[Inside the Vision]
The memory space pulsed with ancient energies as Po and Jinwoo stood, spectators to a war etched into the roots of time. Gates rumbled like titans exhaling, magic and death spilling forth. The air itself shattered with the arrival of the Radiru Clan's demons, bathed in eerie crimson auras, screeching into the battlefield like an omen of extinction.
Then came the moment of awe.
A shadowy figure sat astride a monstrous steed, his body cloaked in darkness so dense it devoured the light around him. Ashborn, the Shadow Monarch, loomed silently over the field. His presence halted even the fiercest of warriors, like the world had taken a sharp breath. Po muttered, eyes narrowed in reverence, "That's him… the true King of Shadows."
Baran stood before him, wounded, body cracked and leaking flaming essence, but still proud. The battlefield had frozen for their confrontation.
Ashborn's voice was cold steel wrapped in ancient grief.
"We had a chance to end this war today. So why did you betray me?"
Baran, his demonic mask shattered to reveal a maddened grin, spat blood and sarcasm.
"What a shame… I could've done away with you."
Ashborn's aura darkened.
"I asked you a question."His voice, low and predatory, made the skies weep dark ash.
Baran answered—words in a guttural language lost to time. Even Po and Jinwoo couldn't understand, but the result was clear.
Ashborn, fed up with the defiance, grabbed Baran by the neck. With one crushing squeeze, the White Flame Monarch was no more.
"Snitches get stitches, and you will die like the traitor you are, lonely and bitchless."
Baran's body turned to smoke, his core shattering into nothing.
Po didn't even blink. "Yup. Still brutal in person." Jinwoo's voice, however, cracked.
"Wait… that was Baran? That Baran?! The one who nearly killed me?!"
And then he felt it—two hearts. One was the familiar thrum of Shadow energy, the other? A quiet, burning miracle: Chi. Po looked over, smiling faintly.
"I made some upgrades, Jinjin. You know… cheat codes."
As the vision began to collapse, brilliant light split the skies above them. Celestial figures descended—wings vast, radiant, terrible. The Rulers.
Jinwoo muttered, realization dawning.
"So the Shadow Monarch wasn't with the beasts…?"
[Reality – The Temple]
Screams, explosions, and fire danced violently in the stone labyrinth. Choi Jong-In screamed orders, his flames roaring like a dragon reborn. Stone statues lunged for their prey, their magic-resistant bodies shrugging off spell after spell. Woo Jinchul, bloodied but standing, slammed his fist into a golem's face—it cracked, but barely.
"Nothing's working!" one Hunter shouted, barely dodging a hammer-blow.
Choi turned to Jinwoo and Po's slumped figures.
"Dammit! WAKE UP!"
He hurled a focused light flame blast toward them—but the Architect intercepted, its shriek echoing across the temple.
"HOW DARE YOU DISTURB THE SLUMBER OF KINGS?!"
The Architect lunged, massive claws ready to carve Choi in half, only to be stopped by tanks arriving just in time. Then came Cha Hae-In, blade in hand, eyes steeled.
"I'll get them up."
She moved, cutting a path toward Jinwoo and Po, determination blazing.
[Inside the Vision Again]
Jinwoo stood amid rivers of dead beasts and shattered shadows.
"No matter how many times they fall… the shadows regenerate. If they were mine, I'd be out of mana. But him? The Monarch of Shadows… it's like he has no limit when it comes to Mana."
Po, arms crossed, watched the scene like a theater critic.
"It's not internal conflict. It's war—Monarchs vs Monarchs. And now we're next."
As the vision faded, the final image burned into their minds: Ashborn and the Rulers, staring each other down.
[Temple – Present]
Stone collapsed.
With a snap, Po's eyes opened, his energy surging like a tidal wave. In a heartbeat, every statue turned toward him—and in a flash of radiant Chi and shadow, he demolished them all, reducing the statues to rubble.
Jinwoo stirred, then stood.
"About time…"
He raised a hand—and punched the Architect, sending its form crashing into the wall, the temple rumbling.
The Architect coughed, shocked.
"Y-You're not… the King… Why are you here?! That heart… the Black Heart?!"
A system window opened for Jinwoo:
[Title Acquired: Demon Hunter]You have met all of the Requirements.
You have recalled your defeat of the Demon King Baran, The Monarch of White Flames.
An Incredible Power has acknowledged the Player as its master.Effect:
Black Heart — MP +100,000 → 110,000
Jinwoo's gaze turned serious.
"You didn't want me to be a player. So what is a player? What were you trying to do to me... no, us?"
Po joined with a lazy wave.
"Yeah, spill the beans, statue-man."
The Architect chuckled, manic.
"Heh… both of you. I see now… why you were chosen. But it won't matter. When I die—my puppets will kill everyone!"
As if responding, dormant statues stirred, the broken ones reassembled. Red light ignited in their cores.
"Think you can still win?!"
Jinwoo smirked.
"What if I kill you and your puppets?"
The Architect's voice trembled.
"I created the system! If you kill me—"
Po cut in, voice like lightning.
"—The system won't die. Don't make me laugh, you peasant."
Jinwoo nodded, their voices syncing in rhythm, a shared defiance.
"While going through all the shit you've put me through, I once thought... I'd swallow the system whole. And now? Seems like you made it easy."
The Architect roared and lunged—one last time.
But Po moved first.
A blur, a blade, a slash—the Architect was split in half.
Its fading voice echoed one last time.
"Let me make... a prediction. No, a prophecy."
Its arm pointed at Jinwoo as its light dimmed.
"When the pillars of fire supporting the skies are erected...an unavoidable death shall come and find you."
The temple stilled. The statues cracked. The silence was overwhelming.
Po and Jinwoo stood, side by side, monarchs reborn.
Jinwoo, confident and resolute, dropped his response to the declaration of his demise
" So be it."