Chapter 1058. A Disgraced Prince Running From a Shadow

Chapter 1058: 1058. A Disgraced Prince Running From a Shadow

Rex turned back to the convulsing Theo, who was weeping in agony as he felt his mother’s horror through their psychic connection.

"See that?" Rex asked, tilting his head as he watched the city descend into panic. "That’s the sound of your world breaking."

"You wanted to be a god of time, Theo."

"Now, you’re just the monster that time will forget."

Rex’s fingers tightened around Theo’s magical core. The clash wasn’t physical anymore; it was a war of narrative and soul.

Rex was rewriting Theo’s history in real time, using the very magic Theo had used to try and kill him.

"Now," Rex said, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper as he prepared to unleash the final blow of manipulation. "Let’s see how much more you can take before you beg me to kill you."

High above the dimensional veil, in a realm where time flowed like molten gold, Kaeleth watched the unfolding catastrophe with a cold, detached fury.

For the first time in eons, the Primordial Entity felt something akin to disgust. He had placed his hopes in an apostle, a vessel meant to channel his divine wrath, and he had chosen Theo.

"Pathetic," Kaeleth’s voice rumbled through the void, each syllable vibrating with cosmic disappointment. "A broken instrument."

"A child playing with lightning who has now burned down his own house."

Kaeleth withdrew his divine gaze, severing the connection. He knew that continuing to watch would only feed Theo’s desperation.

If Rex truly intended to breach the Primordial Domain, Kaeleth needed to stop being a spectator and start being a strategist. The apostle was a lost cause; the pawn had become a liability.

Down in the courtyard, the psychological slaughter was reaching its crescendo.

Theo was drowning. It wasn’t just the physical pain anymore; it was the psychic assault of a thousand voices.

Through Rex’s manipulation of his senses, Theo could hear every whisper, every scream, and every curse echoing from the streets of Aethelgard.

"Kill him! End the monster!"

"Rex, please! Save us from his madness!"

"He’s not one of us anymore; he’s a demon!"

"No... no, no, no!" Theo shrieked, clawing at his own ears, but the voices were inside his skull. "I didn’t do it!"

"Rex, stop it! I’m innocent! I’m innocent!"

Rex let out a theatrical sigh, one that carried across the temporal projection to every citizen in the city. He moved to stand protectively in front of the weeping Theo, putting his back to the boy as if shielding the city from Theo’s very presence.

"I’m trying, citizens of Aethelgard!" Rex shouted toward the sky, his voice amplified by temporal harmonics so it sounded like thunder. "I am trying to contain his rage!"

"I am trying to hold back the tide of his corruption, but his power is too volatile! He cannot control himself!"

It was the perfect lie. By pretending to restrain Theo, Rex was framing Theo’s desperate pleas as the incoherent ramblings of a madman.

"Mother! Morwenna!" Theo screamed, looking toward the palace. "Please, you have to believe me! I didn’t kill them!"

But Aurelia didn’t look at him with love. Her eyes were hollow, filled with a grief so profound it had turned into revulsion.

"My son is dead," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "There is only this... this thing wearing his skin."

Morwenna’s ancient face was a mask of granite. "The corruption has taken root."

"Mercy would be a sin against the ancestors."

Then came Valentina. Her voice pierced through the chaos like a blade.

"REX!" she screamed, her face contorted with terror and rage. "DO NOT LET HIM BREATHE ANOTHER SECOND! "

"END THIS MADNESS NOW! KILL HIM BEFORE HE ERASES US ALL!"

Theo’s heart shattered. The betrayal was worse than any blade Rex could wield.

"Headmaster Valentina? No... you too?"

Rex turned his head slightly, offering Theo a smile that was nothing short of demonic. "Hear that, Theo?"

"Even your allies have seen the truth. Even your blood has condemned you."

Rex’s hands began to glow with a soft, deceptive blue light the color of ’purification.’ He leaned down to Theo’s ear one last time, whispering so low only the boy could hear.

"I’m not framing you, Theo."

"I’m simply revealing what everyone already knows: that you are a failure."

Rex stood up straight, turning to face the sky, his arms spread wide as if accepting the burden of a tragic hero.

"Forgive me, Aethelgard," Rex cried out, his voice dripping with false solemnity. "But for the safety of all, the monster must fall!"

As Rex raised his hand to deliver what looked like a merciful execution, Theo could only stare up at the sky with empty, broken eyes. He had lost everything: his power, his people, his family, and his soul.

He was no longer a threat; he was merely a victim of a narrative he could no longer fight.

The world stopped.

Not the gradual slowing of time that Theo was used to, but an absolute, violent cessation of motion. The falling debris from the courtyard was frozen midair; the distant screams of the panicked citizens were severed midnote, leaving a silence so heavy it felt like being buried alive.

Rex had seized control of the temporal flow entirely, locking the entire dimension into a static photograph where only he and Theo could move.

Rex walked through the frozen battlefield with lazy confidence, stepping over suspended droplets of blood as if they were pebbles on a path. He approached Theo, who was suspended in a state of perpetual panic, his muscles locked in a futile attempt to flee.

"This is it, Theo," Rex said, his voice echoing unnaturally in the frozen void. "The final act."

"No more magic... No more grand speeches about destiny."

"Since your soul couldn’t handle the truth, I’m going to break you from the outside."

Rex grabbed Theo’s chin, forcing him to look into those cold, silver eyes. "I’ve dismantled your reputation."

"I’ve dismantled your family’s love."

"I’ve made you a ghost in your own kingdom." Rex leaned in closer, his smile widening into something truly grotesque. "And here’s the best part: Aurelia is already grieving you."

"And soon, she will find comfort in someone else."

"Someone stronger. Someone who isn’t a fraud. A new heir will be born, Theo!"

"A real son. One who won’t embarrass the bloodline."

Something snapped inside Theo. The despair didn’t vanish; it curdled.

It turned into a poisonous, acidic rage that had no outlet because he couldn’t even move his arms to strike. The humiliation was too vast, too intimate.

"You... you fucking piece of shit!" Theo’s voice tore through the frozen air, cracking with venom. "You think this matters?! You think I care about a throne built on lies?"

Rex raised an eyebrow, amused. "Oh? The mouse has teeth?"

"You think you’ve won?" Theo spat, tears of rage streaming down his face. "You’re nothing but a parasite, Rex! "

"You think you’re some mastermind?!"

"You’re just a filthy dog who couldn’t take what he wanted honestly, so you fucked your way through my life!"

"You fucked Diana when she wasn’t looking, you crawled into my aunt’s bed, you touched my grandmother’s skin like some diseased animal, and you even crawled under my mother’s skirts while she wept for me!"

Theo’s insults became a torrent of profanity, a desperate attempt to wound the unassailable Rex. "You’re a fucking piece of shit, Rex!"

"A cosmic dick who feeds on the scraps of better women! You didn’t win; you just stole what you couldn’t earn!"

Rex didn’t flinch. He didn’t even look angry.

He simply watched Theo’s face with the detached interest of a scientist watching a bug squirm in alcohol.

"Is that all?" Rex asked quietly. "All that anger, and you’re still just shouting at a god."

Rex’s grip tightened, and suddenly, he released the temporal lock but not for everyone. He released it only for Theo’s legs while keeping his upper body sluggish and heavy.

"Run, little mouse," Rex whispered. "Run while you still have legs to carry your shame."

The sudden return of physics hit Theo like a physical blow. The weight of his own guilt, the horror of what his family now believed, and the sheer terror of Rex’s presence overwhelmed him.

The bravado, the insults—they all evaporated instantly, leaving behind nothing but a terrified, broken child.

"No... stay away from me!" Theo shrieked. His legs moved instinctively, not in a combat stance, but in a desperate, clumsy sprint.

He turned and bolted. He didn’t fight back.

He didn’t try to summon a single spark of Kaeleth’s power. He ran like a coward, his boots skidding on the cobblestones as he fled toward the city gates, sobbing hysterically.

His cape fluttered behind him like the broken wings of a fallen bird.

Rex stood in the center of the courtyard, watching the retreating figure. He didn’t give chase.

He didn’t need to. He had already won.

He watched as Theo disappeared into the maze of Aethelgard, a disgraced prince running from a shadow he could never outpace.

Rex turned back to the frozen world, a satisfied hum vibrating in his chest.

"Now," he mused, looking at the frozen face of Aurelia in the distance. "Let’s see what else I can break."