Chapter 45: Thwarted Monarchs

A/N :

" " : Dialogue,

' ' : Thought,

[ ] : System, Akasha, Minerva,

"Italicized text" : Telepathy,

« » : Artificial Intelligence,

| | : Sung Jin-Woo's System Panels, Sung Jin-Woo's System Messages,

"Bold text" : Shadows & Deathborns.

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Narrator POV

Multiple events happened after the end of the S Rank Gate raids that occurred in different parts of the world, with one of the most notable ones being the arrest of Matsumoto Shigeo in Japan, who had surrendered himself to the authorities, along with the evidence of his wrongdoings which had led to the deaths of multiple Hunters nationwide.

When the Japanese citizens found out about his corruption, many of them clamored for him to be given the death sentence for the loss of lives caused by his decisions, but he was ultimately given life in prison. While no one else had any idea as to why he suddenly came out with evidence of his own crimes, a few select people in Korea knew exactly why.

Another particularly notable event occurred that involved the Monarchs. In Washington DC, Christopher Reid was sleeping in his home far away from the cities, when he suddenly opened his eyes with alarm.

He got off his bed with caution, put on a robe over his back, and wore some slippers, then went out into the hallway to investigate what was causing his danger senses to go off. As he walked down the hallway, he noticed that the entire area around him was eerily silent.

He knocked over a glass, which fell to the floor and broke into pieces, but still, there was no sound. "Who's there." He said, keeping his head on a swivel, and soon, he saw three people, one at the bottom of the stairs to the first floor, and two behind him.

He didn't know who these beings were, but he knew that they were definitely not here with any benevolent intent. "You won't be able to save anything if you keep fighting while trying to help the humans, Fragment of Brilliant Light." The one at the bottom of the stairs said in monster tongue, shocking Christopher Reid.

Understanding that he was definitely faced with intelligent and powerful monsters, he prepared to activate his power to defend himself, but a black hand took hold of his arm. Looking to where it came from, he saw the arm coming out of his shadow.

He then remembered that one of Dante Invictus' soldiers was within his shadow, as it had made its presence known to him, Norma Selner and Michael Connor a few days ago.

What he didn't notice was how the three beings looked at the deathborn. "Is that...? But it doesn't feel like his power. So what is it?" The being at the bottom of the stairs said in monster tongue, wondering what the source of the deathborn was.

"Cease your folly, human. You do not possess the strength to fight even one of them, let alone three." Diablo said as he fully came out of Christopher Reid's shadow. The three beings looked at his form and were shocked upon seeing a shadowy version of Baran.

"You. You're dead. I saw him end you." One of the beings said, pointing at Diablo. "Dead? I've never felt more alive." Diablo said in response, a wide, sharp toothed grin on his face. "You, go in there." Diablo said as he swung his arm, opening a portal. "You'll be out of their reach from there." He said to Christopher Reid.

Christopher Reid felt insulted, but he understood that Diablo was worlds stronger than him, so he entered the portal without protest.

"Rakan, Tarnak and Queresha. For three of you to go after a single Fragment of Brilliant Light, you must be getting pretty desperate." Diablo said with a mocking grin as he pulled out his longsword.

"How... How are you alive?!" Rakan, the Monarch of Fangs, said with a growl, and Diablo just smiled at him. "I live through death, and so do you. But not in this time." Diablo said, then disappeared from their sight.

They immediately went on guard, as they knew that he was now moving at an extremely high speed, but even then, they still couldn't see him. Suddenly, Tarnak's arm flew off his body, and Diablo stopped moving around.

"Thank goodness I remembered my master's orders. I don't believe that I could take my master's reprimand if I were to fail him." Diablo said as he put away his longsword. "He told me and the others to only incapacitate you, so that the new Shadow Monarch could use you as EXP before his ascension." He said as he pulled out what looked like a pair of ornate, spiked knuckledusters with intricate carvings.

"So as long as you still draw breath, my mission would be completed." He said, an intense pressure coming off him, and pressing onto the three Monarchs in front of him. Seeing that they stood no chance against Diablo, the Monarchs all tried opening Gates to use to escape from the place, only to find that they couldn't.

A distorted laughter erupted from Diablo as he saw them futilely try to open Gates. "You really thought my master hadn't prepared for any of you to be cowardly and try to run away. He bestowed each of us generals with greater power over space than any of you or the Rulers would ever hope to be capable of. You never had a chance to escape." He said, then rushed Tarnak, who's arm he'd cut off.

As someone who had experienced war and deadly combat, Tarnak wasn't unfamiliar with dangerous enemies. But as he was cowardly and wouldn't fight an enemy that was stronger than himself, Diablo's sinister approach frightened him greatly, causing him to have his guard down.

And before he could blink, Diablo hit his remaining limbs and torso with over a dozen punches, the spikes piercing his skin. After that, Tarnak felt his body go limp and fall to the ground. He struggled to move his body, but nothing he tried helped him move.

"Hehehe. The Knuckles of Subjugation. Useful for incapacitating targets without harming them too much. While I would advise that you don't resist as it is futile, I'll enjoy beating you down if you do so." Diablo said, then dashed at Rakan.

Rakan slashed his claws at Diablo as he approached, but suddenly felt something pierce his skin, then a powerful impact that lifted him off the ground. Diablo had done a short range teleport, which he used to get into point blank range of Rakan, and then delivered an uppercut to his body.

And with a smile on his face, he unleashed a barrage of punches onto his body. Queresha only caught sight of Diablo after he had finished subduing Rakan, and she immediately released multiple insect monsters at Diablo, only for him to release bolts of dark, purple tinted lightning that destroyed them.

Before Queresha could react, Diablo grabbed her by her neck and hoisted her into the air, then began landing multiple punches on her body. He dropped her limp body to the ground after punching her a few times.

After confirming that there were no other Monarchs coming to that area, he kneeled, facing the end of the stairs. "Master, I have successfully subdued the Monarchs." He said, seemingly to no one.

Suddenly, the space in front of him warped into a spiral, and a pitch-black portal opened up. And through that portal walked out Dante in a red dress shirt, white suit jacket, slacks and dress shoes. "Good work, Diablo. These three will be good EXP for Jin-Woo." Dante said, then waved his hand, causing chains made of runes to manifest and restrain Rakan, Tarnak and Queresha, then snapped his fingers, teleporting them away, and Christopher Reid back into his home.

Christopher Reid was disoriented by the sudden movement, and before he could gather his bearings, Dante had already left, putting Diablo in Christopher's shadow once more, all in a matter of microseconds.

Now understanding that there was a much greater threat than simple Gates and the monsters that inhabit them roaming about on Earth, Christopher Reid called Michael Connor to let him know that Norma Selner's prediction was correct, and if his instincts were right, they would soon face more beings like the ones that attempted to kill him.

...

Sung Jin-Woo, Yu Jin-Ho and Cha Hae-In had returned to Korea, being received with great admiration and praise from normal citizens and fellow Hunters alike, with many congratulating Cha Hae-In for what they thought was her reawakening, achieving the power of a National Rank Hunter.

Upon entering their guild building, Sung Jin-Woo heard Dante telepathically call him to one of the building's basement floors. Following it without much thought, he entered the elevator and Aurora sent the elevator down to the basement floor that Dante was on.

He reached the floor and walked down a hallway made mostly of metal, until he came to a large door with a Restricted Access warning beside it, and the word "Detainment" plastered on it.

The door opened to reveal Dante standing in front three other people that were being restrained. Although he had never met these people, he instinctually knew that they were Monarchs. After all, he had felt their energy from the Astartes that he trained with at his home.

"Well, come in already." Dante said, then he walked in, with the door closing behind him. "These three are Rakan, the Monarch of Fangs, Tarnak, the Monarch of Iron Body, and Queresha, the Monarch of Plague." He said, introducing his captives.

"Right now, they're in similar restraints to the ones that held down Legia. So if you wanna take them out, they're right here for you." Dante said, then walked out of the detainment room.

Sung Jin-Woo eyed the restrained Monarchs with a bit of curiosity, until he landed on Rakan. He remembered the feeling of Rakan's existence from one more place; Ashborne's memories. He was the giant wolf that fled that day.

"It's been a while, Rakan. I still remember how you and Baran betrayed me. Now, you can't run away." Sung Jin-Woo said and pulled out his shortswords, cladding them in mana and lightning. And with a swift, strong slash, he beheaded the Monarch of Fangs.

Looking at Tarnak and Queresha, he decided to execute them as well. He bifurcated Tarnak, then beheaded him, then used Mutilation on Queresha, tearing her body to pieces. And just like that, a total of 5 Monarchs had died by Sung Jin-Woo's hands.

...

The International Guild Conference was set to take place in a few days. This was an event where guilds representing each country were invited to discuss the current events and the possible future prospects of the Hunter world.

Among the different guilds that had been invited, Korea's Dominion Guild was without a doubt, the most talked about in recent days. The fact that they had been invited over the Hunters Guilds that previously held the unanimous, unspoken title of Korea's strongest guild, was a hot topic around the world.

They only had five active Hunters, and one of those Hunters hadn't even raided a Gate for quite a while. Yet, Choi Jong-In, the leader of the Hunters Guild, had said with absolute certainty that the American Hunter Bureau had made the obviously correct decision in choosing the Dominion Guild to represent Korea.

And while he was a little disappointed that the Hunters Guild wasn't chosen, he expressed a profound pride in the fact that such powerful Hunters were present as a part of Korea.

On the day before the Conference, one man in particular was experiencing frustration from being unable to get something done. This was Hwang Dong-Su, one of America's Scavenger Guild's S Rank Hunters.

And he had been called by his guild leader, Thomas Andre, the Goliath. He knocked in the door to Thomas Andre's office, and entered, seeing Thomas and his secretary, Laura, in the office. "Hello, sir. Did you call me?" He said respectfully, as he entered.

"Yeah, you're right on time, too." Thomas Andre said, then walked up to Hwang Dong-Su. Hwang Dong-Su was quite large, even amongst most Americans, but compared to Thomas Andre, he was easily dwarfed, not only in size, but also power.

"I'll tell you this right now. No matter what happens, don't mess with anyone from the Dominion Guild." Thomas Andre said, shocking Hwang Dong-Su. "I know about what happened between your brother and Hunter Sung Jin-Woo. And I know that you've been trying to find out exactly what happened. I'll say it again, don't mess with the Dominion Guild." Thomas Andre said, his pressure pushing on Hwang Dong-Su.

"Go and stay in one of the villas owned by the guild until after the conference is over. Understand, Mr Hwang?" He said, holding Hwang Dong-Su's shoulder. While it was worded as a request, it was clear that this was anything but.

"... Yes, sir." Hwang Dong-Su said after a few moments of silence. "Good. You may leave now." Hwang Dong-Su left the room with a grotesque scowl on his face, and Thomas Andre sighed. He and Laura knew that Hwang Dong-Su was a man that held obsession for his targets, and nothing, not even the threat of death would stop him from getting to them.

He ordered Laura to keep surveillance on Hwang Dong-Su throughout the period of the International Guild Conference. He hoped that Hwang Dong-Su would bear the frustration of not getting his answers, so that he would not end up dead.

...

Elsewhere

A man with long red hair, a beard, and glowing red eyes, wearing a high collared, reddish silver armor and a reddish brown tailcoat, was sporting a concerned frown.

This was Antares, the King of Dragons and Monarch of Destruction. He had sent the other Monarchs to eliminate the Fragments of Brilliant Light on Earth, but he hadn't received any reports from Rakan, Tarnak and Queresha, who he had sent to America.

He had no idea that he and the other Monarchs had gotten a strong perception filter placed on them by Dante. And so they couldn't tell that he or Shiraori were present on Earth, nor could they detect any of Dante's deathborns. At least until they came in direct contact with them, at which point, it would be too late for them to escape.

And because of this, they wouldn't know that their plans had been thwarted long before they could truly come to fruition.

...

OMAKE: The Orphan Boy's Altered Life

Location: The Hidden Leaf Village

A few months had passed since Naruto Uzumaki had graduated from the Shinobi Academy. And since then, he had exhibited a level of genius and talent that only three people in the history of the Hidden Leaf had ever shown, those being Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and Madara Uchiha.

Not many people knew of this, but Naruto had received aid from someone beyond the reaches of their imagination. And eventually, he noticed that he hadn't put enough effort into fulfilling his dream to become Hokage.

After he learnt the Multi Shadow Clone Technique, he received an in-depth knowledge about the technique, and used it to great effect. He made hundreds of shadow clones that he used to learn different skills, becoming considerably skilled in different areas, but most noticeably in the use of chakra.

His chakra pool was massive, even dwarfing some tailed beasts, which would normally mean that controlling his chakra efficiently was meant to be an ordeal. But due to Dante's aid, he could control it with extreme ease, allowing him to learn many different ninjutsu and even genjutsu.

Naruto didn't know who had aided him so much, but he felt that just as a gesture of thanks, he should absolutely achieve his dream to become the Hokage.

Chapter End.

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Word Count: 2,615