The Invincible Full-Moon System

Haxel stared at the ground.

Around him, the soldiers were busy getting back to formation and surrounding the horde once again.

It was true that the messy situation had been handled, but their duty wasn't over.

Before continuing onward to where the nobles were, they needed to regulate the horde, and tend to the wounded. More than a third of them were badly wounded, reducing their numbers by a lot, making it a lot harder for them to maintain the formation while the horde was in a stationary position.

Maintaining the formation while moving would be impossible.

Rick's legion could supply their numbers, but it's still not enough.

Like them who were handling the horde, Rick's legion was handling the voidal monsters that got inside the bubble, and there were a lot of them. Even though they managed to pull through somehow, it doesn't come without a price.

Due to that, none of the soldiers paid attention to the conversation between Althea and Haxel.

None of them realizes the grim look on Haxel's face, except for one.

'I've been preparing for this mission for ten years… I prepared every single thing alone without the aid of others. It should be flawless. This should be the final moment that would permanently finish her very position as the empress.' Haxel's hands trembled, anger and shock coursed through his veins. 'And yet, it's somehow blowing up on my face?'

Haxel clenched his fists hard.

Not only did his second attempt fail, but he was now suspected by Althea, and also lost a portion of his Echo's power. Failing the second attempt is fine, but the two unexpected things that struck him were not fine.

If a noble suspected him, then his head would be on the chopping block.

And losing a portion of his Echo set him back a few hundred years; it was devastating.

"Rex…" He mumbled a name with body-shaking anger. "I blame this all on you."

"Haxel, you can still stop this…"

From behind, the old man suggested—there was pity in his eyes.

Somewhere deep down, he didn't blame Haxel for going down this road of recklessness.

It must've been hard for him to swallow reality.

"I told you, didn't I?" Haxel turned towards him, eyes sharp as blood drizzled down his chin, still hurt from the sudden loss of his Berserker of Skartold Echo. "If you get in my way, I'm going to kill you. I don't want to do it, but I would if you keep pestering me."

"Just stop…" the old man urged, his hand settling on Haxel's shoulder with quiet sympathy. "Think it carefully. Don't make a mistake you'll regret for the rest of your life over one stroke of bad luck. There are other ways forward. Be someone great. Make her come back to you—the right way. If you keep this up, you're only sabotaging her, and she might hate you."

A loud silence settled over them after the old man said that.

Haxel gritted his teeth hard, and his face hardened.

It was clear that he was battling his emotions inside, but that only made him angrier.

"I know it's hard, but you ha—"

"Hard?"

Haxel cackled like a madman, finding that word to be an extremely ridiculous understatement.

His head snapped toward the old man, his eyes burning with a fury that seemed to have been simmering for years, finally spilling over. His chest heaved, every breath ragged—with the weight of his emotions inside, "Hard? You know it's hard?"

Another round of laughter exploded from his mouth, unhinged and raw.

It was the sound of a man teetering on the edge.

"You—" his words tore out of him like claws, "You don't know what I've been through. I never wanted this initially, but I was forced into this. Since I was nothing but a boy, all of you always said Morgana this, and Morgana that. You have to do this, you have to do that. And when I heed what I've been told, now, somehow, I'm…? I'm the bad guy?!"

In a slow, steady motion, Haxel raised a finger and pointed at the old man, "All of you made me…"

Upon hearing this, the old man exhaled roughly through his nose.

As expected, it wasn't entirely Haxel's fault.

…

"Your son will become a knight in the future, a brilliant one at that."

Hearing what the Seer said was surreal—forcing the couple to exchange a swift, breathless glance the moment the words reverberated through the air. Hope, long buried and carefully tended, bloomed like a flower in the summer between them in that shared silence—before their eyes fell to the boy standing right between them.

"Hear that, son? As expected of my son, you're going to be a knight!" The father tapped the son on the back with too much strength, causing the son to stumble forward. He couldn't hide his excitement from hearing what the Seer said.

His chest swelled with pride.

On the other hand, the mother knelt slightly, her hands coming to rest firmly on the son's shoulders.

As if she were anchoring him to a future already written.

"Haxel, you have to take what the Seer said to heart, okay?" Her smile spread wide, radiant, even her eyes glistened with pride that seemed far too large for such a small child to bear. "You're going to be a knight, that's your purpose."

Despite not knowing what that really meant, the young Haxel nodded, "Yes, mom! A knight!"

Before them, the Seer sat draped in layers of worn silk and the weight of a hundred talismans.

Her wrist and neck jingling with trinkets inscribed in old tongues.

She watched the united family who seemed to have the world to themselves as their boy was promised a great future. It was a joyous moment, but seeing it for countless times already, the sight became really mundane, like watching a performance that she had already watched a thousand times.

"Last question, what do you want to see?" The Seer asked.

Naturally, the father came up with a question, but the mother beat him to it.

"What about his love life? Who is his soulmate?" She asked.

Hearing this, the father wanted to refute, but he stopped mid-track as he too wanted a grandchild soon.

"Go out of the southern part of the bubble tomorrow night when the moon is at its highest," The Seer said after briefly closing her eyes, seeing into the future. "The boy's soulmate would be there—and you have to save her."

Tomorrow night, Haxel was already dressed crisply and was sitting at the dining table.

His mother was kneeling in front of him, seemingly excited.

"Are you excited to meet with her? Your father should be home any minute now."

"I'm sleepy, mom. Can I go to sleep?"

"No, you can't! At least not until you meet your soulmate!"

Just as soon as she said that, a knock came from the door, and the father's voice boomed from outside.

"Honey, I'm home!" He called.

Not even wasting a heartbeat, the mother hurried to the door and pulled it open. She froze for a moment, her gaze dropping to the small figure standing there. After a long pause, she exhaled softly, shook her head, and stepped aside.

She revealed a timid little girl, her face smudged with dirt, clutching the father's hand tightly.

"What happened to her? Is it a voidal monster?"

"I'm not sure. She fell from the sky like a shooting star, and I caught her in time."

"Even our boy's soulmate is special… Our family has a bright future ahead!"

Upon saying that, the mother turned to look at Haxel, gesturing for him to come and meet the girl.

Haxel looked at the girl—and his brow furrowed when, for a fleeting moment, a strange purple gleam flickered behind her eyes. Startled, he rubbed his eyes, certain it had to be a trick of the light, or maybe his mind was playing tricks on him since he was sleepy.

Once he looked again, the glow was gone, leaving only her unnatural, pale red eyes.

So pale that it almost looked white.

A shade Haxel had never seen on anyone before.

"Haxel, come on. Say hello to her." The mother urged, snapping him out of his daze.

Nodding, Haxel walked over and bowed a little.

"Hello, my name is Haxel," He introduced half-heartedly, wanting nothing more than to sleep. "What's yours?"

Hearing this, the father wanted to intervene as the girl hadn't spoken a single word.

But he stopped when her small voice rang.

"I'm…" She looked at Haxel in the eyes. "Morgana, you can call me Morgana."

Upon the brief introduction, the mother brought Morgana upstairs to clean her up while the father stayed behind. He placed a hand on Haxel's head and said with an authoritative tone, "She's your soulmate, so you have to treat her well and protect her. Keep building yourself until the day of your marriage comes. Be a man."

"But dad, I don't want to marry her." Haxel protested. "I want to marry mom!"

"Little brat, you'll have to beat me first if you want to marry mom." The father laughed heartily.

…

It started from back then... the constant pressure.

Just thinking about the past made Haxel feel a tightness in his chest, one that soured his mood.

"Since I was a brat, they told me I had to be strong. That I had to protect her. That Morgana was mine—my fate, my soulmate. My parents, my teachers, my friends, even the damned Seer! They drilled into me every single day—be strong for her, live for her, breathe for her!" Haxel gritted his teeth, his entire body shaking like an erupting volcano.

Frustration, anger, and desperation all mixed into one.

"At first, I didn't care. I only wanted to be strong like my father," His voice trembled, not with weakness, but with sheer force of his emotions. "But how long can I ignore it—when the world keeps pounding it into my skull?! When every step you take, every word you hear, all of it… all of it leads me back to her, to Morgana!"

"Until one day," His voice grew softer, recalling how his heart beat and ached for Morgana no matter where he was—as his gaze dropped to the ground again. "You stop questioning it and you realize you have fallen… that you actually love her now. It became real."

Swish…

A pulse of life energy expanded from Haxel's form, brushing against the old man's skin.

"And then on a particular, normal day, the emperor came and declared that he's taking her…" Haxel's voice trembled into a growl as he raised his gaze to glare at the old man. "Suddenly, everyone changed. My parents said they knew she was special. My teacher said she's perfect for him. My friends congratulated her. And the Seer said that becoming the empress.... IS HER FATE?!"

Haxel's expression turned gnarly, wicked, as he spread his arms and unleashed a cynical laughter.

One that was self-ridiculing as if he was pitying himself.

Even the old man found it hard to look at him right now, as his pain was deep.

It was almost as if his entire life was only molded to make him feel the pain he was feeling right now.

"Suddenly… I'm the bad guy who wanted her back." His lips were sealed again as his expression turned blank, like he switched something in him that forbade him from showing any emotions. "Don't talk to me as if you knew how hard it was for me. I will… burn this empire to the ground if I need to."

Just then, from his periphery, Haxel noticed a figure coming outside of the breach.

Rex stepped out with minimal wounds across his body.

Nothing serious that would cripple him.

Almost instantly, he turned to meet Haxel's gaze.

His lips curled into a mocking smile as once again, he managed to handle Haxel's attempt perfectly.

At the full face of mockery, Haxel's eyes glistened with the full face of malice.

"And I'm going to start by killing him..." He muttered.

It was more than words, but a promise, that this new knight would fall by his hands.