In an instant, perhaps even faster than the blink of an eye, Rex was upon Stelios.

    A streak of crimson light against the pale expanse of snow.

    His right fist, recovered from the previous severance and charged with the might of the Blood Moon''s kingly energy, drove forward mercilessly. It struck Stelios'' stomach, a collision that resonated like the sound of a thunderclap.

    Stelios convulsed, blood spewing from his lips as his torso curved inward.

    Both his eyes widened in sheer shock.

    Sinister writings materialized from the point of impact, crawling and twisting into existence.

    Despite his shock, Stelios could feel these writings lock the space around him.

    His body refused to listen to him, it froze still despite the danger.

    Once the sinister writings formed fully, a spiraling shockwave burst forth, drilling into Stelios'' core and unleashing devastation. He was thrown backward through the air with a velocity faster than a bullet, his form plummeting to the ground with earth-shaking force like a meteor.

    Around his landing spot, the snow erupted as the ground fractured beneath the impact.

    A minor earthquake rippled across the expanse.

    Caught off guard by the attack and unable to dodge with his right-wing pierced, making him off-balance, Stelios'' body rolled and tumbled for miles, leaving behind a jagged scar on the pristine white expanse—a testament to the sheer power of the Direct Moon Ability, Brutal Impulse.

    Not even waiting to see what his punch did, Rex landed on the ground and grabbed Iris.

    He carried her in a princess-style, hugging her in his embrace while minding her gaping wound.

    It was a shame that the mutated black panther died but there was nothing he could do.

    Planting his foot firmly against the ground, Rex charged his moonlight energy and cast the Primordial Step as he blasted ahead with the speed of a specter. He covered miles with a few steps, leaving Stelios and the battlefield behind him.

    On the other hand, Stelios opened his wings in an attempt to stop the momentum.

    Due to his body rolling and tumbling, he couldn''t quite come to a stop.

    Nothing to hold onto in this snowy expanse, and the momentum made it hard for him to grab the ground.

    Since the battle was quite close to the Zahara Consortium, the traders who were queuing up to use the Saltura Bridge could see the spectacular show of power—and Stelios even stumbled to them but thanks to the snaking barrier, they were unscathed.

    None of them were hurt but their hearts were all pounding.

    As this continued, Stelios could see that he was approaching the deadly valley as he spun.

    Realizing the situation he was in, knowing full well that nobody who fell to the valley had ever come back up—Stelios spread his wings to increase air resistance—and summoned two holy knives, and tried to stab them into the snow.No?v(el)B\\jnn

    His act caused him to spin even more chaotic but eventually, his knives found a hold.

    Clang!

    Feeling the sturdy hold, Stelios flexed his arm and caught himself—stopping the momentum abruptly.

    His breaths were short and rapid, beads of cold sweat running down the side of his face.

    Once he realized that he managed to stop, Stelios was relieved.

    However, as soon as he glanced over his shoulder, his eyes widened as his legs were already hanging on the edge of the valley. He was well past the barrier from the Zahara Consortium, and the powerful gravity was already pulling on his legs hard.

    It was so strong that the bones in his legs were making disturbing, cracking sounds.

    Gulping harshly, he pulled his legs away from the valley and laid his back against the cold ground.

    Several Tabaxi guards came to check on Stelios.

    None of them knew how an Angel could be here but all of them assumed that he had matters to attend to with Serevia and Serevan, and since the other platoon of Dark Angels was nearby, it was not that surprising to see an Angel there.

    However, that battle earlier made them extremely worried.

    It was without a doubt, Stelios fought against the Emperor.

    Possessing multiple kingly energies was a feat that was unique only to the Royal Black Prince.

    Just from the spectacular heat and the remnant of kingly energies showed that clearly.

    Because of that, she began to put the pieces together, forming a complete picture in her mind.

    Once she came to a realization, a look of shock crossed her face.

    ''Is he the Archangel of Knives...?'' Kiara gasped, the thought of that sent a shiver down her spine. ''I have always thought the Archange of Knives is a myth. An Archangel who hides in the shadow cast from Heaven''s light, doing the dark but necessary biddings of the First Light''

    Nobody under Heaven wasn''t aware of this tale.

    Everyone knew about it but nobody believed it.

    An Archangel would unlock a Heavenly Law that would become their identity such as Justice, Humility, Pride, Protection, and other Heavenly Laws. For an Archangel to possess the Heavenly Law of Knives is quite hard to believe.

    Since even the First Light doesn''t have this Heavenly Law, the Archangel of Knives shouldn''t exist.

    But he exists, and Kiara was looking at him right now.

    Although nobody ever claimed to see the Archangel of Knives, his characteristics were known in detail.

    Possessing one of the Heaven''s Shadow artifacts set that could change his appearance and hide his aura, appears very young, wielding knives, and lastly—known to be a Werewolf Hunter, ''I should really steer away from this, I don''t want to be targeted''

    Nodding her head, she averted her gaze away and focused back on her group.

    She warned them to keep quiet before the group went back to do what they were supposed to do.

    Meanwhile, miles and miles away from Zahara Consortium.

    Rex finally stopped when he managed to reach a good distance away from where Stelios was.

    He placed Iris down gently before immediately purchasing a rune to create a barrier around them that could cloak their auras and scent. Despite having one of his eyes closed, exhausted completely, he managed to engrave the rune and fell straight to his knees.

    Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Iris was still breathing heavily—wounded and exhausted.

    We managed to flee after dealing a decisive blow thanks to her.

    Earlier, it was no doubt that Iris played a significant role in the last attack.

    Despite possessing a devastating amount of moonlight energy more than Iris, he was still short in a skill that scaled with how much moonlight energy he exerted. His attacking skills excluding moon abilities are quite strong, such as the Executor Slash, Unholy Claws of the Reaper, or even the Honey Claws skill that could wound his enemies greatly.

    However, he doesn''t have anything that could suck up all his moonlight energy for one powerful attack.

    It came to him earlier that he was lacking in that area.

    Of course, the Echo of Night Spirits skill was so strong that it could use a quarter of his energy pool.

    But that was the highest consumption skill that he currently possessed.

    Had he possessed one skill that could become stronger the more moonlight energy and kingly energies he used, he could''ve overpowered Stelios'' beams from earlier more easily. Fortunately, Iris possessed such an ability.

    Siphoning the energy from him, she could fire that arrow earlier that pierced through the beams.

    And with that ability, Rex could use the path carved by the arrow to catch Stelios off guard.

    Nodding his head in acknowledgment, Rex averted his gaze away and panted heavily.

    Using Primordial Step multiple times sucked his stamina dry, he could barely move at this point.

    "Your Majesty," Iris whispered breathlessly. "your blood..."

    Upon hearing this, Rex frowned before he looked down at his bloodied form and noticed something.

    His blood wasn''t red, it was golden.

    Notice: the user''s Nectar Blood passive skill is activating!

    Rex''s eyebrows dipped when he saw this notification, he remembered the Nectar Blood passive skill that he obtained from the Honey Moon Lunirich Goddess, Meloriana. However, the cause of his frown was the fact that passive skills should be constantly active.

    It shouldn''t activate only when he was here.

    So this could only mean one thing, "Stelios could even deactivate it..." He mused grimly.