The battlefield was silent.
Not a breath of wind stirred the scorched earth. Not a single cry of agony remained in the air. Only the corpses spoke now—thousands of them, piled in heaps across the blood-soaked plains. Beasts, giants, monsters of nightmare and claw... all dead.
And at the center stood one man.
Rantaro.
His armor was torn, smeared with ash and dark blood. His body trembled, not from pain—but from power. Around him, death reigned. Yet he stood like the eye of a storm, untouched by its chaos.
Quiet. Controlled. Absolute.
He walked to the center of the fallen horde and stood upon a twisted pile of corpses. With the grace of a sovereign, he sat atop them. A throne of the slain. A king of shadows.
He raised one hand.
And then it began.
The corpses beneath him began to twitch. Shadows leaked from their bodies—black wisps, like tendrils of smoke, unraveling from every monster he had slain. The air warped, humming with power as the dark energy broke free.
He clenched his fist.
Instantly, the dark energy surged into him—hundreds of streams of corrupted essence flowing like rivers into his core. But he didn't consume it. He shaped it.
Bent it to his will.
Transformed it.
The ground cracked as forms began to rise from the smoke—creatures of shadow and steel, warriors forged from his enemies' remains. Horned knights, spectral beasts, floating blades—all bound to him.
His dark summons.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
+700 Dark Energy Souls Converted
+700 Dark Summons Created
Twenty-three of them knelt before him—his elite. But hundreds more hovered around the battlefield, standing silently, waiting.
He didn't even glance at them. His gaze remained on the horizon.
[SYSTEM LEVEL UP ×50]
[STATUS UPDATE]
> Strength: 311
Speed: 313
Intelligence: 238
Class: Legendary Dark Ruler
Rank: S+
Level: 220
Stat Points: 150
Dark Sword Style: 80%
Demon Transformation: 40%
Dark Berserk: 70%
[SKILL AWAKENED]
Dark Summon Creation: Absorb fallen enemies and convert their essence into loyal shadow warriors.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Congratulations, Host. You are now a LEGENDARY DARK RULER.
> You may now create weapons from condensed dark energy.
You may summon a Commander Summon:
– Strength: 150
– Speed: 150
– Can summon low & mid-tier dark soldiers.
– Can channel elemental power beyond darkness.
– If mortally wounded, draws from master's energy.
– Death is permanent.
Rantaro exhaled.
His hand fell to his lap, and silence returned.
He looked down at the blackened earth beneath him. The cost of war. The price of power. And yet, even now, he felt calm.
Not joy. Not sorrow.
Just calm.
He rose from the corpse-throne, his presence towering, almost divine. Shadows parted around him. The summoned army watched in silence.
Their master—the one who had forged them from death—was about to speak.
His eyes slowly scanned the battlefield.
Then, quietly:
"Return to my space."
The summons bowed deeply.
And one by one, they vanished—blinking into the void with a whisper of dark mist. Into his domain. His dimension. A realm of shadows where they would rest until called again.
Rantaro remained alone once more.
But it was not loneliness.
It was control.
[SYSTEM QUEST]
To ascend further, you must eliminate: 1,000,000 monsters.
A million.
He didn't flinch.
The horizon called. More enemies waited. More battles. More death.
But this time, he wouldn't face it alone. Not anymore.
He turned, slowly.
And whispered,
"Fine."
Then, with colder finality—
"I'll do it."