Monarch's

Summer and Raven stood frozen, eyes wide as they tried to process the overwhelming data displayed on the golden system windows. Neither of them could make sense of the titles, stats, or strange terminology—it was like staring at a language beyond comprehension. But something else understood.

Behind them, the grotesque, monstrous plant-beast—the very creature they had fought with blood and grit—suddenly jolted backward. Its many twisted limbs twitched violently, and its massive form trembled as if struck by an unseen force. All of its countless eyes, once filled with menace and confidence, now stared hollow and sunken, wide with fear.

"A… a new Monarch has been born…" it muttered, its voice shaking with disbelief.

The creature's once-cocky tone was gone. In its place was caution—terror, even. Whatever pride it had, whatever arrogance it once held, had been shattered by a single word displayed on the system window.

Summer turned slowly to look at the beast, her brows furrowed.

"A monarch?" she echoed, confused.

Raven narrowed her eyes, blade half-raised.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

The beast said nothing more, but its quivering for

m spoke volumes.

Then, without warning, the golden system windows above Lumi and Amber dissolved into particles of light and were absorbed directly into their bodies. A radiant shimmer spread across their forms, enveloping them in a brilliant golden glow that lit up the entire battlefield.

Their feet slowly lifted off the ground, floating inches above the earth as the divine energy coursed through them. The injuries they had sustained from saving Summer Rose has faded as if time itself reversed. Torn clothing stitched back together. Blood vanished. Muscle and bone restored. Both girls looked peaceful, unshaken, like celestial beings descending from a higher realm.

As the last trails of golden light ebbed away, their feet gently touched the ground once more. The transformation was complete. The aura they emitted was overwhelming—heavy, divine, and terrifying in its purity.

From the shadows, the monstrous, muscular plant-beast watched in silent awe, its earlier fear now replaced with something different. Suddenly, a pulse echoed in its mind—a message directly implanted into its consciousness. The source was unmistakable: the towering plant entity looming in the distant skyline, a godlike figure of vines, bark, and endless foliage, whose form stretched into the clouds.

The beast's eyes widened in realization. Then, a twisted grin formed on its face.

"I see… so a newborn Monarch will increase your power," it said, voice laced with excitement. "Don't worry, my lord—I will bring them to you."

It chuckled darkly, the fear that once crippled its body now entirely gone. Confidence surged through its limbs. No longer was it acting on its own. It now had divine backing.

In the distance, the titanic plant deity lifted one enormous hand and turned it slowly toward the battlefield. A blinding surge of green-gold energy poured from the sky like a waterfall, crashing down onto the muscular beast. Its body quivered, not with fear this time, but in ecstasy—as if baptized by the sacred power of its god.

The ground split beneath its feet from the pressure.

Its muscles expanded.

Its aura turned violent.

A new hunt had begun.

With a roar that shook the air, the beast lunged forward—its massive form tearing across the battlefield like a cannonball. Its grotesque, muscular arm reeled back, clenched into a fist aimed directly at Summer and Raven. The speed was unreal—like a blur of green and black. The two had no time to react. The attack was already upon them.

But just as the fist reached their faces—

**BOOM.**

A thunderous explosion echoed out, and blood sprayed into the air. The beast's arm detonated mid-strike, shredded into chunks by an unseen force. It howled in pain, immediately leaping back several meters, landing hard on its feet. Its entire body shook with confusion and agony, green sap-like blood dripping from where its limb used to be.

Gritting its jagged teeth, the beast growled low.

"Impossible… How did they stop it?!"

Its many eyes scanned Summer and Raven, but what he saw confused him even more—their expressions were still frozen in shock. They hadn't moved. They didn't even seem to know what happened.

Then he noticed it—it wasn't them.

A faint sound clicked into existence.

From the right side of Summer and the left of Raven, two sleek shapes shimmered into view. Gun barrels glinted in the fading light.

The sisters slowly turned their heads in opposite directions, sensing a presence.

And there she stood.

Lumi.

No longer unconscious, no longer broken.

She stood tall, one foot forward, arms locked in stance, holding a matte-black P90 submachine gun aimed straight at the beast's head. Her body radiated malice, but her eyes—burning with crimson resolve—spoke of raw determination. A shadow of a smirk curled at the edge of her lips.

Smoke rose from the gun's barrel.

Her aura pulsed like a storm held back by steel.

"Target acquired," she said coldly.

"**Hydra.**"

The single word echoed across the battlefield like a war chant from the heavens, rumbling through the clouds and shaking the very air.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Amber erupted in a surge of dark energy. From the shattered earth and into the sky rose a towering astral projection—a titanic, seven-headed hydra cloaked in deep, dark purple scales that shimmered like midnight storm clouds. Each head was armored in mechanical plating, their faces hidden behind jagged, obsidian masks. Along its massive body stretched a spine lined with razor-sharp, mechanical dragon blades, pulsing with a sinister red glow.

The hydra's presence was both terrifying and divine—an ancient force reborn in machine-wrought fury.

Then, without warning, the seven heads roared in unison.

From their maws erupted concentrated beams of poisonous acid, spiraling in arcs of green and violet energy. The blasts tore through the monsters surrounding the battlefield—melting flesh, splitting armor, and disintegrating entire bodies in a matter of seconds. The ground boiled where the acid landed, leaving only scorched craters and silence.

At the center of it all lay Amber, still grounded, her body barely moving.

Her right arm was extended toward the sky, glowing lines of golden light running from her hand into the heavens. Each of the hydra's long necks was tethered to her palm by radiant chains of energy—living conduits that surged with every beat of her heart. Though she lay injured, her control was absolute.

With just a motion of her fingers, the hydra turned.

Amber didn't rise.

She didn't need to.

The battlefield moved at her will.

Summer and Raven watched in stunned silence, awe etched into their faces as the impossible unfolded before them. What once was an endless sea of monsters—millions strong—was now being eradicated in waves. The earth trembled beneath the force of the hydra's fury, its seven heads unleashing concentrated streams of acid and destruction. In mere moments, the surrounding battlefield had been reduced to scorched earth and silence.

Nothing remained.

And at the center of it all, Amber still lay on the ground, her body untouched, unmoving—save for her right arm, which remained stretched toward the sky. She hadn't risen. She hadn't flinched. But slowly, impossibly, she began to lift herself up.

Not by her own effort.

She rose from her prone position as if gravity itself no longer applied, her body floating upright without so much as a twitch. Her hand remained pointed skyward, still bound to the colossal astral hydra overhead.

Then it happened.

A soft blue glow shimmered around her form, like starlight spilling through cracks in reality. The light cascaded across her body, enveloping her in a radiant veil. Her battle-worn clothing unraveled into threads of energy, dissipating into the wind. In their place, sleek, jet-black armor formed across her skin—seamless and elegant, glowing with faint veins of cerulean light. The armor radiated power, as though forged by celestial hands, its design both regal and menacing.

At that very moment, Lumi stood tall beside her.

A similar blue shimmer ran across her body, washing away the dust-covered remnants of her previous attire. In its place formed a sleek tactical combat suit, molded for speed and precision. Her gear locked into place with audible clicks—magazines, holsters, optics modules, and reactive plating snapping into position as if summoned from another dimension. A visor slid over her left eye, glowing red with targeting data.

Two Monarchs reborn in divine fire and code.

Summer could only whisper, "What… are they?"

Raven gripped her sword, eyes narrowed—not in threat, but in reverence.

Something had changed. And the world

would never be the same.

After the battlefield was cleared, and the last echo of monstrous screams faded into silence, Amber lowered her hand.

The seven-headed hydra above her let out one final rumble before its massive form began to disintegrate. Starting from the tips of its heads down through its long, serpentine necks, the astral projection broke apart into glowing violet fragments—shimmering like pixelated dust as they dissolved into the air. The glowing chains that tethered it to Amber's palm unraveled and vanished with a soft pulse.

Silence fell once more.

Amber exhaled slowly, then stepped forward—her black armor glinting under the broken light of the sky. Each step was steady, unhurried, yet carried the weight of something unshakable. She walked to Lumi's side, both now standing shoulder to shoulder, facing the last remaining threat.

The same monster that had fought Summer and Raven. A grotesque mass of muscular vines, twisted and pulsing, its form radiating unnatural strength and madness. Though it still stood tall, its eyes betrayed hesitation. It had witnessed the fall of its kin. It had seen the hydra. It had felt the shift.

And now… it saw the end.

Without warning, Lumi vanished.

There was no burst of speed, no blur of motion. One moment she was there—the next, gone. Not even the air shifted. It was as if she had never moved at all.

Then she reappeared in the exact same position, standing beside Amber, calm and silent.

A heartbeat passed.

Suddenly, the monster let out a wet, guttural gasp.

Its body twitched violently. Cracks of glowing red light split across its chest, vines unraveling like severed cords. A fraction of a second later—

**Boom.**

The creature's upper body exploded in a violent spray of blood, shredded vines, and seared flesh. No cry. No resistance. No time to react.

Where it once stood, only a mangled heap of flesh and twitching plant matter remained, steaming in the silence.

Instant death.

Amber didn't flinch.

Lumi slowly lowered her gun.

There was no need for words.

=====

But what truly happened in that fleeting moment—what no ordinary eye could perceive—was a demonstration of pure, lethal velocity.

As soon as Amber halted the hydra, Lumi moved.

She dashed forward, her body flickering like a glitch through space. At speeds far beyond the human limit, she surged toward the monster. In her hand, the P90 roared—not once, but in a rapid, rhythmic storm of trigger pulls. She fired while in motion, aiming with machine precision at vital points: the heart, the throat, the joints, the base of the spine, the core of its chest.

To Lumi, the world had slowed to a crawl. Each bullet that left her barrel moved like drifting sparks compared to her velocity, suspended in time. She weaved through the battlefield in ghostlike strides, her feet never seeming to touch the ground, each shot executed with surgical calm.

Within the span of a breath, she had returned to her original position beside Amber.

Then the world caught up.

In the blink of an eye, every bullet she had fired struck its target at once.

**Boom. Boom. Boom.**

Explosions rippled across the beast's body—flashes of fire, ice, lightning, and toxic mist igniting simultaneously. The custom elemental rounds embedded within each shot triggered on impact, chaining in a sequence of violent, overlapping bursts. The creature's body convulsed as its vines twisted and tore apart under the elemental pressure.

Then, the final shot—a core-penetrating burst of compressed kinetic energy—struck dead center.

**CRACK.**

The monster's torso ruptured, a column of light and gore erupting skyward. Its massive frame crumpled inward before detonating in a final eruption of elemental force.

What was left was a smoking crater.

A steaming mass of flesh and vines.

And the sound of a single shel

l casing hitting the ground.