The Invincible Full-Moon System

Chapter 1650: Emptied City

For hundreds of years, the holy land had been untainted.

As soon as the last shriek from the barrier thundered, the battles simultaneously stopped.

Some who were fighting against the phantoms leaped backward to make space, and then slowly, stiffly, turned their bodies to look behind them. Silence enveloped the entire battlefield. All soldiers looked up at the barrier, eyes wide and trembling.

Under their shocked gazes, the barrier made a sharp, windy sound as it flickered once.

Its everlasting embrace, strong enough to protect every single invasion in the past from monsters—and people alike, was now weakening. Even the cooling air it was emanating, which kept the air fresh, was now fading rapidly.

Other people would only feel the sudden change in the air.

But for the inhabitants of the holy land, this was akin to losing the light of their God.

And once the first crack on the barrier appeared and it began to be dismantled, the soldiers snapped out of their daze and began to scream. Tears welled up in their eyes. Despite being battle-hardened, strong enough not to flinch at excruciating pain, the pain from losing the light of their God transcends any pain of the flesh.

It was devastating for them.

“Haah…! Haaah!!”

Each one of them wailed, forgetting the fact that they were currently fending off an invasion.

Despite their victory, which should’ve been a natural conclusion of this invasion or any invasions that would come, defeat greeted them with open arms instead. And their morale—one that all captains were trying so hard to preserve, plummeted instantly.

No more will to fight as the light from their God disappeared.

And soon, it was a slaughter.

Seeing how the soldiers lost the will to fight didn’t spike compassion from the phantoms.

As beings who were born from the void—this concept was foreign to them, as they were born to spread destruction and chaos. In fact, even if they were able to form thoughts, they would certainly find what the soldiers were doing to be stupid.

Lowering their guard before the enemy was nothing short of courting death.

Mercilessly, the phantoms began to cleave the defenseless soldiers one by one, killing them with a single strike as their minds were occupied with the fading barrier. None of them resisted—as the sight before them was crippling.

So much so that their bodies forgot the primal instinct of any living being—survival.

Slash!

Crack!

Rick, who was buried inside the crater on the wall, looked outside and gritted his teeth hard.

He could only helplessly watch as the soldiers were slaughtered in a fight.

’I need to get up…’ He thought weakly, gripping on stone with his trembling hand as he tried to get up to snap the soldiers out of their dazes—before it was too late. ’And the people inside… Did that soldier still cling to his unrealistic expectations?’

Sweeping his gaze to the side, he noticed the soldier he had talked with earlier was doing as he was told.

It was a bit late; the Faceless Reaper was already approaching the bridge again.

Not a lot of time for the people to evacuate, but it was still better than not being warned at all.

Even though this bridge has never been lifted for hundreds of years, as there was never a need to employ such a measure, there was no other choice in this situation. A minute of time is detrimental to evacuating the people, so the bridge has to be lifted.

Just then, instead of the bridge being lifted from the inside, securing the gate better, which should make it harder for the Faceless Reaper to go through, the loud, grating sound of the gate being opened rang out, catching Rick and the soldiers off guard.

Despite the collapsed barrier, the soldiers inside decided to open the gate.

’Is there a voidal monster inside?!’ Rick screamed inwardly. ’Did one of them slip inside?!’

Having a voidal monster slipping into the city was unheard of and frankly, impossible, but that was the first thought that came to mind when the gate suddenly yawned open. Rick couldn’t think of any reason for the gate to open like this.

Perhaps, other than that, there was a traitor among them, which he highly doubted.

Even though it wasn’t unheard of, the inhabitants of the city were among the most loyal in the empire.

All of them were content with their situation, too, so there shouldn’t be anyone who hated the empire.

However, soon Rick realized that it was neither.

Soldiers looked into the gate, expecting movement or reinforcement from within.

Instead, a chilling emptiness greeted them.

Despite being a city that hosted thousands upon thousands of people, there was no movement inside.

Even though somehow, which was highly unlikely, the governor started evacuating the people, it would take a lot longer until everyone was out. But this, for the city to be shrouded in absolute silence without any sign of life—it was unbelievable.

Upon closer look, there was a faint red haze clinging to the air inside the holy land.

Additionally, the scent of blood finally reached the soldiers—it reeked, incredibly thick.

Just a few seconds ago, the soldiers were confused and breathless to see the holy land that was empty—but now, with the thick scent of blood lingering in the air, they became even more worried, fearing that the people were somehow killed.

Swish…

Slowly, creepily, the red haze grew thicker, blocking anyone from seeing through.

It then crawled out of the holy land.

From its slow but certain way of moving, it was akin to the Black Rift’s dark smoke but red in color.

Soon, a silhouette, shaped like a man, could be seen in the midst of the red haze.

His eyes were glowing crimson, his stature was robust, and he seemed to be dragging something.

All of the soldiers squinted uneasily, unsure whether it was salvation or another enemy.

But unlike earlier, the phantoms stopped attacking, feeling a stabbing danger coming from this unknown silhouette. The figure steps through the gate, each footfall reverberating with theatrical weight—and as it steps onto the bridge, the red haze surges sideways, spreading like living mist.

Soon, the soldiers realized there was something else mingling inside the red haze.

It was dark and cold, one that all of them knew far too well—the dark smoke of the Black Rift.

Rick couldn’t see this dark stain mingling with the red haze, but he could feel it.

’Voidal energy…?’ He murmured, eyes showing signs of fear and despair. ’Is there another breach other than the one we’re dealing with? Did this Voidal Knight distract us—while the monsters from the other side decimated the holy land?!’

At that realization, Rick’s eyes bulged.

Since voidal energy mingled with the red haze, this was the only explanation.

Clearly, there was another breach that went unnoticed.

Even if that was the most likely explanation, Rick felt that this silhouette was familiar.

It was someone he knew.

“Sir Rex…?” He uttered, brows raised.

Swoosh!

A pulse of energy throbbed from within the red haze, pushing it outward faster, forcing the soldiers and the phantoms to raise their arms to protect themselves. The Faceless Reaper was the same, now already reunited with all of its phantoms.

Once they lowered their arms, the red haze thinned around the gate, showing who the silhouette was.

Rex was at the center of the scene.

He was now already sitting calmly atop the head of a massive serpent, the Special Voidal Knight—that he had killed earlier, slain and claimed as his throne. Around him, carcasses stacked grotesquely, forming a macabre throne room in the open air.

None of them saw how the carcasses came to be, and how Rex stacked them that fast.

However, they were now there—neatly placed on both sides.

For a second there, the soldiers and the Faceless Reaper looked at him in awe.

But for the soldiers, the awe lasted a fleeting moment as their eyes caught a haunting sight—among the piles of carcasses were not only monsters, but people. It was only then that their faces paled when they came to realize that the people… the people of the holy land were dead! Killed!

And a knight of the empire was the one behind the massacre.

Just from the mangled corpses among the piles was enough to confirm their assumptions.

None of the soldiers could believe it, but the proof was right before them.

“You are too late,” Rex’s calm voice rang like thunder in the silence. “I’ve killed them all.”

As he said that, he turned to look at the piles of the dead, gesturing at them with his hand before finally settling on the Faceless Reaper. “Not a single person is alive behind these walls. And the monsters you sent to flank the city are dead too.”

He declared what he did with a chilling calmness.

It was as if his actions were nothing extraordinary—something anyone might have done, rather than the slaughter of an entire holy land and its invaders alike. Blood slicked his hands, yet he seemed untroubled as he clasped them together, his gaze drifting with quiet detachment—from the heap to his right to the one on his left, utterly unmoved by the carnage he had wrought.

Something was incredibly wrong.

And his demeanor struck the Faceless Reaper as odd.

Even though it could not speak—its body surged with countless enhancements, and its mind had long since lost the capacity for reason, the Faceless Reaper’s instincts screamed the truth: the figure before it, though clad in Rex’s form, was not Rex.

He was something else entirely.

“Nothing left for you here,” Rex continued. “I’ve been stuck watching what was happening in this realm from inside—and there’s one thing that disturbs me very, very much. The people here… They used the term monsters too easily. They called you a monster, but when in truth, you’re only a humanoid beast at best.”

“I’ve watched your fight with my other side, and I’m disappointed.” He exhaled dramatically.

Despite the pressing situation, he didn’t seem to care.

Rex moved and spoke slowly as if they weren’t under a strict time constraint.

“I mean, what kind of monster fights like you?” He braced his hands against his thighs as he rose, then brushed the blood and dust from his palms. “You had every chance to grab a soldier, and use him as a shield—but instead, you killed him outright. Even vampires or the undead would have thought of that, and they were mostly called supernaturals, not monsters.”

“And now,” Rex pointed behind him with his thumb. “I’ve done your job better than you could.”

Everyone could probably hear what he was saying.

A voidal monster like the Faceless Reaper wouldn’t be able to understand him, but he made sure that it could understand him. Just from how the Faceless Reaper grazed its scythe-arms against the earth was enough to tell the anger bubbling inside.

<Temporary Void Telepathy is active: 9 minutes 11 seconds>

Rex purchased an item from the System that’d allow him to communicate telepathically.

It was the reason the Faceless Reaper could understand him.

But other than anger, there was also a spark of confusion that the Faceless Reaper was feeling.

Above all, it couldn’t understand why Rex would do something like this.

He was a knight, and earlier, he had been fighting desperately to keep it away from the city and its people.

Now, he somehow shifted completely and slaughtered the people himself.

“You look confused.” Rex’s eyes narrowed, but he wasn’t surprised. “But my reason is quite simple.”

“I’d be terribly disappointed if your focus is divided,” Slowly and overbearingly, he lifted up his arms and spread them to the sides like wings. His gaze locked on the Faceless Reaper with the kind of sheer excitement that could barely be contained. “Now there’s nothing left for you to vent your rage upon but me. That’ll make this more fun. So come, monster, thrill this body I’m allowed to use, though only for a breath of time. Let me savor the ecstasy of flesh before it slips from my grasp!”

“In exchange… I’ll show you what a monster really looked like.”