The Invincible Full-Moon System

Expecting the Passues to launch an assault as all of them did throughout the way—the Witch and the Executor were taken aback when, instead of attacking, the Passues stopped dead in their tracks, their movements swaying gently from side to side with an eerie calmness.

It was spooky to look at as they were moving in complete unison.

Due to their steel-like, slithery forms, the sight was akin to snakes hypnotized by a flute.

Or akin to someone had pressed the button to turn them docile.

"What are they doing? Do you know?" the Witch asked, a cold shiver running down her spine.

Upon hearing this, the Executor shook his head as he was as confused as the Witch, "I never went into the Dead Man's Creek as the Executors were forbidden to be here—so I don't know much about the Passues' behavior,"

"Nevertheless, I think they are deactivated. Let's try going through them," he added firmly.

Although the Witch was still hesitant to go through the horde of Passues, reaching as high as two hundred in number, she decided to follow the Executor from behind. Carefully, both were going through the horde.

Even as both were within the Passues' range of attack, they didn't do anything.

Surprisingly, they remained passively swaying.

Just then, the Witch could feel her body stiffened when she suddenly bumped into a Passue.

However, nothing happened, and she could sigh a sigh of relief.

Taking each step with deliberate care, the Executor and the Witch navigated halfway through the throng of Passues with meticulous precision. But in a sudden turn of events, the Passues made a collective motion, prompting the two to halt their steps immediately.

Instead of eerily swaying left and right like earlier, the Passues lowered their heads down.

Similar to earlier, they did it in perfect unison.

Almost instantly, the hundreds of Passues stopped and lowered their heads.

Upon seeing this, a frown crept to the Executor and the Witch's faces.

No matter how much they tried to associate this with sheer luck—the two were thinking that this must mean something, but they didn't know what. In the next second—as both were still in their heads, they jumped when the Passues suddenly exploded with their distinctive eerie sounds.

Buzz...!

Buzz...!

Amidst the cacophony of buzzing monsters, the Executor and the Witch were in discomfort.

Both were forced to cover their ears due to how loud it was.

Even though the two possess capabilities far beyond an ordinary human, the buzzing sound emitted by the Passues was potent enough to cause discomfort in their eardrums. It just to show that any regular human suspected of this would have their eardrums easily ruptured.

However, the Executor made a barrier around his ears to filter out the pain, not the sound.

For once, he had an extremely bad feeling about this.

Amidst the deafening din, he tried to focus and suddenly heard a faint noise that pierced the clamor—a soft, plaintive cry of a woman, like a whisper in the wind. Sharpening his senses—the Executor strained to discern the source of the sound.

It was then that he turned around, facing the direction where the Passues were facing.

With each passing second, the cry grew louder and louder.

Suddenly, coming from the darkness of the tree gaps was a shadowy figure.

Upon seeing this—the Executor's heart clenched tightly as the shadowy figure emerged into the light, casting an ominous silhouette that sent a chill down the Executor's spine. Moreover—the Witch, sensing his unease, pivoted to follow his gaze.

Almost instantly she realized what made the Passues act weirdly.

Before the Executor and the Witch could do anything—a sudden onslaught of pressure came down upon them with bone-crushing force. Both of their bodies recoiled instinctively—and in an instant, it became hard to breathe properly.

Gasping for breath, they felt as though their essence was being squeezed from their beings.

Agony lanced through their bodies as they struggled to remain upright.

In a desperate bid for survival, they fought against the invisible force, their muscles straining against the oppressive weight. But despite their efforts, the pressure persisted, unyielding at all—a pressure unlike anything the new era has ever seen.

"Kahhkk!" the Witch vomited a disturbing amount of blood, her entire muscles bulging.

Despite using her cursed energy to protect herself from the pressure, it proved to be futile as the pressure could even make her cursed energy heavier to control. It felt as though she was caught in the grip of a colossal vice.

Each passing moment squeezed tighter and tighter, threatening to splinter her very bones.

Similarly, the Executor was experiencing the same sensation.

Although he was doing better than the Witch who was bleeding profusely from every orifice, a trickle of crimson blood stained the corner of his lips, evidence of the intense struggle that he was facing internally.

Raising his gaze up, he gritted his teeth as his eyes glowed purple.

Knowing who was the figure that paid them a visit—the Executor wasted no time seizing the Witch's hand and pulled her away, sprinting towards the Symposium with urgency, "How is it here? Edward came from this direction, and I even discerned the Shapeshifters' intentions—and go to the opposite direction, so how come it was here?!'

As he sprinted away, the Executor's mind was in shambles.

He couldn't understand how the Passue Matriarch found him here.

Just as the Executor thought of that, his pupils dilated as Lyra flashed past his puzzled mind.

It was only then that he realized what had happened, 'She tricked me?!'

Upon realizing that, the Executor's eyes darted to the side when he saw a whipping blur that was heading towards him. Out of his brutal instinct, he pulled the Witch. Almost instantly, he could feel a powerful force struck both of them, sending them crashing like a bullet.

Swoosh!

Dozens of trees were destroyed, and both of them rolled across the watery ground viciously.

As the two stopped, the Executor coughed a mouthful of blood.

He could feel a couple of his bones were broken even though he used the Witch as a shield.

On the other hand, the Witch had half of her torso blown away from receiving that strike, and her body was now seething with immense cursed energy. Anyone who got severely wounded as much as the Witch right now would probably be dead already.

But that wasn't the case for the Witch as she displayed an unnatural healing prowess.

Regardless of that, the Passue Matriarch's blow was deadly.

Knowing that there's no room for mistake in the face of the Passue Matriarch—the replica of death itself, the Executor made the most logical move that he could do right now, and pulled nothing back.

It was his cautious intention to restrain himself in case of an emergency.

Proved to be right, an emergency did come to strike him, and he was glad that he was ready.

"Elemental Order, the Fifth Hand of Chaos!"

Almost instantly—the chaos energy that was lying dormant inside of the Executor coalesced, coating his entire form with power. His reserve of chaos energy that was already on the very low suddenly rejuvenated, almost as if he hadn't been fighting all this time.

Moreover, in each passing second, his tails began to flutter and glow.

His power soared higher, easily doubling the amount he had earlier which was devastating.

Like armor, his tails also began to harden and turned a deeper shade of purple alongside the appearance of a symbol on each of its tips. His chaos energy which was already violent kept on becoming stronger, and more violent as its tendrils slapped and cracked the ground.

Charging his power, he let out a primal roar and shot his energy to the sky.

It created a massive shockwave that decimated the surroundings and blasted the Passues.

As his breakthrough surged—stimulated by a spell accessible only to those of the ninth-rank realm or higher, the Executor ascended to his zenith, his power cresting to its absolute peak, showcasing the full might of an entity apart of the Executors.

Swoosh!

Slowly accustoming himself to this power, he calmed his breathing and focused.

Raising his gaze, a frown crept to his face once again.

Even though the shockwave earlier had the force to blast away all surrounding Passues, the shockwave barely made the Passue Matriarch flinch. Shrouded in the shadows of her power—she stood, her form cloaked in an aura of enigmatic mystique.

'Fighting it is not worth it', the Executor tilted his chin down. 'I need to reach the Symposium'

Despite his increase in power, fighting the Passue Matriarch is not worth it.

He would only gamble his life if he fought against the Passue Matriarch—who was infamous for taking down all rebellious Ancient Humans in the past, and there are some even stronger than him or even the other Executors.

Regardless of his increase in power, going to the Symposium is still the priority.

If the Executor got his hands on the weapon then he could control the Passue Matriarch.

"Come, my child..." a haunting voice suddenly pierced the Executor's ears, giving an absolute chill down his spine—it was as if the voice could induce death instantly. "Death by my hands is mercy and painless, a suitable way compared to the alternative,"

Upon hearing this, the Executor's frown deepens, "The alternative...?"

Just as he was firm in his decision and ready to escape, the ground beneath him broke.

Dozens of pale tentacles pierced out of the ground and latch themselves onto him—and the widened eyes showcased the Executor's surprise clearly. Stunned by the appearance of the Passue Matriarch, he forgot about the Shapeshifters.

Almost the instant that happened, the Passue Matriarch slowly slipped into a dark portal.

In retaliation, the Executor fought the resistance from the tentacles and quickly stretched his chaos energy onto the portal, attempting to mark the dimension within the portal and also—forcefully blocking the portal from being entered.

But despite his attempts, the Passue Matriarch didn't seem to be hindered.

Fighting back the enormous power, the Executor struggled but eventually got overpowered.

He got an immense amount of backlash that hurt him internally.

A mouthful of blood gauged its way out of his mouth as the Passue Matriarch disappeared.

'I can't lock her dimension, her power overruled my chaos energy,' the Executor groaned, the pain from having his cursed energy shot right back at him—struck his pain nerves was quite, overwhelming. 'What did Father use to make this homunculus?'

Swiftly, the Executor swatted the tentacles away and intended to escape.

However, in the next second, a goosebump assaulted him.

Before his very eyes, a portal manifested, and coming out of it was the Passue Matriarch.

Upon seeing this, the Executor wanted to quickly get away but he found that his body wasn't responding to him. Albeit the extreme urge to leap away, his body was rooted in place as the Passue Matriarch stretched her hand towards him.

Additionally, she seemed to be sobbing, looking at the Executor with pity in her eyes.

Levitating before the Executor, she laid her hand on his chest gently.

"You possess the Supremacy of One, yet you are not him" the Passue Matriarch mused—her gaze piercing into the Executor. "You trespassed into a forbidden territory, please—allow me to end you before he does. It's for your own sake,"

After saying that, the Passue Matriarch dug her hand slowly into the Executor's chest.

In that same moment, the Witch blinked her eyes.

She was healed back to normal again and stood up, assessing the situation around her.

But then, she quickly saw the Executor was facing directly against the Passue Matriarch, and he couldn't move from his spot. At the surprising sight—the Witch's eyes flickered with a new light, she quickly stretched her hand forward.

"Executor! Give it to me!" the Witch roared, snapping the Executor out of his daze.

Quickly—the Executor gritted his teeth and fought back the mental pressure that the Passue Matriarch had on him. He reached into his own pocket dimension and pulled out an object, it was a gem, before throwing it at the Witch.

As soon as he did that, the Passue Matriarch's attention was diverted towards the Witch.

Capitalizing on this window of opportunity, the Executor casts a spell.

"Chaos Nova!"

Pointing his hand towards the Passue Matriarch, he fired a torrent of chaos energy.

It hits the Passue Matriarch directly but when the attack receded, the Executor had his eyes opened wide. Though the spell had made contact at point blank—she emerged relatively the same as before receiving the spell.

However, all darkness around her was blown away, unveiling her true visage to the eyes.

Looking at the Executor with a chilling gaze, the Passue Matriarch momentarily paused.

But in the next second, a loud crashing sound resounded as the Executor suffered a strong attack that hurtled him away. In a fraction of a second—he disappeared from his spot—not even aware how he got struck.