The impending violence mattered; the raw, primal need to crush the lightning beneath his heel burned in Rex's veins, but he felt a flicker of something else.
Not guilt, but curiosity.
Evelyn had earned more than just a death blow; she had earned an explanation. And if he was being brutally honest with his own twisted nature, he wanted to see how she would react when she realized she had been transparent all along.
He wanted to see the moment her certainty curdled into horror.
Rex closed his eyes. He drew in a slow, measured breath, tasting the copper and ozone.
When he opened them again, he didn't just see the garden; he saw the truth.
He awakened Soul Manipulation and Divine Perception simultaneously, forcing them to intertwine.
The world around him suffered a violent transformation. The physical reality of the garden—the scorched grass, the broken marble, and the bleeding bodies dimmed into a grey, ghostly haze.
