{A/N: I was bored}
"You called?" Rex asked, appearing beside Ainz in a flash, having just returned from the Roble Holy Kingdom. His voice held a trace of irritation—after all, Ainz's panic had interrupted him right before he was about to sleep with a princess. To say he was cock blocked would be putting it mildly.
"I've noticed a problem… something that could become a threat to Nazarick if left unchecked," Ainz said seriously, his tone grave enough to make Rex pause, one brow lifting in quiet curiosity.
Without another word, Ainz waved his hand, conjuring a floating screen. The image that appeared showed Momon, Mikoto, and the others locked in battle with the Princess of the Dragon Empire.
"At first, I believed only you could possess Vector Monarch," Ainz began, his voice calm but edged with concern. "But clearly, that's not the case. And what about Apex Singularity? I'd like to assume the name implies exclusivity, that only you could wield such a class… yet Antilene's existence suggests otherwise."
Rex fell silent, his gaze narrowing slightly as he focused on the image of the Dragon Empire's princess, studying her more intently than before.
"She also has a talent," Ainz continued. "And according to her, no one is worthy enough to make her use it. Think about that. Your children can inherit Limitless, Eyes of Infinity, Vector Monarch, Talents, and if that wasn't enough, they carry your blood."
He paused, his tone growing heavier. "And the worst part? They're born under circumstances that push them to hate you." Ainz didn't bother hiding the worry in his voice. For once, his mask of composure cracked, just enough to show how seriously he was taking this.
"I understand what you're saying," Rex said softly, the weight of Ainz's words finally settling on him. A quiet awareness flickered in his eyes as he imagined a future where one of his own children might rise against him—a Kratos born not of fate, but of his own negligence. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"But I want to be free," he admitted, his voice light but distant. "The real reason I don't stick around, even when I genuinely like the girl… it's because that's not the kind of responsibility I'm looking for."
With that, Rex turned away and slowly walked up the steps leading to the throne. He sat down heavily, lost in his thoughts, letting the silence fill the space around him as he wrestled with a truth he didn't want to face.
"But Ainz Ooal Gown is my home. I can't really ignore the fact that my own actions are creating risks to it," Rex said lightly, his voice carrying a note of reluctant clarity before he let out a quiet sigh.
"I never understood why you wanted to be free so much," Ainz said after a pause, settling into the seat beside him. Rex chuckled softly,
"Well, because I saw just how suddenly and senselessly someone can die. One moment, a person can be perfectly happy, alive and breathing… and the next, their blood is splattered across the ground." Rex spoke softly, his gaze distant, haunted by the image of his father from his first life, whose body had simply exploded before his eyes.
"I refuse to be that powerless. I won't leave my fate to chance, to the chaos of the world. My fate belongs to me alone, which means I should live how I want—without bowing to the morals of society." His voice hardened as he looked down at his open palms. "Morals are just constructs, invented by humans to control one another. In my eyes, humans are born selfish and cruel, They have to be taught about human rights, and about eqaulity. So if I'm truly free… why should I follow their rules? Why not create my own?"
Ainz sat in silence, the weight of Rex's words settling over him. He hadn't expected Rex to have such a out look on life. He did everything did for the simple reason, he didn't care for society rules.
"I don't care about my children," Rex said flatly, his tone devoid of remorse. "Society claims that because they carry my blood, I'm supposed to give a damn… but I don't. I never have. I've never felt even the slightest urge to try, and I don't see why I should start now."
He stood slowly, his expression unreadable.
"Round them up and kill them," he said, as if giving a simple order. "I'm going to find the root of this. Clearly, the way I've been doing things is wrong… something has to change."
"That's a bit too far," Ainz said in shock. It was almost ironic—an undead, supposedly devoid of emotion, feeling more concern for Rex's children than their own father did. Yet here he was, speaking up on their behalf.
"Let's see if some want to join Nazarick—" Ainz began, but he didn't get the chance to finish. Rex cut him off.
"Yeah, as a soldiers. it would be wasteful to throw away resources that could be useful to us… Nice thinking," Rex said with a nod, his voice calm and calculated.
Ainz sighed quietly, as that wasn't the angle he had been aiming for at all.
"They are your children," Ainz reminded him, his tone edged with quiet concern as he watched Rex casually walk away. He didn't say more, but deep down, he feared a future where Rex might look back on this moment—and feel the sting of regret far too late.
"My only children are in the guild. I chose them, unlike those things that were forced upon me," Rex said, not bothering to look back as he made his way out of the throne rooml, heading to his room for a long-overdue moment of reflection.
In the back of his mind, the princess's use of Vector Monarch flashed through his thoughts. The way she snapped her fingers… it stirred a memory—one of an anime he had watched back in his past life. Someone else had moved like that once.
He entered his room and quietly sat before the full-body mirror, staring at his reflection. For a long while, he simply looked, as if trying to see something deeper in the image staring back.
"Why should I follow society's rules? Just because they say not loving your own child is wrong, that makes me the villain?" Rex asked, staring into the mirror with a deep frown. What was so terrible about not caring for your children? Responsibility? To him, it was just a hollow idea—a concept built by others to chain those too weak to think for themselves.
Rex rejected all of it. As the apex of all lifeforms, why should he follow rules created by lesser beings? That made no sense to him at all.
From his first life onward, he had trained relentlessly, devouring every skill and power he could find, clawing his way up to the pinnacle of existence. And now, standing at that peak, he had the freedom to do anything, to be anyone, to shape his path without constraint. Was that not what everyone claimed to dream of?
But Rex understood that with such overwhelming power came isolation. To counter that, he chose his friends carefully. Yet even their presence wasn't enough to deter his obsession with strength. He kept climbing higher, kept chasing more power—because to seize control of his fate, to bend destiny to his will, had always been his dream.
Now, though, he had to face an uncomfortable truth: he might one day give birth to someone powerful enough to kill him.
"I need to create my own laws to follow…" Rex muttered, dragging his hand through his disheveled hair. With that simple motion, his appearance shifted—his hair smoothing itself into a slicked-back white style, as if mirroring the clarity of the resolve now settling in his heart.
"First things first… I will not let anything that could harm my home stand," Rex said firmly, watching as his clothing began to shift and reshape around him. If he was maturing, then his appearance should reflect that evolution.
"Second, I've yet to become the strongest being out there. How could I have been so reckless?" he muttered, his voice low with realization. "From now on, my actions must serve the benefit of Nazarick."
With that, he conjured a pair of glasses and slid them on with a sharp flick of his hand. A light smirk played at the corners of his lips as he met his reflection in the mirror—sharper, colder, more handsome. Then, without another word, he vanished.
Flash Back End
"You're a real piece of shit! You dare to break my mother's heart—I'll kill you!" the Princess screamed, thrashing against Rex's invisible hold. But no matter how hard she struggled, it was pointless.
Rex didn't flinch. His gaze was indifferent, his voice sharper than any blade. "I don't care. That sounds like her problem. How is it my fault if her heart's broken?" he said with a disdainful sneer, looking at her as if she were nothing more than an annoyance.
"I have zero feels for any of you," Rex said coldly. "Let's, for a moment, entertain the illusion that it was all my fault—that your mothers were heartbroken because of me. So what? What did they do about it? Over all those countless years, how many times did they waste their thoughts on someone who never gave a damn about them?"
His voice cut like a blade, eyes narrowed with pure disdain. The children wanted to speak, to shout back—but Rex had already taken away their ability to talk. They could only sit there in silence, forced to listen.
"How many years have you spent thinking about someone who wouldn't even blink if you dropped dead?" he asked, his tone dripping with contempt. "You've shackled yourselves to that pain. For what? To kill me? I, the being you claim to hate so deeply… and yet, I still hold that much weight in your hearts?"
His scorn deepened, but then he paused. His gaze shifted to Michael, whose body trembled slightly. Around him, the vectors in the air twisted unnaturally, responding to the chaos of his emotions—wild, raw, and unstable.
"Oh, Shut up," Rex said with open disgust. "If I wasn't living rent-free in your head all this time, maybe then you would have known—your mother is still alive."
Michael froze. At first, he didn't believe it. But then, with trembling focus, he extended his senses, scanning for that familiar presence he hadn't felt in years. And then… he found it. A familiar aura. Tears began to slip down his cheeks.
"I'll give you all one chance," Rex said, his voice sharp and final. "Submit and join the guild… or else. There will be no second chances after this moment."
With a snap of his fingers, he released their silenced voices. But before anyone could speak, Mia spat—fury burning in her eyes. The spit didn't fall gently to the floor; it shot forward like a bullet, aimed straight for Rex.
Rex simply tilted his head to the side, effortlessly avoiding the spit without so much as a flinch. At the same time, he snapped his fingers.
Instantly, Mia let out a gut-wrenching scream as pain surged through her body—deep, invasive, and unrelenting. Her very genetics were being rewritten.
"You hate me so much?" Rex said coldly, his voice devoid of emotion. "Then I'll do you a favor. I'll erase myself from your bloodline. You'll be remade—reborn—as if your mother had laid with someone of her own caliber."
Before their eyes, Mia's white hair darkened to a rich, ordinary brown. Her sharp features softened, her figure subtly shifting to reflect the transformation. Whatever traces of Rex had once been in her were now completely gone.
Her strength collapsed in an instant. Her mana vanished completely, and her physical prowess plummeted to match her now-ordinary limits.
"N-No…" Mia whispered, staring at her trembling hand in disbelief. Everything felt dull. Empty. The vibrant world she once knew had faded to gray.