The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 1993: Time-Space Soul Prison

Rex didn’t plan this.

He didn’t plan for Lilliana’s bloodline to have any relation to souls—so that she could help him in this realm. As the System had explained—the bloodline gained and bloodline evolution depended on what power already existed within the target.

Sure, he can manipulate the bloodline gained to an extent, but not that much.

Not to the point of making a pack member obtain power that he desired for them to have.

Moreover, he has never been to the Sundial Arch. He wasn’t aware of what to expect in this realm.

Had he known, he wouldn’t get stuck like this.

Regardless, bringing Lilliana along was conveniently the right thing to do.

She was essential to explore the Sundial Arch.

Not only did she crack the formation’s core influence, but she was also sharp enough to know that things in this realm would not be so simple. For a realm of this magnitude, there was no chance that the Weaver of Time would make a trap so simple.

Learning the formation to find its weakness would be too simple.

It wouldn’t protect the realm. Just stall, and that’s not good enough.

So, there are other mechanisms that would make sure that anyone couldn’t crack this layer easily.

Lilliana analysed the situation and identified the possible mechanisms quickly.

Assuming that the invaders came alone, then they would be stuck. And if they didn’t come alone, then that means someone older would be there, and the core formation would inevitably be identified, as the invaders only need to compare the differences between those who were influenced—and those who aren’t influenced.

Naturally, the invaders would then find a way to age the souls of those who are trapped in time stasis.

And the only way to do that was through the use of other souls.

Sacrificing one of their own is possible, but in case they don’t have anyone to sacrifice, then they’d need to find prey to kill. There are creatures in this green desert. Considering that the place was barren, there shouldn’t be any creatures.

Lilliana deemed that the creatures were a trap.

It was the Sundial Arch’s design to have invaders fight the creatures.

Additionally, to make the realm even more secure, the creatures should give nothing in return.

No souls to harvest.

But souls are needed for a living being to function; even Demigods aren’t excluded from that.

So, she could only guess these creatures’ souls are stored somewhere.

And hiding it in plain sight is sometimes a good idea—which was how Lilliana determined the crystals above aren’t simply decorations. Instead, they were vessels to contain the creatures’ souls. So, to harvest souls, they would need to reach the glinting crystals.

”Are you sure about this?”

”Of course, not. Just an educated guess. Besides, this is far safer to try than trying to kill the creatures.”

”An educated guess? How did you even reach this conclusion?”

Davina tilted her head, confused.

No matter how hard she tried to wrap her mind around this situation, she couldn’t even find the notion— that the creatures were a trap set by the Weaver of Time. Had it not been for Lilliana, she would probably have clashed with the creatures first before finding out that it was a trap.

A trap to make her fight the creatures without getting anything in return.

Forcing her to risk her life for nothing.

Lilliana shrugged her shoulders.

Maybe because she was really alert right now, but for her, the cues were all there.

”A living being must eat something. There’s nothing here—no vegetation, no prey, no source of energy, nothing. They could have adapted to consume sand or ice, but I didn’t count on that.” Her voice dropped. ”I assumed the worst. That these creatures adapted to feed on anyone wandering in this realm.”

”I see...”

Assuming the worst is the best course of action in most cases.

And in this case, assuming the worst had served her well. The creatures were adapted specifically to eat wandering intruders; a perfect fit for her theory that the realm itself was designed to force invaders into battle against its native horrors.

Now, it was time for her to find out whether she was right or not.

No need to make sure. She’s right.

Davina and Lilliana turned towards Rex.

Neither knew how Rex could be sure about that, but he wouldn’t say anything if he wasn’t sure.

Rex had already set the System to scan the crystals above and had the description placed right in front of his face. He couldn’t turn to look skyward, so he had to do this. Regardless, Lilliana was spot on with her theory about this place.

...

Description: A crystal born from centuries of accumulated time sand, compressed and warped until the fabric of space bent around it. The resulting formation is a Time-Space Crystal. Due to how its structure was formed, it has a singular, unique property that allows it to contain anything. Even intangible matters are not excluded. Locking them within a stasis that exists outside the flow of time and the cage of space.

...

System, how to break the crystal?

Rex nodded inwardly.

He was already thinking about bringing these Time-Space Soul Prisons together, but this confirmed it.

Drag one crystal close to another crystal. They’ll break.

”Okay.”

Swoosh—!

Lilliana wasted no time and blasted skyward.

She pierced the sky with blistering speed; her body turned into a greenish streak that shattered the sound barrier with a thunderous crack. The air screamed around her. Though it was far heavier than the normal air she was used to, it still felt good to soar to the sky.

Behind, the green desert fell away, shrinking into a pale expanse far below.

And the sky deepened into a harsher blue as she climbed toward the lower atmosphere where the Time-Space Soul Prisons hung suspended like silent sentinels. She felt them before she saw them. A twisting in the air that felt strangely wrong.

Time and space warped oddly around the crystals, bending in ways that made her senses flare.

Seconds stretched too long, then snapped back too fast.

Distance shifted. Directions became uncertain.

She pushed through the distortion with absolute focus, locking onto the Time-Space Soul Prison—with her energy sense, not physical senses. But the closer she got, the more demanding to pinpoint the exact location of the Time-Space Soul Prison.

’I have to transform.’

Her body shifted mid-flight.

Fur rippled across her skin, thicker around her breasts and thighs. Bones cracked and reformed. Lilliana transformed into her new form, a towering fusion of woman and beast. Humanoid in shape but feral in power. And then, she coated her entire frame with a sheath of energy that flared against the distortion.

Flared against the warped atmosphere.

Lilliana slowed down, then stopped.

A few hundred feet from the nearest glinting crystal.

Any closer, and the distortion would tear her apart. She could sense that in her bones.

’Rex said to toss one close to another, but I can’t get any closer than this.’ Lilliana thought for a second and decided to try touching it indirectly. From her clawed fingertips, strings of energy unspooled. Thin as silk, they slithered through the warped space toward the Time-Space Soul Prison. ”I hope this is going to work.’

She groaned the moment her thoughts ended.

Despite only using her energy to get closer, the distortion was still relentless.

Even with her naked eye, she could see the energy strings bent in spiralling ways that are unnatural.

Lilliana needed to constantly infuse her energy to make sure that the distortion wouldn’t cut the energy strings. Her bloodline greatly increased her energy reserves, so she had more than enough to push all of the energy strings toward the Time-Space Soul Prison.

And the moment they touched the crystal, a pang spiked inside her skull.

Her world lurched.

Time stuttered, and the strings trembled in her grip as her mind fought to stay anchored.

She worked through the dizziness, wrapping the energy strings around the crystal with a slow but precise manner. Then, with a grunt, she guided the crystal sideways. It moved an inch, and then another. Lilliana used the momentum to make it easier to move the crystal.

And then she hurled it toward another Time-Space Soul Prison not far away.

Lilliana didn’t watch the crystals.

She released the energy strings and grabbed her throbbing head.

Her chest heaved for breath, and her head swam in a world of dizzy euphoria.

Despite her distraction, the crystals drifted together and fused in a soundless burst of temporal distortion.

Below, miles away, something blasted from the surface. An avalanche. No, it was a shadow. A creature shot skyward with even greater speed than Lilliana had shown earlier. A translucent, glass-like shell that looked like an odd carapace encased its body completely, catching the crystalline sunlight and scattering it in fractured rainbows.

Davina’s eyes widened from her position below.

She recognized it as, without a doubt, the creature that Rex was talking about earlier, and her heart seized.

It was heading straight for Lilliana.

What? What happened?!

She ignored Rex’s question and channelled her energy, but the creature was too fast.

And she was too late to react.

Lilliana felt the danger before she saw it. Her instincts as a werewolf were amplified ten times, and that meant a shift in the air could be detected instantly. Not to mention her intuition was even sharper. Sharp enough to sense a pressure of killing intent.

She threw her body sideways without thought.

Pure instinct overrode the lingering dizziness that was attacking her mind.

Swish—!

”Keughh!”

A blade—long, curved, and brutal grazed her stomach and cut a hot, wet line across her flesh.

Blood drew arcs in the air as the creature blew past in the same instant—a blur of translucent shell and killing speed—and descended like a comet into the opposite side from where it came from. The impact was so hard it shook the ground miles away.

A hill collapsed inward as the creature crashed into it.

Dust and green sand erupted skyward.

Lilliana pressed a hand to her stomach. Blood slicked her palm and seeped through the gaps between her delicate fingers, warm and relentless. But she was still breathing. The crystals had merged, and now their distortions were tearing each other apart.

’It took something away from me.’ She looked down at her open stomach while gritting her teeth.

Even though the wound was regenerating, the slash took something, and she could feel it.

Boom—!

Another blast resounded.

Lilliana snapped her gaze down and saw the creature was coming straight at her again for another lick.

But at the same time, a massive beam cut through the air and intercepted it.

An explosion resounded and shook the air.

Lilliana shifted back and looked down and saw Davina raising her arm, palm sizzling—with residual energy. She’d intercepted the creature mid-lunge and slammed it downward—but it recoiled like a beast that needed no ground, snapping back into the air and zig-zagging with feral, unpredictable speed.

”Come down!” Davina roared. ”Let’s fight it together!”

From the remnants of the explosions, small stars formed.

Her eyes flickered as she sent the stars towards the creature like homing missiles.

Even so, the creature was even faster than her stars.

It accelerated as though time itself had quickened for it alone.

Lilliana was still descending to regroup with Davina, knowing that she couldn’t take it alone, when it materialized behind her—a flicker in her periphery. Her breath caught. Then thunder split her side, and a clean, searing line carved across her waist.

”Lilliana!!”