The Invincible Full-Moon System-Chapter 1526: Seed of Hate

Kei Xun was troubled—she couldn't quite grasp what Rex's deal was.

But since she already confirmed that he was a new Scion from how he acted and even how he doesn't understand most things about being a Scion—such as the heat of bloodlust and the other apparition, the display from earlier must not be Rex's own power.

It was something else, an external power.

'As long as I find out what it was, I could continue. For his sake…' She thought.

Rumble!

Out of nowhere, the entire sanctuary suddenly quaked hard.

Alana tried to hold onto the ground while Kei Xun grounded herself with her sun power.

However, unlike Alana, she knew exactly what this was.

'I didn't think it through...' A bead of cold sweat trickled down her face. 'That kind of power would not go unnoticed.'

Looking outside, to the entrance of the sanctuary, Kei Xun frowned and stood up.

She wasn't worried, more like resigned to the situation.

A commotion could be heard outside, and she is going to address it.

"Divine Saintess, this is…" Alana's expression paled when she sensed the rush of energy coming from the outside—an energy that she recognized instantly. She understood how dangerous this was—and how troublesome this could be, but only Kei Xun could resolve something of this caliber. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes, believe in your Saintess." Kei Xun answered and headed outside with elegant steps.

Upon reaching the entrance, a grand view appeared before her eyes.

It was her home, her sanctuary, her kingdom—everything that she built over her ascent to power.

Grand architecture and magical construct merged into one, creating a beautiful sanctuary of white and gold across the entire horizon. Kei Xun didn't soak in the view and looked down at the base of the pure, pristine staircase, where a stain in the perfect scenery could be seen.

An emerald corpse lily that forcefully bloomed from the sleek marble floor.

Her people, warrior priests with their gleaming garments, surrounded the corpse lily.

Each one of them created a barrier to suppress the stain, but failed miserably.

Its emerald aura was still leaking out like wildfire.

"Stop!" Kei Xun commanded as she descended the stairs. "Don't be uncourteous! Leave the plant be."

Confused, the warrior priests stepped back, keeping in formation, but stopped maintaining the barrier to blot out the invasive emerald aura coming from the corpse lily. Once Kei Xun reached it, she stood with grace, seemingly waiting.

Then, the corpse lily trembled and pulsed with an unbelievable amount of power.

All of the warrior priests, elite guardians of the sanctuary, were blown away like leaves.

Only Kei Xun remained standing, unbothered, as an entity emerged from within the corpse lily.

An emerald queen of thorn, flower, and decay.

She is humanoid, covered in hard, spiky armor of black thorns, and has sharp, baby green eyes.

Kei Xun immediately recognized this woman.

"Greetings to the Petalbound Bride of Decay, Selantra Thorne." She greeted with unnatural politeness.

Upon hearing this, Selantra brushed over her entire body with her hands, morphing her form completely before she finally turned to look at Kei Xun. She did it in a swift snap, turning her head unnaturally fast, her gaze at Kei Xun bordering on a glare.

"I believe you know the reason I'm here, fallen Kei," She said, walking to the edge of the corpse lily.

"Yes," Kei Xun nodded. "You came to address the reckless energy spike."

"Yes, I am…" Selantra smiled, a coy smile as she sat down on the edge, looking down on Kei Xun. "I'm sure you can't afford being naughty, fallen Kei. Should I remind you by spelling out the words that you spoke again? Did you forget?"

Despite her lounging posture and relaxed tone, the surroundings were in turmoil.

Stone pillars visibly corroded with an unnatural emerald power, beautiful flowers and trees decorating the area, lean away from her—and the sun power that the place was brimming with has no effect on her, as if it was hesitant to reach her.

Instead, her emerald aura was devouring the space around her and spreading.

"I remember, and I haven't done anything to betray them." Kei Xun answered with a firm tone.

But Selantra laughed, not taking her answer seriously.

"Are you playing around your oath, fallen Kei?" Selantra lilted, pointing at Kei Xun with a finger and twirling it in a circle playfully. "Maybe, all this time, you never stopped growing, you just stopped showing? Are you that sly, fallen Kei? Because I can sense a Primordial Radix earlier."

"No, it's not me. I never grew stronger ever since, as I promised. That spike was—from the new Scion." Kei Xun replied impatiently, hating the fact that Selantra was the one who was sent here instead of anyone other. Seeing the change in Selantra's face, her eyes narrowed, "Yes, there's a new Scion. You don't know?"

"Ooww… I know about that. How can I not know something that exciting?" Selantra replied.

However, this made Kei Xun's expression flush with shock.

"You… You knew about the new Scion?" She asked exasperatedly. "Y-You knew?"

"Of course," Selantra winked and chuckled. "Do you think we didn't know? Stupid fallen Kei~"

Annoyed by Selantra's mockeries, Kei Xun lost her composure, "If all of you knew, if the other Scions knew, why haven't they done anything? Why is he still roaming about free? Back then, I wasn't given any time to breathe, and he's free?!"

Upon hearing this, Selantra paused, looking at Kei Xun with wide eyes.

Then, a nasty grin crept to her face.

Deg!

Kei Xun's heart skipped a beat.

Even though Selantra didn't answer with words, she could tell what her answer was.

It was clear, but Kei Xun couldn't accept it.

"I survived for how long?! This is unfair!" She roared in anger.

But her roar fell on deaf ears.

Selantra picked her ear and turned her gaze towards the warrior priests.

"I'm not here to talk," She said, smirking devilishly. "I'm here to exact punishment."

Feeling an unbelievable weight of killing intent locking onto them, the kind of killing intent that was born from taking millions, if not billions upon billions of lives—the warrior priests tried to escape, but it was already too late.

Crack!

Swish!

A single green flower bloomed on their bodies, halting them in place.

Seeing the flower, all of them panicked, desperately trying to get rid of the flower to no avail.

Selantra chuckled as her eyes darted elsewhere, to the entire sanctuary.

Malice shimmered in her eyes in the form of a vivid emerald glow that radiated strongly as she summoned a colossal, thick-rooted tree that grew—and surged skyward, piercing the heavens like a living skyscraper.

At its peak, four massive blossoms unfurled.

Each was facing a different cardinal direction, as if to lay claim to the entire sanctuary.

Rumble!

Just as Selantra was about to continue, the entire sanctuary shook.

Another power took over.

Kei Xun's sun power made the sunlight—from above more glaring, swallowing the corrupted emerald coming from Selantra, "Selantra! You can't do this to me!" She roared, eyes glowing like two suns. "I did nothing wrong—this is all the new Scion's doing!"

Feeling the resistance to her power, Selantra smirked devilishly.

She was taking pleasure in this struggle.

"Do you really think I'd believe that? Are you saying a newborn baby could actually fly?" She laughed, casting Kei Xun a mocking glance—as if she were a clown. "Do you have no shame at all, fallen Kei? Aren't you ashamed of hiding behind your junior? Now I'm beginning to see why the Scions did that to you."

"Raarggh!!" Kei Xun roared in anger.

Crack!

Kaboom!

A violent shockwave exploded, turning everything around them into nothing.

Even the High Cathedral of Noracci couldn't withstand the power they were emanating.

Selantra saw that her plant was beginning to melt on the top, unable to withstand—the might from Kei Xun's outburst. But this only made her smile grow wider. She raised her hand—while trying to withstand the glaring sunlight, and turned to Kei Xun.

"Don't focus on me too much, your worshippers are defenseless, you know…" She chimed.

Upon hearing this, Kei Xun turned to the warrior priests with bulging eyes.

"No!" She exclaimed.

She tried to save them, to cleanse them from Selantra's power, but she wasn't fast enough.

"Eurghaah!"

One of the warrior priests looked at his hand in horror.

A sudden, excruciating pain stung his hand where the green flower bloomed, and in a matter of seconds, the green flower rooted deep into his body. Naturally, the warrior priest let out a hysterical scream, watching as his entire arm was turned into a plant.

Every single warrior priest around them and beyond experienced the same thing.

One had his entire face turned into a flower, another had his leg, while another suffered a worse fate.

Kei Xun was channeling her power as much as possible, activating the Sun Echo inside to try and heal or even protect the warrior priests, but she couldn't. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't, and this caused her to suck in a cold breath in shock.

"What's with the face?" Selantra chuckled. "Unlike you, I kept getting stronger, you know."

Such a realization struck Kei Xun hard.

'She… She's not a Scion, but she has the same strength as me…?' She thought in disbelief.

Even though this day would eventually come, it was still surprising to actually be here.

Giving no time for her to digest the realization—more and more of her beloved warrior priests screamed in pain and exploded into bits of plants, killed without mercy. Some even called out her name, begging her to help them, but she couldn't.

She no longer has the power to help them.

"No…" Kei Xun's eyes widened, seeing her people dying one by one. "No, no, no!!"

Swish!

Suddenly, Selantra appeared right in front of her with a wide smile.

She tackled Kei Xun and pinned her hands onto the wall.

"Go on then, use the power you used earlier. Fight back," She demanded with a crazed pair of eyes. "Don't be shy—show me how much stronger you have gotten over the years when you're not supposed to. Show it to me! Show me how much you're hiding!"

"I told you!" Kei Xun shouted in frustration, a tear drizzling down her face. "It's not me!!"

"Really? Tears? I've grown numb to that centuries ago," Selantra purred.

It was a pathetic attempt for Kei Xun to try and manipulate her emotions like this.

Desperate to say the least.

Then, Selantra glanced upward.

Her skyscraper of a plant was already healed and ready to do what it was summoned to do.

Each flower glowed with a brilliant emerald energy, unleashing a visceral stench that irritated the nose almost instantly. Kei Xun has seen this, the flowers would puff up toxic smoke—that would end everything that got touched by it.

Living being or not, everything would melt under its toxin.

Not even her sanctuary could endure it.

Especially now that Selantra was almost as strong as her.

"I will explain to her myself!" Kei Xun threw away her pride and pleaded. "Just don't do this!"

Hearing a tinge of pleading in her tone, Selantra smirked, "Too late."

POOF!!

…

Moments later.

"At least you're smart enough not to use your hidden power against me, or else, things might have escalated," Selantra said and sneered. "If I were you, I'd regress my power again before her visit."

She looked at the devastated Kei Xun without any remorse.

Only a grim satisfaction.

"Do not cross your line again, or it will be worse." She continued.

Not even waiting for Kei Xun to answer, she went to the lily corpse and returned to the earth.

Despite the destruction, she left with her chin held high.

Kei Xun fell to her knees as she stared vacantly ahead, at her sanctuary, which contained her history, ever since she came into being. Now, that sanctuary was no more. Everything across the horizon has almost been melted completely.

All that remained was the ghost of something once grand and magnificent.

Her home, her sanctuary, her kingdom, all were melted by the greenish toxin.

She turned to the side, seeing the bodies of her people scattered everywhere.

But the worst part… it was a misunderstanding.

"It's not me… I didn't have that power…" Kei Xun mumbled in disbelief.

Her voice was weak and defeated.

From behind, Alana came out of the rubble and froze at the destruction.

Seeing what was left of the sanctuary, tears fell down her face as she covered her mouth.

She couldn't believe what had happened.

Looking down, she saw Kei Xun in a broken posture.

The Divine Saintess began to chuckle, her shoulders rose and dropped lightly, as if the entire thing was funny to her. Then, she gazed upward with broken eyes, laughing at the top of her lungs while everything melts around her.