Golden light split the heavens.

    Descending down like a divine retribution were three beams—carrying with them unrelenting furry.

    Stelios had unleashed his might, a spell infused with the raw, holy energy of an Archangel that could decimate even the strongest of Demons in the past. Such beams crackled with divinity, the very air in the area trembling under their sheer intensity as they hurtled toward Rex.

    Rex reached Iris and planted his feet firmly into the ground.

    He arrived in time—a sense of relief permeated from his chest but the situation wasn''t over.

    Charging his power, his body began radiating with a mixture of energies.

    Every ounce of his power surged outward, meeting the golden beams in a violent and destructive clash.

    His arms rose, bracing against the blinding force.

    Boom!

    Once the beams made contact, the deafening impact exploded.

    All three beams struck Rex''s outstretched arms and bloomed like a sunflower in full, destructive glory.

    Unable to pierce through thoroughly, the golden beams spewed golden lasers everywhere—slicing the air and searing the landscape with chaotic precision. Rex gritted his teeth when he felt the ground under him was collapsing, the force from the beams sought to crush him.

    However, amidst the destruction, Rex endured.

    I''ve endured worst—this is nothing.

    Passing many impossible situations forged his willpower and mind to be unwavering.

    Even though the beams pressed down like the weight of the heavens themselves, his body stood erect, unyielding. His aura flared brighter, the essence of his being—clashing against Stelios'' divine wrath.

    For all its might, the Archangel of Knives'' spell couldn''t force him to his knees.

    I need to endure long enough to lessen the force. Once it was low enough, I could let it strike me.

    Once these beams exploded, I could use the cloud of snow it produced to flee easily.

    Compared to his strength to overpower his opponents, Rex believed more in his resilience.

    He wouldn''t die easily.

    Even if Void was the one who was against him right now, he could still survive and reach safety.

    After all, he still has the Invincible item that he hadn''t used.

    So if it comes down to it, he could take on the attack directly with his body and be confident that he''ll survive.

    At the very least, Rex could buy enough time for Iris to leave while he took on these beams.

    Stelios couldn''t see them from the other side of the bright golden beams, this was the perfect moment for Iris to make a run for it. Just as he thought of that and wanted to tell Iris to run, however, his eyes darted to her behind him.

    Unsurprisingly, Iris was on her knees.

    She was wounded severely and exhausted her energy from casting that last attack.

    However, what surprised Rex was the fear in her eyes.

    "Your Majesty," She sobbed, her voice light and weak. "I''m scared..."

    Rex''s eyebrows dipped into a frown when he heard this.

    To him, Iris was both a seasoned expert and a noble—it was clear that with such a position she has gone through a lot of battles in the past. Naturally, Rex assumed her to be really unbreakable, a pillar of resilience no matter the circumstance.

    However, he failed to realize that the situation was only salvageable in his eyes.

    It doesn''t appear the same in Iris'' eyes.

    In Iris'' view, this could be the end of her—she couldn''t do anything more to protect herself.

    And since this was their first time traveling together, she doesn''t trust him enough.

    Coming to this realization, Rex blinked and reaffirmed his motives.

    System, will the Brand of Crown hold against these beams? Will she be fine?

    Calculating the power output...

    No—the Brand of Crown will not hold. Due to the user being wounded and drained of energy, the Brand of Crown would also lose power accordingly. It wouldn''t last long under the Archangel of Knives'' spell, the protection will shatter

    Upon reading the notifications, Rex clicked his tongue in displeasure.

    She was still in pain—her wound still throbbed with relentless agony.

    But she reckoned she could do one last move with the help of the Moonlight Corruption skill.

    Meanwhile, hovering in the sky.

    Stelios frowns, he''s now keeping a constant stream of his holy energy into these three beams.

    It was almost a minute already and his three beams weren''t able to evoke any destruction, showing that Rex was still holding on down there, battling against his beams. Annoyed, he poured more holy energy, empowering the three beams.

    Boom!

    Under the infusion of energy, the three beams swelled in size, their shockwave also growing stronger.

    Just then, however, Stelios felt another push of energy coming from the other side.

    ''Moonlight energy?'' He sneered in ridicule. ''Even your kingly energies would npt be able to overpower my attack, and now you resorted to using your moonlight energy? It seems you are becoming desperate, I will bury you here!"

    Boom!

    Once again, Stelios poured even more of his inexhaustible holy energy.

    However, in the next second, sinister crimson writings began crawling into existence.

    He saw these writings emerging at the tip of his beams where Rex was.

    Naturally, he recognized these ancient and sinister writings—Rex has used this moon ability before.

    It was the Brutal Impulse Moon Ability.

    Kaboom!!

    "Do you think your direct moon ability scares me?!" Stelios bellowed, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade, laughter laced with malice as his beams overpowered the shockwaves from Rex''s Brutal Impulse. "I''ve faced dozens of Werewolves wielding direct moon ability, some even have several of them! And yet, every single one of them ended up in my collections! I took their fangs and forged them into my trophies!"

    Kaboom!

    Another Brutal Impulse echoed, but it did little to nothing to the golden beams.

    Stelios laughs, he was enjoying Rex''s futile struggle.

    Kaboom!

    Kaboom!

    Kaboom!

    However, soon, his laughter vanished.

    Realizing that Rex has exerted five consecutive Brutal Impulses made Stelios flinch.

    ''How in the First Light''s name could he do that?'' He sucked in a cold breath, a bead of sweat beginning to drizzle down the side of his face. ''Five consecutive direct moon ability, Kaiser of the Scarlet Garland should be punishing him by now for abusing his power. So how...?''

    Nobody could do a direct moon ability more than twice in a single go much less five times like this.

    Stelios has never fought a Werewolf like this before.

    Kaboom!

    Crack!

    Just then, another Brutal Impulse struck his beams and cracks began to form alongside their lengths.

    Once the beams cracked, Stelios had only a millisecond to react before something tore a hole through the three beams and came out of the other side—stabbing and piercing his arm and then his right wing, causing his eyes to widen in confusion and shock.

    He then glanced over to his right wing and saw a brilliant arrow made entirely of moonlight energy.

    So dense that it was able to pierce through the beams.

    ''It''s that Dark Elf''s arrow, but how is she that strong?!'' Stelios thought inwardly.

    As he thought of that, however, the beams evaporated.

    His focus was shattered because of the arrow, causing the stream of holy energy to stop.

    And leaping through the evaporating was a horned shadow.

    Rex reached Stelios in the blink of an eye, his right hand charged with his seventh Brutal Impulse.

    "I have a present for you, Werewolf Hunter," Rex smirked, his lips curling into a devilish smile. "I can assure you that this present of mine... is far more thrilling and blood-rushing to have than my fangs. Here, I''ll give it to you"

    Pouring everything he has, Rex drilled his claws empowered with Brutal Impulse into Stelios'' guts.

    BAM!

    Kaboom!