Real terror dawned in the Architect's cracked expression as my grip tightened around what remained of his stone throat.
Blue energy continued to leak from his countless fractures, pooling at our feet like luminescent blood.
"The Shadow Monarch... he... won't allow this interference," he choked out, his once-booming voice now barely audible.
I couldn't help but laugh—a genuine, amused sound that echoed throughout the devastated chamber.
"You still don't get it, do you?"
I leaned in closer, my voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Let me tell you a little secret, one that might blow what's left of your mind."
The Architect's glowing eyes flickered uncertainly.
"Your precious Shadow Monarch—Ashborn—the one who promised you immortality?" I grinned wickedly.
"He was never gonna fulfill that promise."
Confusion rippled across the Architect's fractured face.
"Impossible. Our arrangement is—"
"Temporary," I finished for him.
"Did you think a being of that magnitude would honor his word to someone like you?"
"That he'd reward you after you found him a vessel?"
I released his throat, letting him slump against the crumbled remains of a stone pillar. He struggled to maintain his form, fingers digging into the rubble for support.
"He would have waited until the vessel—my Shadow Princess—was fully developed. Then he would have discarded your precious System and gone rogue. You'd be left with nothing."
The Architect's eyes widened, disbelief warring with the realization that I was telling the truth.
"No... he cannot. The System was designed to—"
"To find and prepare a vessel," I laughed again.
"But did you really think your System could control a being as powerful as the Shadow Monarch forever?"
"You were just a tool to him, just like you tried to make Soo-Yeon a tool."
I knelt down, meeting his gaze directly.
"Consider this a mercy, really. I'm just giving you an early death, sparing you the humiliation of being betrayed by the very being you've been serving."
Fear—pure, existential terror—flooded the Architect's glowing eyes.
He raised a trembling hand, and the remaining stone warriors—about thirty of them still functioning—immediately tensed.
"Buy me time!" he commanded, his voice cracking with desperation.
The statues surged forward in perfect unison, weapons raised, ready to sacrifice themselves for their master.
I sighed dramatically, not even bothering to turn around.
"I'm getting bored of this routine," I said, keeping my eyes fixed on the Architect.
"Let's try something new."
With casual indifference, I raised my right hand toward the ceiling, palm upward. The air around it began to distort, a sphere of concentrated blue energy forming above my fingertips.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue," I intoned softly.
The sphere expanded rapidly, pulsing with a gravitational force that defied the natural laws of physics.
I launched it upward, where it hung suspended at the apex of the chamber, a miniature blue sun.
Its pull was immediate and overwhelming.
The charging stone warriors halted mid-stride, their massive bodies lifting off the ground as the Blue's gravitational field intensified.
They clawed desperately at the air, weapons falling from their grip as they were inexorably dragged upward.
"No—wait—!" the Architect cried, his body starting to shift as well, drawn toward the same irresistible force.
I placed a single hand on his chest, holding him in place effortlessly while the Blue continued its work.
Above us, the stone warriors collided violently, their bodies crackling and disintegrating as they were compressed by the increasingly powerful gravitational field.
The sight was almost beautiful—thirty stone warriors whose powers were no less than the World Rank hunters, reduced to a swirling cloud of fragments, then to dust, and finally to nothing at all as the Blue consumed them completely.
With a casual flick of my wrist, I dissipated the technique.
A shower of fine stone particles drifted down around us, the only remains of what had once been a formidable army.
The Architect stared upward in mute horror, his glowing eyes tracking the dust as it settled.
"Impressed?" I asked, still holding him in place with one hand.
"That wasn't even at full power. Just a little party trick I picked up."
He tried to speak, his stone jaw working soundlessly for a moment before finding his voice.
"Wait... please..."
His tone had changed; the fear was still there, but now mixed with a shrewd assessment of his options.
"I can be useful to you," the Architect continued, his fractured voice steadying.
"My capabilities... my knowledge... I've existed for eons. I can be of use to you."
I raised an eyebrow, a faint smirk playing on my lips. "Go on."
Encouraged, the Architect pressed his advantage.
"The System is just one of my creations. "
"I can build anything you desire. Weapons, defenses, anything!"
"Is that so?" I tilted my head, maintaining an expression of mild interest.
"Yes!" the Architect's eyes brightened with hope.
" I can serve you just as I served the Shadow Monarch, but with greater loyalty."
He was gaining confidence now, his stone body straightening slightly despite its extensive damage.
"Think of what we could accomplish together," he continued, his voice growing stronger.
"Your power, combined with my knowledge—we could reshape this entire world. Perhaps even beyond."
I nodded slowly, appearing to consider his offer.
"Your ability to create... your knowledge of dimensional mechanics... they are indeed valuable assets."
Relief flooded the Architect's cracked features. "Then you understand! I can—"
"Cleave," I whispered, my hand suddenly pressed against his massive stone face.
The effect was instantaneous.
The Architect's face split along invisible lines, carved into precise geometric sections that hung suspended for a breathless moment before crumbling away entirely.
His scream—a sound like the universe itself tearing—cut off abruptly as his head disintegrated.
Blue energy erupted from the wound, a fountain of cosmic power that spilled upward before dissipating into the air.
The stone shell of his body cracked and fell away in massive chunks, revealing something underneath—a humanoid form with iridescent blue skin that pulsed with inner light.
"Sadly for you, I don't need you alive to have your abilities," I said to the dying entity, watching as his true form was revealed beneath the crumbling stone exterior.
"But thanks for the sales pitch."