The green glow of the temporal magic circle finally dimmed, its ancient runes ceasing their endless rotation.
The hours spent inside the temporal distortion—equivalent to only a few seconds in the real world—had been a marathon of relentless experimentation.
Ethan lowered his hand, deactivating the spell with a thought, and looked down at his palms. Suspended between them, pulsating with raw energy, floated a green orb—the crystallized essence of a Monarch's power.
His gaze drifted downward to what remained of Tarnak.
The Iron Body Monarch—once a being of terrible might who had terrorized Rulers—was now nothing more than a crumbling shell. His body disintegrated slowly, gray particles dispersing into the air like ash caught in an invisible wind.
"May you rest in hell," Ethan said quietly, his voice carrying neither malice nor satisfaction—just cold finality. He watched the orb pulse in his hands, its green light reflecting in his blue eyes. "I'll make sure to transfer this power to one of my girls and make good use of it. Unlike you."
He paused, a wry smile crossing his face. "But damn... nine thousand, one hundred and ninety-seven attempts. That's a new record for tedium."
'Nine thousand times,' he reflected before closing his fingers around the orb. 'I had to experiment over nine thousand times just to figure out how to cleanly separate a Monarch's power from their essence.'
The process had been exhausting—not physically, but mentally. His initial goal had been to find a way to extract the power while keeping the Monarch alive. A humane approach, or at least a practical one. After all, a living Monarch could provide ongoing data.
But the experiments had revealed an uncomfortable truth.
'The Monarchs aren't just powerful beings with unique abilities,' Ethan thought, studying the orb's swirling energy. 'They're embodiments—living concepts given form. Each one was born from the Absolute Being's shadow side, created with the singular purpose of destruction and war. Their titles aren't just names; they're fundamental to their existence.'
He had tested every theory, tried every method his vast knowledge could conceive. The result was always the same: remove the authority, and the Monarch ceased to exist. They weren't individuals who possessed power—they were the power itself, given consciousness and will.
'Take away what they represent, and there's nothing left behind. No soul... no essence and no possibility of survival.'
Tarnak's body finally completed its dissolution, the last particles fading into nothingness. Only the orb remained—a compact sphere of pure authority, the concept of "Iron Body" distilled into tangible form.
"Let's discuss who gets this with my girls," Ethan mused aloud, slipping the orb into the air before him. "They should all be present for this conversation. It's only fair that everyone has a say in who receives what power after I collect all the Monarchs Powers."
His mind turned to the future. The honeymoon with all his partners was still ongoing—a time of celebration and bonding that he wouldn't cut short for tactical discussions.
But Jean and Anna, at least, should be informed about his plans. They deserved to know what he was working toward.
'Making them stronger with Monarch authorities... it'll change everything. But first, let's clean up the board.'
With a casual snap of his fingers, the red runic seal that had been blocking all communication throughout the dungeon shattered like glass, its fragments dissipating into sparkles of crimson light.
Ethan then performed a simple gesture, and the green orb vanished into his inventory spell—a pocket dimension where time stood still and nothing could degrade.
Next came the portal. With a wave of his hand, reality itself split open, revealing a portal in space that showed the other side: a rooftop somewhere in the city, where Sung Il-Hwan stood silhouetted against the night sky.
Ethan stepped through the portal as naturally as walking through a doorway.
The night air was cool and crisp. Seoul's cityscape sprawled beneath them, a sea of lights twinkling like earthbound stars.
"Do you like high places, Mr. Sung?" Ethan asked conversationally, emerging from the portal that sealed shut behind him with a soft whisper of displaced air.
Il-Hwan stood at the roof's edge, his gaze fixed on the city below. He didn't even flinch at Ethan's sudden appearance—a testament either to his composure or his growing familiarity with the young man's abilities.
"I'm looking at how peaceful it is," Il-Hwan said quietly, his voice carrying the weight of experience and loss. "And thinking about how, with your help, we can make this peace last longer."
Ethan walked up beside him, his hands sliding into his pockets as he took in the view. A small smile played across his lips.
"It's too early to talk about peace," he replied. "But I do appreciate it. Though..." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Life needs some action, doesn't it? Otherwise, it gets boring. Don't you think so, Mr. Sung?"
Il-Hwan's serious expression broke into a light chuckle. "Yes, kid. You're right about that."
"Excuse me," Ethan said, mock offense coloring his tone. "But I'm twenty-nine years old."
"And I'm over forty," Il-Hwan countered smoothly, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Which makes you a kid to me, kid."
Ethan opened his mouth to retort, blinked, then closed it again.
After a moment's pause, genuine curiosity replaced his playful indignation.
"Wait—don't you find me dangerous?" he asked, turning to face Il-Hwan directly. "I mean, I just completely trashed a Monarch. Experimented on him for subjective years. And yet you're talking to me like we're old friends. Why are you so... comfortable?"
Il-Hwan's smile softened. He turned his gaze back to the city below, the lights reflecting in his dark eyes.
"That's exactly why I'm relieved," he said. "I've been observing you for a week now. Watching how you move, how you think, how you choose to use your power." He paused, seeming to carefully select his next words. "My gut feeling—and I've learned to trust my instincts over the years—tells me that you're a good kid. Someone who uses his powers with responsibility rather than on impulse."
He looked at Ethan, his expression earnest and warm. "I'm relieved that someone with your level of power is using it to help humanity, even if most of them will never know what you've done. You've got the heart of a hero, kid."
Ethan raised his eyebrows, genuinely surprised by the assessment.
Il-Hwan continued, turning back to face the city. "As for getting comfortable with you... it's only natural. You're my partner now—a young person I'm working alongside to protect the world. No point in treating you like a stranger or a threat when we're on the same side."
A genuine smile crossed Ethan's face as he joined Il-Hwan in gazing out over Seoul. "I suppose we can call ourselves partners because of our deal. And since you're older, I can respect that dynamic."
Then his expression grew more serious, though his smile didn't entirely fade. "But I should be honest with you—I'm not hero material. I'm more of an antihero. Someone who acts on his own interests rather than some noble will to protect others like a true hero would."
Il-Hwan's smile widened, taking on an almost paternal quality. "Whatever you say, kid." He glanced at Ethan with knowing eyes. "But remember—even the name you call yourself, 'antihero,' has the word 'hero' in it."
Ethan met his gaze for a moment, then looked up at the moon hanging bright and full in the night sky.
The smile that crossed his face held genuine appreciation for the older man's wisdom.
"Now then," Ethan said, his tone shifting to something more businesslike, "since the night is still young, let's find another Monarch."
Il-Hwan raised an eyebrow. "You sure you can handle another Monarch back-to-back?" He paused mid-sentence, then shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. "You know what? Forget I asked. From what I've seen, with your level of power, you could probably take down all the remaining Monarchs before sunrise if you wanted to."
He turned to face Ethan fully, curiosity evident in his expression. "But why invite me along? You could finish this cleanup yourself. You don't need backup or support."
Ethan's grin took on a slightly sheepish quality. With a gesture, he opened another portal—this one revealing a landscape of purple terrain and violet skies on the other side.
"Because," Ethan admitted with complete honesty, "based on my testing match with the Iron Body Monarch, these guys are weak as hell. It was boring. So I'd like someone to talk to before I get even more bored with this cleanup job."
Il-Hwan stared at him for a long moment, completely at a loss for words. Finally, he sighed deeply—the sigh of a man who had long since given up trying to understand the young generation.
"Whatever you say, kid."
Before they stepped through, Ethan raised his hand and traced a glowing red rune directly onto Il-Hwan's shirt. The symbol sank into the fabric, becoming invisible but continuing to pulse with subtle power.
"Concealment rune," Ethan explained. "It'll hide you from detection—visual, magical, sensory, everything. The Monarchs won't even know you're there."
Il-Hwan nodded his thanks, and together they stepped through the portal into the unknown.
.
.
.
**The Domain of Yogumunt**
The world on the other side of the portal was alien and hostile.
Purple earth stretched in every direction beneath a sky of deep violet that seemed to pulse with malevolent energy. Twisted spires of black crystal jutted from the ground at irregular intervals, and the air itself felt thick—oppressive in a way that had nothing to do with humidity and everything to do with concentrated dark mana.
This was the domain of Yogumunt, Monarch of Transfiguration and King of Demonic Spectres.
Ethan and Il-Hwan materialized at the domain's edge, their arrival completely undetected thanks to Ethan's Concealment rune.
'Thank you, Tarnak,' Ethan thought with dark amusement. 'Your memories have been incredibly useful.'
Using Genesis Telepathy during his experiments, Ethan had extracted everything from Tarnak's mind—not just memories of battles or tactics, but intimate knowledge of the Monarch hierarchy.
Their communication methods, the locations of their domains, even their personal quirks and weaknesses. All of it now resided in Ethan's consciousness, organized and accessible.
Finding Yogumunt's domain had been trivially easy with that knowledge.
"It's best you keep some distance," Ethan told Il-Hwan, his tone casual but his eyes already analyzing the massive structure in the distance—a castle of impossible architecture that seemed to shift and writhe even as they looked at it.
Before Il-Hwan could respond, Ethan vanished.
Il-Hwan blinked, his enhanced senses barely catching the displaced air.
Ethan reappeared in the sky directly above Yogumunt's castle, hovering effortlessly as he looked down at the massive structure below. A grin spread across his face—the expression of someone about to try something new and exciting.
"Let's use magic for this one," he said to himself, raising both arms to the sky.
Power surged through him, and the air itself began to shimmer with energy. Four points in the sky—north, south, east, and west—suddenly blazed with crimson light as massive red runic seals manifested.
Each seal was easily a ten meter in diameter, covered in intricate patterns that pulsed and rotated.
The seals formed an invisible barrier around the entire domain, cutting it off from the rest of reality. No communication in or out. No escape and also no reinforcements.
"Now for the greeting," Ethan said cheerfully.
Red magic circles materialized on both of his outstretched palms, spinning rapidly as they accumulated devastating amounts of energy. Golden lightning began to arc between the circles, crackling with barely contained power.
Ethan pointed both hands directly at the castle below.
"Mystic Art: Crimson Annihilation."
He cringed at calling the name out, but he wanted that protagonist entry effect—so that was that.
Twin beams of concentrated red energy laced with golden lightning erupted from his palms, merging into a single massive wave that screamed toward the castle.
The air itself ignited from the heat, creating a tunnel of fire that announced the attack's arrival.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The impact was apocalyptic.
The castle—which seems to had stood for centuries as a monument to Yogumunt's power—simply ceased to exist.
The wave didn't damage it or destroy it piece by piece. It erased it, vaporizing stone, metal, and dark magic alike in an instant.
The shockwave that followed flattened everything for miles around, creating a perfectly smooth crater where the castle had once stood.
Ethan descended slowly, landing at the crater's edge with his hands still crackling with residual energy. His grin had widened.
"Now that's more like it," he said, genuinely satisfied. "Let's see how the King of Demonic Spectres responds to a little property damage."
In the distance, through the settling dust and rising smoke, shapes began to emerge. Thousands of them—spectral beings of nightmare and shadow, all converging on the intruder who had dared to attack their master's domain.
And somewhere within that horde, Ethan could sense it—a presence slightly less powerful than Tarnak had been, awakening with rage and confusion.
"Finally," Ethan breathed, his blue eyes glowing with anticipation. "Let's see if you can at least make this interesting."
The hunt for the Monarch of Transfiguration had officially begun.