Personal lies.
Lies others told and affirmed.
A replica of the past.
Rex used these mixtures of factors to greatly amplify the Executor's blind optimism.
In the entirety of his manipulation plan in order to get what he wants, Gistella was the crucial piece—the heart of everything that he was planning. He was reluctant to send Gistella to the tiger's den directly.
He was afraid that something might go wrong and Gistella would be the sacrifice.
But there was simply no other choice.
Just like what the Witch said, she has the tools necessary to infiltrate the Executor's forces.
Since she possessed cursed energy, from the cursed creature incident that attacked the city, there was a lingering cursed energy inside of her, that would allow her to deploy the Damned Specter skill that Rex possessed in order to search for the Supremacy of One gem.
Expecting the Executor to give no room for her to roam around, this skill became necessary.It was the only way one could sneak around without being noticed by the Executor.
Due to that reason, Rex reluctantly sent Gistella away.
Naturally, there was a lot of convincing done by Gistella who promised that she would always be alert as she does this mission. Melting under her sway—alongside the non-existent of any other alternatives, Rex finally decided to let her go.
But of course, he needs to make it believable.
He needs to make sure that nothing goes wrong, making sure that Gistella will be safe.
Using the last chance he had to buy anything from the System—he decided to purchase the information revolving around the Executor, specifically the Fifthborn. Although there was not much detail about the Fifthborn's abilities and spells, he learned about the chaos elements.
It would normally cost him 600 million gold for this information, and it's thirty pages long.
Nevertheless, the information was resourceful enough.
From that, Rex learned about the mind and soul reading ability of the chaos elements.
One thing that he expected the Executor to do, was to probe Gistella's mind and soul so that he was sure that she was telling the truth, and true enough, the Executor opted to do exactly that to verify whether Gistella was clear or not.
Having such a powerful elemental affinity, the Executor would definitely rely on it all the time.
Many would do the same thing so it wasn't surprising for him to do that.
But this heavy reliance on the Chaos elements made the Executor's move predictable.
Rex then prepared an adequate reason to not make the Executor suspicious.
He needed to sit down and contemplate—as coming up with an adequate reason was not an easy thing to do, and he couldn't come up with anything for quite some time. However, soon he realized that there was one thing he could use to make Gistella's motives believable.
At that point in time, Calidora's presence was a prominent obstacle for Adhara and Evelyn.
She could be used and is a perfect reason for this situation.
Despite anticipating potential resentment from Adhara and Evelyn—Rex resolved to proceed, he was simply doing this to protect them from the Executor. Thus—he opted to incite discord by acting angry at both of them for suspecting themselves in unnecessary danger.
His anger was true though, but the proportion of his anger was overblown.
Rex was not that angry, but he acted as if he was.
In order to make it even more believable, he decided to also depart alone with Calidora.
All of this was captured by Gistella's eyes, providing her with ample justification for her anger towards Calidora. Knowing that the Executor would glean every detail from probing her mind and soul, the mental anguish experienced by Adhara and Evelyn must be real.
It must be painful enough to justify Gistella's anger at Calidora who caused all of this.
Many might consider his plan unfair and cold to Adhara and Evelyn who were left in the dark.
But there was no choice.
For the sake of the smoothness of the operation—and erasing any probability that would rat Gistella out—it's better for both of them to think that his anger was real. It's way better for it not to be an act other than Rex's part.
He needs to do everything he can to not make the Executor suspicious.
As prepared, the Executor didn't question Gistella's motive and accepted her to his forces.
Executing the initial move of his plan—sending Gistella to infiltrate the Executor's castle was a catalyst to amplify the personal lies aspect, the lies the Executor told himself. Now that he has Gistella and Edward, his confidence is through the roof.
Naturally, the Executor believed that everything was under his control.
From the reality seen through his eyes, he was simply two or three steps ahead of Rex.
Having both Edward and Gistella within his grasp justifies his belief that the weaker beings— would always flock to the strong, the natural cycle of the world. But that was no more than a thick illusion of Rex's manipulation.
Blinded and entangled, the Executor viewed reality through the mist of deception.
One that he and those close to him were not aware of.
Aside from magnifying the Executor's internal personal lies, Gistella's presence also amplifies the personal lies aspect within those close to him. Given how the Executor treats the others, it became evident that those around him could only express good things toward him.
Gistella's presence heightens the tendency for the others to throw positive comments.
Everyone around him would praise him for getting ahold of Gistella.
Brigitta and King John would sing praises as he managed to grasp a Silverstar Pack member.
Now, with the others affirming his notions of being in control—that lie became rooted deeply.
In addition to that, knowing that the Executor was a big figure in the ancient past—the sight of everyone praising him should replicate the feeling of power he had from the past. Rex did a meticulous process of planning to lower the Executor's guard completely.
Having too blinded and entangled in the web of manipulation, the Executor has no chance.
He has no chance but to follow the strings that Rex pulled, becoming a puppet.
Upon realizing that accepting Gistella into his castle was his greatest mistake throughout this battle he had with Rex, the dots started connecting in the Executor's mind. Despite his pride, he knew that he was played completely.
Desperately wanting to be viewed as a God-like being, he searched for affirmations.
His mind naturally searches for them.
The Executor did that without realizing that it was pulling him further away from the truth.
And that mistake allows Rex's wicked deception to spread and consolidate.
Stretching his arms to the side, Rex flared his newfound power that breached the limit of the ninth-rank realm and traversed into the realm of the unknown to the entities in the new era— "Everything has gone according to my plan, Fifthborn. You manipulated me to be awakened in this era, so what could be better for me than to return that favor?
You seek a battle, and I gave you one that you can't handle. I warned you before... this is not my first rodeo—Like all of my previous enemies, you will fall too, and I will come out of this stronger,"
"This is the new era. This is MY story—and your role...? Temporary," He added fiercely.
Listening to this, the Executor clenched his fists tightly.
A cold knot formed in the pit of his stomach—and the bitter taste of betrayal lingered on the tip of his tongue. He—one of the fiercest entities in history, stood as a mere pawn in a game he incited against the Royal Black Prince.
It felt like his reputation was tarnished and crushed into the ground.
Had he approached this battle with more credit to Rex, this wouldn't have happened to him.
Better yet, had he known that the Royal Black Prince was a threat that might potentially beat him in the future, the Executor should've killed him at their first encounter. But regrets always come last when the situation is irreversible.
The Executor could do nothing but bear the crushing weight of his predicament.
"RAARGHH!!"
Unleashing a defiant roar that echoed across dimensions, the Executor surged forward.
His fluttering energy rang out like a battle cry as he charged headlong toward Rex—the very source of his problem. At that moment, the ending phase began—a crescendo of power that set against the backdrop of the battle-torn creek.
Though he may have been played, the Executor refused to go down without a fight.
Seeing the desperation in his eyes, Rex smiled in contempt and took a low fighting stance.
Edward also did the same thing, the two knew what they were going up against and decided that taking a defensive approach would be the best against the Executor, who could already be seen abandoning his defense and focusing solely on offense.
Both moved forward, unwavering at the sight of the berserk Executor.
In a flash, the Executor thrust his elongated purple claws.
A flurry of slashing and parrying commenced—death blows that could level mountains were thrown and dodged. The Executor's power was deteriorating from the Flesh Devouring Pill— that the Witch used, but his power was still not to be underestimated.
Clad in the advanced version of his Gladiator Form, he was still extremely strong.
However, posied before him were two entities who were at the pinnacle of combat mastery.
Rex and Edward had honed their combat masteries to a realm that a few could achieve, they trained their entire lives to reach this level. And under their techniques, the Executor's power—as strong as it may be, was countered perfectly.
Steely sounds and shockwaves cracked as their weapons clashed.
Clang!!
The Executor stumbled backward when his spell-enchanted attacks were parried perfectly.
Bearing his teeth in a fierce grimace—he unleashed a primal roar, extending his fox tails with deadly precision. Even the force behind his strike was deadly—fracturing the fabric of reality itself under its weight.
Such force compelled Rex and Edward to evade rather than confront it head-on.
In a frenzied manner, the Executor commenced a vicious rampage.
He plunged his hardened, purple fox tails into the earth, quaking the ground and setting off a cataclysmic chain reaction. From the ground, dozens if not hundreds, of tails erupted, lashing out at both Edward and Rex before him with frenzies ferocity.
Akin to a homing missile, the tails chased after both of them relentlessly.
Each tail, resembling twisted roots of nature, swam through the ground and surged upward with deadly precision, seeking to impale or sever the limbs of their targets. Seeing that the two were still able to keep up, the air crackled with raw energy—the Executor's rage turned into fuel for the relentless assault.
It drives the tails to move faster and stronger.
Knowing that he needed to take out one first, the Executor turned his attention to Edward.
Stretching his arm forward, he laughed maniacally, "I am the one who gave you power—don't think for a second that I can't take it all back as easily as I give it to you," Charging an intense amount of chaos energy, his smile broadened. "I'll rip the soul out of you!"
But as Edward felt a force gripping him tightly, Rex blurred from his spot.
Moving at lightning speed—he struck the Executor's arm that was taking hold of Edward and knocked it upwards. He did it very swiftly, faster than the Executor could react. Not stopping at that, he enchanted the Blood Devourer and his claws before slashing the Executor across his torso.
Slash!
Feeling the stinging pain, the Executor looked down and saw bloody marks across his chest.
It was also seething with powerful energy.
"Origin energy...?!" the Executor exclaimed, seeing that his chaos energy was unable to make a quick recovery of this wound as it instilled with Origin energy. Snapping out of his daze, the Executor made a grabbing motion at the space above Rex's head.
Looking at this, Rex raised an eyebrow, uncertain of what the Executor was trying to do.
However, to his surprise, the Executor grabbed ahold of his link to the moon.
Anticipating the severance of Rex's link to the moon through his cursed energy, the Executor flashed a sinister grin at him. But as soon as he was about to tear the link—an evident frown crept to his face, swiftly transforming into a look of utter astonishment.
'I- I can't rip it anymore?!' He exclaimed in utter horror.
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