Rex was annoyed by the System.

He was tricked.

But it wasn’t the time to shimmer in that annoyance.

From the inventory, he took out all of the corpses—the Godlings he killed in the warehouse, and placed them in a row right before the platform. He stared at each one of them, pleased that most of them were at least three-star Demigods, and scanned them with the System.

Before choosing which to devour, he needed to know what traits these corpses have.

"Oh, right," Rex recalled something he wanted to ask the System. "Is there any limit as to how many skills or passive skills I could make permanent through the Sudden Quest? Knowing you, I doubt that you didn’t put a limit on it."

<Notice: the user can only make three skills or passive skills permanent through the Sudden Quest.>

"Hah, I knew it," Rex sneered at the System.

Considering he could adapt to anything he devoured, absorbing any skills that are engraved inside their flesh through the Divine Adaptation skill, the Sudden Quest reward is too good. In theory, he could learn everything without end.

No limit.

And the promise of it felt too good to be true, and he was right to question that.

A minute later, the scanning of the corpses was completed.

Above each one, there’s a list of the traits each one of them possessed.

It was also separated into two categories.

Some of them could be adapted, while some couldn’t.

Rex started to read each one of them slowly, digesting the information properly.

But he was soon interrupted by another notification, and when he read it, his eyes widened completely.

<Notice: the Beta Enforcer, Kyran Cervantes’ loyalty is wavering.>

"What...?"

...

Something is different tonight.

Kyran couldn’t really tell exactly what, but his acute senses were stimulated, making him uneasy.

He was sprinting as fast as he could. Going through multiple terrains in a blur as he cuts his way toward where the battlefield was. Mana and moonlight energy boosted his speed—but considering the distance he had to go through from the Dark Elf Kingdom to the battlefield, it doesn’t feel fast enough.

It would be faster if he went on all four right now and fully released his beast side.

But he couldn’t do that with Naela on his arms.

"Is it me?" Naela looked up at the Blood Moon in the sky. "Or the night feels longer than it should be?"

"It’s not only you," Kyran glanced upward and gritted his teeth. "It should be nearing dawn already, but the moonlight energy in the air hadn’t decreased. And the presence of the Blood Moon... It didn’t wane. Something is happening, and I don’t know what."

Kyran could feel Naela’s fingers squeezing his shoulder harder.

And that made his heart pound.

"Pick up your pace," She demanded with a cold tone. "Get there faster."

Even though he had been giving it his all to reach the Verrathen Canyon as quickly as possible, he tried to run even faster, pushing himself to the limit. He wanted to say something to Naela, but the face she was wearing right now, he had never seen her like this.

’Please,’ Kyran begged inside. ’Please let it be nothing too bad.’

Ever since Rex brought Kyran in from that dumpster of a transit town, he had been nothing but a burden.

Changing his mindset from killing lesser Supernaturals to killing bad people is a hard process that he couldn’t adapt to seamlessly. It took time and effort. And along the way, he created more and more burdens that weighed Rex down.

Kyran didn’t deny that he took the longest to mature.

Longest to be of real help for Rex.

Eventually, he managed to turn it around and even earned Rex’s trust.

He became the left-hand man.

Someone who dwelled on the darker side of Rex’s word. Someone he could trust to do what needs to be done without question. Someone who understands the necessary darkness that Rex believed in. He was given that role.

And he gladly accepted it.

Ever since, he promised Rex and to himself that he would no longer become a burden.

No longer make a fatal mistake that would cost Rex dearly.

But he failed to uphold that promise.

Ngoong—!

A sudden burst of energy shoved Kyran backward, stopping him before he could even scratch the barrier. It was invisible to the eye and silent to almost every sense—he could only feel it when he pressed his hand against the dome that encased Verrathen Canyon like a dome.

Kyran’s face was drained of all color.

"No..." A whisper slipped out of his lips as strength left his body. "No, this can’t be happening to me."

It was never his intention to leave the battlefield.

Never his intention to leave Evelyn’s side.

Not long ago, he’d gotten sloppy—lost all control when he almost lost Naela. It was utterly his fault, or at least, he blamed himself for it. He was ashamed that Rex had to come personally to rescue him from the anger and return him back to normal.

And back then, the two of them made a man’s promise.

That no matter what happened in the future, they would protect those they cared about.

If one of them wasn’t present, then the other would take up the responsibility to protect.

Just like he wanted, he finally could be strong enough to have Rex trust him in protecting the others. It was like a dream come true, and that day was one of the happiest moments in his entire life, even though he doesn’t show it outright.

But he failed.

Even knowing that Rex was not around, he chose to return and check on Naela.

And because of that, he wasn’t there to protect Adhara, Evelyn, and Gistella.

He wasn’t there to be their shield like Rex would most certainly do if Naela were ever in trouble.

"No, no, no!"

Kyran transformed and charged.

Moonlight energy—and mana surged over his body, condensing into his claws as he drove them against the invisible barrier with everything he had. The impact erupted in a spray of dark ice. Jagged icicles and razor shards scattered outward, carrying not the bite of winter—but the sear of raw heat that could turn anything into ash.

None penetrated through.

It simply seeped into the invisible barrier and disappeared.

Even with his bloodline and current strength, it was impossible for him to go through the barrier.

But he didn’t stop there.

Bam—!

"Please don’t do this..."

Bam—!

"All of them are fine. All of them should be fine. Please!"

Bam—!

"I made one mistake. ONE!!"

Kyran struck the impassive barrier repeatedly.

His claws struck so hard that they almost got peeled away from his fingertips, but that didn’t stop him.

Throughout the war against the rebellion forces of the Scarlet Banes Kingdom, Kyran had done every single thing right. He followed Evelyn’s orders to the letter without fail. Never once did he falter. And where her commands ended or were flawed, he made his own adjustments.

Quiet maneuvers she never needed to know about.

One that would help her achieve her goal without needing to sacrifice her conscience.

So that the Alpha Primes succumbed to the Clarentium Empire faster.

It’s not to the point of betraying Evelyn’s approach, but not really abiding by it.

Just in the middle between the two.

Rex would’ve wanted him to do this.

Do the dirty work in the background, and have Evelyn claim all the glory as the Empress Luna.

But one moment ruined it all. He overheard what Gelmar and Vivian said to Evelyn about the fact that Naela had been visited by the same Angel again, which sent him into a panic. Considering those two decided to come along with the Queen of the Dark Elves to inform Evelyn of what happened, and it did not start with them saying that Naela is dead, he should’ve known that she’s fine.

Hurt? Maybe. But she’ll live.

No need for him to rush back as he did.

If he could turn back time, then he wouldn’t have reacted impulsively like that.

And now, like the world was waiting for him to make a mistake, this happened.

His absence gave bad luck the chance to slip in and reach the others.

Clang—!

An arrow slipped past Kyran’s head and struck the barrier.

Kyran’s eyes went wide. He whipped his head around and found Naela with a bow in her hands, forcing energy through her broken body. Her face was ghost-pale, her stance wavering as she could barely stand upright because of her stolen rib.

But she still tried to help.

"Naela..." Kyran called. "Don—"

"What?!" Her voice cracked like a whip, eyes burning with a fire Kyran had never seen before. "Don’t what, Kyran?! You’re worried about me when we don’t know how they are doing in there? They could be dead for all we know! How do we face Rex if something happens to them?

"Tell me. How will you explain to him when all of them died in there?!" She screamed.

Just that scream alone made her groan and fall to one knee.

An excruciating pain stabbed her stomach.

"I know I was wrong—but don’t act like this. It’s already done. It’s in the past. Let’s focus on finding a way to get through this barrier," Kyran reverted back to his human form, trying to calm her down. "We can still do something."

"Mother of Dark Nature..." Naela muttered, tears flowing down her face. "Do you understand how this would make me look? My kind is on its last leg already. If Rex knew that I was the reason you abandoned your position, what do you think would happen?"

"Don’t say that. He won’t do that to you. Besides, I’m here, and I won’t let that happen."

"Really? You’d defy Rex for me?"

Kyran’s tongue went stiff.

He saw more tears flowing down Naela’s face as she asked that question.

And it was only then that he realized he had said something wrong.

Saying that doesn’t comfort Naela at all. On the contrary, it sank to her like a stone, confirming that she had been nothing but a bad influence for Kyran. Goding against Rex should never be inside his mind, as he’s one of the few people Rex trusted.

And yet, here he stood, daring to say he would stop Rex if it came down to it.

Because of her.

Naela cried even harder, never expecting that it would go like this.

But when Kyran was about to retract his words, the ground rumbled underneath his feet.

He looked back at the impassive barrier and saw nothing had changed. It stayed the same, but the air was churning violently. And following the sudden blow of wind was the sound of tearing. It was thunderous, and it came from the other side.

Kyran carried Naela and went to the source of the noise.

Taking the high ground using the deep-colored ice, he stared ahead and saw that the barrier was opening.

It tore the dimensional fabric apart, forcing it open despite the world’s energy interference.

"Just what are we dealing with here...?" He muttered inwardly.

At that moment, the collective growls of thousands reverberated across the air. Kyran’s pupils dilated as he watched a horde pour out—from the other side. Crimson wolves with bleeding fur. All of them emanated terrifying power.

All of them are at the ninth-rank realm.

Some even exuded a stronger aura than that.

"It’s the Blood Moon...?" Kyran gasped in shock, not expecting that the Gods behind the werewolf race would intervene in this war. "Rex’s birth moon is the Blood Moon, and he has always been against it for the longest time. Now that he’s not here, it decided to strike?"

Kyran put Naela down and transformed once again, intending to enter the barrier and check inside.

"I’m coming with you!" Naela demanded.

"No," Kyran refused sternly. "Stay here and handle yourself. Hide."

"No! I want to see wh—"

"STAY. BACK."

Not even wasting a single more word,, Kyran leaped away, blasting straight into the dimensional tear.