The Architect's punch, which would have obliterated any S-rank hunter alive, hadn't even moved me an inch.
His stone face cracked slightly in what I could only assume was shock—emotions weren't exactly his strong suit, being a glorified rock.
I rolled my shoulders casually as if brushing off dust.
"That the best you got? My mother hits harder when she's being playful."
The Architect's eyes flared brighter, that eerie blue glow intensifying as he pulled back his fist for another strike.
"Impossible!!! No being on this planet should be able to withstand that."
"Exactly," I said with a smirk, "which should tell you something about where I stand in the pecking order."
He swung again, faster this time—a punch aimed straight for my face.
I caught it effortlessly, one-handed, the impact sending a shockwave through the chamber that shattered several nearby pillars.
Stone fragments rained down around us, but neither of us paid any attention.
"Let me educate you," I said, squeezing his fist until cracks began to spread up his arm.
"You're playing chess while thinking you're the player, when really, you're just another pawn."
The Architect roared, a sound like a mountain collapsing, and swung his other arm in a wide arc.
I ducked under it, still holding his first hand, and drove my fist into his midsection.
His stone body cracked deeply, a spiderweb of fractures spreading across his torso.
"What... are you?" he gasped, his voice losing that omnipresent echo.
I grinned wider. "I'm the guy who read ahead."
Around us, the remaining stone warriors had regrouped, forming a loose circle.
Without taking my eyes off the Architect, I sensed about eighty of them still functional.
Not bad—I'd demolished over two hundred already.
"Your toys are getting anxious," I nodded toward the statues.
"Why don't you let them join our little dance?"
The Architect's eyes narrowed, calculating.
"You wish to face all of us at once? Your arrogance will be your undoing."
I laughed, releasing his fist and stepping back, arms spread wide.
"It's not arrogance if you can back it up. Come on, bring them all. Make it interesting, at least."
With a gesture from the Architect, the stone warriors surged forward, weapons raised.
At the same time, the Architect himself launched a fresh assault, both fists swinging down like twin meteors.
Perfect. Just what I wanted.
I sidestepped the Architect's attack with milliseconds to spare, grabbing his arms and using his momentum to throw him into a cluster of his minions.
They shattered on impact, stone dust billowing.
"Strike one!" I called cheerfully, spinning to face the next wave.
Three warriors lunged from different angles—one with a massive broadsword, another with twin daggers, the third with a spiked mace.
I weaved between their attacks with fluid grace, moving faster than their stone eyes could track.
"Too slow, too predictable, too—" I caught the mace mid-swing and wrenched it from its owner's grip, "—weak."
I swung the mace in a wide arc, pulverizing all three attackers in one strike.
More stone fragments joined the growing debris field around us.
The Architect was back on his feet, his stone body visibly damaged but still functional.
He raised both hands, and the ground beneath me rumbled ominously.
I jumped just as stone spikes erupted from the floor, narrowly missing my feet.
"Ooh, environmental attacks! Now we're getting creative," I taunted, landing atop one of the spikes with perfect balance.
"You cannot evade forever," the Architect growled, clenching his fists as more stone warriors ran towards me.
"Don't need to," I replied, hopping down. "This is just my warm-up routine."
A stone axe whistled toward my neck—I bent backward at an impossible angle, watching it pass harmlessly overhead.
Then I straightened up and punched straight through the attacker's chest.
"Two-thirty," I counted, spinning to face the next.
Two warriors came at me simultaneously, coordinating their attacks with surprising precision.
One swept low with a halberd, aiming for my legs, while the other thrust a spear at my face.
I jumped, twisting in mid-air to avoid both weapons, then grabbed the spear shaft and used it to swing myself feet-first into the halberd wielder.
My kick shattered its upper body completely.
"Two-thirty-one."
Landing in a crouch, I yanked the spear-wielder forward and drove my elbow into its face. "Two-thirty-two."
The Architect thrust his palm toward me, and a wave of pure force rippled through the air.
"Getting desperate, are we?" I called, charging straight at him.
He retreated, summoning more warriors to intercept me.
Five blocked my path, forming a wall of stone and weapons.
I didn't slow down.
I crashed into them like a battering ram, my momentum barely checking as I plowed through their ranks.
Stone shrapnel exploded outward from the impact.
"Two-thirty-three through thirty-seven," I counted in one breath, emerging from the dust cloud right in front of the Architect.
His stone face contorted with something akin to panic as I cocked back my fist. "Wait—"
Too late. My punch connected with his jaw, the impact dislodging a sizable chunk of his face. He staggered backward, blue light spilling from the wound like blood.
"What's wrong? I thought we were just getting started," I taunted, pressing my advantage.
I unleashed a flurry of punches, each one leaving craters in his stone body.
Left, right, uppercut, body blow—I hit him with everything except my actual power. This was still playtime, after all.
The Architect stumbled under the assault, his once-imposing frame now resembling a half-demolished statue.
Blue light leaked from dozens of cracks across his body.
"You're... not human," he gasped between blows.
"Give the rock a prize," I said, driving my knee into his midsection. More cracks spread across his torso.
He attempted to counterattack, swinging wildly, but his movements had slowed.
I dodged effortlessly, circling him like a predator toying with injured prey.
"I expected more from the legendary Architect," I said, landing another devastating punch to his back.
"The being who designed the System, who manipulated my Shadow Princess. Yet here you are, crumbling like a sandcastle at high tide."
He tried to speak, but I cut him off with a roundhouse kick that sent him crashing into a pillar. The structure collapsed, burying him momentarily under rubble.
I turned my attention to the remaining stone warriors, who seemed momentarily directionless without their master's guidance.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you lot."
They charged as one, a last desperate wave. I met them head-on, fists blurring as I tore through their ranks.
"Two-forty, two-forty-one, two-forty-two..."
The chamber became a hurricane of stone fragments as I demolished them one after another. None could touch me—their weapons shattered on contact with my skin, and their strongest blows bounced off harmlessly.
I was unstoppable, untouchable.
A true god among these damn insects.
From the rubble, the Architect emerged, his form now barely recognizable.
Half his face was missing, one arm hung uselessly at his side, and blue light poured from countless fractures across his body.
"Stop," he commanded, though his voice had lost its godlike resonance.
"You've made your point."
I paused mid-swing, a stone warrior's neck clutched in my grip. "Oh? And what point is that?"
"That you... possess power beyond my calculations," he admitted, his glowing eyes dimming slightly.
"What do you want? Why reveal yourself now?"
I crushed the warrior's neck absently, watching it crumble.
"Maybe I was bored."
"Maybe I wanted to see the look on your face when you realized you're not the biggest fish in the pond. Or maybe—"
I stepped toward him,
"—I just wanted to remind the cosmos that there are forces even you can't comprehend."
Fear—genuine fear—flickered in those glowing eyes. "The Shadow Monarch—"
"Is the least of your concerns right now," I cut him off. "Your little game with Ashborn and the vessel? Consider it terminated."
The Architect drew himself up, summoning whatever dignity remained in his shattered form.
"You cannot interfere! You don't know the consequences!"
"Consequences?" I laughed, the sound echoing harshly around the chamber.
"You talk about consequences while manipulating everyone like puppets? Spare me the sanctimonious bullshit."
I closed the distance between us in a flash, grabbing him by what remained of his throat.
"Here's how this works now: I'm rewriting the rules. And rule number one? You don't touch Soo-Yeon or anyone else I care about. Sadly for you, you already broke that rule."
His stone fingers clawed weakly at my grip. "You... don't understand—"
"No, you don't understand." I tightened my hold, cracks spreading from my fingers.
"I've seen how your story ends, and I didn't like the finale. So I'm making some editorial changes."
The Architect's eyes widened. "You've seen—?"
"Everything," I said with a grin.
"Past, present, future—all just pages in a book I've already read. And now I'm tearing out the chapters I don't like."