219 - 223

Chapter 219: Chapter 219

The words of 'I am you'.

Since he had been exposed to the Black Heart, Jin-Woo could understand the meaning behind those words.

He looked to his right.

Suddenly, a massive tree the size of several dozen skyscrapers bound together rose up to pierce the heavens above.

He looked to the other side next.

When his head turned to the left, a maglev train suddenly emerged from the distant darkness and shot past his position in the blink of an eye. These two appeared out of nowhere simply because Jin-Woo wished to see them.

In other words, something was created from nothing.

[That's right.]

The Shadow Sovereign addressed him.

[Within my territory, you can do anything you want.]

"Because you and I possess the same power?"

The Shadow Sovereign nodded his head. His gaze shifted over to the giant tree Jin-Woo created. In an instant, the tree's size decreased and changed to a single little flower commonly seen everywhere.

Although this power to create and change worlds was limited to the Shadow Sovereign's territory, Jin-Woo still ended up letting out a sigh of admiration.

This omnipotent power had become his now. Jin-Woo briefly closed his eyes before opening them up, and that prompted a field of flowers to bloom before his feet and spread out in all directions.

It was the same type of flower as the one the Shadow Sovereign created by changing the tree.

Was this the result of the excellent Perception, or because he was connected to the Shadow Sovereign? Jin-Woo could sense the Sovereign feeling satisfied while looking at the field of flowers.

The Sovereign shifted his gaze over to his human counterpart.

[I have been looking forward to this moment, this meeting with you, for a very long time.]

The Shadow Sovereign officially introduced himself.

[I am the Shadow Sovereign. I am the King of the Dead, ruler of death's power, and an administrator of the deepest part of the darkness.]

Awesome, dignified presence oozed out from the Sovereign. However, Jin-Woo didn't feel scared even though true death capable of reducing any living being into a shuddering mess was right before him.

This being was him. He felt his emotions soar higher after meeting another version of himself.

Finally.

Finally, he could ask that one question stuck in his head, not wanting to let him go ever since the System became a part of his life.

"Why…. was I chosen?"

Why did the System choose him as the 'Player'? Was it because he managed to survive the dual dungeon that day?

No, it couldn't have been. He believed that there had to be another reason. And this was the moment that his question might get an answer.

[I shall show you.]

The Shadow Sovereign slowly extended his hand towards Jin-Woo's forehead. The moment that forefinger touched him, the entire world changed.

[This is our beginning and the end. And also, your beginning.]

***

Would there ever have been a moment in history that so many people in so many countries screamed out at the same time?

In that cruel moment when the monster's dagger penetrated Hunter Seong Jin-Woo's chest, people held their heads or screamed their lungs out. What came to visit them after the screaming was silence as heavy as blocks of steel.

Grief-stricken gasps escaped from the lips of everyone watching Hunter Seong Jin-Woo powerlessly crumble to the ground.

"Ah…"

First, it was the Special Authority-rank Hunter, Thomas Andre. And now, even Seong Jin-Woo had fallen.

If so, who else was left?

There was no one.

Knowing full well that there was no one else left to stop these monsters, the expressions of people began hardening like stone.

And then, a short while later.

– Uh? Wha-what's going on here? Uh? Uhhh??

Shortly after the cameraman cried out in panic, even the transmission got cut off.

The super-massive Gate floating above the skies of Seoul, and then, the monsters that appeared out of nowhere to continuously murder the top-ranked Hunters in the world. The viewers around the world couldn't erase the thoughts of 'Are we seeing the advent of the world's end?' out of their minds.

In the midst of all the shock and panic, people couldn't move away from the front of their screens even though the transmission had been cut off for a long time now.

***

The filming helicopter, now frozen solid and smoke pouring out from the side, crashed back to earth. The Sovereign of Frost withdrew its hand, having successfully destroyed the annoying flying contraption.

Its gaze shifted over to Jin-Woo next. The creature's ice-covered lips bobbed up and down to announce Jin-Woo's status.

[His life has come to an end.]

The eyes and the ears of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs confirmed the death of his prey. It could not sense any hint of life from the subject at all.

They managed to succeed in stopping one of the most powerful kings from turning into an unwelcome variable in their plan. Their eyes were now swimming in the ecstasy of victory.

However, this wasn't the end of their work. Not yet.

The two Sovereigns raised their heads and their glares simultaneously locked onto Thomas Andre, currently evacuated a good distance away.

Lennart Niermann flinched nastily after sensing their gaze.

"D*mn it…."

He had to prepare himself to lose his life just from trying to fend off one beast-like humanoid creature, but now, there was an Ice Elf on a similar level as the beast to contend with, too….

'How did Hunter Seong Jin-Woo manage to fight against them….?'

His heart rate got faster and faster. The thing was, he was the only Hunter capable of buying even a second of time against those two monsters.

Lennart took a deep breath.

"Hey, man…. Hunter Seong's presence vanished just now. Can't you tell me what's going on?"

Thomas Andre, his wounds not even half-healed yet, threw out a question.

Lennart forced his unwilling lips to part.

"He's…."

It was then.

The two Sovereigns walking leisurely over in Lennart's direction simultaneously looked behind them.

[…..!!]

[…..!!]

Something impossible happened, just then. From the body of the human whose heart was confirmed to be destroyed, they could hear vigorous, pounding heartbeats.

But, how?

How could such a thing be possible?

The two Sovereigns exchanged disbelieving gazes with each other. And then, the absolute worst possibility entered their heads next. They had been overlooking this crucial fact until now.

[Can it be….?]

These two thought that, by killing the human host, they would also get to extinguish the Shadow Sovereign within, too. Just like how they themselves would die after taking over their hosts.

However, their opponent this time was the King of the Dead. There was no guarantee that death, supposed to treat everyone equally regardless of who, would be applied to him in the same manner.

The end of one could also become the beginning for someone else.

[No…! We can't let this happen!!]

They had to stop this at all costs.

They had to stop the descent of the true king via this fake death.

Their expression turned utterly pale before they reacted almost instinctively. Two Sovereigns instantly closed the distance to Jin-Woo and reached out with their long claws and ice spear.

In order to completely destroy the body that'd act as the tool of the King's descent, they poured in their entire magical energy into their weapons.

Unfortunately….

A figure hidden in 'Stealth' lightly landed on the ground before them and his shortswords blocked the claws and the ice spear quite ably.

The Shadow Sovereign hadn't regained his consciousness yet. In that case, who could this being be?

[…..??]

The two Sovereigns couldn't hide their shock and fluster after their desperate attacks were defended against.

The owner of the shortswords undid his Stealth and finally revealed himself. It was a figure cloaked in a hood. A pair of eyes gleaming in pure golden light were glaring at the Sovereigns from below the hood.

"From here on, none shall touch this child."

***

In another world.

Light and darkness existed in an age where nothing else yet existed.

The Absolute Being split the light and created the Emissaries of God. As for the darkness, it was split to create eight Sovereigns.

Heeding the command issued during their birth, the Sovereigns born to destroy worlds and the Emissaries born to maintain the worlds began killing each other's soldiers over and over again.

At the end of the lengthy war.

Fatigued by the constant and unending war, the most bright Fragment of the Brilliant Light asked the Absolute Being.

'Oh, our Absolute Ruler.

Why does thee not aid thy most faithful subjects fighting in thy honour?

Why does thee ignore thy subjects' pain?

Doth thee really not hear the screams of countless soldiers dying for thy honour?

Aid us.

Lend us the strength to extinguish our opponents. We shall cut off their heads and offer them as the tribute to thy glory.'

However, the Absolute Being didn't reply back to the Fragment.

It was at that moment the Fragments came to a realisation. And that would be the truth of the battle between themselves and the Sovereigns being nothing more than a form of entertainment to the Absolute Being. And that their Ruler didn't wish for the battles to end.

Now knowing that the war would never end as long as the Absolute Being continued to exist, the Fragments fell into despair. The despair they felt transformed into rage, and rage soon morphed into hatred.

To end this meaningless war, they unsheathed their blades.

It was the start of the rebellion.

Jin-Woo witnessed the endless march of the soldiers spanning the cosmos itself.

"Oh, my god…."

However, a group of soldiers suddenly appeared from the distance and blocked the march. The Shadow Sovereign next to Jin-Woo pointed at the Fragment of the Brilliant Light with six wings, standing in front of the blocking group.

[That was the me of the distant past.]

He was the sole Emissary of God who stood up against the rebellion of the other Emissaries. In the end, though, the pitiful number of soldiers he led powerlessly fell before the united armies of the Emissaries.

The Fragment of the Brilliant Light never lost his absolute loyalty until the end. He died watching his brave subordinates get swept away by their enemies.

He thought that this was the end.

But when he reopened his eyes within the embrace of the darkness, he came to realise that the Absolute Being had hidden a certain power inside of him.

For that eventuality when everything went wrong, the Absolute Being had hidden a truly fiendish power capable of ending everything, inside its most loyal slave.

And so, floating within this endless abyss of darkness, the Sovereign of Death had finally opened his eyes towards his power. He tore off the remaining traces of his wings, all burnt away from the battle, and crafted brand new armour out of the surrounding darkness.

[ARISE-!!]

Souls sleeping within this abyss heard the call and swore eternal allegiance to their new king.

He led his brand new army and made his return. But when he finally came back, everything was already over.

The remaining Fragments of Brilliant Light had killed the Absolute Being and called themselves the new gods, thus assuming the position of the 'Rulers'. And using various tools containing the might of the Absolute Being, they hunted down the Sovereigns.

When the King of Giants, the Sovereign of the Beginning, Reghia, was captured, the balance between the two sides collapsed and the remaining Sovereigns realised the severity of the situation.

It was at that moment that the Shadow Sovereign extended his hands to them. To combat their common enemy, every existing Sovereign combined their forces.

And in this manner, the war between seven 'Rulers' and nine 'Sovereigns' continued on, forever.

The longer this war continued on, however, the greater the army of the Shadow Sovereign grew. Time was on his side.

Thanks to his brilliant achievements, it seemed as if the victors of this long, long war would be the Sovereigns.

However, it wasn't only the Rulers fearing the might of the Shadow Army that had grown, unbeknownst to all, to equal the Army of Destruction led by the King of Berserk Dragons.

Two Sovereigns feared the Shadow Sovereign. The Two of them were the Sovereign of White Flames and the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs. They aimed for the back of the former Emissary just as the war was drawing to a close.

It was at this point that Jin-Woo got to witness again the scenes he saw within the 'saved data' back in the dual dungeon. The armies of demons and beasts joined hands with the armies of the Rulers and pounced on the Shadow Sovereign and his army.

And that resulted in him being driven to near-annihilation.

But then, the King of Beasts, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs ran away to save its own life, while forsaking its own soldiers. Meanwhile, the King of Demons, the Sovereign of White Flames, Baran, had to pay the ultimate price.

The words Jin-Woo couldn't understand; when he heard the words of the dying Baran, his eyes shook around really hard back then.

And then, above his head – four angels with six wings slowly descended from the sky. That was where the video playback of the 'data' Jin-Woo watched came to an end.

The four Rulers soon surrounded the Shadow Sovereign, who no longer possessed enough strength to command his own Shadow Army. The Sovereign must've figured out what the inevitable result of this fight would be and discarded his sword to the ground.

But, if those Rulers had killed the Shadow Sovereign back then, how could the existence of this Shadow Sovereign even be explained?

Jin-Woo swallowed his dry saliva and paid even closer attention, to what could possibly be the end of the Shadow Sovereign.

But then….

The Rulers began kneeling before the Shadow Sovereign one by one. And a short while later, the six-winged angel kneeling in front raised his voice.

[Please, it's time that you forgive us, oh, greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light.]

Chapter 220: Chapter 220

The Rulers were asking for forgiveness from the Shadow Sovereign.

They occupied an overwhelmingly advantageous position. As long as they willed it, they could have sent the Shadow Sovereign back to the empty void, yet they wished to make up with him, instead.

This was their own way of showing their respect towards a comrade, born together at the same time, as well as the greatest warrior who once stood at the forefront with his Army of Brilliant Light, in the war against the powers of the Sovereigns.

Although the Shadow Sovereign was never their leader, his comrades nevertheless respected him greatly.

And that was why they ignored the command from their leader, the 'brightest Fragment of Brilliant Light', to get rid of the Sovereign and instead chose to kneel before him.

[We no longer have any reason to fight each other.]

The enraged voice of the Shadow Sovereign resounded throughout the land next.

[What do you mean, there's no reason??!]

The Sovereign reached down and grabbed the collar of the Ruler asking for forgiveness and yanked him up by force.

[Have you not harmed my liege with your swords and spears?!]

[He was our master as well.]

[That is precisely why your crimes are even more heinous!]

The Rulers maintained a courteous attitude, even towards the enraged Shadow Sovereign.

[You know better than anyone what we felt in our hearts when we raised our banners of rebellion against our master.]

The Shadow Sovereign raised his head and discovered that the silver-clad winged soldiers had gathered around them before he had noticed it, and they were looking in his direction with worried expressions etched on their faces.

These were truly loyal soldiers.

How could he not know what they felt, watching their comrades die at the hands of their enemies? It was him who led these soldiers in countless battlefields and shed blood in honour of their master, after all.

[We only wished to end this war. That was all.]

The Sovereign's grip holding onto the Ruler's collars loosened just a tad.

[And finally, we have the opportunity to do so.]

[That's right. You can finally end this war.]

The Shadow Sovereign let go of the Ruler, picked up his discarded sword, and made the angel grip the weapon's hilt.

[Strike me down with this sword.]

And then, he looked at the other Rulers and shouted out.

[Pierce my heart with your spears! That is the end that you so desperately seek! With this act, you shall finally become the victor of this war!]

But, the sword powerlessly fell from the Ruler's grasp and clattered noisily onto the ground. No one else tried to push forward their spears against the Shadow Sovereign. Only the pleading voice came back his way.

[Please, find it in your heart to forgive us.]

Unfortunately, their earnest plea struck the Shadow Sovereign more painfully than any weapon known to man.

After he lost his subordinates, after he lost his master, and after he himself was trapped within the darkness, the only thing that motivated him to carry on were the thoughts of revenge.

The desire for vengeance helped him to endure until now.

He had led the army of the dead with the singular thought of making these Rulers pay for their transgressions.

But now, how could he continue to hate those asking for his forgiveness in order to save their own soldiers from this endless cycle of warfare?

After all, both he, fighting to protect his master, and these Rulers, who fought to keep their subordinates alive, were victims of fate's cruelty, were they not?

The truth, that these kneeling angels weren't his detestable enemies, but comrades who went through hell together, began tearing at his heart mercilessly now.

With that, the sole reason for his existence gone, the Shadow Sovereign cried out towards the others as if he was vomiting blood.

[Come! Kill me!]

Everything shall end here.

He'd rather return to the embrace of the void and rest for eternity while forgetting everything that had happened.

[Hurry!]

None of the Rulers moved an inch.

No, they remained kneeling on the ground, their heads pressed to the floor, just like how it was from the beginning.

The Shadow Sovereign raised his head up next.

That prompted all the silver-clad soldiers in the air, still remembering the greatest warrior ever to grace the heavens, to place their fists where their hearts were and lower their heads.

[....]

Although they had to fight against him because of the differing ideals, they still hadn't forgotten about their admiration towards him in their hearts and consequently, they paid their utmost respect.

The number of such soldiers utterly dominated the entire sky. And when all of them lowered their heads, the Shadow Sovereign stopped silently watching them and turned around to leave.

The Sovereign of Death left the scene just like that, and afterwards, he completely vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, the combined forces of the Sovereigns, now that their own armies had been greatly depleted by the internal conflict of the three Sovereigns, met with a resounding defeat at the hands of the Rulers.

The defeated remnants escaped to the crack between dimensions with their remaining forces. Jin-Woo watched the Sovereigns and their defeated army escaping through the enormous Gate and became utterly dumbstruck.

'The scale of the defeated remnants were that big….?!'

He couldn't even begin to imagine just how many soldiers from both sides had to be sacrificed for the sake of the Absolute Being's entertainment.

He kind of understood where these Rulers were coming from when they rebelled against their master's rule.

But, it was then.

The Shadow Sovereign that secluded himself from the worldly affairs, appeared before the other Sovereigns again.

When the Shadow Sovereign and the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs ran into each other, others became extremely tense that another violent clash might take place, but due to the intervention from the Dragon Emperor, the feared event didn't come to pass.

[Now is the time to replenish our depleted forces. I understand the history between you two, but I shan't allow a fight to take place.]

The Dragon Emperor then accepted the Shadow Sovereign back to their fold once more with open arms.

Jin-Woo swallowed his nervous saliva as he watched the Dragon Emperor in humanoid form. He was aware of the fact that the figure before his eyes was nothing more than a fragment of the Shadow Sovereign's memories, but still….

'So, this guy is the King of Berserk Dragons, the Sovereign of Destruction….'

The insane level of power oozing out from nothing more than just a glare even made Jin-Woo's teeth clatter.

Having evacuated to the crack between dimensions, the Sovereigns avoided the Rulers' detection and searched for a new world where they would nurture their army again.

Countless galaxies and planets flew past Jin-Woo's eyes. And eventually, the footage came to a stop right before a certain planet.

He unconsciously let out a gasp.

"Ah….."

It was a beautiful blue planet shining all alone within the darkness of space. It was Earth.

Through their concerted efforts over a long period of time, the Sovereigns succeeded in tunnelling a portal from the crack between dimensions, to Earth that existed in another dimension.

And thanks to the entrance of unprecedented enemies, mankind couldn't avoid the fate of being annihilated.

Jin-Woo's expression hardened as he watched the cities get reduced to smouldering rubble, as first seen inside the 'Demon's Castle' instant dungeon.

"Is this what will happen in the future?"

[No. This is a record of the past.]

Jin-Woo's eyes quaked powerfully from that unexpected answer. But, his shock could linger around only for a short while. Because the Shadow Sovereign continued on with his explanation.

[The Rulers belatedly detected the movements of the Sovereigns and sent their armies, but by then, everything had already come to an end.]

If the purpose of the Sovereigns was to destroy, then the role of the Rulers was to maintain the worlds.

Naturally, the Rulers grew angry at the fact that the thugs of the Chaos World they failed to eradicate the last time managed to bring down yet another world.

In order to right the wrong, they resorted to activating a certain tool of God that they themselves had prohibited from use.

The tool of God was called 'Chalice of Rebirth' – an item they made sure to steal first as their top priority from God's storage, just before they started their rebellion. It was an incredible item that could reverse time by around ten Earth years.

'Ten years?!'

Jin-Woo's eyes shot wide open.

Could this be pure coincidence that the number of years matched the time when Gates began generating out of thin air, and Hunters appeared to stop them?

[It is as you suspect.]

The Rulers did their best to rescue other worlds, but Earth was simply too fragile to host the battles between themselves and the Sovereigns. This planet with no magical energy couldn't endure against the mass-scale battles.

Didn't matter who won in the end between the Rulers or the Sovereigns, the result waiting for this planet remained the same. After going through several cycles of war and the destruction of the planet, the Rulers came to a drastic decision.

If saving everyone was impossible, then make sure that some would still survive and continue the life on this planet.

"If so, does that mean….?!"

[Gates are the process to create humans that would survive the collision of two forces. That's how much the Rulers wanted to guard humanity.]

Only then did Jin-Woo finally realise it.

He realised the reason why these Rulers stayed behind the scenes and quietly let the process take place without getting in touch with humanity, even if they knew that there was a calamity coming.

'Humans capable of surviving in the changed world are…..'

If humanity learned that everyone in the world would die soon with the sole exception of the small number of people referred to as Hunters, would the human societies be able to function properly ever again?

No, hang on. Jin-Woo inwardly shook his head.

He finally heard the reasons for the Gates and the Hunters after this lengthy tale. However, the one thing he really wanted to hear about, he still hadn't heard the answer yet.

As if he had read Jin-Woo's mind, the Shadow Sovereign gestured with his hands and the surroundings changed completely again.

[The higher existences, such as Rulers and Sovereigns, are able to perceive the change in the flow of time created by the tool of God.]

Even if they couldn't do anything about it, said the Sovereign afterwards.

While the Rulers busily tried to fix their mistakes several times, the Sovereigns also began modifying their plan continuously, as well.

….Until the tool of God couldn't be used anymore.

"Hold up…. Are you telling me that there's a limit to this 'Chalice of Rebirth'?"

[There are no such things as infinite power. Just as the Absolute Being capable of creating the universe was eliminated by his own creations, no power lasts forever.]

There was a hint of this tangible bitterness in his voice and that prompted Jin-Woo to turn his head towards the Shadow Sovereign before he had time to even notice it.

"I'm asking you because it was brought up first, but, how can creations kill the creator?"

[It is not too different from you dying at the wiles of the machines you have created.]

That sounded logical. Even if machines were created for the sake of humanity's convenience, they could still harm humans depending on how they were utilised. It was a similar sort of reason as to why humans feared artificial intelligence they themselves had created.

[We were created to fight, and our powers were more than enough to bring down our own master.]

Jin-Woo nodded his head.

Soon, the figures of several familiar Sovereigns appeared around Jin-Woo and the Shadow Sovereign.

[The Sovereigns had a 'light-bulb' moment from the methods employed by the Rulers.]

And that would be to copy the method of the Rulers, that lent the portions of their powers to various humans and had them kill monsters, in order to spread magic energy throughout the planet. Sovereigns would also 'borrow' the bodies of human hosts to descend on the world and bring their armies far earlier than what the Rulers had been expecting.

[They plan to use the magical energy spread around the planet by the Rulers and turn the entirety of Earth into one large trap.]

"To devour the Rulers' armies coming to aid humanity in one go…."

[That's right.]

For a Sovereign possessing incredible power to cross over into this world, it needed a host body.

Sovereigns searched for and found suitable hosts for themselves one by one.

However, only the two, the Sovereign of Destruction and the Shadow Sovereign, the possessors of two indescribably enormous powers, couldn't find human hosts with a physique that could handle their powers.

[It was around that time when the greatest wizard, working under one of the Kings, came to me with an offer. He said that he'd find me a suitable human host.]

The 'Architect'. This wizard, referred to as the Architect by the Sovereigns, promised to aid the Shadow Sovereign's descent to this world for the price of turning him into a true immortal.

Since he was already somewhat interested in the ongoings of the human world, the Shadow Sovereign agreed to this offer. Unfortunately, no human alive could handle the power of 'death'.

[The human with high sensitivity towards magic energy. The human with an overwhelmingly superior physical condition. The human with amazing mental faculty. All of them couldn't handle my power and either became mentally crippled or died.]

No living lifeform could become a vessel for death itself.

The contract with a Sovereign – this act possessed a meaning on a whole different realm compared to other types of promises. Obviously, the Architect became rather anxious as time ticked by.

While the Architect was sweating buckets trying to locate suitable candidates, the Shadow Sovereign actually went ahead and found himself a potential host first.

"…"

Jin-Woo raised his head.

As if there were hundreds of monitors displaying all sorts of varied and colourful images of him, his past self doing various things appeared in all directions.

[I saw you. You, who always accompanies death so closely yet still desperately escapes from its grasp every time.]

He had been working as a Hunter for four years.

Jin-Woo was ranked E. Not only that, at the bottom of the lowest rank, too. Yet, despite experiencing the life-threatening dangers of dungeons every day, he didn't stop entering them. It was all for the sake of his mother and his little sister.

He sacrificed himself for his family and desperately struggled on. The records of the past four years were all preserved in their entirety within the Shadow Sovereign's memories.

[The Architect opposed it, but I still chose you.]

The Shadow Sovereign was now pointing at Jin-Woo, and seeing that unwavering finger, he felt his heart race faster and faster.

The Sovereign did say it before, didn't he?

– I am the record of your bitter struggle. I am the evidence of your resistance. I am the reward of your pain.

Those words weren't describing Jin-Woo's life after he had become a 'Player'. No, it was about his life before he got to enjoy the benefit of the System. Every one of those words rang weightily within his chest once more.

[The anxious Architect agreed to carry out my wish, and in the end, he lured you into his grand plan.]

The dual dungeon, the test of his survival, and then, the 'Player'.

All of these were part of the plan of the Architect to create a suitable vessel for the Shadow Sovereign.

[As your world continued to repeat itself, the Architect got to observe humans closely. And he created a system based on what humans enjoyed playing and were also good at, in order for you to adapt to my great powers.]

What humans enjoyed playing and were also good at, he said.

Jin-Woo knew right away what that thing was as soon as he heard the Sovereign. It was none other than video games.

Here was the reason why the System designed to manage the 'Player' possessed such a similar layout to a video game.

And Jin-Woo was the lone successful case among all the test subjects.

[The System the Architect created by borrowing my power slowly changed your physique step-by-step to better suit me.]

"But then, you betrayed the Architect, didn't you?"

Jin-Woo recalled the sight of the angel statue jumping up and down in fury while busily crying out that the other Sovereigns had been deceived back inside the second dual dungeon.

The puzzling thing was, why did the Shadow Sovereign deceive the one he was in contract with, and choose Jin-Woo, instead?

He simply had to ask for clarification here.

"But, why?"

[...]

For the first time ever, the Shadow Sovereign hesitated. He looked to be agonising over something, and Jin-Woo didn't press him for an immediate answer.

Eventually, the Sovereign opened his mouth again.

[Because… I wanted to.]

Compared to how lengthy his deliberation was, that answer was way too simple. Strangely enough, Jin-Woo couldn't hold back his chuckle, though.

[Perhaps, I enjoyed the time I spent with you far too much and didn't want to lose 'you'.]

Rather than erasing Jin-Woo's ego and taking over his body, the Shadow Sovereign had chosen to assimilate with him, instead. Meaning, he chose to become a part of him.

And the end result was….

The Sovereign slowly raised his hands and grasped the sides of the helm covering his head, lifting it up slowly. And, as the face hidden beneath it was finally revealed, Jin-Woo's eyes gradually widened.

'….!!'

It was his own face.

The Shadow Sovereign possessed the exact same face as him.

But, was that all?

Jin-Woo's gaze dropped back down to himself only to discover that the surrounding darkness had wrapped around him to form new armour.

The appearance of the armour was exactly the same as that of the Shadow Sovereign. It was as if they were looking at their mirror reflections and they continued to gaze at each other.

[I have become you, and you have become me.]

'I am you.'

That was the undeniable truth, with not an ounce of falsehood within.

[It won't matter who gets to control our body, whether it's me or you.]

Because… they were the same person now.

[And that is why… I shall give you the opportunity. Now, choose.]

The Shadow Sovereign raised his left hand and all those faces Jin-Woo missed seeing appeared one after another.

[You can enjoy eternal rest inside this beautiful dream you have created within the territory of death.]

First, it was the face of the gently-laughing Association President Goh Gun-Hui, followed by his young-looking mother well before she collapsed from the illness. And finally, even the scene of his much younger self that existed within the time now long forgotten, drew up in the darkened surroundings.

[However, if you don't want that….]

The Shadow Sovereign lowered his left hand raised the right one, instead. In an instant, all those faces disappeared, only to be replaced by a humongous Dragon flying in from the darkened sky high above. And then, an army entirely consisting of countless Dragons following after it to incinerate every city they could find.

[….You shall return to reality and fight them.]

Jin-Woo stared at the Army of Destruction led by the Dragon Emperor with a hardened face before making his reply.

No, he asked a question, instead.

"Why did you run away to another world with the other Sovereigns when you had no desire to fight against the Rulers?"

[Because… there was no place for me to remain anymore.]

The Shadow Sovereign was a Ruler and at the same time, a Sovereign. And he couldn't find the place he could call home with either group. That was why he chose to wander in other worlds he was not originally a part of, hoping to find his place.

Hearing the Sovereign's answer, Jin-Woo finally made his decision.

"My answer is the same."

An imperceptible smile had already floated up on the Sovereign's face even before Jin-Woo made his reply.

"This is not where I belong."

[….Very good.]

The Shadow Sovereign nodded, saying, [That's why I chose you.]

"Does this mean I won't ever get to see you again?"

[I shall be taking my eternal rest. And as the new Shadow Sovereign, you shall live an eternal life. Surely, there won't be a reason why we have to meet again.]

Despite saying those words, there was the look of a relieved man on the Sovereign's face. Finally, the time of rest had come after an eternity of waiting.

Jin-Woo watched the Sovereign genuinely feeling happy for himself and bade his last goodbye.

"I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity."

[....]

For a brief moment there, a look of wistful longing brushed past the Sovereign's expression before disappearing altogether.

[With your death, your powers have become complete. As for how to return, its….]

Jin-Woo stopped him there.

"I know."

Because… I am you.

A smile floated up on the Shadow Sovereign's face as the time of departure drew near. After a long, long journey, he had reached a place he could rest now.

The Sovereign addressed Jin-Woo.

[This is our farewell.]

He took a step back and wordlessly stared at Jin-Woo nodding his head.

Two words that would allow him to be reborn as the perfect Shadow Sovereign left his lips in a low, hushed voice.

"Rise up."

Chapter 221: Chapter 221

The System's familiar female voice rang in his head the moment Jin-Woo uttered 'Rise up.'

['Rise up.']

['Player' Nurturing System delete code has been entered.]

[The System will now be deleted.]

Jin-Woo was now bestowed with the true power of the Shadow Sovereign, which meant that the System was now rendered irrelevant to him. So, it began deleting itself.

He felt as if he was saying goodbye to a nanny that looked after him since his childhood. He then suddenly thought of a question and asked the Shadow Sovereign.

"How did you include the female voice in the System?"

[….That's actually the architect's voice.]

The Sovereign was a bit dumbstruck by Jin-Woo's sudden question, but eventually, added more explanation.

[That creature was from a hermaphrodite race. It's possible for them to produce both male and female voices.]

"….."

He often wondered who the owner of that clear and cool voice was every time it accompanied the System messages, but to think, it was the same dude all along.

Feeling a bit sheepish, Jin-Woo averted his gaze, prompting the Shadow Sovereign to chuckle under his breath.

"Kuk, kuk."

'I also enjoyed watching that part of you, too.'

This man was indeed worth betraying the architect's promise, even though trust was one of the most important things for the Sovereign. A small hint of sorrow briefly flashed past his eyes.

In the meantime, the System continued on with deleting itself step by step.

[All limitations imposed on the power 'Player' possesses has been lifted.]

[With the removal of the limitations, every Shadow Soldier of 'Marshal' grade enjoying the authority of the Sovereign will regain all of their original powers.]

[Marshal grade soldier Igrit's powers have been restored in full.]

[Marshal grade soldier Beru's Stats have been enhanced greatly.]

[The former Shadow Sovereign, 'Osborne', is returning to the world of eternal void.]

Jin-Woo silently listened to the messages before raising his head. He found the Shadow Sovereign, despite facing his own end, staring back at him with serene eyes.

Jin-Woo was able to understand all the pain and suffering the Sovereign had gone through because of the memories of the distant past shown to him within death's territory. His goodbyes were, therefore, genuine and heartfelt.

'Goodbye, my king.

I pray that you find the peaceful rest you dearly wished for so long in the land of eternal sleep.'

Finally, even the System message signifying farewell popped up.

[Will you really delete all System and System-related functions?]

Two icons of 'YES' and 'NO' blinked in the empty air.

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze, one last time, to the Shadow Sovereign. Even until the end, the former angel hadn't lost that content smile of his.

Because, that would be the lasting image engraved in his heart, after all.

That was why Jin-Woo also smiled back.

With a smile, he issued his final input to the System.

"Yes."

***

RUMBLE!!

A powerful wind pressure being generated at the same time with an explosion of light forced back the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs and the Sovereign of Frost. The former regained its posture first, its brows quivering.

[A Fragment of the Brilliant Light….?]

The body of the robe-wearing enemy was now burning in golden flames. That light was the symbol of the Rulers.

This b*stard was, without a doubt, a human that borrowed their powers. However, why were the Rulers aiding one of the most powerful Sovereigns out there, the Shadow Sovereign?

The Sovereign of Frost cried out.

[The worst calamity imaginable is approaching us through the body of the human you're trying to protect! Are you planning to bring the apocalypse to this world by your own hands??]

"….."

The man wearing the robe didn't even bother to reply. No, instead of an answer, he simply brought up both of his shortswords near his chin, clearly getting into a stance to fight. That was as good a sign as any of his intent.

The Sovereign of Frost's expression hardened after confirming this man's decision once more.

Its current opponent had borrowed the powers of the Rulers and activated Spiritual Body Manifestation. But, a human's body couldn't withstand a god's power.

Unlike with the Sovereigns who had completely taken over the host's body and ego, the one borrowing the Ruler's power would soon crumble into dust and disappear.

'Even then…. He'll risk dying just to aid in the Shadow Sovereign's revival?? Just what are the Ruler b*stards scheming now…?!'

The Sovereign of Frost looked at the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs. They exchanged suspicious gazes. There was no time. The beast-like man, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, nodded its head.

Instantly, the two Sovereigns split left and right to approach the robe-wearing man from both sides, before raining down a ceaseless barrage of attacks.

The claws of a beast and the spear made of ice tried to tear into the robe-wearing man countless times, but as if he was well versed in combat, he easily countered and repelled all incoming attacks with expert movements.

He would let the ice spear slip past him or block against the claws, but never forgot to throw out his counterattacks every now and then, as well.

This was the action of a warrior that survived a nonsensical number of battlefields throughout his life. A truly troublesome opponent, in other words. An enemy possessing great strength and technique disregarded his own life to block the advance of the two Sovereigns.

BOOM-!!

The robe-wearing man blocked the weapons that carried incredible amounts of magical energy belonging to two Sovereigns, and then, shoved them away once more.

The Sovereigns landed some distance away, correctly judging that it would be quite difficult to get a desirable result in time, at this rate.

Tap, tap.

As if the robe-wearing man had no purpose other than protecting the vessel of the Shadow Sovereign, he only stood his ground and didn't chase after the Sovereigns.

[….Just what is your true identity?!]

The Sovereign of Frost was left dismayed and puzzled, but the robe-wearing man remained silent as usual.

It was then.

The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs suddenly reverted from its Werewolf appearance back to its human form and spoke up.

[I'm done with this.]

The sharp fangs peeking out of its lips went back inside, and its long claws also changed back to those of regular person's nails. As it turned around to leave, the Sovereign of Frost hurriedly cried out to stop its comrade.

[We've come this far, yet you wish to leave now?! Are you insane!!]

[Can't you sense it?]

The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs shook its head.

It possessed sensory perception far exceeding the norm and after picking up on the subtly-changing atmosphere, its body shuddered ever so slightly.

[The surrounding Mana has begun crying out. Soon, the Shadow Sovereign will arrive.]

The gaze of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs went up to the sky before shifting back to the Sovereign of Frost.

[I'm taking my leave.]

[But, you promised to attack the Shadow Sovereign with me, did you not?!]

Veins bulged on the neck of the clearly-agitated ancient Ice Elf. Too bad, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs remained rather collected in its reply.

[My promise was only applicable when the vessel remained a human. However, the real thing is about to come, so there's no more reason for me to stick to our promise.]

[Even then, how can a King of all beasts run away with his tail between his legs?!]

The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was triggered by those words and it angrily grabbed the collars of the ancient Ice Elf.

[You can't understand me because you've never tasted the true power of the Shadow Sovereign, oh, Sovereign of Frost!!]

Back then, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs got to witness the depths of the Shadow Sovereign's powers when he faced off and survived against six huge armies consisting of the beast army, demonic army belonging to the White Flames, and lastly, the armies of the four Rulers.

Such a monster was about to show up here, so who cared about one's dignity in such a situation? It was fine if others ridiculed the Sovereign for hiding behind the Dragon Emperor. It'd do anything if it meant surviving until the end.

It made the correct call to abandon its former comrade, the King of Demons, the Sovereign of White Flames, and to escape from the battlefield back then.

And now, it was not daring to risk encountering the real deal while trying to kill the Shadow Sovereign's vessel.

The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was the King of Beasts, whose power was founded upon the abundant life force of the surrounding creatures. And the power of death, capable of eating into that life force, was the most fearful and frightening thing in the universe.

Indeed, there was no time to waste its breath here. It sensed the terror of death approaching ever closer with every passing second, and quickly released the collars of the ancient Ice Elf to generate its personal Gate.

[I shall pray for your fortune.]

With that departing words, the beast quickly stepped into the Gate.

The Sovereign of Frost clicked its tongue unhappily as it watched the Gate gradually shrink before completely disappearing from the view.

[What a foolish b*stard.]

How could a fool that runs away in fear, even when there was a nearly dead prey right before its eyes, be deserving of the title of the Chaos World's best hunter?

The Sovereign of Frost's thoughts remained the same as before – the Shadow Sovereign had to die, no matter what. And the prey was as good as tip-toeing on the precipice's edge. Nothing would change just because a hindrance suddenly showed up.

Indeed, there was no reason to borrow the hand of a coward. Deciding such, the Sovereign of Frost activated its own Spiritual Body Manifestation.

Although its stamina would greatly be consumed by maintaining this form, as this wasn't the world it originally belonged to, there was a need to get the result as soon as possible before the Shadow Sovereign really made his appearance.

[Taste the terror of the bitter frost, you weakling!]

The Sovereign of Frost transformed into a gigantic ice storm that instantly covered up the land. The violently thrashing blizzard slammed into everywhere!

After morphing into an actual storm, the Sovereign of Frost coldly glared at the robe-wearing man below and roared out like a thunderclap.

[This is my true power!!]

Tens of thousands of ice spears created out of crystallised Mana in the air began raining down like falling snow. Each spear carried enough power to kill a person in one shot. That was how extremely terrifying this attack was.

Cars still remaining in the roads were swept away like worthless toys and buildings were torn apart by the blade-like winds. However, the robe-wearing man didn't even budge from his spot and protected Jin-Woo behind him with all his being.

Countless wounds began appearing on the man facing off against the endless barrage of ice spear blizzard. The Sovereign of Frost didn't let up with its attacks, not even for a second.

[My soldiers!]

From the snow that had piled up to one's knees, ice humanoids created from the magical energy rose up one by one. And soon, they numbered nearly several thousand!

[Attack.]

The ice humanoids heard the command of their Sovereign and pounced simultaneously at the robe-wearing man. He desperately resisted against these humanoids by slicing them and shoving them away.

Unfortunately….

Stab!

He was struck on the shoulder by an ice spear and wobbled unsteadily on his feet.

"….."

Even in the midst of this, the ice humanoids were still rushing at him relentlessly. The man forcefully strengthened his legs and gritted his teeth.

The mysterious man tenaciously hung on, and the Sovereign of Frost decided to once more enter the fray itself. It transformed into a crystallised form of sheer coldness and, while emitting white smoke from its entire body, it gallantly strode over to the man.

[Get out of the way!!]

Its loud roar prompted the ice humanoids to quickly scatter. The Sovereign of Frost stood before the man and opened its maw real wide.

Incredibly cold energy began gathering within its mouth next.

The air began freezing up. Ice even formed on the chin of the man visible underneath the hood.

At this rate, things would get very dangerous. The robe-wearing man understood this. However, if he tried to evade this attack, it'd hit Jin-Woo still lying on the ground head-on.

The man displayed no hints of evading even when facing off against the horrifying murderous intent oozing out from the Sovereign of Frost.

The facial expression of the Ice Elf crumpled unsightly.

'A measly human simply borrowing the powers of a higher being through sheer luck dares to form such an insolent face at me!'

Finally, the horrifying aura of coldness was fired out from the mouth of one very enraged Sovereign.

KUWAAAHH-!!

The man crossed his arms in an 'X' to defend against the blast of cold air. Rather obviously, his arms had to bear the brunt of blocking the entire attack and they became frozen in an instant, unable to move again.

And then, truly vicious attacks continued on the man now unable to offer any resistance.

Pow! Pow!! Pow!!! Pow!!!!

Every time the Sovereign of Frost smacked the man, his upper torso visibly staggered. However, he never took a step back, not even once. Blood trickled down his legs and formed a pool beneath his feet, but he continued to endure.

[How dare a measly little human….?!]

The Sovereign of Frost tilted its shoulder and raised up its right arm up very high. In an instant, cold air gathered around the arm and transformed into a gigantic ice block.

'Now, let's see if you can withstand this!'

The Sovereign of Frost was planning to not only crush the man, but the vessel of the Shadow Sovereign lying behind him, too. It roused up its entire magical energy to slam down the block of ice.

Vuuu-woong!!

The man watched the shadow of the falling ice block grow ever larger and raised both of his frozen arms above. Even if his arms shattered, even if his body was crushed, he must protect Jin-Woo.

He dragged out every ounce of power granted to him by the Ruler and his body glowed in the most brilliant golden radiance.

And finally…

BOOOOM-!!

…There was a collision.

Strangely enough, although there was a collision, he didn't feel any impact force from it at all.

'What is….?'

The man opened his closed eyes and discovered someone else standing before him.

'….!!'

This figure was kitted out in jet-black armour. And then, there was the blood-red mane extending from the top of its helm all the way down to its back.

It was none other than the faithful servant of the Shadow Sovereign, Igrit. He defended against the massive block of ice before roughly shoving it away.

The Sovereign of Frost had to doubt its own eyes after that attack was perfectly defended against.

[Igrit?!]

If the Marshal-grade Shadow Soldier made his appearance, then that could only mean….!

The ancient ice Elf flinched nastily in surprise and hurriedly shifted its gaze to the spot behind the robe-wearing man. Sure enough, the unconscious man who should've been lying there could no longer be found anymore.

Finally…

Finally, the Sovereign of Frost understood what the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs had said before running away.

The atmosphere itself was trembling. Mana, the magical energy densely packed in the air, was resonating with the entrance of a transcendent existence.

Igrit turned around and politely knelt down and lowered his head.

Kiiieeehhk!!

Beru, having appeared alongside Igrit, screeched out loudly as if to announce the return of his master, and quickly knelt down while facing the same direction.

And between the two, Jin-Woo calmly walked out.

He took a sweeping look around the messily destroyed surroundings and threw a question at the Sovereign of Frost.

"Did the beast run away?"

[...]

Only after facing off against the true Shadow Sovereign did the ancient Ice Elf realise the reason why the King of Beasts made its hasty, scared escape earlier.

Even though it was the Sovereign of all things existing within the cold, it was still trembling pitifully before the lord of death standing before it.

Jin-Woo continued on.

"….I didn't permit it."

The Sovereign of Frost couldn't understand what he meant and reflexively asked back.

[What was that??]

"I didn't give my permission for it to run away."

[What are you even on about…?]

Jin-Woo didn't even give the ancient Ice Elf enough time to get flustered and simply closed his eyes. He rapidly expanded his sensory perception to his surroundings in search of the unique magic energy signature belonging to the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.

The range of his perception exceeded past the border of South Korea in an instant and enveloped the whole planet.

He was deeply confident that, as long as the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs didn't escape to the gap between dimensions and remained hidden somewhere on Earth, he'd located that b*stard no problem.

And his confidence was not proven to be baseless.

Jin-Woo smiled refreshingly and opened his eyes after discovering the presence of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.

"Found you."

Chapter 222: Chapter 222

While Jin-Woo had his eyes closed to focus all of his attention on searching for the escaped beast, the Sovereign of Frost had intuitively sensed it. It was an opening left by the Shadow Sovereign.

Such an opportunity would not come around a second time. Even if there was a huge gap in individual strength, how dare he take his eyes off his enemy?

Avoiding death would be impossible if this chance was left ungrasped.

It was facing unavoidable death right now. In order to struggle free from the shadow of death taking large strides towards itself, the Sovereign of Frost decided to bet everything on one final move.

'I must end everything with this one hit.'

Its right arm slipped behind its back and Mana began gathering there in a large lump. It then proceeded to create the most powerful spear of ice it had ever created.

Every ounce of energy dragged up by the desperation it felt would be contained within this attack!

A terrifying amount of magical energy was being forcibly concentrated on the ice spear. The power gathered was so great that the ground beneath the Sovereign wielding the spear froze up in pure white while issuing cracking noises.

Just before one would be tempted to wonder whether the Sovereign's right arm grasping the spear had expanded far too much or not…

The spear was fired out with the velocity of a bullet and tore straight through the air.

Whoooosh-!!

At the same time, the ice humanoids received orders from their master and pounced on Jin-Woo like a nest of enraged fire ants.

Whoooosh-!

Moments before the spear aiming at his forehead could penetrate into his face…

….Jin-Woo opened his eyes.

"Found you."

Simultaneously, the time flow of the surroundings came to a standstill as if the 'pause' button had been pressed on the playback. No, actually, the time had slowed down to such an extent that it almost looked as if it had come to a standstill.

The ice spear's shaft spinning at a scarcely-believable speed was definitely getting closer, albeit only an inch at a time. And behind that, he could see the Sovereign of Frost's rather deeply distorted face glaring in his direction.

Was that all, though?

He even could see the faces of every single ice humanoid surrounding him from all sides pouncing on him.

This was the scope of the Shadow Sovereign's vision once he got ready for battle. His ability to perceive that had reached the realm that no other human being could ever hope to touch upon, and made it as if everything around him had come to a dead stop.

Jin-Woo was like an alien invading the world of a paused video and relaxedly scanned his surroundings.

This feeling…

'Haven't I felt something similar to this before….?'

When could that have been?

He slowly combed through his memories and eventually recalled that moment when he was about to die from the assaults of the stone statues.

Indeed.

Back then, time had come to a standstill as if everything had been paused, too.

'Ah, so I had already possessed the power of the Shadow Sovereign in me, even then.'

Only now that he got to unlock the full powers did he realise once more just how long the Sovereign had been watching him. Jin-Woo continued to check out his vicinity and soon, discovered the backs of his two Marshal grade soldiers.

'Ohhh….'

Even though the time had seemingly frozen, both Beru and Igrit were moving in to intercept the enemies, albeit very slowly. This was as good evidence as any that their agility had reached an incredible height now.

Jin-Woo studied them in happiness before remembering that there was a spear coming his way.

'Oopsie.'

Like an insect studiously crawling forward, the spear was continuously closing the distance bit by bit. To stop the weapon's advance, Jin-Woo used one of his powers.

'Ruler's Authority.'

This was one of the Shadow Sovereign's powers, although he trained on using it proficiently while thinking that it was merely a skill.

The moment he activated 'Ruler's Authority', he got to see the Mana dispersed throughout the surroundings suddenly rush in and wrap about the ice spear.

Once caught in the magical energy, the weapon lost all forward momentum and stopped in its treks.

He got to see for the first time how the skill 'Ruler's Authority' worked and he couldn't help but softly sigh in admiration.

'Ah, so it was not an invisible hand or some such.'

No, it was more like 'invisible Mana'. Simply put, Mana moved according to the will of the skill's activator. Jin-Woo's eyes could capture the movement of Mana so clearly now, when it was impossible to do so in the past.

'Nice.'

Now that his sensory perception had reached the peak, he could definitely pick up on the flow of Mana surrounding his vicinity. As he observed its flow, his eyes sparkled brightly.

This was the end result of the Rulers trying so hard to fortify this world. A world once devoid of Mana was now overflowing with it. And as the inheritor of the Shadow Sovereign's powers, he was given the right to freely wield this energy with nothing but his will.

Ba-thump, ba-thump.

His heart raced faster as he sensed the surrounding Mana breathe.

'….Let's do this.'

Jin-Woo broke past the slowly-moving time and approached his two Marshals before resting his hands on their shoulders.

"There's no need for you guys to step up here."

Beru and Igrit heeded their master's order and immediately stopped moving. Jin-Woo stood before them.

He'd now maximise his control of Mana that he trained whenever he had the time through 'Ruler's Authority'. He took a sweeping look at the ice humanoids and deeply breathed in and out once.

The emotion still filling his chest was the gratitude towards the Shadow Sovereign welling up from deep inside his heart. Also, gratitude for teaching him how to control his powers through the System's guidance.

Jin-Woo was done focusing on himself and controlled the Mana in the air at once. In that blink-of-an-eye moment, the space around him tumbled.

Wooo-woung-!

It truly was for just a moment.

In an instant, a powerful wave of Mana, starting from Jin-Woo as its centre, crashed out and swept away the huge masses of ice humanoids trying to pounce on him.

The Sovereign of Frost also detected the violent storm of Mana rushing at it.

[….!!]

It hurriedly spread out an ice barrier to protect itself.

Once the violent winds of Mana went past, the Sovereign quickly undid the barrier and it was greeted by the sight of debris, belonging to the ice humanoids, scattered everywhere. The powerful pulse of Mana had destroyed them all. Even the blizzard storm clouds it had summoned were gone, too.

This was the power of Shadow Sovereign.

[But… but how!!]

The Sovereign of Frost shivered from shock after witnessing the true power of the Shadow Sovereign, formerly the greatest Fragment of the Brilliant Light, as well as one of the most powerful Kings in existence.

The wall.

The completely insurmountable wall.

Didn't the gap between it and him seem far too great?!

Jin-Woo took a look around himself and nodded his head at the rather satisfying result before locking his gaze with the frightened eyes of the ancient Ice Elf.

Flinch!

He could sense that creature shivering even at a distance away.

He still had a score to settle with that thing. Jin-Woo recalled the face of the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui and his expression became colder in an instant. However, he wasn't the type to expose his emotions that easily.

The enemy he wanted to kill the most would be disposed of at the very end. He'd make sure that the opponent would get to enjoy enough time to shiver in terror from the unavoidable death.

Jin-Woo raised his voice.

"You shall be the last."

Suddenly, Jin-Woo's figure slowly submerged into the shadow beneath his feet.

"Until I go and catch that beast, you stay and quietly wait, okay?"

***

As soon as the TV's broadcast got cut off, the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol slammed his fist down on the desk.

Bang!

The final scene before the live footage got cut off was the one of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo powerlessly crumbling to the ground after getting struck by those two monsters.

Watching that scene play out, Woo Jin-Cheol felt as if his whole world had come crashing down. If only this desk wasn't an item that Goh Gun-Hui had used, he'd completely smash it into pieces with one punch.

Woo Jin-Cheol's clenched fist trembled greatly.

All the other subordinate employees present within the President's office and watching the broadcast with him shut their mouths up as well. Heavy silence permeated in the office now.

However….

The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol knew better than anyone that he shouldn't be wasting time here like this. He quickly threw out a question.

"How many Guilds are on site now??"

"All five major Guilds have arrived on site, sir."

Woo Jin-Cheol stood up from his seat and urgently issued his new order.

"Our Monitoring Division will go, as well. And I'll accompany them, too."

"But, it'll be far too dangerous, sir!"

"You think being dangerous or safe is important in our current situation?!"

Woo Jin-Cheol shot a scary glare, immediately rendering those employees trying to persuade him not to go utterly speechless.

The Republic of Korea had just lost its final line of defence, Seong Jin-Woo. Meaning, there was no more room to retreat. Every Hunter had to cooperate to kill those monsters, otherwise, there would be no future left for anyone anymore.

Woo Jin-Cheol hurriedly put on his jacket before raising his head to spot the real-time footage being transmitted from the CCTV camera, currently shown live, right next to the giant TV screen.

This camera was pointing to the sky 24 hours a day. It continuously streamed the sight of the super-massive Gate floating above the skies of Seoul. Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes staring at the screen trembled for a moment then.

'Perhaps….'

Perhaps, the nation of Korea was already doomed.

His heart tumbled to the pit of his stomach. Even if they got lucky and were able to kill those monsters, they would suffer grave casualties. Could they be able to deal with that nonsensically humongous Gate with the remaining Hunters, no, more accurately, without the presence of Hunter Seong Jin-Woo?

Just from thinking about the monsters in the city centre and then the super-massive Gate in a row, the despair he so desperately tried to deny rushed in like a tidal wave.

However, Woo Jin-Cheol forcibly shook his head.

Even if tens, hundreds of thousands, no, the entire population of Korea thought the same as he did, someone still had to step up and fight. The powers Hunters possessed were precisely for that purpose.

Woo Jin-Cheol gritted his teeth to shake off all unnecessary thoughts from his head. He was about to step outside his office when one of the employees hurriedly called out to him.

"Sir!!"

Woo Jin-Cheol looked behind him. Not at the employee calling out to him, no, but at the large TV screen with the news anchor urgently speaking to the viewers.

[Everyone, one of our cameras have finally reached the site!]

Maybe the camera was positioned on a rooftop of a high-rise building, because the scene now on screen was being filmed from a great distance away. But, that alone was enough.

The blizzard covering up the city was being dispersed by some kind of an unseen force.

Feeling rather agitated now, the Association President Woo Jin-Cheol brushed past all the employees that had stood up from their seats and rushed to the front of the giant screen.

Once the icy fog was blown away, it became possible to see clearly the figures standing on the street.

There were five people. No, make that four people, plus one creature.

Among them, the man standing before a certain ant soldier was someone Woo Jin-Cheol was quite familiar with.

"It's Hunter Seong Jin-Woo!!"

Woo Jin-Cheol shouted out unbeknownst to even himself. Other employees saw the shattered remains of the ice humanoids strewn about around Jin-Woo and roared out in elation.

Waaaah-ah!!

Not only was Jin-Woo, who looked to be dead for sure, standing upright completely fine, he even seemed to have pushed his enemy into a corner as well, so how could they hold back their cries now?

Indeed, tears even threatened to break out of Woo Jin-Cheol's eyes.

There was only one enemy now; the sole creature of ice seemed to be terrified out of its skull, because it was completely rooted to its spot, unable to even move an inch.

No one could tell just what transpired within that blizzard, but the situation had done a complete 180 now.

He didn't need to hear it, but Woo Jin-Cheol knew that the attention of the entire world was focused on this very same footage being broadcast.

Just with what method would Hunter Seong demolish that monster now? The Association President Woo Jin-Cheol's face was quickly filled up with anticipation as he watched Jin-Woo.

But then….

Jin-Woo seemed to be saying something to the monster, before he began submerging below his feet and disappearing from the site.

'….???'

The expressions on the employees hugging each other to celebrate gradually hardened.

Eventually…

….Jin-Woo completely vanished from the battlefield.

The cameraman must be panicking as well, as the camera kept moving this way and that in order to locate Jin-Woo. Unfortunately, not even his hair could be seen now.

"Huh….."

Woo Jin-Cheol couldn't hide his fluster and rubbed his mouth. Yet another bout of heavy silence descended on the office of the Association President.

***

After returning to the hideout located in a jungle somewhere, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs' teeth began clattering.

That aura of death gradually tightening around its neck. What a regretful thing it was, wasting time arguing with the Sovereign of Frost and delaying its escape from that place.

Back when it was out hunting Brazil's greatest Hunter, Earth was nothing more than a hunting ground filled with weak prey. The beast had been drunk on the feelings of freedom after leaving behind the dreary, boring gap between dimensions where there was practically nothing fun to do.

But now…

Who'd have thought that the Shadow Sovereign had descended to this world with a malicious plan up his sleeve? Unless they were talking about the human masquerading as the King of the Dead, fine, but the beast definitely didn't want to fight against the real Shadow Sovereign.

If one wanted to stop that guy, then one needed power far exceeding him. One needed the Sovereign of Destruction.

'Now that things have turned out this way, I have no choice but to hide here and quietly wait until the Dragon Emperor shows up….'

The beast lied down on the bed made out of leaves and branches.

When it did, several wild beasts of the Chaos World, referred to as monsters by humans, gathered around and laid down around the Sovereign's feet.

These wild beasts possessing powerful magical energy were none other than the Sovereign's royal guard. They purred and rubbed their faces when their King began stroking them.

But then, the Sovereign sensed something was off and stopped stroking the heads of its pets in his comfy reclined position.

'Mm….??'

The furs on the pets had all stood upright.

The sixth sense possessed by all animals; the inexplicable sensation travelling down the back of its neck caused all sorts of goosebumps to break out on the Sovereign's body.

It wordlessly shifted its gaze over to the same spot where the nervous beasts were glaring at, before its own eyes narrowed down to a slit. The shade of a tree several steps away was wavering noticeably, that was why.

The voice thickly laden with despair leaked out from the mouth of the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs after picking up the scent of death quickly permeating into its hideout.

"Could it be….?"

Chapter 223: Chapter 223

The beast's eyes opened wider. 'Something' was slowly rising up from that wavering shade of a tree.

'Is that the human…?'

Or, was it the real Shadow Sovereign?

It couldn't quite figure out the true identity of its opponent yet. However, the presence of the enemy all five senses of the beast had picked up were identical to that of the man who drove it to the edge of the cliff all those years ago.

Didn't matter what his identity was, this man now possessed the perfect, complete power of the Shadow Sovereign.

'He chased after me all the way to here?!'

The terror of death seemingly had invaded deep into the beast's bone marrows, and as a result, the creature trembled greatly in pure fear.

And when Jin-Woo's entire frame completely emerged back into the world…

Growl….

One of the savage beasts bared its fangs to threaten Jin-Woo in order to protect its master before quickly dashing forward. This monster, although outwardly feline in appearance, possessed three red eyes. It was also known to be one of the most vicious creatures even in the Chaos World.

Roar!!

The monster opened its jaw wide to reveal dozens of knife-like fangs that coldly reflected the light.

Jin-Woo disinterestedly stared at the predator dashing towards him. It seemed to possess as much magic energy as a boss from a rank S dungeon. If it was in the past, even he'd have to pay attention, but now, it didn't pose any threat whatsoever.

But before that…

Boom!

Even before he could decide on what to do next, the savage beast suddenly lost its head and its four limbs sagged down to the ground.

The culprit was none other than the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs. It leapt in an instant and destroyed the savage beast's head. Then, it quickly extracted its fist stuck deeply to the ground.

'Why did he kill his own soldier…?'

When Jin-Woo stared at it with puzzled eyes, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs got low to the floor and bowed its head. And then, words spoken with a trembling voice leaked out from its mouth now facing the ground.

[Oh, Shadow Sovereign, this King of Beasts does not wish to enter into a conflict with you. I pray that you forgive this one's transgressions and accept me as your ally.]

This was the instinct of an animal in full display. When facing against an opponent that couldn't be beaten and also, escaping from it was impossible, then one should bow one's head.

The beast's instincts were quite strongly recommending this course of action. Since the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs possessed the characteristics of a wild animal, it readily discarded its dignity and pride to stay loyal to the demands made by its instincts.

[Not too long from now, the Dragon Emperor will lead his army to descend on this land. During that time, my beast army and I shall aid you in your quest.]

The beast had assumed the most subservient posture it could.

Whimper… Whimper…..

The savage beasts behind the Sovereign were all frozen stiff in their terror and had sprung a leak, wetting the ground with their p*ss.

To these wild, untamed creatures that lived for their own continued survival, the aura of death walking ever closer was the most terrifying thing imaginable.

Jin-Woo briefly observed the King of the Beasts and its lowered tail before coming up with a reply.

"Fine."

The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs was feeling really nervous, but upon hearing that easy answer, it began smiling inwardly. And that smile soon crept up on its face directed to the floor, as well.

What a foolish man!

'That b*stard is not the real thing.'

The real Shadow Sovereign would never forgive the one who had betrayed him once before, and not to forget, someone who tried to eliminate the vessel prepared for his descent to this world.

Thanks to this human's kindness and stupidity, the beast was able to buy some time.

How could it obey this man's words when this human, no, this prey was busy emitting a delectable scent mixed in among that of the real Shadow Sovereign's?

Indeed, all it had to do was to pretend as if it was on the Shadow Sovereign's side and wait until the Sovereign of Destruction's arrival.

'When the time comes, I shall personally rip your corpse apart and gnaw on your bones.'

So, how could the beast not break out in smiles right now? With a bright face, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs raised its head again.

[I swear my loyalty to…..]

As it did, it ran straight into the chilling glare, as cold as ice, and leapt back greatly from sheer fright. As a matter of fact, the level of fright it felt was so great that it had leapt back dozens of metres in one go.

Jin-Woo coldly addressed the beast and its pale complexion.

"Before we do that, though, we should settle our debt first."

The beast squeezed out some words with a hardened expression.

[Debt? Could you be talking about the past….??]

In the past, the Sovereigns of White Flames and Beastly Fangs tried to stab the Shadow Sovereign in the back. Jin-Woo had seen that treachery through the recollection of the former Shadow Sovereign. However, that had no relevance to what Jin-Woo was about to do right now.

From the subspace that the System designated as 'Inventory', he extracted one Kamish's Wrath.

Shururuk….

While grasping the blade tightly with one hand, Jin-Woo pointed to five spots in his chest with his thumb on the free hand.

"Five wounds where claws have pierced past."

The horrifying pain from that moment was still vivid in Jin-Woo's mind.

"Withstand five attacks from me, and I shall forgive you."

That was the same thing as telling the beast to survive five fatal attacks.

It was at this point that the beast finally realised that Jin-Woo never planned to let it go from the beginning. The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs roared out in a final show of its pride.

[You dare…!! How dare you toy with me, the King of Beasts!!]

The Sovereign of Beastly Fangs activated Spiritual Body Manifestation and rapidly transformed into a gigantic wolf. Although, it was incomparably smaller than the one from the Shadow Sovereign's memories, perhaps owing to the fact that this wasn't the creature's original world. Still, the King of Beasts wielded enough power to destroy this world and then some.

Now thoroughly enraged, the giant wolf loudly howled at the Shadow Sovereign.

[My life will end here today, but you too will not live for long!]

Whoosh-!

It was right then, a strand of chilling wind brushed past the face of the huge wolf. Searching for the presence of Jin-Woo that had simply vanished from its view, the creature quickly took a look behind.

And that's where he was, having moved there before the wolf had noticed it. He slowly turned around to face the monster.

"The first hit."

The wolf then saw it.

It saw the horrifying black aura rising up from Jin-Woo's entire body. This guy, he wasn't the fake. His movements completely matched that of the Shadow Sovereign.

Gulp.

Unbeknownst to itself, the wolf swallowed back its dry saliva.

But, then….

With an audible 'plop', something fell to the ground.

For a moment there, the wolf forgot what kind of a monster was standing before its eyes and lowered its gaze. What fell to the ground was a huge ear.

The wolf's ear, cut off from its head, now lay on the ground next to its own feet like a hideous item of gore. And then, blood exploded out like a fountain. What visited after all of that was intolerably cruel pain.

The wolf gritted its teeth and raised its head back up and discovered that Jin-Woo was holding yet another shortsword.

One weapon in each of his hands.

Jin-Woo held the pair of 'Kamish's Wraths' oozing out black aura and delivered his final judgement on the giant wolf.

"Four more left."

***

Literally, enemies on all sides.

After Jin-Woo disappeared from the scene, the Sovereign of Frost was left stuck in a rock and a hard place. It'd be logical to escape if there was no chance of victory. But then, the gaze of the ancient Ice Elf landed on the two Marshal-grade soldiers belonging to the Shadow Sovereign.

'Forgetting about the ant b*stard busy treating that human puppet of the Rulers, this….'

The remaining one was a huge problem.

It was none other than Igrit, also referred to as one of the two wings of the Shadow Army, who was keeping a close eye on the Sovereign right now.

This black knight's nickname was the 'Knight of Death'. He was the greatest knight there ever was, accompanying the Shadow Sovereign to participate in many battlefields and killing countless enemies in the process.

One of the opponents that needed to be kept an eye out for was standing right in front of the Ice Elf.

'But then again….'

The ancient creature was not some measly little soldier, but a Sovereign. If it fought with everything it had, then bringing down two Marshal-grade soldiers wouldn't be difficult at all.

No, the real problem was with these two possessing immortality-like abilities. They would continue to regenerate infinitely until the Shadow Sovereign ran out of his power.

This was really bad news, considering that the Sovereign of Frost had to waste a lot of its stamina by activating its Spiritual Body Manifestation.

On top of that, if it decided to attack these two soldiers, then their master would be alerted to its actions. All Shadow Soldiers were connected to the Shadow Sovereign. Even if one succeeded in defeating the Marshal-grade soldiers, that would only serve to summon their master over here.

That had to be prevented at all cost.

'That's why….'

The Sovereign of Frost spun around in order to quickly generate a Gate to facilitate its escape.

Swish-!

But then, Igrit appeared out of nowhere to block the escape attempt. He slowly shook his head and lightly tapped the hilt of the sword sheathed on his waist.

'Don't do anything foolish.'

Even without saying anything, his words came across loud and clear.

Swish-!

The Sovereign of Frost quickly swivelled its head around and discovered the ant standing on the other side, his maw wide open to screech out loudly.

"Kiiiieeeehhk-!!"

The meaning of this particular ant standing here, when he should have been healing the arms of that human….

….The gaze of the Sovereign of Frost shifted over to its front and caught the sight of the saboteur, now completely healed, walking in closer.

[These b*stards….!]

The Ice Elf shuddered in rage as the enemies surrounded it once more.

[Mere b*stards like you dare to….!!]

The angry voice of the furious King rocked the ground. The world began freezing again, and the storm clouds gathered up in the sky.

[How long do you think you lot will last against me?!]

Igrit unsheathed his sword, Beru's claws extended in full, while the robe-wearing man held his shortswords tightly.

However, the event of these four colliding didn't happen.

The first one to sense the change was, once more, the Sovereign of Frost.

[….!!]

When its gaze hurriedly shifted over to a certain direction, others followed suit as if they had a prior agreement. The shadow there was rippling noticeably.

The Sovereign of Frost needed just a little bit more time, that was all. It bit its lower lip in vexation.

[Shadow Sovereign!!!]

In a spot of ground a bit of distance away, Jin-Woo emerged from the shadow.

'This is so convenient, not being restricted by the cooldown now that the System is gone.'

All restrictions on his abilities had been unshackled. That allowed him to return to this spot in an instant. Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Sovereign of Frost over yonder.

He then lightly threw something in his hand in the direction of the Ice Elf. The Sovereign caught that object drawing an arc in the air, before its eyes trembled greatly from shock.

[Isn't this….?!]

It was an ear belonging to a giant wolf.

The Sovereign only knew of one wolf large enough have an ear this big.

[It's only been a few minutes since you left, yet you already killed the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs?!]

The Sovereign of Frost cried out in sheer panic, but Jin-Woo didn't even bother to make his reply. He simply summoned his two shortswords like how he had done with the beast earlier, instead.

On the blades crafted out of the Dragon's teeth was the still-fresh blood from the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs.

The ancient Ice Elf flinched greatly as the hostile intention from a truly powerful individual locked down on it. The two Marshal-grade soldiers and the robe-wearing man confirmed the black aura rising up from Jin-Woo's shoulders and quickly retreated to the rear.

Jin-Woo gripped the hilts of the two weapons tightly. He had already given this creature enough time. And now, he was going to collect the debt.

The Sovereign of Plague, the Sovereign of Beastly Fangs, and now, the Sovereign of Frost. The deaths of these three would serve as Jin-Woo's warning to other Sovereigns.

The Ice Elf watched as Jin-Woo dashed forward as if he was gliding on a smooth surface and urgently fired out multiple arrows of ice in a last-ditch attempt.

[You b*stard!!]

Of course, these arrows of magic were still fatal if struck, even though they were created in a hurry. Countless arrows, each one too powerful even for a rank S Hunter to survive, shot towards Jin-Woo in droves.

Dudududududududu!!!!

The Sovereign of Frost did everything in its power to prevent Jin-Woo from getting any closer.

[Uwaaaah-!!]

Too bad, Jin-Woo's hands were quicker than those arrows raining down. He swatted away all the ice arrows aiming at him and yet, his dashing speed hadn't decreased at all.

[Uwaaaaaaaah-!!!!]

Dududududududududu!!!!

Ice arrows were generated and fired out from the front of the personification of the frost, their numbers too innumerable to count, yet…

….Yet, Jin-Woo was able to break through their barrage and stand before his target.

Stab!

Jin-Woo accurately drove the Kamish's Wrath into the shoulder of the Sovereign of Frost – on the exact same spot where the dagger had struck in the past. He did that to remind the creature about the late Association President Goh Gun-Hui.

[Kuwaaahhk-!!]

Suffering from the pain on an incomparable scale than the last time, the Sovereign of Frost's head rose up high as it screamed at the top of its lungs.

Before the second shortsword could strike it, though, the Ice Elf hurriedly gathered the cold air in its mouth and fired it out. Jin-Woo reached up and simply covered its mouth.

Kuwaaaahh!!

Just as the cold blast of air unable to break free of his hand went on a rampage inside the Elf, Jin-Woo reverse gripped his other shortsword and stabbed it deep into his opponent's chest.

CRACK!!

He heard the sounds of its ribs breaking and its heart being penetrated cleanly. It was the exact same attack that he suffered not too long ago.

[Kuwaaaahahhhk-!!]

However, Jin-Woo knew that such an attack wouldn't be able to kill the Sovereign of Frost, since he had prior experience of killing two other Sovereigns.

"The beast died on the fourth attack."

The chilling light shone coldly in Jin-Woo's eyes.

"How long will you be able to endure?"

Terror filled up the eyes of the Sovereign of Frost as it looked down at Jin-Woo.

This man was the Sovereign of Death.

Weren't those eyes the exact same as the merciless warrior that slew all the enemies he came across in an endless battlefield?

Only now did the Ice Elf realise just who it offended, and began shuddering from the crippling fear.

Shortly afterwards, the shortsword stabbing into the creature's heart sliced down lower and tore the Sovereign's body into a rag.

[Kuwaahk!!!]