The Invincible Full-Moon System

Focused within the grasp of meditation, another day had passed.

Contrary to the time scale that Rex anticipated to spend in cultivating his cursed source, he was already three days longer. Despite his best, there was absolutely no chance for him to reach his intended epiphany on time.

Traversing the path of Witches was not as easy as he initially thought.

 He underestimated the difficulty.

During his trial and error, attempting to reach Calidora's voice, she said that if he didn't have any help, then he would be searching the Cursed Beacon in the dark by himself. Calidora had already erased that problem for him.

Since she has a higher cursed epiphany, she can traverse the darkness easily, unlike Rex.

Because of that, she could help tell Rex of the location.

Even then, reaching the Cursed Beacon and making a connection with it is very difficult.

Rex pondered that Calidora must've meditated for months to complete this.

Knowing that Rex doesn't know much about curses, and the fact that he is still stuck in going past the monster inside the darkness, Calidora uses this opportunity to educate him about cursed power, or at least what she knows.

In short, a cursed epiphany could reach all the way to the twelfth.

From the first to the fifth cursed epiphany, there would be no bottlenecks and easily passed.

However, starting from the sixth cursed epiphany, things started to change.

Due to his several encounters with cursed creatures, Rex knew that curses above the fifth epiphany were able to summon Cursed Zone. Calidora explained to him that the creatures were able to do that thanks to reaching the next stage.

Like Awakened which would need the heart media or elemental tattoo, curses also have one.

In the cursed world, there were three cursed bodies in order to climb higher.

Anyone who has a cursed source would instantly reach the initiate cursed body, which would allow them up to the fifth epiphany. Next, one would need to achieve a greater cursed body in order to climb up to the tenth epiphany.

Rex is currently in the process of achieving the greater cursed body.

He would need to connect more with the Cursed Beacon, and doing that would need heavy mental power, dedication, and cursed energy control which he was currently trying to reach, failing multiple times in the process.

If he managed to make the connection, the limiter of his body would be lifted.

Like a beacon, the connection will help his cursed energy adapt to the nature of his body.

Only then he would be able to break the bottleneck and climb higher.

Upon achieving this body, there would be two paths which would be available to proceed.

Calidora mentioned that there was the zone path and the mind path.

Naturally, cursed creatures that don't possess high intelligence, if they achieve the greater cursed body, don't have the choice of going with the mind path. Only the zone path was available for them which is why Rex has never heard of the mind path.

Zone path would create some sort of domain that provided numerous lethal effects.

On the other hand, the mind path is a defensive one.

Rather than eliciting potent effects on others, the mind path will create a mind barrier, able to nullify most curse attacks or induced effects. Its defense efficiency will heavily depend on the epiphany and the curse that backed the individual's cursed source.

Considering the levels of chaos that cursed energy could induce, the mind path is enticing.

Lastly, there was the divine cursed body.

Even though Calidora knew the name of the body stage, she was only aware of its name.

As for its power, she has absolutely zero clue about it.

But then again, she was currently at the ninth epiphany, so she still had one more epiphany before needing to think about reaching the divine cursed body. Then again, the Witch would probably know about this, so she knew where to search.

"Rrgghhh...!" Rex grunted heavily with his eyes bulging in vexation.

Once again, the monster swatted him away, severing his cursed energy in the process.

Despite feeling immense pain earlier, his pain tolerance and adaptability started to take full effect as he now could endure the backlash pain he sustained from having his cursed energy severed in the darkness.

However, it doesn't mean that he's not feeling the pain.

Breathing heavily, his eyes gazed into the darkness with anger mixed with frustration.

"Countess, can you bring me to the Banished Realm?" He suddenly asked.

Upon hearing this, the Countess within his body quickly replied, "If you desire, yes"

Since he wasted too much time already, he needs to play it smart or he would be running out of time soon enough. Even though being inside the Banished Realm while doing this would be way worse, he doesn't have any other choice.

"Okay, bring me there. I'll manage..." Rex decided with a heavy sigh.

Pausing for a second, the Countess then said, "I'll just create a dome for your body"

"Dome? Why a dome?" He frowned in confusion.

Putting him inside the Banished Realm wouldn't be a problem as he's already prepared.

However, the Countess seems to have another plan in mind, "Of course, the sensation would still be the same as if you are inside the Banished Realm. But, it would be cost-efficient. It would save me energy which we will need later"

Rex doesn't have a problem with this so he decided to go with the Countess' way.

On the outside, the sky was already golden.

Mavenna couldn't be seen anywhere in the courtyard, she's not here.

Like she initially planned earlier, the atmosphere inside the castle was not great because of the Countess, especially now that she has seen the Countess' wrath for the first time. So she was now sleeping soundly nearby, waiting for Rex and Calidora to finish meditating.

On the other hand, Nezera still stayed behind in the courtyard.

After witnessing Viscardi being devoured by the Countess, she stayed because she wanted to plead with Rex to let Viscardi go. Despite his foolishness and impulsive behavior, he's still the son of a notable Vampire Family.

If she went back without him, there would be trouble ensued towards her.

Due to that, she can't go back.

But as she waited for the two to finish meditating, Nezera sensed a chilling godly energy.

Upon sensing this energy, her body tensed up instinctively.

When she turned to look at Rex, she found the same energy that the Countess used earlier seeped out of his skin and created a black transparent dome around him. It only covers him, Calidora is not affected.

Just after that happened, Calidora's eyes moved underneath her eyelids.

Soon, she blinked open her eyes.

Adjusting her vision to the surroundings, she eventually laid her gaze on Rex who was now enclosed in a black dome. She didn't question what he was doing and just stretched. She already helped him tell the rough location of the Cursed Beacon, so he can take it over alone from here.

Leaning back to the Blood Bunya, she wanted to rest but sensed another presence.

Turning her gaze to the side, her eyes widened at the sight of Nezera.

Calidora instinctively folded her small bat wings to the back and faced her mother, trying her best to hide them. But of course, that was a futile attempt as Nezera had already seen the small bat wings from the moment she arrived.

Both daughter and mother pair exchanged uneasy looks with each other.

It stayed like that for a solid ten seconds.

Just their eyes alone seemed to exchange a million silent words in that quick moment.

Soon, Calidora liquified into blood and emerged beside Nezera.

"Mother... How long have you been here?" Calidora cleared her throat and asked.

Looking at her daughter with more silence, Nezera looked down, clutching the edge of her robe, seemingly troubled before she raised her gaze again, "A couple of hours. Viscardi, the son of the Salizar Family asked to use the Blood Devourer. He could unlock its multiplication abilities and split it into two, so we came here to see you"

Upon hearing this, Calidora furrowed her brows.

Out of anything, she wanted to be the one to hold the Blood Devourer herself.

She wasn't going to hand it over like that.

Dividing it into two would not be a bad idea, but its power would undeniably be reduced. It wouldn't be so much as reduced by half, however, it's still a considerable amount. She didn't want to do it, not when she was already starting to get used to the Blood Devourer.

Instead of arguing, Calidora noticed that Viscardi was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Viscardi then?" She asked in confusion.

Nezera only replied with a glance at Rex who was still in meditation, and that look alone tells Calidora that something happened to Viscardi after he presumably attacked Rex. But she was not surprised, considering that Viscardi had also seen her bat wings.

After exchanging the pleasant banter came the actual heavy conversation.

"Care to enlighten your own mother, Calidora? Why are you doing this without a word to me or your father? Do you not respect us?" Nezera's question began with a measured calmness, but her composure swiftly crumbled, and teardrops welled in her eyes. "There are traditions and respect that demand adherence before taking such steps, yet you did it without a moment's consideration. Is this why you asked Elder Nolacula for the castle?"

"Is it because of your Eyes of Terror?" She continued, her shoulders visibly trembling.

Upon hearing this, Calidora was muted, her lips were sealed tight.

She hoped Nezera wouldn't say anything, but she realized that it was too much to ask.

Not wanting to see the tears that came down from her mother's eyes, Calidora pivoted her body and let her back face Nezera. Eventually, she sighed and replied, "If I were to ask you or Father, both of you wouldn't let me. So I decided to do it without anyone knowing"

"I hope you understand, Mother..." She whispered, not expecting to be forgiven at all.

Listening to the conviction in Calidora's voice made Nezera's heart ache.

Unable to contain her tears anymore, they broke down as she covered her mouth with her trembling hands. But even then, no whimpers could be heard, she cried silently, not wanting Calidora to hear her cries.

It was silent after that before out of nowhere, Calidora snapped her face to the right.

She sensed something coming from the west.

Knowing what she sensed, she slightly cloaked her body with blood energy before a creature descended from the sky and hovered in the courtyard. It was a bat creature but completely made of blood.

Just earlier before Rex arrived, she already sent over a hundred bats.

All of them were dedicated to roaming around the territory, the extension of Calidora's eyes.

This one is the main bat, it was connected and shared the vision of other bats.

Gracefully, the bat landed on Calidora's stretched hand before it closed its wings and eyes.

Calidora was also doing the same thing, the main bat was interacting with her blood energy and now she could use the vision of the other bats. Her eyes blaze with blood energy as she did this.

On the other hand, Nezera stopped her sobs when she noticed what was Calidora doing.

Soon, she returned to normal and the bat flew away again.

"What's wrong? Did someone trespass the territory?" Nezera asked with a raised brow.

Upon hearing this, Calidora nodded her head in confirmation.

Gazing to the west still, she replied, "Yes, the Blood Bunya on the west didn't only sense someone trespassing, but it was also scratched. I know who it is. Mother, you wait here, Rex should be finishing soon"

"Wait, the sun is still up. Wait until it gets dark before going out" Nezera advised sternly.

Calidora wanted to rebut, but she was met with Nezera's sharp eyes.

Despite the option to ignore her counsel, she chose to heed the advice, particularly in her current state which she was experiencing for the first time. "Very well, I'll wait until nightfall. However, I insist on being the one to be there, it's important"