Evelyn was horrified, it seems all of this was only to prove a point.
Decimating most of the Dark Elf Kingdom, a feat that costs the Dark Elves to lose their home which is considered a sacred place of nature, was all nothing but to merely prove a point the Executor has to Rex.
"Fear is a strong emotion. Soon enough, you'll understand my point more than you wanted..."
In a relaxed manner, the Dark Elf said, eyeing Evelyn.
Rex glanced over his shoulder and finds she was terrified, it was shown clearly on her face.
Laughing overbearingly without restraint, having the chance to witness Rex's expression and his inability of retaliating back in this battle of words is a delightful sight, like a savory slab of meat. A sense of triumph and pride swirled inside the Executor, this incident is his win.
"I'll be in contact with you soon, Royal Black Prince. It'll be wise for you to comply..."
It was then, his possession left the Dark Elf.
Swoosh!
Upon taking back his possession, the Dark Elf's eyes turn normal, and fell to the ground.
A sudden silence enveloped the surroundings once again.
The cries and wails of the Dark Elves were muffled and what was left is the Executor's words that keeps on repeating inside Rex's head. Only a moment later that he snapped out of his daze, feeling a touch on his shoulder.
"What does he mean by that? What does he want from you?"
"He wanted me to help him, I believe he wanted to go to the Symposium of Upper Divinities"
Sighing lightly, Rex started walking again towards the burnt great tree.
Along the way he then continues to fill in Evelyn about the situation with the Executor, "It's a place that belonged to the ancient humans. I don't know what he wants to do, but his goal is inside the Symposium of Upper Divinities. Now, he wanted to crush my pride by forcing me to help him reach his goal"
Currently, the awakening of the older generations of Supernatural is a problem for humanity.
High-rank Supernatural races' numbers were bolstered.
Despite the immense attempt done by humans to replenish their weakened numbers due to Rex going berserk back then, there are still shortages of Awakened and Black Hands in general which makes it hard to go on the offensive.
But the goal was to reach the Symposium of Upper Divinities, playing defense is not the way.
It was due to that the Executor will be forcing Rex to help.
"Wouldn't it be bad if we help him reach his goal? There must be something important for him to want to go there, and giving it to him would only be signing our lives away" Evelyn asked again, troubled about the situation.
Rex nodded his head in agreement, "Yes, but what choice do we have?"
Upon hearing this, Evelyn could only shut her mouth. Gistella's life is on the line right now.
Now that she knows what's inside Rex's mind, finally realizing his reasoning and her mistake, she could only look at him from the side in silence. Her view about him changed, 'The fact that Gistella is within the Executor's grasp must be crippling for him, I need to stay by him...'
Evelyn saw Rex covering his mouth with his hand while walking in steady steps.
In her mind, he must be in a mess right now.
But when she was about to hold his hand again, telling him that she would stand by him no matter what lies in the future, she frowned when she catches a glimpse of Rex's mouth that was covered by his hand.
Surprisingly, his mouth turns out to curl into an obvious smile.
Not a gentle one, it was maniacal.
One that was wielded by an elevated psychopath, his efforts to conceal the smile only intensify its horrifying effect. A powerful shiver ran down Evelyn's spine as she witnessed this, leading her to suspect Rex of having a two-faced coin for a visage.
'Did he perhaps has lost it...? No, I've seen that smile before'
Gazing at that smile, she thought that Rex was going insane from the pressure. But he's not.
It was obvious that he was trying to hide this familiar smile of his.
Recalling the time when she has seen that smile appearing, she remembered that it was Rex's vicious smile when his plan to kill someone he really wants dead is working. And the fact that this smile pokes out means he's feeling intense emotion right now.
He was excited!
'Ah- I saw that smile when he was about to kill Wesley! But why is he smiling like that...?'
Considering the situation is dire, a smile like that is odd.
Evelyn frowns for a second, she suspects that Rex is planning something that she doesn't know. The fact that he was smiling like this when he should've been stressed by the situation is completely weird to the core.
Despite her suspicion, she decided to keep silent and followed Rex from the back.
Knowing Rex, it's weird for him to not have a plan.
Upon arriving at the center of the kingdom where the great tree is located that was once brimming with life, Rex didn't walk inside and instead stopped right in front, darting his sharp eyes left and right.
"Someone that is not a Dark Elf is watching us from the right" Evelyn whispered lightly.
Rex nodded his head, he could also somewhat sense it.
Pausing for a second as he controlled his moonlight energy to his right arm, he then turns his right hand into claws in an instant and does a slashing motion to the right, casting the Executor Slash.
Swoosh!
It flew fast and hits a tree branch high up on the tree, slicing through anything it touches.
'Hmm...? No Killing Intent notification?' Rex thought with a frown.
Looking at the direction where the figure was earlier for a couple more seconds, he then averted his attention away, the figure has already disappeared. Entering the great tree, he seeks King Jorik and Lady Lauren that could explain more about this tragedy.
A moment later.
Rex and Evelyn eventually met with King Jorik and Lady Lauren.
Surprisingly, the two of them were not in that bad of a shape. Rex was expecting them to be injured more, and yet they were quite fine if he had to say. Only a couple of burns here and there which are mild considering the two fought Edward.
'If he came here, he should've been at least in the eighth-rank realm'
Upon being surprised by Rex's fast visit, the two started recalling today's tragedy.
Nothing particularly happened before the attack. Suddenly, Edward landed on their grounds.
Edward announced that he had come to deliver a message from the Executor, he wanted them to deliver that message straight to Rex. An overbearing move King Jorik said, belittling the Dark Elf Kingdom openly.
On top of that, the two also convey Edward's appearance.
"I can tell with great certainty that he has been corrupted by the Executor. Last time I checked, he should be at most sixth or seventh-rank realm. But now he has equal power to us, and his appearance is also hardly human" Lady Lauren explains, her eyes could clearly recall that moment of surprise.
The moment when Edward fought General Theodas on equal grounds.
King Jorik also recalled that moment and his expression soured, hating every second of it.
"He's not stronger than us. We managed to hurt him quite badly, but he's very resistant and could take a hit. In fact, he was not aiming to hurt us but instead focus on destroying the kingdom which results in this much damage" He added in regret, failing to protect his kingdom.
Listening to this, Rex nodded his head as he already expected this kind of thing.
While they were talking inside the room about what had happened, the door was knocked before General Theodas wearing armor riddled with burnt spots enters the room, bowing to the people inside in respect.
"General, have you finished calculating the casualties?" King Jorik asked.
In return, General Theodas turn to face him and nodded his head, "We already scoured around and tend to most of the people, but up until now, we only identified only 27 casualties. All of them died because of the collateral damage of the burnt houses and trees"
"Hmmm...? Only 27? I guess that's good" King Jorik mused in surprise.
Compared to the scale of the destruction that destroyed most of the kingdom grounds, he expected the casualties to at least be in the four-digit. But much less four-digit, the casualties don't even reach three-digit.
But before he could leave again after reporting that, Rex stopped him.
"Are you sure about that number, General?"
"Yes, I know that it's surprising but we've already done a thorough search. I'm very positive"
After answering, General Theodas left the room again.
Evelyn, who has been keeping a close eye on Rex saw a flicker of interest in his eyes when General Theodas reported that. He then turns his head towards King Jorik with that newfound light in his eyes, "Forgive me for being blunt, King Jorik. But I must say, why don't you and your people stay in my city instead of rebuilding in the meantime? I know that it's hard for your people to leave this sacred place"
"But it'll be safer considering the war is only going to get more fierce" he added.
Upon hearing this, King Jorik leaned back in thought.
Finding hesitance in his eyes, Rex then continues to persuade him. The Dark Elf Kingdom is close to Dargena City, thus their territory is not that strategic compared to the Dwarves or the Tigerman Kingdoms.
"We'll still rebuild your kingdom. But in the meantime, it'll act as a military base instead"
No matter how much denial, King Jorik knows that Rex is right.
Even if he wanted to stay in this sacred place, he needs to think of the safety of his people. If he rebuilds the kingdom normally, there's still a high chance that the Undead is going to attack while they were doing that.
Defending against the Undead in a broken kingdom is not a good idea.
"Can you give me time to make a decision? I'll need to discuss this with the other aristocrats"
"Of course, contact me about your decision. For now, I'll take my leave"
Rex has tried to convince him enough, he decided to leave for now as there's nothing more to do here. The attack came too abruptly and there was no time to send reinforcements. If he were to help, his appearance here is helpful enough.
It at least eases the mind of the Dark Elves citizens that he would do something about this.
Even if they were to complain, it would only be unreasonable.
King Jorik requested a reinforcement to anticipate an attack from the Undead. In return, the Silverstar Pack sends Lady Lauren and her people to help. So in the eyes of the citizen, they were not neglected.
This is simply an unavoidable tragedy that caught them off guard.
On top of that, similar to what Evelyn did back in Dargena City, she also did the same here.
Upon leaving the burnt sacred tree to leave, Evelyn stopped and asked Rex to give her half an hour or so to walk around alongside King Jorik';s wife, the queen to appease the sadness inside the citizens' hearts.
Rex didn't object to that idea and let her join King Jorik's wife around the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Rex has something in mind.
'Hmmm... that figure must be Edward then, he hasn't left yet. It should be around here. I don't know why I'm doing this or what I'm expecting, surely it's not as what I thought' Rex thought while he traverses to the side where he shot the Executor Slash skill earlier.
It cuts down a couple of medium-sized trees, toppling them to the ground like logs.
For about five minutes, Rex looks around as if he was searching for something. By this time, Edward should've left already, and yet he was still searching, 'Right, there's no way that he'd do that even after being corrupted by the Executor. It's simply impossible'
Sighing lightly, ridiculing himself for acting like an idiot, he decided to leave.
Due to his injured body, he lost mobility and stumbled.
In the process, he accidentally kicked away the broken tree and send it rolling to the side. Rex cursed inwardly before his body abruptly stopped, he saw something hidden underneath the tree he kicked.
'No way...' Rex thought, his eyes still staring to his front.
But his attention was fixed to something in the corner of his eyes.
His mind ran wild and his heart raced, he doesn't want to hope for too much. Rex then slowly glanced to the side with heavy hesitance, fixing his eyes on an Awakened's script etched on the ground as if written with molten ink.
It was writing that pulsates with an inner black ember glow, fueled with a familiar energy.
'USR 08'
Upon reading the writing on the ground, Rex gasped and held his breath.
Rex thought that he was reading too much into the situation, considering that the association between then has been destroyed through one fatal mistake. But what he thought was impossible happened.
Gazing at the burning writing intesenely, a sudden smirk appeared on his face.
'Well, I'll be damned... I think my suspicion is correct'
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l