Ethan's fingers wrapped around Tarnak's fist with unyielding force. The Monarch struggled, veins bulging across his muscular frame as he pulled with everything he had—yet his arm didn't budge even a millimeter.
'Interesting,' Ethan thought and his expression is calm, 'He's putting his full strength into this, and yet...'
No matter how much strength Tarnak poured into it—veins bulging, mana roaring—his arm did not move an inch.
'I-Impossible…'
Before Tarnak could process what was happening, Ethan's bare foot connected with his chest in a devastating kick.
The impact was instantaneous—Tarnak's body launched backward like a ragdoll, flying several feet through the air before crashing into the cavern wall. Blood erupted from his mouth, splattering across the stone floor.
"Gah...!" Tarnak gasped, slowly stabilizing himself mid-air. His eyes, now burning with recognition and rage, locked onto Ethan. 'This man... he's no ordinary human.'
"You bastard!" Tarnak roared, his voice echoing through the underground chamber. "I'll crush you into dust!"
Dark energy began to surge around Tarnak's body as he initiated his transformation. His muscles expanded grotesquely, his height shooting upward until he towered over the chamber. His skin hardened, morphing into thick gray armor that gleamed like polished iron. Green flames of concentrated mana erupted from his eyes and back, casting eerie shadows across the walls.
The transformation complete, the Iron Body Monarch released a primal roar that shook the very foundations of the dungeon. "IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO DIE, HUMAN!"
Ethan tilted his head slightly, an amused smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Is that so?" he said softly, raising his hand with casual grace.
The moment he waved his hand and red energy went upwards and then transformation overtook him as well.
White lightning crackled into existence, dancing across his body in brilliant arcs that illuminated the entire chamber. Blue flames—the Eternal Phoenix flames of Genesis—enveloped both of his arms, their heat distorting the air around them. His irises began to glow with an ethereal blue light that seemed to pierce through reality itself.
"Let's test my strength then," Ethan declared, his voice carrying an edge of genuine curiosity. "I promise to use only Genesis flame and lightning for this fight. Nothing more. So, try not to embarrass yourself."
Tarnak's armored face twisted with fury. "YOU DARE MOCK ME?!"
'He thinks I'm looking down on him,' Ethan noted internally. 'Well... I suppose I am.'
In a blink—literally faster than the eye could follow—Tarnak closed the distance. He materialized directly in front of Ethan, his massive armored fist already in motion. Ethan's own fist came up simultaneously.
Time seemed to slow as their punches met in the space between them.
Then came the impact.
BOOOOOOM!
The shockwave was catastrophic. But it was only Tarnak who bore its consequences.
"AAAAAAGGGHHHH!"
The Iron Body Monarch's scream was cut short as his entire right arm—from shoulder to fingertips—simply ceased to exist, instantly blown away by the Lightning and vaporized by the Eternal Phoenix Flame.
The force of Ethan's blow launched him like a meteor through the underground chamber, smashing through the ceiling and sending him hurtling into the open air above. He landed with a devastating impact that created a crater dozens of meters wide.
Ethan stood motionless in the chamber, his fist still extended. He blinked slowly, then looked down at his arm—still wreathed in blue flames and white lightning—as if seeing it for the first time.
'I didn't even use my half of my power,' he thought, genuinely surprised. 'I only used a fraction of my power with the Genesis Flame and Lightning. I didn't even tap into Genesis Telekinesis, Power Genesis, the Rune Magic, or the advanced Mystic Arts I created. And that alone… half-killed a Monarch?'
He flexed his fingers experimentally.
'A single punch. Just one. And I half-killed a Monarch.'
This was his very first proper fight since fully acquiring the Genesis Authority, and he had hoped to test the limits of his new conceptual powers. The result was not exhilarating; it was profoundly disappointing. His opponent was catastrophically weak.
A long, disappointed sigh escaped his lips. "This is my first real fight after obtaining Genesis Authority, and this is the result? How underwhelming."
In an instant, he vanished—it's not a spell, not a technique, just pure speed that transcended normal perception—and reappeared beside Tarnak's broken form.
The Monarch was a mess. His armor was cracked and shattered, green mana leaking from dozens of wounds. His missing arm continued to bleed profusely, and he struggled just to push himself up with his remaining limb.
"Let me help you with that," Ethan said, his tone oddly gentle. He extended his hand, and golden energy—the Power Genesis—flowed from his palm into Tarnak's body.
The effect was immediate and miraculous. Flesh regrew, bones reconnected, armor reformed. Within seconds, Tarnak's arm had completely regenerated, looking as if it had never been destroyed.
Tarnak's eyes went wide with shock and terror. 'He... he healed me? After obliterating my arm, he just... heals me?'
His mind raced. 'I need to call the others. The Frost Monarch, the Beast Monarch—anyone! This man... he's on the same level as the Shadow Monarch or the Monarch of Destruction. Maybe even stronger. I can't—'
He reached out with his consciousness, trying to establish a telepathic link with his fellow Monarchs.
Nothing.
Panic flooded through Tarnak's chest. "Why... why can't I connect?!"
"Oh, that?" Ethan said casually before pointing his thumb backward over his shoulder. "See that red rune floating back there?"
Tarnak's gaze followed the gesture. Sure enough, a complex runic seal hovered in the air, pulsing with crimson light.
"That blocks all communication throughout the entire dungeon," Ethan explained with the same tone someone might use to discuss the weather. "No calls for help. No reinforcements and no escape." He cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing ominously. "So let's continue our fight. And please... try not to disappoint me even more than you already have."
"YOU ARROGANT BASTARD!" Tarnak roared, his eyes blazing with hatred. "I'LL TEAR YOU APART!"
Tarnak, enraged by the mockery but terrified by the power, cursed him with every ancient word he knew in his mind.
He launched himself at Ethan with desperate fury, his armored fist aimed straight for Ethan's head.
Ethan sighed and lowered his power output even further before throwing a simple punch to Tarnak's chest.
The Iron Body Monarch's charge stopped dead. His eyes bulged. Then his entire body went flying backward at supersonic speed, crashing through a mountain in the distance.
The impact was so powerful that the mountain literally exploded, collapsing in on itself with a deafening roar of pulverized stone and earth.
Ethan stood alone in the clearing, his body still crackling with white lightning and wreathed in blue Eternal Phoenix flames. He looked down at his hands with a bored expression.
"Maybe this combo is a bit much," he muttered to himself.
He deactivated the lightning and flames. Immediately, his body began to emit a different aura—pure golden energy that radiated warmth and power. His blonde hair began to flow upward as if caught in an invisible wind, and his blue eyes blazed with divine light.
This was Power Genesis in its pure form.
"Let's try with just this," Ethan said, and then he was gone.
Tarnak lay in the ruins of the shattered mountain, blood pooling around his broken body. His armor was cracked beyond recognition, green mana leaking from countless fractures.
The first time, the attack had targeted his arm—destructive, but manageable. This time, he'd taken the blow head-on, and his entire body had paid the price.
'I'm... going to die here,' he realized with dawning horror.
Then Ethan appeared above him, looking down with something that resembled pity. "I'm sorry," Ethan said, and he actually sounded sincere. "I used too much power again. Let me fix that."
Golden light enveloped Tarnak once more, mending his shattered bones and torn flesh. Within moments, he was whole again—if traumatized.
"You... you're mocking me!" Tarnak snarled, fury momentarily overriding his fear. "You keep healing me just to—"
He didn't get to finish. Ethan was already in front of him, fist already moving.
CRASH!
This time, the punch carried a visible wave of golden energy that tore through Tarnak's body and carved a massive tunnel through the dungeon behind him, extending for hundreds of meters.
Ethan's eyes widened as he looked at what he'd done. A hole—clean, perfectly circular, and catastrophically large—now occupied the space where Tarnak's chest used to be. The Monarch's body began to dissolve, his life force rapidly fading.
"You've got to be kidding me," Ethan said in disbelief, staring at his glowing fist. "I estimated my power at galaxy-level at peak output. I lowered it to planetary-level. I held back more than eighty percent. And a single punch still did this?"
He deactivated Power Genesis and quickly healed Tarnak again before the Monarch could die completely.
Tarnak gasped back to life, his eyes wild and his voice broken. "Just... kill me... You're not even human... No Monarch... not even a Ruler... What the hell are you... you monster..."
Ethan's frustration finally boiled over. He crossed his arms and looked down at Tarnak with genuine exasperation.
"That's what I want to ask," he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Are you sure you're the Iron Body Monarch? I mean, seriously—what kind of Monarch takes the name 'Iron Body' and can't even handle a single punch while his opponent is holding back more than eighty percent of his power? That's like calling yourself the 'Unbreakable Wall' and crumbling when someone leans against you."
This sarcasm was the final, heaviest blow.
The words hit Tarnak harder than any of the physical blows. His pride—the one thing that had sustained him through countless battles—shattered completely.
"You... you...!" He roared incoherently, all rationality gone. He lunged at Ethan in a blind rage.
Ethan moved first. His fist connected with Tarnak's armored face, and this time, the armor didn't just crack—it shattered completely, revealing the Monarch's true face beneath.
The force sent Tarnak plummeting downward, creating a massive crater in the ground that must have been fifty meters deep.
"Thanks to our little sparring session," Ethan said conversationally as he slowly descended toward the crater, "my standards for Monarchs have dropped considerably."
He landed softly at the bottom of the crater, where Tarnak lay motionless. The Monarch's skull was fractured, his body broken beyond recognition, yet somehow—impossibly—he still clung to life.
Ethan crouched down beside him, his voice taking on a philosophical tone.
"You know, I understand now how you Monarchs can be so proud," he said. "Even bugs can feel superior if they only compare themselves to ants. And from your perspective, regular humans are the ants, aren't they?"
He healed Tarnak once more, then grabbed the Monarch's head and lifted it from the ground, forcing their eyes to meet.
"But here's the thing about bugs, Tarnak," Ethan continued, his blue eyes boring into the Monarch's with absolute certainty. "When a bug encounters the true king of the jungle..." He smiled, but there was no warmth in it—only cold, absolute dominance. "...they're nothing but insects to be crushed beneath his foot."
For the first time in his millennia-long existence, Tarnak felt true, primal fear.
Then Ethan's smile widened, taking on a different quality—one of scientific curiosity and barely contained excitement.
"But you should be proud, Tarnak," he said cheerfully. "You're about to become the first Monarch test subject for Dr. Ethan Carter in this world. Congratulations!"
Before Tarnak could process those words, a massive green magic circle materialized in the air above them, spanning at least two hundred meters in diameter. Ancient runes rotated within its structure, pulsing with temporal energy.
Time itself began to accelerate within the circle's boundary.
"Now then," Ethan said, rolling up his sleeves with the enthusiasm of a researcher beginning a fascinating new project. "Let's explore how Monarch powers work, shall we? How they're structured, how they regenerate, whether they can be transferred to other beings... Oh, this is going to be educational."
Tarnak's screams began shortly after.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, Three kilometers away...
Sung Il-Hwan stood on a distant cliff, his enhanced senses allowing him to perceive everything happening in the dungeon despite the distance. His eyes were wide, his mouth hanging open in undisguised shock.
"What... what the hell is that guy?" he whispered to no one in particular.
His initial evaluation had been correct—Ethan Carter was powerful, possibly as strong as the most dangerous Monarchs. But this?
'He's not just at their level,' Il-Hwan realized, his analytical mind piecing together what he'd witnessed. 'He's beyond them. Way beyond. The Shadow Monarch... the Monarch of Destruction... Ethan Carter just fought an entire Monarch like he was disciplining a misbehaving child.'
He thought back to the deal he had made with Ethan—to assist in eliminating the Monarchs in exchange for leaving Ethan and his wives alone, undisturbed.
A small, relieved smile crossed his face. "I made the right choice. Definitely the right choice."
In the distance, another of Tarnak's screams echoed across the landscape, cut off by the sound of Ethan's voice cheerfully explaining some aspect of his "research."
Il-Hwan decided he had seen enough and began making his way back out of the dungeon. As for what Ethan was doing to the Iron Body Monarch, he decided it was for his own well-being—he didn't want to know.
Behind him, the green glow of the temporal acceleration circle continued to pulse against the night sky, a beacon of both horror and scientific progress.