The terrifying realization settled into Rex's mind with the cold clarity of a blade: the working Apollo had produced was not a barrier, nor was it a shield or an absorption mechanism. Those were external layer tools that could be dismantled, bypassed, or severed.
This was different. This was a fundamental change in state. Apollo had not merely equipped a new power; he had converted his entire metaphysical existence into something else entirely.
There was no longer a seam between the man and the effect where an intervention could be inserted.
Rex's Energy Manipulation function screamed in warning. Twenty minutes ago, it had found a promising fracture between Apollo's innate affinity and the goddess's divine layer.
Now, that function went hunting for the same vulnerability, only to recoil. That crimson current pulsing through Apollo's veins had welded the two components together into a single, seamless, continuous structure.
