"Forgive this old one that doesn't heed your warning earlier..."
Rex squints his eyes upon hearing what Arnulf said, he doesn't remember what he did but surely the Invincible Apparation sensed Arnulf approaching and gave a warning or something.
While the others know exactly what Arnulf referring to.
Just when the berserk Rex was about to kill Issac, he suddenly glanced to the side and lets out a powerful roar which was supposed to be a warning for Arnulf. Rex was distracted so much by Arnulf's presence and doesn't even realize Evelyn is sneaking up on him, this just shows that even the berserk Rex doesn't view Arnulf lightly.
Arnulf then takes a couple of steps forward walking out of the darkness.
Now that Arnulf's figure is exposed completely, Rex and the others find his entire body radiating with sharpness. His body is covered by many wounds, most of which are slashing wounds that should have come from a sword.
The wounds suited his eldrich demeanor, it's like every cut has its own ancient story.
Amongst the wounds all over Arnulf's body, the most gruesome one is the slashing wound with the width of a few inches scarring his right neck all the way to his left waist crossing his body and also the oblique scar crossing his right eye.
From how the skin around the wound is blackened, it should be a wound dealt with by silver.
Based on what Jarvald and Vivian said to Rex before, this Arnulf is even older than King Baralt who is the current King of the Werewolves. So it makes sense for Arnulf to have many wounds taking into count that he basically the only Werewolf that lived through the hazardous Radical Era fighting alongside the Origin.
Other Werewolves even gave him the nickname the special for the chances of living through that time as a regular Werewolf is practically zero, but he survived anyway.
Tilting his head a little, Arnulf then scans his eyes on the others.
Evelyn, Adhara, and Gistella unconsciously step back feeling their existence as a Werewolf is suppressed by Arnulf's presence, it's not an actual suppression but it's more like the feeling of respect for the elder one.
It's hard to describe but it made them unable to stare directly at Arnulf's eyes.
"High Werewolf, Female Alpha..."
"Beta, Exalted Werewolf, and also a Luna. Interesting..."
"Strongest Beta, a Werewolf Fiend to be exact. Not bad"
Arnulf points his claw from Adhara before shifting to Evelyn and lastly Gistella, his eyes see through exactly the bloodline of the three of them.
It's easy to determine Adhara's bloodline since she's in her Werewolf form, but Evelyn and Gistella are not. They are in their human form but somehow Arnulf also knows exactly what they are.
They find it terrifying that Arnulf can see through them, it's like their secrets are hopeless under his probing eyes.
But when Rex was about to say something expecting Arnulf to finish talking.
Arnulf suddenly glanced to the side sharply with a slight smirk, he's looking at a normal red tree and mutters, "Lastly, another Beta. Azure High Werewolf"
Upon hearing this, Rex and the others were surprised.
Kyran right now is inside the darkness and he shouldn't be spotted that easily, even Wesley an eighth rank Awakened can't sense Kyran when he's inside the darkness like this. But somehow, Arnulf can tell exactly where he is as if he can see Kyran directly.
Clicking his tongue, Kyran got out of the darkness and exposes himself.
While looking at Kyran who got out of the darkness still in his Werewolf form, the smirk on Arnulf's face becomes even wider. But then, Rex interrupted his display, "I'm surprised you can see right through my pack, Arnulf..."
"Ho... you know my name? I'm very honored", Arnulf replied making eye contact with Rex.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtRex didn't back down from the staredown trying to not show any weakness despite him already preparing to teleport away from this place, he will do that the moment Arnulf tries to do something.
Soon, he then opens his mouth and points to Arnulf's back, "I know your name but..."
"I don't know about your friend's name right there, why don't you ask him to come out and introduce himself to me?", Rex added replying to Arnulf's smirk.
Hearing this, the smirk on Arnulf's face becomes even wider.
Although Arnulf appeared alone in front of them, Rex and also Kyran already sensed another figure hiding somewhere behind Arnulf. The aura coming from the hiding Werewolf is powerful, it's not an overstatement for Rex to say this Werewolf has power equal to Queen Shanaela.
Or perhaps even higher, it's hard to tell. But this Werewolf is surely in the eighth rank realm.
"Sharp... this old one praise your senses, as expected of a Prince", Arnulf honestly praised, he then flicks his finger before the other Werewolf came out of hiding. The Werewolf that landed beside Arnulf is not as big as Arnulf, but he's emitting a stronger aura than Arnulf.
A black sizzling aura is cloaking this Werewolf's body as he slowly arches his back.
This Werewolf gives off an entirely different demeanor from the eldrich feeling Arnulf brought, this one gave a more noble feeling which should show his position in the Werewolf Kingdom, "Greeting to the Prince, you might not know me so I'll introduce myself. My name is Ruston, the Alpha of Fantommane Pack"
"We might have missed a spectacular show, may I know what your business here?", he added.
Rex gazes at Ruston with a serious look, he opens his mouth intending to reply but when he saw Ruston's face the words got stuck in his throat. His body froze while his eyes widen in surprise.
'I-Impossible... he's very familiar...', Rex thought with his eyes widening.
Not long, his eyes then landed on a rune on Ruston's shoulder surprising him even more.
Upon seeing the rune, Rex's eyes flash a couple of times to a Werewolf turning its body before exposing its devious grin. Blood dripped from its mouth with two corpses just beside the Werewolf.
It was the night that he remembers until today, the night that haunts his sleepless night endlessly for more than a dozen years. Something so deeply engraved in Rex's mind.
Adhara and the others glances at Rex when he didn't seem to answer Ruston's question, they saw Rex's expression is frozen as if he has just seen a ghost. It confuses them looking at the absolute shock expression on Rex's face.
<Warning! Invincible Apparation is awakening!>
<Awakening the Invincible Apparation two times in a short amount of time will incur heavy penalties for the user!>
Upon seeing the warning notification from the system, Rex snaps out of his daze before he holds Evelyn's hand tightly. This caught Evelyn off guard as she glance at Rex in confusion, but seeing the stern look on his face made her even more confused.
But then when she looks down at her hand, the white wolf head symbol is glowing again.
It even started oozing with purple gas-like energy again but it's not as powerful as before. This made Evelyn realizes what is happening, she then glanced at Ruston with a frown, 'How did Rex becomes angry, is it because of that Ruston?', she thought inside his head.
Rex then regains his composure despite clenching his eyes slowly emitting killing intent.
"One of my pack members got kidnapped by the Vampire, so I obliterate the Delarosa Royal Family", he replied without covering anything and just blatantly said it out loud.
Hearing this, both Ruston and Arnulf cracks an understanding smile.
Arnulf shrugs his shoulders as if what Rex did is nothing out of the ordinary, "You're still sticking to the traditional ways, I like you even more now...", he mutters lightly.
Ignoring Arnulf's remarks, Rex then asks, "What is your purpose here?"
Since Arnulf uses the Tracing Howl skill to identify Rex's location, it's clear that Arnulf is searching for him. From what Jarvald said, Arnulf must be searching for him to make him a stepping stone for the Dark Prince that also has awakened.
"Dark Prince... I've been told by the Dark Prince whom my loyalty lies to capture you...", Arnulf replied without even hiding anything, this just shows how much confidence he has to capture Rex.
In the current condition, Arnulf has the right to be confident.
Not only does his stats are ridiculously strong for a peak sixth rank Supernatural, but Rex is also weakened because of the Invincible Apparation taking over his body. Fighting other seventh ranks Supernatural will be very hard much less someone like Arnulf and Ruston who are clearly way stronger.
Just after he said that Arnulf made a sudden move.
Looking at Arnulf dashing towards him swiftly, Rex's eyes widen, "Watch out!!", he pushes the girls out of the way in case they got hit by this monstrous Werewolf. In the nick of time, he also turns back into his Werewolf form exposing his mythic presence.
Clang!
Arnulf swings down his powerful claws right at Rex.
With his insane reflex despite having his body tired out by the Invincible Apparation, Rex manages to parry the attack while gritting his teeth. The attack was downright powerful.
Sparks were created upon the collision of both claws, but Rex grabs his wrist in surprise.
"Arghkk!", Rex grunted feeling his claws numb.
That one exchange he had with Arnulf's claws shows that he's outclassed by him, from just one attack he can feel that his claws almost got torn off. Despite being unwilling to admit it, Rex's strength is way lower than Arnulf's.
Added with him being very tired, Arnulf has a total advantage.
Without any pause seeing Rex is hurting, Arnulf looks at him coldly before he said, "Let me show you a trick that I learned from a Witch a long time ago, it's pretty interesting. It's specifically used to hurt a Prince"
Hearing this, Rex raises his gaze while bearing the pain.
He then saw Arnulf's claws cloaked with a weird trembling energy, it doesn't feel suppressing or threatening. It's just weird and unnatural, the feeling is similar to Calidora's Vampiric Eyes.
In the next second, Arnulf appears in front of Rex before he touches Rex's horn.
Just like being touched by the devil, Rex feels his horns start burning and the heat is increasing very fast. But before the heat increased to the point that is unbearable, his head suddenly got hit by a wave of pain.
"RAARGHH!!", Rex falls to the ground holding his hurting head.
It's like being hit by a mental attack that focuses on rattling the brain, Rex feels an enormous amount of headache inside his brain that brings pain that he never felt before in his life.
Arnulf smiles seeing Rex wailing on the ground holding his head in pain.
Upon seeing that Rex got outclassed by Arnulf, the others didn't sit idle and watch. Kyran is the first one to move, he disappears into the darkness again before charging his black spear intending to pierce Arnulf with it.
Kyran went to Arnulf's back before he lightly chanted, "Pneuma Spell, Piercing Black!"
Swoosh!
The black spear flew from Kyran's head very fast while keep getting amplified by the dark mana in the surrounding, it's like an arrow that absorbs the darkness. In the blink of an eye, the black spear is about to stab Arnulf's back.
Under the surprised gazes of all of them, the black spear slightly changed direction.
It's like something or someone changing the direction the black spear is heading, upon nearing Arnulf's back the black spear tilted to the side a little resulting in a total miss.
Arnulf then glanced back showing his nasty grin, "Not quite good enough..."
But just as he said that a bluish barrier entrapped him, a circle of fire then appears on the ground inside the barrier as Adhara chanted with her eyes burning with the violet flame, "Fire Maelstorm!"
BOOM!
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmA powerful vortex of purple fire exploded the ground from the ground engulfing Arnulf in flame, the concentrated force got amplified by the wind mana and also confined inside the barrier.
With the bluish barrier, all of the force generated by the purple fire vortex stayed there.
She then glanced to the side seeing Rex is still wailing painfully while holding his head with his bloodied claws that almost got torn, Adhara then looks back at Arnulf before she roared angrily, "RAARGH!!"
SWOOSH!
Resonating with Adhara's emotion, the purple fire vortex becomes even stronger and stronger.
Evelyn glance at Ruston who is standing by the side without even moving an inch, she frowns upon looking at Ruston who doesn't even have a hint of helping, 'He's not going to intervene? If that's the case...'
Spreading her arms to the side, Evelyn gathers as much fire and sound mana.
The surrounding fire and sound mana that is still hovering around got pulled towards her, she then opens her eyes that are blazing just like Adhara but hers are dark red fire. Gritting her teeth, Evelyn then pours all of the mana she gathered into Adhara's fire maelstrom.
KABOOM!
Because of the mana addition, another powerful explosion resounded.
Gistella who tries to keep the fire maelstrom inside her barrier struggles as some of the fire splashes leaked out. On top of the purple fire vortex amplified by Evelyn's fire mana, a ringing deafening sound can also be heard.
It's the sound mana imbued into the purple fire vortex making each friction of fire turn into a loud sound that irritates the ears so much.
Arnulf that is inside this powerful combination of spells smirks.
Out of nowhere, his entire being exploded with a powerful wind that distinguished the powerful purple fire vortex on a whim. Just like blowing a candle o top of a cake, Arnulf did it so easily that it surprises Adhara and the others.
"Interesting... this old one has never seen Werewolves controlling fire and even darkness"
While scanning his eyes towards Adhara and the others in amusement, Arnulf starts to get excited as it can be seen from his aura that is getting riled up. But then Rex slowly recovered from his painful head and numb claws, "Why are you doing this? I'm also a Prince"
"That's where you are wrong", Arnulf replied before spreading his arms menacingly.
He then continues, "In the world of the Werewolf, the strong is always respected while the weak must always obey the strong. This old one knows very well. Even amongst the Princes, the competition for power is fiercer rather than regular Werewolves"
"It's more likely for the Princes to kill each other rather than regular Werewolves killing each other, that is just how we live. This is why I exist, I am the private guard of the Dark Prince. Only the Origin can intermediate our competitive nature, and you're no Origin"
Upon hearing this, Rex's expression darkened as he doesn't see any notion that they can win.
For now aside from being weakened from the Invincible Apparation, Rex is not a match against Arnulf in any way possible. He needs to get his King Mark or advance his Awakened power to the eighth rank if he wants to be a match against Arnulf.
So right now, there's only one thing that he can do.
Rex puts his right arm to his back before taking out an item from the inventory, it's a crystal that is way bigger than a hand-size crystal. The tension in the air started rising, Adhara went closer to Evelyn before in the next split second, "Now!"
Just as Rex shouted that the others instantly dashed toward him.
Noticing the weird movement of Rex and the others, Ruston who is silent all this while dashes towards them but got stopped by Arnulf blocking Ruston's way with his arm.
Without wasting any other second, Rex crushed the crystal as white energy envelop them all.
In the next moment, Rex and the others turned into energy particles before they got teleported away under Ruston and Arnulf's gazes.
Ruston glanced at Arnulf with a frown, "Why did you stop me?"
"Let him go, you will not achieve anything by capturing him now", Arnulf replied nonchalantly.
Hearing this, Ruston's forehead creased in confusion before Arnulf added, "He's not the Red Prince, he's the Royal Black Prince. The Dark Prince will not be able to devour him, so we'll let him go for now"
"Don't worry, capturing him is as easy as it is. We'll meet with him again..."
Although reluctantly, Ruston didn't press further and just turns his head away before turning around to leave the place. Arnulf stands on his spot for a moment before a smirk appears on his face, "Royal Black Prince, this era is going to be interesting..."