Chapter 1418: A Hybrid vs An Archangel
Stelios wasn't lying about what he was saying.
His knives were riddled with pure silver, he had a unique ability that could bypass a Werewolf's reflex, and he also has the ability to sever a Werewolf's source of strength—anger and also the moon. It was what a Werewolf Hunter should have.
A complete set tailored to defeat any kind of Werewolf in the world.
But Rex was different, he wasn't only a Werewolf.
Bam!
Suddenly, a forceful blow struck Stelios from below—caving his stomach inwardly.
Glancing downward, Stelios couldn't see anything, there was nothing underneath him but the blow was real—it wasn't an illusion. His eyes churned in shock, 'What did he do? His claws… they're nowhere near me so how did he attack me?'
As his mind became a whirlwind of confusion, Rex cracked a playful smile.
"Didn't you say it yourself?" He asked with a voice filled with mockeries. "I'm not only a Werewolf!"
Bam!
Immediately after he said that Stelios felt another blow—this time striking his face.
Once raw strength failed, Rex leaned to his other powers.
One of them was the Damned Specter skill, an ability that used his cursed energy.
And as expected, this skill was effective.
Stelios was hurled to the other side but Rex wasn't going to give up this opportunity.
Although he was without the presence of Devo who was captured in the Spirit Realm and also Amanir who he sent to inquire about Linthia's decision about coming with him to the Spirit Realm, which made his spells very weak, Rex still has access to other supporting spells.
"Pneuma Spell, Ether Blink!"
Blitz!
Out of nowhere, the clear sky spat a lightning strike—hitting Rex and turning his body into small particles.
Since Rex was very far from Dravitar, he didn't need to worry about manipulating the sky.
Here was outside Dravitar's territory.
Another lightning strike then came down, this time striking Stelios mid-flight.
Rex reappeared from the lightning strike and hacked Stelios with a hammer fist, sending him crashing down to the ground. Once his body made an impact—the snowy ground cracked—the cracks spread for a mile, turning into a huge cavity with Stelios at the center.
Blood squirted out of Stelios' mouth, his body was wrecked from that hit.
Opening his eyes, he saw Rex descending down like a meteor with both claws erected at him.
"Holy Spell, Guardian Wings!" He chanted desperately.
At the exact same time, the wings behind him glowed and created even bigger wings made entirely of holy energy that folded against Stelios' body—protecting him. In addition, shards of holy knives were fired at Rex, attempting to stop his descent.
Every slash from the holy knives prompted a notification to appear in the System.
Rex was warned that scratches from the holy knives became a full-on wound due to the Halo of Blades.
But he didn't relent and threw his body towards Stelios.
"Sharp Lightning!"
Crack!
Kaboom!!
A sharp, piercing sound reverberated as Rex descended.
Ignoring the bleeding wounds across his body, Rex dived onto Stelios, decimating the ground from the impact and widening the cavity that was already large. A powerful shockwave of energy exploded.
A mix of his kingly energies, red force, and lightning mana.
Any ninth-rank realm would find themselves dead or crippled if they were on the other end of the attack.
Some of the Tabaxi guards came to check the situation.
However—once they reached a high point to view the battlefield—the powerful shockwave instantly blew them away. It was the same for Iris, she hissed in pain with one hand holding the hole in her chest and the other holding onto her bow that was stabbed into the ground so as to not be blown away by the destructive shockwave.
A battle between two ninth-rank realm entities was rare in the new era but always destructive.
Now, it would become more frequent but would still be equally destructive.
Just then, Iris' eyes widened when she saw a shadow darting towards her like a bullet.
It emerged from the mist of snow and headed towards her with incredible speed.
Her breath was caught in her throat when she saw this.
Fortunately, it wasn't Stelios but Rex.
Rex dashed towards her as fast as he could, eating up the distance between them with a few lunges.
Closely following behind him was Stelios.
Despite suffering from such a powerful attack, the Guardian Wings spell protected him and rendered Rex's attack to induce nothing but minimal damage. Instead of being hurt, the clash earlier hurt Rex more—there were fresh wounds marring his body.
His regeneration should've healed them but the Halo of Blades stopped the healing process.
It was still a losing battle with many disadvantages against Rex.
Stelios flapped his wings, bursting from the mist of snow, and chased after Rex ferociously.
"Leaving so soon?" He barked with a fanatical gaze. "We're not done yet!"
<Notice: A killing intent quest has been issued!>
…
<Killing Intent Quest>
Target: Stelios the Archangel of Knives.
Description: Visiting the Zahara Consortium resulted in the user obtaining Stelios' attention. As a known and esteemed Werewolf Hunter, tasked to always deal with riots and disobedience from the Werewolves in the ancient era, Stelios was challenged and wanted to increase his collection! As a candidate for the throne of Invincibility, it's prohibited to lose against a Werewolf Hunter! Become the hunter instead! Kill Stelios in order to avoid future problems that might impact the user's growth to Invincibility.
Penalty: One King Mark will be terminated and 10-level loss.
…
Only now did the killing intent quest appear? He's determined to kill me now.
Rex glanced over his shoulder, meeting Stelios' sharp gaze that was locked onto him.
It was clear to him that losing Stelios would be a pain in the ass.
Swoosh!
Determined to stop him, Stelios threw multiple knives toward him—each one flew at incredible speed.
Rex was like an eel, he dodged each one of them and blocked those who he couldn't dodge.
None of the knives were able to reach him.
But he knew that it would only be a matter of time before one did reach him, there was still that insane Slash of Destiny ability—that Stelios possessed. Nodding his head, Rex brushed his claws against the ground, turning the ground in a radius completely black.
It was his favorite lightning spell, the Black Field Orko spell.
Seeing this, Stelios quickens his speed in order to reach Rex.
He coated his body with holy energy and kept on going, ignoring the blackened ground.
Blitz!
Swoosh!
Just then, he glanced over his shoulders and saw hundreds of black lightning tentacles reaching out to him like the hands of the dead. He flapped his wings but there were more black lightning tentacles that came from below—grabbing his wings.
Since Devo wasn't around, the black lightning tentacles became smaller and weaker.
However, Rex could make up the power through numbers like this.
Despite being caught, Stelios didn't slow down at all—the black lightning tentacles did nothing to him.
Stelios could easily keep going due to the momentum he had gathered from sprinting, there was nothing the black lightning tentacles could do to slow him down. But that completely changed when suddenly, his wings were yanked back—causing him to halt and fall backward.
Whatever pulled him had enough strength to stop him.
Glancing over to see what did it, Stelios saw nothing again other than the black lightning tentacles.
'It was the same as earlier!' Stelios gritted his teeth. 'What could it be for it to bypass my senses?
Recalling the battle he had against the Elders back then to make them respect his desire to take down the Fifthborn with his own hands, Rex knew that the Damned Specter skill would be effective. Cursed energy is always a separate power.
Not even someone like Stelios could sense cursed energy freely.
For them, cursed energy was the same as space—it's always there but couldn't be felt directly.
Because of that, the cursed clone that the Damned Specter skill summoned was free to do anything it wishes to Stelios. Of course, it couldn't deal a decisive blow to end Stelios—considering the gap that exists between them, but it could be annoying.
At this moment, its task was to slow Stelios down.
Falling on his back, Stelios tried to stand up but the black lightning tentacles wrapped around him.
Now that he was still without any momentum—the effort he needed to exert to break free from the black lightning tentacles doubled. However, seeing Rex was getting further away and was about to reach Iris, Stelios' eyes bulged.
Kaboom!!
A blast of holy energy exploded from his body, vaporizing the black lightning tentacles.
Even the blackened ground turned normal.
Climbing to his feet instantly, Stelios stretched his wings and pointed both hands skyward.
His eyes glowed golden and his aura sky-rocketed as he prepared to cast another spell.
Golden clouds swirled into existence, casting a radiant brilliance that drowned the darkness in blinding light. The sky transformed into a shimmering dawn, auroras weaving above—like celestial ribbons. And Beneath this divine spectacle, Stelios' eyes burned with lethal intent as he unleashed his spell.
"Archangel Decree, Knives of Stelios!"
Swoosh!
From the heavens, a storm of holy knives descended.
Each blade was aglow with a golden aura—capable of killing a ninth-rank realm entity—their sheer numbers blotting out the sky. The air crackled as the auroras followed, unraveling into ensnaring webs of light that trapped all within their reach.
Seeing this, Iris gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand.
"Mother of Dark Nature…" She whispered, forcing out the words through gritted teeth. "Lend me, your grace, this one time, save me from this. Embrace me with your power!" Iris drew her bow and pointed at the sky. "Nature Disaster Spell, Tempest Arrows!"
Bang!
A loud, deafening sound echoed once she unleashed her arrow.
Her arrow, enhanced with dark nature energy and moonlight energy shot towards heaven.
Swoosh!
Following her arrow were replicas of the arrows made entirely of the wind, rushing towards the incoming knives and clashing against them. It took only a second before the two spells collided, creating beautiful and spectacular bursts of energy.
Iris poured every single ounce of her energy into her spell.
Her knees buckled almost instantly after she unleashed it.
Splash!
Splash!
Countless bursts could be seen above as the arrows and knives collided.
One knife equals five arrows, the knives were winning but their descent was slowed down.
Upon seeing this, Rex—despite his fatigue from using the Primordial Step multiple times already, cast it once more and made one last dash toward Iris. He managed to reach her in time, standing in front of her like an immovable shield.
As the arrows were overwhelmed, Rex sucked in a massive amount of moonlight and kingly energies.
All of the energies were pooled into his mouth before he unleashed the Echo of the Night Spirits skill.
AOOUUU!!
Boom!
Rex unleashed a devastating soundwave that kept expanding like a dome, deflecting each one of the incoming knives easily. Like a flower, the soundwave bloomed and dispelled the knives as well as the auroras descending on them.
However, Stelios wasn't finished.
Once Rex managed to do that, his eyes dilated seeing Stelios was already in the sky.
A circular spell formation appeared on each of his wings, creating a façade as if his wing had an eye before he fired golden beams straight at Rex and Iris. Three golden beams were fired, one from each eye and the third one from his hands.
It was a devastating attack and Rex exerted everything and blocked the three beams with his bare hands.
Kaboom!
"Krrgghkk!!" Rex grinds his teeth, feeling the strength behind the beams exceeding his expectations.
Despite that, he used everything that he could.
His kingly energy, red force, all elements, and even his enhancement skills—all activated.
Naturally, his aura skyrocketed.
But he still couldn't really push aside the beams and overpower them.
Just then, in the heat of the moment, he wanted to tell Iris to flee.
But he sucked in a cold breath when he met with Iris' eyes—he could see fear in her eyes.
"Your Majesty," She sobbed. "I'm scared…"