It then trotted to the side with small steps, before sitting atop Mrs. Greene's grave, his mother's grave.
Swish...
Following that, he straightened his back as the wolf glowed and transformed.
It transformed into a humanoid figure—a woman, made entirely of black energy, shimmering under the moonlight. A woman that no matter the form, Rex wouldn't mistake her for anyone else in the world.
"M- Mother..." He uttered, surprised to see Mrs. Greene standing before him in a new form.
Upon seeing his mother, Rex's expression instantly softened.
Even though he never showed it, keeping a strong front to the others, he missed his mother.
She was the only one who could light his darkness with her positivity.
"My sweet boy..." Mrs. Greene uttered, before slowly approaching Rex—her expression was tender as she could feel the pain her son was feeling right now. She stopped in front of Rex before she reached out and caressed his cheek, "It must've been very hard for you,"
Rex's expression darkens as he lowers his gaze.
Her voice was like magic, it broke all of his mental defenses instantly.
It was very hard to keep on moving even though his heart was aching painfully.
He had no time to mourn, the world had been merciless towards him.
From the fact that there was no answer coming from Rex, Mrs. Greene knew that she hit the spot directly, the time after her death must've been extremely hard for her son. Naturally—it made her sad to see Rex like this.
Gently, exuding her motherly warmth, Mrs. Greene held Rex in her embrace.
Both of them stayed for a solid minute in this position.
Eventually, Mrs. Greene gently held Rex's chin and lifted his head up, making him face her.
"How are you here, Mom?" Rex asked whisperingly.
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Greene smiled lightly as she stared at every inch of her son's face as if she was memorizing, every detail. As opposed to answering—she said, "I know it has been very rough for you, but I need you to be strong for me. I don't have much time so listen to me carefully"
Sensing trouble in her voice, Rex frowned and nodded his head seriously.
"A calamity is coming..." Mrs. Greene eventually said.
Rex's frown deepened as she said the exact same thing as Garret, a calamity was coming.
Gazing deep into Rex's eyes, she continued, "A calamity so great is coming and you, my son, could stop it, and save everyone. Only you, could save everyone" As she said this, her whole body began to dissipate into fragments of energy. "Sacrifices need to be made to stop what was coming"
Swish...
Seeing Mrs. Greene flying and dissipating into energy, Rex stood up, trying to reach her.
But he couldn't touch her anymore no matter how much he tried.
"Remember, a mortal and a deity must be sacrificed to stop this," Her voice echoed.
Upon hearing this, Rex frowned, "What do you mean by that? Mom!"
"Be strong, my sweet boy, you have a tough choice in front of you," She added. "Promise me that you will do anything, in your power to protect those close to you. Do not let them suffer, will you promise me that?"
Gritting his teeth, Rex's reddened eyes flashed with determination, "I promise, Mother..."
As she heard that, she stretched her arms to the side and faded away.
Rex averted his gaze downward before a smile crept to his face, "Guess my time has come,"
"Nevertheless, I would at least save Edward first before that happens" He added.