Levitating above the sparkling lake under the shine of the moon was a black phantom that has its two black eyes looking at Rex with a complicated gaze, it doesn't need more than a second for Rex to recognize this black phantom.
The black tiara alongside the glowing half-crescent moon indicates clearly the identity of the figure.
"Countess of the Dark Lunirich..."
As the eerie bearing alongside the all-black dress, cloaks, and sparkling ornaments that glitter under the moonlight, the Countess of the Dark Lunirich appears once again after disappearing for quite some time, still as graceful as the last time they met.
It was a pleasant surprise, there was no malice coming from her, and that is a good sign.
'If I'm not mistaken, she was angry from the fact I also possess the Blood Moon King Mark. Considering that she wanted to genocide the entire Lunirich Gods, I can see why she was angry at me. But what makes her come out now...?' Rex wandered inside his head, not expecting the Countess of the Dark Lunirich to make the first move herself.
But as he thought of this, Rex glanced back at Delta who is growling at the Countess.
Since the Countess of the Dark Lunirich is an entity from the higher plane, the plane of Gods, he thought that she was unable to be seen or sensed by others except for the ones that are allowed to see her. Delta growling at her clearly shows that she also saw the Countess.
Rex doesn't know for sure as the last time they met, there was no one except the two of them.
Even though he was a bit surprised from Delta's senses, he puts that at the back of his mind and gazes back at the Countess that hasn't said a single word. But her eyes are fixated on Rex, almost as if she's inspecting his condition.
"Are you just going to stand there and say nothing?" Rex asked once again.
Although the reason the Countess was angry at him is justified, he was not fine with the sudden attack from the Countess when he was about to kill Giana. It was a low blow for him, and he didn't appreciate it one bit.
"What you did is too far, you pull back your power at the worst time and you tried to devour me!"
But Rex was answered with nothing but silence, the Countess' lips are sealed.
It's almost been a minute yet the Countess hasn't said a single word and also was not about to say something either, and this puts a glint of confusion in Rex's eyes. 'Why do I have the feeling that she wanted me to say something about the Kaiser first? She's a God but she seems to also have a normal ego' he thought while shaking his head.
But since she was the one that initiate this meeting, Rex can't afford to be stingy.
Out of everything right now he needs to become stronger, reclaiming back the Banished Dark Moon King Mark is one way of becoming stronger, and he was not going to let this chance slip out of his hand.
Rex's eyes changed, he has already firmed his intention to reconcile with the Countess.
As angry as he was for what the Countess did, there was a bigger problem right now, and he really needs the Countess' power if he wants to put up a great fight against the Executor and actually beat him.
If their relationship is kept like this, Rex would lose out the most.
"I know you're interested in me because of my desire to become stronger. In a way, my desire to become stronger is what draws you to me. I can tell it's hard for you to accept that I am open to other King Marks. Even if it makes you uncomfortable, I wouldn't decline the chance to become stronger if it was presented to me. But if this can improve our relationship, know that the nature of me getting the Blood Moon King Mark is completely different compared to you"
"Compared to you where we make a deal, I took the Kaiser's power and make it my own."
Although he was clearly trying to soothe the Countess' ego so that she would grace her power back to him, what he said is completely true. During the first ascension trial, the Kaiser clearly wants to kill him so he retaliated and took the Kaiser's power and makes it his own.
With the Countess, on the other hand, the two of them have a deal with mutual respect.
Similar to him, the Countess wanted revenge and he know how she felt despite not knowing her background. If that's the price he must pay to become stronger, then he doesn't mind exacting revenge for the Countess.
Listening to Rex's explanation unmoving, still levitating above the lake, the Countess squinted.
'Why do I feel like a man that was trying to justify cheating on a woman...? She's damn childish' Rex thought before smiling wryly, he can see that the Countess is contemplating what he just said and trying to get to a decision.
Knowing that he needs a little bit more to sway the Countess, he decided to add for the final push.
"Don't worry, if you're willing to give in a little bit, I would definitely act as your tool for revenge," Rex added with a sense of confidence in his tone, he can feel that this sentence would put the cat in the bag and lure the Countess back to him.
It's quite hurtful for him to lose the Banished Dark Moon King Mark.
Although Banished Dark Moon King Mark doesn't add too much of a destructive force like the Blood Moon possesses, it still bestows him with quickness and also dimensional ability that would definitely be useful and powerful if he trained and get accustomed to it.
Out of the times he needed a power-up, this is one of those desperate times.
The Countess finally moved a little, she turns her head to look to the side. For a brief moment, she seems to be distracted but she then quickly turns her face back towards Rex before she finally opens her mouth, "Does this means you are willing to accept the transactional contract?"
"Yes, I'll accept it. Help me get stronger and I'll help you get revenge" Rex replied without a pause.
Upon hearing this, the Countess tries to hide her smile, "I hear your plea, Royal Black Prince..."
"For now, I will forgive you for your profanity this once," she added with her ethereal voice.
Receiving this news the corners of Rex's lips curled up into a huge smile expecting to receive back the Banished Dark Moon King Mark's power, "Due to your irreverence action, we might need to change some parts of our transactional contract. Consider it me lowering my conditions for you, be grateful"
"Okay, you can change it. But make sure to take into account the low blow you did" Rex replied.
The Countess pauses, her black dress billowing like seaweed in the depths of the sea as she waves her hand elegantly. If anyone else had seen her besides Delta, who was standing behind Rex and glaring at the Countess with wariness, they might have been frigthened by her eerie presence, which made her seem like an apparition.
A black magical parchment scroll appeared out of thin air, and it descended toward Rex.
Looking at the black parchment scroll that sizzles with steamy dark energy, a notification from the system appeared. It's the transactional contract that is presented by the Countess, the one that he would need to sign probably.
<The user is presented with a new Lunirich Edict>
Upon reading this message from the system, the Lunirich Edict rolled open slowly. A particular glows from the Lunirich Edict turns brighter, exposing the foreign alphabets that are written on the parchment scroll.
It was written in a foreign language, but somehow Rex can read it with unnatural ease.
Rex reads the Lunirich Edict and finds that it was basically stated his willingness to accept the Countess' condition for her power, but his eyes stopped when he reached the second paragraph that wanted him to go to a certain place.
A place called Field of Endless Hyacinth, it was the first time that Rex heard of this place.
Wanting to become thorough as this is a contract that he would sign, he decided to ask the system to check whether this Field of Endless Hyacinth is safe or not. 'System, do you have information about the Field of Endless Hyacinth?'
<Yes, does the user wants to buy the information for 100 million gold?>
<Insufficient gold is detected, the user can't buy information about the Field of Endless Hyacinth>
'100 million gold?! What in the actual hell is that place to be that expensive to know?!' Rex screamed inside his head, the cost surprises him too much. It was way out of his budget, 100 million gold is not a joke.
Pondering for a moment to bypass this restriction, Rex suddenly got an idea.
'Okay, I want to know whether it's impossible to reach the Field of Endless Hyacinth' Rex asked, trying his best to minimalize the cost of getting to know this foreign place that the Countess really wants to go to.
<Does the user wants to buy the answer for 100,000 Gold?>
Rex can only sigh as anything about the Countess is really expensive, even this foreign place that he has never heard of until now, 'Fine, just tell me the goddamn answer so I can know whether to sign this Lunirich Edict or not'
<It's not difficult to reach the Field of Endless Hyacinth for the user's current power>
'Hmm... is that so? If it's easy then why would the Countess put it in the contract which shows how much she cared for this Field of Hyacinth' Rex thought, trying to think of a reason but he does not manage to think of anything.
<Does the user wants to buy the answer for 50 million gold?>
Upon seeing another notification from the system appear out of nowhere, Rex clicks his tongue as he was clearly annoyed by the ridiculous amount that the system wants for the answer. 'Shut up, you know I don't have that much gold so why bother asking?'
Not wanting to linger for long, he decided to just accept the Lunirich Edict.
It was a great deal for both of them because the Countess has added the condition that she would give her blessing fully to complete her hardest first ascension trial, and that's an offer that Rex can't refuse in a million years.
Something like this can absolutely help him greatly, and he would gladly accept it.
'At the very least, this shows that the Countess knows what she did to me back then was wrong'
As he was about to sign, he was stopped once again when the last part of the Lunirich Edict glowed brightly before a new set of sentences was added there. It's definitely the change that the Countess is saying earlier.
'I hereby agree that I will not conclude a Lunirich Edict with other Lunirich Gods'
That's what the last added sentence translates to, and Rex knows exactly what this means. 'So basically, the Countess wants me to take the other Lunrich powers if I want to become stronger instead of making a deal with them. Fair enough, the other Lunirich Gods probably hated me just like Kaiser did for breaking the ancient Lunirich Edict and freeing the Countess from her imprisonment'
Wetting his fingers with the blood on his face, he reaches out to where he should sign.
But before his fingers were able to reach the parchment, a subtle glow stopped his hand as the darkness extract the blood on his fingers and imprinted it on the signature blocks, four claw marks symbols made of his own blood can be seen etched there.
After the Lunirich Edict was signed, Rex looks at his body before a frown appear on his face.
Even though he already signed the Lunirich Edict, he still can't feel anything change inside his body. Not even an ounce of the Banished Dark Moon King Mark energy lingers inside his body, even his stats showed that it was still deactivated.
"What's the meaning of this? Why haven't you given your power to me yet?" Rex asked.
Upon hearing this the Countess exposes her first smile, a teasing one before she slowly faded as she went back to the darkness, to her own dimension, "I've forgiven you, and you already signed the contract. But as for the power, you'll have to reach the Field of Hyacinth first before I bestowed it back to you"
"Damn it! You didn't say that!" Rex shouted, but the Countess already disappeared from the place.
Rubbing his face in frustration with his remaining hand, he looked at the empty void above the lake where the Countess was earlier. "Well, no matter. I can go to the Field of Hyacinth and the Fated Mountain all at once"
Shaking his head, deciding to rest, his eyes caught sight of a figure at the other end of the lake.
Delta also saw the figure across the lake standing frozen in place at the sight of Rex, she doesn't growl warily like she did at the Countess, showing that this figure is a familiar one. Even Rex can instantly recognize the figure on the other side.
"Speak of the devil, why the hell is she out here alone?" Rex mutters with a frown.