The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 2019: First Blood Claim Ritual (2)

Rex had proven himself to the Lunirich Gods that he was not an easy enemy.

For some reason, he was able to consistently survive their attempts to kill him no matter the odds.

They had attempted to catch him with his pants lowered in a surprise attack, had trapped him—and even had come down to the Mortal Realm through a mortal body in order to defeat him. And despite all that, Rex still survived.

Not a single Lunirich God would underestimate him now.

Even those he hadn’t even met, like Mayar.

But that was precisely what Rex decided to use, making it his leverage to deal with this situation.

At this moment, the silence that existed between Mayar and Rex stretched as Mayar remained undecided.

Attacking blindly wasn’t an option. Not against someone—who had already proven himself to be really dangerous and also moved with clear whispers of preparation. Someone whose calm felt less like pure courage and more like an invitation.

Mayar’s divine senses traced Rex’s posture, his breathing, and the faint pulse of energy.

He even checked the blood circle beneath him, but didn’t find anything to exploit.

Nothing that screamed weakness.

In truth, that was simply a fluke.

Rex hadn’t expected this situation at all.

He had known the Lunirich Gods would send someone—a scout, a hunter, some entity with sharpened senses scouring the God Realm for his scent, piecing together his location and purpose. He had prepared for that much.

But he hadn’t expected the Lunirich God of the Harvest Moon to be the one to do it.

One of the Lunirich Gods took matters into his own hands to end the problem at hand.

Rex had planned to find Aylith first. To bond with her—to build that connection slowly and deliberately before whoever was hunting him finally arrived. By then, he would certainly been ready for anything—armed with a new bond, a complete ritual, and a new Origin-rank bloodline that was overdue.

That had been the plan.

However, this encounter shattered it.

Meeting Mayar right when he was about to bond with Aylith was not how he envisioned this visit to go.

But Rex didn’t panic. Or at least, not visibly.

Not even as his mind raced to reassemble the pieces of his shattered strategy. Rex simply acted—as if everything was unfolding exactly as intended, as if Mayar’s arrival had been anticipated, as if attacking him would be suicide dressed in godly pride.

And Mayar, for all his divine power, hesitated.

Doubt took root, and suspicion coiled around his throat like a serpent.

For him, knowing what he knew about Rex, it felt like facing a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Rex looked vulnerable, but somewhere underneath that façade, he was hiding something dangerous.

Something that could wound a God.

And this bought Rex exactly what he needed—time.

Had Mayar decided to attack immediately without even talking to him, then he would probably have no chance. Or perhaps he would be teleported away to safety, as he stood no chance against Mayar, which would still be bad, as he would still be kicked out of the Great Pale Court.

But since that didn’t happen, everything went well.

Rex now had the time to carve the ritual, and Mayar watched him do it.

In order for him to complete the Last Race Evolution Quest, he required a bond with a God—and then commenced the First Blood Claim Ritual. Of course, the ritual needed an enormous amount of energy, which he wasn’t prepared to fuel at all.

He had been prepared to improvise, to scrape together whatever energy he could find in the moment.

Nothing fancy.

Just enough to complete the quest and obtain the reward that he really needed right now.

But now, a volunteer had arrived at his doorstep—a Lunirich God of immeasurable energy, ripe for the taking. It would be rude not to make use of this free energy source. He was even almost salivating from the mouth as he drew the ritual from anticipation.

Maya remained undecided.

His attention split between Rex’s infuriating calm and Aylith’s desperate plea.

And while he wrestled with his choices, Rex worked. The divine formation to commence the First Blood Claim Ritual had to be drawn with blood—his own blood and the blood of the God he had formed a connection with.

It was why he cut Aylith’s skin with his claws earlier.

Rex was worried that her body might still be too strong for him to pierce, but fortunately, it wasn’t.

He pooled his own blood under him, mixed it with Aylith’s blood—and drew the divine formation with his foot. Following the clear instructions that the System was showing him through a light only he could see, he guided the bloody lines with careful precision to shape an intricate form.

Once that was done, he purchased the Fake Core of Immortality from the System.

...

Rank: Divine

Description: A shard of fractured divinity, formed from the forced merging of incompatible divinity. Each divinity within it wars with the others, creating a volatile core that hums with barely contained power. Despite its instability, the core possesses an unnaturally high tolerance for foreign divinity, allowing it to temporarily absorb and channel the power of other Gods, though such use accelerates the inevitable.

...

Mayar possessed an incredible amount of divinity points.

That much was undeniable, as he was a part of the Lunirich Gods.

Due to that, the First Blood Claim Ritual wouldn’t be able to endure the amount of divinity points that he possessed. So—Rex asked the System for a recommendation and came to stumble upon this Fake Core of Immortality item.

It would temporarily store the excess and let the divine formation absorb it at a measured speed.

Once everything was ready, Rex did the last step by branding the Silverstar Mark at the center.

A focal point of power to mark his ascension to an entity of another level.

And through it all, Rex was talking. Not out loud—but inside his head. He was talking to someone in his mind, exchanging thoughts and even arguing about some things. Nobody was reading his mind right now, so nobody knew that he was making a deal.

Davina and Lilliana had taught him an important lesson.

That he didn’t need to ascend to power alone.

He had other people all around him who could help, and was now also a part of a powerful faction.

A faction that even made the hands of a God think twice before messing with.

Naturally, he should use that to his advantage.

Rex was talking with the Uncrowned Matron of Ire, the Scion who contacted him to kill Diamantona.

’Do not make this more complicated, greenhorn. We already have a deal.’

Well, a deal can change at times. Besides, I didn’t ask to know more about Ignatius. He’s a problem, but not immediate.

’Are you saying that you’re going to exchange the information about Ignatius to get rid of this animal?’

Don’t put things in my mouth. I’m asking you to add dealing with this God in addition to everything.

’And why would I agree to that? What makes you think I won’t get rid of you instead?’

Please... I may be a new Scion, but I’m no idiot. I know you have history with Diamantona. And since you asked me to deal with him despite your strength, I’m guessing there was a rule that inhibited you— in doing it with your own two hands. Because your position is too high, perhaps.

Considering that there are positions toward the Highseat of Invincibility, there must also be thresholds.

Rex was certain that a Scion above a certain threshold was prohibited from touching Scions who had not reached that threshold. In this case, the Uncrowned Matron of Ire’s position was too high in order for her to kill Diamanona.

Thus, she asked him for help.

In a way, she needed him more than he needed her.

Knowing the significance of what another wanted is key to any negotiation.

So, Rex was trying to push for more and see how desperate the Uncrowned Matron of Ire was.

I’ll tell you what. Do this, and I’ll add a bonus.

’You mean you’re going to kill another one for me?’

Sure.

Rex decided to compromise.

He needed the Uncrowned Matron of Ire’s help to deal with this situation, so he was a bit desperate.

On top of that—killing another Scion would not be a bad deal for him, as he could grow stronger by killing another Scion. So, he didn’t mind becoming a hunting dog for the Uncrowned Matron of Ire for one more time.

It would also develop a bond between them in case he got into trouble with another Scion in the future.

And considering his experiences, it was inevitable for that to happen.

Allies—he needed to spread his net and make more allies.

Just hold him in place a bit. Nothing hard. You said that he’s merely an animal, so it should be easy.

’You have a deal, greenhorn. This time, no more changes.’

I’ll keep that in mind.

Once the ritual was completed, Rex straightened his posture.

And Mayar, still frozen by doubt and his mother’s trembling voice, had no idea that the mortal before him had now completed the coffin made to bury a God. Made to bury him. Patience ran out, and Mayar finally struck.

Swoosh—!

But at the last possible second, when his claws were about to reach Rex, something stopped him.

Another power made his divine senses scream for him to run.

Mayar looked up, and the world above him began to bleed.

Something was materializing behind Rex. Not fully formed, but a presence taking shape in the fractured air. It began as a distortion, a shimmer of red light that bent the space around it, and then it grew. Slowly. A phantom of crimson that was vast and terrible.

Its silhouette was only a suggestion of a form too great to be contained in this broken realm.

It was a fraction of something greater. Mayar was certain of that.

A sliver of an entity so immense that even this fragment should not have been able to manifest here.

And yet it did—and the color of it spread like spilled wine through water. The entire Great Pale Court, already fractured and fading, was suddenly dyed in its hue. Blood-red. Every floating shard of marble— every crack in the white stone, and every inch of the silent void was influenced.

All of it glowed with a crimson light that sparkled like glinting stars scattered across a dying sky.

Following that was an immense pressure that fell upon the realm like a second gravity.

Mayar struggled to break free.

His entire body exploded with immortal energy as he tried to brute-force his way out.

But he wasn’t strong enough to overpower this entity.

”Royal Black Prince! You coward!” He roared angrily. ”Fight me with your own strength!”

”Said a God who was bullying a Demigod,” Rex snickered and then turned towards Aylith—who was as surprised as Mayar to see the blood-phantom that took the shape of a woman sitting on a grand throne with her legs crossed. ”Goddess of the Greater Moon.”

Hearing her title being called, Aylith blinked and then shifted her gaze to look at Rex.

And then, she watched Rex stretch his arm towards Mayar.

Rex curled all his fingers, and leave only his thumb standing. He pointed his thumb horizontally, and then he asked, ”How about now? Are you done convincing him—to surrender to me? If so, then now is the time to say it.”

Of course, Ayltih was visibly uncomfortable.

She now wields the power over whether her son gets to live or die.

But recalling how hard she tried to stop him and still get ignored, she turned her face aside.

”I’m done...” She whispered faintly.

”Hah! You should have begged your mother for forgiveness while you still could.” Rex turned to Mayar, then drove his thumb downward—a judge delivering the final verdict. ”You heard her. Death. Now... let’s begin.”