The council chamber, once a silent hall of power, was now a pressure cooker of clashing mana. The Triad of Light stood in a perfect triangular formation, their golden armor humming with a frequency that threatened to shatter the marble floor beneath Leo's boots.
"Leo, you have committed the ultimate sin," the leader, a man named Solon, declared. His voice was a resonant bell of holy energy. "To strike at the heart of the Association is to strike at humanity itself."
Leo didn't move from the Chairman's seat. He simply tilted his head, his violet eyes glowing with a bored intensity. "Humanity? You mean the bankers and the bureaucrats who watch from their towers while people like me are fed to the dungeons? If that's humanity, then I'm happy to be the monster."
[Target Identification: The Triad of Light.]
Solon (Rank-S Paladin): High Defense, Holy Damage.
Lyra (Rank-S Assassin): Extreme Speed, Light-Blades.
Korth (Rank-S Mage): Gravity Manipulation, Solar Flares.
"Enough talk!" Lyra hissed.
She vanished. In a blur of white light, she was behind Leo, her twin daggers aimed at the gaps in his True Monarch's Wings. But Leo's Agility of 35 and Time Dilation made her look like she was moving through syrup.
Flicker.
Leo wasn't in the chair. He was on the ceiling, hanging upside down like a bat, his wings wrapped around him. "You're fast for a human, Lyra. But you're still breathing air. I breathe the void."
"Korth! Bring him down!" Solon roared.
The mage, Korth, slammed his staff into the floor. [Skill Activation: Gravity Well.] The air around Leo became ten times heavier, the force pulling him toward the mahogany table with the weight of a falling mountain.
Leo gritted his teeth, his Stamina of 32 straining against the pressure. He felt his bones creak. This was the combined might of the Association's best.
"Leo," Seraphina's voice purred in his mind, dripping with a dark, seductive heat. "You're holding back. You're trying to fight them like a man. Stop. Let me in. Let's show them the Ecstasy-Boost."
[Warning: Ecstasy-Boost will surge Mana by 300%.] [Side Effect: High aggression and loss of tactile inhibition.]
"Do it," Leo hissed.
Back at the Shadow Sanctum, Seraphina arched her back, her runes glowing a violent, erotic crimson. Through the Shared Mana link, a wave of raw, unadulterated pleasure and power crashed into Leo's nervous system. It wasn't just energy; it was a drug.
Leo's eyes didn't just glow purple; they bled darkness. He let out a laugh that sounded like a choir of demons.
[Ecstasy-Boost Active.] [All Stats +50% (Temporary).]
With a violent flap of his wings, Leo shattered the Gravity Well. The shockwave was so powerful it sent the Board members flying against the walls. He descended like a black comet, his obsidian blade appearing in his hand.
He hit Solon first. The Paladin raised his legendary shield, The Sun's Aegis, expecting to block a physical strike. Instead, Leo used Seismic Impact combined with the boost.
CRACK.
The "indestructible" shield fractured. Solon was sent hurtling through the marble wall and out onto the balcony, his golden chest-plate caved in.
"One," Leo whispered, his voice distorted by the mana-surge.
Lyra and Korth attacked simultaneously. A storm of light-blades and a miniature sun converged on Leo's position. But Leo was no longer "flickering." He was Void Flickering—he was everywhere and nowhere at once.
He appeared behind Korth. He didn't use his blade. He grabbed the mage by the head, his fingers digging into the helmet. [Skill Activation: Soul Devourer.]
"No! Get off me!" Korth screamed as his S-Rank mana was forcibly converted into Obsidian energy. In three seconds, the powerful mage was a withered husk, his staff clattering to the floor.
[Target 'Korth' Eliminated.] [Experience Gained: +15,000.]
Lyra stopped her assault, her daggers trembling. She looked at Leo, who was standing over Korth's remains, the purple mist around him pulsing like a heartbeat.
"You... you're not just an anomaly," she whispered, her eyes wide with a realization that bordered on religious awe. "The prophecies... the End-Bringer. You're the one the Founders feared."
Leo turned his gaze to her. The Ecstasy-Boost was making his pulse race, his skin hypersensitive to the mana in the room. He walked toward her, the sound of his boots on the marble echoing like a death knell.
"If I'm the End," Leo said, his hand reaching out to touch her cheek, "then why are you still fighting for a beginning that's already over?"
Lyra didn't move. She didn't strike. She felt the Monarch's Aura—it wasn't just pressure; it was an invitation. She dropped her daggers.
[New Interaction: Subjugation of a 'Holy' Hero.] [Option A: Eliminate her for Experience.] [Option B: Claim her as a 'Monarch's Shadow'.]
Leo looked back at the Board members, who were cowering under the table. Solon was struggling to crawl back into the room, his light fading.
"Sign the papers," Leo commanded, his wings casting a final, absolute shadow over the chamber. "Or I let the 'End' happen right here, right now."
The High Chairman, his hand shaking so much he could barely hold the pen, reached for the decree.
[Quest Completed: The Ultimatum.] [Title Earned: King of Aethelgard.] [Level Up! Level 25 -> Level 28.]